Hello Hello.

So I've been in lusaka for the last week for in service training. After living in the village for 3 months my intake has all come back to lusaka for a week of training. Its been a lot of fun to see everyone again and to be able to get icecream. My hitchhike down here was definitely an adventure, we started out on the road in solwezi at 6 am and didnt make it to lusaka until close to 11pm. Included in this hitch was riding in a 23 ton copper truck at 68k an hour and then getting caught as overweight at the weigh station. After having an interesting conversation about zambia politics and development in my next speedy hitch we got a ride in the back of a pickup truck with a bunch of singing bamayos. I was leaning against a bag of fish and bush mushrooms and it started to spit rain on us. But anyway, in training we've been learning about permiculture gardens and some MIT students came yesterday to show us some inventions/improved technology that they had made at low cost that might be implementable in the village. They also opened a really nice casino in lusaka and I learned how to play blackjack. I dont quite have the nerve to bet heavy and Im holding at even money for th rest of the week. Im headed back to my village on wednesday and Ill try and update this again soon with more information on what Im doing in ikelenge.

So the other day I got up to run and the sun was coming up on my right and on the left there was a full rainbow in a purple orange sky without a cloud in the sky and without any morning rain. It looked like something out of a My little pony or care bear cartoon except it was real! Crazy. As of December 18th I’m officially done with my peace corps community entry where I have been getting to know my community and the health situation there. In mid January I will head back to Lusaka for a week for what is called In Service Training. After IST I will be able to do more in terms of trainings, health talks and facilitation of small projects. After Thanksgiving on World AIDS day I gave my first HIV talk to a group of about 80 8th graders in English thankfully. It went ok but I definitely have some work to do in order to become more comfortable talking in front of that large group but most of the things I’ll be doing will probably be with smaller groups. I’ve also been helping out at the antenatal, postnatal or Under 5 clinics 4 days a week. In early October I saw my first live birth in all its beauty and gore. I know have a massive amount of respect for every mother. The women here don’t even scream out very much and they are pretty much back in their fields a day or two later. Impressive. Also in early December, I went over to Hillwood Farm’s Clinic where Mel Ferguson does an antenatal clinic once a month for the farm workers wives and whoever else wants to attend. She taught me how to feel for the baby’s head and let me listen to the babies fetal heart which was very exciting.

Rainy season is now in full swing and I’ve gotten caught on my bike in a downpour or two and I’ve been getting dirtier and dirtier on my bike ride to the BOMA as I have to wade through the mud and puddles. In mid-December the three aquaculture volunteers in Mwinilunga district planned to do some fish transfers to farmers ponds near their villages so I spent 3 days in the BOMA helping/watching the fingerling transfers and visiting their Peace Corps site. It was fun to see what some of the other Peace Corps Volunteers are involved in. In terms of my project, I’ve noticed a lot of nutritional deficiencies in both the Under 5 children and the pregnant women who will have a stagnant weight over the course of their pregnancies. Now that rainy season is picking up and malaria is becoming more prevalent in my village. Diahrea is also a major issue as most of the wells are dirty.

My most exciting critter story includes having a bat fly at my face when I lifted the cover to my chimbushi (pit latrine) at night on my birthday. For Christmas I came into Solwezi with 12 other volunteers. We watched Elf, A Christmas Story, National Lampoons Christmas Vacation, and Love Actually over the course of the last few days. We all made a group Christmas Eve dinner of Christmas Sausages and mulled wine and I roasted carrots. In the morning we did a group breakfast with gingerbread cookies, cinnamon rolls, eggs and bacon. It’s definitely nice to eat meat in town since its mostly not available/expensive in the village. There is a nice hotel in Solwezi called the Royal Solwezi where a lot of people that come to work in the copper and other mines in the province. We went there for a buffet lunch where they had pony rides and a pool and we played some spades. I’ve been playing a ton of cards with other volunteers and have relearned how to play cribbage. Something I hadn’t done much of since I was young and played with Dad or Grandpa Wispelwey. I’ve also been reading a lot as well and trying to teach myself how to sew but I’m really bad at cutting and sewing in straight lines. I keep putting holes in my clothes from biking or hand washing though so I need to get good at mending. Starting my fire in the morning and drawing water from the well continues to get easier. I’ve also been perfecting my technique of baking bread on a brazier and have had one loaf that I’ve been proud of. Anyway thanks to everyone that has sent me emails, mail and facebook messages, it’s always nice to hear from people and I’m doing my best to respond in a timely manner to everything.

