I haven’t been very good at keeping everyone updated on what has been happening here in Zambia. Laura has come over for a visit and I guess we’re just having too much fun to sit down and type up an update. Here is an email that Laura sent home to give you a taste of some of the fun that we have been having since she has been here. Enjoy…

Hello all!

I just wanted to write an email to update you on the adventures of Zambia. A little cheesy, oh well. So since the last email Trev and I have lived the village life, celebrated the 4th of July with fireworks, ridden a train for what seemed like countless hours, eaten octopus on a stick, gone to church, seen a copper mine, and enjoyed many good times with friends. The trip comes to an end in about a week but I know we’ll fit more adventure in before things come to an end!

So if anyone’s talked to my mom, knows my mom, is facebook friends with my mom, or third cousins of hers than you’ll know that Trev, myself, another volunteer couple Tyson and Daphne and her mom, Sandy, went on a ten day trip to Zanzibar, Tanzania. We spent about two days on a train each way, so about five days on the island of Zanzibar in the Indian Ocean. We finally boarded the train 63 hours late, at 5am (meaning we had to wake up around 3:30am and traveling in the 40 degree weather). We got to the platform to only find the station master. After we haggled down to the actual price of the ticket (they always try to rack up the price so they can stick a little extra in their pocket) the train came howling down the line with drunken Zambian men hanging out the doors welcoming us ‘mazungus’(rough translation, white people) aboard. There was no one to tell us where to go; all the train personnel were sleeping of course! We jump on headlamps lit and hoping to find our 1st class sleeper cars with no sleepers! As we walk, bouncing from wall to wall, we eventually found what looked like the nicest cars so we set our stuff down. For the next two days we played endless games of UNO, drank 500ml beers, and ate chicken and chips (aka French fries). There were baby cockroaches in our room but at least it didn’t smell too bad!

We finally made it to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania where we found our names on a paper sign held by our driver. Thankfully we followed the advice of some friends and arranged our trip with a tour operator. Our driver drove us to where we then bought ferry tickets to the island. About a half an hour later we got onto the boat with about 70 other white foreigners (hadn’t seen that many white people in ages!) loads of locals, and marveled at the aqua colored water. No one lost their cookies upon docking up to Zanzibar. The smell of the ocean hit Trev and I like a wave of home. The humidity made our skin a bit sticky yearning for the salt water even more. We were again met by another driver with a sign, he spoke English! He drove us about an hour to the north part of the island, Nungwi Beach. The island is lush with vegetation, palm trees, vines, flowers, fruits that I’ve never seen before. The area is so moist that the dirt is always red. It was so interesting to see the women in their headscarves covered from head to toe in the heat; the island is 99% Muslim. We arrived to the white-sand beach to find our rooms only about 50 yards from the shoreline. For the next three days we enjoyed seafood pizzas, seeing the Masai people and their unique jewelry, finding urchins and star fish in the water, walking barefoot everywhere, eating phenomenal continental breakfasts, and sleeping in air-conditioned rooms!

On the fourth day our driver picked us up and drove us back south to Stone Town. The city seems to remind me of NYC, Italy, and Miami simultaneously. The buildings are old, very tall and crammed together. About 5 times a day there is an Islamic prayer that comes on over speakers so that the whole town can hear. Our hotel was right near the open-air fish market so there were plenty of vendors that lined the streets selling all sorts of seafood on sticks raw and cooked! Octopus (with the suckers!), lobster, calamari, king fish, red snapper, squid, marlin, dolphin, clams, crab, and lots of locally named fish were all ready to eat. They also had fries, meat pies, coconuts to drink, and small cups of espresso. Everything sold for about 100-2,000 Tanzanian Shilling, so anywhere from 20 to 1.50 USD. In a park in the central part of the town, about 6pm every night, about 100 vendors set up their tables to sell more seafood, Zanzibar pizzas, sugar cane juice, and popcorn all by the light of a few hundred gas lanterns. There were hundreds of people there, locals and tourist to have dinner in the park. The local boys would jump off the wall into the water as entertainment, no belly flops to Trevor’s disappointment!

The next day, we were taken on a Spice Tour in one of the local villages. At first, it seemed like something we should do but by the end of it was something that I think everyone should do! How many people actually wonder where our powdered ingredients come from? Not me! I got to see how coriander, turmeric, curry, coffee, cocoa, ginger, and so many more things are grown. We tasted so many fruits I’ve never heard seen before. Custard apple, Jack fruit, Litchi, Guava, and all sorts of oranges provided a new experience for my taste buds. I highly recommend it!

The vacation had to come to an end! We rode another ferry back to Dar on one of the nicest ships ever. The waves were large and the captain drove fast! Needless to say, someone got sick and wanted everyone to know! I was afraid it was going to have a domino effect; thankfully, I got out to the back of the boat and fresh air just in time! We came back to find that the train was delayed a day. Thankfully, our tour operator found us a nice hotel for us last minute. But it gets better! There was no 1st class or 2nd class tickets left! So we could either wait another 2 days in Dar for the next train, or we could rough it in 3rd class. Because we all had plans waiting in Zambia it was more important just to get home. We eventually found that there was another class, Super Seater, between 2nd and 3rd. We had seats, next to windows, however there were many people on the train. The dining car and bar were just ahead of our car so there were plenty of patrons making several trips by us all throughout the night. There was no sleeping the first night. The lights were on from 7pm to 7am with movies playing all night with the sound on! Thankfully, we were able to move up to a 1st class car about half way through the ride. There’s nothing better than 3rd class to make you appreciate 1st class! How nice to turn the lights on and off at your own will. It’s the small things in life, right?

Finally, after much anticipation we arrived back in Mkushi, Zambia, home sweet home. We slept in a beds that didn’t jerk and screech throughout the night, how glorious! Now that we’re here, it’s back to the village for the next couple of weeks. It seems there is still so much to do in not so much time. Even still, the good times will keep rolling and I’m sure the adventure isn’t over yet. We’ll keep you posted as it all unfolds.

Hello everyone, it has been a while since I have updated this blog and I would like to insert a great excuse here → _________ but I don’t have one. So let’s move onto a recap of what has been happening the past couple of months. I left you last returning to my village shortly after my vacation to Livingstone which again was beautiful. While back at site I spent some time working on my oven, grill, and stove combo unit in my insaka. I wanted to get most of it finished before having to leave the village again for in-service training (IST) in Lusaka. IST serves as the end of your “official” training and a time for you to brush up on anything you didn’t understand or want clarification on from the initial training you received upon entering country. It is also an opportunity to catch up with other volunteers from your intake that have I had not seen since training ended and being posted to our respective provinces. I enjoyed seeing everyone, caught a movie at the only theater in Zambia, watched a NFL playoff game or two and visited the casino although didn’t gamble much, I’m no rain man. It’s probably one of the only casinos that you can walk into with gym shorts, cut off shirt, and sandals when the rest of the patrons are dressed to impress.

After vacation it felt like I was in the village and then out again before I knew it. When getting back from IST I was looking forward to being in the village for a good amount of time since spending so much time out, but a little thing called the Super Bowl came up. Needless to say I “had” to go find someplace to watch it, I felt it was my duty as an American. I and a few other volunteers met at a guest house to watch the game that was to come on at about 1:30AM. We all got ready for a sleepless night of hard hitting American football but 30 minutes before kick off the power went out in the whole place. Typical… So I spent the rest of the night waking up on the half-hour to check if the power had returned. It had not. So we woke the next morning and caught the replay of the game on ESPN International the next morning although half of us already knew the outcome of the game through messages from back home. It was still a great game. Although there were some aint’s in our mists I couldn’t help but rooting for the 6’4” laser rock arm Manning.

