May 31, 2012

The last few weeks have been so very busy here. So much so that I lost part of my balance and serenity that I have been working on since arriving in Africa. My emotions have been a whirl wind and my stress level has been through the roof. The funny thing about stress is that until it starts to leave and your normal emotions, behavior, and personality start to come back do you realize just how much stress can affect you. I have had a very difficult living situation for a few months, and due to recent changes it is at last improving. In the last few days I have slowly begun to feel myself come back. I have spent the last few weeks essentially hiding in my room when I haven’t been working, becoming a hermit of sorts. It was the only way I could even half relax, and I have been able to read a few good books in the evenings this way, so in that respect it was a good thing.

Today I actually took the day to go into town and to just get away from both my work and my home for a while with another volunteer from Munda Wanga. It was such a needed break. After a quick stop at immigration we headed to Manda Hill mall. We both had some shopping we needed to do and we ended up grabbing lunch at Mug and Bean, one of my favorite restaurants in Lusaka and had a Croissant filled with egg, bacon, and tomato. It was divine. It was heaven. I cannot remember the last time I ate bacon! Then we happened to have just enough time to go to a movie before we had to meet our manager in town at a meeting just down the road. We ended up seeing Dark Shadows, which if you haven’t seen it I highly recommend it, very funny and Johnny Depp was his usual amazing selfJ It was such a “normal” American thing to do and I had a truly great time. It made me miss those simple “normal” American things and the pang hit me deep in my heart.

One of the many reasons I joined Peace Corps and came to Zambia was because I wanted / needed to change my life. There are times I cannot believe the changes that have accrued since arriving here 10 months ago. I am a not nessciarly a different person but a deeper, more well round, more understanding, patience person. It’s days like today that make me so grateful to be here in Zambia, but at the same time very grateful to know that I am also an American.

I first started feeling my old self come back over this past weekend when I had a bunch of my Peace Corps friends staying with me, but I knew tonight I was back when I realized I started cooking again; really cooking actual meals again! The first meal I made was the big pasta dinner last Sunday and that one made me so happy that last night I made French toast for the other volunteers and for Raphael (the head keeper), and then tonight I did meat loaf and will be doing homemade pizza on Saturday! Coking is an activity that makes me so happy and joyful but due to my sensitive emotions that I tend to put them “in to my food” if you will. Some people say they cook with love; I like to think I cook with love, joy, and happiness and like to infuse that into the food I eat.

Every once in a while we loose our selves; the main thing is that we are able to figure out a way to get ourselves back and realized it has happened. Life is going to throw us lemons once in a while and it is up to use to decide what we want to do with them. We can either sit with something rather sour, or we can use what we have to either make lemonade or some other great concoction. One of the things I am working on right now is bringing more balance into my life, and then keeping it there once I have it. I know that I am getting better at it everyday, but it is a process and it can take a good amount of time to find balance in our lives and to keep it.

Anyway good night to everyone and I will write more soon! Love you all so much and miss you from the bottom of my heart! Love, Tammy

May 29, 2012

It has been a wild week with all kinds of things going on! Major projects getting finished up and lots of coming and goings here at Munda Wanga.

The Old Rabbit Exhibit

One of the Major accomplishments was finishing up the deworming and coxcidia medication for our 19 Rabbits as well as finishing up their new exhibit. I was so lucky to get some other PCV’s visiting me this weekend who helped with all of the major undertakings. Friday the entire keeper team came together with the volunteers to finish all the details for the exhibit, concrete, slashing, painting, fixing holes, etc. Watching the teamwork was just amazing! The exhibit was completely finished in the matter of a few hours versus days. I got everyone one ice cream as a thank you for all of the hard workJThen Sunday morning after all of the treatments were finished the rabbits were released. I have never seen happier bunnies! They were running, jumping, playing leap frog, making burrows and nets, and reveling in their new space. I think it was rewarding for everyone involved to see the frivolity. The New Rabbit Exhibit

Rabbits in Holding while exhibit was finished and they Received their Medication.

The rabbits running around their new exhibit.

Sunday was the day of the great turtle move as well! All 58 of our Leopard and Bell Hinged tortoises received de-worming medication as well and we needed to move them to a temporary exhibit while we burned the soil in the old one in order to kill all of the parasites and worm eggs in the soil. Not an easy task to find, catch, transport, and sex that many tortoises but it was done in short time with all of the extra help! Never under estimate the power of team workJMoving the Turtles

Tortoises "Running" around in the new Exhibit

We have also received a few baby owls in the last few days and they are living in the volunteer accommodation while we are raising them. Super cute is the only way to describe them. They keep growing and changing each day. At feeding times they are ravenous for their food and gulp it down in big bits.Did I mention that he is very fluffy?

I was also invited by our head keeper Raphael to attend his church on Saturday. Being a spiritual person rather than a religious person I cannot remember the last time I went to church and I was originally hesitant to go. Raphael made the argument that it would be a good cultural experience for me and I at last agreed to go. It was very interesting indeed and I am very glad that I went. The choir was astounding and the lovely chapel was packed with at least 500 people! When the congregation raised their voices in perfectly harmonious song it literally vibrated the seats. The sermon was given in both English and I believe njanjya with every sentence the preacher said in English being repeated by a translator. It made it a bit difficult for me to follow at times but I have to say the preacher sure had a lot of energy!

5 Happy PCV's After a good Days work!

It was an incredibly busy week and weekend here, hence why it has been so long since my last update, but it was oh so very rewardingJ It made me very happy to be a part of everything and to be part of the Munda Wanga family. I hope that everyone at home is doing well! I miss and love you all! Love, Tammy

May 23, 2012

When it comes to updating and improving things around a zoo it’s all in the details. It’s absolutely amazing the difference a new coat of paint or fresh browse can make in an exhibit. Having redone a number of exhibits in my life I have come to understand the importance of these little details. It may not even be something the public could point out as to why an exhibit looks improved or nicer, but they notice the details when they need improvement. I especially learned the importance of details while working at Disney in their marine mammal area. Everything came down to the details and that is what made the visitor experience so unique and memorable, nothing was ever taken for granted.

Munda Wanga is now taking that approach! It is amazing to watch the exhibits add new details that add not only enrichment for the animals, but also allows the guest to see them better, the areas easier for the keepers to take care of, as well as improving the housing for the animals. One of our amazing volunteers put in a few days very hard and dedicated work turning the guinea pig exhibit around. The original Room after being washed and scrubed

First she had to catch all the guinea pigs and get them secured in a secondary holding area before the hard work really began. Next she had to pull out all the old substrate and bedding and then scrub the entire exhibit clean. This included the floors, the walls, and the ceilings. Next a few fresh coats of white paint were added in to freshen up the place. Once the paint dried new bedding and substrate was added along with fresh brows. Next came the boxes, crates, and tunnels for the guinea pigs to hide in and play in. The room after the paint job

The last thing we did was to let the guinea pigs out in to their new home. This is always my favorite thing to do after finishing a new exhibit. Getting to watch the little guys explore and have fun, play with all the new things, and to truly enjoy everything that was changed. Three of us stood for about 20 minutes today watching the guinea pigs and all their antics in their new home. We couldn’t look away, they all seemed so happy. It makes all of the hard work rewarding. I am still smiling at just the thought of it.The Room After all the bedding has been added

The Guinea Pigs having Fun!

I am a firm believer in taking baby steps and that each step forward brings you closer to your goal. Each detail that is noticed, worked on, and improved upon adds to the overall picture, no matter how small or insignificant. Getting to watch and experience the forward progress happening at Munda Wanga is a true treat and one that I am greatly enjoying and blessed to be a part of. I wish that all my friends and family could come and join me here. Know that you are all in my heart and I love and miss you allJLove, Tammy

May 21, 2012

There is one thing that I will never tire of here in Zambia; that is the beauty of the sky, the stars and the sun. It is something so uniquely Africa. I’ve had the good fortune to have been able to travel to many places and live long term in some of those places as well. Each one is different and holds their own beauty. I have become a coinsure of sunsets and sunrises over the years and the ones here in Zambia are spectacular. The sun here can be so intense here in the middle of the day, especially in hot season, but as we are moving into cold season I welcome the warmth of the it’s rays. Even as the evenings turn chilly the warmth of the setting sun gets me every time and I stand in awe of its beauty as it paints the landscapes with brilliant oranges, yellows, and deep reds. We have an eagle nest in the middle of the animal sanctuary and each time the eagles take flight with the setting African sun in the background I can help but marvel at nature’s awesomeness. Even after the sun sets the show does not stop. Millions of stars begin to come out as the sun sinks over the horizon, twinkling and sparkling in the night sky. Every time I look up, even after being here 10 months and seeing it night after night, I am struck dumb by the beauty. Whenever there is a full moon it is as bright as daylight out and it makes me want to go out and frolic and play as I did as a child.

The beauty of Africa is timeless and I hope that generations to come can also experience the raw beauty that the land and the sky hold here. I could take a million pictures, from every angle possible with the best camera on earth and still not capture the brilliant beauty. This is a place that needs to be experienced firsthand and felt with the heart, body, mind and spirit. I feel so incredibly lucky to have been placed here as a Peace Corps Volunteer. To all those back home, I miss you all, and wish that you could all be here too and see the amazing beauty that Africa holds. Love Always, Tammy

May 18, 2012

The most exciting thing that happens to you in Peace Corps is getting your mail! This is no joke and I’m not kidding at all:) It doesn’t matter if it snail mail, email, Facebook messages, or packages full of goodies. The reason it matters so much is because you know that people care, are thinking about you and love you. As a PCV you can go through a lot of difficult times. You are alone in another country hundreds and sometimes thousands of miles from home and the people you love and trust. Getting a letter or a funny email can not only brighten your day, but get you through all the difficult times. I have saved every letter and card I have received since coming to country. The cards go up on my wall and the letters get put away into a folder and every time I need a little cheering up I go to that folder pull out a letter and start reading. It can turn a long bad day into a good day:) I have also been very blessed with the number of pictures people have sent me from home and those too have joined the cards on the wall and add not only personality to my room but make it home as well. My Wall of Cards

One of the most important lessons I have learned being a PCV is how important the people we love in our lives are. They make us who we are in many ways, and are always there for us, even when we are not close together. They are the people we go out on the town with and the ones we look to when we are having a bad day. The people we care about and who care about us are the things that truly make our lives whole, not the new Jaguar. After my Peace Corps experience I realize how little I really need to be able to live. All material items can be replaced, given time and money, and not important to begin with. What is important though, are the people and animals that color our live with love and friendship.

I can don’t need a wonderful house, but I do need wonderful friends. Eating scrumptious food alone is 100 times worse than eating mediocre food with fabulous people. I don’t have to have expensive clothing when I know I have family and friends who don’t care about what I look on the outside, but know that I am beautiful on the inside. I don’t care how much it costs to get a pet cat home when he gives so much and love and support to me. Money is just money and can always be easily earned and replaced, but love and friendship is not easily come by and/ or easy to replace once it is gone. Rather than investing in our 401K’s we should be investing in the people around us, they are the ones that make us rich and in the end they are the only thing that really matters.

I have been so truly blessed in my life to have it full of amazing people. Trusting and accepting help from people is not something that comes easily or naturally to me, I want to be and am used to being the one who is able to help and to give freely. I have however have been knocked down again and again in amazement at the generosity, love , and support always shown to me by the people around me. It humbles me and always makes me want to be a better person and to give more in return.

Being in Zambia the last 10 months has truly helped me come to realize what is important in life, and why countries like Zambia are truly rich, perhaps not in oodles of cash but in love and friendship they are blessed. Thank you to all my friends and family out there, who write, call, message me, read my blog, send packages, and who have always been there for me. You are all truly amazing people and I am so very lucky to have you all a part of my life:) Miss you and love you dearly:) Love, Tammy

May 15, 2012Getting Diets Together

For the past 4 ½ months myself along with other volunteers and the Munda Wanga Staff have been working on a massive diet change. Today I am very proud to say that the diet change went live and is now happening in the park!!!! To say that today was a big day would be an understatement:) It’s not to say that the animals were not getting enough to eat before or that their diets were horrible, but there was definitely room for improvement.Diet Buckets

The process started back in December when our vet volunteer, Lauren, did an entire diet review (not an easy task and I have to say that she did an amazing job!). The next step was for us to figure out how to make all the suggested changes, also not an easy task. Myself along with Raphael, and another volunteer, went through every animal and figured out what the best, most well rounded, nutritious diet was that we could possible give to each animal was; then we figured out what was possible here at Munda Wanga. Given that we survive almost completely on donations when it comes to food and that this is Zambia and there are certain things that are just not possible to buy, we had to accept it is the way it is. After putting everything together and getting it all sorted out and functional; today was the start of the new plan. I gave a presentation to the keepers so that they would know why we made the changes that we did. I want them to be in charge of this so that they will know when to give an increase or a decrease and how much to do. I also want them to understand the basics of nutrition and why we are doing more veggies than fruit and why there is now so much variety in each of the animal’s diets. 1st Part of the Diet Presentation

The keepers again blew me away with all the questions they asked and how much they cared about all the diet changes and the animals involved:) The changes we are making are not simple ones and it is going to require a considerable amount of time of each keeper’s day to make the changes successful, but rather than shrinking from the challenge and complaining; they instead not only seemed excited about the change but also were also happy to see it happen. Kingsley with Finished Diets

The diet changes are just one of many positive changes happening here at Munda Wanga. I am delighted with the progress we have all made. The teamwork that is happening here really amazes me. I love getting to watch management and the staff come together on everything going on, and work together as a team for a better place for all involved. While doing the diet presentation today I used the old phrase “Together we stand, divide we fall.” It’s so true. When everyone comes together and has each other’s backs, offers support, and does their best; amazing things can happen. I’m watching it happen right now.

So to leave off for today I will just say thank you to all the keepers for making a very major change and for facing it head on. There will be more to come on the diet changes as things move forward and improve even more. For now I will say goodnight to all and that I love and miss everyone from home, Tammy

May 13, 2012

Happy Mother’s Day out there to all the moms around the world! You all deserve not only a day but a whole week in my opinion! Today is the day to celebrate all moms large and small, old and young, human and animal. Moms have one of the most important jobs in the world, not to mention one of the most difficult. They keep future generations going and raise them to be strong individuals. They care for us when we are babies, teach us to think for ourselves and to make good decisions in life, then they are there for us when we screw up, they want only the best for us, they pick us up when we fall, and are always there with a helping hand.

Being a zookeeper and animal trainer I have felt like a mom to all the animals I have ever had under may care. I was never happier when my babies were doing well and I was never more upset when my babies were hurt or sick. While I do not have children of my own right now I still cannot help but marvel at the moms in our world.

Mom orangutans never put their babies down they always hold them, even when sleeping and walking around, and they nurse them until they are 6 to 7 years old!

Mom elephants carry their babies for 22 months and then after they are born have to guide them everywhere for the first few days since they cannot not see well.

Humpback whale moms feed their babies for the first few months in warm tropical waters and have no food themselves until they go back to the chilly waters of the north, usually much skinnier than before. The babies can drink over 100 gallons of the super fat rich milk every day.

Mom alligators not only fiercely protect their nests but will carry their babies around in their mouths for protection. Talk about being a brave baby!

Cheetah moms have 4-6 cubs at a time and have to care for them all at once, without out any help, usually having them with her for two years or more.

Octopus can lay over 50,000 eggs at a time and they protect them the entire 40 days it takes them to hatch! During that time unless prey comes near enough to grab they will go without food!

Giraffes give birth standing up!

Hippos on the other hand give birth underwater to a baby that can weigh over 100 pounds. Can I just say OUCH!

North American Possums can have up to 14 baby’s at a time (at least they are the size of a bumble bee when born) and they carry them all around in their pouch and on their backs until they are ready to “leave the nest”.

Last but not least I have to give the biggest shout out in the world to my own mom. I have been blessed with an absolutely amazing mom. She has never been anything but supportive to me and while we don’t always agree or get along perfectly I have to say that I feel blessed that she not just my mom, but also a best friend:) I enjoy hanging out with her as much as any of my other friends! I don’t know what I would do without her. She helps me though the bad times and is there celebrating the good times as well. I cannot even think of all the hysterical phone calls she has received from me since coming to Africa, yet each time rather than telling me to get my butt home (which is what she would love to say), she tells me to be strong and to keep going, that I can do it! I don’t know if I will ever be able to repay her for all of the guidance, kindness, and support she has given to me my whole life. All I can hope for is that I can be half as amazing to my kids as she has been for me.My Mom and Me!

So to all the moms out there, Thank you for all that you do and all that you sacrifice and go through for your children. To my mom, I love and miss you all the time. And to all my friends and family out there I love and miss you too, but today remember to tell your mom how much you love and care about her too! Love, Tammy

May 12, 2012The Munda Wanga Family

Last night Munda Wanga celebrated Labor Day for its Employees in grand fashion. Management put together a brie (BBQ) so that all of the employees could attend and have a good time and form bonds of fun and friendship. Between the amazing food; roasted chicken, steak, sausages, coleslaw, a potato dish, rice, and of course nshema, and the plentiful drinks of beer and soda everyone had a great time. Humphrey, our amazing maintenance man (who just got the hot shower working here!!!!!!!!!), brought his massive music set up and we also had Zambian music to dance to:) To say the whole night was a success would be an understatement and a half. Oh yea, the Food!!! Yum, Yum, Yum:)

While the pre feast speech was given one thing really hit home to me, “You are all a part of the Munda Wanga family.” In fact it hit so close to home that behind the massive smile on my face I had to blink back a few tears, because I realized that the staff here has become my family. They have all taken me in, care about me, value me for who I am, and we can all laugh and have fun together as well as work hard and achieve great things together. I am so lucky to have them all as my family and friends. Tammy, Timothy, Innocent, Henry, Raphael

Everyone having a good time!