It's hard to believe that I've been living in my village for about 2 months now. I can't really remember what I posted about Ikelenge last time, but I love it there. I have a pretty sweet hut with a large front veranda that I cook on. I spend a lot of time reading and am trying to teach myself how to sew but I'm pretty bad at that. I pretty much eat dinner with my host family every night which consists of cassava nshima and a relish. I also go to the rural health clinic almost every day and help out with Under 5, antenatal or postnatal clinics. Right now I'm in what Peace Corps calls community entry and Im getting to know my community, their health needs and how everything works. I'll go back to Lusaka for a week in January and then I will start training and facilitating health talks and small projects. The goals ofmy program are to help rural Zambians to live healthy and empowered lives and to mitigate the effects of HIV/AIDS, malaria, improve food security and address other local health priorites.

I've also been biking a lot, I'm about 70k from Mwinilunga the closest town and I bike in to meet up with the other volunteers in my district every week or two. There are 4 other volunteers in my district, 3 of which were posted a year ago and one who moved into her village the same week that I did. I'm really enjoying living in the village so far but its nice to get together with the other volunteers now and again. For my 24th birthday, November 7th, a 6 volunteers biked up to my site and were planning to go camping on Kalene Hill but unfortunately it was hammering rain the night before and one of our tents flooded. Instead we all crashed at my hut and made good food. There is a farm/small game reserve about 7k or so from my house where you can see sable,roan, zebra, impala, buffalo, wildabeast type of animals. The people that own the farm are very nice and I've been over there for lunch a few times.I promise to try and update this more often and to give a clearer picture of my day to day life but right now Im headed back to the volunteer house in Solwezi for thanksgiving dinner. After December 18th,my community entry will be done and I will be allowed to leave my village more often.

Hello again,

I can't believe its less than one week until I swear in as an official Peace Corps volunteer (September 25th 10 am local time). This past week I saw a woman with a baby and a live chicken tied to her back with a chitenge (chitenges are about 2m square of fabric that are used for everything in Zambia- clothing, mats, carrying babies etc.) Since I last posted I went on second site visit meaning that I spent a week in Northwest Province and I got to see where I will be posted in Ikelenge for the next two years. My host family farms pineapples for a living. They also have a myriad of other fruit trees on their family compound. I can't remember what I put in my last post about my site so sorry if there is repeat, but I am about 15k or so from the source of the Zambezi river. The closest volunteer to me is 40k away and I am 70k from the Boma (town) which is Mwinilunga. My hut is huge and it has a tin roof which is getting hot now that we are eaking into hotseasont- October is going to be rough until it starts raining. Rather than having a seperate chota (thatched gazebo looking thing) for cooking I have a large front veranda on my house. Also they just finished a new chimbushi (toilet, outhouse, hole) for me and fixed up the bathing shelter. I'm the third volunteer in my village which means that I will be the last volunteer as Peace Corps only sends 3 generations of volunteers to each site. The first 3 months that Im at site I will be doing a village assesment in conjunction with villagers to see what health needs are prevalent in my 20k catchment area and to learn what they want me to help with. I'm so excited to move up to Ikelenge but I'm also going to miss my host family in Chongwe who Ive gotten close with and the other Peace Corps volunteers. Ive still been playing copious amout of soccer with my host family and they have completely worn through the soccer ball I bought them. Also last weekend the Peace Corps trainees took on the Zambian trainers in a "friendly" soccer game. Unfortunately we lost 4-1 but there was sub questionable partiality in the reffing and I ended up having whiplash for 2 days. After the soccer game we were able to play at a swimming pool with a water slide and see some lions and camels in a zoo like setting- I'm excited to get out to a game reserve though. (Also there is a game reserve with liek Zebra, impala type stuff pretty close to my hut in Ikelenge). This coming week I have a final health presentation on Monday, a language exam on Tuesday and then on Wednesday all the volunteers will cook american food for out host families and have a celebration with them. At the cultural day, each language group has a speaker to thank the chieftaness, headman and host families and I will be speaking for our Lunda group. Unfortunately 2 people from my intake have decided to go home before swear in, one of them was in my language group and would have been somewhat close (100k ish) from me and the other one was also in the Northwest Province but a different language and farther away. I'll try and update this again soon and actually bring my journal so my blog entries aren't so scatterbrained as well as I'll try and put some pictures up. Unfortunately Im not sure if I'll have much computer access the first 3 months as I think the closest internet cafe's are in Solwezi the provinical capital which is over 300k from me and we aren't really supposed to leave our Districts the first 3 months except for for thanksgiving. Thanks for the letters, emails, facebook posts, packages and various other modes of contact so far, its great to hear from home.

