Hi All.

Its been quite some time since I've written in this blog. I am sure most of you know that I have been back in the States for some time now. Despire the hatred of these cold Winter months and the lack of iwes to play with outside my window, I think I have adjusted back to life in American pretty well. I have to admit when I first returned the Airport was scary, stores and restaurants ( basically anywhere with too many options) was overwhelming and socially I felt awkward and couldn't find things to relate to in every day conversations. Being busy helped fix this culture shock gradually...

Since I have been home I've been working! First at the special needs summer camp that I've worked at previously, Camp Horizons and now as a full time employee of the Supportive Employment and Options department of the same agency, Horizons. I support about 9 different ladies ages 17-50 at their places or work. There jobs, abilities, and personalities vary and I love working with all of them! My job is stressful yet constantly rewarding and I am enjoying it...and the paycheck and health insurance are pretty nice too! It has not been all work and no play however. Since being back I have visited Maine, LA, San Francisco, Boston, NYC, and just last weekend Phoenix, Arizona! One of my goals upon coming home was to see more of the United States... there are so many States I have yet to see!

Some of you may know I brought my cat back with me from Zambia... she made it through customs and everything! Kha$h Money has also gone through a bit of culture shock just like her mommy... but she is now a fully Americanized... fattened up and loving the pampered life of kitty litter and catnip!

I've been able to stay in touch with my family and friends in Kasama on a semi-regular basis. If any of you have friends or family abroad that you talk to regularly (and you own a smart phone) I HIGHLY recommend getting an ap called "Penny Talk." I have been able to make many successful calls to Zambia using this ap and have only spent $20 so far! It's amazing!

My village, my school, my kids, my family, the stars, the sun, the waterfalls, HELL EVEN THE FOOD in Zambia... I miss them/it all constantly!! I want to go back, at least for a visit and I've been thinking about some projects that I want to start/continue at Chileshe Chepela. I am working on the details right now with some other returned volunteers. Basically, my main goal is to get back and work to train teachers in Physical Therapy, Art Therapy, Fine Motorskills... and other things that would be really useful for all the students with special needs at Chepela, but weren't taught to the teachers. My friends and I are working currently on finding funding in hopes of returning for a month this summer to run a workshop at the school. If anyone reading this is interested in helping, donating, or supporting this project in any means please e-mail me and let me know! We are going to need a lot of backing to pull it off but I think we have some good background and connections in Kasama to make it become reality! I'll keep you all posted as I get more information!

Peanut with his new legs! Catherine & The Grade 6 Pupils W/ their flags

My friend Amanda (Peace Corps Uganda) and I atop Chisimba Falls

Muzungu Madness and LCC Performances at our VCT event

Sorry for dissapearing yet again... I am not dead. I am very much alive! :o)

2010 Year-End Highlights!

September

Visitors from Uganda: Shortly after returning from my Ethiopia/Tanzania adventure a PCV from Uganda (whom I met in South Africa on Medical Leave) came to visit me in Zambia! I got to show her my school, village, and Chisimba Falls!

Village-Style Birthday: Some other PCV’s came to my place and we killed some chickens with my family and had a small party with cake and wine! It was an awesome way to spend my b-day!

October

LCC Club: The kids were extremely busy fund-raising and preparing there drama performances for our VCT event. Every meeting was packed with 60+ kids all dancing and singing…I was so proud of them!

Computer Literacy: My grade 10 & 11 pupils spent time writing to their pen pals from St. James School in Stratford, CT. We also had a visit from Val Stokes (from Utah, USA) who came to donate a brand new printer with paper and ink to our class!! Val is the one who brought the desktop computers to the school originally in 2008. He has been so supportive and helpful and may be sponsoring a friend of mine from the school who wants to go to college.

Bembaland: We hosted our annual Provincial-Sporting Competitions at Chisimba Falls. PCV’s came from Luapula, Lusaka, Central, North West and Eastern Provinces to visit us and play some drinking games…followed by a beautiful trip up to Lake Tanganyika, where we climbed to the top of Kalombo Falls.

My proposal got approved: The Proposal I wrote for LCC’s VCT event got approved! They gave us about 6million Kwacha (+ our club raised close to 1million on their own!)

Peanut got new legs: Physical Therapy twice a week got interested when my favorite little first greater got a new set of prosthetic legs and could stand on his own and walk with a walker for the first time!!

November

Africa Map Project: For our last lesson, the children at the commuity school took a quiz to test their knowledge of Zambia! Catherine (my friend and Co-Teacher) and I awarded anyone who scored 60% or above on their quizzes with a Zambian Flag (thanks Mom!) The kids were really excited and had studied pretty hard.

Thanksgiving: I attended my last Provincial Peace Corps meeting! So sad…yet so nice. We were without water or electricity for most of the week at the Provincial Office…Imagine all 30 of us volunteers, under one roof, for an entire week, without showers, toilets, or TV! I’m convinced only Peace Corps Volunteers could handle that with finesse! We had a “Keepin it Classy Kasama” theme party and everyone got dressed up and had an awesome time. The power and water came back just in time to cook some turkey (Thanksgiving Miracle perhaps?!?)

VCT Event: The long awaited day came on the 27th of November! I can’t believe how well it played out. There was a great turn out, no rain, lots of performances (not only from my club but from the Kasama Arts group, a church choir, a positive-living group, a pre-school class, and my village’s women’s group!) Because a lot of volunteers were still in town for our provincial meeting at Thanksgiving, they also came out for my event, which was really nice, and a few of us performed for the masses as a new highly-acclaimed dance group “Musungu Madness!” We had a football (soccer) and netball tournament, raffle prizes, speeches and testimonies from invited guests, and about 300 people got tested! Everyone really did a great job. LCC’s co-advisors (the teachers who run the club with me and helped plan the event) worked so hard! I would not have been able to do it without them!

Decemeber

Housing Issues: After a whirl-wind of crazy events the owner of my house decided to break his contract with the village committee of Luyeye. I had to move out of the hut I’ve made a home rather quickly and moved to the Peace Corps office, cat in tow for 2 ½ weeks. Chileshe Chepela School and my family and counterparts all stepped up and helped me out a lot. I now have shifted to a dormitory at school and will be living there for the last 3 months… I’ll let you know how it goes!

World AIDS Day: I was invited again to be part of the WAD planning committee this year. The District AIDS Task Force and I went to Chilongoshi village (about 75 kilometers from Kasama) for the commemoration. I spent most of the day doing condom demonstrations and distributions. I felt guilty and honored at the same time when a friend of mine working the VCT said my event had a better turn out for testing.

Camp Glow: Me and 9 other volunteers held a week-long girls empowerment camp during the school break. Each of us brought a counterpart from our village and two grade 7-8 girls. The girls and counterparts learned about sex, peer pressure, drugs & alcohol, being assertive & confident and leadership. I was in charge of arts & crafts for the week. We made friendship bracelets, decorated journals, and sewed re-usable chitenge menstrual pads. The week, in whole, was long and hectic, but I think overall successful!

Xmas in Malawi: Because of lack of time and funds a small group of friends and I decided to head once again to Malawi for Christmas this year. We were able to hitch-hike to our destination, Nkhata Bay, in 2 days from Lusaka. The trip was relaxing, beautiful and fun. I plan to go back one more time after I finish my service, before returning to America, just because it’s so friendly and nice to be there!