I then returned to my village for a stent really starting my duties in the RAP program. I am now on a weekly schedule of visiting farmers in my immediate area, Kapeshi, and the surrounding villages of Mpande and Ndubala. A typical day starts with making coffee, either instant or the real deal now that I have gotten a coffee press, I refuse to call it a F***** press and making oats from water that I have heated the night before and stored in a thermos. I caught onto this trick from other volunteers after having to start a fire every morning to heat water. After my morning ritual of breakfast, reading my Bible, and feeding my dog I head out to visit farmers. If it is to Mpande (11km) or Ndubala (14km) it can be a little bit of a hike before reaching the contact farmer of the area. The contact farmer is a person that the previous volunteer, Pat, had identified as a person that speaks English relatively well and has a desire to help the community progress in fish farming. They will lead me around to the various established farmers or those who have an interest in getting started in aquaculture. I will visit on average about 4 farmers a day. This entails biking to their homes which can be quite spread apart, greeting them and their family, going to their pond which can be a bit of a walk sometimes through a wetland area, advising them on the course of action they need to take to improve, maintain and/or create new ponds. After that there is normally another sitting session in the farmers insaka, where the farmer will usually feed you or give you something: beans, avocado, oranges, peanuts, cucumber or anything they have an abundance of or feel generous with. Then it’s onto the next farmer. When I get back home if there is enough daylight left I will try to get some work done on a project around the house such a weeding my field, weeding my flower beds, or putting a few more bottles in my wall (which has been at a standstill lately) before getting ready for the evening chores of heating water for bathing and preparing dinner which my recent construction projects and packages from all of you have increased the quality of tremendously. After dinner I either read a little or throw darts by candle light. I have been getting pretty good. You all better start practicing for when I get back or you come over. Then it’s up the next morning and starts all over again. It can get somewhat repetitive talking to different farmers about the same things over and over again. It seems that many of them struggle with the same management issues so the name of the game is convincing them that you know what you’re talking about and if they follow your directions it will result in bigger fish and intern more money in their pockets. I have become a master at analogies; I even surprise myself at some of the absurd things that I come up with, but it is one of the best ways to get your point across.

I am currently in Serenje working on getting financial aid/scholarship for one of the boys that lives on my compound, Peter, so that he can continue his education in the 10th grade at one of the BOMA schools. He is 18 and one of only 2 students that passed his exams qualifying him for acceptance to the premier school here in Serenje. The only problem falls with his family providing enough money for tuition. So my mission of the past week or so has been to meet with the headmasters and deputy headmasters to see if they have any opportunities for “vulnerable” students as they refer to them over here. There is a school that has agreed to accept him and put him on their bursary allowing him to attend without paying tuition.

I have a fish harvest coming up in Ndubala so I’ll try to get some pictures up and let you know how it went when finished. Hope all is well back home. I’ll comment on my use of shoes in a later blog entry Jer. Until then…

I can’t believe that it is already 2010 and I have been in Africa just shy of 6 months, it doesn’t feel like it has been that long. The holiday season has passed thus far, surprisingly, without too much home sickness. Over here the commercialism of the holidays is nothing compared to back home. That in conjunction that I am not around family and friends (besides those I have made here) made the holiday season not seem like the holiday season, therefore not allowing me to miss home. The fact that I was able to take a vacation to the beautiful Victoria Falls also helped abate homesickness. I traveled to the South Province of Zambia with two other volunteers, one from central and eastern province, and spent Christmas at the Southern Province provincial house. It was very relaxed, we cooked a good meal and watched Christmas movies and played Christmas music in an attempt to try and salvage some Christmas cheer. Although Toby Keith and Jimmy Buffet do have great Christmas albums the mood fell short of normal. We did cook a very nice dinner or should I say that the other two volunteers cooked a nice Christmas dinner of rosemary chicken, green beans, and mashed potatoes while I was laid up with a 102.5 degree fever and swollen foot. I’ll step back a bit. On my way to the Central Provincial house (a place for volunteers to spend 4 nights a month plus office space) I fell off my bike and cut my foot and was able to dodge infection till Christmas night. After taking some anti-biotic drugs the fever broke that night and the swelling started to go down allowing me to continue onto Livingstone the 26th. We traveled from Choma (location of the southern provincial house) to Livingstone by hitch hiking. I know what you’re thinking, “Trevor you’re a combination of crazy and stupid” but it’s nothing like it is in America although I can’t completely dispel that sentiment. We rode with a very nice teacher who even stopped at her sister’s house and fed us lunch, nshima with eggplant and sausage, and then took us the rest of the way. Once in Livingstone we went to the National park to see the falls which we were able to enter for 10¢ opposed of $10 because we are technically Zambian residents. The falls were amazing, completely breathtaking. We were able to get some great pictures as you can see.

The Livingstone/Victoria Falls area offers lots of activities such as bungee jumping, micro flights, helicopter rides, gorge swings, river cruises and white water rafting. We chose to do the latter two. The rafting was crazy. We did a full day which consists of 25 rapids one of which is too strong for amateurs like us, so we portaged around. We flipped the raft twice and experienced rapids 3 and 7 the discount way, without a raft. The second time was at the beginning of one of the longest rapids on the river which we had the pleasure of becoming very familiar with it without the raft. None the less after a few near drowning incidents we made off the river and took a cable car out of the gorge where we were picked up and driven back to our hostel. On the way back from the river we saw a wild elephant hanging just outside of a small village. That was a nice surprise since there is little to no big wildlife in my village, although we do have chameleons, tortoise, mongoose, birds, lizards and many other small animals. For New Years Eve we enjoyed a sunset cruise on the Zambizi river. It was a great trip and I really enjoyed spending having a break from my site and getting to see some more of Zambia. I am hoping to take Laura to Livingstone when she visits.

When returning to site I got into an interesting ride with a Zambian who had studied agriculture at the University of Nebraska. It was very strange to have a conversation with a Zambian that speaks with American slang. He knew lots about the Midwest so we had a nice conversation about farming, Husker football, and Zambia on our three hour ride together. When I asked him what made him want to go to school in Nebraska he said, “I wanted to learn from the best” I thought it was an interesting perspective that other parts of the world regard the US Midwest as the pinnacle of crop and livestock farming. The next part of the trip which was much shorter, about 100km (Mukushi to Serenje), although it took almost as long as the first 350km leg, but the truck did play Kenny Rodgers, Dolly Parton, and Shania Twain greatest hits, so I guess it wasn’t so bad except for the last musical selection. I am now back at site and trying to get as much work done as I can before having to leave again on the 15th for In-service training in Lusaka. I have started rotations visiting farmers and continued work on my cooking unit. I am hoping that I can finish it before I leave. Getting back to village life was not as difficult as I thought after the long break. I have slipped back into my normal routine and keeping busy. Kids still find it fun to stare at me, adults like to watch me work, nshima still tastes the same and Dominic the two year old that lives in the house next to me still cries every morning at 5am so I guess not much has changed, except the grass getting very tall, since I left. My field is looking good though, potatoes are getting huge along with squash, beans, peaches ‘n cream sweet corn courtesy of Aunt Jean and much more. I’ll try to take some pictures of the field and put them in the next entry.

Since Thanksgiving things have been going well. In the village I have been doing small projects around the house as well as visiting some farmers here and there. My newest project is an oven, grill, stove combo unit in my insaka (gazeebo). I know what you're thinking; starting fires in a structure made out of sticks and dry grass isn't very smart and you would be correct, but then who said that I was brightest bulb on the tree. Being that there are no Christmas trees, or bulbs here I guess the point is moot. Anyways the project has gone very well so far. I visited another volunteer couple that has an oven of similar design that works well, so I have constructed it after their oven which is pictured on the left. It is essentially a metal drum (40cm x 40 cm) laid on its side and encased in bricks with a chimney on the back. A fire is then lit underneath the drum called a shomaker in bemba and the entrance covered with a sheet of metal. When I went to visit Tyson and Daphne we made some delicious pizza, so I am really looking forward to finishing mine so that I can step up my cooking in the village. The whole thing has inspired me to have an iron chef Kapeshi competition. I think the ingredient will be caterpillars or termites that will take some thought though, because they are both so good! I am hoping that after I finish the oven I'll be able to show the other villagers that there are other ways to cook other than over a three stone fire. So far the oven/grill/stove project has come along well and before leaving the village I had the stove nearly completed. All that is needed is for the mud to dry (picture bottom). That will take about 2 weeks. I am hoping that when I return from my vacation that it will be ready to cook on. Cooking should definitely be easier and save more wood. It will also hopefully eliminate the constant smoke in my eyes, face, and lungs that goes along with cooking on a three stone fire in my insaka. To see me cooking you would think that the food is so bad that I am actually crying about it. It's true that I constantly cry, but it's not so much about the quality of my food as an involuntary response to the copious amounts of smoke produced then trapped by insaka. With the completion of this cooking unit I am hoping to evacuate some of the smoke from the insaka.

Before starting my trip to Victoria Falls for vacation I am going to spend a couple of days at the Peace Corps house in Serenje. It is a mix between office space and a place that volunteers can come to in an attempt to help them keep their sanity. It is a really nice opportunity to see other volunteers, talk about what is going on in our respective villages and just relax. After my time at the house I am headed to Lusaka and then onto a Peace Corps house in the Southern province to spend Christmas eve and day before continuing onto Victoria Falls. From the pictures I have seen it should be an amazing site. They have activities such as bungee jumping, micro flights, and white water rafting to do around the falls. I have not decided on any of them but I'll let you know how it turns out when I am done. I am looking forward to getting out and seeing some of Zambia after finishing "community entry" which is a mandatory stint spent in the village without vacation or days at the house for the first 3 months. It will be a well deserved break from village life full of electricity, hot water, and good food. I hope that all is going well on the home front and that everyone is enjoying good food and fellowship with friends and family. I'll hopefully be white water rafting on a river with one of the largest waterfalls in the world.

