We have entered our close of service period in Zambia, wrapping up our projects and saying our thank yous and goodbyes. We will be returning home in April, first to Kansas then back up to Stevens Point. We have had quite an experience here, and have done a lot since our last post. The PCPP grant that Ty wrote for teacher's housing in our village was approved and we were generously supported by our family and friends to bring two new teacher's houses to our community. Our school has more teachers now, which means a better education for the kids, we can't thank you all enough for your support! Another exciting project was the Soya Day event we had for our entire community. This day featured lessons and demonstrations on how to plant and harvest soy beans using conservation farming methods, how to cook soy milk, sausage, and cake, and included a lesson on the nutritional benefits and importance of protein with special emphasis on the diets of people living with HIV and AIDS. The demo field of soy beans will help support orphans and vulnerable children at our school, so it was a holistic day that continues to give support.

We also hiked up Mt. Kilimanjaro last December, and we made it to the summit after a 5 day journey. I will try to upload a pic of us at the top. It was absolutely stunning, with aqua colored glaciers that you can only see from the top. It was rewarding to say the least.

We are excited to be coming home soon, looking forward to Kelli and Ryan's wedding in May and to finally meet all the wonderful people who have since entered the lives of our family and friends. Until then, take care and thanks for following our Adventures in Zambia:)

I haven’t mentioned much about serving as a Master’s International student, and thought this would be a good opportunity to share my experiences so far. Just to recap, and if there are new readers trying to understand more about this program and how it works, I will try to summarize my personal experience as an MI student in Zambia.

I was fortunate enough to be accepted into the MI program through the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, and spent two semesters fulfilling the course requirements for my degree (M.S. in Natural Resources). What is remaining now is my research, writing and defending my thesis, and also presenting it to fellow grad students and interested professors and staff. So basically, the hardest part is yet to come! Before embarking on this journey to be both a Peace Corps volunteer as well as a grad student in Zambia, I was told that I can develop an idea of a research project but that it may need to be tweaked upon learning what is most realistic and appropriate given my lifestyle and what I have access to.

The issue of colony collapse disorder afflicting honeybees as well as pollinator declines around the world sparked a personal interest in this area of study, and I have continued to develop a project focusing on pollinators in Zambia. With the help and guidance of experts in the field of pollination ecology, biology, and taxonomy, I will work to create a manual that highlights pollinator conservation in Zambia. Specifically, I will be working with a great organization, the Conservation Farm Unit. The CFU has been working with rural small-scale farmers in Zambia since 1995 on incorporating sustainable techniques that are designed to improve the soils and eventually their harvests. To learn more about the wonderful work the CFU has and is doing in Zambia, visit: www.conservationagriculture.org.

In addition to creating some literature, I will also collect data regarding pollinator diversity as well as farmers’ perceptions and knowledge regarding pollinators on their farms. As I mentioned in another post, I have been in Zambia for over a year now and have just recently finalized the direction and specifics of my research here. To be honest, it’s been frustrating and overwhelming at times, but also exciting and wonderful to piece it all together and network with others in this field. If I were given the opportunity to change anything up to this point I wouldn’t, it’s been a tremendous and unique learning experience and I’m happy to be balancing life and work as a PCV and MI student in Zambia.

The rains have finally decided to stop here, and the temperatures are cooling quickly. It's our favorite time of year, the cool dry season. Especially right now, because there is still a lot of green plants and vibrant flowers blooming but without the threat of muddy feet and bike tires from peddling through the rains.

We have officially passed the half way mark in our service. It's hard to believe at times, but then again not really...Days crawl and weeks fly by. Since our last post we have seen more of Zambia and have been awe struck by the beauty and majesty of this place. We were fortunate to have a friend from home visit (thanks Bean!) We took the opportunity to visit Victoria Falls which was even more amazing than we had anticipated, and we had high hopes. We were told (understandably so) that the view of the falls in May is not the 'best', at least you aren't able to take in the full grandeur of the falls because there is so much water in the air from the rains. Regardless, the steep, rocky valley carved from the sheer power of all the water was rich in a green blanket of moss and lichens. Beautiful!! We also saw a double circular rainbow; it’s hard to put into words the exquisite beauty of it all. We wished it were possible to share this part of the world with all of our friends and family, but will try to get some pictures posted asap.

