Me giving a nutrition lesson

Milex kids at going away party

One of my Nutrition Clubs dancing at going away party

THANK YOU for your SUPPORT!!

Our new Milex classroom!!

Foundation for new classroom. PTA and community built structure and molded ALL the bricks.

Mwabombeni Mukwai!! (You are working well!!-general greeting in Icibemba)

I am home....in Utah. I've been lucky enough to call several different places home, and I am sure I will continue to do so. I was able to do some traveling after I ended my service in Zambia and am now settling down in Kaysville...but only until September. Linsey and I are moving to Seattle in the fall and hope we can start saving some money for a change. It was difficult to leave my village in Zambia. I developed such an incredible love for my collegues and friends there, but It was time. My area threw me a wonderful going away party and each group I worked with prepared a traditional song and dance in my honor. I was given gifts, notes, and well wishes that made my heart swell. It was overwhelming to see everyone I had worked with during my 2 years in the same place. The nursery school kids were all there, each with a white dot on their foreheads to stick out. Actually...I had given Teacher Mirriam some hole reinforcers for her notebook paper and she didn't know what to do with them, so she put them on the kid's foreheads for the celebration. It was priceless. I guess I shoul've been more clear about their purpose :). Upon leaving my village and Zambia I am left with only gratitude. The opportunity to work in such a foreign and unique environment and really emerge in the Zambian culture is one I will never have again. It was difficult at times, but it was worth every minute.

I am keeping in touch with people from my village via mail and e-mail. I wanted to give you an update on the nursery school. AGAIN>>>IT WOULDn'T HAVE HAPPENED WITHOUT ALL YOUR SUPPORT!!! All those who sent materials, donations, and well wishes should feel really good in knowing you were a part of this incredible chance for early education in Mwamba. The school was able to build a new classroom to accommodate the 100 pupils who come each day. There are 4 employees...2 teachers, a custodian, and a mill worker. To sustain the school we applied to a new NGO started by a former Peace Corps Volunteer called COLOR ME IN to get funding for a community grinding machine. The traditional food (Nshima) is made from ground maize. People from my area have to walk or bike over 12 k with huge bags of maze to the nearest mill. Not only will the mill benefit the school but also the thousands of people who make the trek to town to grind maize. The mill was successfully purchased in March and it has started working. It has so far been successful and the school is thriving.

I hope to be able to visit Zambia again, but until then it will never leave my heart.

All my love

lisa

This is it. I leave Zambia in less than 24 hours but a part of me will remain. Mostly I will carry Zambia with me, the things I've seen, learned, and the people I've loved. The beauty of trial and triumph, of tears and laughter will forever rest in my soul. I was given remembrances from the groups and people I've worked with in the form of song, craft, words, and embrace. I left Mwamba to songs from the MILEX Nursery School kids as all their faces crowded into the doorway and their little hands waving their last goodbyes. The last drive down that red dirt road was tough. I will never live like I lived in Mwamba. The walk across my village to sounds of little voices greeting me, pumping water from the well, carrying my laundry on my head from the river, cycling to afternoon meetings, and falling asleep to the village drums. I am so thankful for this opportunity. I have been immeasurably changed by this place and these people. It is bitter sweet, agonizing bliss to leave and yet reunite with my world and family in the states. I can't wait to see everyone I left, but of course we never leave people and places because they remain inside. Again I want to thank everyone who came with me on this journey and will continue to accompany me. I am full of love and hope for what tomorrow will bring. I will leave with a poem one of my fellow volunteers and dearest friends wrote...

And here I am

Preparing my goodbyes

Preparing my hellos

Trying to remember what I didn’t know

What I couldn’t know

Until I knew

Until I met you

The you that’s now me

Deep inside

Penetrating my life

And now I understand

You were where I was always coming

But I was always leaving

The unintentional suicide

Of a child who couldn’t see

That child was me

I chose to believe

In what the world could be

It’s in the way the seasons change

A shedding of skin

To greet the new

To part with the old

One day it’s hot

The next day it’s cold

I found myself washed

In the baptismal rains

With their consistent inconsistencies

Giving steps to the lame

I knew it wouldn’t last

I knew I’d have to go

You’re not my world

But you’re in my soul

A dreamer from the beginning

A dreamer till the end

And here you are

A beautiful friend

But it’s time for me to go

It’s time for me to leave

It’s time for me to see

That it’s time for me to breathe

The inhale means nothing

If the exhale’s not there

You were my intake

But the letting go I can bear

So now I’m going home

To write letters I’ll probably never send

Whispering words into the wind

This is my goodbye

This is my hello

And I finally remember what I didn’t know

What I couldn’t know

Until I knew

Until I met you.

-Lyndsey MacMahan CAHP 07

Well hello there...

Time is funny. So much has happened in the last few months. The rains have come and gold has turned back to green. The bush has extended to the sky and the little dirt paths have been choked by the foliage. The critters have come out of hiding and the bush is alive with cultivation. Most of my villagers are in the fields from sun rise until the expected afternoon downpour. I am really enjoying life after a bit of a slump, and work is still moving. Unfortunately because of the world food crisis, prices of food have gone up so much so that we are unable to sustain the preschool with a chicken coop. DON'T FRET... we have transformed the coop into a beautiful classroom, and we are working on a new income generating project. We are trying to get a grinding machine, where everyone takes their maize to make flour for the staple food of Nshima. The closest one to Mwamba is 12k and people bike from many villages around us to reach the mill. There will be a lot of demand and it will not only benefit the school, but the surrounding communities. I am really excited about this new venture. We are trying to raise some more money for the extra costs and are going through an NGO that a former Peace Corps Volunteer and good friend of mine just started in the states and I, of course, will let you know how you can help.

