Hey Everyone--it's been a while since I posted on my blog so I thought I'd throw a couple pictures up of my recent trip dwn to Namibia. We passed through Livingstone, down to the Namibian border and through that corridor--I forget the name of it--and made it to Windhoek and then over to the coast. Total hours spent in the back of a pickup: 14. Times my friends stalled the stick shift van we rented: 26. Cost of a liter of beer: 4 usd. Pictures taken: 418. But here are just a couple of them:

Hey everyone. Well, we're just about 1/12 of the way through the new year and things here continue to go well. I'm currently in Lusaka finishing up our "In-Service Training," which is essentially just a series of workshops to help you get started doing some real work when you get back to the village. The workshops were pretty helpful and I now do feel a little more confidant about starting to do some project-focused work in the community. I was also able to see some fellow volunteers that were in my intake that I hadn't seen since we all swore in together back in September so it was great to catch up with everyone. I've been in and out of my village the past month so there's not a whole lot of new stuff to report from here. Zambia's soccer team lost to Nigeria the other night in the Africa Cup and there was a noticeable bit of depression that could be sensed as we walked around Lusaka afterwards. Soccer is such a huge source of entertainment for millions of Zambians--the streets of Lusaka were empty during the match. A story I failed to mention in my last post that illustrates just how hospitable Zambians are: On our way down to Livingstone after Christmas, me and my two friends caught a hitch with a woman who teaches at one of Zambia's universities. Midway through the four hour trip from Choma, she asks if we'd like to stop at her sister's house for nshima and 'relish' (essentially anything that's not nshima). Sitting in the front seat with my friends in the back unable to hear her, I quickly respond 'sure' and a half hour later, it all went down. Stories like this one seem to happen often, but I think as I am becoming more and more familiar with Zambian culture, they tend to stand out less and less.Oh and I figured out how to put up some photos--it turns out it's not that hard at all. So I've thrown on a couple of Vic Falls--hope you enjoy!

Talk to you later!

Happy New Decade to you all! I hope you all had a wonderful and joyous holiday season! I received some good emails and pictures and from what I can tell, most of you had a nice finale for 2009.

I am back in Lusaka right now and the past week has been a little out of the ordinary. I spent a fun-filled New Years down in Livingstone with some other PC Volunteers and arrived back in Lusaka on January 2nd. On the 3rd, I took the bus out to Nyimba and felt relieved to be back in my village and ready to get back to work. Just then a big ol' female mosquito carrying malaria bit me on the arm and I got sick. Just kidding. Apparently I had been infected with malaria a week earlier while in said Livingstone. So on the 4th, I had to take the bus back to Lusaka and meet with one of the Peace Corps Medical Officers. Fortunately I started taking medication right away so the symptoms never progressed to anything all that serious. So now, after countless (3) days of checking all kinds of things on the internet and sitting through a painful bootleg viewing of the movie '2012,' I'm set to return (again) to my site tomorrow for hopefully a period of longer than 18 hours.

The year has gotten off to an inauspicious start but I figure that things can and will only get better from here. Right? Right.

I took some cool pictures of Livingstone and Victoria Falls and will try to upload them to my blog in a couple weeks when I come back to Lusaka (again) for In-Service Training.

Until then, have a great start to the new decade!

-Andrew Limbikani Njobvu (This is officially my Zambian name. The 'Limbikani' part means 'Persistant' and was given to me after one of my Zambian friends at the clinic saw me bicycle up a steep hill--I did not tell him about the wonders of the first gear on the volunteer's fancy bicycle. The 'Njobvu' part means 'Elephant.' I chose that one myself just cuz I think Elephants are cool. Sometimes, people will call me 'Ulesi Njobvu,' or 'Lazy Elephant' if they catch me being ulesi.

Hey everyone! I hope you are all enjoying a wonderful holiday season back in the States. From what I've heard, it sounds like many of you will be enjoying a White Christmas--both on the East and West coasts. We've been getting a lot of rain here but we're still about 30 degrees away from getting any snow--celsius nonetheless.

My village is REALLY quiet right now as most everyone spends their entire days out at their fields. It's actually not uncommon for me to wake up at 6am (which apparently is considered "sleeping in" here) and not see another person until I arrive at the clinic. Each family maintains their own field--usually about the size of two or three (American) football fields--and relies primarily on oxen-powered plows and their own manpower. The family's fields are typically about 2 km from their homes and sometimes people spend the night there sleeping under a thatched roof supported by a couple poles.

The health center continues to be busy and sees a steady stream of about 80 new patients a day. We have seen a rise in malaria in recent weeks, which can probably be most attributed to the wet and hot weather we have had the past month or so. Fortunately malaria can be easily diagnosed and treated and most people end up making full recovery.

