Ba Sally Rose-one truly amazing lady who is my favorite PC Zambia staff member! She holds the office together :-)

U.S. Embassy and Peace Corps staff marching in the women's day march in Lusaka

More of the USG group....was such a fun day!

The march was huge, and drew such a large crowd in Lusaka

Mostly PC staff and me in our marching attire!

Happy St. Patty's Day!! Oh today always brings me back to my oh so fun college days in the land of the Irish, good ol' South Bend, Indiana! Too all my college friends reading this, I miss you!

Sorry it has been a long time since I have had the chance to update this blog, but surprisingly, my life has been super busy and hectic the last few months. Lusaka living is good, busy and sunny (lucky for me, terrible for the farmers so I hope it comes back, for their sake!).

I hope all is well back in America and you are getting a break from the harsh winter and preparing for a beautiful spring! It has just hit me that my time as a Volunteer ends in a few short 6 months, I just don't know if I'll be ready to be home because at this point in my life, I could stay in Zambia indefinitely...but we'll see what happens in the coming months.

So I have been at Save the Children for a little more than two months now and I am still overwhelmed with the Monday-Friday 8-5 work routine. Village life was so laid back, relaxed and I worked at my own pace. Now it's up at 6 am with the alarm and in bed by 9 pm so I can stay awake during the day. I love my little cottage-it's in a beautifully landscaped and quiet community in a really great location in Lusaka. I live very close to the PC office and to the Save office so it works out very well. However, because of my close proximity to PC office, I feel like I run a B&B because I constantly have volunteers in and out. In that past two months I have lived in the house, I think I have had it to myself for about two weeks...ha ha but it is nice to see and catch up with volunteers who are in the field, and I am glad I can help out. Lusaka life is pretty good, I thought I would hate living here, but surprisingly I have adjusted quite easily. I think it was made easier because I have made friends with my co-workers and hang out with the office secretary, Chama and her sisters, over the weekend so it is nice and makes it not so lonely. And of course, all the lovely PCVs passing through keep my quite entertained. So life's good, though I will always hold my village life close to my heart and will always miss it.

Work wise, I am immersed in it and it is keeping me so so busy. For the health program, we have planned a few activities for the EveryOne Campaign for this year, though it is quite challenging because funding is an issue (of course) so how can we work within our limited funds is our dilemma. The EveryOne Campaign is a global Save the Children campaign advocating for Millennium Development Goals 4 & 5 (maternal/child health). I am learning so much as I go along, and I am lucky to have a supervisor who really knows what she is talking about. Right now, we are planning for a children's concert around health in July and have teamed with Barefeet Theatre, and some local Zambian artists. We are hoping the kids can be the lead in this concert and make it really all about their health. For the health project, I am also working on the Lufwanyama Integrated Neonatal and Child Health Program (LINCHPIN) in the Copperbelt Province. I love working on this project because it compliments so well the work I was doing in my village. This project works with neighborhood health committees (NHCs), community health workers (CHWs) and traditional birth attendants (TBAs) in rural villages in Lufwanyama district. Lufwanyama is a relatively new defined district that covers a vast area and has terrible infrastructure (roads, clinics etc). So the work here is really important, and focused on reducing maternal mortality and newborn/child mortality. I am learning so much and this has really sparked my interest in getting a masters of public health with a concentration on global maternal/child health.

My other primary assignment is working with one of Save's partner ngos Youth Vision Zambia which is focused on adolescent reproductive health rights and HIV/AIDs. I am working on creating a book to advocate for child rights based on a project that Youth Vision conducts in Misisi Compound, which is an unplanned settlement in Lusaka with a population of over 40,000. There are no government services so kids do not have schools, there are no clinics, it is very overcrowded and it floods in the rainy season so this is where the cholera outbreak happens. It is a very sad situation and the kids deserve better, so I am working to advocate for their rights.....let's hope we're successful.

So that's my work paraphrased...there is so much more I would add or say, but it is too much to include in here so I'll end for now.

I am slowly getting excited for my return home (even if it's just for a brief visit!). Miss you all! Please please continue to write and send my fun things, I still love getting mail even if I now live the big city life ;-)

I can't believe it's 2011 already!! Happy new year, everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season! I certainly did. We kicked off the holidays with a training of trainers for our Camp GLOW in Kasama so I was able to spend Thanksgiving up in Kasama with the No-Pro family. It was lovely and I was so happy to be able to see my Northern buddies before officially relocating to Lusaka. Our training of trainers for camp glow went well and we all got excited for the camp! Which brings me to the camp....

So after 9 months of preparing, planning and organizing for this event, we had a wonderfully fanstastic camp glow! 7 Peace Corps volunteers were involved in the planning and implementing of this project and it was so good, we divided up the duties and everyone was responsible for certain aspects of the camp. It was great and all of our hard work really did pay off. 14 girls from seven different villages in Mpika district came together for a week to learn about girls' empowerment, life skills, HIV/AIDS, communication skills, and goal-setting. They also had morning sessions of arts and crafts where they made thank you cards, journals, picture frames and tons of drawings. In the afternoon, we would have sports sessions where they would play games like netball and soccer, jump rope and two days during the week, we went to Lwitikila waterfalls where the girls were able to swim and enjoy themselves. The first day we went, some girls had never been swimming so were to afraid to take the leap into the water. The second day we went, they were all so comfortable with each other and trusting that they went swimming. It was so exciting to see and they all had so much fun. It was a blast. In addition to the 14 girls, we had 7 teachers attended and they learned a lot during the week. Initially, we had a rocky start with the teachers because they expected to be paid for the week they were there (a common expectation among working Zambians-sitting fees-which makes the work of Peace Corps so difficult at times!). Luckily, we had a great PC staff member with us the entire week of the camp, and she was able to difuse the situation and convince them to stay, which was great. We ended up being the only Camp GLOW in PC Zambia this year who had all of our teachers stay the entire week...other camps had teachers leave or not show up which is really sad. Thankfully, all of ours stayed and actively participated in the activities during the week and I think they really did gain a lot.

During the week, we had many spontaneous dance parties which were so much fun. Zambians sure know how to dance-and really get a kick out of watching us muzungus-white people-dance because we have no rhythm. Oh well, fun times had by all! We also offered VCT after a session on rape/sexual abuse. Of the 29 camp participants, 26 got tested so definitely a success and no one tested positive which was a relief. We talked about ways to maintain their status, etc. It was a very good event and one we hope to continue in future camps. The final day, we had a formal certificate ceremony where the District Commissioner attended and gave a speech. The girls and teachers collaborated on a skit to show us what they learned during the week and it was so good! Everyone loved their certificates! Afterwards, we had a fun party where there was more dancing, arts and crafts and tons of food. After dinner, we had a candle-lighting ceremony that ended with smores making. It was such a memorable end to a wonderful camp. Really, this was the highlight of my time in Zambia. The week went off without a hitch and we could not have done this without the support of all of you back home who donated so thank you so much! We really really appreciate it.

Will update more on the new life in Lusaka...and my quaint little new cottage. Oh the high life, I live... :-)

Miss you all! 8 months and some days till I'm back in America-land...crazy.

Happy Holidays, everyone! I can't believe it's almost Thanksgiving and Christmas....this time of year always makes me miss home, and family, but I'm hanging in there and keeping my spirits high.

Hope you all are staying warm, enjoying the lasts of fall and preparing for the fun winter ahead. I am writing to you from Kasama. I am back up in Northern for the next ten days; for the next couple days, I have a training of trainers for Camp GLOW and then we have our bi-annual Peace Corps meetings so thankfully, I was allowed to stay up in Northern for it and have Thanksgiving amongst me cohorts here. It will be so nice, it was great last year and this will be our last Thanksgiving in Zambia so I am really looking forward to it.

Things in my life have been ups and downs the past few weeks. Let's start with one piece of good news-we got our funding for Camp GLOW so THANK YOU!! Many thanks to all of you who donated to this cause-it will be a great event and the Mpika volunteers are so grateful for your support! We will be sure to take tons of photos to post so you all can see what you helped achieve. As we say in Bemba, Twatotela Sana Sana-We thank you, very very much. Camp GLOW is really coming along, I am so excited for it! We have two new Peace Corps Volunteers in Mpika and they have brought a breath of fresh air into our Mpika crew, and have also been working as hard as we all have to make this camp a success. Barbara is an older volunteer who lives about 50 km outside of Mpika, and she got us connected with an NGO from the States called Project Thrive who have a Days for Girls Campaign, and we were able to get a donation of washable feminie hygience kits for the girls. They will be thrilled as the kits contain soap, a pair of underwear, a washcloth, ten washable pads and a cute little bag to carry this all in. We are so thankful to have been connected with them and look forward to seeing the reactions from the girls when they receive this gift. We also have our facilitators locked in-one is from CamFed in Lusaka and the other is from Nascent Solutions in Mpika. They both a fabulous women really dedicated to the work of girls' empowerment. So those are just a few of the happenings with this camp, I'll be sure to update after the Camp to fill in on the rest!

So I was pulled from my village about two weeks ago. It was the hardest thing, besides saying goodbye to my family prior to PC, that I've ever done. Zambia's rarely show emotion, so when my villagers cried when I let them know I had to leave for medical reasons, I too was overcome with emotions and felt touched, and very sad to leave this new family behind. My past year in the village has been such a great experience for me, and a great learning experience. I know now I can live without the luxury items like running water and electricity. I understand now when people comment how those who have nothing seem to be the happiest people, I was living amongst some of the happiest people this past year and despite having so little, they were so welcoming to me. I was so lucky to have wonderful counterparts who understood the work of Peace Corps and wanted to help with the process of educating their fellow villagers on health issues. I will miss the simplicity and the quaitness of village life-I really truly felt like I was living in a 'Little House on the Prairie' type life, and I loved it and could easily go back, if my health permitted. So all in all, I loved so much what I had and to leave it was really very difficult, for both the villagers and myself. Tears were shed but promises were made to visit before I left Zambia for good. I also gave away lots of remembrances-anytime you leave somewhere, Zambians ask for remembrances so many of my villagers got photos, clothes and school supplies. Hopefully this doesn't make the job difficult for the next year. So yes, in a nutshell, saying goodbye was a bittersweet farewell.

After I was pulled, I was taken to Kasama for a few days on R & R and then on Nov. 1st I made the move to Lusaka. Jobs were not set up and I was close to calling it quits in Zambia. I had further medical treatment for the week, and helped Les with some projects of his. Les works for an NGO Corridors of Hope so he needed some help editing reports and then he had a three day workshop so I volunteered to be the type writer for the session. It was good experience and kept me busy which was nice. I had interviews with KnowledgeBeat but was not keen on living so far out of Lusaka so I really pursued Save the Children. Luckily for me, Save the Children also really wanted a Peace Corps Volunteer so I had an interview this past Tuesday with the country director, who also worked with my Dad in Iraq so that's a nice connection. He was so nice and flexible so we worked out a work plan. I will be working two days with a partner NGO-Youth Vision-doing life skills work with a high school in Kafue which is in Southern province. The other three days, I will be working in their office on the Every One Campaign which focuses on child health and maternal health. I will be working on policy research and advocacy for this project so great experience! I am really excited. Now, since life's looking up for me, I can see how blessed I am and that really, the world wasn't out to get me. Maybe it's a sign that this is really the type of work I should get into. I had one solid year in the village with great projects and now, I'll have one year to work on the other side of the spectrum, to see how things work from the top down. I know I'll miss the simplicity of the village, and all my friends and counterparts from the village, but I am not complaining. I am just so thankful to Peace Corps staff for believing enough in me to keep me.

So yes, I give thanks this year for my wonderful supportive family and friends back home, but also to my ZamFamily-Peace Corps, villagers and my Zambian colleagues. I've got so much to be thankful for so I'm going to keep on giving thanks.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!!

Love and miss you all.

The best boma in all of Zambia, looks like the wild wild west, doesn't it??

The business center in town where I did internet and photocopying

The new superstore in Mpika-it is an amazing place in the middle of no where Zambia, ha ha

The famous Cim's Restaurant. I probably spent a quarter of my service here.

The famous Cim's booth for PCVs....so many fun memories were here. I spent hours charging phones, socializing with my neighbors and enjoying cold drinks!

My favorite waitress, ba Grace who always greets you with a big beautiful smile!

Celebrating Zambian Independence at Lwitikila falls-this is where we will have our Camp GLOW!

Mary Ellen, Barbara and I at the falls-what a great day!

The borehole where my neighbor gets my water

My favorite family in Bufuba Village

My amazing neighbor who worked so hard to make my property look beautiful!!

My favorite kids!

Gilbert and I...he was one of my main counterparts

The headman of Bufuba village and his family

Memory and I: she stayed at my hut whenever I was away-she is great!

Kaole School Staff-where I did anti-AIDS club and I'll bring the teacher on the right for Camp GLOW. They are such dedicated staff, kind of hard to find in Zambia!

The headman's wife and I

Welcome to the Fritz Ritz....my home sweet home

My favorite Neighborhood Health Committee-Chilebela/White NHC

The master suite....aka my bedroom

So much time for reading

Wall of the world...great learning tool to teach people about where I came from!

My newly cemented bathing shelter...made it so nice!

My cimbusu-toilet and my tippy tap, I was charged 2,500 kwacha (50 cents) for not having one during village inspections back in January...

The view from my insaka....my garden was so amazing last year and I have so much land!

My neighbor built steps to my insaka...they are amazing!

View at sunset.....life in Africa is so wonderful.

So it's been a while since I've had a chance to update this blog...and man, so many changes are taking place just as we speak!

I made it back to Zambia on my 44th day of being a medevac-we are only allowed 45 days to fully recover or else we are sent back to America....so I barely scraped by but I did and it was so wonderful to return home. I must say though, the medical staff in South Africa are absolutely amazing and I am so glad they handled my case-I was in excellent hands and will miss their medical advice. But I came home to Zambia on the condition that I take it easy biking and that I continue physio-therapy. Lucky for me, the medical team in Zambia was on my side and agreed to these conditions so I returned happy and almost healthy!