I was fortunate enough to attend my second traditional pre-marriage ceremony in the village. I can't possibly describe the beauty and strangeness of this event. However, I will try to paint a simple picture. This ceremony is for women in the village who are about to be wed. It is a 2 day affair and the second day goes non-stop from 13:00-7:00 the next morning. It is exuberance, intensity, exhaustion, dancing, singing, drumming, passing and receiving of knowledge and ritual, all rolled into one. The ceremony I attended included 3 girls, all of whom were younger than me, who were to be married. They start in a remote location in the bush where a group of 'elders' who are maayos (mom's) in the community who act as the traditional teachers. They are accented with a white dot on their forehead and tirelessly facilitate the events. After events in the bush all return to a room totally cleared out except for drums and wall paintings. Through song, dance, drama, and wall paintings, teach the girls what it is to be a good Zambian wife. They teach about taking care of the household, drawing water, cleaning, cooking, birthing children, raising those children, and of course pleasing the husband...in every way imaginable. The climax of the ceremony is when the fiance's, and their parents, and the men's teachers, join the women and their leaders for the interpretation of the wall paintings. The most elderly of the women in the room will take a stick and facilitate the explanation of each picture painted on the wall. It is incredibly fascinating. The pictures range from the wedding day, the household jobs, cleansing of the body, to sexual positions. The explanation of all hundred pictures or so all come in song and dance form and take 2-3 hours to go through. This is just one small example of the endless hours of ritual. I ended up starting from about 18:00-7 the next morning and I was on cloud 9. After almost 2 years of living in Zambia, I was still completely in awe of what I was experiencing. I only wish I could've documented it so I could watch it over and over. The songs and beat of the drums transformed me to a magical place. The voices are so powerful and the energy infectious. Though many tribal traditions have been smothered by colonization and Christianity, ceremonies such as this one are still very much alive in rural areas. I just have to say that if you think a wedding shower is tiring, you have no idea what these poor girls go through. You can see the exhaustion seeping from them. By the end they have a hard time keeping their heads up. I am understanding, in very small bits, why the women here are so strong and unique. God Bless Zambia!!

Well thats it for now. Tune in next time. I wish you all the best of holiday seasons!!

lisa

Muli Shani. I have a few moments to send some love to everyone. Things in Zambia are still churning. Cold season is officially over and it isn't holding on a bit. The days have become quite toasty and I can't imagine just a few weeks ago, I was actually wearing long sleeves :). The land has become golden and my villagers have been gathering their dried maze to sell in town. Because we are using the village agricultural storage shed for classes, the preschool has been closed for 2 weeks to accommodate everyone's maize. We are hoping that the money earned from the coop will allow us to construct our own structure so we can avoid these closures in the future. The coop construction is going really well. The district agriculture officer has been supporting the project and the PTA has been working extremely hard. All 7,000 bricks have been cemented together and the roof is in progress. In other news, the official period of mourning for President Mwanawasa has ended, but people are still shaken by the loss. There will be an election around the 30th of October and a new leader will take over. I am interested to see what the elections will bring for Zambia. I am also thinking of everyone at home as elections there come close. I'll try to write again soon. Sending my love and thoughts..... Lisa

Hello! I am in Lusaka to help facilitate a training for the new volunteers. It was good to be involved and try to share some of my insight, but I am very ready to head back to the village. I just sent Lins back to the states last week and am officially in withdrawl. We had the best time. I am excited to continue work, wrap some of my projects up, and prepare for my replacement to come. I still have a year to go, so there's no rush, but it is good to think about things early. I am seriously thinking about extending in my village for an extra 6 months, meaning I will be home around Sep of 2009. It is not for sure yet, but I have a lot of work left to do, and I really love Mwamba. We were able to get a good chunk of the money we needed for the preschool and have started construction. This is very exciting, but we lost money on the exchange rate and were a few thousand short of our budget so my sweet mom is still collecting donations...wink wink :). It really feels good to see all of our work and planning come to fruition. The school is such an amazing place and it's nice to reward the communities hard work. I can never stop thanking everyone who has supported the project.

A few days ago, President L.P. Mwanawasa passed away and Zambia is in mourning. It is the first President that Zambia has ever lost, as the first 2 are still alive. Things here have been somber, but Zambians pride themselves on their peaceful unity, so no problems are expected. For 3 months the Chief Justice will lead the country until Elections take place. It will be interesting to see an election in another country as one is going on at home as well. It is strange that at the end of my service both pictures of the Presidents displayed at the Peace Corps office will be different from when I arrived. I welcome the change and hope it will serve both countries. Stay well.....

until next time....lisa

HELLO!! Linsey and I are about done with our wonderful adventure. We started with a jaunt to Victoria Falls and then headed to my village. The falls were stunning and of course the village was wonderful. When we biked up to the school by my house there were hundreds of people waiting. The nursery kids were singing and the other village kids were dressed up in white paint and home made grass skirts to welcome her. It was overwhelming. Everyone was so excited to meet her. She loved the village, though I kept her busy with meetings and bike rides. We are headed off to Lake Malawi tomorrow for some relaxation and snorkling. It is really special for her to see my world, and to finally understand some of the things I've spoken about. I only wish we had more time. It is a gift to have her here. Hope all is well in your worlds!! I'll write more soon. Thank You again for your support, love, letters, packages, and donations. I always feel loved.

Mango Class

Milex Kids Dancing at Agriculture Show

Nursery Dancing Teaching a Nutrition Lesson

Mwapoleni Mukwai Bonse!! (Greetings Everyone)..It is about that time for my bi-annual update. Today is an especially happy day because Linsey just came in last night on her 36 hour journey from the states. It is surreal to have her here and I am thrilled for our month together. I could not stop smiling when I started the 12 hour countdown to our reunion….ok lets be serious, the count down really started when she booked her ticket :). It is nice to have some vacation time, but I am always eager to continue work. I have been in Zambia for 17 months and am still in love with this place. I recently had a short period in my service where I wasn’t as confident in my role here. I wasn’t sure I was effective, or putting my energy into the right places. I was frustrated by some road blocks, was spinning my wheels, and felt a bit lost. This just goes with the job. One day biking from Mwamba to Kasama, I stopped for a moment and realized that beauty was all around me. I have such a deep rooted love for this country and culture and still muse at the small intimate moments that I wish I could share but only I experience. A child’s chalky bare feet moving though the dirt, the poised stance of a woman with a 20 liter bucket of water on her head and baby on her back, the men who attend my meetings in suit pants and tropicals (flip-flops) and their eager eyes as we try to work through their agenda, a red flour peeking out from the brown and green African bush, the laugh of the children as we dance by my house. The list is endless. At that moment, I knew that as long as I was still finding beauty amongst my frustrations, I was ok. Every day is a gift here and I will continue to cherish my time.