On Thursday night I found out where I will be posted for the next two years. I will be near Ikelenge in the Northwest Province. Basically Im the furthest volunteer out in the northwest direction and am less than 20k away from both the DRC and Angola. I'm also the closest volunteer to the source of the Zambezi river. Tonight we get to take a break from all the training and have a dance party filled with ZamPop and American Music. Tomorrow we will all pack up an go to our provinces for a week. During this site visit I will stay with another volunteer for part of the week and then go see my own site. Since I'm so far out I only get to spend one night at my site whereas the other volunteers will spend two. I'm sure Ill have lots of fun stories to post after our site visits. In other news, it may surpise many of you that my favorite time of day is around 6 am when I walk outside my hut and the sun is a large red orange to my left and the moon is still up and bright to my right. Also, last week I bought a soccer ball so that we could have more than just wadded plastic bags to play with at my homestay. Within 5 minutes of bringing it home, Karen kicked it into a thorn bush putting 2 holes in it. After that, Ruthie, brought out a bike pump and then cracked pen an took the ink part of it to act as a needle and tried to pump the ball back up. Unfortunately this in addition to duct tape didnt hold. So the next day, they took the ball to the market and had someone patch it like you would patch a bike tire and then resew the outsie of the ball. When I got back home that night after training, the ball was as good as new. Amazing. Last Sunday I biked over to some volunteers homstays that were learning Nyanja. After visiting Lusaka last week they had bought supplies to make muffins and cookies. In order to bake these cookies,one of the Amaamas dug a hole in the ground andput some charcoal in the bottem to warm it up and then topped the hole with a metal sheet topped with more charcoal. Again Amazing muffins and cookies perfectly heated through. Those are all the anecdotes I can think of now but I continue to miss all of you and Ill try and update this when I get back from site visit.

hello hello,

So Im in Lusaka for the afternoon again. I dont have much to add in terms of the blog. Training continues to be busy. Next saturday, I will be traveling with my language group to the northwestern province for the week. During this week I will get to see the site that I will eventually be living at and will probably spend a night or two there. Other than that Im keeping busy with language, biking, soccer and hanging out with my host sisters and the other volunteers. I'm getting better at hitching and havent had to pay the last two times Ive done it. Also I'm starting to be able to put sentences together in Lunda but Im still a ways away from being able to give a full health talk. Ill try and update you again soon.

Hello Hello,

This is the first time I've been on a computer since arriving in Zambia the 23rd of July (late Thursday night). After a long flight, me and the 41 other peace corps volunteers in my intake were warmly welcomed at the airport by peace corps staff and other peace corps volunteers. In my intake, 24 people including me are part of the Community Health Improvement Project (CHIP) and the other 18 people are a part of the Rural Aquaculture Project (RAP). The first 2 nights we stayed at a government hostel and received some orientation information. On Sunday we broke into groups and visited current volunteers at their rural sight. I went with 5 other trainees to the Southern province where the Tonga people live. The volunteer we visited's neighbor came over with a rooster and a very dull knife after we arrived and asked us who was going to kill the rooster. No one was really stepping up and since I figured I eat chicken so I should be willing to kill a chicken, I decided to give it a go. The woman stood on the roosters feet and wings and handed me the knife. I tried to cut at its neck but really only gave it a flesh wound and the woman took over with the cutting off the head, so I failed. While at the visit we also visited a rural health clinic, a school and a farmer who was active int eh Neighborhood Health Committee (NHC).