I arrived on a Wednesday and the following week, my entire intake was coming down to Lusaka for our mid-service conference so I ended just staying which was good because I had some physio appointments set up. The mid-service conference was a stressful week for me, I was still in pain and I didn't know what to do about returning to site. We had one on one meetings with our boss-the Associate Peace Corps Country Director (APCD) and she was very understanding. The entire time I was in South Africa we had been in email communication and she was so willing to help, in whatever way she could. We talked about my situation and she thought ultimately, it would be best that I move to Lusaka. In addition to meetings with out boss, everyone had to go through midterm medical check-ups which I had done in SA but they forgot to do a TB test and so I went for that...and on top of all my other medical woes, guess what..yep I tested positive so that added more stress to my already stressful return to Zambia. I was told I needed to be put on treatment for 9 months-and during this 9 months, I am not allowed to drink any thing...not a single drop of alcohol! Wow. Well I can do it but it's just a shame cause every now and then, it's always nice to let loose with a few cold beers but I guess I can do that at our COS-close of service-party next September! In addition, they told me I had to be monitored every month so another reason why it would be helpful for me to move.

So that week, I was busy meeting with the medical team, my APCD and Jo-our PEPFAR coordinator who is also in charge of third-year extension placements in Lusaka who was helping to find a post for me. Positions with NGOs are specifically reserved for volunteers who completed their two years and want to stay on for a third. So they are making an exception for me due to my health and I am so thankful....otherwise it would be hello America which I'm just not ready for yet. So right now, there are two possible placements for me...one is with a small NGO based out of San Francisco called Knowledge Beat which was started by RPCVs-returned peace corps volunteers-and I would be doing HIV/AIDS awareness with youth groups and girls' empowerment camps so right up my alley. The only downside is that it is a bit outside of Lusaka so I would be isolated and living at the office...which could be a good thing or a bad thing. The other option is Save the Children which of course, I'm thankful to my Dad for helping organize. I am waiting to hear back on to what the work will be there and then we can make a decision.

I returned from this midservice conference sad that I have to leave the village life but excited for some tangible work experience in an NGO sector which is ultimately the type of work I hope to get into some day. So I am back in my hut sweet hut....really I have the most perfect site in all of peace corps and it is going to be so hard to leave since it's finally completely set up and beautiful, but I know my health comes first. I just hope that they community gets another volunteer who can fulfill the two years since I didn't and the one before me didn't either. I am having a lot of goodbye meetings and next Wednesday, the 27th, I'll be pulled from my village and will go up to Kasama for a few days. I will have to write a detailed site report and then on the 1st, I will be driven down to Lusaka with all my stuff. So I am on a roller-coaster of emotion now but at least there is a light at the end of the tunnel....and I am still in Zambia and that makes me incredibly happy.

And I'll still be participating in Camp GLOW-so please, I'd like to put another plug in for the camp...it is going to be so great and we have partnered with the NGO CamFed-Campaign for Female Education who are so excited to help us with this event. It will be a great opportunity for grade 8 girls to attend a fun leadership camp.

Alrighty hope all is well back home and please please keep in touch!

Oh yes...I have a new mailing address since I'll be moving soon:

Sarita Fritzler, PCV

P.O. Box 50707

Lusaka, Zambia

Keep the mailing coming as I love receiving it and hearing from all of you!

Girls Leading Our World (GLOW) Camp is a program which aims to educate and empower girls living in rural Zambia and help them to become positive role models in their communities. Girls in Zambia are significantly less likely to pursue secondary school and higher education than their male counterparts, and in rural areas few women work outside the home. Additionally, women and girls are more vulnerable to HIV/AIDS infection and more likely to marry early. Camp GLOW is a week-long program designed to address these disparities through workshops for girls and teachers that teach assertiveness, self-esteem, goal setting, career planning, and combating HIV/AIDS. Camp GLOW will demonstrate to girls that they can pursue education and a career and will give them the skills needed to achieve the goals they set for themselves. Participants will return to their villages as catalysts in the formation of GLOW clubs in their schools. In this manner, the skills learned at Camp GLOW will be passed to members of the participating communities. As a result of Camp GLOW, girls in 5 communities will be empowered with the tools to complete their education, make healthy life decisions and achieve their potential for a successful future.

Please consider helping us: https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate.contribute.projdetail&projdesc=611-062&&

Greetings from South Africa!

I am a medevac. Cool right? No not at all. So in the beginning of August, I came down to Lusaka to get my gum pain checked out and I visited with the new PC doctor, told him I had been experiencing body aches and fatigue for the past couple weeks. He did a physical and I had pain on my left side so immediately he thought I had a kidney infection. I was put on anti-biotics and I told him I can't stay in Lusaka because I was committed to helping CamFed with their one week girls' camp in Chinsali. So against doctor's orders, I headed back up North feeling a bit better.

A few days into the camp, the fatigue came back, the antibiotic did not seem to be working, the pain in the left side became much more intense and I developed a rash on my upper tummy. I thought maybe it was a reaction to the medicine they gave me, but the doctor-he is very good-called every day to check on my status and when he heard I developed a rash, insisted that I come back down to Lusaka that day. Lucky for me, a CamFed vehicle was going down as well so I got a free ride with them. I was so sad to leave the camp-it was great and CamFed Zambia is a great NGO-I really enjoyed working with them. So I visited with Dr. Harry on Thursday and at this point, I was feeling very bad-nauseaus and dizzy. He checked and I had a fever as well-so I continued with antibiotices, slept a lot and they tried to figure out what was wrong with me. Took more blood and could not figure it out. I was switched to a different antibiotic because they thought I had another infection but during the weekend, fever continued and I was feeling like crap. Come Monday morning, I was sent for x-rays and told I was heading to South Africa first thing the next morning. Though I really did not want to go, I had no choice so made the necessary calls to my villagers and said my goodbyes and next day-hello South Africa. I was met at the airport by a PC driver and he took me right to the hospital in Pretoria-Little Company of Mary.

I met with Dr. Cedric who is the Area Peace Corps Medical Officer-he is great! And I was admitted right then and there. The flight was painful-I could not sit comfortably and so immediately at the hospital, they did blood work, I had a CT scan, an MRI and all came back ok so final diagnosis was that I had a virus infection that got into my blood which was causing the muscle/joint pain. They confirmed that I had dengue fever-I had a big rash on my back that I had no idea about...and so I was at the hospital for about six days. It was weird -my first time ever to be admitted to the hospital and of course, it would happen in Africa! But the hospital was so nice, very clean and I had my own room. The nurses were great and made sure I was very comfortable. I was visited every day by Dr. Cedric who also made sure I was ok. I started physio-therapy while at the hospital and it was so painful at first I really could not stand it...but I have been in it for about two weeks now and it's getting better. So I was released from the hospital on Monday-I arrived the Tuesday before so I was ready to be out. I was taken to the PC office, met with the medical assistant who organized for me to be taken to the guest house where all the medevacs are staying. It is this beautiful guest house in a nice neighborhood in Pretoria. It is an old victorian style home and my room has hard wood floors. So nice! Breakfast is provided and it is delicious, we have a great variety. I cant' complain-they certainly make our stay very cozy during our time here. So I met volunteers from the Gambia, Burkina Faso, Togo, Uganda, and Swaziland who are all here for different medical issues.

I have been seeing the therapist every other day and there is definite progress. I am going again tomorrow and then Thursday, hopefully I can get on a bicycle and if there is no problem after that, I am good to go back to Zambia. I am so ready to get home-my poor villagers probably feel deserted. Luckily I was able to call and check in with them all and everything is fine at home, yay for that.

It is strange being in Pretoria. A land full of white people who speak Afrikaans-it is so different from being in Mpika. I just don't fit in very well here and miss being able to speak/understand the local language. And it is just so clean here. I have gotten to know the other volunteers and everyone's living situation is so different, even though we are all PC africa. I have it the roughest but I wouldn't trade my little hut with no water/electricity for anything else. Everyone else lives with families in cement homes, have flush toilets and electricity-crazy!! Oh Zambia...

So that's about all going on here-I am overwhelmed with the malls, fast food, McDonald's and bars...

Hey All--

So I have been in Lusaka for the past couple of days for dental issues but going back up north, against the doctor's wishes, to help the NGO CamFED-Campaign for Female Education-with a one week girls' empowerment science and technology camp in Chinsali, the district north of Mpika. It should be quite interesting--Mary Ellen and I are the two PCVs who will be helping so we are excited because we are hoping to use CamFED as facilitators for our Camp GLOW in December, which speaking of, my grant proposal for our Mpika Camp Glow got approved with no questions so that is so exciting!! I will be writing to you all asking for help, so please if you want to know more right now, let me know!! But anyways, being in Lusaka with free unlimited internet access is quite amazing...especially coming from Mpika where it's soooo expensive just to type on a computer, let alone use the internet.

So I said there would be an update about my work so here goes it....

My busiest month of work was June, by far. I had so many community meetings lined up and everyone wanted to work, so that was great! I started working right away with my EHT on our behavior change study. We formed a committee with headmen from the different villages, teachers from the two basic schools, religious leaders and other active members of the community. Together, we planned how to implement the survey to the young girls. Kaole community, which is about 7 km south of where I live, is a community adamantly opposed to talking about/distributing or mentioning condoms so it was quite difficult to work with them at first, but after lots of conversation, they finally did see the value and my EHT and I were able to go into the school and freely talk about our study. So this was all going on in June. In addition to behavior change, my clinic and I organized a cooking demonstration for all the healthworkers in my community. It was a fantastic event! All 36 health workers came out, everyone brought what they were suppose to and they cooking all sorts of nutrition things that would help child nutrition. We also did a soya demonstration at this event and so we made soya milk and sausages-so good! Chris, my nearest PCV neighbor who came to Zambia in February with the Education program, came and my community absolutely loves him now ha ha. He took a great group photo of us so I blew it up and framed it and gave it to my clinic, they absolutely loved it.

I also started my HIV/Aids Outreach program with my counterpart from the Pepfar training and it went soooo well! Ba Dorothy-a lady who is half muzungu-her father was German- is HIV positive and a really great counterpart because she likes to tell people her story and encourage them to get tested. She came, along with Gilbert who is my original PC counterpart. So together, we met, planned activities and divided up the sessions then went out to a far village to do our outreach. We had a great turnout, about 50 people showed up both men and women, as well as the entire neighborhood health committee for that area. They loved the activities we did and at the end, we encouraged them all to come to the clinic the following Wednesday for World VCT Day. And success! At World VCT Day, the entire NHC came out together and got tested for the first time so it was awesome, I was thrilled at the progress. And the District chose my clinic to do their national event for VCT day so an added bonus of government money...always nice.

July I was away for the first two weeks for Malawi/Kasama but I returned to the village rested, relaxed and ready to continue work. By the end of June I was so ready for vacation, but as my previous vacation stated, it was not much of one in Malawi, thanks to transport issues! But when I got back to site, I had about a week to work before I was to host four new health trainees at my site for their first site visit. So during this week, I managed to get to both my schools and hand out the surveys for my behavior change study to girls ages 12-19. Between the two schools I handed out about 50 surveys, and out of 50, 18 girls are sexually active-the youngest being 12 years old! But according to their survey, all 18 said they use condoms for protection...very interesting. Now I am going to go back and try to get some more data from more girls but school is on break right now...

So on Monday, July 26th I got four new health volunteers at my site for their first site visit. Crazy to think that I was in their shoes a year ago but yes, Emily, Adrienne, Nancy and John arrived at the Fritz Ritz-yes isn't that a catchy title? Chris named my hut the Fritz Ritz during my one year anniversary party because I have an amazing site! So please everyone, come visit the Fritz Ritz. Chris and Courtney, another PCV who lives close by, came to help out for the visit. They were a great help and I really appreciated them being there because four newbies asking questions can be quite overwhelming! So the newbies arrived around 2 and since they had a long journey, we did not do much. I gave them a tour of the village, taught them how to fetch water and then we started on an early dinner of soya tacos. Chris is an amazing cook so I was glad he was there to help. The newbies enjoyed learning how to cook on braziers and loved the meal. The best thing about site visit is that the newbies bring you lots of yummy treats to eat...so now my kitchen is fully stocked, yay! The next day, I took them to meet my headman, he talked to them about roles of a headman and then we went to the clinic. My EHT and nurse met with the group, talked to them about how the clinic works and then we came back, ate a quick lunch before the cruiser came to pick us up and take us to Kaole School where I work with the anti-aids club. The students are so great, they are so motivated and love to perform! They did songs, dances and poems for the newbies then afterwards the new ones led them in some games. It was more just an opportunity for them to see school kids in Zambia, but fun nonetheless. We came back, and they were exhausted...they were still recuperating from jet lag so I don't blame them. We made popcorn and called it a night. The next day, we got up bright and early and I took them to White/Chilebela villages where they split into two groups and went with the NHC on village inspections. They seemed to enjoy it and this opportunity allowed them to see what NHCs are supppose to be like in village settings. After village inspections, we had a cooking party with the committee members. They taught the newbies how to pound groundnuts, cook nshima and kill a chicken! There was so much food and it was absolutely great. I think it was their favorite day, by far. So site visit was a success overall...my villagers were so excited that I had guests in the village so please everyone back home, come visit!! They left early the next day, which was sad but they now start their 9 weeks of intense training....I am so glad I am over that stage! It was a fun experience..and in a few weeks, I'll be hosting the new Mpika volunteers are my site...that will be even more fun because they will be my new neighbors!

Alrighty well this is extremely long....but there you have it, all the happenings of Zambia from the past few months.

Please please continue to write and COMMENT! I would love to know that people are reading this blog...even if it is a diary of sorts on my life here...

Miss you all so much!

So it's been forever since I've been able to actually sit down on a computer and type out a thoughtful blog entry so sorry to anyone reading this back home...and hopefully there are readers out there :-) Hope all is well and you are able to enjoy summer fun activities!