Merry Christmas

Happy belated Thanksgiving everyone, I hope you all enjoyed your time with friends, family and especially all of the delicious food. Over the Thanksgiving week we had what are called provincial meetings. This is a time when everyone in the province comes together to talk about administrative things, also because I and the other fisheries volunteers are new, there were also some meetings to be had with the local Department of Fisheries officials. Those meetings were more of a meet and greet, introducing ourselves letting them see our faces so they know who they will be working with for the next two years. While out for meetings we also picked up some supplies for our Thanksgiving meal and what a meal it was. We had all the usual Thanksgiving dishes: mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, cranberries, green bean casserole with onion ring topping, corn bread, pumpkin pie among others and of course turkey. I say of course but I was probably just as shocked as you are while reading this, "You can get turkey over threre?!" The answer…yes. We had two birds, one which was brought from Lusaka by the administration that came up for the meetings, the other we got live from one of the local villages. So while everyone else was cooking the supporting dishes three PCVs including myself set out on the task of dressing the main feature of our meal. We opted not to let the bird run around headless after the deed was done due to the clothes on the line in the yard, that was probably for the best. This was the first time any of us had dressed a turkey but how different could it be from a duck or chicken. I found out not very different anatomically, but they sure are a heck of a lot bigger. When we finished it wasn't the prettiest job in the world but it sure tasted good. On Thanksgiving Day I had the opportunity to go to a nearby orphanage to play with the kids for a while. We taught them four corners, Simon says, and heads up 7 up. They had a great time and at the end we gave them temporary tattoos which they thought were the best. It really was a great thing to do on Thanksgiving to help remind me of all the things I have to be thankful for. Every day here is a constant reminder but as with everything it is easy to become desensitized, so taking a trip to see the kids on Thanksgiving seemed fitting. On Friday we all headed back to our villages to resume normal life. Since being back I have begun working on the bottle wall and it is looking really good. As of right now I have 16 of 84 windows finished. It's a really slow process removing the bricks, fitting the bottles into the windows, and then cementing them in. I guess that it's a good thing though; it will keep me busy in my down time. Even with the 16 finished it makes a huge difference in the amount of light in the house.

Now onto the story that prompted this blog entry, I hope that my words can do it justice. So as I was working on my bottle wall I see a group of people passing my house, so I pop out one of my earphones (which is playing an audio book by James Patterson) to hear if they greet me. It is very common to be greeted not only by people that you know but also by people that you don't know even if they are far away. The greeting distance is much further away than would normally require a greeting back in the States especially to someone that you don't know. Sure enough they greeted me, "Mwa bombeni" (good working) to which I politely responded, "ee mkwaii" (yes sir/mam). It is also common for everyone in a group to greet you even if it is the same exact greeting given by the person before them. So I continued in the same fashion which if you ask me gets to be a little redundant after the 5th time. Usually after everyone has greeted you would normally go back to what you were doing, but this group kept on greeting but in what seemed a mocking tone. When I looked closer it looked like a group of 5 or 6 teenagers, 15-16 years old. Apparently the, I'm so cool and a little punk attitude at that age transcends not only cultures but continents as well. When they all started laughing at me it confirmed that, yes…they were mocking me. That's ok I thought, so I stood up, walked toward them and called them over, "Isa" (come). We'll see who's laughing now; I was only slightly upset more annoyed really. When only one turned to come and the rest looked like deer caught in the headlights I called again louder and a little more forcefully, "ISA!" at which point they all turned and started to run. By this point Mwenso, the dog left by the previous volunteer, had picked up on what was going on and was after them on a full sprint. Next thing I knew Mwenso had the closest boy, the one that had started towards me, treed and was sitting at the base barking at him. The sight of seeing this boy genuinely scared and scrambling up the nearest tree turned this whole thing from annoying to completely worth it. As I was telling the boy to come down from the tree I wanted to laugh at the hilarity of the whole thing but I didn't. He wouldn't come down and kept pointing at the dog. Zambians as a general rule are scared of dogs, so one that has you up a tree I imagine can be quite frightening. I told Mwenso to "stop", a command that the previous volunteer Pat taught him, and he went back to his normal harmless self. The boy hesitantly came down out of the tree and I proceeded to ask him what he found funny about me giving up two years of my life to help his people and try to learn his language. I don't think he understood much of it but it made me feel better. I asked him his name and then told him not to pass by my house gawking and laughing at me anymore.

It's possible that story is one of the "you had to be there" varieties but I hope not. Mwenso definitely earned his keep today and does most days, barking at people in the night that approach my house and scaring little children at least the ones that don't know that he is really a gentle dog. If I can just teach him to sic a chicken that would make life a lot easier, they can really be destructive animals when you are trying to plan a garden. I will be spending some time trying to get my field planted this week. The potatoes from Nebraska have not germinated yet but it has only been a little over a week. I am planning to spend Christmas with a friend posted in the Eastern Province. We are going to take a trip to Victoria Falls. It should be fun. Google it…it looks pretty amazing. I'll let you know.

    It's November and it's hard to believe. I guess it's that way for a number of reasons, be it the constant rain that we are now receiving or just the general sense of being in Africa. The months do not seem to feel same here. I didn't even get any trick or treaters for Halloween possibly because I couldn't turn on the porch light. I'll have to work on that. I have also found that my days of the week no longer have the same familiar feel. You know what I mean, looking forward to work finishing on Fridays, trying to catch a fish Saturday afternoon, or going to church on Sunday morning and then coming home to watch football and prepare for the week ahead. I have lost that here. All the days seem to run together no one different from the next. I am hoping that as I get further into my work here and can develop a more consistent schedule that I can regain some of the normalcy of a weekly routine.

    I guess that I should have started by letting you know what I have been up to since my last blog post. I have been notified that my loyal blog readers are asking for a post, or should I say threatening that I should get one up soon or else… so let me backtrack and take you through what has been going on the last month.

    When I last left off I had just been posted to my new site and was thinking about taking on a building project to try and enhance my living conditions and give me something to do during my first few months. Probably more of the latter, being that I probably won't have many house guests during my stay. As it stands now the addition to the house is nearly finished and all that is left are just little ascetic jobs. The remodel/addition consisted of building onto both ends of my rectangle hut, adding a front porch, putting on a new roof and laying cement in the new spaces. At first glance it would seem like a pretty easy job, nothing that should take too long (that's what I thought), but that would be a misstatement. Granted the fact that the project was completed in under a month would lead you to believe the previous but I can assure you that it was not the case. I can only attribute the success of the project in the timeline that I had laid out nothing short of a miracle, or so I am told as far as Zambian building projects go. When I tell fellow volunteers what has been accomplished in the short amount of time they are amazed because some of them that have been here a year or more still have not been able to get their communities to assist them with a house project let alone one with the complexity of this project. It was really took some thinking on the outside of the box for the villagers to believe that the plans that I had would work. Add a porch and putting a rounded end on an already rectangular structure was a stretch for them. Back to the issue of the project being difficult, it was very interesting to see how Zambian home construction differs from our idea of home construction in the United States or in the developed world for that matter. There is no Home Depot, no Lowes, no lumber yard, not even a True Value; if you want something you have to get it yourself or make it yourself.

    The project started after my 1st visit to the village still during my Pre-service training when I was able to spend two nights at my site. During that time I spent meeting villagers, introducing myself and brainstorming how I could make this space my own. Mike Tilley always says that if you can make a space your own your mental state is improved, or something like that. I took those words to heart and started devising a plan on how I could do that in the time frame that I had been given. That time frame being posted in mid-September and rains coming late October early November. That would mean that if I even had a chance of finishing the project I needed to get a start on collecting some materials ASAP. I put my counterpart (George, he worked with the previous volunteer) in charge of finding someone to start making bricks and collecting grass to thatch the roof so that when I returned we could start building. Making bricks consists of someone mixing a clay type soil with water forming bricks, sun drying, and then firing. I had about 950 bricks made for the project, just short of the 1000 that I requested. Brick making is a very labor intensive job so I really paid for it by village standards. It cost me K100/burnt brick so K100,000 total, roughly $20, quite expensive for building materials, right? Physical labor is something that is not valued very highly here. The part that I left out or didn't realize to request was that the bricks be brought to my house as part of the cost. So that left me with 1000 bricks about 100yds downhill from my house to be moved before construction could start. Oops. That is where I realized that this whole thing was really going to require some effort on my part to finish this thing on time. This was fine because if you know anything about my mother, labor is something that doesn't cost a lot in our house either. I attempted to rally the community to help me with the brick carrying figuring many hands makes light work but I only found 4 hands and an old wheel barrow, so with our 6 hands total we carried all the bricks with one wheel barrow and our arms. It was discouraging to me at first that I couldn't find anyone to help me even though I was giving up 2 years of my life to help them, but I tried to quickly put that thought out of my mind. Part of the problem finding help as that people would rather sit and drink at 7am, watching me carry bricks, than actually help. That topic is for a different time though. After a personal moral check I was back on track.

