During one of our visits to Solwezi we unfortunately saw a terrible accident. It was Mid May 2010 and we were on the side of the main road trying to hitch a ride back to our village. We were stationed in front of a church and the locals had just ended their service and were in front of the church greeting each other. There were many people there enjoying the wonderful afternoon. As we were watching the approaching traffic, we saw one car coming and it pulled off the road toward us and then turned toward the church into the crowd of people. Instead of stopping it accelerated right into the crowd. We saw it hit a number of people. It was an awful sight! The car rolled over and then the people pulled the driver from the car. Since I was by the roadside I flagged down a car and told him to get the police. There were so many people all around and we were not sure what they would do so Bob said we should get out of there. We got a ride back toward town and good thing because we heard that the people got out of control. They basically started a riot. The police came and shot into the air and used tear gas but the people burned the car and even started throwing rocks at random cars passing so the road was closed and we had to go back to the house for another night. I believe one died in the Mayhem and a number hurt. I have found out that when an accident happens often the locals will take the driver and beat them even to death. So we are advised to leave the scene of an accident and go to police rather than stay there. Crazy!

We sure found out what an election can do to a village! In April 2010 there was a lot of campaigning going on because of a bi-election. The MP (member of Parliament) in our district died not too long ago so his seat was open. MMD has been the ruling party here for many years and the opposition party UPND has been campaigning hard recently. We even had a visit to our local village from the Vice President of Zambia. Often the campaigners will come thru the villages and give away things like hats, chitenges (womens wrap arounds), bikes and even money. So people are glad to receive these things but may not be loyal to the party giving them. In the villages there are headmen that are in charge of the village and they report to the Chief. Elections are supposed to be democratic but found out that when the ruling party feels threatened they really try to strong arm the locals. For example, one of our local headmen was told he no longer is headman because of his affiliation with the opposition party.

We also had fighting in our village. Some members of the UPND party (most were from outside of our area) created a fire over our main road and then used catapults (slingshots) to shoot rocks at cars travelling over the road. They damaged a number of vehicles. So now the police come and use their weapons to fire into the air and they also used tear gas. Many of the locals were fearful so they ran into the bush (their fields) to hide. The police then went around thru the village looking for those who have been known affiliates of the opposition party and arrested them all. One of these was my neighbor. She was not involved in any fighting but was found in her house. She was taken away. Some days later there was more fighting in Mufumbwe, our Boma (27K away from our village). For safety and security reasons, Peace Corps came and picked me up to take me to our provincial house until after the madness ended. I really didn't feel threatened but things could have definitely got out of hand. Boy I can't wait for the Presidential election next year!

I know a lot of you have been waiting to see some pictures. You can check out all of our photos here. http://s880.photobucket.com/home/mrsather

There will be plenty more to follow.

Bob and I are off on an African Safari to Chobe National Park tomorrow (Jan 29). We will stay there for 2 nights and three days. Keep us in your prayers as we embark on this great adventure. We will let you know how it goes!

Greetings from Zambia! We just finished training in Lusaka. We did receive some great information about how we can work in our villages. We also had a counterpart (local villager who we work with) join us for some of the training. It is a great opportunity for a local Zambian learn more about what the Peace Corps is all about. Especially that we are not in country to give away things but to educate and impart knowledge so that our projects are sustainable. Bob and I are excited because on Jan 27 we will take some vacation days and visit Livingstone which is home to Victoria Falls and also take our first Safari at Chobe National Park in Botswana. Hopefully we will see some real African Wildlife.

Since we were gone from our village for the Christmas and New Years holiday it was a bit distressing to return and have the villagers ask "give us New Years or Christmas". Meaning they want something. This time of year people lack food and money so it is tough.

Thanks to those who have sent packages. We surely appreciated your kindness. We have enjoyed the treats and I have started to share some of the books with the children. They are so happy to color or look at pictures of things they never have the opportunity to see. It is sad but even though they are supposed to learn English in school, someone in 8th grade has a hard time reading primary books. And what they do read, they don't understand the stories, they just read words.