Getting back from Malawi was not nearly as relaxing as being there. We had one transport issue after another…bus break-downs, lack of hitches, pouring rain, hitting a cow, running out of money…BUT the whole ordeal reminded me repeatedly how much I LOVE ZAMBIA and the AMAZING people of this country!! Everyone along the way home was so helpful and generous, us! I can’t believe that in this culture complete strangers will go out of their way to take care of you! Zambians have incredible hearts.

New Years in Lusaka: I finally reached Lusaka on the morning of the 31st… was expecting to be back up in Northern for New Years so it came as a bit of a surprise but we made the most out of it. Dressed up like we weren’t from the village and rung in the New Year dancing the night away.

January

The new year has been productive so far. I spent 1 week in Lusaka with the rest of my intake (we are now 25-coming into country we were 31?) attending our COS Conference (Close.Of.Service.) Each intake has the conference 3 months before they finish their service (I finish in April). The conference was nice, we talked a lot about how market ourselves after Peace Corps. It’s pretty hard to know exactly how to put what you’ve done here on your resume… so we discussed those things, recommendations, description of service reports and so on. Finally I am back in Kasama (and now living at school) and back to work. I have a lot to keep me busy in the next couple months…some loose ends to tie. I can’t believe how fast the time is going. I’m excited to see everyone from home, but I am not ready to say goodbye to Zambia!

Here’s hoping I can make the best of my last few months and the start of 2011!

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

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

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

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

From there we traveled 3 hours and spent a night in Ambo where Sarah’s fiancé lives and got to eat some good Ehtiopian food and see a Peace Corps run camp for some OVC’s (Orphan and Vulnerable Children). The rest of the 1st week was spent at Sarah’s site in a town in the West called Bako. In Ethiopia right now its rainy season. Rainy season in Ethiopia is really really beautiful because there are many mountain ranges and rolling hills and they are all so green!!! The bus ride to Bako curled up up up a winding mountain road and was really beautiful. Sarah’s site was really fun. I got to meet her friends and counterparts and see the work that she is doing. She is in the process of training a group of 10-orphaned 12 year olds in Life Skills and will be opening a bread bakery that they’ll run to support themselves. I got to help out with some of the trainings…but mostly Sarah’s friend who translates everything into Amharic runs them.

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

While in Bako I also got my hair braided. I’ve been wanting to for a while in Zambia…but never found any blonde extensions or anyone who knew what to do with white people hair! Ethiopian women have beautiful long curly hair. Its so different from hair in most African countries. They love to braid there hair and have many different and elaborate ways of doing it. My corn rows were pretty simple but there girl knew what she was doing… and although me getting them was a bit of a joke I ended up liking the way they looked a lot! They lasted about 4 days before they started to itch and drive me crazy. After Bako we headed back to Addis for a night then journeyed north with Nebeyou, Sarah’s fiancé. We stayed with his family in Bahir Dar for a night. They have two really adorable children and they took us out to a cultural café where I got my first taste of Ethiopian dancing… picture a lot of head bobbing and shoulder shrugging! Very different from the way Southern African Nations dance. Someone told me that on the continent of African the dancing moves from top to bottom… so North uses the top half, Southern uses the bottom! I also got to try some Ethiopian coffee and beer. There coffee is thick and but doesn’t make you feel jittery (which is usually my dilemma—I didn’t drink coffee before I moved to this continent!) The coffee ceremonies they have each day remind me of the Bedouins… they roast and pound the beans right in front of you. Its smells and tastes so good!

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

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

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

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

A funny/gross/entertaining anecdote from the trip:

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

Corresponding Pictures to follow soooooooon!

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

The day I arrived in SA was the opening of the World Cup. The airport was filled with at least 300 people with signs...it took over an hour to find the driver carrying one that said “Ellyn Lambeck.” I spent the following weeks freezing my butt-off (it was so cold—African Winter is no joke!!), making friend with Peace Corps Volunteers from other countries (Ethiopia, Tanzania, Gambia, Benin…), going to countless doctor appointments, playing with baby lions, and seeing 2 World Cup games (USA VS England and USA VS Algeria.) So despite my long-recovery I made the best of my time there… did a lot of eating and shopping, read Harry Potter V, picked up a vuvuzele--or two and saw Toy Story 3 in 3-D!

In any case I was missing Zambia, slowly forgetting all my Bemba, and getting over the complete culture shock of having a washer and dryer at my beck-and-call!

After 3 long weeks I was finally cleared to go home and arrived back home just in time to celebrate American Independence in Zambia! After a couple days camping at Lake Samfya in Luapula Province I made my way back up North and back to Luyeye.

Being back in the village after being gone so long is not easy because…

• I have a raging cold/cough that subtracts from my enjoyment of sleep or nshima.

• My house and surroundings are run down and dirty.

• My supply of matches, sugar, peanut butter, and toilet paper has been depleted (by my loyal house-sitters)

• I’ve been spoiled with electricity, hot showers, good food, cold beverages, TV, malls and cars and airplanes oh my!!…and now I’m back to buck-bathing and candle-lit nshima dinners

I am SO grateful to be back with my Zam Fam and I missed everyone and EVERYTHING about Zambia (I’m in love with this place!!) But it’s gonna be hard to get back into the swing of things for sure…and back into shape (too many Mc Donald’s in South Africa—for sure.)

So, arriving at school today was a bit nerve-racking… After I’d gone missing for a month of the term I didn’t know what to expect…What had happened with all the projects and classes I left behind? Also the idea of having to explain my disappearance repeatedly to everyone was also discouraging but I came this morning to find I was warmly welcomed by all my co-workers and pupils with smiles and hugs galore! Walking into the grade 1 classroom and being pummeled with love by a dozen iwes almost had me in tears. Of course all the little ones had assumed I was long gone and back in America, so they were all so excited to have me back. I spent an entire Math lesson with one boy curled up in my lap, while another cuddled my arm!

Now comes the rush of work to catch-up on…My VAST proposal is now finished and ready for review (cross your fingers people my HIV/AIDS club needs this money for our World AIDS Day Event!!) I also have to try to bring my computer classes up to speed (although an awesome student teacher from the school covered all my classes while I was gone it seems the Staff Computer Literacy lessons have somewhat dissolved.) and remind my club that I’m alive and we still have a lot of fund-raising to do!

With help from my mom and many others back in the States, money has been raised towards scholarships, LCC’s World AIDS Day event, as well as the building of my families’ house. I cannot thank you all enough for your on-going generosity. It’s so incredible to see things materialize because of the simple deeds of my friends and family back home. For all those still interested, a new shipment of cards and hats will be on its way to CT within the next 2 weeks!!

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

Mushale Bwino!

Ellyn Mutale Chileshe

Hello Friends & Family,

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

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

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

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

::LCC Club World AIDS Day Event::

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

::Chileshe House Project::

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

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

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

:::Every Little Bit Helps!:::

Twatotella Sana Mukwai!! (We Thank You Very Much!!)

Yours,

Ellyn/ PCV Zambia

RED Program

Chileshe Chepela Zone

Hello friends and family!