    After bricks were moved we began on the construction of the addition. We planned on joining the new walls to the existing ones before removing the end walls so that my house could remain livable during the construction process. After we had finished the addition and new roof we would then knock out the old end walls. The brick laying process was very interesting. Despite having very raw and crude materials an effort was still make to make things square and level. This can be frustrating when things don't come out this way and proves to be very difficult when you are working with materials that are themselves not square or level. Most of our bricks were lopsided and misshaped, which I have realized now is due to having a poorly skilled brick maker. I have seen plenty of mud bricks since I've been here that seem to be perfect. Due to the fact that our materials were less than spectacular (or at least I'll blame it on that) my house had character from the onset, but that is a good thing right? Of course it is. The brick laying went pretty smoothly except having to struggle with the brick layer to show up when we had scheduled work days. He would send his son the morning of to say that he was not coming or would just not show. The reoccurring theme of people saying that they will do one thing and then having many excuses as to why they do something else can be exhausting and demoralizing if you can't get your head straight. Once I could get him here though the work did move quickly. We laid bricks to add onto the bedroom, one end, and then made a round end on the other. The round end is special because it has 84 windows in it. That's right 84! Before leaving the States after realizing that I would be going to Africa and living in a mud hut, I thought it would be neat if I could have a part of my hut with glass bottle windows. When drawing up plans for the addition I tried to work that into the plan and I did in a big way. Each window requires 2 soda bottles to fill and there are 4 rows of 21 windows, so it will require 168 soda bottles to fill the windows. For the time being until I can collect enough bottles to fill the windows I have filled the gaps with bricks that have been lightly mudded on the front. When it comes time to fill with bottles I can just scrape off the mud and insert the bottles and mud them in place. I forgot to mention earlier that the binding material for the bricks is just mud, dirt + water and let dry. So the whole house is really constructed with dirt. Even the insides are then smeared with mud and allowed to dry once they are dry they are "painted" with a mud that is off-white in color. So when the bottle area finishes it will hopefully give some nice light into the round area which I hope will make a nice little breakfast nook since that side of the house faces East so there should be some really good light in the mornings.

    Following bricklaying it was time for the roof. This was going to be a big job because the house had become double as long (~8m). Doubting that the community was going to help much with the collection of the beams for the roof George and I set off into the African bush (sounds adventurous right?) with axes to cut beams for the roof. As I said before there is no lumber yard so all the beams for the roof were cut by George and I. The beams then needed to be hauled out of the bush and to the house. This was a big job, in part because there are only two trees that the Zambian's use to construct their roofs because they are strong and are more resistant to weevils which eat at the beams reducing their lifetime. Not knowing very well yet which trees were which George was intricate in helping me select trees to cut for the roof beams. Not only did it have to be a specific type of tree the size and straightness of the trees also matter. Some parts of the roof require larger trees while others can use smaller pieces to reduce weight. After collecting all the beams it was onto the lashing fiber. They gather this from a certain tree that they fell and then strip the bark from to remove long fibrous part of the tree under the bark. This fiber is then used to lash the roof together and to secure the grass when thatching. It is a very tough labor intensive job, like all parts of the construction. Realizing that the roof job was going to be too big for George and I to do by ourselves within the timeframe we went to speak with one the village headmen (local leader) to try and solicit help for the roof. We ended up with 26 people who turned out for "Roof Day" and working from 8am to 2pm the roof framing was finished. The next day began thatching which took 2 days. At the end of the first day the rains came while I only had ½ of a roof. Luckily I could spend the night in my insaka which is the equivalent of a gazebo although gets more use by Zambians for cooking, gathering, eating, and just about anything else. So now I have a new house that I can call my own and can start settling into. The porch has beams installed so that I can hang my hammock which should be nice when it is really hot out or when it is raining. It was really very interesting to be able to contrast how building projects differ from what I was used to back home. I tried to involve myself (or needed to by necessity) in every aspect of construction and try every job so that I would have a good sense of Zambian construction.

    Other than the building project, which has taken much of my time, I have harvested a few fish ponds and begun to work with some farmers giving advice on their current ponds. This week I have meetings with other the villages within my 25km radius work area. I will begin a rotation where I visit the surrounding communities one day each week. There are 5 communities so it should make for a nice 5 day work week. From what I understand that worked out well for the previous volunteer. I am also hoping that it will help me move toward getting on a routine so that my days don't seem to run together as much. Other than the house project things on the work front things are just getting rolling which is expected by Peace Corps. They advise that you use the first 3 months to get to know the community and develop a plan of action for how you are going to tackle you work so that when you start things move more smoothly. I am still adjusting to life here which is full of personal reflection and emotional ups and downs. Even being here the short time that I have I already find that I am improving at appreciating the little things that happen in my day to day that before I would have completely over looked. Just the other day I found myself riding in a vehicle back from the Mkushi (larger town nearby) with the likes of Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, and some guy from Botswana. With "Jolene" blaring on the radio I thought to myself, "Where am I?" Little victories and things that I would have taken for granted before have become the best way to keep a positive demeanor and moral up. I continue to find little things everyday that let me know that God is looking out for me.

    Next week we have provincial meetings so I will be with a group of other Americans over the Thanksgiving holiday. I hear that they cook up a bunch of food and have a regular Thanksgiving meal. I am looking forward to that. Other things that are in the works or that I have plans of doing in the near future are getting some chickens so that I can have fresh eggs from time to time and building a wood burning oven so that I can make bread and cook other things more easily. The rains have also become very consistent and when it rains it really rains. It is like the rains that we get back in Florida when it really comes down. It is kind of surreal sometimes when I look out my front door and there is sheeting rain and I am dry as can be in my mud hut with grass roof. Being that the rains have begun it is time that I begin planting my small field, that the family here has lent me. I plan on planting watermelon, beans, corn, beets, cabbage, carrots, peppers, potatoes and a number of other things. One of the highlights in my field will be potatoes that were sent all the way from Nebraska courtesy of my Grandma and Aunt Lori also I am really looking forward to the "peaches and cream" sweet corn that Aunt Jean sent from Missouri. The packages that everyone has been sending are great. I never thought I could be so excited to get a package with powdered cheese or canned meats. I will try to add things that would be useful to get in packages to the "wish list" section but it is really enjoyable to be surprised by what turns up in the boxes. There will be some new photos of the building project up, but they only show half of the project. The other half are on a flash drive in the mail to mom and I'll have her upload them when she gets them so you can see the before and after.

I hope this post was enough to tide your appetites for African adventure until I can write next. If it hasn't you should just book a ticket like Laura and come over for a visit. I'll let you play with my pet hyenas, Carlos and Ramón. I'm training them to bark in English.

“Home Sweet Home”

So I guess it’s about time that I give an update of what has been going on in my new Zambian life. Since my last post I have finished training, sworn in, and been posted to the village. The stories that go along with all of those are numerous but here is a “quick” recap: I finished my final language and technical tests and scored well enough to swear in. The swear in day from what I understand is the most formal occasion that I will encounter during my 2 years here in Zambia so of course I pulled out all the stops as far a dress is concerned, a Columbia shirt and tie kakis and moccasins. I felt it only appropriate that I wear my best being that among those in attendance for this nationally broadcasted event was the US ambassador, PC director, heads of the Zambian department of agriculture and fisheries and numerous others. The morning consisted of the trainees arriving at the ambassador’s residence in Lusaka which is very nice complete with swimming pool, basketball hoop, tennis court, and beautiful lawn. After a number of speeches we were sworn in as Peace Corps Volunteers so you no longer have to write PCT on any of the letter/packages you send or will send. Hint Hint. Seriously though thank you to all of you who have sent letters and packages I appreciate them so much!