We are thrilled to soon be part of our village beekeeping group’s first harvest as a business. During the month of June, our beekeepers will be harvesting, processing, and selling their honey in individual, labeled jars. This is a big step for them, and a very exciting period of growth to witness. Not only because they will be making over five times the profit they had selling their honey unprocessed, but also seeing how empowering it is for them to turn a dream into a reality. There are so many setbacks in the village; farming is hard everywhere in the world and especially in developing countries facing threats ranging from HIV & AIDS to desertification, among many others. So, all in all, even though this is the beginning of a long road of hard work and unforeseen obstacles, we are taking the opportunity to enjoy where the group is now and the potential their future holds.

Thanks for the questions, Marcus. I imagine others in your shoes will have similar ones, so I just decided to copy and paste...hope you don't mind!

1) Like the Welcome Book for Zambia describes, did you not find out where you will be stationed until the final days or week(s) before training ended?

This is correct, though you will be able to narrow it down a bit in the beginning based on the language group you're in. For example, Ty and I were assigned to a Bemba language instructor, therefore concluded we'd be either in Central, Luapula, or Northern Province. If we had been put into a Nyanja group we would know that we would be going to Eastern Province, or Kaonde headin' to Northwestern. But, we didn't know which province we would be going to until the end of training.

2) I see you learned to speak Bemba. Were you allowed to choose which language you wanted to learn? If so, do you remember how many languages you could choose from? Or, better yet, what your specific options were?

The language group you are placed in will reflect your placement to a degree. Like I just mentioned, each province may have a dominant language spoken and that's the training you receive. However, Bemba is spoken pretty widely so if you are put in this group there's still many possibilities as to where you will be placed. So, all in all, you do not have the option of the language or site, these are determined by staff based on many factors.

3) In an initial blog post of yours you said internet access was quite intermittent during training. Did you have service for your iPhone at that time? I guess a better question would be, do you use your iPhone as a phone or simply to access wireless internet where available?

Yes, this is true. Your schedule during training is pretty packed, so there's not a lot of time to spend online. Most phones you buy in Lusaka have internet capabilities, though limited. If you bring an iphone, make sure it's unlocked when you bring it to Zambia. We use ours mostly for the internet, and have another cell phone to use as a phone there.

4) If per chance you do have service for your iPhone, which carrier do you use? I've done a small amount of research and, unless you or someone during training suggests otherwise, I think I will use Zain.

The main providers are Zain and MTN. It's easy to use either, and varies depending where you are.

5) Did the P.C. provide you with (or at least direct you to a place where you could acquire for cheap) mosquito nets, DEET, and permethrin (for clothing and the mosquito net)? Or, should I plan on bringing these with me? (Thinking about it now, these have to be available there. So a better question might be, to be well prepared should I bring these with me?)

Yes, they provide you with what you need to avoid getting malaria. However, if you have room in your luggage you may consider bringing an extra for using in your house. We have put screening/nets over our windows and plan to try building a screen door as well. That way, our hut is somewhat insect proof and we can worry less about our guests getting attacked by mosquitoes when they stay. You can find these items in Lusaka, though.

6) Are you aware of how many regional Peace Corps houses are there? Do you have any thoughts in general about regional houses?

Each province has a provincial house for volunteers, the only exception that I know of is Lusaka Province. The headquarters is there, though, so that might be why. Anyways, it's nice to have a place to reconnect with other volunteers and relax. Our house in Central has a great selection of books that you can borrow, which was a nice surprise.

7) My Christmas presents this year consisted of items from REI (the best of all sporting goods stores, also found in CO and MO), so among other things I have a water purification system (a micro filter for particulates and a SteriPEN for viruses and bacteria). Are there any other items (anything at all, really) you would recommend that weren't in the Peace Corps' packing list that would make life easier? Or, optional items that were in the packing list that you highly recommend that I bring?