I want to thank everyone who has been so incredibly supportive of the Nursery School. I am again awed by the generosity and that surrounds me. Because the rainy season is approaching, we are forced to take the money we have raised up to now to get things started. This means cutting our budget significantly, but we will make things happen and are just thankful for the 7,200 we raised. My sweet mom will still be collecting donations, of course, so if there are any still floating out there don’t hesitate. The community is still motivated and excited to start building. They have molded about 3,000 bricks and are still working hard crushing stones and gathering sand for mixing cement. After the bricks are molded, the executive committee of the school will do a 24 hour burning to strengthen them. It should be an interesting process. We have been working with a District Agriculture Officer to make sure the coop will be successful. Proper chicken rearing involves a lot more than I thought. I always just saw chickens running around a little thatched mud hut and thought “how hard could it be.” But turns out, to run a legitimate business, there are a lot of hidden components. It has been fascinating for me to be more involved in these areas and further explore farming and agriculture. It is life here in Zambia. Other than the building aspect, the children are still eager to learn and coming to school in herds. We are all so thankful for this opportunity and also to the hard working teachers, who have yet to be paid and have put their hearts and souls into the education of these kids. I will try to post more pictures in an album if time allows.

For now I will be soaking up Linsey and enjoying our precious time together. Thank you for following my journey……Shalenipo Mukwai (stay well)

Lisa

Muli Shani!! (How are you?)

I just wanted to give you a quick update on everything. I am in Lusaka saying goodbye to my best friend here who has ended his service and is headed back to the states. There are so many incredible volunteers that cycle through each others lives, I guess I'm getting good at hello's and goodbyes. Things in the village are going really well. I am kept VERY busy with the preschool, nutrition clubs, the clinic, and my health committees. I want to sincerely thank everyone who has been involved in the school, whether it's donations, supplies, or support, I appreciate EVERYTHING!! We are currently clearing the land where we will build the chicken coop. Sr. Chief Mwamba, a high up Bemba chief for whom my village is named after, has given us his approval and allotted us a beautiful plot of land by the market. The village is also gathering stones and sand for cement, and starting to mold bricks out of mud found in a near by village. I am constantly awed by the work people do here to achieve things that are so commonplace in the states. The bricks will be made by putting mud into molders, then dried in the sun and burned with charcoal. We even had to make the molders out of planks of wood that were carried on the back of bicycles the 25 k from Kasama. The wood was so heavy, I could barely push the bike, let alone cycle it down the bumpy bush path to the village. Stones are found in the bush, crushed into small bits with mallets and carried to the location where the cement will be mixed. It is also harvest season and all my villagers are working in their fields and making the treacherous journey to sell their crops in Kasama. Life is bustling here in Zambia!! I am so so grateful to be able to experience this life, and see something change and develop that will impact so many lives. I wish you all could see the things I see and experience the beauty and struggle here. I am trying my best to keep you in the loop. Until next time.....loveeeeeeeee lisa

Milex Kids during outdoor activity

Boy from "Mango" class practiucing numbers

Mango Class

Latrine Break :)

Hello everyone. I have great news...my proposal for the expansion of a pre-school in my village is FINALLY up on the peace corps website. When I first came to Mwamba, I was invited to observe a class that Mirriam Mwamba, a local teacher's wife, had started the year before. When I walked into her tiny decorated classroom and saw how she interacted with the 7 eager kids there, I knew this was something special. Several months later the Mwamba's approached me and asked for my help to expand the school to accommodate more of the villages orphan and vulnerable children. The community was excited and supportive and our Peace Corps Partnership Proposal blossomed. Now there are over 110 students ages 3-7 who attend Milex (Mirriam + Alex) Nursery School every day. They are buzzing with knowledge and their voices can be heard throughout the village. We need help with basic supplies, classroom renovations, and construction of a chicken coop to sustain the school. Any donations would be MUCH APPRECIATED...you can help by giving online at https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=611-034 or go to www.peacecorps.gov under Peace Corps Partnerships, find Zambia and L. Sekulich. Any donations are tax deductible and we can't get any of the money until we reach our goal. I have attached a copy of the entire proposal here if you want to find out more. Feel free to e-mail or post any questions. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!! And a special thank you to those wonderful souls who have already donated!!!

Im in Lusaka for my mid-term medical exams, which means that this is officially my mid-service mark. Hard to believe. I'm glad to report that I'm healthy and very luckily haven't suffered the various medical ailments I've seen in other volunteers. Strong Like Bull! This year has flown by and I have been kept very busy. The next few months will also be nuts as I work to raise money for my Peace Corps Partnership proposal expanding a preschool in my village, which I will write more about soon and be sure to bug y'all for donations :). Things in the village are good. The rains are tapering and the maize stocks are popping up. Mangos have finished but now the fresh maize is everywhere, which i LOVE. The village is lush, green, and soggy and my farmers are working hard in their fields. The season has brought all sorts of new critters including a few new snake sightings, and an ant infestation, which has come and gone several times. Luckily, my roof was patched so leakage is minimal and my beautiful yellow flower fence is in full bloom around my compound. I had a successful fish farming workshop and soya cooking demonstration in the last month and have another next week. It is hard to find good sources of affordable protein in rural areas and soya beans are great for that, but people aren't comfortable with how to cook with them and it is not a common village crop. A bunch of my nutrition clubs are starting to grow them this season, which I am really excited about. The groups LOVE cooking demos because they get to eat a lot of fun and new foods and also watch me struggle over the brazier. It's also a great opportunity to teach basic nutrition and empower the clubs to be more comfortable with giving nutrition advice. There is a lot of malnutrition in the village and people are really lacking accessibility and information. The clubs are always so grateful to have workshops, I usually leave with a barrage of gifts, banana bunches, sweet potatoes, maize, mushrooms ect. I am continually awed by the generosity and appreciation the villagers show. I want to end this post by thanking everyone for the wonderful birthday wishes and incredible packages. I am so LOVED and feel INCREDIBLY lucky to have such support! THANK YOU!!!!! nalimutemwa (i loveeeee you) lisa

