Trip Highlights!

Snaps from Ethiopia & Tanzania

Written on September 9th

The last three weeks of school break have looked like this: Zambia.Tanzania.ETHIOPIA.Tanzania…ZAMBIA!!

Mid August Ricardo and I boarded a train to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The train ride goes from Kasama to Dar takes two nights and one full day and passes through a big game park. It was really nice and beautiful…saw giraffes, water buffalo, and lots of impalas. Dar is a busy city with a heavily Muslim influence. The streets are full of people, taxis, mosques, motorbikes, and every kind of fruit cart you can imagine. Overall the buildings and vibe of the place reminded me a lot of Old Jerusalem. It was cool to be here during Ramadan and here the calls to prayer throughout the day and eat lots of dates (they often use the fruit to break their fast at night.) Ric and I did a bit of exploring, found a bar with dancing and a beach with cool bluffs.

Then it was off on to the next adventure… I boarded my flight the next day to Ethiopia! The airport is always a bit stressful for me, I find I never am sure exactly where I’m suppose to be, and the staff in Dar’s airport made it worse by continuing to give me the wrong information and not printing me a boarding pass for my connection in Kenya which led to another crazed/stressful experience in Nairobi… but I made it Addis Ababa as planned. Almost didn’t make it out of the airport because if didn’t have 20 USD for the VISA and they refused to exchange any of my other currency…but a good Samaritan lent me some and I found Sarah was there waiting for me! Sarah and I were friends and roommates in college and she is doing Peace Corps in Ethiopia.

Addis is an interesting capital. Its big, busy and heavily populated. It feels like way more of a legitimate city then Lusaka for sure…but the funny thing is there’s all these cars and buses and bikes cluttering the road and there be a donkey or cow just chillin in the middle of the road.

The 2^nd night in Addis I got elevation sickness… which is basically terrible migraines to the point of nausea and is treated by drinking excess amounts of water. Thankfully Sarah was on my ass about drinking and the sickness only last that one night!

From there we traveled 3 hours and spent a night in Ambo where Sarah’s fiancé lives and got to eat some good Ehtiopian food and see a Peace Corps run camp for some OVC’s (Orphan and Vulnerable Children).

The rest of the 1^st week was spent at Sarah’s site in a town in the West called Bako.

In Ethiopia right now its rainy season. Rainy season in Ethiopia is really really beautiful because there are many mountain ranges and rolling hills and they are all so green!!! The bus ride to Bako curled up up up a winding mountain road and was really beautiful. Sarah’s site was really fun. I got to meet her friends and counterparts and see the work that she is doing. She is in the process of training a group of 10-orphaned 12 year olds in Life Skills and will be opening a bread bakery that they’ll run to support themselves. I got to help out with some of the trainings…but mostly Sarah’s friend who translates everything into Amharic runs them.

For lunch everyday we’d get injera and tea. Injera, the staple Ehtiopia food, is kind of like a spongy fermented pancake. It may not sound delicious, but we ate it everydays with all the different watts (relishes) and it was DELICIOUS! As much as I love nshima… Ethiopians deff know what they’re doing with relishes more than Zambians. They use spices other than salt!! I feel like everything was equally nutritious and tasty. Dinners were elaborate… one night we made perogies!

While in Bako I also got my hair braided. I’ve been wanting to for a while in Zambia…but never found any blonde extensions or anyone who knew what to do with white people hair! Ethiopian women have beautiful long curly hair. Its so different from hair in most African countries. They love to braid there hair and have many different and elaborate ways of doing it. My corn rows were pretty simple but there girl knew what she was doing… and although me getting them was a bit of a joke I ended up liking the way they looked a lot! They lasted about 4 days before they started to itch and drive me crazy.