I would recommend bringing fitted sheets, they are nearly impossible to find in Zambia and are a simple thing that makes life easier. Also, there's some beautiful places to check out that require a tent (a small, freestanding tent is perfect). The list PC provides is pretty good. We wear our chaco sandals almost every day, so if you don't already have a pair I would encourage you to get them as well. You can get a discount if you send the company an email explaining your a volunteer and a copy of your assignment. A few other items that would work well for you are some solar flashlights (check out the nalgene solar lids, those are pretty cool), rechargeable batteries & charger. A small, battery operated fan could serve you well during the hot months. Other than that, some good music to remind you of home, and whatever other things that will brighten your day when you need it. We brought incense and a few art pieces to make our hut feel like home. Oh yes, and one more thing, if you're a coffee drinker a french press would be a must. Happy packing!

This is a video of impashi, more commonly known as flesh eating ants. If you find yourself standing in a pool of impashi...run! They not only bite, but won't let go. The description in The Poisonwood Bible is pretty accurate.

This is a video from the Independence celebrations that two neighboring villages had put together. The students performed skits, poems, dances, and modeling of traditional and modern clothing.

This is a picture of the first garden we helped make with our neighbors. We contoured the vegetable beds perpendicular to the slope of the land to illustrate a way to reduce erosion during heavy rains. We also intercropped cabbage and rape with garlic as a natural method of pest control. This project took a lot of time and effort, because the ground was hard and the soil was in large clods that had to be broken to a fine tilth. We spent several hours tilling and beating the soil, but it all was worth it in the end.Now, we have a permagarden (small pic) that we will continue to maintain for the duration of our stay. It's a year round design that is suited to help improve nutrition and be manageable for vulnerable and elderly people. We will host workshops on how to build and manage this type of garden in the near future.We also have an active beekeeping group in our community, and recently helped them process their wax and honey. In the picture above, Ty is helping Ba Malubakwenda and Ba Chanda press the comb honey. In the past, they have sold their comb honey whole, but they are interested in learning how to process and market both the honey and wax separately to make a better profit. We will be assisting the group in basic business skills, adding value to their products (using containers & labels for example), and finding a market for the final products. This group will serve as an example to others the benefits of beekeeping as a sustainable income generating activity. Other on going projects include working with tree nurseries, fish ponds, environmental clubs and girls clubs. We will try to add more about these as they progress!

It's hard to believe it's been ten months since we've been home. A lot has changed since we left, stores we shopped at are now gone, family and friends have made some life changes, and our perspectives on many things have changed as well. We are back in Kansas now, visiting family and friends and will now have the opportunity to really update this blog and reflect on what we have experienced so far.

The bottom picture is of us and our home stay family during training. Ba Enoch and Ba Robina (you use 'Ba' before the name for respect, kind of like Miss or Mr.) were kind enough to open their doors and be patient as we became accustomed to life in Zambia. Each day they prepared our meals and warmed water for our showers. We would ride our bikes 4 km to language training for 4 hours each morning, then back to our homestay for lunch, then after that another 7 km ride to where we would meet for practical training. This was our first two months in country, and looking back now it seems so long ago. The middle picture is us with the family that we live next to now. We live about 30 feet from their house, or in Bemba, ing'anda. The father, Makuka, built all the houses and insakas (a gazebo like building) on our compound. He and Gertrude (the mother) have taught us how to live in Zambia, where to find things, how to build things, how to cook things, who's who in our village, how to be culturally respectful, and so much more. They are our Zambian family, and we feel so grateful for their hospitality, generosity, and kindness.

The top picture is a glimpse into our daily grind. This is a path we walk to collect our water. Some people in our village have wells with manual pumps, but we just dip our buckets or containers into the open well. The dambo is a marshy area that stays moist year round, cattle graze during part of the year, and during the dry season many people build gardens so they don't have to haul water as far. Throughout the year, you can find tomatoes, onions, sweet and irish potatoes, cabbage, rape, and eggplant. Now, since the rains have started, the mangoes are in season. We have also tried some indigenous fruits like masuku and impundu. They are both small and sweet, and are collected in the forests. Also, with the rains the mushrooms are now popping up. They also range in size and color, and are very delicious!We apologize for not updating this site more often, and for not providing many details about our life and work in Zambia. The next post will highlight some of the work we've been doing, and the challenges and rewards that we've experienced.