Impalas in Linvingstone

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

So what have I been doing for an entire month if I haven’t been working?? Well… Beginning of April my friend Ricardo and I made a journey down from the Northern Province, met up with our friend Ashley in Central the traveled across the Copperbelt and up to North West (all in 2 days total) to visit our friends Stevie and Brittany in the North West for Easter weekend.

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

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

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

My Zambian Family at Chisimba Falls

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

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

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

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

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

Laura, Stevie, and I during Mid Term Conference

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

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

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

Happy Mother's Day!!!!

One Year In Zambia!!!

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

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

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

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

I just said goodbye to 3 Peace Corps Trainees who arrived in country just last Thursday and came to visit my site for a few days and see what I do and how I live. Lots of fun, and looooots of questions... spent the past few days bringing them to work and introducting them to village life. Had a bit of a feast with my family on Monday night and everyone had a great time, and the food was amazing!! The combonation of rain, work and hosting has left me very tired... so I'm in town bout to go hide away at the Provincial house for a night to make some pumpkin bread and watch some Zombie movies! Miss you all! Quote of the Week: A neighbor child seeing me sweeping the outside surroundings of my house (in preparation for the trainees coming to visit) asks in Bemba "Oh is Barak Obama coming today?"

It’s been while since I’ve sat to collect my thoughts long enough to come up with a blog! It’s been a crazy couple months. December with a break from school I focused on getting some things done around my house before heading out on vacation to Malawi with a bunch of other volunteers. Absolutely amazing! Got to go swimming and spend time on a boat and on the beach and most importantly with my friends from all over Zambia who I only get to see once or twice a year!! It’s crazy to think that it was just a year ago that I was starting to worry about what to bring and planning a going away party! The times gone by so fast, but at the same time, I feel like I’ve been here forever! Rainy season (which is still a good 2 ½ months from completion) has had its ups and downs….My allergies have been getting bad so I had to go down to Lusaka to get new, stronger medication. It sucks to be allergic to dust, pollen and mold when I’m living in a place covered in all three! Got pretty sick with something else once I got down there but am recovered and back to work now with new meds, new glasses, and about 5 1bs lighter! Got home Monday to find my new kitten (“Happy Coconut,” I got him from another volunteer right after vacation) was very sick from dehydration. The person who was watching my house while I was away failed to care for him properly and he passed away in the night. Never felt so grown up in my life than having to take care of my dead kitten’s body yesterday morning. Very sad :o(. RIP Happy! On the UP-side my program in Peace Corps “RED” (Rurual Education Development) went through a big make-over. They did a project review and now the goals that I’m working under have been drastically changed (and are adapted more towards the work I’m already doing) so it’s pretty awesome! At school we got some new computers and they set up a little computer lab that I’ll be teaching from. We have 6 computers! Woohoo! I’m also super psyched for all the visits I am getting in the coming months! The end of this month 4 new RED Volunteers (who arrive on the 19th—my one year mark!) will be visiting my site. I’ll be their first impression of Zambia and the way volunteers live and work, kinda cool right? I’ll try not to scare them too much! In March Scott and Amy are coming, my parents and Greg in April and also possibly a visit from Therese is finishing her service in South Africa PC next month. Everything is in full bloom because of the rain I have two gardens and some flower beds going and a small certain Pumpkin growing!! I can’t wait till the guavas are ready next month… Also because of the rain I’ve had lots of down time stuck indoors so I’ve been busy crafting! I’ve moved on from postcards to making citenge picture frames and working on my patchwork quilt! I have a crazy plan to have it finished before my parents get in here in April…we’ll see how that pans out…

Happy Birthday Mom!!

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

...but just wanted to say

Happy 73rd Birthday Grandma!!!

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

Laura put up some pics of the wedding that are pretty sweet: http://www.lauramartel.blogspot.com/

Also I forgot to mention that in the first week of December I participated in World Aids Day and National Day for the Disabled.

For WAD I was on te radio! Woohoo! I talked about the events for WAD and also stigma and getting tested. I attended a candle light vigil in Kasama then went to the main event in Chanda Mukulu (a village in Kasama District) and spent the whole day distributing condoms and encouraging people to go for VCT. It felt good to participate in World Aids Day in a place where so many of the people involved are truly affected...I involvement felt really purposeful.

On National Day for the Disabled I was invited to a celebration in President's park where my friend Catherine had some drama performances with her group. There was a marching band and everything! Pretty awesome...and after the ceremony two of my pupils from school came up to greet me (in sign language.) Some other deaf people that were attending the event saw us talking and came to greet me, soon enough I was surrounded by all of Kasama's Deaf (there are way more than I knew about!) kinda overwhelming but also pretty cool! I also never knew this day existed so I'm glad it was brought to my attention (especially now that I am working primarily with disabled people!)

Hellooo America...

I hear that there its Christmas? Covered in a foot of snow (or more?) Well this side of the world its rainy season, and for me the holiday season means a whole lot of lounging around, with all the schools closed and a trip to Malawi planned for the very near future...

Here is what I have been up to over this break from work:

Two Thursday's ago Laura and I made a trip down to Ndola (in the Copperbelt) for our Bemba teacher's (from training) wedding! We decided to hitch hike down there in two-days to save some money and the trip was a bit more difficult then it should have been... I won't go into details but I will say we spent the night sleeping in a big rig while our Swahili-speaking drivers dismantled the broken down vehicle on the side of the road til the wee-hours of the morning... Sounds pretty sketchy but it was actually quite okay! Those guys were really great! In any case we made it there safely by Friday afternoon. We hung out with Ba Leonard's family and attended the Church ceremony, Kitchen party (kind of like a bridal shower), and reception decked out in our citenge suits and paired with a bottle of wine :o) Good times were had and were followed by two hours of gawking at the Shop Rite the following day... I forgot what supermarkets with options look like... so many cheeses!!

Got back to Kasama last Monday to find all my missing family members (in the village) had returned home the same day (My Batata and cousin from the farm and my other cousin from school!) So we were all reunited! I spent the week starting a compost, attending a "Disciplinary Committee" meeting at the school to make some new school rules, planting maize, pumpkin, and sweet potatoes (i have some butternut squash growing too!!), getting my roof fixed (no more leaks!), citengefying my house, drinking katubi with my neighbors (traditional millet beer that you have to heat and drink from a straw) and of course celebrating Chanukkah (and Christmas/Birthdays...my Zam Fam loves cake!)

On Friday (last night of chanukkah) I went to the Peace Corps house where many of the volunteers had gathered before all heading out for Christmas vacation...so we celebrated by making latkes (potao pancakes) and apple sauce from scratch! yummmm. My first take at Chanukkah cooking on minus my fellow Jews was a success- and the goys all enjoyed :o)

Sunday I went to Church for the first time with my sister Edna. It was a nice service despite a crazy woman who decided to sit next to us and whisper weird things the entire time (she was a member of my positive living group and remembered me...) Afterward we went by the school to see Mr. Bupe and when waiting had a heart-to-heart about love-lost... first time I've talked to anyone about my break-up with Jorge and felt that they actually understood how I feel. I guess things like heartbreak are universal no matter what the culture. My family here is great. Alot of volunteers are given (assigned) families, but I wasn't...and I'm grateful to have made one here that truly feels like home. I spent the evening with them per usual eating supper and chatting... I gave them their Christmas gifts (all the cake ingredients so they can have it again on X-mas day!) and said goodbye to everyone for the next two weeks.