After Bako we headed back to Addis for a night then journeyed north with Nebeyou, Sarah’s fiancé. We stayed with his family in Bahir Dar for a night. They have two really adorable children and they took us out to a cultural café where I got my first taste of Ethiopian dancing… picture a lot of head bobbing and shoulder shrugging! Very different from the way Southern African Nations dance. Someone told me that on the continent of African the dancing moves from top to bottom… so North uses the top half, Southern uses the bottom! I also got to try some Ethiopian coffee and beer. There coffee is thick and but doesn’t make you feel jittery (which is usually my dilemma—I didn’t drink coffee before I moved to this continent!) The coffee ceremonies they have each day remind me of the Bedouins… they roast and pound the beans right in front of you. Its smells and tastes so good!

We went up even more north for a night and stayed in Gondar… which was not quite what we expected it to be. We had hoped to visit whatever was left of the Jewish community…but its pretty much non-existent now and even though we found the synagogue it was all guarded and fenced off and we weren’t allowed to go in. Gondar was also filled with some interesting characters that included a bewildered tour guide, a 18-yr old boy who really wanted us to come to his party, and a hotel concierge who professed his love for me at my door… Oh, brother! We did get to explore some ancient castles that were pretty cool. And when we got back to Bahir Dar the next night we got to go out onto Lake Shana on a private boat and visit one island… a much needed relaxing day before traveling back to Addis. We stayed with more of Nebeyou’s family in Addis…and they too had adorable children! We went out to his Aunt’s cultural restaurant where we were treated to an all you can eat Ethiopian buffet and honey wine on the house. The dancing, costumes, décor, and singing there were really cool too!

My last day was spent bargaining at the market. Mom, you would be proud. I did my fair amount of shopping and then we got a great Indian dinner before I had to go home and pack for my flight. 12:30am flight to Djibuti, to Nairobi, to Zanzibar to Dar es Salaam. I touched ground in 4 countries before 10am! Back here again after two quick jam-packed weeks! Met up with Stevie and eventually Ric. Did loooooots of jewelry and chitenge shopping. Revisited to beach and the club scene… Celebrated Rosh Hashanah by casting my sins into to Indian Ocean and having some guy on the street blow a vuvuzela for me!!!!

Life is good. Boarding the train back to Zambia tomorrow. I couldn’t be happier or luckier.

L’Shana Tov!! Happy New Year! May the days continue to be full and sweet!

A funny/gross/entertaining anecdote from the trip:

*Women on buses in Ethiopia have terrible car-sickness...the person behind you, next to you, and across the isle might be puking into a bag for the entirety of a bus ride. This is by far my least favorite thing about Ethiopia. One bus ride I was sitting next to a women with two kids her lap... 30mins into the ride the baby starts spitting up on her. So I give her some tissue to whipe it up... but she began to fan herself with it instead...I knew then I was in trouble. Once she started puking I convinced the gentleman behind me to switch seats! Blach!!!

Corresponding Pictures to follow soooooooon!

Written Monday...

Perhaps some of you know that I spent almost the entirety of June in South Africa on Med-Evac; for those who were unaware, I had some medical issues and they whisked me out of town unexpectedly and I wound up in the heart of World Cup Madness! But don’t worry…I’m fine and back in Zambia at last!

The day I arrived in SA was the opening of the World Cup. The airport was filled with at least 300 people with signs...it took over an hour to find the driver carrying one that said “Ellyn Lambeck.” I spent the following weeks freezing my butt-off (it was so cold—African Winter is no joke!!), making friend with Peace Corps Volunteers from other countries (Ethiopia, Tanzania, Gambia, Benin…), going to countless doctor appointments, playing with baby lions, and seeing 2 World Cup games (USA VS England and USA VS Algeria.) So despite my long-recovery I made the best of my time there… did a lot of eating and shopping, read Harry Potter V, picked up a vuvuzele--or two and saw Toy Story 3 in 3-D!
In any case I was missing Zambia, slowly forgetting all my Bemba, and getting over the complete culture shock of having a washer and dryer at my beck-and-call!
After 3 long weeks I was finally cleared to go home and arrived back home just in time to celebrate American Independence in Zambia! After a couple days camping at Lake Samfya in Luapula Province I made my way back up North and back to Luyeye.