To those of you out there who still remember us, yes...we are still in Zambia. It's been a while since we have had the chance and energy to update our blog, hopefully we can at least get a new note posted each month. Anyways, life here is going great, except for the intense heat during the day we have been staying active and excited about our work here. We have been busy getting tree nurseries put together and informing farmers about how to manage and use the trees on their land. We continue to learn each day, amazing the learning curve we've experienced here. I don't think we can put it into words, but with the combination of cultural, environmental, physical, mental, and emotional changes and ups and downs, it's been quite a ride so far.

So, since the last post Ty turned the big 30, thank you all for the well wishes we had a nice celebration. We spent time at some waterfalls, Kundalila Falls, camped out there with some friends, it was fun. We saw baboons. In our village, our neighbors prepared a chicken for his day, which is quite an honor and gift since we don't get very much meat (if any) in the village. Thanks so much again for thinking of us and sending us your letters and packages, we are always so excited to hear from our family and friends. We will be coming home for Christmas and of course, Rods 21st birthday. We will be there for about 3 weeks thanks to the help of our families, we can't thank you all enough for assisting us with our flights home. We miss everyone so much, and look forward to spending the holidays with you.

So by now, we've been in Zambia for just over 8 months. No longer new, but gaining experience and comfort in the things that were at first very alien to us. One example is hitch hiking. Transport is one of the biggest challenges for us, for many reasons, but we are getting used to the pace and are no longer surprised by the unexpected delays that may occur along the way. Ty was very excited to recently find a can of Pepsi in the town we shop in, a very big deal when you haven't had it in so long! Don't forget to send us a letter or email every once in a while to let us know how you are and what you're up to, hope all is going great for you all. Peace and love,

It's hard to believe in 7 days we'll have been in Africa for half a year. Of course some days seem like it's been much longer, but all in all time has flown by. We continue to work on little projects here and there in the village, and are enjoying our time there. We had a meeting last week and there's a lot of interest in building an oven like ours, yay! We have been working on cementing the floor of our hut and shower, it should make our lives a bit easier as we will not have to constantly sweep the chipped mud each day. It should be complete this week, so we're very excited for that. Also, we are heading back to the capital for some more training next week. We will be learning some additional skills like permaculture and how to prepare soya, very exciting!

The hot season is quickly approaching us here, the nights aren't nearly as cold and the days are warming up even more. It is very beautiful here, though, each season presents a new and different landscape to admire. The stars continue to amaze us, they are so bright and vast. It's hard to explain the sky here, so enormous and incredible.

We have been getting lots of mail and packages from our family and friends, thank you thank you thank you!!! It means so much to us, we appreciate it more than we can possibly express. We've been pretty homesick lately, but continue to work and appreciate the time and opportunity we have here. Your letters and emails keep us on the positive side of things, so please continue to write :) Again, not a day goes by that we don't think of you all and hope you are doing great. In the picture is how we get our packages home, via bike! Thanks mom & Jess!! Can you guess which package Jess sent??

We have blisters forming on top of blisters, but our oven is finally complete. It will now dry for a little less than a week, then we hope to wow everyone with some baked goods :) At least, we will be happy to have some home made bread, as I'm sure you know I miss very much. We also have been working on the garden beds, which are going great but very exhausting. For the next few days, we will be visiting another volunteer who has focused on fish farming in his village. There are many people in our area interested in building fish ponds, so we hope to learn more about how it works and what types of problems to expect. Some other projects we have lined up include building a solar dryer and doing some seasonal calendars with people in our community. A seasonal calendar is exactly what it sounds like, a calendar of the seasons and what people are doing when through out the year, that way we can plan our workshops and demos accordingly. Oh! how could I forget, we also made a tree nursery and planted over a hundred lemon seeds. So, we hope to have a high germination rate with the trees to take to our schools to improve their fruit orchards. We have been staying very busy and are enjoying our time here.

Happy belated fathers day! We hope it was a great day for all you fathers and that you had some good food and company. We received a surprise package the other day from our friends at Stevens Point, thank you so much! We have started a letter and will have it in the mail soon. As always, we miss our family and friends each and every day. We think of you all and hope you are doing great. Until next time, peace and love.