Things are pretty good in Zambia. I hit my Zamaversary (Zambian Anniversary-new phrase that I just recently heard and love it!) on July 23rd and so the Mpika crew got together with the European volunteers and had a celebratory weekend. We had our favorite restaurant, Cims, make us pizzas and they were surprisingly, very yummy! We then went over to Melodies, a lodge across from Cims and toasted to some red wine and Mary Ellen (the other volunteer in my intake) created a game for us to play about the top ten things we've learned while being here in Zambia. Andreas-a German volunteer working at the diocese, Chris-my nearest PCV neighbor who arrived in February, Mary Ellen and I composed this following list:

10. Three wheelbarrows of sand, six wheelbarrows of crushed stone, and one bag of cement=hand mixed cement.

9. hitchhiking is a pain most times, but sometimes it opens doors of friendship.

8. There are no tigers in Africa.

7. Despite what your bamayo says, you CAN'T pick up burning coals.

6. Greetings are a must.

5. Soya is the new chicken.

4. Caterpillars aren's just a bug, but are, in fact, good eats.

3. How to sleep three adults in one bed.

2. An empty canter (pick up truck) looks like an amazing hitch but, guaranteed, by the end of the journey you will be squished and buried under bags and people.

1. Always pack toilet paper.

So there you have it. One year of Zambia in a nutshell, haha. Well not quite...but my previous blog did sum up my feelings so I'll move on from our fun filled anniversary weekend to the joys of transport...

For Fourth of July, Angela, Kate, Meera and I decided to venture over to Malawi to celebrate our independence day on Lake Malawi. We figured that since we all live in the Northern part of Zambia that we would take the less traveled, but 'easier' northern route to Malawi. Well, big mistake on our part. Our holiday was one disaster after another. Angela met me in Mpika, we took the night bus to Nakonde-the border town of Tanzania/Zambia and got there in the very early morning. Kate and Meera left Mbala Friday morning and so Ang and I had to wait about four hours in the shady town of Nakonde. During our wait, we tried to figure out how best to get to Malawi and everyone suggested that we take a bus direct to Lilongwe. So when Kate and Meera got to us, we headed out to the bus station. Turns out the only transport going to Malawi is a canter truck-an open bed pick up truck. Since we had no alternative, and we needed to get to our destination, we agreed to go on the canter. Kate and Meera sat inside while Angela and I were crammed in the back of a very packed, overcrowded bed of the truck. We originally were fine in our seats, but in traditional Zambian fashion, we started the journey and about fifteen minutes in, we started picking up more passengers. This was the most frustrating part because there was absolutely no space and the driver just kept doing whatever he could for more money! And the worst part was we were on a dirt bush path...so if we broke down, nothing else would pass that could give us a lift out. So Angela and I did some serious praying as we were being more and more squished in the canter. Finally, three hours later we arrived at the border post and we were both livid with the driver. Kate and Meera had no idea what was going on in the back, but realized when they got out that we had a horrible trip down. But this was just the start...the driver apologized profusely, put us in the front seat and was really hospitable-we got to Chitipa, border town in Malawi in the evening so there was no way to proceed on to Nkhata Bay, which was on the other side of Malawi so the driver found us a guest house to stay in and offered us to eat with his family. We declined as we were all exhausted from a long day's journey. That night, we ate at the restaurant that was recommended by our driver, but got harrassed by a creepy waiter who told us he could get us a ride to Nkhata Bay if Meera would be his 'friend'...creepy so we left as quickly as possible. Right away, we started missing our Zambian home....

The next morning, we got up super early to try to hitch to Nkhata Bay. There was a beautiful Save the Children vehicle right outside our guest house and I thought, yes, this is God's way of helping us out so we all got excited that Save could take us. Well not quite. The guy who was in the vehicle was not very friendly and told us it was company policy to not pick up hitchhikers, and that if my dad did work for Save, he would know that too. Ugh. Well too bad for us. So we stood on the corner hitching down rides and finally, an empty canter truck stoppped and promised that he was going right away, would not stop to fill up truck and we would arrive in good time. So we, just wanting to be there already, jumped in. Ang and I took the front seat and the ride started out sooo well. But of course, luck was not on our side that day. About half hour into the trip, the canter pulls off to pick up a huge load of sweet potatoes. The villagers were still loading the potatoes into the bags so we ended up waiting for a very very long time. A car was passing so Meera hitched it down from the back of the truck and I tried to jump out to talk to the driver about getting a lift...but our driver noticed and jumped in the canter and started to move, so I assumed yes, we are going. Well our driver was just doing it as a ploy to get us to stay in the truck...we waited a bit longer than finally started to move, only to be taken over by another canter truck which angered the driver so much that we entered into a racing game. Ang and I started to be a little scared but calmed down when we came up to a police checkpoint. But this is where the craziness starts. Our canter pulls up right next to the side of the canter in front of us, and when the police lets the other canter go, ours starts to move even as the police are motioning for us to stop. We didn't stop and as the police was closing the barrier on us, the truck hits the police man!!!! WHAT! Who does that, right??? We were shocked and decided right away, we had to get off this transport because our driver was clearly a mad man!! So I get out to inform Kate and Meera about what was happening, and they tell me to flag down a vehicle while they gather our stuff. During all of this, the police were so mad that they took the keys of our canter truck so we could not go anywhere anyways. We flagged down a packed National Aids Council bus who agreed to take us, thankfully! We walked through the checkpoint as the bus went through, and just as we were waiting for the bus to clear the door so we could get in, the driver from the canter comes over and starts yelling and pushing us around! We were stunned. He was so irate it was scary. Even the AIDs council people had to come to our defense...we finally paid a quarter of the fare and got on the bus. At this point, we were all ready to head back to Zambia...but we proceeded on. The people on the bus were so friendly, and told us that we have to be prepared to always pay in Malawi for transport-a clear difference from Zambia. But they gave us the lift for free, got us to the nearest town where they told us how to catch the bus going to Nkhata Bay. We got on the bus right away, but about half hour out of town, it broke down so we all got out, Kate tried to hitch but no one was going our way...and finally, they sent another bus for us. We managed to get some good seats, and our journey was finally going ok. We arrived at Nkhata Bay just as the sun was setting and we all got a well deserved coctail to toast to our barely-safe arrive. Yes-transport is truly miserable some days. So we enjoyed our four days R&R before deciding to take a bus back to Lilongwe then enter Zambia through Eastern province which is the recommended way of travel. It was a piece of cake to get back, and once were in Zambia, we were so happy. It's always nice to get back home. So our Malawi trip was overshadowed by our horrible transport experience, so when we got back, I took my four days in Kasama to rest up..it was wonderful to just do nothing but sleep in, watch movies and relax.

Village life is going well and I'll write all about it in the next blog, which will be up soon, maybe even tomorrow!

Hope all is well back home...thanks to all those who have written and sent me things, it is always appreciated!! Please continue to write, comment or CALL me!!

Miss you!

So wow I am a few weeks away from my one year anniversary in Zambia...crazy but exciting at the same time. I want to take this time to update on my highs and frustrations of living under the beautiful zambian sky.

Highs:

* Despite having very little, Zambians in general are the most welcoming, friendly and hospitable people I have ever encountered. They are always willing to help, invite you to join them for a meal and talk to you. Their smiles are so contagious and you can't help but be happy, most of the time.

* The children, despite their sometimes lack of listening skills, are full of joy and laughter and can always make me smile, even when I am in a bad mood. They are so creative and can entertain themselves for hours without getting bored. It is amazing just watching them run back and forth along my street pretending to be a train, or running with tires and sticks and having the time of their life. They are so content with what they have-no such thing as being materialistic in the village.

* People are born dancing and music is in their blood. Whether it is a meeting, a church service, a funeral or just an evening around the fire, the sounds of African drumming can be heard and dancing is abundunt. If you want to be welcome right away, you just have to bust into dance and smile :-)

* The African sky is the most amazing site to see. With the absence of skyscrapers and city lights, every night you can gaze at a billion shimmering stars and the milky way. A full moon provides enough light that you don't even need a flashlight to see where you're going. And the sunsets take your breath away-no joke-and unfortunately, a camera does no justice to it's beauty. Honestly, whenever I am having a bad day, I sit on my front stoop and watch the sunsets and the arrival of the evening sky, and life's better again :-)

* Village living is amazing and surprisingly, very easy to adapt. I love washing dishes, cooking meals on my brazier (I'm slowly becoming quite the cook!), handwashing my clothes and cleaning the house. Life is simple and peaceful. I wake up to the sounds of school-going children and fall asleep to the sounds of drumming, it's beautiful. I love sitting on my front stoop and watching the daily activities of villagers-women juggling two jerry cans full of water with a moveous (bemblish word-bemba & english, love it!) baby strapped to her back, children eating sugar cane and gossiping on the way to school, men slashing the grass and clearing the surroundings, and villagers just visiting with one another. Yes, life is truly beautiful here.

* Attempting to speak Bemba is the best ice-breaking technique-the minute I greet in Bemba, everyone laughs and relaxes. They believe with this simple Bemba, I'm fluent, therefore, I'm one of them and welcomed with open arms.

* Work is rewarding and the people are appreciative. It's an amazing feeling to be thanked profusely for simply doing my job-after any meeting with a health group, I am thanked as if I just gave them a bundle of gold! It makes my job worth doing.

* I have the best neighbor ever and am so thankful for all the home improvements he has taken upon himself to do. I live at the "statehouse" according to my villagers, and it's all thanks to him. He is also a great source of information and loves to talk-it's nice to have someone who speaks great English so close.

* I have really great, motivated working counterparts in the village, and they motivate me to continue working. Their energy is endless, I always am struggling to keep up with them. The most amazing thing is they follow American-time, not ZamTime (arriving two hours late) so it's truly awesome to work with them. I am hoping they can influence their villagers to be more like them.

* Zambians are so so so helpful, whether its in giving me a free hitch or helping me carry my bags when I return home from a trip. They offer and don't ask for anything (although you know they would appreciate something). Also along this line, it is so safe in Zambia-I have never (knock on wood) felt uncomfortable or unwelcome here. And you meet the most interesting people hitching, who would have thought, right? Ahh I live the life :-)

Well like any story, there are good things and bad things...not necessarily bad, but some big frustrations I've had over the course of the year:

* It gets old very fast when meetings are constantly being canceled or people don't show up when they say they will. Example, today I scheduled meeting with the headmistress at a private girls' school to talk about camp glow-this school is about 25 km from my site so I made the effort to come in today, phoned ahead to make the appointment, and when I got here, was told the headmistress was in the boma at another meeting-ugh! It really tries one's nerves...no matter how much you try to get over it, it's still frustrating.

* Being called muzungu (you-white in Bemba) also gets old, very fast!

* Being called iwe (you or child in Bemba): I am not a child! And I like to be addressed with the respectful Ba...It is irritating to walk through the boma and have men cat call and shout "iwe"-sorry guys, it does not flatter me in any way.

* Being asked to give things to people-'Ba Sarita, Mpeleniko amaticket ku Amelika', You're rich, You're an American, give me your ipod, cell phone, etc etc. ugh the concept of volunteer is so foreign they really do not believe me when I say I don't have anything to give but knowledge.

* Fights in the village. Zambians are generally the friendliest people I've ever met, yet they do have pent up anger and when something pushes them too far, something fierce is unleashed and fights erupt. And the most annoying part is that no one stops it! They form a crowd and watch. And unfortunately, my shouting of "Awe"-NO!, does nothing!

* It's quite irritating that even though a man is married and has a family to support, he has no problem asking me (in a non-joking manner) to be his girlfriend and hoping I say yes. Even my lecturings of faithfulness and being committed does not stop the steady stream of proposals.

* Abstinence-only sex education at the public schools makes it very hard to educate youth on prevention methods for HIV/AIDs and STIs. At my anti-aids club, I am not allowed to do a condom demonstration because condoms are not allowed at school, yet the number one reason why condoms aren't effective is because of improper use! Ahhh.

* Excessive, continual waste of money in drinking. Public displays of intoxication is something I see on a daily basis and when people are drunk, they love to be loud and obnoxious. I have a policy of no drunk people on my property but this stops nothing. And in group constitutions, there is a no drunkeness allowed rule-yes, it is that big of a problem. And it is so sad-parents say they have no money for school fees, food, clothes, etc yet there is always enough for alcohol. And whenever I address this in the village, people just laugh and move on....this is an on going battle I try to fight every day.

So there you have it. The highs and lows. Overall I am so incredibly happy and truly love Zambia and the Zambian people. Every culture and society has their flaws-America is not perfect in any sense and a lot of my frustrations can be found on a slightly different scale in America, so it is nice to take this time to reflect on them here in Zambia.

Other than this, life is good and I am super busy. I am enjoying village life immensely and live in the most perfect location! I have been able to enjoy the world cup fever spreading all over Africa in the boma with other pcvs and european volunteers-we have a great support group in Mpika and it's fantastic. I wish you all were here to share this experience with me!

Hope all is well back in America-land. Please please please continue writing/emailing/commenting as it makes my day to hear from all you back home!

Happy Summer :-)

Howdy all....so life has been super crazy and busy for me, sorry for the lack of blog posts. Hope all is well back in the wonderful U.S of A!!! I miss you all so much and thank you a million times over to everyone who has been so great at writing/sending me things, it is much much much appreciated!!!! Special shout out to Cucco and Noreen for the fabulous packages I received yesterday-it made my week!!! Thanks so much.

So I will give brief updates by the month, considering a lot has happened since I've written on this thing...but you all will be happy to hear that work has actually taken place, and very few vacations so be forewarned...a blog entirely on my work projects :-)!!