I was also able to realize how far not only I have come since arriving here but I marvel at all the changes happening at Munda Wanga. There was a Christmas brie the second day I was here and I can remember attending that one, being exhausted, and I didn’t even know anyone’s names yet. Many I couldn’t even tell you what department they were in. I was overwhelmed from moving and getting used to my new surroundings as well as overwhelmed at the task before me. Last night, while laughing and joking with everyone (I can now say that I know everyone’s name that works for Munda Wanga), I was able to think back and realized how far we have all come since then. The sanctuary and the gardens seem so much more alive now than they did back in January. The staff seems positive and optimistic anticipating all of the positive changes that are not only currently happening, but also coming in the near future. The fact that everyone was wearing their new uniforms (and I have to say everyone looked very smart and snazzy) and had new shoes on top of it was an obvious reason for being proud of where they work:) The keepers have all become official members of the African Keepers association too in the last week and have cards, hats, and badges to prove it. Next week we are launching the new diet plan that has taken months and hundreds of hours of many peoples time to put together. We even have a new scale to weigh everything on and new buckets for feeding are coming and shelving in the cooler are soon to go up. I now have the Microsoft office program to do all of my office work on! We have a water filter and hot water in the volunteer area (I cannot even tell anyone how excited I am about this, especially as cold season has been setting in)!!!!!!!!!!!! The education center is looking spiffier by the day. Exhibits are being transformed and the positive energy coming out of the staff is astounding. I am so proud to be a part of everything going on right now and am looking forward to all the amazing things that are going to be happening in the future. I keep saying to everyone to keep taking baby steps because before you know it you will have gotten very far without even realizing it in the process. Tammy Learning to Dance

Tammy Trying to Dance

Tammy Dancing with Papa Simon

I will leave this blog post with the memorable pictures from last evening. It was great fun to watch everyone let their hair down and dance the night away (BTY: Munda Wanga is home to some pretty fabulous dancers!). I even joined in, although I couldn’t hold a candle to any of the staff, and did my best to learn the Zambian dances. I need to learn how to move my hips properly, lol. Anyway I love and miss you all back home and wish that you all could have been here last night to join the festivities. Love, Tammy

May 10, 2012 One of the most developed skills that I have been working on since coming to Zambia is patience. While I have always had a considerable amount of patience I have to say that it seems like nothing compared to what I have developed since coming to Zambia. Everything takes time here. The word fast takes on a whole new meaning. There are no such things as fast food (although there is take away), express lanes, or turnpikes; things such as a quick trip to the market or the post office do not exhist. I have learned to take a book with me everywhere I go and to simply breathe and smile and not be in a rush. Everything will get done eventually. My good friend Erica who lives in Northern Province sent me chatange rugs from her provincial capital, Kasama. The funny thing is that although we talked about her sending them down in February ; I just picked them up today and I was not fazed by it at all, I was just thrilled to have beautiful rugs for my room and was so grateful for my friend to send them down for me. Especially with moving into cold season it will be nice to have a rug under my feet rather than cold concrete:) Then again tonight my patience was tried. I was typing up a very detailed and thorough VRT Report (it is a report that volunteers fill out for Peace corps 4 times a year, I try to update mine monthly rather than attempting 3 months at once because I have so many projects and program going on it would take forever) and I thought that the program was saving each entry after I clicked on save and close. Then the computer program got a glitch, quit responding, and the whole program closed on me. No worries I thought I have everything saved. I go to open it and oh no nothing is there, 3 ½ hours of work gone and up in smoke. I cursed at myself a little and then I just started laughing. I mean a full from the belly laugh and tears even started coming out of my eyes. I must be the most cursed person with electronics and computers in Zambia. I have never in my life had so many problems with electronics or files just poof gone. It is another one of the many patience things that I have been learning here. Why get upset about something so trivial? It is better to laugh about it than to do anything else. There is that saying out there that “Good things come to those who wait”. I guess I have started embracing that idea and have given up on the idea that all must get done right away. My “in box’ is never going to be empty, I am always going to have something going on and something that needs to get done. One of the many things that has come out of my experience here is knowing that it will all be waiting for me when I get back to it. I can always take a break and the stuff will still be right where I left it waiting and now I’ll get it done. I ended up staying up till 2 AM last night reading A Time To Kill by John Grisham, I simply couldn’t put it down there was no way I was going to be able to go to sleep without knowing the ending of the story. Was it worth it? Oh yes, still got up at 6 am bright eyed and bushy tailed and hit the day running. In fact I have been running all day. I have been non-stop working at the Peace Corps office since arriving earlier today. I have been able to catch up on so much when I don’t have the interruptions or distractions I have back at Munda Wanga. I guess getting to finish such a good book gave me the fuel I needed, or maybe it was the three cans of coke lite I sucked down, lol. All things will get done. Something you just have to do them at the right time and have a little patience in the in between:) Love and Miss you All! Tammy

May 7, 2012

I decided to celebrate May day a few days late this year and ended up hosting a Brie (the Zambian word for BBQ) this past Saturday in honor of May Day, Cinco De Mayo, and my friend Mary Ellen’s Birthday! It turned out to be a small get together with only two Munda Wanga volunteers and two Peace Corps volunteers, but it was a great time and everyone had a lot of fun. I ended up doing steak and chicken on the grill and also made roasted potatoes, coleslaw, deviled eggs, garlic bread and others also added in a homemade pumpkin cake, cheese stuffed peppers, and wine! The food ended up being delicious and the day was absolutely perfect. Since Zambia is in the southern hemisphere and not the northern all of the seasons are switched. We are headed into our cold season now and the rainy season is finished for the year. It will be a long time before we see the rains again. You can already see the changes in the park as much of the lush vegetation is starting to turn brown and dry up. The keepers are getting fire breaks made for all the exhibits incase we start having fires in the area. The gardens receive water so they are as lush and lovely as ever. Even though we are moving into our winter season and not our spring it still felt just like a lovely spring day on Saturday! I tell you I look for the small blessings now in everyday life. Good company and good food are hard to beat!

Watching the seasons change here has been such an adventure ever since I arrived in Zambia. I arrived at the tail end of the cold season last year, I remember freezing the first night in country and thinking “Really? I am in Africa and I’m shivering!”. Everything was already dry in the bush and awaiting the rains to arrive. Then September and October were super hot, but still dry. The end of October welcomed the first showers and they continued right up through March and into the first part of April. Now each day is dry, sunny, and the perfect temperature! The best part is that my clothing always dries now and I don’t have to worry about the rains soaking them!

Anyway I will keep it short today:) Miss and love you all! Love, Tammy

May 5, 2012

The month of April was a busy month in terms of the goings and comings of all the volunteers here at Munda Wanga. I have become the unofficial volunteer coordinator volunteer area keeper. It's a job I think that I am skilled at, but it can also be time consuming and exhausting. One of my projects here is trying to get the volunteer area and programs working and running a bit smoother, and it's slowly coming along. Just like in the park baby steps and I can see things slowly improving:)

Early this past month my good friend Cynthia, who was one of the vet volunteers, found a full time paid job here in Lusaka and took that. I was so happy for her to find a full time job that paid her a decent wage, but I was also very sad to see my friend move away. Her departure was followed by the departure of another shorter term volunteer and I have to say that I was not sad to see her leave. It is amazing though she must have taken the gremlins that were raiding the kitchen with her because I have't had any more of my food disappear, which I am very grateful for:) The volunteer area is never quiet for long. As some people changed rooms I got space together for two young boys coming here from Holland. They were 15 and 16 and ended up being very hard workers and nice polite young men. They had been given a school assignment to go to an English speaking country and work in a facility there for two weeks so that they could practice their English. I had a great time getting to know them and I think that they had a great learning experience not only by getting to practice their English, but also getting to take care of them selves in the real world. One of the things that volunteers have to do here is cook for themselves in the evening. I was able to teach them how to make rice and some other simple dishes so that they could eat something more than PB and J:) It was so nice to have young people around who were full of energy, positivity, and joy! We have also had another volunteer arrive from Australia,who also has a zoo keeping background! I'm so excited to have another keeper volunteer here to have not only more ideas flying around on improvements we can make, but to also help me stay motivated:) I ended up making a spaghetti dinner for all the volunteers on Wednesday evening and we had a great time together laughing, getting to know one another, and enjoying a delicious meal. I am back to cleaning the boys room out to day so that volunteers from the Zambian primate project have room to sleep come Monday. Never a dull day at Munda Wanga.

Not only have we had a lot of changes in the volunteer area here at Munda Wanga but it was also a huge time for change in Peace Corps as well. The Agriculture and education volunteers that had arrived in 2010 left for home and we swore in the new volunteers from the 2012 intake for the same programs. One thing about being a PCV is that while you will always have friends in other volunteers, making strong deep friendships is very difficult due to the fact that everyone lives so far away and communication is very difficult and people keep coming and going.

While I am getting used to the ever changing residence here at Munda Wanga I will be grateful in the future to have a bit more peace and quiet and will be thrilled to be around close fiends and family again:) Miss you all and love you all from the very bottom of my heart! Love, Tammy

April 30, 2012

In life you meet amazing people over the years! So of those people help you to grow, some become best friends and others are a mirror to you so you can see your self better. Last spring I got to meet and become friends with a little girl named Mandi. Mandi surprised me the first time I met her with her maturity and thoughtfulness for others. I know that when I was 7 I was not that conscious of the world. I can remember telling her about where I was going with Peace Corps and that I was going to be living in a mud hut in a village just like the locals. I remember the look that came over her face as I told her about Zambia and the people who live there, so thoughtful. Later that week when her mom came into work and told me that Mandi wanted to start a car wash to earn money for kids that needed help. Mandi had a game plan and everything on how she was going to be able to do this. I was stunned. Mandi continued to amaze me with how much she cared for and wanted to help others. Mandi was a huge help to me before leaving for Peace Corps. She went shopping with me for needed supplies and even took care of my chinchilla, Dorian, when I went away for a weekend. Along with the Help of her family Mandi came up with the idea of putting together an organization that was all about kids helping kids. That is how Simon Says Give was born.

Getting to watch an amazing little girl come up with the idea for and putting into action an organization that helps other kids has been astounding. Mandi proves that you don’t have to have a lot of money to help others or have oodles of time to spare. All you have to do is care and then do what you can. If we all reached out a helping hand to others and remembered to pay forward the kindness that is shown to us we can all make this world a better place. I stand in humble wonder at what one little girl, with the biggest heart I’ve ever seen, can accomplish. I can’t wait to get involved with Simon Says Give and be apart of an organization that has been built out of nothing except for love, kindness, and at lot of caring. Mandi proves to me that there are no limits when it comes to what someone can do when they put their mind to it.

I know that I feel my best when I am able to help others. It’s not just helping people either; it’s the environment, animals, and our world as well. Each time we tell someone what an amazing person they are or what a great job they have done we raise their spirits, then in response they will be kind to someone else. Kindness doesn’t cost is anything, in fact it only adds to us. I recently read a quote that said something to the effect of: like the flame of a candle kindness can be passed from person to person, lighting up a room, and the original flame will never diminish or get smaller. As we light the flames of kindness in others we are only adding light to the whole room. Our flame will nerve get smaller by spreading kindness it can only grow as it joins with others. The power of positive thought and love is astounding. Imagine what our world could be like if we all were as courageous and wise as Mandi. What if we couldn’t see all that was wrong with the world, but looked for the good things instead and focused on that? We are not made rich by the amount of money that we have, but by the love in our lives.

I pose this question to everyone reading this blog. What simple kindness can you show to someone else today? I miss you all and love you all from the very bottom of my heart and can’t wait till I can see you all again:) Love,. Tammy

April 27, 2012

On Wednesday I got to go to a place where few Peace Corps Volunteers have gone before, the American Embassy oddly enough! The only reason you are permitted to the enter the American Embassy in Zambia is if you have official business. Wednesday I had official business, I was a panel member for a green team presentation and I was talking about what Munda Wanga is doing for the environment. The Green Team at the embassy wanted to do something to celebrate Earth Day. The American Embassy is a huge compound on Ibex Hill, not far from the Peace Corps office. It is visible from all over, there is no need to ever ask "Where is the American Embassy?". While everyone can see the compound with it's high walls and electric fencing not everyone is permitted inside, no tourist attraction here. Even as I was permitted to go through I was amazed at how tight security was. My name had to be on an official list and my passport was rigorously inspected for authenticity. I went through a metal detector and my purse went through an ex-ray machine. Unlike at an airport though where they are just checking to make sure you are not carrying any weapons, here my phone was taken, my Ipod was taken along with the headphones, even my make up was confiscated along with my lip balm. I was surprised when they let me keep my pen. Talk about security, the Embassy workers must feel very safe there:) I know that I did.

I didn't know exactly what to expect for the event. I didn't know if a lot of people were coming or just a few. I didn't know how many people were going to be on the panel and since the discussion was going to be question driven by the audience, you never know what was going to be asked. I ended joining 5 other panellist members from different environmental organisations that operate in Zambia. Some of them I had met before at other functions like the Green Expo and other had been out to Munda Wanga before. Not only was I the youngest person to be on the panel by a number of years, but I was also the only woman, and the only American. I am not a person that usually get nervous but the butterfly's started dancing around in my stomach as I realised not only that I was with very significant people working in the environmental community, but I was also going to be talking to a number of very important people who were in attendance. The American Ambassador was there along with the Zambian Minister of Land and Natural Resources. Thank God for all of my theatre training and ability to think on the fly it came in very useful.

The event went well for the most part but there wasn't much time for questions since some of the panellists took awhile to introduce their organizations and what they were doing. I did my best to keep my intro short and to the point. Better for people to be hungry for more information than to give them too much at the start. After the discussion I had a number of people approach me asking about volunteer information:) I was tickled pink that some of the people in attendance were interested in becoming more involved at Munda Wanga! So in my mind it was a huge success. I was also impressed by how many Embassy workers care so much about the environment and are interested in becoming involved in ways to help. It makes me very proud to be an American and to be a Peace Corps volunteer. I know that I am doing my part to help, small as it may be, I am doing something and if I can inspire others to do the same then that's half the battle.

Miss you all back home and I hope that you were all able to do something for Earth Day this year too. Each little thing we do can have a major impact in the long run. Every bottle or can we recycle is one less in a rubbish pile. Each time we plant a tree we are adding to the environment. Every time we car pool, even with just one other person, is decreasing out carbon footprint. The Earth is a beautiful place and one we all need to take care of. If each of use does one little thing every day to do our part we are making a huge difference! Love and miss you all and Happy Earth Day, Tammy

April 25, 2012

I fell in love with animal training at a very young age. I can still remember the first time I went to Sea World at the age of 10 and knew that I wanted to be able to "talk" to animals like that. I had found one of the passions in my life and I have never stopped loving it. I think that one of my favourite things I love about animal training is getting to form such a positive relationship with the animals you are working with. When you use positive reinforcement training animals the animals you work with see you as the favourite part of their day. As the trainer you are bringing so many good things in to their lives; treats and food, attention, activity, and a way to activate their minds. Just like humans animals enjoy being able to use their minds and solve problems as well. Before you know it the animals you are working with see you as the best part of their day. Every animal I have ever worked with requires a bit of a different relationship and training techniques. Some need to take baby steps to reach a goal, where others charge ahead of you and all you can try to do is keep up with them.

I have been given such an amazing opportunity here at Munda Wanga not to train the animals (I could if I wanted), but I have been given the opportunity to teach the keepers to train! That way I can impart the knowledge to them and even after I leave the training can continue. Positive reinforcement classical conditioning animal training can be difficult to get your head around in the beginning. So many new terms and things don't always follow a logical pattern. I stared the keepers out playing the "training game" and over the past few weeks have added in all the terms and ways in which to use positive reinforcement. No one can truly learn how to train just listening though. It is a skill that needs to be learned by doing. 90% of training is all in the timing. It is all about capturing the perfect moment when an animal does exactly what you want them to do and telling them Good Job and getting a reward to them. So I set the keepers out and we are now working with the animals in the park.

I have been blown away by the dedication and progress everyone has made in just the last week. To continue giving guidance and little suggestions I am meeting with each keeper at least once a week to see how the progress is going and how the animal is doing. Not only is the training new to the keepers it is also new to the animals. The beginning of training can be frustrating on both the part of the keeper and the animal. They are both trying to figure out what exactly is going on and progress is slow. Everything is built slowly but once the foundation is established and the training language is fluent for both trainer and animal the rest is built up quickly.

There are so many little things to over come in the beginning. Having the animal calm and focused on you, trust me this isn't an easy feat for some animals. Building trust to take food from your hand and to come close. Many of our keepers are also having to work with multiple animals at the same time which is also very difficult. In just the last few days I have seen the the keepers earn the focus and trust of many of the animals they are working with. I am so excited to see where we end up going on this journey! We are forging together into territory unknown and I am excited for the keepers to step into the word of human animal connections and positive relationship. It's amazing where a kind word and a bit of praise can take you.

Looking for the best in people or in animals is the best way to go in any situation. We all make mistakes. It isn't so much as being human, but as being animal. We all have emotions, feeling, strengths, and weaknesses. It's part of the package deal we are dealt at the time of birth. The true beauty of animal training I feel is in getting to develop a language with animals that you both understand and are able to work together by using it. It's all about working together, listening closely, and everyone, human and animal giving their all!

I encourage each and every person to reach out not only to the people in their lives but the animals as well and to extend a positive and kind word. To end I just wanted to shout out to all my fiends and family and tell you all how very much I love you:) Miss you all, Love Always., Tammy

April 23, 2012

Last night I just finished reading the book Marley and My by John Grogan. For those of you who have read the book or have seen the movie you know what a wonderful story it is, the truths and realties it reflects in any animal owners life, and the tears and joys it brings you in the story telling. If you haven’t read it, do. Having seen the movie before I read the book I knew how it was going to end and that Marley after a full life was going to pass away like we all do eventually. Even knowing and anticipating the end didn’t stop the tears from streaming down my face. I also couldn’t stop my laughter at all of Marley’s antics all the way through the book. For anyone who owns a pet we all can identify with the book. It is impossible not to.

With out releasing it at the time I had picked a time to read this when it had a huge impact on me. Two years ago on Aril 20, 2010 my beloved dog Lucky passed away. Despite all of the pets of my youth and even the ones I have aquaried as an adult there has never been another Lucky. Lucky could be stubborn and he also was never afraid to bite if he wanted (my two scars that I still have are from him), he got into trouble all the time, but just like Marley he was also a wonderful dog. He was incredibly loyal and intuitive. I never had to tell him when I was sick or sad, he always knew and would never leave my side. He would play, right up to the very end with the heart of a puppy. He loved life and he loved everyone around him. While Kara, our Akita, took on the role of protector, Lucky was the charmer. He wormed his way into my heart and has never ever left. The night I got the call from my Mom telling me he had Ostia sarcoma, a cancer that had eaten away the bone in his back leg, and that we were going to have to put him down tore me to pieces. I will never be able to tank my mom enough for getting him through the last week of his life so that I could fly home and say goodbye and be there at the end. I can hardly believe that it has been two years since I was awakened by him kissing my face. It’s seems like so long ago and like yesterday at the same time.