We got back to the government hostel on Wednesday and excitedly shared our stories of site visits to the other volunteers over beers. On Thursday morning, we were told which language we would be learning. I was assigned to learn Lunda which means that I will be posted in the Northwest province after the completion of training. The northwest is where the Zambezi river originates and it also is supposed to have really awesome pineapples and lot of hills which is going to make the biking tough. After learning our languages we were taught how to great our host families and then shuttle off to our homestay families in the Chongwe district about 45k from Lusaka. Since not many people speak Lunda in this area and there are 5 people learning Lunda in our trainee group, I share a homestay with another trainee. I'm spoiled because my mud hut has a tin roof and my mattress is on a bed frame. My host family is composed of Mr. and Mrs. Chilayi and their children, Victor (17ish), Ruthie (15ish?) Memory (13) Desmond or Junior as he is called (12) Karen (9) and Joyce (6). Also living there are Calvin (17) who is the younger brother of Mr. Chilayi, Majorie who is a niece on the mothers side and her daughter Bethe who is a year and a half and also Vivian who is another niece as far as I have gathered.

Ive started to settle into a little bit of a routine at the homestay. I wake up around 5:30 or 5:45 and either check my phone, read or look over my Lunda until about 6:30. At 6:30 I take a bucket bath with the hot water that has been warmed up for me (they kind of spoil us during homestays and take care of all of our needs, which is nice but I'm also ready to do things on my own). At around 7, Dan (the other trainee at my homestay), Mr. Chilayi if he is there and I eat breakfast, which is usually bread and peanut butter and instant coffee. Some mornings we've also had fritters which kinda taste like funnel cake (fried goodness). I then bike about a half k to my language class from 8 to 12:15. After language we break for lunch which always include nshima (the same as mealie pap in south africa, or maize meal) which we use to eat rape which is a dark leafy green similar to kale or swiss chard and some sort of protien either eggs, beans, chicken, soya, or fish. After lunch, I bike about 3k to the Farmers Training Center where I have a health technical session from 2 to 5. During this time we may have a guest speaker or visit a clinic or learn how to retreat mosquito nets. After 5 I either have a beer with the other volunteers before biking home or bike straight home where I play keep away or soccer with my host family until dinner. I have luckily been able to play at least an hour of soccer pretty much every day and have gotten in some full field games with Victor and Calvin. Calvin told his friends "its ok she plays like a guy." Last night since it was saturday we only had a half day of training so I played for about 2 hours with them, my bare feet got pretty ripped up though. On other days I play keep away with Joyce and Karen or they show me how to dance the Rhumba ( A Congolese dance that I will never be able to get) At about 7 I eat dinner(which is similar to lunch in terms of food) with Dan and Mr. Chilayi and we practice Lunda or learn about Zambia. My family speaks pretty perfect english. After dinner I either sit around the fire with my family and look at the awesmely bright stars or go back to my hut and either read or study before falling asleep between 8 and 9:30 depending on how tired I am.

The village where I am staying is about 7k from Chongwe which is a small town that I have also biked to with some other volunteers to either get icecream or a drink or just to explore on days where we have a half day of training. Since today is sunday and I don't have classes I hitched to Chongwe with 2 other volunteers and caught a bus to Lusaka to a market/strip mall to use the internet and explore. I am really enjoying my time here so far with the other volunteers and my host family, training can get a bit long but the information will be very useful once I'm at my own site.

Also as an aside- if you send me anything add Africa after Zambia on the package or letter. If you feel like sending me something I would love ( candy- reeses in particular or chocolate or cookies, also crayons and coloring books (especially once I get to my site,), a crossword puzzle book, paper back books in general that you think I should read or would enjoy, pictures). I will try and upload pics of my hut and the surrounding area soon but I havent taken many yet and the computers are slow. Miss you all.

My Mailing Address for training will be Erin Wispelwey, PCVPeace CorpsP.O. Box 50707LusakaZambia

On July 21st I will leave for Zambia to begin my two year adventure as a Peace Corps Volunteer. I applied to the Peace Corps after graduating from UVA last year and went through an application, recommendation and interview process, I was nominated to serve in the area of Health extension in Sub-Saharan Africa. Ever since studying abroad in South Africa my third year of college I have wanted to return to Southern Africa and explore more of the continent. After a long wait with medical clearance I finally learned that I would be placed in Zambia as part of the Community Health Improvement Project. In this project I will be working with community members in education efforts regarding health behaviors and prevention strategies with a focus on HIV/AIDS, malaria, nutrition, clean water and food security. On July 21st I will go to Washington DC for two days of staging where I will meet some of the other volunteers going to Zambia. After staging I will fly to Zambia where I will have close to 3 months of training near the capital city of Lusaka.