Then it was off to the Central province of Zambia. We did some shopping for posting buying buckets, pots, pans, braziers, rice, flower, beans, etc. you know…the normal things you would buy if you were moving into a mud hut in the heart of Africa. Luckily for me I am a replacement volunteer and the volunteer before me, Pat, had left me a number of things that I didn’t have to buy when posting. It was definitely an experience to pull up to what would be the poorest flea market type area you could find in America in two luxurious Toyota Land Cruisers full of white people with cash and go at it. Despite all that was against us it went relatively smoothly. After all shopping was complete it was time for posting. This was it the time that we had heard so much about from other volunteers during training the point when the cruiser pulls up to your site drops you off with all your stuff and leaves, just like that. We had been told it was at that moment for most volunteers that this whole thing gets very real. On the way to my site the cruiser got a flat tire about 3km from my site, no problem right…wrong the spare was also flat. So close yet so far. We had to wait for another vehicle to come out to give us a tire. By the time I got to my site the sun was setting which gave me just enough time to get all my things packed into my little hut because the other lockable structure’s (kitchen) door frame was not attached. The other thing contributing to this already interesting situation was that two brothers were sharing my hut up until the moment I pulled up. So I pilled all my stuff on the side of the hut while everyone watched and one of the brothers moved their stuff out, but I got in none the less. I will admit it was a bit strange to see that cruiser drive away and realize that I was really doing this. Before I left people asked, “has it really set in yet?” I think that was the moment. So my first night in my new hut I realized I forgot my mosquito net in the truck. So I lathered up with bug spray lit a mosquito coil went to bed and hoped for the best. At about 3am I was awoken to the sound of rustling outside, then voices, then my door being kicked in. What! Ya, good thing I had chained the door shut. I turned on a flashlight, shouted “something” at the person outside in English and he ran away. Then I collected myself thought really… on my first night. You would think they would let me have one night before they try to break in. I went back to sleep. The next morning I found out that the person trying to get into the hut was the other brother that had been living here but not informed that I was here yet.

So the first night was interesting to say the least. The next day I biked 15km to the road where I picked up my mosquito net from a police station where it had been dropped off for me. Before leaving I asked if there was anywhere close that I could buy charcoal so that I could cook something for myself since I had yet to do that, and was told that I could get some where I was picking up my net. So after picking up my net I loaded a 5.5’ (yes that is ft.) onto the back of my bike and proceeded to bike home up and down hilly bush paths, over cricks and streams with charcoal airplane wings on the back of my bike. They are about as aerodynamic as they sound. That was an adventure. I think I was laughed at/ gained some respect from everyone I passed. When I was about 2km from home some women informed me that they were selling charcoal. Wow. So there was a total miscommunication. The second night it rained for the first time since I had been in Zambia. About a month too early for the normal rains, frantically I packed up anything that couldn’t get wet and went to bed. In the morning I found that the roof held with minor leaks.

So I am still adjusting to village life and I figure I will be for a while. I have started preparing a small piece of land that I am going to plant the seeds that Mom and Mike sent with me along with some Zambian crops. The first step was to clear all of the weeds and plans from last season. This involves swinging the equivalent of a nine iron at tall grasses and weeds. That was fun. Next is to hoe new ridges wait for the first good rain, and plant. Next week I have a large community meeting planned where I will meet some perspective fish farmers, followed by house construction the following week. I plan on putting a small addition onto the house that I moved into. It will lengthen the now bedroom and living area slightly and include a front porch. I’m looking forward to that. It will be fun to compare and contrast Zambian and American construction projects. This is getting long for me so I know it is for you. I’ll keep you posted on the construction project and try to post photos when possible. The internet connection around here is too slow to productively post photos so I’ll try to get some up as soon as an opportunity presents itself. Thanks for everyone’s support, prayers, letters, and packages (ahem). Until next time…

On another note here is a little bit that shows how different it is here in Africa from our lives back in the United States. The PC full of acronyms, they gave us 4 pages of them when we arrived, has a day during training called PACA day which stands for Participatory Analysis for Community Action Day in short it was a day with a break from language to spend with our homestay families to see what a full day with family was like including all house chores. The day started with sleeping in till about 7:00 which was awesome. After a breakfast of tea, bread and peanut butter I helped my host brother and sister Aaron and Martha to put the roof on the icimbusu or pit latrine that had been sitting in the dirt yard since I had arrived. Bamayo (mother) thought should take at least 5-6 people to lift the roof onto the structure. So after getting tired of waiting the help to arrive I told Aaron and Martha that we should be able to do this job ourselves. As soon as Bamayo was out the door, to finding other help, the three of us were on it. About halfway through the process I was slightly regretting my impatient decision wishing I had waited for help to arrive. In the end we had the grass thatch roof lifted onto the icimbusu before the help arrived.

The next thing on the list for PACA day was to cook food with the family so after heating some water over a fire and a bath which consists of me, a cup, bar of soap, and bucket…it works. After my “shower” we headed to the market to get some provisions for lunch. On the way to the market, a 4km walk, I asked Martha and Aaron if they would like to walk another 3km or so to see the training fish pond that they have been using to train us. They were very excited to see the pond being that they had never seen one before although they had eaten fish numerous times. I guess it’s like Americans eating steaks without ever seeing a farm? None the less they were excited to see the pond and the fish swimming around. This provided the first glimpse for me of what some of the next 2 years will be like. The amazement on their faces as I explained the process of fish farming will possibly be what I will experience out in the bush.

So on the way back to the house we went to the market to pick up some beef, rape (kina like collard greens), and some tomatoes. After our 14km round-trip journey we arrived at the house and proceeded to cook lunch. Along with our purchases it is required that we prepare nshima (pronounced nn-she-ma) which is the staple food of Zambia. It is eaten with all meals even breakfast sometimes although I have not experienced this first hand. Nshima is so much a part of the culture that it has its own verb for preparation and multiple sayings revolving around it. My favorite goes something like this: someone would greet you “Muli shani (how are you)” and you would follow with the response, “Taficila pabwali” meaning it can’t be better than nshima. It is so important to Zambians that I have seen babies cry if they are not allowed to eat nshima. It is so important to Zambian dining that everything that is eaten with nshima is considered “relish” even if it was a whole side of beef, doesn’t matter still relish. With all this talk of nshima you might be wondering what exactly it is?

Well…it’s no big secret so here you go… Nshima is corn flower and water. Really. That’s it, such a simple thing that has captivated Zambia. What you do to prepare nshima is to heat a pot of water over coals till it comes to a slight boil at which point you add corn flower while stirring until it has reached a soupy porridge like consistency. After the desired consistency is reached stirring is stopped, pot covered and let to simmer for ~15min. The porridge turns slightly yellow and starts to bubble and thicken slightly. After this simmering more corn flower is added while stirring until the nshima has reached the consistency of play-doh. By this point it has become like stirring bricks in a pot, and is very difficult. I will say though that on my first attempt at making nshima, although spilling quite a bit, I was told that I was the first volunteer in the area to successfully make nshima on the first try. As I later gathered it was due mainly to volunteers giving up after they reached the brick stirring step. After nshima is finished it is rolled with a spoon and placed in a covered dish to be served for the meal. Although nshima has little nutritional value it can sure fill the stomach. I have upgraded to taking a minimum of two large spoon rolls of nshima with every meal. I’m not sure if it is a result of an newly acquired taste for nshima or a lack of “relish” that has prompted my new found “love” of nshima. All joking aside nshima really isn’t that bad, although it doesn’t have much flavor, it kind grows on you. After finally discovering a source of hot sauce I can eat nshima all day long.

After making lunch the family taught me a how to do a number of household chores including: heating bath water, planting corn, sweeping, doing laundry, etc. The funny part was how amazed the family was that I needed little to no instruction on how to do these chores. I’m not sure if it was because I am a man (they do little household work here) or because I am American. I think it was more heavily weighted on the fact that I am American. After showing me how to plant corn the younger kids took the hoes out into the field to try and dig up field mice which they then bring back and eat. A little different from stateside children’s games but this is Africa! So as the kids were “playing” I was “learning” how to start a fire. Shortly after we got our fire going and water heating the kids came screaming back to the house from the field. My first thought was that they were successful at catching a mouse, but when I shared my hypothesis with my younger host brother Aaron he said, “Awe, insoka” with a very serious face. Translation: No, snake. Wow! So the whole family proceeded to run to the field where the snake was and proceeded to throw rocks/large dirt clumps at the snake. This was of course after trying to stop me from getting to close to the snake to take a picture, I got the photo. When I say the whole family I mean everyone, even Bamayo. It was quite a site to see. Luckily I had my camera with me and recorded a video of the ordeal to show ya’ll back home which I will try to upload when I can get on a good internet connection.