Losing a beloved pet is one of the hardest things we ever go through in life. I have gone through it countless times and yet I still get another and put myself though it all over again. Like in the book Marley and Me John Grogan talks about how Marley taught him just how important love was and how important it is to fully live our lives. I think that is what pets are supposed to do. Dogs, Cats. Rabbits, Chinchillas, Parrots, take your pick; they never judge us, they love us for exactly who we are. I think it is the reason we can become so close to them and love them so much in return. Pets make us laugh, the make us cry, the can be frustrating and make us angry, and then bring us so much joy the next minute.

Leaving for Zambia the hardest thing to do was to leave my Chinchilla, Dorian, at home. While I know that my friends who are taking care of him are doing a wonderful job and love him I also can’t help but miss him. I also had no intention of getting a pet while in Zambia. I didn’t want the work, the hassle, or the expense. I should have known better the moment we pulled Galahad out of the drain that I was going to take him in. Now I can’t imagine him not being here. Not only does he bring me so much joy and laughter with all his antics, but he is also a huge comfort. While finishing the book, crying away, Galahad crawled into my lap and began purring and wanting attention. It was as if he were trying to make my tears go away.

This is why I continue to have pets and always will. They fill a place in our lives that no other person can. I always say a house is not a home with out a pet. Yes they can be problems at times but they are also incredibly important and give us so much love. If anything we can learn a lot from our pets. How to enjoy life with out holding back. Not being afraid to love someone for exactly who they are. And how to find happiness in the simple things in life. As always I Love and Miss you all, Tammy

April 21, 2012

I can remember the morning when I came up with the name for my blog. I was working in a office as a temp at the time and I had been thinking about what to call my blog for the last couple of weeks. I wanted it to reflect what my time would be like in Zambia. I knew that there were going to be a lot of great times, but I also knew that there were also going to be many difficult times as well, and I knew that I would have to be through them. At that time I couldn’t have foreseen what all would transpire, but I had heard enough Peace Corps stories to know also that while almost every PCV I had ever met were glad they had done it they also had tough times as well. Then as if in a flash of inspiration it came to me smiles and spirit in Zambia! I knew that it was going to take a goodly amount of spirit to get through the though times, but I was expecting lots of smiles as well. What I never thought about is that I would be entering on spiritual journey as well.

I have always considered my self a very spiritual person. Not religious mind you. I have always had a fascination for religion and in my teenage years actually took to studying all of them trying to figure out what I believed and which one suited me best. They were all interesting and I loved doing the research. I ended up finding my beliefs in many of the religions, but not one suited me perfectly which is why I have remained spiritual, but not religious. Being in Zambia I have people ask me all the time what church I go to. I will tell them that I don’t go to church, I prefer to find my spirituality at home or in nature. The next question is always always followed up by, do you believe in god? The answer to that is firm and truthful yes. I also tell them that I find god best in nature not in a church.

Since coming to Zambia I have had my faith tried and tested and rather than being diminished in anyway I find it growing and I have been finding myself awaking to a deeper understanding of things all together. All my life I have been blessed with friends and family to help guide me and open me up to new things, places, ideas, and revelations. It hasn’t been until now though that I see just how special they have all been. There have been so many times where by coincidence, fate, or divine interventions I open a book at just the right time in my life for it to have a huge impact. Since coming to Zambia I have had this happen so many times it is staggering. Just like I have had so many absolutely amazing people enter my life at the perfect moment to help me in so many ways here. I feel like I am awaking to new ideas and ways in which to look at the world and to live my life.

I have always been a positive person and now more than ever I can feel positive energy bursting out of me. I don’t know if is my work here as a PCV or if it is the fact that I have time to sit and reflect, or if I am just at the right time in my life to start understanding things at a deeper level. It’s finding out what’s important to me and knowing where I want my life to go in the future. I have gotten so much spiritual guidance over the past months that I feel like I must be one of the luckiest people in the world.

Even yesterday a good friend of mine and her family came to visit me at Munda Wanga. I was thrilled. I have gotten to show other PCV’s Munda Wanga, but I have never gotten to see it through the eyes of Americans fresh off the plane. I volunteered to make a picnic lunch we could eat in the gardens and to give them a tour of the zoo. I had an absolutely wonderful time and I loved the chance to get to share what I had with others. Not just my food but also Munda Wanga, not everyone gets to live in a zoo:) They in return were just wonderful positive people to be around and they recharged my batteries.

If there is one thing in life that I have found to be true it is that Love is more important than anything else in the world. Love can be expressed in so many ways and on so many different levels. I try my best to fill my life with love and a passion for living life to the fullest. I have again been blessed by so many wonderful amazing people and I cannot thank them all enough for being here in my life. So I end this entry, as always, with I love and miss you all from the very bottom of my heart:) Love, Tammy

April 18, 2012

I started taking First Aid Classes when I was about 12 years old at our local Red Cross and I loved them. Every year I would go back for a refresher. First aid has always interested me and has come in handy many times in my life from caring to cuts and scrapes to sprained ankles (I've had a few of those) and I've been able to help a lot of other people as well. In college I took my First Aid training one step further and got certified as an Emergency 1st Responder. While my training has always come in handy I never thought that I would ever get to impart my knowledge in it to others. That has all changed this week. I started doing some very basic first aid training with the staff at Munda Wanga. I can't certify anyone, nor am I teaching the more complicated things like CPR, but bandaging and splinting I can manage.

Basic First Aid Kit

I stared with the keepers on Monday and Tuesday this week and both sessions turned into a huge success. I made everything very interactive and hands on so that it could be fun as well as informative. I was thrilled with how excited everyone got! I also had a blast and really enjoyed my self. My teacher in college was such an amazing influence and did a great job of teaching me and I am now inspired to teach others. You never know when something very basic like how to stop a wound from bleeding is going to save a life. Being a zoo we do work in somewhat dangerous conditions, in fact in America zoo keeping is considered one of the most dangerous jobs around, it is good to know how to take care of yourself if something does happen.

With the success of the initial sessions with the animal keeping staff I am going to also give my little "workshop" to the rest of the staff as well! I love to watch people bonding over something that is great to learn:) I can't complain it was a fantastic start to my week and I'm thrilled that the sessions were so successful:)

Anyway to all of you back home I love and miss you all and know that you are in my thoughts all the time:) Love,. Tammy

April 15, 2012

With the Easter holidays and lots of people travelling my little room has essentially become the newest B&B to open in Chilanga for the exclusive use of Tammy's friends! When I first moved out here I figured that I would get a fair number of visitors since I am so close to Lusaka, but I have been pleasantly surprised by how many want to come by and see me. As much as I want to believe that it's my winning personality and cooking skills that draws them in, I think that it is the Fairy Enchanted Garden and Wildlife Sanctuary and of course Sir Galahad's playfulness makes the visit complete. I have to say that having visitors really makes my day since I don't get to leave Munda Wanga all that often and go and visit them at their sites. Not to mention when other people are here I get to see Munda Wanga through their eyes and it not only makes me appreciate where I live even more, but it also opens my eyes to things I can do to improve everything going here. It also has been such a blessed change to have fun, positive, people around. Being a sensitive person, other peoples emotions and attitudes have a huge affect on me and when I am surrounded by happy people I tend to be happy. I am good at staying positive and optimistic most of the time anyway, but having others around that are that way turbo charges me.Tammy's Room Slumber Party Style

While opening a B&B has been a dream of mine for a while I never would have guessed that I would get to entertain so much while here in Zambia. There are a lot of Amazing PCV's who live in this country and they inspire me to keep going and to do my best. I have been totally blessed to have a number of them come and stay with me. There have been some great BBQ's, engaging games of catch phrase, back rubs, hair cuts, and relaxing times in the gardens sipping wine. Even Galahad Wanted His own Bed:)

I haven't had a "slumber party" in sometime before living here and now I wonder why we stop having slumber parties as we get older. They are a lot of fun when you have the right people and no one has to lose any sleep. PCV's are accustomed to going to bed early and waking early in the village due to the fact that there is no electricity. I may have electricity, but that doesn't change our internal clocks. Even me with electricity I wake up around 5:30 every morning and rarely find myself up past 8. Zambia, as amazing as it can be, takes it out of you resulting people tumbling into dream land the moment their heads hit the pillow.

Well if you count yourself as one of my friends next time you are in the area, give me a call, swing by, and enjoy Munda Wanga:)I love and miss you all, Tammy

Friday April 13, 2012

Friday the thirteenth started out with a bang this year I remember back in 2009 when I worked at Disney and a bunch of friends and I were daring the ominous date to scare us by riding the Tower of Terror 13 times. I had no intention of inviting bad things to happen to me this year, but today alone I was almost involved in a horrible care accident and had my heart stopped on the next car ride while wildly passing others on the road. In the last week I have been in close to 5 accidents in the small amount of transport I have to do and with living in Chilanga I see my fair share of messes after the accidents. The road between Chilanga and Lusaka has an average of 3 deaths per day happen in care related accidents. Had the Munda Wanga driver not been so good at driving and paying attention we would have been smoushed today between a semi-truck and a huge SUV. It was a miracle that nothing did happen. The semi truck was literately inches from taking out the SUV and three mini buses full of people. Had our driver not pulled off to the side of the road when he saw the semi not slowing down we would have been caught in the middle with no escape.

Ever since the car accident in September I have been nervous driving here in Zambia. That nervousness has become more and more acute and has morphed in to something thing close to terror whenever I get into a car. I have to get around and I have to use public transportation so I squash it down and do what I need to, but that doesn't ease the stress, nerves, and anxiety I feel on every single car ride. I thought I was doing a good job of masking it and hiding what I feel, but while riding in a mini bus yesterday with two other PCV's they called me out on it since it was so obvious how I was feeling. Up until that point I hadn't even admired to myself how much I hate transport in this country. I had a good long think about it last night and I realised that it is probably a contributing factor to all of the stress I feel constantly here. Then the incidents happened today and I went into almost complete and total shock, I stopped my self from having a panic attack and melt down by focusing on my breathing, and I know that yes I have a problem with transport.

I am hoping now that I have admitted it to myself I can learn to accept the situation and find some better ways of getting through it, rather than just pretending that I'm fine and dandy. I also think that part of my stress also comes from my living situation. Back when Cynthia and Lauren were here the volunteer area was filled with laughter and friendship. No one was rude or disrespectful to one another, and positive energy and optimistic outlooks propelled everyone forward. I have been surrounded by negativity for so long that it is also wearing me down and killing my spirit. Not to mention I think that gremlins or gnomes mush have moved into the volunteer area since I keep having food go missing that I keep in the fridge. First the end of my loaf of bread, then my margin, and then last night someone ate my left over BBQ chicken. All I can do is hope that the gremlins and gnomes stop their tricks and leave what isn't theirs alone.

My next step is to try and over come my aversion to transport and riding in cars. I don't know if that will ever fully happen, but it is my goal and I'll do my best to archive it:) I am going to make the best out of my living situation and I thank the gods that I have Galahad my kitten to calm me down at the end of the day:) Miss and Love you all, Tammy

April 9, 2012

As much I have been looking forward to a nice relaxing Easter weekend it was not in the cards. My week of death continued this weekend with the death of my computer. My computer has been on deaths doorstep for some time now and never worked properly the entire 5 years I owned it. I only need it to last for the rest of my time here and have been nursing it along the last 2 months. Had I known when I came here that I was going to need to use my computer daily for work I probably would have bitten the bullet and had bought a new one before I left the states. I was supposed to be living in a village without electricity. The most I envisioned using my computer was at the provincial house where I would get 4 days a month to unwind. The village life for me was also not meant to be as I ended up in a conventional living and working situation at Munda Wanga. Here I have been using my computer every day for work so now I am going to have to find alternative options to get my work done. While I am sad about the death of my computer what I am in shock about it that when my computer finally crashed it took my external hard drive with it. I cannot access any of my files! Everything I have been working on for the past 8 months is saved on that external hard drive, including all of the work I have done at Munda Wanga. I am hoping that a computer expert is going to be able to pull the files off. So I am asking a favor of everyone is to think good thought for the recovery of my files.

On a much brighter note despite all of the computer stress going on this weekend I ended up having a lovely Easter. A bunch of friends and I ended up getting together to do an Easter brunch of deviled eggs, fried potatoes, scrambled eggs, fresh homemade bagels, a fruit platter, and mimosas. It was so much fun and so relaxing to hang out with amazing people, eat good food, and enjoy the sun shine. We have moved into cold season about a month and a half early here and sitting in the sun shine now is wonderful rather than overwhelming. I an so grateful for all of the 100 spf sun block people have sent it, it is saving my skin from a lot of pain.

I know that with every bad thing that happens there are also good things that will happen. As I have come to understand since coming here all things happen for a reason, even if they are stressful and frustrating at the time. Now I no longer am going to have to stress over my computer and all of it’s problems and I have a good feeling that I am going to be able to recover my files. I am also going to have more time to read and to write, even if it isn’t on a computer, than I did when I had my computer as a distraction. I love and miss you all, Tammy

April 5, 2012

It has been a very sad week so far here at Munda Wanga. It started on Monday when we had a Grivit monkey pass away and then yesterday we had our cheetah Zig pass away as well. The Grivit had a lot of problems and was slowly just going downhill and Zig had feline infectious anemia. A disease spread by flees that affects red blood cells and depletes them causing the animal to be very weak and once it gets to a certain point the animal isn’t able to recover. Watching the grief and sadness on the keeper’s faces brought me back to when I was a keeper and I realized why I haven’t gotten close to any of the animals here. When you are a zoo keeper the animals you care for become like children to you. You love them, you nurture them, you watch them grow, and many times create families of their own. Every time I have ever left a facility as much as I miss the people or the city it is leaving the animals behind that always rips my heart out. You can stay in touch with people and re visit the place but the relationship that you forded with the animals is broken and will never be the same. I think that I made the unconscious decision here not to get close to the animals for the very reason that I don’t want to get my heart ripped to shreds again.

It’s twice as difficult in a zoo setting to detect illnesses as well due to the fact that wild animals mask their illness so incredibly well. In the wild if they showed that they were at all sick they would be lunch immediately. By the time they are exhibiting symptoms it is many times too late to do anything to correct the problem. I have had it happen to me many times in my career and I watched it happen again twice this week. The keepers react and seek medical attention for the animal as soon as they detect a problem, but many times when the animal is so sick there is just no return. In the past I berated myself because I didn’t see something in time or how did I not know; and the reality is that there is nothing you can do in most cases. It’s why preventive medicine is so important. Making sure that vaccinations are given, flea and tick medications are religiously applied, animals are de-wormed on a regular basis, health checks are performed one or two times a year, and proper nutrition is delivered is so important. These are a lot of the major changes that Munda Wanga is making right now and I am really glad that they are moving more toward the proactive approach of animal care. It makes such a difference in the long term care of the animals.

My heart goes out to the primate and carnivore keepers this week because I know how hard it is to lose an animal that you have loved and cared for. And while I hope that the holiday weekend brings more joy and cheer to everyone is has been a sad start to the week here. I love and miss you all:) Love, Tammy

April1, 2012

I have spent the last two days working the Green Expo in Lusaka with Munda Wanga. Yes, yes you heard me right Lusaka Zambia held its first ever Green Expo at the Lusaka Museum! It’s surprising how popular green technology is becoming in Africa. Part of it is that green technology allows for so many advancements for villagers in remote location. Places that don’t have power lines going to them now are able to power things like cell phones and radios using solar chargers. Building and buying efficient burning stoves saves on the amount of fuel people have to buy and saves tress from being burned down and made into charcoal. Companies are finding ways to melt down plastic bottle caps and bags to make them into bricks that can be used for housing and composting is becoming a popular way of fertilizing garden and fields. Its great how being environmentally friendly can also be good for the economy and peoples well being as well.

Munda Wanga set up a booth at the green expo to get more exposure for all of the environmental programs we have going on and it also became a great networking opportunity. Munda Wanga has changed so much over the years that even native Lusankians don’t realize how many improvements have been made and how many fantastic programs we have going on. Between the education department and all of their programs, the rehabilitation and release program with the animals, local volunteer program I’m getting started, and now my enrichment and training program we are flying forward in new territory when it comes to being a fantastic facility.

I had a great time talking to people about all of the interesting things going on at Munda Wanga and getting to share what a wonderful place it is to come and relax, enjoy the day, and get back in though with nature. I think getting back in touch with nature is something we all need to do a little more often. It really is wonderful to be able to listen to the birds sing, feel the breeze blowing through the trees, and to feel the purity of sitting on grass. Lusaka has very few places with in the city that people could go and relax, have a picnic, and enjoy nature. Munda Wanga provides everything a person could want for a day trip into a fairy enchanted garden and animal sanctuary.The Kids Corner

Besides for getting to talk about Munda Wanga I was also able to visit other exhibitors too. Another PCV was there with IT’s Wild, a company that makes Peanut Butter, honey, rice, and soya. Besides from having a delicious product (It’s Wild peanut butter is the best I have ever had in my whole life) they are also saving wildlife by turning poachers into farmers. It’s Wild exchanges seeds and farming knowledge to reformed poachers in return for their snares and their guns. That way the reformed poachers have a better way to make money, less animals are being poached, and a great product is being made that is affordable and delicious.

I also fell in love with the food and drinks from UnMayo a health food store and Green Fox. Green Fox is healthy organic food that is produced by a Dutch Expat. All of her food and drinks were amazing and she has a cook book coming out with all of the recipes. I am so excited and it is something I am going to spend my money on when it is released. I was really inspired to start eating better.

All in all is was a very successful venture for Munda Wanga and I am so glad that we did it. I feel like a lot of people who didn’t know what we were about now are informed and we inspired people who hadn’t been out to visit in a while to make the trek to come and see us again.