This morning I reached Lusaka after a looong drive down on the night -bus. I'm hyped up on cappuccino and waiting for everything to open so I can go shopping and then meet up with my friends coming from the North West! We leave for Eastern tomorrow then on from there to Malawi! Beaches, ferry rides, and good friends seem like a decent trade in for being stuck in the snow. Hope the holidays find you all well, happy and healthy! Thinking of you and wishing you a Happy 2010! Can't believe I've been here already for almost 1 year!!

Quote(s) of the week:

On biking back into the village, after returning from Ndola some kid yelled "Musungu China!" (meaning white Chinese person?!- my work permit persona is following me...)

Some 12 year old boys that are usually super obnoxious came to my door and were trying to get my attention... so I said "Finshi mulefwaya?" (what do you want) and they presented me with a flower and said "Christmas!" I laughed and asked "Christmas?" they said "New Years."

I was playing with some small ewais (children) in my insaka (outdoor kitchen) and they were chanting "Christmunch!" "No no, its Christmas, ChristMAS!" "Chistmunch, ChristMUNCH!"

Here's a snap from my first-aid workshop from November...

Brian!/Me & Misheck!/ Joakim & Misheck

Took some pics with my phone... not the best quality but at least ya'll get to see Peanut! and the kids from my Physical Therapy class! and some yummy looking...caterpillars....

Peanut with his leggies!!

Dinner

Rainy season is here…but it’s still damn hot! What the heck!? At least things are getting greener now…despite all the mud.

October flew by and November feels almost over (but its just begun, right?!) Never a dull moment… from teaching a legless child how to walk, to getting my first teacher-training workshop off the ground! I’ve been busy busy eating mangos (and NOT caterpillars or flying termites despite much persuasion), painting my room purple, planting flowers and pumpkins, teaching computers, swimming in the deepest lake, running around town like a maniac and of course planning for my X-MAS Vacation (though far away it may seem.)

I don’t think I’ve mentioned my little friend “Peanut” aka Kelvin, before…but he is one of the pupils at Chepela that makes me smile every single day. Peanut is in grade 1 and is an amputee at the knee. Whenever he sees me at school from a distance he yells “Ba Ellyni!!” and comes quickly to greet me. He moves about the school in a wheel chair but is MUCH faster on his stubs, pant legs trailing behind him (making him look like a little sea lion!) Just a few weeks ago some doctors at Kasama General Hospital measured Peanut for prosthetic legs and ever since we’ve been working on him using them. When I say “We” I mean his teacher Mrs. Chilongo, and me when he comes to Physiotherapy twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursday mornings. His new sets of legs are just over a foot long, made from some type of hard plastic with fake red sneakers attached at the ankle. Before getting into them we roll up his pants legs and put thick yellow socks on his stubs. The first time I helped him put them on I stood him up in front of the full-length mirror in the Physio room so he could take a look at himself with legs. We stood and looked and giggled for a good 5 minutes before moving to the parallel bars to practice walking. Learning to walk for the first time is slow-going, especially when your legs aren’t attached to you! Just this Friday I was running around busy with the workshop and Mrs. Chilongo yelled my name from her classroom “Ellyn! Ellyn come see!” I poked my head in to see Peanut standing with his legs, with Mrs. Chilongo supporting him a bit from behind. He giggled just as he had when he’d seen himself in the legs for the first time, and Mrs. Chilongo just beamed. Moments like that I gotta save for the rainy days,

The Basic First Aid Teachers Workshop took place this past week on Thursday and Friday. Getting all the logistics figured out with Kasama Red Cross was hectic and very stressful and on Wednesday afternoon I was still unsure what would take place the following day. Thankfully the trainers came through. Fifteen teachers from eight different schools in my zone were trained for two-days on how to respond to various emergency situations at their schools and in their communities. At the end I got to present them all with certificates and first-aid kits to bring back to their schools. I think it went as best as can be expected for coming together at the last minute (despite my months of preparation!) and I am certainly glad it’s over!

In other work news a man from Zambia National Scholarship Fund came to visit my Computer Literacy class on Monday to check up on the computers his organization and donated. He took some snaps of me and my pupils and asked me and the Deputy Head teacher to write some letters to his boss about the computer donations. The following day the man came back with an email response from his boss who had read our letters and seen the pictures and had decided to pay our school a visit when he comes to Kasama next week. The administration is in high hopes for some new computers and printers to come our way as a result and maybe we’ll have a computer lab for me to teach from next term! Yesterday I gave them an end of term quiz to see where they are with all we covered these past months (with the typing they all did great, but computer terms... need work) so today I will be rewarding all those who did well with pencil sharpeners, notebooks, and other educational trinkets sent by my mother and grandmother, grand prize being an Obama postcard! (Every child in Zambia that can speak knows the name Obama, and children as young as 6 can identify his face- crazy!? I think a bit...)

Recreationally play-time with other Volunteers has been keeping me sane. My friend Stevie from the North Western Province came to visit us stayed at my house for 2 nights and we had a delicious dinner party with Ric and Laura. A bunch of my friends and I are planning to be in Malawi for Christmas and New Years (!!) Halloween, although sneaking by practically un-noticed, served for a great stepping stone in my American to Zambian cultural exchange (Peace Corps Goals 2 & 3) when I made my two nieces in the village knock on my door and say “Trick-Or-Treat” followed my “Mpeleniko Sweetie!” (Give me a sweetie.) We did this for about half an hour before we were tired and full of chewie chocolates.

Quote of the Week: “What’s it like to fly?”

My friend Catherine (lone teacher of Chiba Community School) when we were discussing the distance between America and Zambia.

This post is mostly for my future self. I'm writing it here for prosperity. Joining Peace Corps and coming to Zambia is the best choice I have ever made for myself. Several times this week I have been able to sit and look around and just be happy to be here. I feel so lucky for so many reasons... The things I get to see and do and the people here who have become part of my life are making me the person I want to be. Leaving will be the hardest thing I will ever do...

...That being said I had my first feelings of homesickness since coming to Zambia on Rosh Hashanah a few weeks ago. Of course I've been missing everyone and places and things in America, but on Rosh Hashanah, when the phone was passed around and I talked with all my family on the phone, I really just wanted to be there. I wanted to sit around the table with everyone, stuffed full of challah and kugel and take a walk to Wooster Pond to cast-away my sins. I'm pretty sure this is the first Rosh Hashanah I have ever missed with my family and I still at least one more to miss in the future.

The 2nd feeling of homesickness came this week when I got sick with diarrhea Wednesday from some bad water and stayed in bed for two days. Its hard to be in the village when you don't feel well... my friends, family, and neighbors all kept coming to check up on me, and although it was sweet, its impossible to get any rest when there is always someone at the door wanting to know what you've eaten and what medicine you are taking...and so on. I had no appetite and wanted to just curl up and hide, so I made an exit Friday morning to the Peace Corps house where our wonderful Medical Officer instructed me over the phone on how to medicate myself... instead I made/ate banana bread and watched the entire "Lost" Season 5.