Time is flying by and my life is ever changing. It is time for reflection as I sit in Kasama on my second of three birthdays in Zambia. A year ago I was bright eyed and in a constant state of awe and confusion as I tried to take in all of the wonder and challenges of this new place. I didn't know what life in my village would be as I attended my bemba classes and sat through tech. training. I wondered how I was ever going to bring change to a community that was so foreign to me. I am still bright eyed and awed, but now my goals are becoming reality. As I become more familiar with my role and learn to weave through the complexities of development I only hope time will allow me to bring my plans to fruition. Mwamba has become my home away from home, and though I am often pulled out of the village for work and various adventures, and am often still flustered by the cultural differences here, I am always relieved to return to my little mud hut and the people and children waiting for me. I have learned to take what is offered around me and work with the skills and ambition that lies in my surrounding communities and to mesh that with my knowledge and my connections with home to enrich the lives around me. Though I am constantly striving for sustainability and change, I never fail to realize that the people around me have impacted me more than I can ever hope to impact them. I am truly living this life and it is beautiful to me. I am awakened by farmers planting their maize fields and children making their walk to school, tattered black uniforms and bare feet. I am kissed by the pouring rain and tickled by wall spiders. I always have dirty feet and finger nails, I feel the cool force of the sweeping river current. I stare at the rolling hills around me as I bike down the narrow red dirt roads that weave through the bright green bush. I am filled with the excitement of a health training and the sparkle in the villagers eyes as they answer my quiz questions or facilitate a lesson for the first time. My heart flutters as the children of Milex preschool sing in class and recite the lessons learned that day. With each joy the reality of the poverty of village life is still present. The sober touch of AIDS, malaria, and malnutrition is felt all around me. People live on. They work, love, laugh, sing and cry. The suffering and joy is life in the village. The support and love from home and the people around me keeps me strong and on my 25th birthday this experience, place, and the people in my life are the greatest present of all. Ever thankful... lisa

ps mom got 2 packages, havent opened yet but thanks...and lins SO GOOD to finally talk to you loooooove you!!!

Aka: The Dead Sea. We bussed an hour and a half outside of Jerusalem to the Dead Sea which is surrounded by the cliffs of Israel and Jordan. We hiked in the rocky beige cliffs and gazed upon the endless desert. Despite the chill in the air, I made it into the blue water and it was WILD. I floated effortlessly and my body burned from the salt. The dead sea is the saltiest body of water on earth, not to mention the lowest point. The rocks along the shore had a hard crystal build up of salt and nothing can survive there. It is 30% salt where as the ocean is a mere 3. My skin was smooth and soft from the water and my eyes burnt from the air around the surface. The sensation of weightlessness was unlike anything I've experienced, I couldn't have drown if I tried. It was a nice afternoon.

The last couple of days, I have spent exploring Jerusalem and learning more about Judaism and what it means to be Jewish in Israel. My friend Lyndsey and I went to Haifa, the second largest city in Israel, for "the holiday of holidays" where Christmas, Hanukkah, and Ramadan is celebrated. We went with "seeds of peace" a really great organization that brings Israeli, Palestinian, Jordanian, Egyptian, and American kids together for peace and conflict resolution. It was incredible to see the kids reunite for the first time since they were in the program together. The Israelis and Palestinians are often kept apart by boarder patrol and the giant wall that is being built around Israel, and the kids were ecstatic to reunite. We wandered around the city, saw the majestic Baha'i Gardens, listened to live Opera, and ate some great street food. The food here is heaven, falafal, hummus, yummy fruit, and great chocolate! It was a great day.

I attended my first Shabbat service and dinner afterward. The service was a liberal hippy gathering with beautiful singing and spirit filled people. The dinner afterward was at an Orthodox house and was right after a wedding, so there was incredible food, prayer, singing, and dancing in a circle around the table. YES, that really happens, and its fabulous! I felt so honored to be included at the table, and everyone was so welcoming. I am learning so much and experiencing an entire culture and place I am so unfamiliar with. Tomorrow we will see the Dome of the rock and the Holacaust museum. HAPPY NEW Year! LOVEEEEEEE me.

It has been a glorious 3 days in Israel and I am in a constant state of wonderment. The girls and I went to Bethlehem, which seemed only appropriate for the Christmas celebrations. It was a short bus ride from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, but we had to get off the bus and go through the check point to get into the city. The check point is in the middle of a giant wall that stretches the borders of Israel and is intended to keep Palestinians out. Only those who live within the walls or have proper identification can get through. It was sobering to see the division so concretely. The massive wall was covered with messages like, “free Palestine,” “We are not terrorists,” “Bring Peace to Israel..” ect. It was very powerful to realize how for granted I take the freedom of movement. I can’t imagine what it is like to be kept from somewhere because of my origin or religion. Our United States Passports allowed us to enter Bethlehem and we walked down the windy streets to Manger Square for the Christmas Eve celebrations. The square was bustling with people and there was a stage set up in front of the church the evening of the 24th. There were choirs and performances all night leading up to midnight mass. We opted not to try to fight the crowds and to attend a service in the morning. The President of Palestine was the special guest so there were a lot of people wanting to attend. We ate falafel and drank sweet tea while listening to the music. I quietly observed all that was going on around me. In the morning we went to the Church of the Nativity, saw the place that Jesus was born, and attended mass there in Arabic.

This was/is only the beginning. Today we visited the Wailing Wall and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher (crucifixion/burial place of Jesus). The wall was lined with people praying and putting notes in the cracks of the white Jerusalem stone. People walked backwards from the wall so their backs weren’t turned to it. We were there as the light was radiating off the golden Dome of the Rock and Jerusalem shined.