Being back in the village after being gone so long is not easy because…
• I have a raging cold/cough that subtracts from my enjoyment of sleep or nshima.
• My house and surroundings are run down and dirty.
• My supply of matches, sugar, peanut butter, and toilet paper has been depleted (by my loyal house-sitters)
• I’ve been spoiled with electricity, hot showers, good food, cold beverages, TV, malls and cars and airplanes oh my!!…and now I’m back to buck-bathing and candle-lit nshima dinners

I am SO grateful to be back with my Zam Fam and I missed everyone and EVERYTHING about Zambia (I’m in love with this place!!) But it’s gonna be hard to get back into the swing of things for sure…and back into shape (too many Mc Donald’s in South Africa—for sure.)
So, arriving at school today was a bit nerve-racking… After I’d gone missing for a month of the term I didn’t know what to expect…What had happened with all the projects and classes I left behind? Also the idea of having to explain my disappearance repeatedly to everyone was also discouraging but I came this morning to find I was warmly welcomed by all my co-workers and pupils with smiles and hugs galore! Walking into the grade 1 classroom and being pummeled with love by a dozen iwes almost had me in tears. Of course all the little ones had assumed I was long gone and back in America, so they were all so excited to have me back. I spent an entire Math lesson with one boy curled up in my lap, while another cuddled my arm!
Now comes the rush of work to catch-up on…My VAST proposal is now finished and ready for review (cross your fingers people my HIV/AIDS club needs this money for our World AIDS Day Event!!) I also have to try to bring my computer classes up to speed (although an awesome student teacher from the school covered all my classes while I was gone it seems the Staff Computer Literacy lessons have somewhat dissolved.) and remind my club that I’m alive and we still have a lot of fund-raising to do!
With help from my mom and many others back in the States, money has been raised towards scholarships, LCC’s World AIDS Day event, as well as the building of my families’ house. I cannot thank you all enough for your on-going generosity. It’s so incredible to see things materialize because of the simple deeds of my friends and family back home. For all those still interested, a new shipment of cards and hats will be on its way to CT within the next 2 weeks!!

The next time you hear from me hopefully I will be back in the mix, busy as ever, and loving the village! In the meantime care-packages of sour-patch kids and Reese’s peanut butter cups may do the trick ;o)

Mushale Bwino!

Ellyn Mutale Chileshe

Hello Friends & Family,

Most of you are well aware that I have been serving in the Peace Corps as a Rural Education Development (RED) Volunteer for the past year in Zambia. I have heard through family at home that many of you have been looking for ways to contribute in some way to what I am doing over here. Let me take this opportunity to thank you all for your on-going support, assistance, interest and of course care-packages thus far.

I am working and living in a rural community. I stay in a village called Luyeye and work with the surrounding schools in my catchment area. The purpose of RED project is three fold: to promote the importance of education in the community, support educators with workshops, training and co-teaching, and to introduce sustainable development at zonal and community level (such as Income Generating Activities (IGA’s,) Clubs, and skill transfer.)

Since moving to the area in April 2009 I’ve been going, going, going. I am teaching at the Zonal Center School daily, organizing trainings and workshops for teachers (in areas such as Special Ed, Fine motors and Basic First Aid), working with support groups for those in the community living HIV/AIDS Positive, and have started a Tri-School Aids Awareness Club with children from grades 5 through 12!