By Saturday I was feeling a bit better so I hopped on my bike and rode to Mungwi to help Laura put plastic up in the roof of her house. Unfortunately I wasn't as well as I thought and had to stop a few times on the way there (30k bike ride) to puke and shit :o/ Sunday I was actually feeling alive again so I helped Laura and then we spent the day chasing ewais, watching Ubulanda (a boy with down-syndrome in her village) laugh himself into a stupor, visiting the market and school, and baking a cake!

Monday morning I biked back to Kasama to make a meeting at 8am that was canceled cause the prez is in town...

So, now I am working on some lesson plans for my computer class and still organizing logistics for my first-aid workshop (it will happen- I am determined to make it happen!!!) and waiting around for the Perma-culture Counterpart workshop to start (begins tomorrow) and hoping to stay sane with all thats piling up and the added stress of homesickness, and real sickness...

If I can just get through October! I need this month to fly by.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

"It's as if you were men!" - Laura's Sister in the village (in response to the work we had done hanging plastic in her roof)

By the Way... Here's My Wonderful Family!

From Top Left: My Aunt Margaret, My Nieces Chewe (12) and Catherine (9), Me and My Sister Edna, and my Batata (father.)

The past weeks have gone by so fast because I’ve been so busy! There are not enough hours in the day! Work...

I have a pretty regular work schedule these days…Monday mornings I’m at the DEBS (District Education Board Secretary) for their weekly briefings, and then in the afternoon I teach computers to grade 10. Tuesdays and Thursdays is Physical Therapy in the mornings (still don’t know what I’m doing…) and fine motor skills in the afternoon. Wednesday s is now reserved for any meetings I need to attend/ the HIV/AIDS Club. Friday is again Computers from grade 10. The first meeting of my HIV/AIDS club was this past Wed and we had over 50 kids! The club is for grades 5-10 from Luyeye Basic, Chepela, and Chiba Community. I had to be translated into 2 languages so that all the pupils would be able to understand (Bemba and Sign language.) We talked about what they knew, what they wanted to know, and what we can do as a group to teach our peers. We also played some games I learned from the PEPFAR workshop and came up with a group name “LCC Drama Club.” The group will be preparing skits to educate their classmates about HIV/AIDS. My computer literacy class is probably my favorite part of my week. I am teaching about 8 Grade Ten pupils from Chepela (the special needs school.) Half are physically disabled in some facet, the other half are hearing impaired. We all squeeze around one computer in a tiny office (wheels chairs and walkers and all) and I do my best to communicate through language barriers basic computer know-how. My pupils are enthusiastic and intrigued by all things electronic! The problems of space, resources, communication, and disability are many but I feel committed to the challenge! We are having fun with it. In other work endeavors I am still working on planning a First-Aid workshop for my zone. Materials are coming together slowly although none of the donations I asked for from companies in the US have appeared. The workshop is set to take place October 30th, so hopefully I can pull it all together in a month! I am becoming more involved with the Postive-Living group that found me from Chiba village and am planning to do a condom demonstration with them next Saturday. I am trying to get some NGO’s in the area to work together on their water sanitation endeavors in my district… so all in all my plate is FULL for the next two months!

Ukusefya... On Rosh Hashanah I attended a traditional Bemba ceremony called Ukusefya Pa N’gwena (Ceremony of the Crocodile.) The festivities are in celebration of the Bembas settling in Northern Province of Zambia (once Northern Rhodesia) from the Congo. My sister Edna and I got a ride with the DEBS to the ceremony in Mungwi District (Laura’s neck of the woods.) There were performances from different groups from all over. They sang, and wore colorful costumes, played drums, and of course danced (all to honor the Bemba Paramount Chief who arrived a few hours into the festivities.) In attendance were many big wigs…former Presidents of Zambia (Kaonde and Chiluba,) current Zambian VP, Chiefs galore and of course many Bembas spectators! Laura’s Ba Mayo, who is the Head Woman of her village, cooked us lunch (nshima and beans.) It was good times! My Birthday... I turned 25 this past week! For my first Zambian birthday I had two dinner parties! One was at my house the Thursday before my birthday, and a bunch of the volunteers from Northern Province came to my site for a pot-luck. My family and friends from the village came as well. There was Chinese stir-fry, Guacamole, Banana Bread, Cookies, Challah and Pizza (I put my oven to good use that night!) So we ate like kings and listened to Zambian music then all passed out. Birthday party number two came this past Monday (my actual b-day.) I had to work the whole day but at night my friends sent a cab to my house to pick me up and bring me to the provincial house! They made me dinner and chocolate cake! It was awesome. I was also surprised by how many of my Zambian counterparts gave me a birthday card (Birthdays in Bemba culture aren’t that big of a deal.) Not to pick favorites but the best ones came from two of my favorite counterparts… first Catherine Kabwe, who runs the Chiba Community School (she attended the PEPFAR workshop with me.) She had seen me making some citenge postcards during the workshop and then made me a citenge birthday card! So sweet! The other was from Mr. Bupe, the deputy head teacher of my school. He is very computer and photo savvy and scanned some photos of him, his family, and myself to make me a really cool card!The Village... Hot season is here. Sometimes I fall asleep dripping with sweat! It almost makes me look forward to rainy season…am I crazy?

Saturday I made some corn bread for my Positive Living group meeting cleaned my house from top to bottom then went to hang out with my family for a bit before leaving for my meeting/town. We were all sitting crafting together (beading, knitting, etc) when Edna (my sister) arrived suddenly in a cab (she had left class early) and announced that her cousin had passed away. She broke in to sobs...and ran to her fathers house. Her younger sister Mary was visiting and came from the house to join her in sobbing, which turned into loud moaning and whailing. The way Zambians express sadness and morning is so different from anything I have ever seen before. They spend hours sitting together and just whailing (screaming and crying, singing and yelling.) While they are doing this inside my Ba Tata's house neighbors and passerbys come and join them. Some crying and sing too, others jsut sit. They periodcally tap out after "paying their respects." It is really intense and tiering. I stayed with them for about an hour and a half, justing sitting and crying with them. I did not even know the cousin or the circumstances of her death (we had recieved a call the night before that she was sick very suddenly...with something?) but found myself so moved by the emotion and pain in the room. I am returning to my site in a few hours and hopefully will be involved/invited to the funeral (I have yet to attend one in Zambia and am interested culturally in going- also in supporting my family of course.)

So...I spent the last 48 in town (at the Provincial House) helping to welcome the new volunteers who just finished training. There are 9! We spent all day today doing their site shopping... all the while I am fasting for Yom Kippur (can't wait to cook up a feast tonight!!)

Just got back to Northern/the Village this past Tuesday after about a month away from site. My friend Laura wrote a pretty great blog about our time away, pictures included:

LAURA'S BLOG

Back to business...