So after killing the snake Bamayo wanted to buy me some shake-shake I guess for a job well done that day. You might be asking yourself what shake-shake is so let me enlighten you. I could probably write an entire post on the drink but I will keep it short. Shake-shake is a corn based beer that the locals drink. In two words it’s not good. Since bamayo was being generous I figured it would be rude to refuse. It is kind of like a soupy gritty fermented corn porridge. It has quite a sour flavor that I can’t really describe, it taste almost as if the drink has gone bad but apparently it is meant taste that way. They are sold in 1L paper cartons for about 2,500 Kwatcha so about 50¢ which makes it readily available on the local salary whether or not the family has food to feed their children but that is for another blog post. It was an interesting day, so I figured why not make it even more eventful with a 1st time taste of shake-shake. I have posted pictures of all this already before writing this post. Hopefully the pictures will make more sense after reading this post. The next eventful thing to talk about is the 2nd site visit so I’ll try and work on getting that posted ASAP. Again thanks for your comments at the end of these blogs as well it is really great to read them and see what everyone is up to. I’m glad that Kevin got Alex to tag along on his Colombian adventure that sounds like a great time guys. Until next time…

From the desk of Michael Tilley: LAURA EDWARDS A SELLOUT!!!!AP The Retreat, Port of The Islands, August 25, 2009: Little did they know the impact of placing Laura Edwards and her trophy redfish front and center in the September issue of Florida Sportsman. “The issue literally flew off the shelves—we are in our third print and see no end in sight!” exclaimed a delighted Karl Wickstrom, Editor in Chief and Founder of the magazine. “In our forty years of publishing we have never seen the like---it just hit the stands Saturday and we have quadrupled sales. Subscriptions are up 23% already in anticipation of her next appearance!” Fishing out of the Retreat with the able guidance of Captain Trevor Luna and Minchul Kim, Laura masterfully lured the big red out of its hiding and played it beautifully to boatside where Luna deftly swung it aboard with the bogas. “Oh My Gosh!” exclaimed the almost speechless Edwards. Then, with cat-like quickness and artistic skill, the ever alert Luna captured the moment for posterity. The rest is history. “I owe it all to my Captain,” the ever gracious Laura later told the media throng assembled near Jackson, Mississippi. “That and the formidable challenge before me to outfish the renowned fishmaster from South Korea, Min Kim. I just could not bear having Loser Duties to Min!” The ever-humble Min Kim took his medicine well. “I was very impressed with her technique---She’s the Best!” said Min. Edwards, now settled into her landlocked abode in the backwoods of Mississippi, vows to return, urged on by Wickstrom and his cohorts for another blockbuster issue. “I’ll be back. Word has it a new challenger, Charlotte Tilley, has threatened my status on the Trophy Wall. We might just do an old-fashioned fish-off. I’m calling her out!!” said Edwards.

The promise of a return bout between Laura, Min and Charlotte has the fishing world breathless in excited anticipation.

I can’t believe that it has been one month already since I left South Florida and arrived here in Zambia. Leaving home and the initial transition to Zambia has been the hardest so far, but since arriving I have to admit that I am too busy with all the training to feel homesick yet. The training is rigorous. On paper I wouldn’t have said that it was going to be all that tough but when you get here and are in the thick of things it is quite demanding. I went into that a little in the last post but at the end of the day when you get home and want to take a load off, flip on the TV, and have a cold one that’s not really an option. I normally get home as the sun is setting and have to find some motivation to start studying by candle light. I guess the fact that little to no one will be speaking English where I am going should be motivation enough, but it is definitely difficult. Also the whole family dynamic in the house can be trying at times. While at home Bemba is spoken out of an effort to help me learn and also because the English proficiency level in the house is lacking by most members, this can be draining at times. After dinner the family usually sits around and talks wanting me to stay and participate in the fun. But when I know that I need to be studying and the fact that I can probably only understand at best 10% of what is being said it can be difficult at times to want to stay and participate. This feeling is worse when it is more than just the “immediate” family, that term used loosely, around. For example there was a wedding yesterday which has brought family in from all over Zambia to attend. This has increased the sleeping capacity of our already small house from 7 to about 10. I really don’t know where they all go to. Getting back to my point, when there are multiple people around it is just entirely too difficult to try and follow multiple conversations at once while I have the language proficiency of a 1nd grader. Suffice it to say that sometimes it is difficult to keep positive while I am sitting there like a deer caught in headlights with Bemba flying every which direction around me. These are just a few of the obstacles that get in the way of trying to accomplish an already very challenging task of becoming proficient enough in Bemba and technical training in order to move out on my own in about 5 weeks.

Technical training has been on the other hand very enjoyable and a lot less foreign to me. The program is called the Rural Aquaculture Promotion (RAP) program. Essentially trains PC volunteers to work for the Zambian Department of Fisheries (DOF) to help promote aquaculture on a semi-intensive level to rural farmers. Peace Corps and the Zambian DOF have a Memorandum of Understanding that in short says that PC will provide educated, technically competent volunteers to work under the Zambian DOF while PC takes care of all the volunteers needs. The goals of the DOF and PC are to help fill a gap in manpower and fish production from a country, Zambia, which could benefit largely from reliable high protein food source. The RAP program equips rural farmers with the knowledge of how to construct and sustain a small semi-intensive fish farming business. So we as volunteers are trained in everything from pond construction and management to marketing and sales.

The RAP program was started in 1996 following a very successful model utilized by PC in the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire), this “Zaire Model” was funded by USAID, implemented over a 15 year span and is the basis of the RAP program. So the training that we are currently receiving is based on over 20 years of aquaculture experience in Central Africa alone. In this more than 20 years of Central African experience and research the RAP program has come up with a set of standards shown to be the most effective model for fish production with minimal resources. The program model allows small mainly subsistence farmers for approximately 35,000 Kwatcha (approx $7 USD) to start a fish farming business that will see yearly revenue of 600,000 – 1,000,000 Kwatcha (approx $120 - 200 USD) per pond. These are just numbers that I have worked up from current personal estimates of fish costs at market this will vary region to region. The K35,000 start up cost is only the cost of fingerlings which after the initial stocking will not be required for subsequent ponds. The standards also keep input costs to a minimum if not non-existent due to integration of other farming practices and utilization of sustainable natural resources. The species of fish that the RAP program is promotes for stocking are two cichlid (Oreochromis andersonii, Oreochromis machrochir) and one tilapia (Tilapia rendalli) species. On a side note after learning about these species and already harvesting a training pond, the largest fish the size of my hand, I want to know what the type of tilapia we farm in the US and get those big boys over to Zambia. The tilapia here peril in comparison.

So all in all I am happy about the prospects that the program offers. One of the things that I find most intriguing about the program is the way that it uses low cost and low technology solutions for pond management. Learning how to maintain a fish stock keeping them healthy and fat for little to no cost to the farmer, it’s amazing. Although I have been talking about the “idealistic” outcome it has been explained to us numerous times that this is not always the case mainly due to mis-management or lack of pond management. Trying to explain “abstract” concepts such as phytoplankton blooms, temperature gradients, water quality, and single sex fish stocks can apparently be difficult for some of your everyday African subsistence farmers. There are also things like predation and theft to take into account…and the list goes on…but I am excited about the program and thankful that this is where I have wound up so far in my PC journey. Having been taught much of the biological and chemistry at Rollins behind many of the processes and ideas being given to us, it makes it much more exciting. I’m glad I was paying attention during class and sometimes wish I had paid more. So for the next 5 weeks I will continue language and technical training. This Thursday I will find out which province I will be going to. The only preference that I indicated was that my site be in close proximity to a lake or river so that I can continue to keep my angling skills sharp, because from what I understand with the rate that things are going over in the 10,000 islands Mom might have everyone off of the trophy wall by the time I get back. The provinces up for grabs are Central, Luapula, and Northern of which I think the latter two have the best opportunities for fishing due to larger annual rainfall from what I understand. In my interview this past week I made it clear that being able to fish during my 2 years at site would drastically increase this volunteer’s morale. Again the speeds of internet connections over here have made it very difficult to get pictures or video up online although I have some good ones. I will try to see what I can work out but until then you’ll have to deal with just text. That’s it for now I’ll try to keep you posted this week as I find out where I will be stationed for the duration of my time here.