A big part of my job here is to introduce my counterparts to the organizations and resources (within and from outside their communities) that can help them with projects and proposals. That is where you all come in! I am working on some projects in which all of you can play a large role:


::LCC Club World AIDS Day Event::
Luyeye, Chiba, and Chepela Schools’ combined HIV/AIDS Club began in 2009. A local Community School teacher and I attended a week-long HIV/AIDS training together and as result formed this club with 3 the surrounding schools. The club has over 60 members as well as teacher participants from each of the schools. Since then the club has been involved in numerous activities bringing awareness to the community. The children have made posters, sang songs and read poems on the local radio as well as creating skits and other presentations for their peers. Our club would like to hold a World AIDS Day event this year the first week of December. Looking at the cost of the Day’s activities, and provisions our group has begun some fund-raising activities in pursuit of the cause. We need to raise roughly $300 USD to make the event possible. The club has been working on a vegetable garden over the past 2 months and will begin selling the produce to the neighboring community at the end of this month. The children have also been busy making greeting cards to sell. These home-made greeting cards will be sold at $5 dollars a pack (6 cards per pack) all proceeds going to the LCC clubs participation in World AIDS Day.


::Chileshe House Project::
My past year living in Zambia would not have been possible for me without a home base. The Chileshe Family of Luyeye village has taken me under their wing as one of their own. I cannot express to you how much their support, companionship, and overall assistance has helped me from day to day. They are my shoulder to lean on, the ones who feed me dinner every night, and really have become my family. After all they have done for me and with having so little to do it, there is really little I can do to repay them for all their kindness. I’m appealing to all of you to help the Chileshe family finish the building of a safe and sturdy house. They have begun building a structure that will be big enough to house all 10 of them and will replace the two smaller mud huts that they all share at present. Looking at the number of them, and the condition of the huts, they really need to finish building the new house before next rainy season. My cousin Jim is spear heading the construction, so there are no labor costs only materials. Looking at the supplies left to purchase they need to earn roughly $350 USD to finish the house. In an effort to move forward in the building my Aunt, who knits and crotches for a living has been making some beautiful hats! Each hand-made hat is for sale at just $10!

The hats and greeting cards (pictured below) can be purchased directly from my mom Linda Lambeck. She can be reached by email or facebook: linda3057@yahoo.com. All checks should be made out to me: Ellyn Lambeck and will be deposited directly into my Zambian account. I can be reached with further questions at ellynlambeck@gmail.com.

I will continue to update you on the progress of my projects, and let you know when our goals have been reached (as I know they will!!)

:::Every Little Bit Helps!:::
Twatotella Sana Mukwai!! (We Thank You Very Much!!)

Yours,

Ellyn/ PCV Zambia
RED Program
Chileshe Chepela Zone

Happy BaMayo Day!!!

Hello friends and family!

Impalas in Linvingstone

It’s been a while since I’ve written. I think part of the reason is because I’ve been so busy…but also because I have been busy with things other than work. There’s a break from school in April, so I jam-packed the month with lots of other activities all of which included being away from site…and boy do I miss home now! Going back to the village today after being gone for a month is going to be a bit crazy but I am so ready to get back to some normalcy!

So what have I been doing for an entire month if I haven’t been working?? Well…

Beginning of April my friend Ricardo and I made a journey down from the Northern Province, met up with our friend Ashley in Central the traveled across the Copperbelt and up to North West (all in 2 days total) to visit our friends Stevie and Brittany in the North West for Easter weekend.

Tangent: Now transport in Zambia is…difficult. The roads are few and terribly kept so there are not many options for reliable transport. From Northern Province (which is roughly 12-15 hours from Lusaka, the capital) for instance there is a public bus called the “night bus” which leaves around 4pm and arrives in Lusaka at 5 or 6am. The bus is reliable in the sense that is runs every day and horrible in the way that many they wreck all the time and many people have died… The safer but less predictable way to travel is hitch-hiking. Hitch-hiking has a negative connotation in the states but here it is the most normally used way to get around. Its legal and its usually free, and because I am white and blonde I don’t seem to have much trouble getting a good ride!