:o)

In regards to volunteers’ blog posting activity I was told by Peace Corps administrators during staging “post a blog on a good day, write a journal on a bad one” They don’t just say this because they want PC to look good, but because its easy for friends and family at home to read some of the frustrations a volunteer may be facing and think that the they are having a horrible experience. I also am fearful of having people at home read about some of my less than wonderful days and worrying about how I am doing. Simultaneously I think to leave out the bad times is a little like lying… and I really want to be honest with all of you about my experience. …So I will preface this entry by saying that for the most part I am pretty happy I think my previous posts have probably conveyed that overall everything is going very well! Time is moving fast, fast, I am very excited about all of my projects, have made great friends and life in general is good! Some days though, are just… BAD days! My week can be filled with several “this is why I’m here” happy go lucky moments and then one bad-egg-of-a-day comes along and tares me down. Being the only white person living in the village is like being a celebrity without any of the benefits. Everyone knows who you are and is up in your business 24-7. Everything from what time I wake up, what I eat, wear, or cook to the friends I chose to spend time with is being watched and talked about daily. Sometimes I just want to blend in or even be invisible so I can read a book on my porch or wash my laundry without an audience or being bothered. I have yet to ride my bike to and from work without being called “Musungu!” by onlookers…a word that means “white person” in Bemba, that I have developed a very love-hate relationship with… There are few days that go by that I am not harassed in some way on the sole-basis that I am white. Although almost all the volunteers experience this kind of discrimination, I think living in such an urban area, being a woman, and also a first-generation volunteer at my site has lead me to be the recipient of much more/constant prejudice. Most of the time there is enough people and things going on to keep me positive, and I’m able to shake it off. Some days I let it get to me… and I want to scream. Some days… I do. There are only so many times you can answer the ewais screaming “How are you? How are you? How are you? How are you?” before you aren’t “Fine!” anymore. Its times like this that a break from the village, a call from home, or a day away with other Americans is in order… On that note, I have been away from site already for one week for PEPFAR (US Funded HIV/AIDS Counterpart Workshop) and am already missing “home” (Luyeye!) Although I have little “privacy” in the village I miss being “alone” and having time to myself…which is hard in the Provincial House (filled with the other 12 volunteers.) Tomorrow I leave for Lusaka for two more weeks away from site and packed full of Americans (In Service Training with the rest of my Intake.) I am looking forward to seeing all my friends from training but am already feeling overwhelmed about being around so many people for so long and wish I didn’t have to be away from site for so long. I’m sure in a few weeks I will wonder where all the time has gone…and wish for a vacation away from site again! In closing…I want to reassure you all that I am more than fine and wouldn’t want to be anywhere then here, but I don’t want to give any of you the impression that being here is ever easy. They say Peace Corps is the “hardest job you’ll ever love” and I already believe it to be true. I am hopeful and fighting through the hard parts, and I can feel it all the time but I wouldn’t trade it for anything else.

PS Not really a Quote of the Week but......I met a child in the village last week named "Scared" !!!

PPS I just put a bunch of photos up on Facebook

Me and Silvia (From training- Kelbeleka)

My Ewai Posse (in my village- Luyeye)

Here's what we've been up to at the Special Needs School...

Physical Therapy Lessons with Laura!

Angel: The 11-year-old HI Student (mentioned in a previous post)

...and my Fine Motor-Skills Class :o) (Grades 1 & 2 HI-Hearing Impaired)

Last week I had a site visit with Ba Silvester and he came to see what I've been up to the past three months (I've been in Zambia for 5 whole months already!!-it's crazy.) I brought him to the special needs school to introduce him to the Head Teacher and show him the classes I have been working with and such. It was cool because the Head said some really nice things about my work there and it made me feel like I've been alot more influencial/productive then I realized...

Some small accomplishments since last post:1. Made Guava Jam!2. Made Bread from scratch in my new oven :o)3.Celebrated "Christmas in July" with the rest of Northern Province4.Ricardo and I put up plastic in my house (but my allergies persist-boo!)5.Took another volunteer's dog to the vet (story to follow)6.Planted some seeds...will they ever grow? who knows7. Made a gate with my friends Wise and John (but...it's not very sturdy/is already falling apart...hmmm)8.Made some mazes, connect the dots, and other games/activities for my fine-motorskills class9. Wrote a letter to send out to medical supplies companies (for my first aid workshop)10. Had a "This is Why I'm Here" kind of moment! :o) (story to follow)

Trip to the Vet...Another Volunteer's dog, Killroy, is living at the Peace Corps House now (it was eating her neighbor's goats!) so she broght him to get fixed because there is already a female dog, Suzie, living at the house. Unfortunatley she had to go back to her site and couldn't stay around to check up on him after the surgery and asked me to do so because I live so close to town. Since then Killroy pulled his stitches out and was running around with Suzie with an open wound...so yesterday I had to bring him to the vet to get sewn back up. Thankfully Dale, another volunteer, was around and came with me. Getting Killroy into the cab to go there was a challenge...he was not very happy (probably because he remembered what happened the last time he took a trip in the car) but eventually we were able to lift him into the backseat without him biting anyones face off. So we bring him to the Vet and he makes us get in the backseat of his pickup to go to the clinic. We get to the clinic, which is pretty sketchy, behind a bar and there is already a dog there that they are putting to sleep ( :o( he had cancer and lots of tumors). So Killroys flipping out about the other dog and on edge because he recognizes the doctor (who sliced off his manhood just days earlier!) Finally the Vet decides to use the stick hold thingy (like you see on animal cops) so he couldn't bite while he was given the injection.) Which was pretty scary and kind of awful, but he got the injection to make him drowsy...but it didn't work that well cause hes a big dog...so then they had to give him another one to make him sleep so the Vet could sew up the wound. I had to hold his leg up while the Vet did the sewing...and Killroy kept coming-to and struggling...it was a bit stressful. I felt so bad for the poor dog... Dale and I had to carry him into the cab again...this time with him a bloody and drugged up and when I got back to the house he woke to snap at Suzie before falling back to sleep on the ground with his tounge all hanging out and lifeless. Within hours he was awake and walking around, seemed fine...but today hes limping...soooo hopefully that will go away...cause another trip to the Vet might kill the both of us!

This is why I'm here...On a lighter note... I had a great "converstaion" with some boys at the school this week. I say "conversation" because they were grade 7,8, and 9 H.I. (hearing impared) and the convo consisted partitially using ASL mostly with writing question/answers on the chalkboard. The boys were 17,18, and 21 and asked me lots of questions about myself. They wanted to know how I knew sign language, where I came from, and why I was in Zambia. It was fun getting to know them and what made me choke up a bit was when I explained to them I'm a volunteer and I'd come to help with education , and the boys all said "oooh I see" (in asl) and then one wrote on the board "Thank you so much!" Tear!

Quote of the Week: I'm showing a 12-year-old girl (who knows limited English) the Atlas my mom sent me...

Chelwe: What's That? (points to a picture of a globe)Me: It's a GlobeChelwe: "Ooohhh! Global Financial Crisis!"

One thing I've learned to appreciate greatly since I've been in Zambia is PROGRESS!! Things here (and I assume in other developing countries) just take longer then you could ever imagine. Even simple things are a process, involving continued persistence and effort... instead of getting frustrated (which is easy to do) I have been trying to bask in every small success, because even though they are small they add up to Progress...

In the past few weeks I have...

...Gotten an Deaf 11yr old boy back into school

...Applied to have said 11yr old be put on bursary through Social Welfare

...Conducted Fine-Motor skills lessons on my own (in sign language!!)

...Attended 3 Bemba Tutoring Lessons

...Climbed a mountain (and climbed down barefoot-OW!)

...Got half a fence built

...Attended 2 Agriculture shows (they are alot cooler then you'd think I got awesome recipes for sweetpotato pie, cassava cake and guava jam-yum!)

...Got an oven built! Today!! Yay Baking in the village!