So it has been a little while since I have put anything out and it might be a little while before I can post this since I am writing this on a small computer that I have brought with me and I’m not sure when or where I will find internet to upload. But here we go…today is August 5, 2009 and I am writing you from my room in my home stay family’s house. Since my last post I have rejoined my group after my trip to the dentist, which by the way was about as pleasant as a dentist in Africa can be. The dentist was very competent and informed me that my cracked molar would need a root canal to fix, but she would not be able to fix it until she received authorization from Peace Corps. In order to receive authorization she would have to send my case to the PC Zambia office where it would need to be forwarded to Washington, D.C. for approval. Since my initial visit to the dentist I have finally gotten approval from DC after 10 days of “pulling teeth” (pun intended) here in Zambia with the medical officers. So in the mean time I’ve been living with a temporary “filling/plaster” the dentist applied after removing the broken piece of tooth and chewing on the opposite side of my mouth. But all in all not too bad, I’ve got an appointment scheduled for August 13th for a Zambian root canal…fun fun fun.

Back to the more exciting things that have been happening. After the group returned from their site visits which everyone loved, we were put up for a night before being assigned to our host families. After a trip to the training center where we hurriedly unpacked and re-packed bags for our 3 month home stay, were assigned language groups and loaded into a vehicles and taken to our Zambian families.

The language that I am learning is Icibemba (each-e-bem-ba) or commonly referred to as Bemba in English. It is one of the 7 main Zambian languages from which there are 42 dialects one for each of the 42 Zambian tribes. So I was placed in a Bemba home near (10 km) from the training center which I bike to for classes. My language group consists of 5 other volunteers of which I was the last one to be dropped off on the night of our arrival at the homestays. Upon our approach to these houses the bus driver thought it would be courteous to turn on the interior light so that we, trainees, could see each other being that the sun had slipped below the horizon. The negative to this thoughtful gesture was that it created a nice fish bowl effect for the 5 musungus (foreigners/white people) in the van. My fellow passenger’s arrivals were all warm as was mine with many small children gathered around staring at the musungus (moo-zoon-goos) as they disembarked the bus. As I said my arrival was no different, when I stepped off the bus I was greeted by the entire family and some other nearby children who all wanted to help me with my bags. My Zambian family consists of Baymayo (mother in Bemba) I still have not figured out her name, due in part to the tradition of calling mothers by the name of their firstborn child, Martha 19, Aaron 16, John 10, Jane 10, Carolina 10, and Michael 7. After arriving Aaron showed me to my room in their 3bdrm 0bth house (Real estate value would be even worse than the houses back in South Florida). The house is made of fired mud bricks which have been covered with mud and painted and roofed with corrugated metal sheeting. Outside of the house there are the icimbusu (chim-bu-sue) or pit latrine and ulusasa (oo-lou-sa-sa) or bathing shelter. They had set aside a small room for me, but in comparison to the two other rooms which they split between 7 people mine is the master bedroom x2…I’m getting cynical already.

So after Aaron helped me hang my mosquito net we sat down to dinner which had been waiting for me because we I arrived 3.5 hours later than PC had originally told the family. Dinner consisted of Chicken, collard greens (rape), cabbage, and nshima (ubwali) pronounced she-ma. After looking at my meal, which was delicious, Aaron informed me that the crippled looking 2nd piece of chicken was the gizzard which is a sign that the chicken was killed especially for me, so I ate it delightfully. Nshima is a rather hard thing to describe even in its simplicity. It is basically corn meal mixed with water and heated over coals in a pot and stirred to a consistency of very thick porridge. It makes even harder to describe due to the fact that the “English” word for ubwali is nshima, neither of which really exist in English…this perplexed my language teacher. The meal is eaten without silverware but instead the right hand only. The nshima is balled up and smashed in the right hand to soften the cooling nshima and then a dimple is pressed into the softened oval shaped nshima. This is then used as a spoon to scoop up the food pinching it with the thumb and bringing it to the mouth. It takes a little to get the hang of this. Meat can be picked apart with both hands but only eaten with the right.

During dinner I could hear voices coming from outside and after a bit Aaron leaned over and told me, “their here” and before I could respond the door opened and more people walked in to greet me/watch me finish dinner. This same thing happened again and before I knew it there were +20 people in the small living room speaking a language that I only knew how to say, Ishina lyandi nine Trevor (my name is Trevor) thankfully Aaron speaks some English that is comprehensible so I was able to get through the interactions. They were so happy to have me though. Before I knew what was going on the room had erupted into song, loud African singing, clapping and dancing the kind of stuff you hear on National Geographic or Discovery Channel. The songs they were singing were something about how happy they were that God had brought me to their home. This carried on and off for about an hour before they wanted to know if I knew any songs…hmmm… all I could think about was “Jesus loves the little children” so I soloed the best I knew how in front of +20 Africans I had never met before! The response was big smiles, laughs, and applause possibly because of my singing but more likely because there was a nervous awakward American sitting in front of them. After some of the guests tired they decided that they would sing one last song close in prayer as a group and then retire to their homes at about 23:00hrs (time is military here) which was a relief because I was very tired. I couldn’t help thinking how blessed I was to be put into a country that shared a similar belief system and was so open about it. God is definitely looking out for me.

After that first night things have been moving quickly. We quickly jumped into a daily schedule of wake-up, bathe with a cup and bucket, breakfast with tea or instant coffee, language from 08:00 – 12:30, lunch, bike to training, technical training 14:00 – 17:00, bike home, dark by 17:45, dinner, study and in bed by about 21:30. Then get up and do it again, when there is no electricity your day really revolves around the sun. It has been hard to find time or motivation to take time to journal write blogs etc. I am also staying so busy that sometimes I forget I am in Africa then I’ll stop…look around and realize I’m in Africa. That realization is kinda crazy…actually really crazy, but as soon as it comes then it goes again and its back to the routine. I guess that this is a good thing being that it doesn’t afford ones self to focus on the things that have been left behind in his abundant, family and friend filled life back in America. Language is tough. It’s difficult to explain, but for a country named Zambia not to have a Z in their Bemba alphabet it can be backward sometimes…I guess that’s Africa.

Sunday is our only day off. This past Sunday I joined Martha and her Uncle Ba Michael, ba being the equivalent of Mr. or Ms., for service at the Pentecostal Church. After what felt like 6 mi walk to the church we approached the building to what Martha told me was the intersession part of the service. Basically everyone in the place was praying loudly in a variety of languages (Bemba, Nijanja, and English). Following the Intersession there was singing, then a message from the pastor about the second coming of Christ then more singing, then another message on friendship, then more singing, then a follow up to the message on friendship from another pastor, more singing and then an introduction for me in front of the entire church of maybe 50 which was proceeded by me shaking everyone’s hands followed by another intersession. After that there was a meeting for the church youth. This all totaled about 4hrs. Suffice it to say I was worn out by the end of the morning. So we then went to the market to pick up food for lunch and walked home. The church service despite being a little longer than I was used to…o ya… and the part I forgot to mention about people falling to the ground after being prayed over by the visiting pastor during the final intersession…it was a good experience. The singing was beautiful and for what little they had to work with it was a beautiful service.

This has been a long post so I will wrap it up although I could have written more about everything. Thanks everyone for all of your support, prayers and letters it was very nice to be able to sit down and read how much you all care. I’ll try to get more pictures up but with the internet speeds over here it takes forever to upload pictures. I hope all is well back home.

So I’ve made it to Africa! After leaving WPB I flew into Washington DC for an orientation session at a hotel near the airport, where I meet up with the 42 other people in my “intake.” The group is comprised of two subgroups Community Health Improvement Program (CHIP) and our Rural Aquaculture Promotion Program (RAP). I am a member of the RAP. Of the group there are two married couples and the majority are one or two years out of their undergraduate or graduate educations. The group is predominantly female which is apparently typical of the recent intakes. After a session discussing our fears and excitements followed by Peace Corps rules and some other things we were turned loose. The next morning the group went to the Department of Health to receive yellow fever immunizations; I fortunately did not need the shot again since I had one before my last trip to Africa. We then headed to the airport (where we arrived 6hrs early for our 5:30pm flight) so after waiting for our plane we were off! My last meal was a Fudrucker’s bacon cheeseburger in the airport terminal. I thought it was fitting.

So after the long flight, 17hrs to S. Africa and then another 2.5 to Lusaka, we arrived to a very warm excited welcome from current PC volunteers and the PC staff. The whole time through orientation they drilled us with how bad a reputation the Johannesburg airport in S.Africa had for stealing valuables from checked bags so I was a little nervous. An understatement actually (I was very nervous) but the bags were there when I arrived.