The village is beginning to feel like home more and more. We have met many people and now many use our names which is a lot better than being called "Mazungo" which basically means person who speaks English or white person.

We will let you know how our trip goes! Don't forget to send us mail, we love letters and promise to write back

We are at our provinicial house for Thnksgiving and meetings. We will be coming to this house maybe once a month. The trip here is about a 3.5 hour drive by car to reach it. It is nice to have a real bathroom to use and this is where we stock up on canned foods. We can't buy much where we are except tomatoes, onions, eggs, some staples like sugar and salt. Mangos are just coming in season so soon we should have plenty of those. I miss the fruit. Food security is a big concern. We are now in the Rainy season. It rains almost every day but at least it is still warm but with the rain now have come the mice and rats. We had some visitors in our house so we will be getting a cat soon. One of the other volunteers had a litter of kittens so our cat will be ready mid Dec. I have not seen any snakes yet but some of our Peace Corps neighbors have had adventures with them. One recently had one under her bed in her home. She knew it because her cat went crazy. It turned out to be a black cobra. The locals came in, found it and killed it. The main ones we need to be careful about are the spitting cobras and the black mambas. Also during this time all the locals are working in their fields either finishing preparing them or planting. I befriended a local woman from church and told her I would go and work in her field one morning. She asked what day so I went. I met her at 5am, it took an hour to walk to her field. I brought my hoe with me of course, this is the tool of choice here, not much else. Most don't even have a shovel and yet they work many hectars of fields. the main crops here are maize, cassava, and ground nuts. Working the hoe was much fun, we also planted maize. Word got around fast about my field adventure. I think they had the impression we don't work much in America.So we don't find many people at home until after 1pm but some young children are left behind. It is common to find young 7 or 9 year olds with a baby on their back. The children definitely work hard here and all the girls and women carry everything on their heads. I haven't tried that much, it does take practice, they carry over 40lbs on their head plus the baby on their back and often also a hoe. Amazing. There are about 5,000 to 6,000 locals in the area I serve.We feel very safe where we are no problems with locals trying to take our things but they sure appreciate some of our treats. Most of them only eat twice a day and the diet is very bland many children suffer from malnutrion and many drink bad water sometimes right out of the river where the animals go. This is where my work comes in, trying to teach better hygiene behaviours and adding better nutritious meals. The children are fun to play with, we brought two racquetballs with us so they will come asking to play with the ball. They play soccer with it most of the time. Soccer is big here, they call it football. The other day we saw 4 children playing oxcart. 2 were crawling on the ground like oxen and the other two had small branches and were lightly hitting them to make them go. It was very cute. We have 2 chickens now so we are learing about chicken keeping. We named them Maggie and Pia. The locals laughed since they don't name their animals usually. WE have experienced hitching here in Zambia and have been pretty successful. On our last trip from town we hitched a ride in the back of a police pickup truck, unfortunately it stormed on our way home so we got pelted with rain for about 25 minutes but we survived and warmed at home. Maybe you may want to visit us in Africa and join us for a safari, the area we live in is neat, lots of farm animals especially goats. I never thought it would be so loud though at night we hear crickets, frogs, other insects, roosters, goats, etc. It takes a bit to get used to. We found out they really do eat rats and mice along with flying ants, termites and caterpillars. We have kindly said we don't eat those things. Goat is also eaten a lot. WE may try to introduce dairy goats to them if we can.

Love and blessingsMarie

"We are almost done with our training and we are preparing for our final language exam. They will be tape recording it since it is oral. We will have to converse with the tester for up to 30 minutes. Bob and I are struggling but hopefully we can make it. If we pass the language test, we will be sworn in on Sept 25. Keep us in your prayers! The sworn in ceremony will take place at the American Ambassodor's house in Lusaka.