As always I love and miss you all and cannot wait to see you all again. Love, Tammy

March 29, 2012

I have to thank everyone out there for all of your comments and words of encouragement. I don’t know what I would do without my amazing friends and family. I wouldn’t be able to make it through my Peace Corps experience without all of you. I really needed some outside opinions and advice on my situation here and I am so grateful for all of the suggestions and support that I have received. There is nothing like a glass of wine and a good friend to make you feel a little better:)

As you can imagine the volunteer area has been less than pleasant today after my blog posting yesterday. The amazing thing is that rather than feeling bad about what I wrote I am relieved to have my feelings out in the open and to have people know where I stand. I may be a nice, positive, and happy person, but I am also not a door mat and I am not about to let people walk all over me.

When it comes to dealing with people you are never going to make everyone one happy all of the time. I don’t expect everyone to like me and I would be surprised if they did. I have also realized through life that when it comes to people the only ones who you need to care about are the ones who matter to you. I know that I am respected and loved by the people I care about and who really matter to me. Knowing that allows me to let so much other stuff go. I am not going to be wasting my time or energy on people who don’t matter to me anymore, life to too short for that.

Going back to the question do I stay or do I go? For now the answer is I am going to stay. I am not done with my work here and I have not accomplished the personal goals I have set for myself yet. The morning I wake up and know that I am ready to go, whether that day is October 21, 2013 or next Tuesday, I will listen to my instincts and know that I am making the right decision for myself. Knowing that the staff doesn’t want me to leave either makes the world of difference and is another major form of support when I am going through things like this.

I wanted to add on is that I am a person that tells the truth; even when it isn’t pleasant I feel that the truth will always get you farther. This blog details my journey here in Africa. It has a lot of positive stuff in it, but life isn’t just full of the good it is also has bad things that happen to. I was asked to take the last posting down today to which I said no. What is written in there are my feelings on the things that are happening to me and I am entitled to share my feelings how I see fit with who I want. I am not ashamed to admit when I am going through a tough time. Just like I am not ashamed to admit when I have made a mistake, I am human after all. Life would be rather boring after all if it were perfect.

Before I close this blog I want to say the deepest heartfelt thanks to everyone out there for supporting me and showing me so much love, support, and kindness when I need it. You all mean the world to me and I really am the most blessed person to have such absolutely amazing people in my life. Love you all and miss you like crazy, Tammy

I am going to preface this blog with I would not normally put these thoughts and feeling in a place where the world could read them, but I have reached a point where cretin things are past the point of caring and all I have left is honesty.

March 28, 2012

I have been through a lot since coming to Africa. I went through the language learning process with a first time teacher for Peace Corps Volunteers. I endured a host family that did not feed me properly. I made the best of having a new training site that Peace Corps was just trying to figure out. I ended up having a creepy counterpart that wanted to sleep with me and steel from me. I was originally placed in one of the most remote and hectic villages in the country and was only a few KM from where another PCV was almost murdered 15 years ago. I have put up with endless harassment from locals. I survived a massive car accident and have dealt with the subsequent injuries, many of which will be problems for the rest of my life. At this time I still fought to stay and not be sent home, look back there are days I wander what was I thinking? I even agreed to come and work at a zoo even though the reason I joined Peace Corps was because I was finished with working in Zoo and Aquariums and I needed a break to figure out my next steps. The amazing thing, despite the fact that I am facing all of the normal zoo problems and frustrations, I have been ok here. Yes there are issues, but the keepers and other staff are so wonderful to work with they inspire me to carry on. Progress may be slow going at times but things are really moving forward! I have also made some really good friends in the process, many of which I hope to keep the rest of my life.

This all started to change about a month ago when we received our new vet volunteer. When she arrived I warned her of many that many things that would frustrate her and that things move at a slow pace sometimes / most of the time and you need to be patient. I tried to welcome her as best I could to Munda Wanga by helping to take her shopping, taking her to the bar, even introducing her to my other Lusaka friends. The whole time I tried to look over the fact that she constantly would interrupt me when I was talking ( I have yet to finish one complete thought) and never took into consideration my opinion or experience (not that I know everything but I do have close to 7 years animal training and care experience and even though I am not a vet I still have some knowledge that could be useful, especially pertaining to working in and running a zoo). It has always been what she thinks and what she wants. I have been dealing with this disrespect as best I could but it has been grating on me for the last month.

Things only got worse in the last week and a half when we had a second person show up to live in the volunteer accommodation who is a consultant for Born Free, a non-profit group we work with. On top of being rude and disrespectful to me in the professional sense multiple times she is also a slob and does not clean up her mess in the kitchen and uses and takes kitchen items (many of which are mine that I bought) and not return them for others to use. I know this sounds so petty and I normally enjoy sharing but this was crossing a line because 1 I like things clean and 2 I would like to be able to use the items I bought to cook and eat with. She is also a talker and interrupts everything you say and needs to be right all the time.

As if all of this (and there are other things I just don’t have the energy to go in to at the moment) wasn’t enough last night was the last straw. I went into town for the evening to do my grocery shopping, mail letters and was going to return in the morning to Munda Wanga. When I got back I was informed by the other vet volunteer, whom I have always trusted, that the consultant and the vet volunteer were trying to open my room door last night. There were circumstances going on and they wanted another Born Free person to sleep in my bed in my room. The other volunteer stopped them and informed them that there wasn’t a spare key for my room kept out in the open. I was never asked once if this would be ok. To me even trying to open someone’s door without asking is crossing the line, not to mention disrespectful. Even if the door had been wide open they should have had the common courtesy and decently of an adult to call and at least ask in the first place. As it was I would have said no. My room is my one place that I can call my own. It is my home. I may not have much right now in my life but my room, as imperfect as it may be is my home. I would never even think of doing what they did. Then when I tried to talk about it to them they wouldn’t even listen (again no surprise since they never let me finish a though anyway ), and it turned into a major fight that I never wanted.

For those that know me you know that I am normally a happy positive person and I really look for the good in life and in other people, even when it is difficult. I hate conflicts since I am a very sensitive person and I prefer to get along with everyone.

I have now come to a point where I am truly wondering why I am here and why I continue to stay. I have more than enough reasons to go and my cat Galahad is the only issue with calling Peace Corps tomorrow and telling them I want to leave (damn immigration paper work for pets). So I am asking; What should I do? I have hit a breaking point and I am not sure what to do. I do not want to leave yet, my work at Munda Wanga has only just begun, but when is enough enough? When do you say I’m done with this much bullshit? It’s almost funny that it hasn’t been the car accident, chronic pain for 7 months, or 3rd world living to break me; but rude disrespectful ex-pats. This month has just about mentally, emotionally, and physically drained me completely. Any suggestions out there on what to do?

As always I love and miss you all, more than ever on days like today. Love, Tammy

March 27, 2012

For those that know me, you all know that I love to cook. I am not a stellar cook or a perfect one, but what I make usually please the pallets, at least a little, of the people who eat it. I have been blessed with having numerous teachers who all have been gracious enough to share their kitchen secrets with. One of the reasons that I enjoy cooking so much is that it is a way to bring people together and to have a good time. It is also a great way to share cultures. Since coming to Zambia I haven’t gotten to do as much creative cooking as I like to. Partly because being on a limited budget limits the supplies I can buy. Supplies here are not just limited by money either they are also limited by what’s available to begin with and also by transport issues. You never know what is going to be in stock at the grocery store and each store will carry different items. All of my grocery shopping trips also have to be very small due to the fact that I am limited my physical capabilities as well as what I can transport by bus.

My cooking here in Zambia has become very basic, almost a eat to survive menu verses a eat to enjoy menu. Much of the food I now cook is purely comfort food that is cheap and simple. Meat and dairy have become true treats in themselves, since I rarely have them. I still have no appetite for fish here after my initial experience during training and chicken has become my favorite meat and it never was in the states. My favorite part about cooking here is getting to share my culture through cooking. Cynthia, one of the vet volunteers here, will teach me to cook traditional Zambian food and I will cook American food for her. I’ve learned that Zambians will usually never eat at the house of someone who owns a cat, because they see the cat as gross. I then got to share how different it is in America and how having pets for the most part, especially pets who live in the house, is common practice and is not generally looked down upon.

One of my dreams, once I am settled down with a home, is to design my very own kitchen that I can cook in and entertain guests in. Having lived around the world now and in many different living situations I have gotten used to cooking in many different types of kitchens. Some are big, some are small, some have had a lot of tools and others have been outfitted with the bare essentials. No matter what I have to work with I always find a way to make it work. There is only one true thing that bugs me in a kitchen and that is a mess, especially when there are multiple people trying to cook. I think that it is disrespectful when you have multiple people trying to cook to not clean up your mess when you are done so that the next person is able to use the kitchen as well. This has recently become a problem at Munda Wanga in the volunteer area and it is a problem I am less than thrilled with. I have been a Houseelf for long enough and do not what to be cleaning up after others all the time. It is petty, I fully know, but it is very frustrating not to be able to cook in a clean kitchen.

Anyway I can’t wait till I can come home and share my new dishes with everyone and they can enjoy them as well. Love and miss you all:) Tammy

March 24, 2012

I don’t think that I am ever going to get used to riding in Mini Buses. They are human sardine death trap cans that speed down roads at speeds way too fast for their rickety conditions. Every time I get in one, and lately it is often since it is the only way I can afford to get around, I pray that I reach my destination. Besides for my own car neurosis’s and jitters I am also crammed into the bus and I am more often than not the only white person on the bus which attracts a lot of attention from the Zambians, especially the Zambian men. Don’t get me wrong I have had some really great conversations on buses, but for the most part I get harassed and there is nowhere for me to escape to.

In fact the harassment from men here is probably my biggest pet peeve of all living here in Zambia. Walking down the street I will have guys come up and hit my arm or run their hand down it if I am carrying something in my hands, I’ll have my hair pulled and fondled, and I constantly get inappropriate comments. I stopped counting marriage proposals months ago. Even going out to the bar at the end of a long day is unappealing since I know that I am going to be surrounded with unwanted attention. BTY in all of these cases I am wearing non-revealing grubby cloths sans make-up. I don’t even enjoy dressing up here because I get so much more attention when I do.

Pardon the rant, but it really is the hardest part of living here in Zambia and also the most exhausting. It makes me truly appreciate men from western cultures that use at least a little dignity when hitting on me. I wonder if the guys who harass me actually think that they are going to succeed in gaining my attention and or affection? Granted I have always slightly stood out due to the color of my hair but nothing compared to living here in Zambia.

Anyway I will finish for the day and say good evening:) Love, Tammy

March 23, 2012

If last week was the week of meetings this week would be the week of paper work. Which is part of the reason that I haven’t written much for my blog is because I am tired of being on the computer and typing at the end of the day. Despite all the paper work it has been a very exciting and productive week here at Munda Wanga. Here are a few of the Highlights!

We received a new volunteer / consultant from Born Free last Sunday and she is super nice and has a lot of great ideas on whys we can collaborate with their organization better.

Wednesday Raphael, the head keeper, was given permission by management to buy a good scale for weighing diets, since we are doing a complete overhaul and review of what the animals need. He also picked up a new ladder that is not only safe, but tall enough to reach the top of all of our exhibits so we can get some projects done. Now we will be able to start on the exhibit for the Cape Vultures that are coming in and make shadow boxes for some of the other raptors.Raphael and Simon Working with the New Ladder

The New Diet Scale

The education staff is currently preparing for the Green Expo that runs next Friday and Saturday in Lusaka and I am putting together Flyers that people can take with them about enrichment and will have signup sheets to get a local volunteer group started.

The entire zoo is also getting ready and reviewing what we need to do to be accredited by PAZAB the African version of AZA (Association of Zoos and Aquariums) in America. It’s great because the things that PAZAB wants us to work on are the very things that we want to happen so it goes hand in hand. Munda Wanga is really moving forward right now!

The best part of the week was my animal training session with the keepers on Thursday though. As I have mentioned before I am just am so impressed with the keepers here and how much they want to move forward and learn new things. I introduced the 6 best techniques to train using positive reinforcement and operant conditioning. The keepers jumped on it! I am so excited to be moving forward with them on Animal Training and enrichment, and am tickled pink that they are now starting to do it on their own.

Its weeks like these when things are running smoothly and so much progress can be made that I am thrilled to be here. I am a mover and a shaker and get things done. I am also very happy that I have at last found a really good working relationship with my manager here and we are now beginning to positively work together and make a lot of progress. Galahad wont let Paperwork get in the way of Attention

Galahad is continuing to grow like a weed! He is going to be a big boy by the time he is full grown. He has also decided that his favorite food is chicken. He really isn’t much of a fish fan but he’ll eat it if he has too. He is continuing to grow all of his fur back after a mite attack and is looking very healthy:)Power Outage

It has also been the week of power outages. It’s one thing not o have power in the village when you are set up for it but when your life depends on it not having it can be very frustrating. I have only gotten to cook dinner once this week due to all of the outages and their poor timing. I do like the effect of candle light in my room though it is very relaxing.

As another week comes to a close I am again struck by how amazing life can be and how things when given the chance tend to work out just the way they are supposed to. To all those back home I love and miss you as always:) I’ll write more soon, Love Tammy

March 18, 2012

The last few days have been absolutely crazy busy and exhausting but wonderful all at the same time. My weekend started with a true treat, my good friend Jenni came to visit me here at Munda Wanga for a few days and we had a blast together. I was able to show her the zoo and the gardens and we even had the chance to make use of the pool and eat croc steaks:) I always enjoy it when friends come to visit, now only because they remind me of how good I have it as a PCV, but I also have people to cook for. I absolutely love to cook, but when I cook for just me I have a hard time getting motivated. Thursday night I was motivated since I was making dinner for 4 people so I made spaghetti pasta and made the sauce from scratch, I did garlic cheese bread, and guacamole; and we managed to top the whole diner off with red wine and a good movie! Food is such a good way to bring people together and have conversations. The dinners on both Friday and Saturday night (on Saturday night Rebecca, one of the vet volunteers, made personal pizzas and jenni made an amazing fruit salad) brought all of us volunteers staying at Munda Wanga together! Jenni then out did herself Saturday morning made the most delicious pancakes I have ever had! Not kidding at all, they are fabulous! I love to have good friends who can also cook:) Galahad, on the other hand, did not have a very good weekend however he received his first set of vaccinations. He was not very happy about it, but it was needed. Luckily he is a forgiving cat and still likes me:)Phiri, Rebecca, and I getting ready to throw them in.

The work week was so busy last week but also very productive. Despite all the meetings I feel like I was able to make a lot of progress on a number of topics. In fact my week was so busy between friends and work I have spent most of today getting prepared for this coming week which is also going to be crazy busy. The keepers however completely made my day on Friday. We finally put all the finishing touches on the Paper Mache eggs and we decided to throw them into the Yellow Baboon enclosure. We decided to do it during the feeding tour so that all of the guests could watch as well as the keepers. The baboons didn’t disappoint. After the initial hesitation at seeing something so different throwen into their enclosure, they tore into them and started playing and munching on the teats hidden inside. It was fun to watch the baboons but it was even more fun to see the keepers enjoying themselves so much. Yellow Baboons Playing with Eggs

To top it off Hams, one of the carnivore keepers, came up to me and told me that he and Robert, the other carnivore keeper, had put some of the lions food in a box for enrichment too! To say I would proud doesn’t even begin to describe it. I followed Hams and the feeding tour up to the lion enclosure and watched the event unfold. The large box they used surprised all of the lions to begin with, but it was Mouvuto, our castrated male, that decided to tackle it! Mouvuto spent the next 4 minutes attempting to get into the box by hitting it, pouncing on it, biting it, and finally pushing his head through the top! Mouvuto pranced away with this prize, a whole chicken, and looked rather satisfied with his job well done. Not only did the whole thing keep the guests laughing, woohing and ahhing, but it was also a victory for the keepers!

I am so pumped to start this coming week and to move even more projects forward here at Munda Wanga, For now I will say goodnight as I continue to prepare for the week ahead:) Love and miss you all, Tammy

March 15, 2012

One of the biggest differences between American zoos and Munda Wanga is in the staffing. In American zoos the keeping staff is made up of at least 70% women, at the very least, and is more like 90% in most zoo’s. Here at Munda Wanga our staff is made up 100% men, minus me. It is such a switch to go from working with all women for the most part to all guys, but I have to say that I love it. The keepers here are not petty and don’t get into dramatic cat fights over frivolous issues. They are all so easy going and calm that it makes working with them so easy. They keep amazing me with how dedicated they are to their jobs and to sharing with each other. With big diet changes coming and enrichment becoming more and more of a priority I am so thankful to be working with such an amazing group of people! While I’ll never truly be one of the boys I am so glad to be an honoree girl invited into the preverbal “club house”.

The staff here have slowly become my family and I just love working them. Yesterday I was able to introduce a new enrichment tool, Paper Mache. Paper Mache is an awesome tool to use for enrichment because it completely safe for all the animals, it is very inexpensive, and it is fun and easy to do. Me with Enrichamnt

I loaded my bags with flour-water paste, a few balloons, torn up new paper and headed up to the keeper area. I was using the balloons as molds for the Paper Mache to be built around. Balloons are awesome to use because once everything dries you can pop the balloon, pull it out and the Paper Mache keeps the shape then you can hide all kinds of goodies inside, patch up the balloon opening, and it makes the animals work for their food because they have to figure out how to get inside. Jeff working with the Paper MacheRobert Working Away

The keepers had a lot of fun with it and were really excited to see how it was going to work. Jeff and Robert were natural experts at it even though they had never done it before. I was so excited that I was able to share this tool with them. It was a very productive session as I was able to review all of the animal training techniques I have taught them so far and they blew me away with how good they have gotten with everything while I was away. I am so excited to move forward with everyone.The almost Finished Products

I also had a very productive session with the education staff as well on Wednesday. We are all doing research on the zoo’s animals to assist with the new sign construction. Each week we meet to discuss the information we’ve found. This week went very well and we all came up with different interesting facts about Donkeys! I also learned that the education staff also wants to learn to train animals! I was absolutely tickled pink and am really excited to start working with them on animal training as well.