We enjoyed a memorable 3 year anniversary here in Zambia, and decided to spend a night at one of the lodges near our main shopping town (aka Boma or Mkushi). We were looking forward to a nice dinner, hot shower, and a little television. Well, 2 out of 3 isn't bad...the electricity went out, but we had a nice dinner by candlelight. Thanks grandma and grandpa for the card, and thanks for all the well wishes. We loved the pic, thanks dad! The lodge is a 40 minute hike over a small mountain, it took us about an hour from where we dropped our bikes for the week. We keep our bikes stored at the Ministry of Health, they have a nice garage and 24 hour guards so that helps us out a lot when we need to leave them in town. After our night at the lodge, we went to Serenje for our Provincials meeting. The picture here is of the house we are lucky to have access to each month (after our 3 months of community entry). It has a fully equipped kitchen, beds, lots of great books, and will soon have internet. It's a nice place to go and relax and meet with the other volunteers in our province. There's 23 in Central right now, but a group is getting ready to COS (close of service) and another to be sworn in.

We want to leave a "Happy Belated Birthday" message for Jess and Denny. We hope it was a wonderful day for you both. We have heard that spring has finally sprung, and some of you all have started to enjoy the weather. It was great to hear about the fishing trip (congrats Tate!), Shelley's trip out to see Jess (awesome! send us more pics! Reddica??), memorial weekend at the lake, and the newfound way to cook a burger (we can't wait to try a smoked burger!!). We saw a Bedford fire truck today, Ryan, we will try to get a pic sometime. Well, that's all for now, hope you all are doing great, miss and love you all.

Yep, we are alive and well :) Things are going great at our site, the only complaint is that we don't have very good access to getting online, so we haven't been able to talk to people or email as much as we'd hoped...but that's alright we're getting better at writing letters. The picture here is of Ty and our neighbor Mukuka making bricks, we are in the process of building a fuel efficient stove and oven. The bricks were made of clay, sand, and water. We'll also use mortar, a mix of termite soil, sand and water. We're learning something new each day, as I'm sure you can imagine!

The weather is cooling off quite a bit here, we compared temps with Kansas and Hawaii the other day, and we had the coolest of all! No kidding! It's been dropping to the upper 40's at night, and is in the upper 70's to low 80's during the day. It's our favorite time of year here, I'm guessing. We have some nightly visitors, bats like to fly into our hut when it gets dark. That's okay, they can eat the mosquitoes, we're safe under our net. We started a garden this week too, bought some seeds for green peppers, tomatoes, cabbage, garlic, and some indigenous flowers to put around the borders as a natural pest control. We're going all natural with our plot, only using organic pest control and compost as fertilizer...wish us luck!

As I mentioned before, we are living next door to a really great family. They have continued to help us every step of the way, so no worries about us we're in excellent hands here! We have gotten texts and emails here and there from friends and family, thanks so much we're always so happy to hear from you. The internet here is hit and miss, so we'll post again whenever we get the chance. Miss & love you all,

Well, we are official volunteers and have moved to our village and are getting settled in. We are very excited about our site, we live in a farming communitiy at the base of some beautiful mountains...we'll try to get our photos uploaded soon! We are having a couple of carpenters in our community build a table, stools, and a shelf. We just got our bedframe yesterday, it's very nice. The picture to the left was taken on our Cultural day, a day that the volunteers cooked american dishes and shared them with the families that hosted us during our training. We are continuing to learn and adjust to life here. Everything takes longer, from getting our water and treating it, to cooking, cleaning, sweeping, and trying to get used to our surroundings...as well as learn the language. It's a daily challenge, but we are enjoying it! Our neighbors are wonderful, they are helping us every step of the way. They are eager to learn from us too, so it's a nice exchange. We recieved mail today from aunt Jan and uncle Bob, as well as mom, THANK YOU!!! We also got our letter from Jake, it was so nice to hear from everyone and get a peice of home. The internet is slow today, not as slow as moms, but still frustrating ;) I'm going to wrap this post up, but I want to thank you all for your emails and text messages, we are always so happy to hear how you all are doing. Clint's email was HILARIOUS, we laughed so hard reading it, we could picture dad in the woods, it was great. Thank you so much! We hope that you all are doing well, Ryan has learned as much Bemba as we have, we'll look forward to conversing when we come home :) Thanks Jess for sending us coffee and seeds, we can't wait to get the package!! We'll be sending you a citenge soon, so be checking your mail! We love and miss you all so much, thanks again for thinking of us. Peace and love from Africa!