Jerusalem is breathtaking. I had no idea how beautiful it would be. It is built on a series of hills that is a whirlwind of new and old. It is incredible to be in a city that is so significant to Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. There is so much intensity and stimulation packed into this little city. I haven’t felt unsafe at all, though I can sometimes feel tension in the air. It helps to be with Hannah and her wonderful friends here. I love the food; we have had falafel, pita, and hummus everyday, a vegetarians dream! Not to mention the delicious pastries. I could get use to this. For now, I’m just trying to keep my feet on the ground and not be totally swept away by this experience. Ahhh more soon….i hope Christmas was wonderful for you too! Love lisa

We made it to Israel!! I'm in Tel Aviv after nearly 24 hours of travel and a 6 hour stop in Ethiopia. It was crazy coming into the Israeli airport. After being up all night, totally starstruck, braids flying every which way with my array of mismatched attire and the fact that i'm usually a mess in life anyways i was therefore seen as an instant threat and politely interrogated several times. The airport officials here don't mess around...but i could bring my water and shampoo not to mention my tweezers...these guys are armatures, don't they know the havoc i could've caused with these dangerous items? The people of Israel are beautiful. Dark features and shining eyes. It is so strange to be in such a pronounced Jewish culture. Such a mesh of Orthodox, Reform, Zionists and so many more I can't grasp. It is surreal. I'm in Israel! Tomorrow we will be going to Jerusalem and then to Bethlehem for Christmas. A trip to the Dead Sea is in the plan as well. I am deliriously wide eyed and with wonder. This place is so rich with culture, history, tragedy and triumph. I just talked to a French woman very active in Doctors without Borders in a coffee shop...yes real COFFEE...brewed, not stirred....who just got back from Gaza and had incredible stories. She said one night they were in the clinic and there was an air raid and they heard firing and bombs all around them and they turned on the news and were watching the activity all around them from inside the building. So crazy. I'm learning from Hannah all about the rich history of this place and the Israeli/Palestinian conflict ahh its so interesting and heart breaking. Anyways i'm pretty much in shock here. a few reflections. One: the glory of water fountains. I was thirsty and just simply bent over and got a drink...a COLD drink of sweet water. It's so good...once it hits your lips. Dogs...there are actual breeds here. Not just starving mutts twitching with fleas and worms. I loveeee the dogs, and on leashes as PETS...what? I'm not in Zambia any more toto. Things here are so accessible. I can buy gum...in several locations. The cars are small and fuel efficient and there is tarmac EVERYWHERE...endless tarmac...and little green walk guys and and and one kid per adult IF THAT. I do miss my iwes (village kids). ok i've only been here a few hours and listen to me. I can't express how i feel to be here...it's all just too much. I'll get some sleep and compose myself and send some more coherent reflections later i love you alllllll yay

NHC training

The road that leads into Mwamba

Some of my NHC members and me rethatching my roof

My kids and I in front of my hut

Dancing at a festival in the village

It's mushroom season

Mwapoleni Mukwai…Greetings

It seems these last few months have flown by and it is hard to believe I am almost at the end of my 11th month in Zambia. Christmas has surely snuck up on me. Mwamba is void of the usual seasonal cues…Christmas music, lights, consumer craze, snow…it’s strange to think people are gathering with families in the states, wrapping presents and fighting snowy roads. Christmas in the village is much more rooted in the original purpose of celebrating the birth of Jesus without all of the clutter (which I, for the most part, enjoy). People go to church and usually slaughter some chickens and a goat, if lucky, feast, brew village beer and celebrate. The day before and after are typical work days, there’s really no rest during planting season.

It is officially rainy season and has been dumping at least once a day. The land has turned green and farmers are busy planting their fields. My thatched roof just got patched in time for the heavy precipitation and my leaks have been mended so I felt ok about leaving the place on holiday.

Speaking of…I’m not sure if everyone knew I am off to roam the Holy Land for Christmas. Yes, I’m going to Israel with two Peace Corps friends (Hannah & Lyndsey). Hannah lived in Jerusalem for a year and one of her best friends is getting married the 26th. I joked with her that I wanted to join her there and a few weeks later she extended the invitation. I really couldn’t fathom making the trip, especially on Peace Corps stipend, but I decided it was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. Hannah is Jewish, knows the language and land and has many friends there, and Lyndsey is a spirited Lutheran who truly lives her faith…the perfect trio. I still can’t believe I’m going. We fly out the 22nd and have a 6 hour layover in Ethiopia where we hope to taxi to dinner if we can persuade the border officials to wave the entry fee. We arrive in Tel Aviv the 23rd, will be in Bethelehem on Christmas, then stay in Jeruselem till the 27th, head to the Dead Sea for a night and be back in Lusaka the 4th. I’m continually in awe of the incredible opportunities that fall into my lap…and ever grateful.

The last few months at sight have been really busy. Because I am so close to the boma (Kasama) My community is very active and involved in many different groups and projects and there are endless work opportunities. I’m working on a bunch of different projects including an OVC (orphan and vulnerable children) community preschool. I am hoping to fund construction and get it going with a Peace Corps Partnership Proposal which I am working on and will be completed in January. I will give you more information on how you can help out once it is approved and in motion. The community is really excited and I’ve had people at my door wanting to register kids already.

As far as my CAHP (health) work goes I just trained my 3rd Neighborhood Health Committee and it was great. I had the previous group come and facilitate some of the health sessions to give them practice in teaching health education and they did a wonderful job. It is so cool to see the students become the teacher. They were proud, empowered and beaming, and so was I for that matter. It was nice to see people really come out of their shell, especially the maayos, who tend to be more reserved in educational settings. One of my Nutrition Club members had a baby on her back while she gave her talk on Safe Motherhood and it was just precious. I really want to focus on giving the skills of sharing knowledge because these clubs and groups will have to be comfortable in that realm to encourage change.

My trainings are usually 4 hours for 5 straight days. They include club strengthening and health education and are exciting and exhausting. I give certificates at the end and usually require they help out with the following training. This past group, Ndoloka Village (6k from Mwamba) was so grateful for the training they sent me home with a bike load of parcels, including a giant mushroom, mealie meal (nshima flour), onions, tomatoes, bananas, cassava, cabbage ect. They are such a generous community and would give me the clothes on their backs. I am always in awe of Zambian hospitality. I’ve been here almost a year and I’m still treated with such grace. I love work, my hut, and my villagers. It helps to ease some of the holiday melancholy and longing for my friends and family at home.