...Started planning several workshops for my Zone and my village (Bamboo Furniture Building...First Aid/CPR Trainging and other fun stuff!)

I am trying to get as much done as possible before the end of the month as I will be out of site almost all of August!I have one week of "Pepfar" - an HIV/AIDS Counterpart workshop in Kasama, then 2 weeks of "In-Service Training" with the rest of my intake in Lusaka (which will mark the end of my community entry period- so we will be going to visit Victoria Falls!! Yay Vaca!)

So its crunch time. I need to go to Africare and see if I can apply to get one of my schools a "Play Pump" (Kids play on a structure while simultaneously pumping water from a water source-COOL!) and go buy a baking pan for my new oven!! Tomorrow's forecast is gate-building and maybe some bread baking? Thursday the Assistant Coordinator of the RED program (Silvester) is coming to visit my site so I will be showing them my place, and the Special Ed school, and going to a meeting at the DEBS (District Education Board Secretary) office with him and Ted. Busy Busy... Can't wait until the weekend!

QUOTE of the WEEK:

Random man passing on a bike: "Madam do you have a husband?"

Me: "No"

Random man passing on a bike: "I want to marry you!"

Me: "But, you don't even know me!"

Random man passing on a bike: "I know you, and I see you, I want to marry you."

Me: "You don't even know my name!" (I'm laughing)

Random man passing on a bike: "Madam, I am serious!"

Me: "No, you are funny!"

Hello Civilized World!!

I have now been living at my site for 2 months! The time has been flying by as I have been busy busy with the start of many projects at the school as well as getting acquainted with my new community! In the end of April I became an official Peace Corps Volunteer and moved up to the Northern Province to a village just outside of Kasama "Luyeye."

Luyeye! My new home away from home is what I'd lovingly refer to as an "Urban Village" For those of you (most of you reading) who have never been to a village in a developing country...it may be difficult for you to understand when I say "Urban" and "Village" as most villages are very rural. My village differs from many of my fellow volunteer's placements because it is very close to the Boma (town) Kasama (Northern Province's Capitol.) Luyeye and the surrounding villages are densley populated so the houses are closer together. The prevalance of cars, crime, and people who speak English is higher in my village than in the more rural areas. My house is just opposite the main dirt road so there are vehicles passing frequently as opposed to my village during trainging (Where if you heard a car coming it was the Peace Corps land cruiser coming!) There are advantages to being so close to town... getting to the grocery store, interenet cafe, post office, bank and Provincial House takes about 15-20mins on my bike. Also being so close to town means I get frequent visits from other volunteers who need to come to town (yay friends! and sleepovers!!)

I have already become pretty use to life in the village. Through some "cultural exchange" I've gotten to know some really great people in the village. They've been teaching me to make Zambian dishes and I have taught them some American (Zambians love Pumpkin Bread and Pizza!!)

On the work side of things in my first 3 weeks I've visited 15 out of 16 of the schools in my zone reaching 2 that are 50k away on my bike! (Those of you who know how hard the biking has been for me know that this is quite the accomplishment!) From these visits I gathered some connections with teachers and was became aware of many of the issues facing the various schools. Overall it seems the majority are greatly lacking in resources (everything from teachers, infrastructures, to chalk...) One community school I visited was a building made from mud, that consisted of 2 rooms and an incomplete roof, where the children were sitting on rocks in the dirt because there were no tables or chairs.

I am at the Special Needs School in my zone pretty much every day. The kids there are great my sign language is improving greatly. I am trying to start a sponsorship program for the pupils' boarding fees, while doing a fine motor skills/sign language class 3x a week with the grade 2 hearing impaired, organizing teacher training and workshops (first aid trainging, HIV/aids, and proposal writing for thosweools I mentioned earlier who are lacking resources), I have also been approached about starting an art club! I'm busy, busy I tell you!!

All the while I am trying to work on house improvements... putting plastic on the inside of my room to keep me from getting sick (I have a permanent cold from all the dust and debree!), getting a fence built between me and the road (PRIVACY!?!?) and I am also building shelves!!

So now that I've blabbed on and on after 2 months of silence I must go back home and make some dinner! Hope you are all well! Don't forget to write me and send me all your questions...and don't forget I have access to my email and facebook!

If you are thinking of sending me a pkg I would very much appreciate things like:

pencils, sharpeners, erasers, paper, pens...

My ewais (children) are always asking for these... And I use them as rewards for sweeping my yard when I run out of sweeties!

Much Love! Shalenipo!!

FYI : BLOGS OF MY PC BFFLS...

http://www.ricardosamir.blogspot.com/

http://www.lauramartel.blogspot.com/

...Check um out!

I can hardly believe its week 9 of training...but at the same time I feel like its deff time for a change. Its a Sunday afternoon and I grabbed a ride with my Tech teacher to Lusaka to pick up some photos for my host fam and hopefully upload some photos ( they are loading to facebook as we speak- picasa won't work!)

The past few weeks have been busy busy filled with my 2nd Site visit, Bemba lessons and tests (My Language Proficiency Interview is Tuesday- EEK!!) and hanging out with my family.

HIGHLIGHTS:

My site is in a village called Luyeye right outside of Kasama in the Northern Province. My house is huge but right next to Luyeye Basic...so I had over 75 children on my front stoop my first night. My Zonal Center School, which is about 1.5 K down the road is a Special Needs School for diabled children. I LOVE it! The kids are great, everyone is just so accepting and friendly and they use ASL! Very excited to be able to work with them. The Nothern Provincial house is sweet... got to shower and watch Entourage...made brownies! I love when I get to cook!

Saturday was Ba Leonard's Bday so we threw a bit of a party for him... with a pinata (balloon from the tuck shop filled with candy-- that actually broke before we could get it to him so we used a rubber glove!!) and it was good times. He tried stabbing the pinata with the stick because we forgot to describe how to swing at it...

About a week ago Laura and I made pizza and soya nuggets for our families with some supplies from Lusaka on braizers and they turned out pretty good. I think we deff turned them on to Pizza! I feel like I am slowly becoming lactose intolerant though... uuuugh. Well see how that goes...

I hitched back from Chongwe to Chalimbana with Katrina, Bob, and Anne Marie a week or so ago in a Shake Shake truck... hilarious... details to come at a later date.

Wednesday we had to go to the Immigration office to get our work permits. It took hours... with all 36 of us waiting in an ally and being ushered in a few at a time...wonderful! I finally get to the desk where the man hands me my permit and asks me to sign to confirm the information is all correct. I look down at the permit that looks similar to a passport with my photo, name, birthdate, and Place of Birth: CHINA, Nationality: CHINESE. Needless to say I burst out laughing! They insisted that I should sign and that they would "fix" the details, which really meant they crossed out CHINA and wrote "USA" on my official Work Permit... nice. I have a copy that I will try to make a copy of and send home to someone at some point, its hilarious.

I was sick Thursday night/ Friday morning and it made me realize how great EVERYONE is. My friends all checked in on me... even my lazy bakafundisha Ba Leonard! My Ba Mayo was worried sick and prayed for me to get better and cooked me pumpkin (yum) and I got a call from Jorge! A day of staying in my hut and reading Entertainment Weekly front to back (Thanks Mom!) did the trick and I was back to working order yesterday...just in time for a volleyball match against the PST trainers. They beat us 3 outta 5...but it was still fun!