Things are moving at a very steady pace forward and as we get even more tools to work with in the future we are going to be able to do even more! Off I go now to another diet meeting! I love and miss you all and hope that everyone is doing well:) Love, Tammy

March 13, 2012

This blog entry is in honor of my little sister. For those of you who know the both of us, you also know that we can fight like there is no tomorrow and that we don’t always see eye to eye. However there are also things that I really can only do with her (she is the only person I actually enjoy going clothing shopping with), and she has her own wisdom about the world. My sister being a cosmetologist knows how to pamper and take care of herself, she knows how to have fun, enjoy the great things life offers, and she is also a cat person.

Taking a page from my sister’s book I now take one or two evenings a week to simply relax and take time for me. Granted I have to do this partly in a Zambian way but I am finding these personal moments are my favorites and I truly enjoy looking forward to them. Since I don’t have a hot shower here at Munda Wanga I have now started giving myself a piping hot foot bath after each shower as a constellation prize. While I let my feet soak up the warm water I usually turn on a TV show or movie on my computer, or I grab a good book, and I also get either a nice glass of wine or hot coco to enjoy. Sounds simple but there is noting that makes me more relaxed lately. Oh yea, I'm stylin;)

The best part is now I am also starting to do facials and pedicures as well during this time. I know completely girly and frivolous but as I said it really just makes me super happy. I get so wrapped up with work at Munda Wanga t times and frustrated and stressed out about different things it is nice to be able to find a way to make it all go away for a while and to just enjoy being human.

Now that I have Galahad, my kitten, I now even have company most of the time. Not to mention that playing with him and having him curl up in my lap are also very relaxing activities. I have never really been a cat person but now having this little one in my life has been changing my mind to how fantastic they are. I had a friend ask me the other day what I was going to do with him when I left and I said “Bring him home with me of course.” There is no way I would be able to leave him here. Galahad Waking Up after a nap

One of the biggest things that I have slowly begun to realize here in Africa is that we all need to take time in life to enjoy it. Be it smelling the roses, watching a sunset, playing with our pets, watching a movie, getting a facial, or singing for the world to hear; we all need to make sure we do the little things that make us happy and to realize the beauty of the world.

I have become a much more spiritual person since come here and I also feel like I have a better understanding of how the world works and where my life fits in. I’ve come to realize that all things happen for a reason; even the bad, unpleasant things need to happen for other things to come. Life has a way of working itself out, even if we don’t understand how exactly it is going to happen. Be positive, open and giving and you will have all those things come back to you in spades.

One of the things that I have been most blessed with are the people in my life. I have some of the most amazing friends, most of which I never expected. I can not to begin to say how grateful I am for all of them. They have all helped shape my life and keep me going on my journey. To all of you thank you for being there for me:)

Taking a page out of my sisters book I am taking time for the things that make me happy. Life is meant to be enjoyed, so why not:) Let’s get to it! I love and miss you all (not kidding at all), Tammy

March 12, 2012

You know in life how once in awhile you have a perfect day, or at least as perfect as it can ever get. Well Sunday was like that for me. After going to a fun party Saturday night at a friend’s house with the new vet volunteer (attempting to introduce her to fun cool people in the area) I was able to stay over at the house of 2 other PCV’s who wanted to come out to Munda Wanga the next day, Laura and Mary Ellen. Now granted I was not bright and shining when I first awoke at 7:15 AM, not after getting to Laura and Mary Ellen’s house at 2:30 AM and having a fair amount to drink at the party (ok I was drunk-ka-de- drunk), and I had a wee bit of a head ach when I woke up, but once the brownies came out for breakfast it was the beginning of a wonderful day!

Rebecca, Laura, Mary Ellen and I all walked down to the bus station at Kalema Towers and took the mini buss down to Munda Wanga. There was even a guy selling ice cream snacks at the bus station and served us in the bus while we were waiting for it fill, talk about good service! Once arriving at Munda Wanga, and saying hi to Galahad (you would have thought that I had left for a month with the way he acted), I took them on a tour of the gardens, saving the zoo for after lunch. One of the reasons I love having people over is that they remind me of how lucky I am to be here. There are times when I get over worked and frustrated with everything going on that I forget that I live in a really cool place for a PCV. Having others over reminds me to enjoy the gardens and the zoo while I am here.Galahad would have you believe that He didn't have any toys or love

Enjoying them is exactly what we did. I threw together some lemonade and made a BBQ chicken pizza from scratch, mixed up some guacamole and we went out into the gardens to have a lovely picnic. I even brought out my IPod and speakers for musical enjoyment:)Tammy, Mary Ellen,and Laura Enjoying the Picnic

After enjoying our fabulous picnic lunch we all fell asleep on the picnic blanket for the next hour. After cleaning up the picnic we all went into the sanctuary to enjoy the animals. We spent the next 2 hours going from exhibit to exhibit. We went up just after the feeding tour and many of the animals followed our example of taking a nap after lunch.Sleeping after LunchWarthog Sleeping

All in all it was one of those perfect days that one cannot help but enjoy. One of the best things was that I had today off as well so I could get all of my normal weekend chores done (laundry, cleaning, and paperwork catch up). I wish all of you reading this could come and picnic with me in the zoo! Love and miss you all! Tammy

March 10, 2012

Whenever you go to a new country you are going to be introduced to many new foods. Some you make not like, some you may love, and others are just ok but nothing astounding. Since coming to Zambia I have tried many new things: kapenta (a very tiny fish like a minnow that you eat whole, can’t say that I care for them but they are a Zambian favorite), Okra paste, rice make with tomatoes and onions (this is very good actually), obviously shema, goat intestine, cow lung, fritters (oh my god so good but so bad for you), and my all time favorite pumpkin leaves!

I know that it may sound strange but they are delicious. It shouldn’t come as a surprise I like all the other parts of pumpkin. The seeds are fantastic and who doesn’t like pumpkin pie, and I’m sure that if I lived in the world of Harry Potter I would also love pumpkin juice too.

So how exactly do you prepare pumpkin leaves? Well the first thing you have to do is take all the small fibrous strings off the stems. You do this by pulling them from the end of the stem to the leaf area.

Once you have that done now you need to cut the leaves and stems up into tiny pieces. And put them into a small pot with about ¾ inch boiling water. Let them wilt down and then and add a little salt and continue boiling until all the water has been absorbed.

While you are boiling the leaves dice 1 to 2 tomatoes and an onion, then once the water is gone add a ¼ cup oil, move the leaves to the side, and put the tomatoes and onions on the bottom of the pot with the oil. Cover the tomatoes and onion with the leaves then cover the pot and let it simmer. Once all the oil has been absorbed take the pot off the stove and serve.

I’ve eaten pumpkin leaves with shema and on their own they are delicious either way. So next time you have pumpkin leaves growing in your garden don’t throw them away, instead make yourself a tasty treat:)

Had to share this with the world, Love and miss you all! Love, Tammy

March 6, 2012

And off we go for another week at Munda Wanga and what a start it has been. Ever since getting back from training I have been in whirl wind. Between animal releases, protocols being written, new volunteers arriving, housing renovations happening, diets being analyzed and changed, management meetings, jackal releases, first aid updates happening, exhibit designs and renovations happening, and the continuation of enrichment and training I have been kept running the last couple of days.

If this week is going to have a theme it would be the week of meetings. Not that I mind meetings they are actually very helpful in making things move forward and keeping good communication going and projects on target but they also take up a lot of time from working on projects. I am currently writing protocols for all of the exhibits and many other functions that go on at Munda Wanga. For the exhibits I meet with the keepers of each exhibit and go over everything that the exhibit and the animals living in them need. It takes 20 – 30 minutes to do this for each exhibit so it has to be broken up into multiple days or in the case here weeks since our keepers are already so busy with the daily functions and all the projects going on already.

Yesterday was a very exciting day because our wild dogs had puppies! We have been able to see one for sure but since we are trying to give them some privacy we haven’t been able to see if there are anymore. African wild dogs are an endangered species so it’s very exciting to have one have puppies but we are also looking into the puppies genetics right now to determine them. I am going to have to get pictures posted of both the baby Puku and the baby wild dogs as soon as I can.

To add to the excitement the Baby Jackals finally went on their way today to be released in Kafue National Park! I am so glad that they are getting to go back to the wild. We ended up putting them in the same crate for transport because when we first crated them by themselves they were rather upset, but once we put them back together they settled right down. As a family they decided that they could do anything together!

It’s really the little things that continue to make my day here. Beautiful sunsets. Going for a swim after or before work. Galahad purring on my lap. Making Peanut Butter cookies for the keepers. Taking a hot shower. A cute guy smiling at me. A cold savannah dry cider after work. Electricity. A hug from a friend. A phone call from home. A diet coke. Friends.

I know I keep coming back to the concept of the little things that make you happy in the last couple of months but for me it is so true. There are so many little things that I don’t have access to anymore, things I took for granted at home, that now I really appreciate the little things. And when you put them all together they add up to a big thing. I am so much more grateful now for my life than ever before. Not that it has stopped me from wanting different things or less in my life, in fact having less has in some ways made me want more when I come back to the states, but it has given me a new perspective on life and the way we all live in the world. For now I am going to go and get my peanut butter cookies out of the oven and enjoy a quiet night at home reading a book, playing with Galahad, and dreaming of the future. Love and miss you all, Tammy

March 4, 2012 Time has been flying by at warp speed this week. After being gone for the last two weeks at Peace Corps training it has taken me a couple of days to get back into the swing of things. I had forgotten how much happens at a zoo in two weeks time. Nothing stops or slows down just because you are not present. Unlike an office that is closed weekends, animals need care seven days a week. You can’t tell someone to put a problem off until next week or shove uncompleted papers off to the side to be finished when you get back. In that spirit it has been a very busy week catching up on everything, but it has also been a very positive week for the most part. We are in the process of releasing 3 young jackals back into Kafue National Park. They were supposed to go back last weekend but do to problems with catching them up it has been postponed to this coming week, hopefully Tuesday. I am going to have to miss this release due to the fact that my back to too tender right now to manage the bumpy roads in the park.

My back is doing sooooooo much better now that I am getting chiropractic care! It has been making the biggest difference. I am a much happier person knowing that things are moving forward. It is soar after the adjustment, but in the long run things feel like they are in the right place now! Yea!!!!! We also had a new vet volunteer arrive from Australia this week. Her name is Rebecca and she is super nice and really knows what she’s doing and has 6 years experience in the vet field. Munda Wanga’s animals are going to be super healthy between our two fantastic vets we have right now! I spent the day Friday showing our new volunteer around the park and introducing her to the staff. It was actually really fun for me to do because I am finally able to help someone new to the country after all the people who helped me. I was also surprised how much I have to share with her concerning Zambia and the culture here. Little things that I have picked up over the last few months came in very handy when you are trying to figure everything out. For some reason this week my positivity and happiness has soared though the roof. It’s not that I have accomplished anything impressive or great. I think that 1. I am happy to be back to my Zambian home (I really missed everyone, the staff, my cat, the work, everything) 2. It has been beautiful week weather wise 3. I am planning a dive trip to Lake Malawi over Easter with friends 4. I am really truly grateful for all the wonderful things going on in my life right now. I’ve been on an emotional rollercoaster the last few months. I have had my strength and will power tested again and again and I am still standing. I have been through a spiritual journey that continues to bring me to a better understanding of my life and the world every day. I understand now that everything happens for a reason, even the things we don’t think matter. The people we meet, the things we do, the places we go all add up to become a life and that every event and every person along the way shape it. I have been so blessed in my life I cannot help but be grateful. Not to be a Pollyanna, but looking on the bright side and being positive have been making a huge difference lately. I’m still realistic but it helps to know that things could always be worse. Anyway I love and miss you all! Tammy

I arrived back at Munda Wanga on Friday night exhausted, soar, and was just happy to be home. IST was an experience. While a lot of good things happened and I was able to learn something the two weeks were very long and exhausting. Part of this was due to the fact that I caught a very bad cold. I have never been agood sick person. It’s funny I deal with pain much better than I deal with being ill.People Watching the Game

The night we arrive at the hotel Zambia wins the African Cup of Nations! Major, major, major event for Zambia! And the crowd goes wild!The Celebration after Zambia Won

Monday the 13 was the kick-off for IST and we got a loaded bomb dropped in our laps the first session in. Alert! Alert! You are all going home 7 months early. Surprise! Not that I am all that sad about the idea of going home 7 months early, but a lot of other people were. The reason for the major change in our service is due to a program switch. In 2013 the new RAP intake is going to be coming in January instead of August which means that they are going to need to move into their sites in April rather than October. Peace Corps Zambia is pushing for an early COS (Close of Service) for the entire group because it makes it easier for one, and two there would be no hard feelings one way or another between volunteers. Zambians Lined up on the Street to see the Soccer Players Come ByHard to See but the Soccer team is on the Truck. They were all dressed up in Suits!

The night of the 13th was a crazy one too: from meeting the Zambian’s soccer coach, yes the one that won the cup of nations, to almost having a friend get mugged, to seeing the entire soccer team not once but twice, and almost getting trampled by people running after the soccer team was an experience to remember. Not to mention the fact that I got baby powder dumped all over me walking down the street. Why? I have no idea other than everyone was just crazy excited.After the Baby Powder IncidentDinner at Mint Lounge Right after the Attempted Mugging

My computer contracted a major virus that a computer genius was able to fix but in the process I almost lost all of my files on my computer and my external hard drive. I am no longer plugging any of my attachments into a Munda Wanga computer ever again. I learned my lesson.

I learned about Perma – Gardening and composting and went out to a local school where our training group built one of each. The only bad thing about this day is that I was so sick I almost fainted in the heat. Not being able to breathe didn’t help either.

I received physical therapy for my back for the first time since coming back from South Africa. The new PT guy for Peace Corps is also a chiropractor so he is able to do some chiropractic work and bill it under PT. I’m really happy about this and I hope that it helps me get back to 100% eventually. I was very soar after both adjustments I got, but I wasn’t surprised considering that I haven’t had an adjustment for almost a year now.

I had some lovely evenings out with friends, ate some good food, and had a few good drinks. One of the surprising things about training was finding out who my real friends were in training. Some I knew, but others were surprises. I was really glad that not many people begrudged me my position at Munda Wanga, there were a few but that was to be expected. Most people were just interested in my story and how everything worked it-self out. Fruit Smoothies at Mint Lounge

We had a group day with Scott, the counselor / psychologist that Peace Corps uses and I am really glad that we did. It was very interesting to hear how everyone was coping with their lives in the village. It actually made me realize that despite the fact that I have a very different situation than most in our group we are all going through the same things, same emotions, and the same troubles. It really made me feel not so alone. I got to have a one on one interview session with my programming director, Cleopher, and was able to tell him how things are going at Munda Wanga. The thing I love about Cleopher and Mary is that they make it very easy for you to be completely honest in what you tell them. Not only because I trust them to always have my back, but also because they are so supportive of all the volunteers under their care. I am really fortunate to be a Rapper we have the best program directors in Peace Corps Zambia!

I co-taught a session on Animal Husbandry that Cynthia, the fantastic vet at Munda Wanga, was able to attend and help out with. It was really nice having someone who is an expert in veterinary care present because she has so much more knowledge on the subject than I do.

All in All it was an interesting two weeks. It allowed me to get some needed distance from Munda Wanga and provided me with some new ideas and let me connect with a lot of really amazing people. Our training group has had one of the more unique Peace Corps experiences in Zambias history. I couldn’t imagine doing it with another group. Here’s to the future whatever it may bring our group! Love, Tammy

February 21, 2012 I have never been a good sick person. Every time I get sick I become irritable, pissy, and downright miserable. The horrible cold that I have caught, that in fact over half of our training group now has, is no exception. We got done early yesterday around 2pm and I crashed. I crawled into bed, fell asleep, and didn’t really wake up until this morning. I am still sick but am better than I was yesterday. Viruses seem to be plaguing me the last couple of weeks. My computer also got a nasty virus from one of Munda Wangas computers, you can be sure it is the last time I am plugging any of my attachments into a zoo computer. Luckily one of our computer savvy volunteers was able to fix the problem, but it took hours of work and I almost lost all of my files. As it is I am having to reformat my entire hard drive:( Really not the ideal outcome, but at least I was able to save all of my files and the hard drive on my computer was able to be restored to a previous working condition and got rid of the damage the virus did. I have to say I learned my lesson concerning computers. The week has been very busy and crazy. After a number of disappointing sessions that I wasn’t able to get much out of we finally had 2 days worth of good interesting sessions. The first was one on HIV and Nutrition and it presented a lot of good information on ways to introduce good nutrition to the people you are working with and the second session dealt with appropriate technology, aka technology for the village. We were able to brain storm and build proto-types of our ideas and it turned out to be a lot of fun. My group was given the challenge of pest control so we built proto-types of a rat trap, a fly bag, and an otter box. I want to use the rat trap design at Munda Wanga to help us deal with our massive rat problem. Then on Saturday the psychologist / consoler came in and had sessions on Coping, The 3 R’s (Romance, Risk, & Relationships), and on alcohol. They were all fantastic and made the entire group open up and talk to each other about the realities of our situations. The 3 R’s was not an easy session to sit through, but it presented the realities of living and dating in a country with such a high HIV rate. Four PCV’s over the last 5 years have contracted HIV. Peace Corps wanted to bring the issue up with us to make it a reality by putting a panel of current PCV’s together that have had close calls and had to go on post exposure prophylaxis. They all told their stories and I think it made everyone in the group aware of the realities of living here in Zambia. Then on Sunday we all had meetings with our program directors. It was nice to be able to share with them the work that I have been doing and everything going on at Munda Wanga. They also straight out asked me how I felt about COSing (Close of Service) in April of next year. As it turns out they are pushing for the entire group to COS at the same time so that it makes it fair for the entire group. I told them that I would be fine with COSing 7 months early, especially since for my position I am going to have the majority of what I can do done by them. It’s so odd, to all of a sudden, in the matter of a few days, to be going from having 20 months left to having 13 months left. It’s such a shock but at the same time I am a little happy about the situation. I will get to see all of my friends and family that much sooner:) I am going to have to push all of my vacations in to the next 13 months now instead of the next 20, I have gotta get cracking! Anyway I will close for now, Love and miss you all! TammyFebruary 23, 2012 The other night, after finishing a fantablous steak dinner with good friends and saying goodbye to my best friend in Lusaka (who is returning to England), I got in a mini bus with some other PCV’s and headed home for the hotel. During the ride other passengers kept asking us questions such as “Where are you from?” “What are you doing here?” “Are you married / will you marry me?” “How long are you going to be here?” All of which we had fun answering and spoke in our local languages to the best of our ability. Everyone in the bus was laughing and having a great time with us by the time we arrived at our stop and as a parting comment they told us you are no longer visitors you are Zambians. The comment got me thinking the last couple of days and I realized while riding yet another mini bus today that I have passed the point of visitor or tourist and have crossed over into resident. How scary is that? I have come to realize it is the little things that make you a local. Lusaka for me is home, unlike the majority of PCV’s in Zambia who live up country. I didn’t realize just how much I have learned about Lusaka and the surrounding area until our In Service Training (IST) Conference the last two weeks when landmarks and neighborhoods that are now as familiar to me any place back home are unknown to the majority in our group. Trying to describe where I live has become problematic and I have turned to “I live south of downtown.” I am also starting to get to know people in and around Lusaka. When I go to the bus station I run into the same helpful people all the time, I know the names of the women who sell me my fruit and veggies at the market, I have cabbies that I can call and rely on in a pinch, and I have been making great friends with the entire community, Zambians and ex-pats alike. I am truly starting to feel as if I somewhat fit in, even if I stand out at the same time. As for being truly Zambian that will never happen, I have too much American in my blood to be, but I am becoming more of a citizen of the world rather than a citizen to one country in particular. I particularly feel this way away from our very immature training group, who make me embarrassed to be around. It really is disappointing to be around people who throw beer bottles around and break them on purpose only making a mess for others, start fights, ignore proper tipping amounts at restaurants, and are negative about being here in Zambia. It not only puts me in a bad mood but it weakens my spirit and desire to be here. I feel so lucky that I have been able to make friends with people in Lusaka that are positive, mature but still fun loving, and who enjoy being around me as much as I enjoy spending time with them. I know that I couldn’t make it through all of this without these amazing people in my life. As I make Zambia my home for the coming months I am learning to embrace the Zambian way of life and all the adventures and mishaps it throws in with it. It is a learning curve for sure but I believe that I am on track. After all I now get excited about soccer, eating pumpkin leaves, can squish into a mini bus without a problem, have no shame in asking for rides or a place to stay, and can understand zam-lish almost perfectly now. I still however love and miss everyone back home! Keep in touch when you have the chance:) Love Always, Tammy