I want to end with a reminder how much strength I gather from and am ever grateful for all of your love and support, especially during the holidays. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I wish all of you a cheery holiday season and I hope you revel in the love that surrounds you…. nalimutemwa –lisa

Mwapoleni Mukwai!! (Greetings). I am in Lusaka on my way to Lake Kariba in Southern Province, home of the Tonga tribe. It is my first real vacation and I am really excited for a break. So much has happened since I last wrote. Things in the village are going really well. I am still really busy and trying to put all of my various projects into action. Work with my Neighborhood Health Committees is going well. I just trained my second group and have a third in December. Im also working on various other trainings and workshops including Soya cooking/Nutrition, Anti-Aids clubs & HIV education, and a preschool project. I've been able to attend some cultural events including the big Bemba festival last month. President Mwanawasa helicoptered in and gave a speech among the traditional dances and performances. Each tribe in Zambia has a traditional festival once a year and I was excited to be able to go. Zambia is so rich with song and dance. It is remarkable to see the little ones and the elders shake and twist to the drums.

As I experience more and more here I continually learn about the nuances of the Bemba culture. The Bembas are the largest tribe in Zambia and the language is the most widely spoken of the 74 here. They are known for their sense of humor, strange cuisine (monkeys, caterpillars, and termites among other things), and tribal unity. One interesting thing I just learned about is when a woman is menstruating she will place a red bead on the bed to let her husband know it's that time of the month. He will take it and put in on the table and when she is finished she will replace it with a white bead meaning she is pure again. The women here are something else. They are tough as nails and I often see them in the fields working, carrying 20 liter water jugs on their heads with a child on one hand and another on their backs. They never stop working. It often takes hours to prepare food considering they go collect it in the bush, pound and cut, gather firewood, fetch water, and then begin cooking. It has been such an enriching experience to witness, and take part in.

The rains are coming and my roof is a bit leaky. My villagers have been gathering grass to re-thatch my roof for months (they take really good care of me). The nightly lightning and thunder storms have been a refreshing change from the dry heat of October, however I'm nervous to see what the full power of the rain brings. My villagers have been warning me about the snakes because they tend to seek dry warm places during the rains. A few nights ago I arrived home after dark and opened my storage room (across from my hut) to put my bike in and I heard some rustling. I figured it was the mouse who has made a home there. I flashed my light in the back corner and next to my spare bike tube (which has startled me before with its long black shape) was a long black tail. I stood there in shock for a good 10 seconds before it registered what it was. "wait a second...this tube has a TAIL" It moved and I screamed, bolted out of the room, and stood hyperventilating for a few minutes before I ran to my neighbor who came with his 6 kids (all carrying sticks) to save the day. Turns out it was a 30 inch black cobra who was probably seeking shelter and following the mouse. I was hysterical for a few hours, but then I composed myself and was able to relax. I was pretty proud considering my paralyzing fear. I only had nightmares for the next 2 nights and vowed to get a cat which i'm working on. Ohh life in a mud hut!

I am looking forward for the land to turn green and for my farmers to start cultivating. Most of my village is having a rough start to planting season because the Government decided to cut way back on fertilizer subsidies this year and failed to tell anyone in advance. A lot of my villagers requested 10-12 bags and only received 2 . People are in quite a flurry about it considering the bags run about 120,000 kwacha and they usually get them at 50-60,000 through the gov. People didn't have time or the information to budget for the cut back so they will be suffering next year when harvest comes. Fertilizer is a make or break asset to a farmer here in Zambia.

I'm really happy here and loving Zambia and the village. I can't express how lucky I feel to be here and how much I appreciate your support, letters and packages...Ok I'll try to update again soon.

MUCH LOVE...lisa

Greetings from Zambia. I apologize for my sparse correspondencelately, things have really been busy. Work is coming along ratherwell and I finally feel like I am getting the hang of the way thingswork here. I didn't realize it would take me 6 months to becomfortable with the work infrastructure in the village. I took theavailability of information and the basic organization of the statesfor granted. It seems like you can find out almost anything with thestroke of a computer key or a phone call, but here you can askquestions till your blue in the face and receive ten different answersand you wont find what your looking for until you have been around fora while. I understand now why this is a 2 year commitment. It ishard to become familiar enough with the system to work or changeanything in a shorter amount of time.

The work opportunities are vast here, especially in the health field,and it was overwhelming for a while to decide what to focus on. Itseems like every one of the 6 health thrusts (malaria, tb, hiv/aids,integrated reproductive health, child health/nutrition, andwater/sanitation) is a problem in the village and there are so manyprojects to undertake. After realizing that 33% of my areas childrenunder 5 years old are underweight, I decided to focus on child healthand nutrition. I asked all of my NHC's to form nutrition clubs intheir zone to support underweight children and mentor their parents onnutrition. I told them I would train both the NHC and Nutrition clubtogether on the health thrusts. Trainings are a big part of myproject and provide knowledge and guidance to NHC's and various clubs. A lot of the time people are a part of a club, but don't have theresources or information to make the club thrive. Some of my longtime NHC (Neighborhood Health Committee) members didn't even know whatan NHC was, or what their roles and responsibilities were.

My zones were excited about the project and one had a communitymeeting the next week, formed their nutrition club and we had a 6 daytraining the first week of September. I had to pull it together injust 2 weeks, but I had help from one of my counterparts in a near byvillage and a peer educator I met in Kasama, and the training wentreally well. It was 4 hours a day in the Kasonde Mwamba (7.5 k pastmy village of Mwamba) Catholic Church. It was an incredibleexperience and I enjoyed teaching very much. The 12 members of the NHCand the 12 Nutrition Club members showed up every day with the pensand paper I gave them and were excited to learn. My goal is to have each NHC participate in the next training so thatwith each zone that is trained, I am doing less and less facilitation. It is vital to have the club members become confident in spreadinginformation so that the health education will thrive when the PeaceCorps leaves the area. Sustainability is key.

The first training got the area moving and I've had multiple requestsfor trainings. I am planning another one for the second week ofOctober, which is the height of hot season and will probably be achallenge. I am missing the cool evening air. The days have becomequite uncomfortable and I have had to make multiple trips a day to thewell to keep my garden alive. I have tomatoes, onions, and cabbageoutside of my hut, and it's glorious to see my own produce sprout andgrow. I waited for weeks for my cabbage to grow in the middle of thegreen leaves that were sprouting and I thought it was strange that theballs in the middle weren't forming. I just figured cabbage took awhile until one of my neighbors asked why I wasn't eating it one dayand I realized it was Chinese cabbage. Here I was waiting for theround cabbage I was use to to form as my edible cabbage was dying. Iguess I have a long way to go in my gardening career. I willdefinitely not confuse my tomatoes…that's for sure!