So, after hitch hiking for two days cross the country my friends and I spent 4 nights celebrating Easter weekend with our friends in North Western. There was matzah-brye, Bloody Mary’s, home made bagels, and a trip to Mutanda falls. From there I hitched back down to Lusaka where I spent 3 days and “PST” (Pre-Service Training) helping the new intake (new RED volunteers who came a year after my intake.) It was cool to meet the newbies, observe them teaching, and sharing some of my experiences over the past year with them.

Shortly after leaving PST my parents arrived (and Greg!!)! They got the full-tour in the 2 weeks they spent here…we went up to Kasama to see my Village. We took the teachers I work most closely with out to lunch, went to my village where they got to meet my Zambian family and play with all the kiddies, and then spent a day at Chisimba Falls (with my young sister, aunt, and nieces from the village.) Seeing my two families meet each other was so cool. I think they both really appreciated each other and got to learn a little bit about each other’s cultures. Also, the trip to Chisimba was one of my happiest days in Zambia. My Aunt Margaret, who is disabled, had to work really hard to get around at the Falls, because of all the rocks and steps and distances, and she was nothing but smiles. When we were leaving she told me how happy she was to have seen what she saw and that she could die happy now that she had seen the falls…needless to say I wanted to cry. The day was just wonderful, beautiful falls and scenery, full-out picnic lunch, swimming with Greg and all the girls. We all had a really great time.

My Zambian Family at Chisimba Falls

From the North we made our way back down to Lusaka, did some shopping at “Sunday Market” (craft vendors market at one of the outdoor shopping malls) and went to the village where I did my training during PST to visit my host family.

Monday we were off to Livingstone! We spent 3 nights there…First we saw Victoria Falls-which is soooooo beautiful and amazing right now because it’s the end of rainy season! Then we took a day-long safari in Botswana at Chobe National Park. The safari included a ferry ride with lots of Hippo and Crocodile sightings, and then a game drive where we saw TONS of elephants, giraffes, warthogs, crocs, impalas and exotic birds reallllly close up. Besides the baby elephants I’d have to say the buffet was my favorite part of the day! All you can eat papaya and avocado ice cream…we all left Botswana a few lbs heavier.

Greg at Victoria Falls /Vic Falls

My Dad at the "Melting Pot" (Bottom of Victoria Falls)

From Livingstone it was time to head back up to Lusaka. I said goodbye to the fam and also goodbye to a lot of friends leaving the same week who were COSing (Close of Service). Being in Peace Corps is an endless cycle of Hello and Goodbyes... you become close to other volunteers and then they leave and new ones come... things are constantly changing.I met up with my friends Emily and Stevie and the three of us took the long-evil-night bus ride up to Kasama. Laura, Ric, and I spent a few days helping the newbies (who are now sworn in volunteers-which makes me a junior now…crazy) shop for their sites, then riding from each of our sites to show them (Emily and Stevie) our villages. It was nice to have a couple long bike rides after not being on my bike for about 3 ½ weeks!

By the end of the week it was time to go back down to Lusaka (not again!?! gauuuuh!) for our Mid-Term Conference. The intake I swore-in with over a year ago was 35 people, now we are 25. We have lost ten this year because of people being medically separated “Med-Sep” or “ET-ing” early termination of their service. We feel like a tight-nit group now, sessions are smaller and quieter, and group trips out are not as crazy as they were at IST (in-service-training)…excluding Cinco de Mayo where we all went out on a rented “party bus” to hit up all the hot spots in Lusaka!

Laura, Stevie, and I during Mid Term Conference

After a week full of medical appointments and administration/tech sessions I am finally now back in Kasama!!! I am going home to Luyeye today…Schools starts tomorrow…and I have no idea how fast this last year of my service will go by. I can’t even believe that next year at this time I will be finished. I have A LOT to do this year.

Miss you all, love you lots, please email or facebook me your address if you want a hand-made post card.

Shalenipo,

Ellyn (Mutale)

Me and mom @ Victoria Falls/ My Aunt Margaret and Mom @ Chisimba Falls

Happy Mother's Day!!!!

Quick Tour of My house...