We have had some misfortunes. A few weeks ago one of the homes of our host family burned. The thatch roof caught fire and there was nothing we could do but stand there and watch. It is so devastating to see how easy it is to lose all you have here. Fortunately, no one was in the hut. We all had just finished eating smores (Bob and I bought some to share with our host family, they loved it!) Evidently, someone left an unattended candle in the hut and that is how the fire began. The family that was living in that hut is now staying with the husband's family in a nearby home. These people don't have much so it must have been tough to see it go up in flames. Also, as the fire began Bob started to run toward it (He thought there may be children in the hut) and he fell. He cut open his big toe pretty good. Actually, I was very concerned about infection. We called our PCMO (peace corps medical officer) and someone picked him up the next morning and took him to the health clinic. We cleaned it as best we could at the time using filtered water, peroxide and anitbiotic cream we had on hand. Everything here is more of a concern because the lack of access to medical aid quickly. Even waiting till morning was hard but everything did turn out ok. I thought they may stitch it but they didn't. They cleaned it and gave him some antibiotics. So far no concern about infection. We also have since travelled to our site we will be posted at to meet some of the locals and see our new place. We spent less than 24 hours there but we did see our "house" it is being built. It will be 2 rooms (about 12 x 14 ft total in size). It looks just like the huts on you tube. They also have to build us our latrine and Kinzenza(outdoor kitchen). The people seemed very excited to have us there so we did feel comfortable. We will be in the Northwest province of Zambia in a village called Matushi which is in the Mufumbwe District. While in the NW we stayed a few days with another volunteer as well so we can see more how our life will be like there. It went well but Bob got a little sick (sinus congetstion) and I had some upset stomach problems (maybe something I ate) Despite this we are both fine now. While on the trip our group met with one of the Natural healers (or as some refer to as witch doctor). She has up to 50 people stay on her compound and she treats them with herbs and roots from anything from body aches to HIV/AIDS. Some of the locals really believe in all she does. She did a demonstration for us by making some small cuts on the back of the person with a razor, adding piece of paper dipped in kerosene in a plastic cup and then lighting the kerosene and attaching the cup over the place of the cuts on the back. Evidently, this draws out the poison in the body. It is very strange. Some illnesses are believed to be placed on people by "Ju Ju" (magic or spells) so this natural healer takes care of these as well. Kind of crazy huh!

We see so many extremes, one day we are in the bush seeing people live so primitively and then we may be in the capital city like yesterday when we went to a tourist spot "Munda Wanga" It is an African wildlife sanctuary, botanical garden and water park (swimming pool and water slide). We enjoyed this trip to Lusaka. At the wildlife sanctuary we saw lions but in action. First, meat is placed in an outside area, sometimes up in a tree or other areas where the lions have to find them, then the lions are let out and they go searching for the food. It was amazing to see. They also did this with wild dogs."

Also, if you wish to write to Marie and Bob here is their permanent address for where they are being assigned.

Marie and Bob Sather/PCV

PO Box 130050

Mufumbwe, Northwestern Province

Zambia

Africa

If you wish to send a care package here are some of the things that would be helpful:Body lotion

pocket size kleenex packs

Wipes

non flouride toothpaste

children's coloring books and primary reading books

crayons

"We finally made it to Lusaka. I found a place to access email. It costs us 9,000 kwatcha for one hour. This is less than one dollar.

Here is what has been happening. I may have said this before but if not you can share this on our blog.