The next few days were filled with more paperwork, shots (rabies, meningitis, and hep B), discussion of PC values, diversity, expectations, and rules. The sessions were useful but tiring due to the fact that all discussions were based on non-tangible ideals. I was ready for some hands on training. It was promised that it was soon to come in the form of what is called the 1st sight visit. Up to this point all training has been conducted in Lusaka, the capital of Zambia. The 1st sight visit is an opportunity to get out into the bush and see a current volunteer in your programs site. Although the site is a 9hr drive it will give us new volunteers an idea of what is to come and what we are training for.

So on the eve of our site visit sitting around the dinner table where the meals consist of nshima (a corn based product) and sides or relishes (anything from chicken to collard greens) I was eating a “relish” which much resembled hamburger helper. Apparently there are differences in ground beef hamburger helper in Zambia, it is served with small pieces of bone or an other small unknown hard objects. Unbeknown to I proceeded to chew my food until I heard and felt a loud…CRACK…my tooth. After sitting for a moment stunted I excused myself from the table and proceeded to check out the situation in the bathroom, sure enough I have cracked my rear right last lower molar. Awesome. After panicking that this might jeopardize my attending 1st site visit and an internal debate as to if I could deal with it later. The decision was arrived at that I should contact the PC medical personnel after realizing that one wrong bite would most likely remove a quarter of my tooth exposing the root. The incident happened on a Saturday night and the medical officer informed me that there are no clinics open on Sunday so I would have to wait until Monday to get my tooth fixed in Lusaka. All I can think is that the dentist is bad enough in the US what is it going to be like in Africa! I was assured that there are legitimate dentists in Lusaka so that put me somewhat at ease. So as everyone is on sight visit I am at the PC headquarters in Lusaka biding my time till I can see the dentist on Monday. So say a prayer that the voodoo dentists in Zambia have some good remedies for my broken molar. Just kidding…Thank you all for you letters of support before I left the going away party was more than I could have asked or not asked for.

The countdown has begun. Only 17 days till I leave for Washington D.C. and then onto Zambia. Many of you are probably seeing this as a result of the email that mom sent out. Thank you for all your support, prayers, and enthusiasm. In the spirit of the whole adventure I figured that it would be nice if Laura (girlfriend) and I went to Lion Country Safari for the day and get prepped on some of the wildlife that I might encounter. What I learned today was that although lions are dangerously vicious predators they are also extremely lazy...they sleep for up to 20 hrs a day! So if I can avoid them during their 4 hours of activity daily I should be alright. Other than that giraffes have very long necks and tongues (see the video). Anyways this was mainly just an attempt to beef up this little sight since Mom has informed the whole world about it in her very informative email. Thanks Mom.

This is just a test to see how the blog is working. What do you think? Try commenting, it would be nice to have your feedback.

Soon to come...

This is where I will add items that will be helpful during my time in Africa.

Check out pictures at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/TPLuna

Let me know what you think.

THIS BLOG IS BEST VIEWED WITH FIREFOX OR SAFARI

EMAIL ME: I will try to return email when possible but internet access will be limited. The most reliable way to contact me is via the postal service.

SKYPE: trevor.luna

MAILING ADDRESS:

*This is my permanent address*

Trevor Luna/PCV

P.O. Box 850010

Serenje, Zambia

ADVICE FOR SENDING MAIL TO ZAMBIA

If you follow the guidelines below, the chances of a package reaching me will increase! Types of envelopespackages The more inconspicuous the packageenvelope, the less likely the package will be stolen. Large padded envelops are a great choice…the customs and postage charges will also be cheaper. The US post office also gives away free international flat rate boxes…you can fill these boxes to the brim, and the postage remains the same…you can pick these up from your local post office, or order them for free online. Please note that letterspackages can take anywhere from 2-4 weeks to arrive. So, if you send me a letter, and you haven’t heard back from me for several weeks…don’t get worried…it’s just the lag time with the postal system. Also, it’s a good idea to # and date your letters sometimes the 2nd letter arrives before the 1st letter, this helps you and I keep track of correspondence chronologically.

How to pack packages If you’re sending food, such as shrink wrapped cookies, shrink-wrap several smaller quantities instead of one big one. Also, there’s no such thing as “dead space” in a box or padded envelope. Great packing materials (that I can use) include good plastic bags, Ziploc bags, small individually wrapped snacks, socks, chewing gum, etc. Be warned, that packages may be ravaged by rodents at some point during the journey. The best solution is to package everything inside a Tupperware-type container and then put that in a box. Put all the food in the box and pack the other stuff around it as necessary. Customs Forms All packages mailed out of the country, must include customs forms. You can pickup the forms from your local post office. The forms ask for the package’s content and value. After the form is filled out, the postal worker attaches it to the outside of the package. Use general terms about the package’s content on the customs form. If you are sending clothes for example, just indicate clothes…don’t indicate Nike shirt. However, you could also indicate that that the package’s content is school or religious supplies… Basically make the contents appear as unappetizing as possible. It also helps if you mark the packages content as used (ex. used school or religous supplies). If you feel uncomfortable marking something used that might really be new such as socks or underwear (I wear medium by the way and no thongs please they don't do so well on a bike) go ahead and give them a test run for me and then mark them used, yeah... that's right go ahead and try on those socks or any other items and test them for me. I mean really, who wants to get a pair of socks that don't work.

Also, Zambia's national religion is Christian (lucky for me) so putting "Christian slogans" (ex. God loves you etc.) helps reduce the chances that local postal workers will open the packages and have their pick of goodies. Please remember when indicating the US dollar value on the customs forms, I will have to pay a percentage of the value that you put on the package before I can take the package from the post office.USPS Official Guidelines for mailing to ZambiaThanks in advance to everyone!

This blog is an attempt to keep my family and friends up to date with what is going on in my life as a Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) in Zambia.

About me... my name is Trevor. I was born in Ohio but raised in South Florida. In South Florida a love of the water is a lifestyle, and being that I have completely embraced that it has become a very enjoyable part of my life. I am an avid fisherman, diver and water skier. This has shaped many of my experiences and opportunities including my decision to attend Rollins College. Some of those experiences include having the opportunity to do research on coral reef diseases under the guidance of a leading authority in the field, writing my senior thesis on Marine Protected Areas and time spent as Rollins men's varsity water ski team captain.

I graduated from Rollins College, Winter Park, FL in 2009 where I received a bachelors degree in Biology. While at Rollins College I was also president of the Biology Interest Group, actively volunteered in the Rollins Health Center and attended Willow Creek Church in Winter Springs.

I had always entertained the idea that at some point in my life that I wanted to do some type of serious service and that going on an adventure of some kind was a must. Little did I know where this notion of an idea was going to put me. While at Rollins I attended a very informal Peace Corps (PC) talk my freshman year given by a recruiter who was friends with one of the professors. The recruiter gave us a general overview of the PC their variety of projects and mission statement. At that time I thought to myself, "Hey, this seems like a pretty neat thing to do" but gave it little thought after that point. As my senior year rolled around it was time that I confront the dreaded question of: What was I going to do after graduation? After listening to information sessions, reading numerous articles and talking with my family I decided to apply for the PC in November 2008.

Now, after a lengthy application, interview, medical paperwork, and months of waiting I have received and accepted an invitation to serve in Zambia, Africa. I am scheduled to depart for staging in DC on 7.21.09. Following staging I will make the trip to Zambia for a 3 month training period. After training I will be posted to a rural village in late September 2009 to serve as a Rural Fish Culture Extension Agent as part of the Rural Aquaculture Promotion (RAP) program.

Before Departing for staging I have been working at a local Dr's office (thanks Dr. E, Deb, and Everyone) to earn some much needed funds in procuring supplies for my two years in Zambia. I have also been devouring book, articles, and other PC blogs in an attempt to prepare for departure.

To get a more of an idea of how this whole adventure started please read my Motivation Statement & Cross Cultural Experience essays which were submitted to PC as part of my application process.

RURAL AQUACULTURE PROMOTION (RAP)

Established in June 1996 the RAP program was developed by PC/Zambia in a response from the Zambian Department of Fisheries (DoF) for human resource assistance in the aquaculture sector. Since its inauguration the RAP program has has employed the service of over 200 Volunteers who have worked with over 4,000 farming families in over 300 villages in Zambia. Through their efforts RAP volunteers have helped farmers increase their fish productivity by more than 10 fold. Project farmers currently earn 75% of their annual farm incomes from integrated fish farming alone. Aquaculture has assisted in bringing irrigation to previously dry villages, and have encouraged farmers to plant soil improving trees. Given that 80% of Zambians live on less than a dollar a day, the RAP has directly made contributions towards creating a sustainable source of income and nutrition for many households.