One Year In Zambia!!!

So now that I have reached my one year mark in Zambia i thought some of you would like a photographic tour of the "hut" I've made a home... :

Not much too it but this is where I've been living since April 2009 (I think I posted a pic of my previous house from training?) and I've tried to make it as comfortable as possible!

And here are some work photos of my favorite pupils....

(My grade 11 computer class posing for their American Pen pals and Pupils at Chiba Community School working on the Africa Map Project).

I just said goodbye to 3 Peace Corps Trainees who arrived in country just last Thursday and came to visit my site for a few days and see what I do and how I live. Lots of fun, and looooots of questions... spent the past few days bringing them to work and introducting them to village life. Had a bit of a feast with my family on Monday night and everyone had a great time, and the food was amazing!! The combonation of rain, work and hosting has left me very tired... so I'm in town bout to go hide away at the Provincial house for a night to make some pumpkin bread and watch some Zombie movies! Miss you all!

Quote of the Week: A neighbor child seeing me sweeping the outside surroundings of my house (in preparation for the trainees coming to visit) asks in Bemba "Oh is Barak Obama coming today?"

Rain, Rain and Whats that!? Oh! More rain...

It’s been while since I’ve sat to collect my thoughts long enough to come up with a blog! It’s been a crazy couple months. December with a break from school I focused on getting some things done around my house before heading out on vacation to Malawi with a bunch of other volunteers. Absolutely amazing! Got to go swimming and spend time on a boat and on the beach and most importantly with my friends from all over Zambia who I only get to see once or twice a year!!

It’s crazy to think that it was just a year ago that I was starting to worry about what to bring and planning a going away party! The times gone by so fast, but at the same time, I feel like I’ve been here forever!

Rainy season (which is still a good 2 ½ months from completion) has had its ups and downs….My allergies have been getting bad so I had to go down to Lusaka to get new, stronger medication. It sucks to be allergic to dust, pollen and mold when I’m living in a place covered in all three! Got pretty sick with something else once I got down there but am recovered and back to work now with new meds, new glasses, and about 5 1bs lighter!

Got home Monday to find my new kitten (“Happy Coconut,” I got him from another volunteer right after vacation) was very sick from dehydration. The person who was watching my house while I was away failed to care for him properly and he passed away in the night. Never felt so grown up in my life than having to take care of my dead kitten’s body yesterday morning. Very sad :o(. RIP Happy!

On the UP-side my program in Peace Corps “RED” (Rurual Education Development) went through a big make-over. They did a project review and now the goals that I’m working under have been drastically changed (and are adapted more towards the work I’m already doing) so it’s pretty awesome! At school we got some new computers and they set up a little computer lab that I’ll be teaching from. We have 6 computers! Woohoo!

I’m also super psyched for all the visits I am getting in the coming months! The end of this month 4 new RED Volunteers (who arrive on the 19^th—my one year mark!) will be visiting my site. I’ll be their first impression of Zambia and the way volunteers live and work, kinda cool right? I’ll try not to scare them too much! In March Scott and Amy are coming, my parents and Greg in April and also possibly a visit from Therese is finishing her service in South Africa PC next month.

Everything is in full bloom because of the rain I have two gardens and some flower beds going and a small certain Pumpkin growing!! I can’t wait till the guavas are ready next month… Also because of the rain I’ve had lots of down time stuck indoors so I’ve been busy crafting! I’ve moved on from postcards to making citenge picture frames and working on my patchwork quilt! I have a crazy plan to have it finished before my parents get in here in April…we’ll see how that pans out…

To the Best Package Sender in America....

Happy Birthday Mom!!

Hope you liked my small attempt at "package" sending! Love you lots! Can't wait until April!!!!

MY Xmas and New Years in 10 photos....or more!

A few days early...

...but just wanted to say

Happy 73rd Birthday Grandma!!!


Miss you!! Sending all the love in the world from Africa...and Happy New Year :o)