During the dry season (April-November) the people of Zambialiterally burn the entire country. Instead of slashing the tallgrasses that grow around the bush, they simply light it on fire andevery night I see an orange glow in the distance as the fire rages.It's incredible that a country that is 95% flammable is set ablaze andamazingly kept under control. I still don't know the trick. One dayI looked out my window and saw the 15 foot flames a few yards from mystorage hut and prayed it wouldn't spread to my thatched roof. I'mjust waiting to come home one day and find my hut burnt down, butIt's still standing so far. The bush is beautiful right now, thehillsides are covered with turning trees, from green to red, to orangeand then brown. It's nothing like autumn in the states, but it's niceto see some color in the mass of green and brown.

I hope to get more pictures out to people and up on the blog, butI've had some unfortunate luck with my camera. The lens broke at theend of training and after sending it back to the states, paying tohave it fixed, and transporting it back with some visitors to Zambia,it was stolen out of their luggage. I am hoping to get a replacementsoon. Theft has been my biggest problem so far in Africa. I had mywallet stolen at a busy market in Lusaka and a few small items takenfrom my hut (soap, laundry line, ect). But overall I feel really safehere. My community is very protective of me, and if there is ever aproblem, the village Headmen and Chief get involved right away.Zambians have a very jovial in nature and peaceful spirits. It seemslike people know my name everywhere I go and I almost feel too welcomeat times. My favorite thing is to hear the kids shouting at me as Iride my bike on the dirt trails, "muli shani ba Lisa!" (how are youLisa), or "mulya kwisa ba Lisa?" (where are you going Lisa?).

I started to give English lessons to one of my counter parts, who isalready quite competent, but wants to polish his grammar andvocabulary. Good thing spelling isn't involved or we'd be in trouble. I found myself at a bit of a loss trying to dig into the vault ofthose jr high English classes. I think it will be a good opportunityto practice Bemba as well. We were doing sentence diagrams and aftermy example I asked him to give me a sentence. He thought and said"Lisa is very fat." I laughed for a good minute and he lookedconfused. I explained that though that is a compliment here (Ihope), it is quite taboo to call a girl, or anyone for that matter,fat in the states. I thought it was the greatest sentence he could'vesaid and it made me smile. In a country where food is scarce, havingenough to put some skin on your bones is a sign of prestige. If onlythey knew how obsessed Americans are with staying thin. What a world.

Overall I am feeling a lot more confident in my ability to access mysituation and create sustainable change in my area. I really love myvillage and am becoming attached to the people I work with every day.My Bemba is still lacking and It is one of my main frustrations, butluckily there is at least one person in each club or group I work withthat can translate for me. I hope to dedicate more time to learningvocab and hopefully it will start to click. For now, I am stillpainfully incompetent. I still long for home, friends, and family. Ialways feel a boost of confidence knowing that all of your thoughts,letters, and sentiments are coming my way. I am learning so much fromthis experience. My life will forever be changed by Zambia and I amthankful every day for this roller coaster I am riding. The ride goeson….until next time! lisa

I didn't think I would have to be bundled up in Africa, but turns out June and July are Coooollld here. It is winter and hard to believe y'all are lounging in the sun. It is surprisingly chilly at night, but still manages to be hot during the day. It's like fall and summer all in 24 hours. I never quite know how to dress. Things have been really busy lately. I traveled to Central Province this past week to run a half marathon. It was a marathon just to get there. A few friends and I hitched (a very common and usually safe way of transport here) from Kasama to Mpika (2 hours south) in a pick-up truck and actually hit a GOAT on the way. Yeah it was brutal, never hit anything like that in a vehicle before. It was a surprisingly small bump, but traumatic none the less. We made the rest of the trip on the back of a packed cargo truck. We, along with 20 fellow Zambian travellers, were on top of sacks of beans and other crops for the 4 hour trip. It wasn't a bad ride, though when the sun began to set we were FREEZING...the wind is merciless on those open trucks. We managed to make it from Kasama to Serenje (half way across the country) for 15,000 kwacha (about $4). Not bad. The run was a success, i did the 13 miles in 1 hour and 46 minutes, better than I expected. Unfortunately I injured my hamstring in a freak ultimate frisbee accident the next day and am in Lusaka for medical treatment now. I am getting it checked out later today, we think it might be a tear, but not sure. I am bummed because I am very active in the village and it is killing me to hobble around. I'm hoping for a quick recovery. It was a trip to roll into the traffic and development of Lusaka. I instantly missed the serenity of the Village. It is strange to see such a drastic difference of lifestyles. From bikes to cars, windy dirt roads to pavement, moonlight and stars to city lights. Hopefully I'll be able to return up north sooner than later. I'll be sure to keep you posted. All the love..Lisa

Greetings from Zambia. It's hard to know what details of my foreign lifestyle to fill you all in on, considering I rarely get to update the blog. I could fill endless pages with observations and wonderment of my life in the village. I can only say that I am continually challenged and humbled by the ups and downs of my work and everyday life. Work is really picking up, I've had a slue of meetings with my Neighborhood Health Committee and other communities as well. It's been very difficult for me to communicate to my community why I'm here in Zambia and what my work entails. Naturally they see me as a miracle worker coming from the land of opportunity and it's heartbreaking for me to have to tell them that I can't build their bridge or fund their schools. On the other hand it's beautiful to have them be so excited and thankful for my presence, and to merely watch them take joy in my attempt to live a Zambian life. I'm getting used to the laid back lifestyle of a Zambian village; my meetings usually start from half an hour to an hour late. People usually trickle in throughout and I'm never quite sure who's going to show up. Sometimes I have 15 village kids sitting in wonderment as to what I'm saying. At the end of every meeting, my communities love to teach me a new aspect of their culture, which usually involves cooking a local dish. My latest venture was homemade peanutbutter, called ichikonko in Bemba. It involves shelling, roasting, peeling, and pounding ground nuts. It's quite exciting to see a peanut transform into butter. My villagers always laugh at joy when I try to participate in the culture. I'm still getting used to life in the village, though I've been able to establish a routine and I'm excited to become more familiar with the groups I'm working with and really progress with them.