March saw me in Lusaka for the first week due to unforeseen medical tests...it was not the way I wanted to start out considering I had just returned from a fabulous holiday in Zanzibar. Luckily though the medical team fixed me up, put me on a new malaria medicine and I was sent back to Mpika-land on March 8th-International Women's Day. I was sad to miss the day in Mpika because the women's groups had organized a great event but at least I was returning to site, so could not complain. Later in March, I had a meeting in Serenje-Central Province-for Camp Glow-Girls Leading Our World because the Mpika volunteers want to put on another one in December so it was more of a planning meeting. It was really great and we were able to get some good feedback and suggestions on ways to improve the camp, so yay for that. In March, I also worked with Chita/Bufuba Neighborhood Health Committee to plan a Malaria Day event for April. I also trained this NHC in IGAs because they wanted to raise money for their group. They decided on making and selling Amabuns so we will see how that goes. And basically that was March in a nutshell...

So it is said that April showers bring May flowers....well not in Zambia. Luckily the rains passed in April and the weather was quite beautiful! My site is so perfect now...my garden sprouted, I enjoyed fresh pumpkins, cilantro, carrots and hot peppers it was amazing. I never thought I had a green thumb, but luckily my neighbor does and it was basically his garden in which I was able to enjoy the fruits :-) So for Easter weekend, I ended up going to Lake Tanganyika with Kate, Meera and Angela. It was such a fun and relaxing weekend, we certainly enjoyed our little R & R. Lake Tang is in Northern Province in Mpulungu district...it is about 350 km from Mpika but well worth the travel. When I returned to site, I continued to train my NHC on IGAs and planning Malaria Day event. In the middle of April, I had a one week PEPFAR (President's Emergency Plan for AIDs Relief) funded training on HIV/AIDs and it was absolutely amazing. One of the best parts of Peace Corps trainings it that they require us to bring a counterpart from the village to be trained as well so that they can go back to the villages with the volunteers and help spread the message. I brought my Health Center Committee (HCC) chairperson who also is a psycho-social counselor who does VCT. He was really good and really knew his stuff about HIV/Aids. The training was so interactive and informative, probably one of the best trainings I've been to so far in Peace Corps. During this training, we worked with our counterparts to develop plans for returning to the village and educating the community on HIV. So Ba Endie (my counterpart) and I decided that we would develop plans to do outreach twice a month to the different villages in my catchment to talk about HIV-about prevention, stigma, and living positively. Should be interesting so I'll keep you posted. When I returned, we had the malaria day event with my NHC and it was a great success!!! So many people turned out from both villages, as well as a drama group from another NHC which was really good. They performed a play on the importance of pregnant women attending antenatal clinic so to prevent malaria by getting fansidar. The NHC chairlady did a great job organizing it...I had to do very little, it was fabulous! And they even managed to do mosquito net retreatment demonstration which was nice. So yay for a successful event :-) At the end of April, all the newbies (the new Agriculture and Education volunteers) were sworn in so I'm officially no longer a newbie-yay! So in Mpika, we got five new volunteers-three education and two agri volunteers and they are a great addition to our crew here. I helped them shop for their sites-which was fun, but stressful and an event I hope never to have to repeat haha. It was quite overwhelming as they all had tons of questions, but wow, crazy to think I'm not in their position any more and now I'm the senior...time is just flying...

And onto May....can't believe it's my tenth month in Zambia-crazy!! I am almost at my one year marker...how did that happen??? But life is certainly great...I LOVE Zambia and am so incredibly happy here. I think my home-sick phase is long gone...sorry all those back home, and I just wish you all could venture out this way to get a glimpse into my little corner of the world...I know for a fact you'd all fall in love with it, like I have! Anyways...so with May came more trainings. Yep, last week I was in Lusaka for a training on Behavior Change and Communication. Only eight health volunteers were involved in this training and I was one of the chosen few :-) I brought my EHT-Environmental Health Technician who works at my clinic because he has been very active and works with me on a lot of events. So we both decided we wanted to partake in this training because we have seen effort in my community for villagers wanting to change their behavior. For example, in January we conducted village inspections and everyone built a tippy tap. Although it is a small step, it was a sign of willingess on the villagers part to improve their every day life so we decided we could build on this enthusiam to tackle bigger problems in the community. This training was conducted by the Program Training Officer (PTO) of Peace Corps Benin who is an expert in this field. She did a great job and the training was so interactive and engaging, we really walked away well equipped with the knowledge to conduct our study. Basically, during this week training, we worked with our counterpart to identify a behavior that we would like to change and then develop an action plan for implement a behavior change strategy. My EHT and I decided that we would like to focus on preventing teen pregnancy and early marriages since this is a very common problem in our community. So now we will go to our village, conduct surveys and interviews with school age girls, find out what prevents them from using protection or abstaining from sex, how they think we can help, etc and then we will help develop some activities that will prevent them from getting pregnant. My EHT and I came up with the idea of creating a girl-friendly corner at the Rural Health Center so that girls can come to the clinic and get protection without being harassed or questioned. We also decided to do mother/daughter education programs so girls have more support from the parents on the importance of staying in school and delaying marriage. So this is a trial experiment that PC Zambia is starting, but I really think it has potential to turn into something really great as it is an activity that one can devote an entire service too. I am interested to see how it goes...but keep fingers crossed for the best! We have a follow-up training in August after we gather our data to implement the activities so that should be very helpful as well. So yes, now I'm back in my village ready to work on collecting the data with my EHT for our study. It is pretty complex, and I may not have explained it very well but if you are interested in finding out more, email me and I'll share more.

So there's my life in a nutshell. Things are busy, work is busy and life is great. My villagers have fully embraced my presence and I feel so so so at home here. I really don't think I've been this happy in quite some time...it just feels so amazing. I'm truly blessed and could not have asked for a better site, PC country or assignment.... :-)

I will try to be better at updating this blog...but please please continue to write me, email me, send me packages as I love hearing from all of you back home!!!

Miss you all so much.

p.s. CONGRATULATIONS SABITA!!!! so excited and happy for you, wish I was there to see you walk across the stage and receive that well-earned diploma on Saturday but know that I'm thinking of you and am so so so proud of you!!! LOVE YOU!!!

Wow I haven't updated in quite a while...sorry all life's been crazy these past two months! Hope things are going well back home! I miss you all and thanks so much to everyone who has written and sent things...it really means the world to me!!

So let's see...where in the world has Sarita been recently? Well like my previous blog said, I embarked on a wonderful train journey across the mountainous plains of Tanzania on a mission to hear some fabulous African music under Zanzibarian skies. The train journey, which was suppose to start at 3:00 am, of course being Africa where everything runs on African time, didn't roll into the station until 4:30 so Kate, Meera, Mary Ellen and I were exhausted, having been up all night excited for this adventure! We got settled in our first class compartment and we were surprised at the great condition of the train! Our compartment had two bunk beds and a desk...it was small but cozy. Besides the jerks and rocky-ness, we were able to get a few hours of shut eye before awaking to immigration officials asking to stamp our passorts saying Karibu Tanzania--welcome! There is something so romantic about train travel...especially when you have good company, and I certainly did. So for our 36 hour train journey, the four of us read a lot, played some card games and hung out in the dining car/lounge with the other group of PCVs who are from the intake right before us. About three hours before we got to Dar, the train rolled through a game park--it was so cool! We saw elephants, giraffes, monkeys, zebras, warthogs and wildebeast. Nothing like a free train safari to put you in a good mood, despite little sleep and hours of being trapped on a moving train! So we finally arrived in Dar Es Salaam on Thursday, around 3:30 pm and the last ferry heading to Zanzibar island left at 4:00 pm so we joined forces with the other PCVs and booked it the dock. Luckily one of the PCVs had a number for the ferry company so we were able to have them hold the boat for us, and lucky for us, they boat was all full except for first class so we all got upgraded to the VIP lounge-comfy chairs and airconditioning--perfect way to start a vacation :-)

So we arrived in Stone Town just as the sun was setting over the Indian Ocean...it was absolutely beautiful! After going through immigration, we split from the other PCVs and found our way through the winding streets to our hostel called Karibu Inn-Welcome Inn. Our innkeeper was so nice and helpful, he gave us such great tips and sightseeing suggestions. We settled into our dormitory and headed straight for some yummy spice island food. Fish was had by all and we all enjoyed it...so great to eat food that has some spice-sorry Zambia, there's no comparison. The one down side to our trip was that the power was out on the island, something about an electrical pipe being broken, so the entire island ran on generators. This was great, but unfortunately made it extremely hot! At times in the day is was so unbearable, we were just dripping in sweat. And the worst was at night, they shut off the generators so we woke up drenched. Yes, it was a down side to island paradise, but regardless, we managed to still have fun and enjoy ourselves! The first night we were too exhausted so we did not go to the music festival but we bought our passes-and they gave us residents' rate so we managed to save a pretty penny, yay! On Friday, we did a spice tour which was pretty neat. We were allowed to sample different fruits and then enjoyed a traditional Tanzanian lunch...similar to Zambia only with a lot more flavor :-) After the tour, they took us to a beautiful beach...none of us brought our suits because we didn't know this part was included, but we still enjoyed the crystal clear blue water! It was amazing and the water was a perfect temperature.

That evening, we went to our first night at the music festival. We heard some great musicians and wondered around to the different vendors, window shopping. Kate and I decided to get henna tattoo...big mistake on my part! The lady was so nice, she told me she would use black and red henna and I, not knowing the difference, agreed! Well turns out my skin doesn't like black henna...and I had a horrible allergic reaction to the henna, which was on my arm and on my ankle, so today, I have a nice beautiful scar from this henna experience. So beware all, stay away from black henna! But it was still nice at the time, and it added to the whole ambiance of the music festival..it was great. Saturday, we explored Stone Town, did a lot of shopping-got some really fabulous jewelry and clothing-and ate at an Indian restaurant. That night we went back to music festival...some of the artists were really amazing. One Ugandan group did dance performances and that was the highlight! Other artists weren't so great...but the festival was held in the old fort of Stone Town and the atmosphere was just wonderful. It was great to hear live African music in a very cool African town!

So Monday, we headed up to the North Coast for a few days of rest and relaxation on the beach. We stayed a very quaint hostel and the ocean was just amazing! It was the most perfect blue water I have ever seen! I will post pictures, but for those of you who have facebook, check them out! So yes, the first thing we did was put on our swim suits and race down to the water. We were only out in the sun for about 1 1/2 hours before Kate got a horrible sun burn-like lobster red all over her body-that we took cover in some shade for the rest of the day. We decided that on Tuesday, since we were only in Zanzibar once, we would splurge and go on a snorkeling trip. The guy running it gave us a great rate so we jumped at the opportunity. So Tuesday morning, we boarded a dhow boat (traditional wood sail/motor boat) for a two hour trip out to a private island, Mnemba Atoll Island, where there is a great reef with lots of beautiful fish. We were able to snorkel for about 2 hours and then they took us to another beach where we enjoyed a delicious fish barbecue! IT was the best fish I've had yet and the fruits were so delicious, it made the trip worth while. The snorkeling was great, but to be quite honest, the snorkeling in the Red Sea is more impressive, but this was a great trip and I really enjoyed it! IT was a great way to end our time on Zanzibar.

Wednesday, we decided to head back to Dar Es Salaam and explore that city for a few days before embarking on the train back on Friday. Wednesday was also Kate's birthday so we settled at our hostel-the YWCA- and then got dressed up for a night out in Dar. We went to the Holiday Inn and they had air conditioning-a wonderful blessing!!- so we decided to have a couple of drinks and eat dinner at their restaurant. The food was surprisingly very good, and Mary Ellen, being the wonderful mother-figure that she is, bought the meal for us...it was a pleasant surprise and a nice end to our great trip. Thursday, we were told to explore a certain part of Dar that was known for having good souvenir shopping so we headed out there on a crowded mini bus. The market was a cool setting, but the prices were muzungu prices-white people prices-so we had to do a lot of hard bargaining, and we did walk away with some cool things.

Friday, we headed back to Zambia. The train journey back was forever long...still beautiful but toooo long. We crossed the Zambia border at 8:30 pm on Saturday night, being told that we would arrive in Kasama around 1 am but that ended up not happening and we did not get off the train until 9 am on Sunday...more than 12 hours to go a small distance on the map-crazy! But the trip overall was so great and I highly recommend Zanzibar to everyone! Come visit me and I'll take you there myself!

Alrighty more to come but I must sign off for now. I hope all is well!! PLEASE write me or comment-even if it is just a hello, I LOVE hearing from you!!! Miss you tons!!

Muli Shani, bonse?

Happy february! So sorry this blog has not been updated for quite some time...my life has been on the go for the past month! Hope everyone is happy and healthy back home.

Things in Zambia are good. I am in Kasama right now...tomorrow night I'm heading out on the midnight train to Zanzibar with Kate, Meera and Mary Ellen for the music festival! I am so excited..ithe journey to Zanzibar is a two day train journey through a game park in Tanzania so it will be like a train safari...it should be a great time :-) I'll write all about our fun travels when we return.

So January was a jam packed month for me. I had my village inspections on the 12th and they went so well. My neighborhood health committee (NHC) led the inspections and I tagged along to meet more villagers and observe. As we were on the inspections, I noticed that most everyone in my village had tippy taps-I was baffled by this because it is a fairly new concept and was surprised that everyone had built one. I asked my NHC chairlady about it and she said that during the ORS demonstration a week before, she handed out fliers on the importance of tippy taps and told my community that they would be looking for this during village inspections so that's why everyone had one. Well I certainly missed that memo...by the time the committee got to my house, they charged me 2,500 kwacha which is equivalent to 50 cents...way to be a role model right? So now I have a project to work on when I return from Zanzibar!