February 13, 2012What a night for Zambia! It was a night full of national pride, belief for a better life, and one awe inspiring moment. Zambia managed to take home the African Cup of Nations and they did it in true style. In the game they were playing Ivory Coast the favored winners due to their talent, their experience, and their massive size (they dwarfed the Zambian players). Zambia however met them match for match and no one scored one singel point throughout the entire game, each player had his entire heart and soul in the game and the entire nation was either listening or watching with baited breath at each play. The game went into two rounds of overtime, 15 minutes each, and still despite the players exhaustion no one scored. They went into penalty plays, each team receiving 5, and they all make each shot and we had to go into sudden death. I was past being on the edge of my seat and the game was becoming painful to watch, someone had to win and one team was going to break the hearts of its nation. The first two rounds of sudden death both teams made their shots, and then on the third Ivory Coast had their blocked by our amazing goalie. The next Zambian stepped up to the ball to make his shot and you could hear the gasp of the nation when he over shot the goal and missed. We were going into round 4 and miracle of miracle Ivory Coast now missed the goal by mere inches and again the crowd stopped breathing and every eye and hear was fixated on the screen as the next Zambian player stepped up to the ball, and swoosh. To say the crowd went wild would be an understatement. Zambia erupted in euphoria and celebration. Everyone was hugging, shouting, and many myself included had tears running down their face in the sheer joy of seeing the win and the happiness of the Zambian people. It was also a very special win for Zambia because back in 1993 the plane carrying the entire team to the game in Gabon, where this game was played, crashed and everyone died. Last night it was as if the players joined the game and infused their energy into it. It was a true win for the Zambian nation in every sense of the word. I was in Lusaka during the election and the city erupted then, but last night was totally different because everyone in the country was on the same side and the celebration did not stop until the sun started rising. Zambians are some of the nicest people in the entire world and it was wonderful getting to watch their hopes and dreams realized and their national pride in such high spirits. Despite the importance and closeness of the game I was so impressed for the players respect for the other team, at times one would have thought that they were playing their best friends with the way they would help each other up and encourage the other team. I was so impressed and feel so lucky to have been able to watch such a historic game. My only disappointment is that I was not able to watch it at Sanda Bar at Munda Wanga with all of my boys. I can only imagine the celebration going on there. When I started this blog it took me a while to name it. I had thought of a lot of possibilities and then I came up with Smiles and Spirit in Zambia because I knew that while there were going to be a lot of good times that brought on smiles, I also know that there would be times when I would need a lot of spirit to make it through. I had no idea at the time just how much spirit I was going to need. Last night though showed me a spirit that I will not soon forget. Life comes down to a few moments sometimes and it’s those moments that we are able to hold onto and spin into the memories that make up our lives, last night was one of those moments for every Zambian or persona living in Zambia. I am so thankful to be here during such an amazing event. Go Zambia, you really are one hell of a fantastic country! Love, TammyFebruary 14, 2012Last night was about as exciting as it gets in Lusaka! After we finished up our day of training, which we also had some very interesting news delivered in. So turns out they are going to switch when the RAP intake comes in for the 2013 year. Peace corps is going to bring them in January instead of August which means that they will be posted at their sites come April of 2013. Out group isn’t supposed to COS (Close of Service) until October 21 almost 7 months later but now they are only going to have 4 options. 1. Stay in the village with the new volunteer for 7 months (which I don’t think PC will do.) 2. If you are planning on extending getting started at your extension position early. 3. Finding a temporary place to work for 7 months or 4. COS and leave the country 7 months early, which would be the easiest one to do in most cases. The funny ironic things is that it is not going to affect me at all because no one is going to be going to Munda Wanga so for me to leave early with dignity is not possible. All I can do is laugh because I am one of the few in our group that I think would be willing to go 7 months early. So after that interesting little tid-bit of information and giving our presentations on how things are going at our sites myself and 4 others took off for Manda Hill mall to go to Shop-Rite and buy food since they were only providing lunch and dinner. When we walk out the front door it was a mad house! Thousands of people we lining the streets waiting for the Zambian Soccer team to drive by from the airport going to showgrounds where President Sata was waiting for them along with 34,000 screaming fans. We walked to Manda Hill, which takes about an hour from our hotel and it was an eye opening experience. We even had a group of people run up to us and pour baby powder all over us, not sure what the significance was but lots of Zambians had it all over them. Then we stopped at the front gate of the show grounds and waited for them to come by. It was so much fun to watch the crowd get so excited and be so happy! When they came by the crowd was beyond excited and cheered and cheered for their home come heroes. We then went to Manda Hill to use the bathroom since everything else was closed and decided to go to Potico, the Italian restaurant I love, since it was only a 15 min walk away. So on our way there the players drove by us again so we had two vies of them driving by, more than most people saw. We arrived at Portico only to find it was closed so we decided to try another restaurant Polo Grill which was not serving food. Next option was to go to Arcades where there were a few restaurants, but there were no buses or taxies available so there was nothing left to do but walk. Granted not the best idea to be walking around Lusaka at night but needs must. We almost made it to Mint Lounge uneventful when about 50 feet from the Restaurant when two guys came up and tried to grab the bag of one of the girls in our group! The two guys in our group went after them and then myself and the other girl went for our friend. She managed to keep her hand bag and only got a skinned knee out of the deal along with a hell of a story.We were still hungry after this event so we preceded the rest of the way to Mint Lounge, a delicious restaurant popular among Zambians and ex-pats alike. The choice was not just a good one for the amazing drinks and food we received but also because about half way through our meal Reynard, the super hot coach of the Zambian football team walked in to eat. I wasn’t that surprised because I had been told by others that he frequented the place but I of course over the nights events hadn’t passed this piece of information on to anyone one else in our group who were all rather surprised. So to top off an already unique evening I decided that we should at least tell him congratulations on playing one hell of a game, and when we did he stood up and shook all of our hands! I couldn’t believe it! I now wish, knowing that he was such a nice guy, that I had taken a picture but I thought that would be asking too much of someone who had just had the last couple of days he did. Alas it will only be a favorite memory:) All in all it was an interesting day. I’ll take the good with the bad and even our scary incident turned out to have a happy ending. If we had done anything differently we would not have meet the Zambian coach. Now if only the internet was working properly at our hotel now I would be able to post all of this but it is going to have to wait for a connection! Love and miss you all! TammyFebruary 16, 2012I would love to be actually posting my blogs this week but alas I have two problems, 1. I have no internet connection, 2. I have a computer virus I got from one of the zoo computers. I need the internet to fix the virus so I cannot transfer any files or do much else until the virus is fixed. There are a couple computer people in our group who are willing to help me once the internet starts working again. I have to say that I am surprised how much I miss being home, home meaning Munda Wanga. I miss my kitten Galahad, I miss my keepers, I miss my room and the freedom to cook for myself. I am getting some good information out of training such as writing grants and working with NGO’s but I would rather I got to go home at night than have to stay at the hotel. As it is I am cheating. I went home on Tuesday evening and I am planning on going home Saturday night as well, if I can manage it. It’s always a difficult decision to go back because I should be up here with my training group, being social, and hanging out; but my good friends are now in Lusaka and Chilanga. There are only a few people from my training group that I would consider a good friend. I am not personally surprised, I’ve moved around enough to know how these things work, but it interesting none the less. Anyway, I guess that is all that is new , love and miss you all! Tammy

February 12, 2012 It has been a weekend of networking, great food and drinks, and amazing people. It’s so nice to be able to get out on the town once in a while, get dressed up, and feel like a real woman. Now don’t get me wrong I love to play in the mud, get all sweaty, and accomplish some hard work, but it is also nice to be able to wash off all the grime and strap on my dancing shoes. On Friday evening I attended a party at La Revolution restaurant that was hosted by ZamLoop (a local networking online group for ex-pats) and had a wonderful time. With 2 for 1 Mojitos and fun people you can’t go wrong. I even ended up meeting a woman who is going to be coming out to Munda Wanga to volunteer and she has years of experience working with chimps and gorillas in the Congo! I am so excited to be getting more help so that I can continue to get new projects started and functioning. Then it was off to the trendiest club in Lusaka, Liv. I actually felt like I was back in the states. The club just opened a month ago and had a dance floor, three bars, multi levels, and VIP rooms. It was super expensive to get in, 50,000 Kwacha, but luckily do to connections we were able to get in for free :) Drinks too were very expensive with beers starting at 18,000 kwacha when normally at a bar they are between 5,000 to 8,000 kwacha. It was so interesting to see such a nice club in Zambia, something that you just don’t expect. Then on Saturday I spent the day watching the West Wing, such an amazing show, with my friend Mindy. I needed the day to recover and get ready for another night out on the town because I was going out with my co-volunteer from Munda Wanga, Lauren, to meet all of her friends in Lusaka so that I would have more connections:) Lauren made a fantastic stir-fry for dinner (a recipe that I am going to be using very often now) and then we were off to another party. I have to say that I have met more international people in the last few weeks than I ever have in anyone place. I have found myself using new words like cheers (not just a toast but a way to say thanks), twat (a person who you don’t like), bwana (something that is super nice or trendy or rich), and plasters (Band-Aids) in regular conversation without even thinking about it. I knew that I would grow my Bemba vocabulary here, but I didn’t expect to be growing my world language skills as much as I have. Anyway, after two days of dancing and good looking men I am about to leave for the hotel to start two weeks of training! I am so excited to see everyone from my intake and to catch up on what everyone has been doing, there are bound to be some great stories! Twa- La – Mo- Na – Na (talk to you later)! Love, Tammy

February 9, 2012

Go Zambia! So last night Zambian played Ghana in the semi-finals for the African Soccer Cup and won 1 to 0! It was a fantastic game that kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time. The Zambian goalie was fantastic and made save after save! Sunday Zambia will go on to play Ivory Coast for the African Cup. They have my faith behind them and I hope that they win:) I am not normally a big sports person, but the Zambian people make watching the games so much fun that I cannot help but get excited too, it’s simply infectious. I watched the game at Sanda Bar (the bar at Munda Wanga) where they project the game onto a big screen and I think that the majority of the city of Chilanga was there and what a party it was. Every time the Zambian team did something well or scored the crowd erupted in celebration with people dancing and singing, blowing horns, and shouting away. I couldn’t help but join in and when we won the game I was as excited as everyone else in attendance. I wish that I was going to be here Sunday night for the final game, but I am going to be at In Service Training (IST) and will have to find a different a different place to watch.

Tom and Coco Hanging Out TogetherYesterday was a very busy day as well since we were moving and introducing some of our Vervet monkeys. It’s not an easy or a fast process that involved getting all of the holding areas prepared and catching the Vervets from quarantine to bring them over to the Nursery for the introduction with Coco and the an older female acting has his surrogate mom / sister. We moved over a male that is about 1 ½ years old named Luck, a 6 ish month old female named Kafue, and a young male named Tom who is an absolute escape artist. Luck was easy to catch but Kafue and Tom had plans of their own and decided to play hard to get. I have to say that Jeff and Pheri, the primate keepers, are fantastic at catching monkeys, I have never seen anyone so talented and make it look so simple (which I know that it isn’t from experience). We moved everyone over to the Nursery and began the process of introductions.

Older Female First we let everyone get to know one another through the mesh just in case we have anyone who simply doesn’t get along. Every introduction comes with a risk factor and we try to mitigate that risk factor as much as we can. Luck was very calm throughout the whole process, but Kafue and especially Tom were so nervous and clutched to one another the first little while. Kafue and the older female quickly became best friends and were grooming each other through the mesh with in minutes of the introduction. It’s was like they both needed some girl time after being cooped up with the boys for so long. The keepers and myself decided that we would put them together today assuming everything went well over night.

Tom and Kafue Holding on to One AnotherEverything did go well and the Vervets were actually ahead of us in when they though they should be introduced. Tom, the little escape artist, squeezed himself through a tiny hole in the mesh to Join Coco and the older female over the evening and we found him and Coco playing this morning. We then let Kafue out and everything went extremely well. In fact it was one of the best animal introductions I have ever been a part of. Luck is still visible to everyone one and as long as he continues to be so easy going he will be let into the mix within a couple of days. The reason Luck is being held back for a day or two is because males always tend to be more dominate and we wanted all the young ones to have a chance to establish their relationships before another introduction.

Coco Playing in the SunI was also able to do a presentation on animal enrichment for the keepers. It is a program that I am starting up and before I took off for IST I wanted them to get some information on it since we are starting to amass some supplies for enrichment and it would be great to start getting it to the animals. Enrichment is such a win, win, win situation; the animals have fun with it, the keepers enjoy watching the animals behavior, and the public gets to see the animals doing something which is exciting for them.

It’s hard to believe that it is almost the end of yet another week. Time has begun to lose all meaning for me here. Any way I have to run to a meeting, too-ta-loo, Love, Tammy

February 7, 2012

Veterinary work has been the theme for the last couple of days. I am so thankful that we have two fantastic vet volunteers on staff, and that I am able to help them out when possible. On Saturday we had a young Vervet monkey that Born Free brought in that had been injured by another Vervet in the process of releasing her back to the wild. Her name is Jumanji and she was actually born here at Munda Wanga and was being released back into Kafue National park with other Vervets. Jumanji had a nasty bite on her left thigh and on her right elbow. Our vet, Cynthia, was able to clean out all the wounds and get her some antibiotics and by the time she left on Monday morning Jumanji was looking much better and I think the wounds are going to heal nicely.

Then on Monday afternoon Zambian Wildlife Authority (ZWA) sent their two vets, David and Harvey, over to look at Shumba the lioness with the hurt paw. Last Friday we tried a new treatment of putting a bandage over the wound to prevent Shumba from licking it (her rough tongue was scraping off all the new skin). Amazingly the bandage stayed on the entire time. When we opened the bandage up the paw actually looked considerably better, but since she wasn’t able to lick it maggots got in the wound. The maggots looked bad, but in fact they helped with the healing process by cleaning out any bacteria and dead flesh that was lingering in the wound. The healing process made more progress over 4 ½ half days than in the last month. So we decided to bandage again and let it do some more healing. We will do another procedure on her again tomorrow to assess the progress made this time around. I think for the first time a lot of us had hope that she was going to be able to make it through all of this. Thank you all for all of your positive thoughts, because Shumba is on the mend!

Our Vet Staff & ZWA working on Clive

Today brought a veterinary procedure on our male Chacma Baboon, Clive. Clive is a senior citizen baboon and is close to 20 years old and has been having some medical problems over the last few months. Since he didn’t look to be doing very good today we decided to call ZWA over again to help us in darting him with medication so we could safely take a look at him, draw blood, get a fecal samples, and give him a physical exam. I’m hoping that our efforts are not wasted and we can find out why he seems to be having problems.

Clive during the Procedure

I am also in the process of wrapping up a few of my projects, because I am going to be at In Service Training (IST) for the next couple of weeks. IST is a time to bring the volunteers down to Lusaka for more training on animal care, agro forestry, perma gardens, working with NGO’s, and lots of other information that was not covered during our original training session when we first got to country. It also gives volunteers a chance to catch up with everyone in their intakes and to get a break from the village and from work. IST is not quite as exciting for me since I live just outside of Lusaka and have not been in the bush for the last 4 months, but it will be great to see everyone again and hear all the crazy stories. I am going to be presenting on a very different “community entry” than anyone else. I’m almost nervous to say much because I think that some people in my group are not going to happy with the way things turned out for me. They are going to assume that I took the easy way out when in fact this was my only way in which to come back to Zambia and not be sent home to “heal”. I think it will go well and I will be able to add a bit of variety into the mix at the very least.

Galahad Waking up from a Nap

As for an update on a couple of other animals, Galahad the kitten, is doing very well and is growing like a weed. He enjoys waking me up at 5:45 in the morning to play and will gently tap my head in the middle if the night until I wake up when he wants back under my mosquito net. He is a real sweetheart and I am really glad that we found each other. He constantly makes me laugh with all this antics and playfulness.

Coco, the baby Vervet that came in a month ago, is doing extremely well too. He and the female we put him with are now bonded and are often seen grooming and snuggled in one another’s arms. Tomorrow is going to be a big day for him as we are doing a massive introduction with 4 other Vervets, all very young and all have been around humans and are making the transition back to being a monkey. I hope that it goes well and they all get along.