I'm really starting to make my mud hut feel like a home. Though I still get bombarded with critters. It's amazing how cockroaches don't phase me anymore, where as I would have been horrified before to find one sharing my living space. I had to remove 2 tarantulas from my hut just last week, and had to get a village kid to help me with a giant spider who happened to be on the inside of my mosquito net (which is a definite faux pax and a no-no). The village kids come in handy quite often, and luckily they're never too far away. I cemented the floors of my hut last month, and I've never been so excited about....cement. It cuts my dust intake in half so my lungs are much happier! Not to mention a significant cutback on ants and termites. Termites, by the way, I have found to be incredible creatures. They work at an incredible rate, have mounds that are six feet high, and are often eaten as a local dish. I sometimes come home to find termite tunnels popping up all over my hut. My snake sitings have risen to 4! I am doing surprisingly well at handling the encounters. I've only had one near my hut and again, the Iwes (children) came to my rescue. It's hard to imagine not sharing a space with a crawly creature or two.

I want to thank everyone for their letters and love. One of my favorite things to do after the sun sets is to read letters by candle light when I get lonely in my village. Thank you for taking time to share this adventure with me and for keeping me in your thoughts and prayers. This experience continues to be enriching and is pushing me to lengths I never could have imagined. I am endlessly grateful for the opportunity I have to serve and I am strengthened by the thoughts of friends and family at home. Until next time, Lisa.

Some of Lisa's dear friends (college crowd that she went to Europe with, Guatemala with, lived with in college and later all moved to Seattle for the past year are teaching in Kenya and recently took a 5 day train ride to visit her. Here is their note that I thought you might like to read.

Sandy...

.we are back in Kenya... lamenting our departure from your darling daughter. we love her so soooo insanely much and words simply do not do justice to the amazing experience we had with her. she is healthy and let me TELL YOU has a village that is FANTASTIC. villagers stopping by her hut left and right to offer to fix this, or build that. they are so proud to have her there. her view is STUNNING and we can't wait to get you pictures somehow... or as soon as possible... (may have to be June). the first night we got there we stayed up till 430 talking... please rest easy know how excited the community is to have her there and how willing and present they are. she has a momentous task ahead of her indeed. one that is challenging becuase of the intangibility of the results.... but ulitmately she is the right person to be first generation in a site. she is motivated. we think that africa is going to be really good for lisa. she is going to come back in two years and be soooo relaxed. it is just about impossible to be uptight here... you can't and don't really need to stress about time and such.. so, great. :) we love you and spoke often of how much we love you.. you are so fun! thanks for bring our friend into the world. our lives are better becuase of her... and soooo many others. i know you are so proud.... know that we love YOU and can't wait to see you again soon sometime when we are not galavanting across the world :) love love love courtnae, ada and lori--

"We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work. We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between "master" builder and worker. We are the workers, not the master builder; the ministers, not the Messiah. We are the prophets of a future that is not our own." – Oscar Romero

Hello from the village in Africa (via my sister Linsey on her computer. Because I have no access to internet whatsoever, Linsey is typing for me as I dictate over the phone)! It's my second full week in the village and things are going really well. I am lucky enough to have had some visitors to help me get settled my first week. Ada, Courtnae, and Lori made the five day journey from Kenya to dwell with me in my little hut and meet my community. We had a ball and they were able to share in some firsts with me: my first community meeting, my first really intense bike ride through the african bush, the first time that I've taken the blood pressure of expectant mothers, my first two and a half hour Catholic mass in Bemba, and my first village dance party. It was quite a tease because now I'm adjusting to the village all by my lonesome, but ironically, as the only american that has ever lived here, I am rarely alone. I have a stream of constant visitors walking up the path to my hut, and there are always iwes (village children) sitting on my porch or peering in wonder at me through the bushes. My first three months at site are what Peace Corps calls "community entry", which is basically me getting to know not only my own village, but the six other zones in the area I am responsible for. My primary job is to support the decentralization of the health care system in Zambia. I'm here to make sure the chain leading from the community to the capital is in tact. My primary focus is on the Neighborhood Health Committee, which consists of volunteers at the community level who are responsible for the well being of their villages and for communicating their health needs up the chain. I have seven NHC's and my goal is to meet with each of them and discuss their activity and knowledge and make sure they're serving the communities. This will probably entail extensive health training with each group. I live within a five minute walk from the rural health center (clinic) which serves the seven zones of my catchment area. I'm also going to be doing a lot of work there and with the staff. What sets Peace Corps aside from other aid organizations is its focus on sustainability. Every project that I undertake, right down to the decisions I make on an everyday basis, should be sustainable so that when Peace Corps is no longer in the village, it won't be a loss for the community, but they will be able to function independently. This idea is what makes this process so long and difficult. For example, instead of facilitating a training to NHC by myself, I should instead try to train other members to do the talks themselves because that is more sustsainable. The health sector of Peace Corps can be one of the most challenging ones because it's hard to see results and we're really depending on the motivation of the community to achieve success. I know it will be a challenge but I am really excited about my work, I have definitely kept very busy. I don't know where all this free time that I'm supposed to have is. I think once I get used to life in the village and the way that things work here, things will settle down. I've been doing a lot of work helping out at the clinic, which serves around 2,000 villagers and has a 3-person staff. Last week I witnessed my first birth at the clinic, a seventeen year-old girl delivered her baby in a room with a table and a bucket of water, then not even a week later, the first death. It was a four year-old girl who lost the battle to Malaria, the second largest killer here in Zambia. Sometimes it is hard to strike a balance between the awe inspiring beauty of the culture I am emersed in and the feelings of helplessness at the reality of their hardships. Every day brings new joys and new challenges. Earlier today I was feeling frustrated by the crowd of kids that were staring at me, as they often do. I just wanted some alone time. But then a minute later I was laughing as they tried to teach me Bemba and help me as I sorted through my laundry. Norman Vincent Peale once said, "change your thoughts and you change your world." I found that to be so true. Every day and every situation is what I make of it. At the end of the day, I couldn't be happier sitting on the porch of my mud hut staring at the stars by candle light. Until next time, love and prayers from Zambia.