My NEW ADDRESS:

Ellyn Lambeck/PCV

Peace Corps Zambia

PO BOX 410374

Kasama, Zambia

AFRICA

I swear in Friday and then head up to Northern this coming weekend. There I will move into my big empty hut and begin my three months of "Community Entry." I am going to miss my host family, Kebeleka, and my fellow trainees like crazy... I will be doing lots of crafting, letter writing, reading with all of my lonlely/down-time so please do write! I also have something on my phone now called "Nimbuzz" where I can use AIM and G-Chat so feel free to message me if you see me on!!

Love you all, look for my pics on Facebook.

MULI SHANI? (How Are you?)

Hello all!

I am finally sitting down at a computer! It is Sunday and we are on a day trip to Lusaka. The past two and a half weeks I have been staying in Kebeleka Village. I live with a host family that consists of: My host Mom Ba Regina, she is a 40 year old widow who knows some English and has one son who is 19 years old, Francis. Also on our compound is Regina's Mother, Grandmother, Sister, 2 Neices, 2 Cousins, 1 Uncle, and a mess of other young children (So there are 20 people total and 8 houses!) There are chickens and goats everywhere! I am woken early every motning (usually between 4-4:30am) by the Rooster! I bike every day to and from training. The bike rides are long and tiring but I am getting use to them and I now know the bush paths to and from the training center to my home! I really enjoy biking on my own, especially if I can listen to my ipod! Next to the Temptations, Justin Timberlake is trully the best biking music!

I have a cell phone with interenet! So please email me, and if you have phone cards or plans call and text because I would love to hear from you. Saturdays and Sundays are the best time to call. Keep in mind I am 6hrs ahead. My number is 011-26-097-666-5946. All my incoming calls and texts are free but for me to call you is nearly impossible... checking email/facebook from my phone is pretty inexpensive though!

So far training is going pretty well. Monday-Saturday I have Language, Medical, and Technical sessions. The Medical sessions are about Malaria, AIDS, Rabies, Diarrohea, etc. Tech sessions have to do with the RED Program specifically (Rurual Education Development.) For Language I am learning Bemba! Bemba is one of the most widely used languages in Zambia. It is spoken in Centeral, Northern and Luapula Provinces. (No REDs are going to Luapula- which means I will be places in Northern or Central.) Overall the sessions are alot of sitting and listening...but I had my first Bemba exam this past Friday and I got a 4.5/5! So I guess the sessions and studying have paid off!

Food-wise my stomach is still adjusting... there is not much variety. I eat A LOT OF MAZE!!! in alot of forms....boiled maze, roasted maze, and tons of nshima!! (its like a thicker grits- the staple food here, heavy and pretty flavorless) Veggie wise I eat pumpkin leaves, tomatoes, green peppers, onions, sweet potato leaves, and beans ...all which are cooked heavily in oil and salt (hence the stomach issues!) Eggs and Peanuts are my main source of protein... I am eager to get to my placement where I can start cooking on my own!

As of this coming Thursday I will have been in Zambia for an entire month! As far away as home feels, I do not feel like I've been here that long. I hope training continues to fly and I will soon be at least semi-fluent in Bemba and will be swearing-in as a volunteer! 6 more weeks!

If you have thought about writing me a letter and havent please do! The mail is sporadic but much anticipated and appreciated!! If you think that you may want to send me things remember smalled padded-envelope style packages are better than boxes. Here are somethings that may be useful to send me...

*Drink mixes!! (ice tea, lemonade, emergen-c, koolaid, propel, packets of anything really!)- Filtered and cholrinated water isn't that tasty...

*Magazines or News Papers (or even just clipped articles)- I have no clue what is going on in the world or the US!

*Flip flops (Size 9) - I have a couple pairs but I wear them daily... don't know how long they will last!

*Candy

*FOREVER STAMPS!!- I did not bring any US Postage and there are Volunteers that are at the end of setrvice who have offered to bring mail back with them to send. Mail is more likely get there this way!

*Photos of you!

*Books

Love you and miss you all. If you are bored or are just thinking of me please email me! I check it every day and its the easiest/ least expensive way for us to be in contact!

I will update again once I have more to say and access to a computer again! If you have questions about what I am doing or about Zambia in general let me know so that I can answer them here!

Shalenipo! (Stay well)

It's my third day in Zambia!

We are in a market today buying supplies for our first site visit. Tomorrow morning I leave at 6am with two other RED trainees and four LIFE. We will be staying with a current RED volunteer in the Southern Province of Zambia. Hopefully this will be giving us a better idea of what we can expect from village life. Apparently none of our group is actually going to be place in the Southern Province...but it will be cool to actually stay with a volunteer and see how they live, and cook, and interact with their community. .

I bought a cell phone today. I shelled out for one with internet capability. The number is 01-26-097-666-5946. But I have not activated or charged it yet and will let you know how and when you should call me and how much it should cost you and me.

The weather is warm but not stifling. It rains in random spurts for about 15mins and then lets up and get sunny again. Not too buggy yet either!

More later...times almost up. Email me and I'll try and respond when i can.

Love and miss you all. Don't forget to write!

I have 2 nights left sleeping in a familiar place.

Preparing to leave has become more surreal as time descends.

I have few more things to pack... some books, some Emergen-C, more sunscreen, pillow, towel... and I am already about 15-16lbs over the Peace Corps weight limit! The questions is...from what I already packed what can I go without for 2 1/2 years... tricky tricky considering almost everything thing that is packed is from the provided packing list and I have hardly had room to add in any personal amenities. Hmm... go over and hope for the best? pay whatever fee will surely be coming to me for exceeding the weight limit. (Side note both of my suitcases weighed 12lbs with nothing in them! I was robbed of 24lbs!)

Besides freaking out about packing I've been realizing a lot my days have been filled with 'lasts.' Last time for over 2 years that I will spend time with my friends, family members...last time eating pizza, ice cream, or morning star fake chicken nuggets, doing my laundry in a machine at my convenience. I will no longer be using a computer, TV daily or taking a hot shower. Simple things like falling asleep on the couch, checking my email or calling up a friend will soon become foreign activities in my new life. I am anxious to see what it will be like to have these things become less familiar. Excluding the friends and family, I am not mourning the loss of these luxuries... but rather feeling a sense of reality creeping in.

As hard as my transition will be I find myself worrying about those I leave behind. If I had room in my suitcase I'd bring all of you!

Of course you do!

Here is how:

My address for the first three months is:

Ellyn Lambeck/PCT

Peace Corps

P.O. Box 50707

Lusaka, Zambia

You will also want to right on it "AFRICA" & "AIR MAIL" on letters and packages.

When sending packages you may have to fill out a customs form. If you claim tha the package includes scriptures or bibles, or something religous it is less likely to get stolen. When sending things to my friend in Africa I usually wrote "God Bless" or drew crosses on the box.

If you would like me to recive your letter or package you should probably send them in the next month or so because everything will take about 3 weeks to get to me.

I have to pay duty fees on each package I recieve, so apparently smaller packages and bubble envelopes cost less.

Once training is over I will be moving to my placement and will have a new address, and alot more time to write letters! I'm looking forward to snail-mailing-it with you all!