Once we arrived to Zambia we were sent to visit a current Peace Corps volunteer to stay a few nights at their village so we could see what life as a PCV would be like. Bob and I went to different sites. I went to one in the Eastern Province and he went to one in the Copperbelt Province. Brittany was my host and there were 6 of us visiting with her, we brought our tents and slept outside her small hut. It was very cold at night and we all were very uncomfortable. The second night we placed straw under our sleeping bags and that helped a bit. We met the local villagers and on the first day one of the women brought over a rooster for us to kill. One of our trainees tried to kill it but the knife was pretty dull so the villager had to finish the job. Once killed it only took her about 3 - 5 minutes to take out all the feathers and cut it up. Guess what we had for dinner? The life in her village is very slow, if she had to attend a meeting once a week that was good. We did get to see the local health clinic and school. The clinic was in very bad shape. There was no nurse or trained person there. The ones who were the cleaners are now dispensing meds and taking care of those who come there. The nearest hospital is very far. It may be 100 - 250 KL away. This makes if very hard for the rural families to receive help. If someone does go to the hospital they have to hitch a ride there. I found out that there is usually only 1 doctor at the district hospitals. So someone may go there and the doctor is gone.

When we went to the school we found that the children need to purchase uniforms to attend. Sometimes there may be up to 70 children in one class. Children can attend local schools from 1st grade to 9 or 10th grade. For high school, they have to go to the capital city and reside there. Often girls do not make it through high school.

Currently, Bob and I are staying with our host family. In our compound is Ba Maama, her son Brave and daughter Rona, Rona has 3 daughters and two of them have children as well. Everyone has treated us very well. Ba Maama cooks all our meals, washes our clothes and prepares our daily hot water. We take evening outdoor showers (no running water of course) Ba Maama has to heat the water over the fire for us.

We begin our day at 8am with 4 hours of language study, we break for lunch and then technical training in the afternoon. Bob gets training with the fish ponds and I get training in health education. We are learning about HIV/Aids, Malaria, TB, etc. We will have many challenges once we get posted to our own village so we are trying to learn all we can especially the language. We had our first oral language test on Friday. We both did well. For awhile I was getting very frustrated because there was so much to learn but day by day it is getting better but I hear the next 2 weeks will be tough. Bob and I are learning Kaonde and will be posted in the Northwest Province. We will be close to Congo. We heard that we will be the first PCV's in the village they are sending us and they are buiding our residence as we speak. In two weeks we will be doing our second site visit. Hopefully, at that time we may be able to see our actual site.

So far neither of us has gotten sick, some of our PCT's have so we thank God for that. Maybe the garlic pills are helping. We have been getting a number of shots, TB, hepatitus and rabies. One of our training talks was all about rabies. One of the things that is very different here is how the rural people deal with dogs and cats. They do not keep them as pets as we do and many times they treat them very badly. It is very common for the them to kick, strike or throw stones at them. They don't understand why we Americans talk to our animals. They show no affection for them but keep them around for protection. It is very sad to see.

We have seen children selling mice and rats on the side of the road. Yes, they do eat them here. Sometimes you may find children putting them on the fire for their dinner. As for Bob and I we have been eating ok. Usually for breakfast we are served bread and peanut butter and jelly. For lunch we have had boiled eggs with tomotoes, rice, sometimes spaghetti, for dinner we always have Nshima (this is the main staple in Zambia). It is made from maize and it looks like a dumpling and has the consistency of play dough. You use Nshima to pick up the other foods on your plate. No forks for most meals. In addition to Nshima we have had cabbage, rape (vegetable that looks like spinach), chicken, fresh fish. We have also had sweet potatoes but only once so far.

We definitely stick out from the locals. All the children yell our "How are you" as we walk or bike by. They are always trying to get our attention. Probably the main thing we have to be cautious about are the drunks. There are many who over indulge drinking beer and they can be problematic at times. Peace corps makes sure to tell us not to go out after dark. The drivers around here can be a bit crazy. They drive on the left side of the road so that has been strange to get used to. Also, peace corps will not drive at night because of drunk drivers or cars/trucks driving without their headlights on.

Well I hope this will be good information for now."

I recieved a text message from my mom (Marie) today stating that they have arrived in Zambia safely and everything is going well.

We are preparing to leave tomorrow morning from Indianapolis, IN to Arlington, VA where we will meet up with the gang of Peace Corps volunteers leaving for Zambia. Our flight leaves at 7 am Tuesday, July 21, 2009. Keep us in your prayers as we begin our big adventure.