On January 16th, I was picked up by the PC cruiser and along with my fellow intake Northern PCVs, we're driven down to Lusaka for our ten days of In-Service Training (IST). It was a pretty exciting time because it was the first time we'd get to see everyone since our swear-in at the end of september. It was great to see everyone and catch up with friends from the other provinces. Everyone seems to be doing really well and are happy, so that was great. Training started on Sunday-we had a two day hands on workshop on perma culture gardens-we actually dug and planted a garden and it was so fun! We learned the double digging technique which I hope to teach my villagers (aided of course by a LIFE PCV) next planting season. The perma culture workshop was the highlight of IST-after this, we had our regular health tech training and the sessions were very long! They did not built in a day of rest so we went straight for ten days...by the end we were so exhausted. It did not help that every night, we went out for dinner and some drinks, and coming from the village life were I don't drink and am in bed at 8 pm, my body certainly took a beating so of course, I'm just now recovering from a cold. But the nights out were a great stress reliever from our long days of training.

So after two weeks of being gone, I returned to my site for a week before this trip to Zanzibar started. I met up with the teacher for my anti-aids club...things are going well with them. I am really excited because USAID and some staff from the U.S Embassy chose my school to visit so the anti-aids club will be performing a drama for them. I'm sad I'll miss the performance since I'll be in Tanzania but am very excited for them! It is a great opportunity and they are thrilled at having guests to entertain. I also attended a village headmen committee meeting and that went well...it was really long so I ended up leaving early, but it was nice that I've finally met all the headmen from my catchment area.

When I return from Zanzibar, I'll get to meet the new LIFE (Linking Income, Food and Environment) and RED (Rural Education Development) volunteers who will start their training. It is so exciting because we'll no longer be the newbies :-) And it will be nice to have some new neighbors!

So that's about all that has been going on...things have been busy and on the go. I can't wait to return and be settled at my site for a bit. Hopefully I'll get some work accomplished!

Hope all is well back home. Miss you all tons! Please continue to write as I love hearing from you all!!!

Compliments of the new year, everyone! That's a new Zambian expression I've recently heard a lot here. Hope you all had a great holiday season filled with lots of cheer and good food, and hopefully you all managed to stay warm despite the bad winter storms I kept hearing about :-)!

We certainly didn't have a white christmas here in Zambia but it was amazing, nonetheless. Kate, Meera and I headed down to Livingstone on December 22nd and spent about a week there. We stayed a nice hostel called Fawlty Towers-most of PC Zambia stays at another hostel called JollyBoys but they didn't have mosquito nets, and since all three of us are especially prone to bites (we're extra sweet, I guess ;-)) we opted for Fawlty Towers. It was a classier hostel than the kind I stayed in South Africa...but oh man, was Livingstone HOT! I soon realized how much I love the weather in Mpika...despite my cursing of the wind some days, it really does cool things down..and in Livingstone, no wind=a LOT of humidity and hotness. Our room did not have air conditioning and we had a fan that didn't do much so every night we woke up in sweat from the heat! Luckily, the hostel did have a swimming pool so we used that almost every day to cool off. OH let me start at the beginning: Kate and Meera hitched down to me and spent a couple days at my site. On Saturday, we hitched down to Lusaka and were lucky in that we got three great hitches. I tell you, hitching is definitely the better means of transport here! Our first hitch took us from my site to Kapiri-Moshi, which is the turn off to Lusaka or up north the other way to the Copperbelt. He was a very nice guy who even bought us some cold drinks on one of our stops. From Kapiri-Moshi, we were picked up by two businessmen who were nice, but were more interested in talking to us than actually driving so it was a very slow ride-and we were only going 60k with them because they were stopping in Kabwe-a town about 110 k outside Lusaka. They were extremely friendly though and we got cold waters from them! They took us to a restaurant where we could easily find a hitch to Lusaka. Our last hitch was with a young guy who works as a pro-bono lawyer for the human rights commission. So, you see, we meet really interesting people on the hitches! Kate and I want to write a book on the stories of these people who pick us up...some are really interesting! So we got to Lusaka, spent a couple days there and then proceeded to hitch down to Livingstone. We got a hitch right away with a Zain car-Zain is one of the main cell phone providers here in Zambia and is the one I have. They have very nice pick ups and are always willing to give us lifts. So the lady driving was really great but they were only going to Mazabuka...which is only about 100k from Lusaka...so in Mazabuka we waited for a hitch to Livingstone. We finally got one with a guy who was going to open up a total gas station down there and he was so friendly, though he drove a little crazy. Meera and I were sitting in the back of a van like toyota cruiser and the last stretch of the drive to Livingstone is on a terrible dirt road so we were bouncing all over the place--no fun, but we made--safe and sound! So in short, we went from one end of the country to the other completely free of charge--that's what I call economy traveling :-)

So in Livingstone, we ate at a very nice Italian restaurant close to the hostel and it was so cheap! I had pesto-I'd been craving it for a long time, delicious! We met up with some other PC volunteers from Southern province-and it was so nice to see Brittany, the PCV who hosted me during my first site visit! She is so fun, and we found out she was doing white water rafting the next day as well so we all made sure to get on the same raft. So the next day was the great white water adventure...man, I really didn't know what I was getting myself into! We later researched and found out that the Zambezi is the 3rd best white water rafting spot in the world! I can't imagine what the 1st and 2nd are like! So we got picked up from our hostel by the rafting company, the provided us with a great breakfast and then we had a safety briefing before being driven to the rafting site. Our rafting guide was Steve and he was really great...he has been doing this for 14 years! I couldn't imagine! So we had 7 people on our raft, and lucky me I had to sit in the back near Steve. 5 of us were PCVs and the other two were a couple from France who were working in Zambia in education. We had a good team. So the first rapid we did was a class five rapid--and of course, our boat flipped! It was extremely terrifying at first...I swear I was under water for what seemed like an eternity but lucky I survived and ended up sticking it out for the rest of the trip! We went through 25 rapids, but the worst were all between 1-10. We flipped twice-during the first rapid and then on rapid 4, and I fell out of the boat on rapid 8 so three times for me! ON rapid 9, we had to get out and walk around because it's a class 6 and they don't let us go down that-thank god! The guides were so experienced though, they went down the rapid with the rafts and not one of them flipped! Unbelievable...so at rapid ten, we had a lunch break and then continued for the rest of the day down the river. The second half of the day was really mellow-only one class five rapid and we all managed to stay in the boat. When we got to the end, there was a cable car that pulled us out of the gorge...it was great! We were exhausted but were taken back and had a nice dinner where they showed us the film of our rafting trip. I bought it and have sent it to Mayoori and Sabita. If you are interested in seeing it, tell them to show it to you! Or better yet, come visit me and we'll experience first hand :-)

On Christmas Eve day, we went to see Victoria Falls. It was so magnificant and beautiful! There were a million rainbows! The water level wasn't at the highest but it was still very impressive, and we still got pretty soaking wet! After we walked around the falls, we went to the bridge were people bungee jump down into the gorge--Kate really wanted to do it but neither Meera nor I wanted to so she ended up not doing it (plus it's really expensive!) but we did step across to Zimbabwe--just a foot inside their border :-) That evening, we went on a sunset booze cruise down the Zambezi River. The boat was filled with PCVs from the intake a year before me so it was fun to meet everyone and a nice way to spend Christmas eve. We saw hippos and crocs on the river. We certainly enjoyed the unlimited alcohol and the food was ok-not the greatest Christmas eve dinner, but well worth the $20 we spent on the cruise.

Christmas Day, Kate, Meera and I headed off to Botswana for our two day one night safari. We went into Chobe National Park by way of a river safari--a three hour cruise where we got to see hippos, crocs, elephants!, birds, giraffes and water buffalo. It was so serene and beautiful--you really felt like you were in Africa. After our river cruise, we had lunch at our camp site..which was one of ten in the actual park! So cool! I felt like something right out of a hollywood safari movie! Unfortunately, a huge storm came right as lunch was being served so we ended up taking cover in the safari car and eating in there. The lunch was fabulous though so made up for the rain. That evening, we took a drive around the game park...we saw zebras, monkeys, more elephants (the park has 60,000 elephants and I think we saw all 60,000), giraffes and wild dogs! The wild dogs were so cool-our driver told us it is extremely rare to see a pack of wild dogs so we considered ourselves lucky! There are only two pacts in the entire park, and during the two days, we saw both packs! That night, we had dinner around the camp fire and a herd of elephant roamed freely in the plains outside the camp ground. It was so magical and so cool...really, a very cool way to spend Christmas day! The next day, we did a very long drive around the park..didn't see any new animals except for a hyena and a jackal, which were pretty cool. We also saw the other wild dog pack! We ended the day with another river cruise so all in all, a great trip. We didn't see any cats but oh well, better luck next time. The trip was so well worth it I don't regret anything at all.

We returned to Fawlty Towers for one more night and treated ourselves to a nice dinner as a way to end our vacation. We ate at a seafood restaurant-so great to have shrimp again! The next day, we hitched to Lusaka...we got a great (but crowded) ride with three guys from Cape Town who were headed up to Dar-el-Salaam. They were very friendly and got us to Lusaka. We spent a couple nights recuperating in Lusaka before heading up North again. We spent New Years in Kasama at the PC house which was quiet, but fun. And on Saturday, we went out separate ways and I returned to site.

Work wise, things are slowly picking up. We have village inspections next week, we did an ORS-oral rehydration solution-demonstration in my village because diarrhea is a major health concern right now, and I'm going to visit my neighbor's family tomorrow. My neighbor is so amazing, I'm really so grateful to have him around because he does all my handy work and asks for nothing in return! I'm going to buy him a radio because he loves keeping up with the news and doesn't have one. IT's the least I can do. He built a fence around my house so people can't trespass onto my garden, and has cleared all my land again and is digging my flower bed today. And he never complains! He is really great. He taught me what the colors of the Zambian flag represent: Green for farming/agriculture, Orange for copper-Zambia used to have a thriving copper business becuase of the mines, Red for the struggle for indepence, and Black for the people. Cool, huh?

So that's about all that's going on. Things are great and I'm doing really well. I miss you all and think about you all the time! Please please continue to write as I do love hearing from you all!!

Thanks to everyone who has sent me things, much much appreciated!!

Happy New Year everyone! Hope 2010 is great for you all!

Happy Holidays everyone! I can't believe it is December 16th already! Time is flying here...I can't believe I've been in Zambia for almost six months :-) Hope you all are enjoying the holiday cheer back home...it certainly doesn't feel like Christmas here but I'm still enjoying life here, so all is well!

Last week as Camp GLOW and I've mentioned camp in a previous blog post so if you aren't sure what it stands for, read the previous blog! So Camp Glow was held at the Zambian College of Agriculture-ZCA, and there were six peace corps volunteers involved-Katie, Danielle, Laura, Carroll Anne and Mary-Ellen and I. The camp was organized mostly by CA and Laura, but Dani and Katie did a lot of the proposal writing. Mary Ellen and I just observed since we are newbies. Well let's just say everything that could possibly go wrong, went wrong! It was definitely a learning experience for us all, and Mary-Ellen and I were able to see what needs to be done differently next year. The camp started on last Sunday, December 6th so the PCVs and our two facilitators went a day early to set up and organize. Originally, we were suppose to sleep the girls at a youth recreational center that a former PCV built, and we were going to sleep the teachers, facilitators and ourselves at a guest house nearby. Turns out, the rec center has turned out to be a popular hang out for creepy, drunk men that we in peace corps like to refer to as amaguys...and these amaguys were all over the pool table, tv and library in this rec center so that posed our first problem! How are we suppose to have a camp about girls empowerment for 14 year old girls at a place crawling with men...it was pretty frustrating because the guys did not want to leave so we had a to battle with them and finally, after our contact person with ZCA came, we were able to secure the place for our use only! The next problem came with the sleeping arrangements. Turns out the guest house only has three rooms with a double bed in each..so definitely not enough to sleep 12 of us. So we had to put mattresses in the rec center-in the TV room and the library and that's where we volunteers slept and the two facilitators. We gave the guest house to the teachers but they had to double up. Unfortunately, there were no mosquito nets and the rec center had really huge bugs all over the place so none of us slept really well there....oh well, we were troopers and really showed that peace corps volunteers can adapt to any situation, haha. So after the housing and the guy situation got resolved, we were finally ready to start camp and thought all our problems had been resolved. Not quite...when the teachers arrived, they wanted to be paid a sitting fee, which we can't do-it's a peace corps policy! It was so frustrating because we are volunteers who are donating two years of our lives to help Zambia and these teachers couldn't give up one week of their time to help empower girls at their schools! One of the teachers ended up leaving, so we were left with four of them, and they ended up being pretty good. The girls were absolutely great though and thoroughly enjoyed all the camp had to offer. The sessions were all about confidence building, staying motivated, goal setting and overall girls empowerment messages. It was sad because we had a session on rape and sexual abuse, and the girls felt comfortable enough to open up...and out of the nine girls we had, five admitted to having been a victim of rape or sexual abuse. Isn't that shocking and sad? More than half of them! Thankfully they felt comfortable opening up and we were able to give them good resources to seek help if they wanted. The girls all also went to the nearby clinic for VCT-Voluntary Counseling and Testing-for HIV. We did lots of arts and crafts with them and they were so sad when camp came to an end. I'm glad I got to attend and observe..I definitely have great ideas for next year's camp and we hope to open it up for all of Northern Province. If any of you want to help, let me know-either by this blog or in an email-and I'll let you know how you can! So yay for a successful camp Glow!

In other news, I finally got to know my neighbor who lives directly in front of me and he is amazing! He speaks excellent English and has done all sorts of home improvement things to my house. He is an amazing gardener and I asked him to help me start my garden, and since then, he has taken it upon himself to do all my home improvements like slashing all the grass, digging up six garden plots, building me a nursery, and clearing all my land! Really the surroundings around my house look great because of all his work! So I finally started a garden and it's already sprouting! I've planted green peas, green beans, pumpkin and he gave me maize seeds because of course, no garden is complete without maize for mealie meal to make nshima :-) In my nursery, I planted chili peppers, spinach and cilantro! I'm so excited, hopefully I have a green thumb! I have so much extra gardening space though so if any of you want to send me things, I'd love to have some seeds for flowers so I can make my last three plots flower beds! I love all flowers and would love anything you send!