That’s all for today folks, and I hope that everyone is having a great start to their weeks! Love and miss you all, Cheers, Tammy

February 5, 2012 It’s a strange feeling to be rebuilding yourself at the age of 26, yet that is where I find myself. Ever since accident I have been dealing with a lot of medical rebuilding such as healing, but I have finally entered the part of recovery that includes rebuilding my physical strength along with finding a balance to my life. Last weekend I attempted some simple yoga and stretches for the first time since the accident and while it felt really good at the time to be doing it I paid for it all of last week in extremely sore muscles, I had a hard time getting out of bed Monday morning. I didn’t realize how a back injury affects not just the back but the entire body. It’s like going back 15 years in my body’s strength and flexibility, and I have to take it slow on top of it. So frustrating to a person who likes to move forward and get things done. Learning to breathe and slow down on certain aspects of my life has been a learning process since coming to Zambia, a learning process I am still working on. The nice thing is that this has given me the space and time to start deciding where I want my life to go, not just for the rest of my service in Peace Corps, but afterwards as well. Over the last few months I have been blessed with books, people, articles, opportunities, and animals to help me along the path of discovering a new way in which to live my life. I have had my faith in life and the path I have chosen reinvigorated and am more excited than ever to continue with the adventure I am on. Being grateful for all that I have been given, both the good and the bad, knowing that what I give out comes back to me times three, and that the most important thing in life is love. As I end a week her at Munda Wanga that was filled with accomplishments, hard work, new ideas, inspiring words, and frustrations; I know that I am making a difference with each day I am here, not just with the work that needs to be done, but also with inspiring people. I have to remember that 2 out of the three Peace Corps goals deal with cultural exchange; it’s only the third goal to assist in development. I realize that each time I am out in the park, writing a blog entry, and lending a helping hand I fulfilling the 1st and 2nd goals. There are going to be days that are hard, people who are going to be frustrating to work with, injuries that will happen (oh boy do I know about this one), and patience that will be tested. I also know I am going to grow through this process. I am going to take things at my own pace, continue working on my own personal development and goals, and give as much as I possibly can to the people around me. I have to remind myself that I am running a marathon not a sprint here; 27 months in a foreign country living in not easy conditions requires pacing. I am not going to feel bad any more when I take a day off, or spend an afternoon reading or writing, I need it for my own personal health. I am so glad that I took the majority of this weekend to mentally recharge and reboot, I needed it mentally, physically, and emotionally. So far I am proud of what I have done, the choices I have made, and the obstacles I have overcome; hopefully I can continue with this in the future. I also want to say a very sincere thank you to all the people out there who have given me their support on this journey. I would not be here today without all of you, not kidding in the slightest. Without all the inspiring words and encouragement I would have taken the 1st plane home after the accident. To all the people who read my blog, write letters and emails, and those that call and we get a chance to talk; I cannot thank you enough for being part of my life. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to be surrounded by so many amazing and inspiring people. I only hope that I can be as helpful and inspiring as you have all been to me! Love and miss you all, Tammy

February 4, 2012 I seem to have a talent for ending up at zoos with unreasonable management. I have had great managers in the past when it comes to work, but the only zoo where I have seen talented management was at Northwest Trek Wildlife Park. While I am in a very different role here at Munda Wanga (1. I am a un- paid volunteer, 2. I am not technically employed by Munda Wanga but by Peace Corps, 3. I am more of a consultant than a zookeeper), but I still have to deal with our management on a daily basis. Our manager wants something for nothing all the time, when it comes to volunteers, employees, or the general public. He also doesn’t respect his employees; I especially see this with the keepers. The keepers here work so hard and would put many zookeepers to shame in the United States and yes while they haven’t had a formal education they still know their stuff when it comes to their jobs. Not to mention they are not just in charge of their animals, but all of their upkeep as well (cutting grass in the park, fixing fences, electrical work, you name it they do it) and they do it for very little pay, even by Zambian standards and have very little supplies to work with. When I was at Fresno Chaffee Zoo the other keepers and myself would joke around that we needed magic wands and crystal balls to be able to do our jobs, I didn’t know that I would also need those items here, especially since witchcraft and magic are against the law in Zambia. Pardon for my rant, but I hate to see good people getting taken advantage of and yes while I can leave at anytime they cannot and I want to make as much of a difference here as I possibly can. One of the reasons I am working on motivating the keepers is because I can do as much work as I can, but my work will end when I leave if the keepers don’t have the time or the energy to carry on. Employees who are never rewarded for going above and beyond have no incentive to do so and have even less of an incentive if no matter what they do, good or bad, they are going to be yelled at. I have been in that very situation, especially at Fresno Chaffee Zoo, and I know how it feels. This is a major part of my reasons for leaving the zoo industry. While I still believe that I was supposed to end up at Munda Wanga, and that yes it is going to be a better way of ending my zoo career than Fresno Chaffee Zoo would have been, I now know more than ever that I am done with working in this field and that when I am done with Peace Corps I will move onto a new career path. Not am I just done physically (with my back injury I doubt I could be a fulltime keeper again), but I am also mentally done with it. I am truly hoping that I can make a positive change here, not just for the animals but for the staff as well. Anyway I will close for today! Love and miss everyone at home, Tammy

February 1, 2012

Our Crocodiles

This week seems to a never ending string of surprises and intrigue. I went up to the keepers area to meet them at 8 AM meeting to find no one but our head keeper Raphael waiting for me. As it turns out all the keepers were at a meeting for becoming a union. I am personally very happy for the keepers that they are taking control of what they deserve. I am in support of the workers in most cases because they do more than anyone in management comprehends, also I have been in their shoes the majority of my life and I know how badly management can take advantage of their staff if given the opportunity. The management here claims that a union is going to be the fall of Munda Wanga, but to me a staff that is well represented and taken care of is much more hard working and cares much more about their jobs. When management can only find fault with them and their work it makes for a very unmotivated or caring staff, it won’t matter what they do right they will only be criticized for what isn’t perfect.

The Store Room Mess

Attempting to Sort the Mess

Due to the meeting I wasn’t able to get started on collection lists right away as planed so I jumped into cleaning out the dry storage area with Lauren one of our vet volunteers and with Debra a young local volunteer wanting more animal care experience. As you can see from the before and after pictures we were able to accomplish a lot in a very short amount of time. We sorted, cleaned up a massive rat nest that was living within their food horde and managed to kill 6 of the unwanted house guests, and made what was a mess into a clean and organized storage closet. The dry storage area is also going to be home to our enrichment supply area. I am currently beginning to receive donations from the surrounding community and will hopefully have an enrichment club up and running within the next couple of months.

What it looked like after cleaning, organizing, presure washing, and rat killing.

This afternoon I meet up with the vets from Zambian Wildlife Authority (ZWA) and was able to come and observe Shumba’s treatment again. Her paw in just the last few days has made a remarkable recovery from just last week! Thank you all very much for thinking positive thoughts. The infection is gone and the one big thing holding her back is that when she is licking her wound she is also licking off the new skin that is beginning to form. So the vets decided on a new strategy, today we bandaged the wound to see if it would help the healing process. We covered the bandage with a wool stock that we then medically taped on and covered with a bitter liquid that would hopefully deter her form biting or licking it. We are going to monitor it for the next 48 hours and then check to see how it goes. So again I am going to ask for all the good thoughts possible to be sent Shumbas way!

Top View of Paw

All Bandaged Up

I was, after all that happened today, able to complete all my plans for the day, I even found Emanuel, one of the Hoof stock and Bird keepers, a book on the Birds of Zambia. I was able to play the training game with the keepers again for a few minutes and the more we play the better they get and understand the reasons why we are playing. I was also able to accomplish the collection lists for primates and Hoof Stock, quite an accomplishment. I also had a very heart to heart talk with our head keeper Raphael. He told me that the keepers love me, but they are so afraid that I am going to change like other volunteers in the past and become unapproachable and underhanded. I assured him that this was not the case that the person he sees now is what he will get always. It was very nice to hear that what I am doing here is really making a difference not only in the lives of the animals, but in the lives of the keepers as well, and that I am wanted here was great to hear. I really think that I was destined to come to Munda Wanga, long before I even applied to Peace Corps. I do believe in higher powers knowing the best course of action for a person and how to make that happen. I am living proof at the moment.

Jeff and Pheri After the doing the Primate Collection List

Also an update on the kitten that is so nicely sleeping on my lap at the current moment, Galahad is doing great! He is now hitting his litter box 99% of the time, got his nails trimmed (although it is now

harder for him to climb into bed), received a bath this week (trust me when I say he needed it), and is eating well and growing like a weed. He is becoming a true comfort to me and I am so glad that I have him, as unexpected as it might have been.

Anyway enough of my chit-chat for the time being, goodnight to all, and may you all be as blessed as I have been lately. Love and miss you all, Tammy

February 1, 2012

My already hectic grand plans for Monday became more complicated when Simon, our driver here at Munda Wanga, came up to me and asked me if I were ready to go. I had just finished measuring the cooler / refrigerator for shelving with our head keeper Raphael and was about to sit down with him and begin designing the shelving at this point and was totally confused. I had been planning on going with Simon and Raphael the next day, Tuesday, on their weekly shopping trip but not today. Just then my cell phone rang and it was Fred, my manager, and he told me that he wanted me to go with Simon and the primate keeper Pheri to a friend of his house and catch a wild Vervet monkey that had taken up residency on her property and was starting to steal food from her pet Vervet monkey. Having pet Vervet monkeys is such a bad idea and yet it seems to be a common problem here in Zambia since they are so common. Normally, trapping a wild animal is something that Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZWA) would do but the lady was afraid to call them because she didn’t have a permit for her Vertvet Monkey pet and didn’t want it to be taken away. As it turns out her pet Vervet monkey was found and raised by her 15 years ago, before there were good options for rehabilitation and release, which is why she still has it. The vets and I convinced Fred to still go to ZWA and talk to them about the situation. Partly because the woman should have a permit for a full grown male Vervet monkey, and also because taking the monkey away from here at this point would be devastating to the monkey, the only person he has ever known his whole life. You can change up a primates “family” when they are young, but the older they get the harder this becomes and at 15 years of age it would be impossible.

So off we went to attempt to capture a wild Vervet. Once we arrived at her house it was easy to see why the wild Vervet decided to stay around. She had a very large property full of fruit trees and on top of it she was offering the little guy food to stop him from getting into her monkeys food. Pheri and I step up the catch cage and waited for oven an hour for an appearance but never did see the little guy. So we left the cage full of food so he could get used to it and would come back another day. I felt bad for Pheri, because he still had the entire primate section to take care of since he was the only primate keeper on staff that day and by the time we got back it was close to 1 PM.

Vervet monkeys I have the feeling as going to become a thorn in my side before too much longer. I’m glad that Coco arrived before I realized how big of an issue pet Vervet monkeys are here in Zambia. There are so many people, mainly white people “mazoongooes”, who either buy the babies from people selling them on the side of the road or they somehow are given the babies to raise. The best option for both the monkey and the people would be to turn the baby over to a sanctuary or rerelease program right away. Many times sanctuaries, like Munda Wanga, have surrogate moms for the babies and other youngsters for them to be friends with, even if they are not visibly on display. The worst thing a person can do is hang onto the monkey for months until they are completely attached to humans and no longer recognize monkeys as themselves. When Coco arrived here he was very close to this point, but we got him with a female Vervet the day after he arrived. Yes he took some time to adjust, but now he no longer looks to humans as friends at all, he looks to other Vervets.

This last weekend I had a family come out with a 5 month old Vervet female named Mojo who had been raised from the time she was a day or two old by the couple and they were just now looking for a place to put he,r because guess what she was turning into an adult monkey. They did not want to bring her to Munda wanga because they didn’t want her put in a cage, however as they were told by ZWA Munda Wanga is their only option because we are the only rehabilitation and release program for Vervets currently in Zambia. So the lady called me yesterday to inform me that she will be after all brining Mojo to us next week. I am worried for Mojo because she is going to have a very complicated transition. She has never been around other monkeys and from as far as I can tell her family spoiled her and let her get away with anything she wanted to. These things are going to make it that much more difficult for her to integrate with the other Vervets.

A quick note about yesterday, I went with Raphael and Simon on their weekly shopping trip. First we went to Freshmark, the distribution center to all Shoprite grocery stores in the country, to pick up their less than perfect castoffs. We loaded up the majority of our pick-up truck with a variety of fruits and veggies. It was really cool getting to see a distribution center in Zambia, it really wasn’t much different from America in the way it functioned.

Then we were off to Soweto Market. Now not many white people ever go to Soweto market because it is dangerous and dirty, not even well to do Zambians go to Soweto Market. However we went because of their super cheap prices on produce. While most of our produce is donated we still need to supplement with corn, cabbage, and cucumbers. So off I went with my two “body guards” and went into Soweto market. To say I stood out would be an understatement. I was the only white person for miles around and I am really glad that I had absolutely nothing on me that could be stolen because I doubt I would have made it out with it. Everyone was yelling mazoongoo mazoongoo! As Raphael translated for me most of the men, the majority of them rather drunk (and this was 9 AM in the morning) kept shouting how beautiful I was, and would I marry them, one who thought I was Raphael’s wife asked if he could buy me from him. It was shall we say a very interesting experience. I also couldn’t go up to the produce places with Raphael until he negotiated a price because they would hike up price just because I’m white, the local white people call it “skin tax” because everything at a market is more expensive for white people than black people. Here are a couple of pictures Raphael took with his phone of me at the market. It was a very interesting and productive day and I was able to see a side of Lusaka that most Peace Corps volunteers would never get to see.

Love and miss you all, Tammy

January 29, 2012I was able to start my absolute favorite activity this week with the keepers; animal training! I know that I am going to have to take it slow and in small steps but I have no doubt that the keepers are going to get and eventually become great at it. Working here with the keepers is a constant learning process for both sides. For me I am having to find the ways to successfully integrate my ideas, suggestions, and knowledge in ways that for Munda Wanga work. It does no good for me to introduce things that are not sustainable because once I am gone it will fall apart. One of the barriers that I am working against is language. While some of the keepers speak good English others are not as well versed and the local language that everyone speaks is Nyanja not Bemba so I have no background in that at all. Luckily the keepers are all willing to help communicate what I am saying between each other when one of them isn’t getting what I am saying. The language in its self is becoming a team building activity. The keepers are also learning American things like high fives, and new terms like “guinea pig” when talking about trying something new. This week I introduced the basics of training, Cues and Bridges. The bridge as I told the keepers is the term that is used to tell the animal “good job”. I went on to explain how it can be anything, but once you decide what the bridge is going to be you need to keep it clear and concise to be able to have clear communication with the animal. I then described what a cue is, it’s the way you tell the animal what you want them to do. The most basic steps of animal training, but also the most important ones a trainer is ever going to use. I then had them all stand up and I introduced the “Training Game” to them. The “Training Game” is when you have two people partner up and one becomes the trainer and the other becomes the trainee. The object of the game is for the trainer to get the trainee to do a behavior (something clear and simple like clapping hands, tapping a foot, spinning in a circle, etc), but all the trainer can say is the bridge, which in the case of the keepers is the word yes. As we started our first round it was taking the keepers over 5 minutes each session just to begin figuring out how best to play the game. The great thing about the training game is it places the keepers in a position to feel like the animals do when a new behavior is being trained and it helps them become better trainers because they understand how clear and specific they have to be. I was impressed with the progress we made in just one day; it was very exciting to see the light bulbs go on in the keeper’s heads as they began to understand the concept better and better. The next day, Friday, I went back up to play again, only this time I added more on. I began to explain how the trainers excitement, tone of voice, and body language can contribute to communication. For instance instead of just saying a dull yes every time the trainee does a behavior add more excitement and intensity when the behavior gets closer and closer to the end goal. With this tad bit of knowledge the keepers went from taking over 5 minutes to reach the end goal to under a minute. Once they did so well with that I added on the next piece the “no”. Now in training using a no, or in training lingo a Redirective Stimulus (RS), is very controversial. Some trainers refuse to use it I personally think that it is very helpful. If you could imagine looking for a hidden object in a room and you only ever were told “hot”, as in getting closer, it would be much more difficult to find the object than if you were given both “hot” and “cold” so you knew when you were going in the wrong direction. When I train I use “no” as a way to tell the animal when they move in the wrong direction, I do not use it as a punishment, which I think is where a lot of the confusion comes from on the topic of “no”. I now gave “no” to the keepers to add to their communication toolbox, and we played the game again. This time all the keepers hit their end behaviors in 10 – 15 seconds instead of 5 minutes as it was taking just 24 hours ago. If you could imagine my jubilation at their success and progress I was through the roof. Not only had they improved on their skills successfully but they also did it in a way that was fun. We were all laughing and joking by the time we had finished the game and, I think that the keepers felt great about their progress. Again it turned into a team building activity. I have come to realize that if there is anything one thing I can do for Munda Wanga it is to inspire the staff to greatness. We have a great staff here, but they have never been treated well or thanked for the jobs in which they do. They have had no reason to go above and beyond or to risk greatness. Already I have been seeing a slight shift in their attitudes; as small things like apple crisps and coke-a-cola treats reward hard work, the keeper lounge now has electricity and is slowly being remolded into a nice place to be, and tools and supplies make their way to the keepers, a sense of hope that things are going to get better and that positive change is happening is beginning to emanate from the keepers.I am going to keep moving forward and making whatever difference I can. Maybe this is why I was meant to come here. Not only do I know zookeeping but I am also a positive person who wants to spread that energy to others. As I am about to begin another week I am filled with anticipation at the things it will bring. I love and miss you all back home! Tammy

January 27, 2011

Greetings everyone! Today I want to introduce Shumba. Shumba is a lioness from Kafue National Park. In early December Shumba’s front paw was severely bitten by a crocodile; guides and agents from Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZWA) kept an eye on her and it was very soon obvious that she was not going to make it without medical attention. ZWA then made the decision to try something they had never done before, they decided to attempt to capture her in order to treat her wound which now had a raging infection. Part of the reason they made the decision was because she is so young, only 3 years old and has not only a long life in front of her but should also be able to have a few litters of cubs as well. Munda Wanga was then contacted to see if we could house her while she was undergoing medical care and treatments, not only were we the perfect facility for this, but ZWA’s headquarters is right across the street as well to administer veterinary care.