I'm in Nyimba right now and heading off to Lusaka tomorrow to meet up with some other PC Volunteers and then I'm down to Livingstone and Victoria Falls to celebrate Christmas and the New Year. I hope you are all having a fantastic holiday season--thanks for all the emails I keep receiving--it's great to hear that you're all doing well. Take care and I'll try to make another post again soon.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Hey Everyone back home! Hope you're all doing great. I've been continuing to receive emails from many of you about life back in the states--they're great and give me something to look forward to every couple of weeks when I can get to the internet. Things are going great here. I've been helping out almost daily at the nearby RHC-Rural Health Clinic doing some different things like weighing babies and young children and helping with ante-natal sessions--it's definitely been different from anything I've ever done. I've also been doing some biking out to different areas in Hofmeyr--ie lots of biking--to help with similar "Outreach" programs for those who live too far to make it to the clinic. Village life is going smoothly. I've been playing a lot of soccer in the village and kinda just hanging around in my down time--which there is a lot of. I've hired a tutor to help me better learn the language--there is a pretty large language barrier right now but it does seem to be getting smaller and smaller each day. I've also been doing a bunch of reading and trying to keep my mind occupied with various things. My kitchen still isn't yet finished but it should be completed soon.Some of the rains have begun to fall in the area--which is a little sooner than anticipated. About 99 % of villagers lives depend on how large the harvest is come April/May so right now most people are spending their days out at their fields. I went out there to help one morning and it reminded me of clearing dead sticks up at the Lair--I was pretty good at it.I've befriended a very nice missionary family in Nyimba, the nearby BOMA. I'm able to come in every couple of weeks or so and enjoy a nice home cooked meal and speak more than few sentences of English (They are from Texas). Even now as I write this, I'm sitting on their couch watching an episode of Lost--feeling normal and American again.

Take care everyone and I'll try to get another post out again soon!

Hey Everyone! Sorry it's been a while from my last post--things in training have been busy as ever and there's only 10 more days left until we swear in as official Peace Corps Volunteers--crazy! I sent a couple of pictures via email--hopefully everyone got them. They are of my new home I will be moving into in early October--hopefully they will be finished building the house by then. I am in the Nyimba District of Eastern Province in an area called Hoefmeyer which was founded by Dutch missionaries back in the 1940's I think. My site is very close to the border of Mozambique--about 20 km and has a nice view of the neighboring country. I got a chance to meet a lot of the local officials when I went and visited for a couple days a few weeks ago and I can already tell that I will have a strong support system and make some great new friends. A councilman showed me around the different villages while I was there and broke the ice by introducing me to about 300 locals at a traditional Zambian wedding.

I don't have a lot of time here but I just wanted to check in and let you all know that I'm doing great. I hope everyone is doing well back in the states and I'll try to get in touch again soon!

Go Bears!

The views and opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of Drew Woodward and do not reflect the views and opinions of the Peace Corps or the United States government.

This probably should have been my first post.

Hi all--It's Sunday afternoon here in Lusaka and a group of us headed into town to use the internet, buy some things and explore around. We're just over one week into PST (pre service training) and it's been a pretty full schedule. During the week, we will have 4 hours of language training in the morning followed by three hours of "Technical" training in the afternoon. By the end of the day, I usually find myself in bed reading or studying by 2030 hours--that's 830 pm for all you Americans.

The host family has been great. Very friendly and helpful in trying to improve my language skills. Meals have been delicious and have mainly cosisted of nsima, chicken, soya, cabbage, eggs and beans. The best part about it though is how fresh the food is and how close the family is--they have literally taken me in as one of their own sons. I am learning how to speak Nyanja which is the regional language found in the Eastern Provice--where I will end up spending my two years as a PCV. The language is widespread and is also spoken in Malawi. From what I hear, Eastern is a great province with LOTS of wildlife--including rats, which are a staple in an Eastern Zambian's diet.

Thank you to all those who have sent emails. I love hearing about all the news that is going on in your lives. I read each one as soon as I can and I'm sorry if I cannot reply to each one--please keep them coming.

I'm trying to post some pictures also but I am kinda computer illiterate so we'll see how that goes.

Take care!

My nerves got the better of me last Monday morning on my way to Arlington, VA through Phoenix. It's always awkward having to use the bags on the airplanes but I feel like I should get used to receiving a lot of stares. Nonetheless, I arrived safely and went through the staging process with the 41 other volunteers (split across two different program groups). There are volunteers from all over the country who have traveled all over the world and it is interesting to hear all of the different places they have been. I'm getting to meet a lot of fascinating people--both volunteers and Zambians.

The flight over was extremely long and when all was said and done, I figured I had spent about 25 hours on a plane getting from Oakland to Lusaka. We had a brief stop in Dakar on the way over and it was very humbling to see a flat skyline of a city at nighttime.

Me and a group of five other volunteers just got back from spending three days on our first site visit (another will follow after we complete pre service training). We visited a volunteer in central province and got an idea of what living village life would be like. My outdoor skills were extremely helpful in carrying out everyday tasks and it is exciting to look forward to a simple life free of the internet, electricity and my last place fantasy baseball team.

I hope everyone back home is doing well. It really does feel like I've been gone for months. I'd love to hear from you all in the future so don't hesitate to drop me an email to let me know how everything is going. If you want to write a letter via snail mail, my shipping address for the next couple months is:

Drew Woodward/PCV

Peace Corps Zambia

PO Box 50707

Lusaka, Zambia

And be sure to leave your return address so I can write back. I'm also working on trying to get a phone number here so those of you with Skype or a MagicJack can give a holler if you'd like. We start official pre service training and I move in with my home stay family tomorrow night--very exciting stuff.

Talk soon.

-Drew

I'm rushing to get all my last minute things taken care of as I prepare to head back to Arlington, VA for a couple days tomorrow. Then on Wednesday, it is off to Lusaka, the capital city of Zambia for 9 weeks of pre-service training. I will have limited access to the internet while I am there but will try to update this blog as frequently as possible.

Thanks to all for your love and support and we'll be in touch.

-Drew