My neighbor told me he was a former light weight boxing champion in Zambia and he likes to be called by his boxing name, Ba Billy Casper--his birth name is Christopher Musekanya so I call him Ba Billy. He is so smart, knows so much about politics and American pop culture. He is about 60 or so years old and has five children. He spent most of his life growing up in the copperbelt and returned to live in the village because his grandfather was the founder of my village and he wanted his family's presence back here. He has taught me so much about the Zambian political system, as well as the political systems of Africa. He also loves the Beatles, Rolling Stones and James Bond movies haha. We have some good conversations and I'm so glad I've finally gotten to know him because he is a great resource for me! So life's good in the village.

Next week, Christmas vacation! Yay I'm so excited. I'll let you know how it all goes! Hope you all have a happy, safe and wonderful holiday season! Miss you all and please please keep in touch, I love hearing from you all!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year's!

Pictures of my hut sweet hut--taken in the dry season, will take new ones so you can see my garden!

My Home Sweet Home!

View of my house from the insaka

My cimbusu---pit latrine

The Kitchen...I have gorgeous views all around the house!

Inside the kitchen

My hut!

My PC bike

My bedroom

My cozy bed protected by my trusty mosi net!

Hello All!

Hope you all had a very relaxing and wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. Although it was sad not to be amongst my family, I did enjoy my Thanksgiving and even had an actual turkey dinner so it was fabulous!! The turkey was courtesy of the commissary in Lusaka...and the cooking was all done by Carroll Anne who is an amazing cook and she did a great job. I definitely over ate...and any weight that I had lost at site has been gained, plus some haha. In Zambia, being told you are "fat" is a compliment...and when I returned from Thanksgiving, I have had so many people tell me I'm fat :-) For Thanksgiving, all the Northern Province volunteers went to Kasama. We had a couple of meetings...some staff from Lusaka came up and gave us updates on the happenings of Peace Corps in general, and then on Thursday we had a house meeting just to talk about maintenance and such. It was nice to see everyone, but man 23 people in one house can get a little crowded at times!! But I like all the volunteers so it was a lot of fun and nice to let loose a little in the company of fellow Americans.

So things are going pretty well here in Zambia. My house finally got fixed and with the past few rainstorms, I've managed to stay quite dry! However, I did wake up one morning at 3 am to raindrops falling on my face....not fun, but luckily I was able to come into Mpika, buy some more plastic to put on top of my mosquito net and all is better now! I have posted some pictures on facebook, but I'll post some up here too so that you all can see my wonderful home and it's surroundings. It really is beautiful and I really am growing to love it all--rain or shine!

Work wise, November was pretty much a dead month for work...but luckily things are picking up. This week is Child Health Week so I'll be going around to the different villages with my EHT-Ellis and we will talk with the villagers about how to keep their children healthy. I also biked out a few weeks ago to Fisonge Village, which is about 20 k away to see their community school. It was in such a bad shape...actually, the school was closed because everyone was out picking caterpillars and the school did not have a roof or proper furnishings. It was really sad...and I'm not a Education volunteer, but hopefully there will be something I can do to help with that situation. I also went to Chailo Community school which is about 9 km away from me in the opposite direction of Fisonge and it was just as bad so we'll see what happens. This week, I will be having my Program Assistant, Beene come to my site for a site visit. It will be nice for her to see my place and for me to voice concerns...though I don't have any besides the lack of work.

In a week, Camp GLOW will start and I am really excited. Laura and Carroll Anne have been doing all the planning and so they really deserve all the credit...but I'm excited to be taking part and hopefully all goes well.

I have made Christmas plans yay! I'll be going with Kate and Meera (Kate's nearest neighbor in Mbala) to Livingstone to see Victoria Falls and go white water rafting on the Zambezi :-) I am so excited I really can't wait! On Christmas Day we will be going to Botswana for a 2 day, one night safari trip into Chobe National Park...again, SOO excited! I've always wanted to go so now is my chance. I'll definitely post pictures and let you know how it went.

So that's the happenings in my life. Not much to update because it's been slow moving but I'm enjoying every day, for all it's ups and downs, and the children certainly keep me entertained! I have taken some videos of them dancings that I'll post too.

Miss you all!! Please continue to write or email as I love hearing from all of you!!!

Hope you all have safe and happy holidays!!!

Oh man, my life has been pretty crazy these past two weeks!!!

Hope you all had a fabulous Halloween and are enjoying the beautiful fall-hopefully not too cold -weather back in America Land.

Things here, like I said, have been pretty interesting.

So let's start back at Halloween: For the weekend Mary Ellen, Carroll Anne, Laura and I decided to have a little party (by this I mean spend the night at a lodge in Mpika and make popcorn balls haha). Kate came down as well because she was on her way to Lusaka to get a retainer fitted (she lost her's) so it was so nice to see her! So we had a fun little party, I never realized how dangerous making popcorn balls could be but Mary Ellen certainly warned us haha. We also managed to get Cim's restaurant to make us a pizza (which they never do!!) so all was going well. Kate came down Friday, CA came down Saturday, and so the party was on Saturday night. On Sunday, Kate was going to hitch down to Lusaka. I had no work planned for the following week because my village is literally a ghost town-I never believed the villagers but they certainly do scatter during caterpillar season! So all of my work has been put on hold while my villagers are out and about collecting caterpillars. Because of this, I decided to go down with Kate to Lusaka to get my stubbed toe looked at by the medical staff. My toe nail has completely lifted on my big toe so I wanted them to decide whether to take it off or not, luckily they didn't cut it off :-) So Kate and I hitched early Sunday morning down to Lusaka. We got very lucky and had two fabulous hitches. We arrived in Lusaka as the sun was setting and stayed at Lynn & Les's--friends of my dad who work with Save the Children in Lusaka. They are so good to us, and it was super nice to take a hot shower, have a home cooked meal and sleep in a comfortable bed :-)

Monday, I saw the medical team and they doctored my toe and gave me some advice as to how to keep it clean. It was a brief visit. Kate got very sick so she had to see medical and they did all sorts of tests on her. I was told that a cruiser would be going up to Northern on Wednesday so I decided to go back to my site on Wednesday with them. Kate got worse on Tuesday and also I found out Tuesday that there was a fuel crisis so the scheduled cruiser trip was cancelled, leaving me on my own for transport. I decided to take the post bus (the bus that delivers the mail to all the provinces) but when I got to the station, the bus was all sold out and would not leave again until Friday. My only other options were to hitch or take the night bus...neither seemed appealing to do by myself and PC does not recommend either so I decided to take the post bus on Friday. So I had a week in Lusaka---a lot of time! Luckily, on Wednesday, I was sent to the National Convention on the Prevention on HIV/AIDs in Zambia to represent Peace Corps because none of the staff members could go! IT was such a big deal, and I was definitely under-dressed and the youngest person there! It was a three day convention on looking at the six drivers of HIV/AIDS and creating policy recommendations to help prevent the spread of it in Zambia. The President of Zambia, Rupiah Banda, gave the opening remarks on the first day, but I was not there so I missed it. I attended on the second day and I learned so much it was really amazing. I am glad I was sent and will be sharing the information I learned with my fellow PCVs at our In-Service Training (IST) in January because all of it is relevant to the work we are doing in the fields.

So I left Lusaka with Kate, who was feeling much better, on Friday early in the morning on the Post Bus. Everyone told us to take the post bus because it was very reliable and would get me to Mpika during the day...well, this was probably the worst bus ride I've ever taken! It was so slow and took all day just to get to Mpika! Kate was going to continue on to Kasama but by the time we got to Mpika, it was getting very dark and she would not make it to the Kasama House until very late so she got off and was going to stay at my site.

Well here's where the real craziness began....we got to my hut and it was a complete disaster! The day before we had had very heavy rains in Mpika so my poor house flooded and my bed was soaking wet! It was such a disappointment, especially because we had just been on that crazy bus all day and all we wanted to do was sleep...but there was not much I could do. I called Ba Jonathan who is the Northern Province Program Assistant, and he told me to stay the night in Mpika at Melodies' Lodge. So Kate and I had to hitch to Mpika in the dark...not a fun experience but luckily we got a good hitch and Melodies' had room so we just both crashed when we got there. Saturday morning, we went back to my site to assess the damage in the daylight. Luckily, nothing valuable was ruined although some of my pictures did get wet. I also realized that my walls are falling down...especially by my bed so this was not good either. I called my counterpart Gilbert and he said there was not much they could do because the villagers were gone.I called Ba Jonathan back and he told me to come to Kasama and stay at the house...so that's where I have been the past few days. Tomorrow, Ba Jonathan is coming to my house with me to see what has been done on my house since I've been gone. I really hope my bed is dry so I can stay there...it would be pretty terrible if I had to come back to Kasama!

So really no work has been done these past two weeks...it is a little frustrating because that's what I'm suppose to be doing now and I can't plan anything since no one is around. I think I'll focus my energy on the anti-aids club at school and helping out at the clinic.

So that's the happenings in my life now...it's always an adventure here in Zambia..nothing ever goes as expected but that's the exciting part of my life now!

I really hope all is well back home!! Miss you tons!

Happy Almost Halloween everyone!

Hope you are all enjoying the cool fall weather and getting into the holiday spirit! Things here are going well...it is HOT HOT HOT now! October is supposedly the hottest month out of the year, and I really didn't think it was that bad but now, it's pretty unbearable at times-especially when biking!

Saturday was Zambian Independence Day...I thought everyone would be out celebrating but to my surprise, there was hardly any celebrating! I came into Mpika to meet up with Laura and we biked to her house where I spent this weekend. She lives 15k (7.5 miles) from Mpika and man I'm I sore from that biking! I thought 7k from my site to Mpika was bad, but she is all up hill so it makes it even worse. But she is so in shape she finds it no problem to bike that much haha. I tell you, after two years, I'll certainly be able to enter the Iron Man competition :-) The weekend was nice and relaxing.

Today, we are in Mpika trying to finalize plans for a camp that Peace Corps is putting on. The 7 Peace Corps volunteers in Mpika District will be hosting camp GLOW-Girls Leading Our World from December 6th-12th. Since Mary Ellen and I are the newest volunteers, we are included but not expected to plan for the event, however since I'm so close to town, I've offered to help Laura in the planning. For the 5 volunteers who have been here for a while, they will be bringing two girls from their local schools and one teacher to this camp....and basically it is an empowerment camp. I am really excited as this is really what I spent a lot of my time at college studying! It will be interesting to see how this camp plays out and hopefully the girls will walk away from it really empowered! I'll keep you updated on how the camp goes!

Work wise, things are really picking up...I never thought I'd be busy during my "no-work" community entry period but really, I'm super busy! Last week, we started village inspections so I was able to meet everyone in White Village and Chilebela Village. My catchment area of Chibansa has 27 villages so now I can cross off three of them that I've visited! The third being my own village of Bufuba. I am also super busy with the anti-aids club at school. Last week, we had our first official session and I gave the lesson on myths and facts of HIV/AIDs. I was impressed by how much the students already knew, but there were a lot of truths that they thought were myths so it was a good lesson for them to learn. This week, we are tackling the immune system and how HIV/AIDs affects it. Wish me luck! The students are really great though and seem geniunely interested so it works well for all of us. Last week, I attended a School WASHE meeting (Water and Sanitation Education) which was sponsored by the NGO DAPP-Development Aid People to People. It was held at the school and we went around looking at the various water sanitation facilities...whether the school had adequate toilets, hand washing facilities, a water source etc...unfortunately, my school is lacking greatly in water sanitation so hopefully this new School WASHE committee will try to work to improve the school's situation. They don't have a water source at school so school children are made to bring a 2 liter bucket of water every day so they can clean the toilets. They don't have hand washing facilities so children don't wash hands after they use the restrooms. It really is a hygiene issue! And there are so many students but the school lacks adequate desks so the students sit on reed mats on the floor. I am hoping that I'll be able to work with the school to improve their situation, somehow.

On Thursday, I came to Mpika to meet up with Dr. Mulenga who works at the Ministry of Health. I introduced myself and told him I'd be working with him to help Chibansa catchment, but he is such a busy man that I feel my workings with him will be really limited. I also met with the DEBS-Director of the Education Boards and she is a really great lady. I am hoping she will work with me to help Chibansa School.

This week, my agenda is pretty full with more village inspections and anti-aids club. I finally got my kitchen door put on, and painted, and my kitchen walls cemented so all I have left to do is lime the walls (to keep termites away) and my home will be complete. As soon as I have everything set up, I'll take pictures and post for everyone to see!

Alrighty well I'm going to sign off for now. I really hope you all are well! Please write and keep me up to date on your wonderful lives!

Miss you!!!

P.S. I apologize in advance for my previous and any future posts that I have not spell/grammar checked this blog....I write against the clock and never have enough time to go back and re-read so sorry sorry!

Greetings all!

First off, thank you so much for all the fabulous mail I've been getting...it is wonderful to hear from you and I'm glad that you are finding this blog enjoyable! I finally figured out how to change the comment setting on this blog, so now anyone who wishes should be allowed to comment! Hope that helps those of you who have wanted to comment!

Also, many many thanks to Ms. Rice's class for the letters! It made my week and I have written responses to all of you so be looking for them--but remember, it's mail from Africa so it might take a few weeks! Also, Happy Birthday Ellie!

Things in Zambia are still good...I'm still in this "honeymoon" stage where everything is perfect. My home is still not complete but it is getting there. The carpenter finally came and put a new door on the house and it is beautiful! So much more secure than my previous door! But he has not finished my bookcase for my clothes so I'm still living out of a suitcase. My shelves for the kitchen are finished and are also beautiful...this carpenter is very talented and is so friendly I'm glad I'm giving him lots of business! I finally got plastic put up on the inside of my hut so now when it rains, I'm protected! I live in the windest place in Zambia so unfortunately with the plastic, it makes it extremely loud but I'm managing to sleep at night so that's good!