Shumba has now been here at Munda Wanga for the last almost 2 months. Her paw is looking so much better than it was but she has a long way to go as you can see from the pictures. Twice every week our volunteer vets team up with ZWA’s vets to clean the wounds and apply medications. We try to keep we as happy and well cared for as humanly possible, but she is wild at heart and does not want to be here, she want to go home.

This blog is going to be unique in the fact that I am going to ask something of my readers. I am going to ask that you all think good thoughts, say a prayer, or whatever you believe to make positive things happen for Shumba. She needs as much help and encouragement as we can all give her. She hates being locked up, after all she was a wild lion the first 3 years of her life, and wants to get back to her pride. I do not mean to interfere in others lives but I am asking because right now Shumba could use a miracle to get better.

Love and miss you all! Tammy

January 25, 2012You know when really weird unexpected things happen and you wonder if you are seeing them correctly. This happened to me on my nightly stroll through the zoo tonight. As I turned the corner of the yellow baboon exhibit I found 3 large dromedary camels coming at me down the path way. I immediately stopped gasped and then grabbed my phone to call the head keeper. I had the feeling that the camels had not be given permission to take nightly jaunts around the zoo and three fully grown camels were more than I wanted to take on at the moment, especially I don’t know them very well as of yet. I also knew that we had a 4th camel somewhere; so as the first three I saw continued down the path I started my search for the last one as I awaited keepers to arrive. I did find him still chowing down in the makeshift camel exhibit (they were recently put in an empty field between a couple of the exhibits to “cut the grass”). Knowing where that one was I turned around and began to follow the other three, curious to where they were going. As it turned out they were on their way to the goat exhibit which is also the old exhibit they used to be in and I guess they had just decided that it was time for a visit. The keepers showed up and we escorted the last male into the goat exhibit with everyone else until we could get the fence fixed. The goats were rather upset about having their peaceful evening upset by 4 large camels coming in and taking over their barn. The mothers who have young goatlits were the most upset, especially the one who had just given birth yesterday. Today seemed to be the day for rounding up animals. I am currently working on updating the Munda Wanga collection list, this has not been done in the last couple of years and some of the keepers don’t even know how many animals they should have in each exhibit. I started today with reptiles since I thought it would be an easy category to start with. The Crocodiles, no problem, 3 males and 2 females, easy peasy. The yellow tortoises were another story entirely. Myself and their two keepers spent about ½ an hour just rounding them up from around their very over grown and large exhibit. I almost stepped on one while I was looking. Jeff, one of the keepers even climbed into their den to pull them out. And it’s not like once you rounded them up to one area they were going to sit there patiently, oh no they all go taking off into different direction, moving faster than you think a tortoise should be able to move . It’s like herding cats and some of the big girls were surprisingly heavy. As we found out once we started sexing them (determining if they were male or female) and counting them we had 28 females and 12 males; 40 leopard tortoises in total. We were all laughing by the time we were through. Yesterday I scheduled a surprise treat for all of the keepers as a thank you for doing such hard work on the daily’s that I introduced last week. I made apple crisp, another local volunteer made brownies, and one of the vet volunteers bought sodas. Again the keepers were really thrilled and are starting to believe that positive change is coming their way. I was also able to get up the new signs in the keeper office I am attempting to revamp so little things keep happening:)As for the baby animal news, Coco is continuing to do better and better with other Vervets. In fact both last night and this evening I witnessed him cuddling with the other female and grooming each other, such a positive step! In just 2 weeks we are going to be able to introduce 3 other Vervets that have also been in quarantine that were all pets gone wrong. The Kitten is also doing very well although she is no longer a little girl she is a he and one of the vet volunteers proposed the name Darwin to replace Arwin, but I am leaning toward Galahad myself because he has the heart and soul of an honest knight.My only regret about the past couple of days is that I haven’t had my camera with me. I am going to have to start carrying it all times just so I can capture all the unique experiences that keep happening to me here at Munda Wanga. That’s all for tonight I will continue to update about the weird and wacky world in which I find myself living. Love and miss you all, Tammy

January 20, 2012

If I keep starting blogs with it has been a wild week no one is ever going to read my blog again. There goes my career as an aspiring writer. Alas though, it has been a wild week and it is not over yet. I have the feeling that unless I am sick in my bed or not here I am going to be considered to be “working”.

The bad part is that I am a workaholic and there is so much to do here at Munda Wanga and I am the perfect person to take a lot of it on. Not just because I care but also because I am really good at being a zookeeper/ animal care giver / motivational person / organizer / mover and shaker. Plus I am not just working for animal care I am also working for education as well. So on Tuesday I had a meeting with the head of the education department, Joe. I went over some initial reactions I have had with him along with some of the ways I thing we can improve. One of the big things I touched on was the sign issue. We have them but…. 1.) We are lucky if they are out and in front of the right exhibit 2. The main animal people really care about seeing here, the lions, and not one out of the two enclosures has a single sign that even says so much as lion on it (and you wonder why people get frustrated when they cannot find the lions) 3. Plus they all need to be updated. Don’t even get me started on the feeding tour; I will conquer that another day. I am hopeful that given time these things will get done and be improved upon.

I also have very exciting news about Coco, he and his, as I am going to call her from now on ‘big sister” the female Vervet monkey (because she is not in any way his mom), are in a new enclosure. Myself along with the two primate keepers, Jeff and Periri, revamped the nursery exhibit to a working state, it has a long way to go but it looks completely different than when we started, and is now the home to Coco. I am afraid that he is always going to be attached to humans, but hopefully that will change given more time but he is doing so much better than he was. On Wednesday, right after we brought him up, a group of 20 seven year old school children came up to look at him and he had no problem. If I were working in a different facility I would have kept him pulled and used him as an education animal since he likes humans so much, but alas Munda Wanga has no intention of developing a presentation department.

Thursday I had to take a vacation from Munda Wanga to go in to town and get my Visa renewed. Like anything with Peace Corps the entire ordeal took twice as long as it needed to, but I am legal now for the next 30 days. I am supposed to get 2 year work permit but the government has not issue them yet and I am living on a 30 day visa. I also has to swing by the medical office to my dismay to get my toe looked at that was bitten by something on Monday (I am convinced it was some kind of spider). It now has a bad infection and I received some antibiotics and a treatment plan. I have to say that it already looks better. After going to immigration I took a quick spin to Manda Hill mall to pick up some needed cooking supplies, groceries, and other essential. I then splurged and went to see my first movie in Zambia, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. I read the book about a year ago and the movie was fantastic, really captured the book, in my opinion. I hope that they make movies out of the second and third books of the series as well. Coming home to Chilianga I took the Mini-bus system for the first time. It was frustrating and cramped given my shopping trip but it only coasted me 9 Pin ($ 1.80 US) versus a 100,000 Kwacha cab fare ($20.00 US).

Today I also launched our first trial of daily record keeping and held my first all keeper meeting. I know, after being a zookeeper for so many years, how much paper work sucks but it is a necessary evil to do the job well. I presented the new daily’s along with 2 other new paper work forms they have to fill out along with another form requesting all their contact information, since I am creating a contact sheet of everyone who works for Munda Wanga. They received it very well considering I was adding to their work load, I only hope that they do not hate me after this. I also got the chance to personally recognize three of our keepers for going above and beyond the call of duty. I made thank you cards for each of them as well as buying each of them a Coke. I know it’s not much but it is all I can afford and the manager isn’t on board with starting in incentive program for good work. So I am going to do what I can on my own. When I handed off the cards and sodas to the keepers they were so surprised and almost taken aback. I don’t think that had ever been recognized in that way before. I know how it feels to be treated by bad management I am not going to turn into that if it is the last thing I do. I am going to recognize the hard work and effort our keepers put in to their work and reward it when I have the ability to do so. I am only going to be here for the next 20 months the keepers here are going to be here for much much longer than that.

To end this blog entry on a very positive note I have a new baby living with me now. This little girl isn’t as exotic as a monkey or parrots but she is mine to keep, she is a very sweet kitten. I welcome you all to meet Arwen. She was saved from a drain, and our manager who wanted to bash her over the head, and is now my new baby. She is coal black in coloration, with sky blue eyes, and a hunger for life. She is only about 2 weeks old and literally fits in the palm of my hand. I have no idea where the mother is or how she got separated, but she is a lucky girl that she ended up with a group of volunteers who couldn’t help but coo over her. As I feed her her nightly bottle and clean up the little tinkles she has left behind I cannot think of how blessed I am once again to be where I am in life. If there was a way in which to end my career in zookeeping, not with a bang but with an explosion, it is here at Munda Wanga. I love and miss you all! Love, from the bottom of my heart and soul, Tammy

January 22, 2012

We are having a partly sunny weekend! I am so excited:) It has been raining and cloudy for the past 2 weeks almost constantly. I don’t mind the rain in general, but the big problem is with all the moisture in the air it is close to impossible to get anything to dry. Even items that have not been soaked are damp. Even my bed and pillows have absorbed the moisture in air and are damp when I crawl in to go to sleep. I mostly brought quick dry items for this very reason, but even those items are having a hard time drying, some taking days. The few non quick dry items I brought are not drying at all and I am trying to figure out what to do with them before they start growing mold. However I took advantage of the little sun breaking through the clouds today to quickly do my laundry and put my shoes out to dry.

I have made my weekend into a working weekend. I wasn’t planning on it but I had another Peace Corps volunteer come out to visit and was willing to work so we tackled cleaning the old quarantine cage Coco was in and started working on the other side of the Nursery enclosure. I also watched the feeding tour and got more paper work done on my part. The keepers are also doing an amazing job with filling out their new daily as well. It improves everyday and I am so impressed with everything they are working on. I am actually going to bake them a pie either Monday or Tuesday for all of their hard work. I have also decided that despite management not wanting to put together a recognition program For the keepers I am going to do it because they deserve it. I love working up with the keepers in the zoo I hate being around the office and having to deal with management, which due to my position I have to do very frequently.

As for an update on animals, Coco is continuing to do well and is growing each day. Arwen is also doing well but is a handful at the moment. We are currently making a switch to solid food since she is ravenous and milk doesn’t seem to be sating her anymore. She has also had some constipation problems and had to have an enema delivered to her last night. She was not a happy kitty but felt much better after she got everything out of her. I am hoping to turn her into the volunteer cat her at Munda Wanga. Not only will this help with the rat issue but she will also always be here to provide comfort and support to all the volunteers that continue to come through Munda Wanga.

I also had my first visitor this weekend. Naychari, another PCV, came down yesterday to get out of Lusaka for a couple of days and to help out here at Munda Wanga. We had a lot of fun, and I now appreciate the fact that we have so many beds here; I will always have room for guests. I hope that everyone had a marvelous weekend and I’ll close now as I am revving up for a super busy week.

Love, Tammy

January 16, 2012

I have just had one of the best weekends ever! It started out off roading it to get into Lusaka (I get rides in with our manager and it is much faster to take the dirt or in our case mud back roads) and with all the rain we have been having it became quite the adventure. The picture doesn’t quite do it justice; all I can say is that I am glad that he has a land cruiser with 4 wheel drive.

Then once I arrived in town and grabbed 2 coke lights I managed to make it to the Peace Corps office just before they were locking up for the night and I am so glad that I did because my mail finally caught up with me:) I had 3 packages and all kinds of letters waiting for me. Mom and Wendy thank you! I actually started crying when I opened them, I have been so emotional lately. Then I followed that by a hot shower, my first in many many many days and went over to another PCVs house to spend the night. Liz and Nay, the PCV’s who were gracious to put me up for the night, cooked me a delicious dinner of beef tips simmered in a soy curry sauce with rice and veggies, it was wonderful! The night wasn’t over yet though, I brought catch phrase and we played till 1 in the morning when the power went out since we were having a raging rain storm. Welcome rainy season.

Saturday I had a very productive and fun day too! I caught up on work and with other PCV’s at the office for awhile, then mailed my letters, and did my grocery shopping before heading over to my friend Mindy’s ( a past PCV who now works for the embassy and is the unofficial hotel for PCVs coming to Lusaka) where I would be staying the next two nights. I got to see and hang out with a whole bunch of other PCV’s there and we ended up having an impromptu girl’s night. We opened some wine, I made 3 pizzas from scratch, and we all played catch phrase. I guess it was a catch phrase weekend; I am so glad that I brought it from the states!

Sunday, after sleeping in and nursing our slight hangovers, myself, Mindy and Bridget another PCV who also ended up staying the night had a movie day (She’s the man and The Notebook)! Then to cap off a weekend that was already fabulous I ended up going to a Brie (BBQ in American) at one of Mindy’s Co-workers houses. I haven’t been to a high up embassy workers house before and I was so surprised! It was absolutely beautiful. The house had 4 bedrooms, a kitchen to die for and the whole house was open, light, and airy with high ceilings and lots of windows. Then to top it off Sharon and Teddy who hosted the party were so friendly, and they even teach salsa dancing lessons! Now all I need is a boy who wants to salsa with me, hmmm, I wonder who he will be:) I have to say that my dating possibilities are going to go up significantly here in Lusaka. On top of everything, it was a truly international night too. For dinner we had 3 Americans, 2 people from Kenya , 1 person from Ethiopia, and another person from the Ivory coast. It is the most enjoyable dinner I have had in Zambia so far and I met so many amazing people who are all going to be my neighbors.

One of the things that I have realized in the last couple of days is that I am having one of the most abnormal Peace Corps experiences there could be. I am going to have such a different service than most people in my intake. Not only do I not live in a mud hut in a village, but I live 30 minutes outside of Lusaka, I have electricity and running water (even though it’s not heated), free rides into town most days, I speak English, and I am constantly surrounded by other volunteers and expats from countries all over the world. Not to mention I work and live at a Zoo. Tonight I got two new roommates, parrots. Luckily these two won’t be making a mess of my room, they have a cage where they prefer to stay and only talk a little bit. Also an update on the little Coco, he is doing very well and is making friends with the female Vervet monkey we put him with. She has become more of a sister than a mom to him, but he is no longer calling out for humans and he is calm now when we are around which is a huge improvement. We are planning two move the two of them up to the nursery exhibit (which I am helping

to revamp right now) on Wednesday. That way the public will get to see him and he will have a more interesting day and more room to move around. I love working with the keepers here too! Everyone is so relaxed and open to new ideas. I just love it and it is becoming a really great working environment. I really am a lucky girl and I am going to have an amazing next 20 months. They are not going to be easy but I believe that it is going to be more rewarding than I can imagine at this point. I love and miss everyone:) I’ll write more soon! Tammy

P.S. I was bit on my toe by either a spider or ants working on the nursery and it is now all swollen. Stupid creepy crawlers:(

January 12, 2012

Today will be my closing blog for this week because I am going into Lusaka for the weekend. I will have been nowhere but Munda Wanga for the last 10 days and I am getting a bit stir crazy. It has been a wild week here between animals being dropped off and the normal workings of a zoo.

First and foremost an update on the adorable Coco, the baby Vervet monkey that was dropped off on Tuesday. After spending the night sleeping curled up on my chest Tuesday night (I didn’t get more than a wink of sleep with him waking up in starts and throwing fits, but he was too cute for words. Especially in the morning when he was trying to wake up but kept curling back up, yawning, and closing his eyes again) we had decided the day before, since he was on solid food already, we needed to get him bonded with another female Vervet monkey instead of being with us humans, the only mom he knows or remembers, since we want to be able to rerelease him eventually. After speaking with the primate keepers on Tuesday afternoon we decided on a female that didn’t have any babies currently and on Wednesday morning we brought her down to quarantine. We began the introduction at about 10 AM Wednesday morning. Coco was madder than hell to be pulled away from his humans and cried out for us for the rest of the day. It was heartbreaking on my side to watch because I of course became attached in just the few short hours I was with him, but it was also the right thing to do. Its situations like this that make me hate people who live out in the bush, steal baby animals and then try to sell them to white people. The animal should never have been taken away from its family in the first place. The female Vervet keeps trying to comfort and befriend him but he keeps batting her away not understanding that he is just like her and not like us humans. Then to make matters worse we had a massive rain storm on Wednesday as well and the poor guy got soaked. This morning he was doing better and is much calmer, but he still cries when he sees a white woman because to him we are mom. I am hoping that by tomorrow he will be better yet and I am going to have the primate keepers keep a close eye on him all weekend long to make sure he is still doing well. I will pull him if his health comes into question but the best thing in the long run right now is to try and make him understand that he is a monkey not a human.

We also had a parrot dropped off on Wednesday that was also a trapped wild animal being sold on the side of the road. A family bought him and brought him here right away so that eventually he could be rereleased. Only time will tell with this little guy since his wings were pinioned (the flight feathers cut). Hopefully they will grow back quickly and he will be able to fly again.

The other major project going on this week was weighting the current diets we are feeding the animals. Up until this point everything has been guessed at, and while some of the animals look very healthy others are on the chubby side and others need a little weight put on. The Vet Volunteers are doing research about the calorie counts these animals should be getting and I am helping them on the weighing side with the keepers since that is my background. Even though I can’t lift I can record all the data and help sort all the food out. We are very fortunate here and have all of our food currently donated. Local grocery stores donate produce and meet that is no longer marketable and dry items that have been damaged (like boxes of baby cereal that have been beat up or ketchup that is past its expiration date). Then ZWA (Zambian Wildlife Authority) who handles everything in Zambia’s 19 national parks donates meat to us as well (most are old animals that have either been humanely put down or many of the parks have nuisance animals that need to be removed for the safety of visitors and other animals alike). I’ve seen deer, elk, and rabbits carved up but watching hippo and horse carcasses getting carved up have been new to me. I got used to watching chickens and goats being prepared to eat when I was living in the village, but when a truck load of goat heads appeared the other day that did throw me for a loop. I hope the picture below doesn’t gross you out but it is the reality here and the animals have to eat.

I have personally been working on getting records together as well and am hoping to have some new systems up and running by next week. One of the big ones for me is getting the keepers to fill out a daily care sheet for the animals. That is for next week however. I think that I will close for the evening and go cook myself some dinner, I have no idea what I am going to eat, but away I go. Goodnight everyone and sweet dreams! Love, Tammy