We are down to the final stretch of training now, and have our final language test on Tuesday. We had the opportunity to visit our village and see our soon to be home, if we can figure out how to upload our photos we can hopefully share them with you all. We're very excited to get to the village and start settling in and getting some projects going. Some of the first things we'll be doing include a community meeting to introduce ourselves and explain why we're there; building a fuel efficient cookstove; starting a garden and compost pile; making some community and area maps; starting a tree nursery; continuing to learn the language; and just getting more comfortable with the area and our neighbors. It will take significantly more time just to do daily chores, like fetching water and treating it (x3, boiling it, filtering, then adding chlorine), as well as cooking and washing clothes. All of these things take more time, and I'm sure we'll learn some shortcuts along the way...maybe.

Training has been great, we've learned so much information it's hard to believe it's only been two months since we've arrived. Some of the topics include; tree nurseries, agroforestry, conservation farming, income generating activities, food security, environmental education and the education system in Zambia, bemba, beekeeping, organic gardening, food preservation, and much more. We finally recieved mail the other day, THANK YOU!! It made our day. Note we have changed our mailing address to our new place in Mkushi, so please start forwarding letters there.

We will likely have weekly access to the internet, at least during the dry season (May-Nov.), so please email us and let us know how you all are doing. We miss and love you all, thanks for your support!

We are about to venture out on a 10 day trip to Central Province where we'll be for our 2 years service. We'll write more as soon we can, and hopefully have some pics to share with you all, miss & love you all!

Well, we have made it safe and sound to our host family in Zambia, where we're stationed for our preservice training period of 8 weeks. It was a very, very long flight from D.C. to Johannesburg, South Africa..16 hours nonstop! But it was as comfortable as it could possibly be, we had our own movie screens in front of us and were free to walk around the cabin every few hours. Ty slept most of the time. :)

We are adjusting pretty well to life here, our host family is great and we are loving the training we're recieving for the LIFE program. We are also learning to speak Bemba, so that's been rigorous but a fun challenge. Zambia is a beautiful country, we are just east of Lusaka for the time being and there's rolling hills with many flowering trees and bushes scattered about. It's the end of the rainy season, so we have enjoyed the greenery since we've arrived, but it's starting to turn yellow as the dry season is quickly approaching.

We do not have very regular access to the internet...this is the first opportunity we've had since arriving at our home stay post. We stay very busy, waking most days at 6 am, riding our bikes about 10 minutes for our 4 hours of language training, then back to our home stay for lunch, and technical training from 2-5. We've been visiting local farms in the area, and learning about various conservation farming techniques that we'll be demonstrating as LIFE volunteers..it's all very interesting and exciting!

We bathe under the sky every day, so dad you should get that shower up and running. The nshima or ubwali in bemba is good, especially with ciwawa ifisashi (pumpkin leaves with peanuts). The other phone is up and going will send you the number later today, can surf the net but it will be limited. Our bikes rock even though they aren't 29's rod. Miss everyone and look forward to all your questions and responses.

After much waiting in anticipation, we recieved our Peace Corps invite to serve in Zambia. Specifically, we'll be working in one of five provinces that our program works within. The first few months will be spent in Lusaka, the capital of Zambia, during this time we will be living with a host family and recieve our language, cultural, and project training. We were very excited to learn that we both will be working on a project titled 'LIFE' which stands for "Linking Income, Food, and the Environment" in the fields of forestry and agriculture. Hopefully, we will have the opportunity to train together during the first 3 months. After our training period, we will be stationed to a village for the remainder of our two years in Africa. We still have much to learn, and will try our best to keep you all updated along the way. We hope to hear how you are doing and stay updated on your lives as well, so please write!

We are putting this blog together in hopes of staying in touch and giving you all updates on what we're up to. We look forward to sharing our adventure with you all!