Yesterday, I held my first anti-aids club meeting at the school. There are so many students it is a little overwhelming!!! But the first meeting went well, we laid out the rules and expectations for the club. I am hoping to co-facilitate with the students so every week, I'll have one of the older students lead a session with me. Next week, we are really delving into the topic of HIV/AIDs and learning about what it is and how it is spread. I think it will be a good successful club, and I'm hoping that I can take a group of dedicated students up to the other basic school in my district, Kaole Basic to start up a club there since they do not have one.

October 24th is Zambia's independence day and I have been warned that on this day, the village will become deserted because all of them will be out picking caterpillars! That's right, in my district, Mpika, we are famous for our caterpillars and the Zambians love to eat them! So my villagers will camp out for months in the "bush" and collect as many caterpillars as they can and then sell them in the market for additional money! It is a crazy notion, but I am told I can't leave Zambia without trying caterpillar....so after the 24th, I'll be able to give my opinion on caterpillar :-) On the subject of food, Zambian food is very bland compared to other places. They staple is a dish called Nshima, which is made by adding a ton of mealie meal to water until it thickens. They eat Nshima for every meal: breakfast, lunch and dinner! It usually is accompanied with a relish of some sort (relish= side dish) like chicken, rape (which is like collard greens) or cabbage. I have grown accustomed to Nshima but do not cook it at site for myself, so many of my villagers are very worried about my eating haha because Zambians believe that no one is full unless they have eaten Nshima. My favorite relish is called Ifisashi and it is made with Rape, ground nuts that they finally ground into a paste and mix into the rape. It is very delicious!

Work wise, things are great. I had my first meeting with the neighborhood health committee on Tuesday...and this was the longest meeting ever! I literally was at the clinic from 8 am in the morning until 4 pm!!! The only good thing was that they served us lunch :-) The committee is really great and the people are all excited to work with me! Next week, I start my village inspections so will go around with Ellis to all of the villages in my catchment area to meet everyone. I am so ready to do this as I feel I have not explored my area enough!

Today, I am in the Boma with Mary Ellen-my neighbor in the village of Mpepo-about 100K outside Mpika. She is my closest neighbor from my intake...and is one of our older volunteers but she is really great! She is like a mother-figure and is always looking out for us. She came to town so that we could meet with the ministry of health officials. Unfortunately, they were not around today, but we had a productive day meeting with the other various NGOs and introducing ourselves. I splurged and had an ice cream as my birthday treat to myself :-)! I might go to Mpepo with her to see her village and come back tomorrow but haven't decided yet if that's what I should do.

Other than that, I'm still adapting and adjusting to life in the village.

I miss you all and think about you all the time! Please continue to write and feel free to comment now!! Hope all is well back home!

Greetings from the internet cafe in Mpika! So I am on day 10 of being on my own in the village and so far things are going really well. When Ted, the PCVL (Peace Corps Volunteer Leader) dropped me off at site, he was very disappointed because they had not put a new roof on the hut, or put a roof on my cimbusu (toilet) and there was grass all around the hut so he told them that if the work was not finished in three days, he would come back and take me out of the site. So the first night in my hut, I had a lovely view of the full moon so it was lovely! Thursday, I thought the village would turn out in crowds to finish my house....but they didn't! And I spent the day just playing a lot with the children and reading. There are a million children in my village...most of them are great, some of them are not! I often feel like I am babysitting them which gets old and frustrating at times, but for the most part, they are just overly curious excited children. My house is located literally in the center of the village...everyone has to walk by my house to get to the village center or the paved road, so there is always foot traffic. In many ways, I love it because it doesn't feel so remote or isolated. At other times though, when I would like privacy or alone time, it is quite difficult! But overall, I love my site and the location...I am surrounded by beautiful beautiful hills and trees so I am at peace when at site. On Friday, Ba Gilbert...my counterpart who is the chairperson for my housing committee, came and really started work on the house. He whitewashed my walls for me and painted the walls with some paint I had bought in Kasama. I told him I could do the painting but he didn't believe me so did it himself! Hahah oh well, at least it does look good. On Saturday, a carpenter came out to my site and I ordered some furniture which will be ready tomorrow, I'm so excited! I am getting a door to put on my kitchen, which is a smaller mud hut outside my regular hut so I'll be able to store all my food and kitchen stuff in a room that will be secure! I am getting a new door for my hut because the one I have is not good. I am also getting shelving for the kitchen, as well as a bookcase to put my clothes in so I'm excited that once it is in the house, I'll be able to unpack. Also on Saturday, the headman for my village, Ba Lawrence came and built a new roof for the cimbusu as well as a fence so there toilet was a little more private! That same day, later in the afternoon, I met with my clinic staff to lay out agendas for the next three months. Ellis Kalengo, the EHT (Environmental Health Technician) is a really great resource and I am looking forward to working with him. When I returned home, the roofing crew arrived and put some plastic and thatch on the roof. Lucky, they did it just in time as we had our first rain storm that night in Mpika!! I was sooo lucky and remained dry throughout the night.

Sunday, I went to the Catholic Church with Gilbert. It was a VERY long service...and we didn't have a priest--there is a shortage of priests so it was some community members who led the service. But the service was very nice and the music was amazing...so much drumming, singing, dancing--truly an African church service. Ted came back as promised on Sunday and was so impressed with the work on my house! He really made the village feel special haha.

My real work week began on Monday but I had nothing scheduled so I spent the day at home...reading and trying to come up with plans for work. I played a lot with the children who are great when I want company! They love doing things for me...like fetching my water, washing my dishes and it is hard for them to accept no! I am hoping I can have someone help me with laundry and getting my water regularly as carrying a 20L jerry can is extremely heavy and I'm a weakling! I am amazed at how strong the women and children are here. I see mothers with babies on their backs, 20l jerry can filled with water on their head and a bucket in each hand all the time and am always in awe at their strength! The women in Zambia, as I'm sure throughout Africa, as the hardest working group of people and there days are so long and tiring, but they always greet with smiles on their faces and seem happy! I am excited to work with the many women's groups in my community!

Tuesday, I was suppose to go the clinic but my EHT cancelled on me so I had my first meeting cancelled....haha I guess I am suppose to get used to it as this is quite the norm in Zambia. So I spent the day doing home improvement projects...and proved to Ba Gilbert that I could paint by painting the windows and window sills in my hut.

Wednesday, I met with Laura and Carrolle Anne...two PCVs who live in my district and have been here for a year. Laura is my nearest neighbor and is 7 k from me. We went to Mpika town and had lunch at a Somalian restaurant which was very nice and then I came back because I had to meet with the Anti-Aids club at the basic school. The club is very excited to start work and it will be interesting to see what they have already been doing. The teacher I'm working with worked a lot with the Jeana so he wants to carry on where she left off. I will be going to the school regularly.

Thursday, I went to the clinic and observed the ante-natal clinic....it was an interesting experience and the expecting mothers were so friendly! I will be going regularly to those clinics and hopefully doing some health talks on safe pregnancy and safe motherhood. Thursday afternoon, Ba Gilbert's wife brought me lunch...it was so sweet of her and it was nice to have some company (other than the children) while eating.

Today, I am in Mpika...have spent the morning at a training for community drama hosted by Health Communication Partnerships (HCP) and it was very interesting. I am hoping that they will come train my anti aids club so that they can start doing community theater as a tool to educate people on health issues. I also meet with the DAPP organization in town and have set up meeting times for next week to discuss possible work. I am staying in Mpika tonight with Laura...we are cooking dinner for a lady who runs the orphanage in Mpika so I am looking forward to that.

So far, I am staying upbeat and positive. Life here truly is much more simple and beautiful. I enjoy spending time reading, relaxing and meeting the various people in my villages. They are so friendly and so welcoming. It is hard to believe I'll be living in this community for two years! It seems so long, yet not enough time for all the work that needs to be done!

Alrighty, well time is running out....hope you all are doing well!!! Please please write me or comment on the blogs so I know what's going on over there in the wonderful U.S. of A!

Miss you!!!

So I am officially a Peace Corps Volunteer!!! It is so nice to be finished with training although I will admit that it will be sad not to see everyone until our IST conference in January. Swear-In Ceremony was held at the U.S. Ambassador's house and it was such a nice event! We had people from different government ministries attend, as well at various directors of NGOs and embassies attend. Kate and I had outfits made out of citenge (colorful cloth that Zambians use for everything!) and they turned out so well! I have posted some pictures so you all can see. The ceremony was full of speeches, including speeches by some of the newly sworn in volunteers. Ashley, from my Bemba group, was chosen to give a speech and she did such an amazing job as well! She is so fun, and I am going to miss her and Ryan since they were my closest neighbors at homestay and I saw them every day!

My homestay was a great experience but I am glad it is over. It was sad to say goodbye to all of the wonderful kids and my Bamaayo but I am ready to be on my own and try to take care of myself! Last Wednesday, we had a cultural farewell day where we bid thanks to our homestay families by preparing an American meal for them. It was a great event but a very long day for us. We started cooking at 8 in the morning and the families arrived by noon. Before we ate, we had a little ceremony where I gave a speech in Bemba thanking the families-I was so nervous but luckily they laughed at the right times so I guess I was saying things correctly. We also gave gifts to our families and they gave us gifts. I gave my family lots of pictures that I had taken over the course of two months, and they gave me a very nice and useful cooking pot!

Thursday, we were picked up by the cruisers early and taken to Lusaka for some last minute administrative sessions before the swear-in ceremony on Friday. Thursday night, a group of us went to Arcades, one of the malls here, and saw a movie-Kate and I saw the Proposal while the majority saw GI-Joe because we had already seen GI-Joe. After the movies, we all had some drinks at a local restaurant and I was able to get a mojito and it was sooooo good! It made my night! Friday we had the swear in, then we were taken to another mall to do some shopping for items we couldn't get in our provincial capitals for our sights. I didn't buy much but got some photos developed, so that was nice. Afterwards, the northern province crew went to an Indian restaurant which was delicious and cheap!

Saturday, we left early for Kasama, the provincial capital in Northern and it was so nice to be on our way to sight posting! Sunday, we went to some waterfalls near Kasama and they were beautiful! We went swimming and unfortunately, as we were climbing through some wet rocks to get closer to the falls and swim, I slipped and badly stubbed my big toe and it still hurts today...it will be sore for some time but I am glad we got to go to the falls!

Yesterday was a crazy day because all nine of us new volunteers had to shop for our sites, which included household supplies, food and fun stuff. It was chaos but we managed to get everything we needed and spent less money than expected! I am so ready now for site! Today, we are posting four volunteers. Tomorrow I get posted so after this, I am not sure how much I'll be able to update this blog but I will certainly try!

The next three months is a period called community entry in which I am technically not suppose to do any work. Instead, I am suppose to go around to all of my villages in my catchment area (around 20k) and introduce myself and my role in the village. I am also suppose to use this time to assess the needs of the community and start making plans for possible work. Many have asked what I'll be doing specifically so here is a little bit of my job description: I am serving as a community health improvement volunteer so my job is to look at the various health issues in the community and see what we can do collectively, with local resources and local leadership to address and improve their health. In Chibaunsa, access to clean, safe drinking water is a major concern for them so that is something we are going to work on for the next two years. Also, diarrhea is the number one illness for children in my catchment and this is linked to the water issue so hopefully that will also be addressed. Of course big picture wise, malaria and HIV are huge and will always have to be incorporated into the work. I am located pretty close to the boma (town) so I will be able to collaborate on projects with NGOs in my village. I am really excited and anxious to start work so it will be hard to just observe in the next three months, but I know it is absolutely necessary so either way it will be good.

Alrighty well I must end this for now because my internet time is running out. I miss you all so much!! Please please continue to write and send me little messages, I love hearing from you all!

Also, my phone number in Zambia is: +260977746365 if anyone would like to call our text me!

Here are some pictures of PC Zambia Life :-)

Kate, Ang and I at PC Office Zambia

Kate, Ang and I with the new country director for Zambia!

At the waterfalls in Northern

My Bemba Group with our wonderful language teacher, Ba Leonard!

Well hope you all enjoyed the blog! Please write me! Also, if anyone would like to send me things, I have listed a few items that I could really use:

* Sharpies

* Good pens

* Wet Ones-antibacterial wipes

* Gum

* Easy Mac

* Crystal Light or powdered flavoring for water

* Vanilla-they have the fake stuff here

* Duct Tape

* Batteries-triple A and double A-they are terrible here

THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!

Miss you all so much!!!! LOTS OF LOVE! ~Sarita

Peace Corps Trainees watching a soccer game: trainers against trainees-sadly, we lost! In the photo from left to right: Kate, myself, married Ashley from my Bemba class, Ashley W and Angela :-)

My favoritest little girl in my village, Mavis! She makes me smile every time I see her!

I love these kids....they love to dance for me and have coloring parties outside my hut!

The village children and I :-)

My homestay family: Bataata Caifus, sister Joyce and Bamaayo Doris...I will miss them when I move to the village, they took excellent care of me!

Hello Everyone!

I have just been on my first overnight bus in Zambia and luckily I survived :-)! I found out two weeks ago that I was going to be posted in Northern Province in Mpika District and so last week we all went out to our sites so that we could see what we would be getting into and returned together on the night bus from Kasama-the provincial capital of Northern to Lusaka. The bus trip took about 13 hours so I am quite far away from the capital but I like it that way! I am so excited and happy about my site...I am living not far from the BOMA of Mpika which is what they call the town so it is perfect location. I also have quite a few NGOs working in the area, including Irish Aid, USAID, World Vision etc that the volunteer before me worked with so I am excited to see what I can possibly do to help. My village is great and the people are so welcoming! I arrived at my actual site on Wednesday and the villages had a huge dance and welcome celebration for me at the rural health center where I will be working. It was overwhelming but beautiful and I really feel like they want me there. I am a 2nd generation volunteer but the volunteer before me left after a year of service so they were really disappointed in that and asked if I would stay three years to make up for it! Haha...I told them I would give it my best for two years and that is all I can promise! My hut is pretty nice...unfortunately I wasn't able to take any pictures but it is pretty big! I have two rooms, one sitting room and then a really large bedroom. I also have a small kitchen outside, a beautiful insaka (gazebo) that is on top of a hill in my backyard with an amazing view of the valley and then a bathing shelter and chimbusu-toilet. I have quite a bit of land and the volunteer before me did some farming so I might try my hand at gardening :-) My house needs quite a bit of work and I plan on cementing and painting the house so as soon as it is cozy I will post pictures! We stayed at our actual sites for two nights alone to get the feel of what it would be like. This was my favorite part of training and it is so hard to be back here in Lusaka! I just can't wait to be out in the bush and trying my hand at this work! My village headman is a very nice man, although the previous volunteer did say that he drinks quite a bit-which is not surprising as most men here in Zambia drink a lot! I also met my counterpart Gilbert-he is the secretary for the Health Community Center so he showed me around my health clinic and is a good guy from what I can tell. He speaks pretty great English so he helps when I can't understand the Bemba. Oh my Bemba is improving, slowly but surely and I was able to make a formal introduction to the villagers and clinic staff entirely in Bemba and they understood so yay for that! Northern Province is really gorgeous with lots of rolling hills and trees...it reminds me a lot of Pietermaritzburg but a more dry version. It is also pretty cold, actually it is the coldest district in Zambia so my winters aren't going to be fun! Luckily winter is ending and the dry hot season is approaching.

From my training group, nine of us are going to Northern. Five of us are in the health program and four are in the Rural Aquaculture program. I am so excited that my good friend from training will be in Northern province because I think after we get posted, it will be hard to see people from other provinces since we are so far away! But Kate is in Northern and we have the same provincial house-a house that Peace Corps provides for volunteers to escape to if they need a break from village life. We are allowed four nights per month at the house, which is in Kasama. It is a nice big house but it reminds me a lot of a sorority house. I met most of the current serving volunteers and they are really great but because I guess the hardship of service, they like to drink a lot when they get together. The house is surprisingly well organzied and will be a nice escape! And there is a full kitchen so we can cook delicious food like we eat in America!

Life in Zambia is great overall but there are little things that get really frustrating. The guys are very annoying and really persistent in trying to get you to talk to them or give them money. I went with a current serving volunteer from Mpika to Kasama and she showed me how to hitch, and the entire two hours that we waited for a ride, we were approached by drunk amaguys who wanted us to take their minibuses. It is so annoying! Hitching is quite popular in Zambia and is actually a much better, sometimes safer way of getting around Zambia then the public transit. Often the drivers of minibuses or buses are drunk so going anywhere with them could be bad. We ended up getting a hitch with a USAID pick-up truck who were heading up to Kasama to build a borehole. It was a nice ride and a pleasant conversation! It was kind of scary the first time but with time, it will be a piece of cake!

Sorry this is so jumbled...I am running out of time at this internet cafe so I must close for now but I promise to update again really soon!

I hope you all are well and please please write me!

Oh I have a new mailing address, please use it:

Sarita Fritzler, PCV

P.O. Box 450100

Mpika, Zambia

AFRICA

Miss you all!

Hello Everyone! So that last post was really typed out about three weeks ago but did not publish for some reason until just right now so I'm sorry about the lack of correspondence!

Things are pretty good here for the most part. I have been at my host family for three weeks now and have adapted quite well to living in a mud hut, using a pit latrine, taking a bucket bath even though washing my hair is still difficult-a solar shower might become a necessity that I'll need sent to me-and overall my host family is great. It is a small family for Zambia but I like it. My bataata-father in bemba language-is a house builder so he is gone quite often. His name is caifus and he is forty. My bamaayo-mother in bemba-is great. She really wants me to learn bemba so works with me everyday to practice. She speaks pretty good english. She is only thirty! They have a fifteen year old daughter named Joyce who is also great. She always picks me up from school and we walk home even though I have my bike! She also really wants me to learn bemba so i am slowly getting better. It is kind of difficult but my language trainer says my group is learning the best. We actually had our first simulation test yesterday and our group scored the highest, and I got a 4.9/5.0 so not bad! My language group only has three people in it so it is perfect. It is myself and then a married couple named Ryan and Ashley. They are great and we work well together. They are also my closest neighbor at my home stay family so that is nice. We all think we will be placed in Luapula province but I will not know for sure until the end of August. Luapula is supposedly a beautiful province with lots of water and fish so we will see. It is quite far from Lusaka though.

Training is pretty intense and very interactive. We spend all day everyday in training. I wake every

morning at 6 to the wonderful choir of roosters! They sound like broken records and are so annoying! So I am awake early and have breakfast in the main house at 7 then gather my stuff before heading out on my bike to my language class which is held at the womens club-a mud hut in the middle of the bush-luckily it is only five mins away from my house. The bike riding is slowly improving-I am very out of shape but also it is really hard to ride on unpaved, rocky and sandy roads! By the end of two years I will be the most fit I have ever been :) my language training lasts for four long hours! Luckily with just three of us we manage to go a little faster so we get out early. I bike back to home, have some lunch usually rice and soya and then bike to chilimbana school where we have tech sessions. The trainers for the health tech part are great and give some really good advice. After tech we get home around five thirty at which point the sun is setting so we take our bucket baths, eat dinner and practice language with the family. I am not too fond of the zambian food so am looking forward to cooking for myself! The food is very plain so can't wait to spice it up.

The pc staff are great, especially the local zambian staff. They all have great insights and give some great tools for us to have a good two years. We have been talking a lot about sustainable development and I really dont understand why we are talking so extensively about this considering we all signed up for the job so whether we agree of sustainable development practices we are here so how can we make the most of it. For the past few days we have had so many talks about development in general and some people have some really negative attitudes about how development doesnt work. I just always want to ask then why did you chose to do pc? I hope we move on from this topic because whether or not we think it is sustainable we are here doing development work so how can we work within our communities to help them better their lives in a

sustainable way. That is what i hope we start talking about! The debate is important but not in our training seminars.

So that is a look at my life right now...I am sorry for the delayed updates on these blogs, access to a reliable computer is really hard! Please please write to me, we all look forward to mail call on thursdays :-)

Hope all is well in the states!!

Love and miss you all!

Hello everyone!

I am sitting in an internet cafe in Lusaka and have been in Zambia almost two weeks now! I am having a great time...Zambia is a beautiful country and the people are so welcoming. We arrived in Lusaka on the evening of the 23rd a few days after orientation in D.C. I met my entire group in D.C.--it is an interesting group of people. it is cool to see why people are doing this...a lot are world travelers but some have never been overseas which is so crazy!!

I am settled in my homestay family now...for the first week, we were staying at a government hostel which was nice but definitely not what I'll be staying in for the next two years. Last weekend, we all went to different provinces to see what life was really like for volunteers. I went to Southern Province which was nice to see because they will not be placing any of us down there...it is where Victoria Falls is and is a very developed part of Zambia so peace corps, because of cut backs on funding, is pulling out of that province for now. I stayed with a health volunteer named Brittany...she is a great person and gave us tons of helpful information. She speaks Tonga and we met all of her local village neighbors. She is in a very remote part of Zambia though...about a two hour bike road to the tarmac which is what Zambians call the paved road and then another four hour bike ride to the nearest town. I hope I will have a placement that will not be so remote!

After returning to Lusaka, we got split up into language groups. I found out that I will be learning Bemba so that means I will be placed in either Central, Northern or Luapula province. I have a feeling I will be in Luapula but will not know for sure until closer to the end of training. I am staying with a Bemba speaking host family...they are great and my family loves having a volunteer. It is the first time they have had a volunteer stay with them so it is a really big deal in the community. They are jehovah's witnesses so I declined to go to church but hopefully I'll be able to go to a catholic one with another volunteer's family.

Training is so intense but it will be great I hope I master the language but man, it is very different from English so that is kinda of hard. They can't say R's and have trouble with my name so i am referred to as Ba Sarah--oh well by the end, hopefully they can say Sarita. The PC staff seem nice and I have met some other volunteers who have been really great about giving us hints.

Life in Zambia is very different than in the states, but so far I'm loving it. It is a beautiful country and there is so much to learn. I hope I am able to be a good volunteer but I guess that will come in time! Two years is so long but doesn't seem long enough for the amount of health work that these rural villages need. I hope I do leave some sort of impact...

Anyways, this is turning into rambling, I'm sorry! I must close for now becuase I am sharing this internet time with a few other trainees so they need to get on now.

Please please write to me as I'd love to hear from you all!! I have posted letters so please be looking for them!

If you do send letters, please write AIR MAIL on the envelope and if you send packages, please put religious materials enclosed on the outside so that no one tampers with it!

I hope to hear from you all soon and I hope you are all well!!

Miss you tons and tons.

So here is the blog I promised I would start so that anyone who was interestd in my journeys abroad could follow :-)

I leave for Arlington in 5 days and Zambia in 7 days!! Crazy how time is just flying...and there is still so much I have to do and pack! But I'm very excited!

The Peace Corps asks us to respond to some questions they post in our aspiration statement. I have attached mine so that you may get an idea of what I hope to accomplish during my two years.

MY ASPIRATION STATEMENT:

A: The professional attributes that you plan to use, and whatever aspirations you hope to fulfill, during your Peace Corps service:

The professional attributes I will bring to my role as a Community Health Development Peace Corps Volunteer are my strong work ethic, professional standard of dress and deportment, strong research skills regarding health content and community organizing processes (best practices), and my willingness to give and receive constructive feedback to improve personal and project performance. Above all this, I hope to build on my personal qualities of patience, flexibility and a sense of humor.

B. Your strategies for working effectively with host country partners to meet expressed needs:

To be productive and effective as a health volunteer, I will approach my job with a solid understanding of what is expected of me and commit to excellence in carrying out my responsibilities. To do this, I know I will need to form strong connections with staff at the rural health clinics and other community based programs, government officials, village leaders and, of course, adults and children in the community. I am a very easy going, social and collaborative person by nature, as well as being widely traveled (I lived overseas for many years), so I am comfortable in reaching out and mingling with people at all levels. I will naturally lend an active ear to the problems of parents and children in the community who are, after all, the intended beneficiaries of the good work we are supposed to be doing. I think the biggest challenge I will face is how to effectively manage differences amongst various players in how problems are perceived and addressed, especially when efforts and solutions seem inadequate. I will strive continually to improve my skills in communication and diplomacy; and seek guidance from committed local partners, other PC staff, volunteers, and counterparts whose work I respect.

C. Your strategies for adapting to a new culture with respect to your own cultural background:

Being an American citizen of Indian heritage, adopted by Caucasian parents, and having spent the majority of my childhood growing up in various parts of the globe, I will continue to approach life overseas with an open mind, heart and, of course, a good sense of humor. I know that life in Zambia will be very different from the life I live now in America, and have lived in India, Egypt, Ghana and South Africa; but I think my unique background and experiences will make the transition easier for me than perhaps others. I am fully aware, however, that I will need to hone skills in adaptation and resilience. In order to be accepted in Zambian society, I will present myself as someone who is eager and willing to immerse myself in the culture by acquiring language skills and experiential knowledge about traditions and ways of life. In turn, I will project an openness and pleasure in sharing things about my own life and culture. I know that at times I will feel frustrated with differences in, for example, concepts of privacy, time, gender roles, pace of work and so on, but I have a fundamental trust in people’s inherent kindness and sensibilities concerning respectful attitudes and behavior—even when there are differences. I will always seek to be understanding and courteous in my dealings, even when outlooks significantly differ and conflicts arise.

D. The skills and knowledge you hope to gain during pre-service training to best serve your future community project:

During pre-service training, I hope to steep myself in information that will better my ability to serve as a productive volunteer. In addition to language training, which I know will be emphasized and I hope to master, I hope that health and organizational development training specific to the different sectors volunteers will be working in will take place. Of course, I expect that there will be many elements of training that have general and important application to all volunteers concerning their day to day lives (living in mud huts by themselves in Zambian villages!), personal health, safety, security and so on. In my case, I expect (hope!) to be introduced to health content, a profile of local needs and challenges of the communities regarding nutrition, sanitation, and diseases (HIV/AIDS, malaria, TB, childhood illnesses), and effective strategies for progress in addressing them. I would like to end my pre-service training with a good basic knowledge base (in all areas!) on which I can build through my own personal initiative and the resources PC will provide down the road. I hope to receive whatever is most important to get me up and running as quickly as possible in settling in to my house, community and work assignment.

E. How you think Peace Corps service will influence your personal and professional aspirations after your service ends:

My father served as a PCV in Nepal in the late 1960s, both my father and mother worked for PC, and have spent nearly 20 years living overseas, with my father working largely with CARE and Save The Children in program management and as a country director, and my mother working and volunteering with local NGOs. I have been deeply influenced by their service orientation and experiences, and hope to follow my father’s lead in pursuing an upper level position with an NGO, or even join the U.S. Foreign Service. Presently, I am following my mother’s lead at working for little but gaining invaluable grassroots experience and contributing the sum of my education, interests, skills and talents toward facilitating positive change at the local level. My father’s political science degree and experience growing up on a farm served him well in grassroots agriculture coop development work as a PCV in Nepal. My mother’s background in social work has likewise served her well in bringing value to health and child protection programs. I believe that my political science degree (with a minor in gender studies) has prepared me well for new immersions—now in health studies, and will enhance my understanding of health work within the context of complex social, political and government systems. My upbringing, past studies, new learning and commitment will, I believe, combine to make me an asset to the U.S. Peace Corps, and will guide me in my future plans for graduate school and a career in humanitarian work.

Well I hope to be in touch with many of you before I leave but if not, please please keep in touch and know that you are all in my thoughts and prayers over the next two years!!

My address for the next three months while I'm training:

Sarita Fritzler, PCT

P.O. Box 50707

Lusaka, Zambia

AFRICA

Please write me, I promise I will write back to every letter I receive!! and send packages... :-)