Happy Birthday to my sisters!!! Yall are now two years older again ;) Seeing that it has been a very long time since I wrote in this, this blog will hit a few past events and will be long. Sorry! I will start with a Peace Corps 50th anniversary event in May. The Central Province was the host of a luncheon that consisted of a little over 20 volunteers, about Lusaka staff members (including our Country Director), and another 30+ locals. During the event the volunteers had displays for the four projects that are in Zambia (Fish farming, education, agriculture, and health). Around 2pm we started eating the extensive amount of food that took two days to complete. Our prize of the meal was a pig that we roasted in the ground for 18 hours the day before the event and the number of BBQ sauces that were homemade for it. We also had some awesome egg roles, mashed potatoes, coleslaw, chili, rolls, rice, lots of veggies and BBQ chicken! It was soooo delicious. I will tell you this, it felt really good to make a pulled-pork sandwich and top it with a spicy mustard BBQ sauce. My two favorite parts of the event besides the food was learning about SmileTrain and learning to make protein balls for children. July 4th celebration/vacation. Starting July 1st I took off from the NW province and headed to Brooks’ site where we got to hang out and eat with his nearest family and catch up on everything since IST in January. It was a lot of fun staying at another volunteer’s house in another province. The next morning we hit the road on our way to Lake Samfya in Luapula Province. The road after where the Peace Corps house is located is one of the hardest roads to hitch on. We got to the road at 9:30AM and were getting car-blocked by a few Zambians that wouldn’t leave us alone. Eventually we decided to just start walking until we were no longer near anyone. The lake is 350km away still. We ended up getting two hitches that took us just a little way both times, but they were still greatly appreciated. Then we got dropped in the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE. It was miles of just bare road both ways you looked and small trees that provided absolutely no shade. Eventually a canter (a truck like the ones that carry oranges and suck in FL) picked us up and we made the mistake of getting in it. The truck was going so slow, stopping every half a mile and packing it in beyond full, we decided after a little while to get up because we felt unsafe. Not 30 minutes later did 4 huge safari vehicles come by and the last one picked us up!!! It ended up being a family from South Africa that was traveling to the same lake as us and then continuing on the next day even further north then where we were headed. They were so awesome. One of the moms gave us ice cold drinks; they had A/C and a TomTom in Zambia. That never happens. When we got to the beach where they were staying, it was not the same place as all of our friends we were meeting up with, we decided to pitch our tents there and find our friends in the morning because it was getting late. They invited us to join them for dinner which was awesome. We had ribs, rice, veggies and a South African spicy chicken stew. It was phenomenal. The family offered to take us to the location of where our friends were but they ended up coming and picking us up in a miners truck that was staying in a hotel next to where we would be camping. Before we all said goodbye the grandfather said a prayer and they sang Amazing Grace on the beach and took some pictures. When we got to our beach camping spot the hotel next to us had a volleyball court and, of course, I went and played for a few hours! The next day more people showed up and our numbers were near 15 on the beach. One of the volunteers is friends with a miner and they came out with a boat and we did some water skiing throughout the day. It felt so good to be on the water again even if it was not the ocean, which I still miss greatly. The next day we all just hung out and took in the sun and relaxed. On July 4th a few more volunteers showed up and our numbers we over 20. We went to the market down the street and grabbed a few chickens to kill and eat for dinner. I will say that some of those who killed the chickens were having a little more fun then they should have been having. Lol. Most of the others left on the 5th but there were about 10 of us that stayed for another day/night of fun in the sun. The hitching on the way was fun, but not nearly as good as the trip up. I actually got in to Kapiri pretty late and had to hitch out at 9pm from there to try and make it to Kitwe. The truck ride I got stopped 20 miles from there at a really sketchy truck stop so I hitched from there to Kitwe for the remainder of the night. So far one of the most fun things to do in Zambia is traveling around, hitching style, and seeing how far you can go and meeting the random people who pick you up.

Now that I have surely scared my entire family and friends with my malaria experience, I figured I would tell everyone how it went!

On the last day that I was in Solwezi for a RAP (Rural Aquaculture Promotion) workshop I started to get a headache. I didn't think much of it and took some headache meds to get rid of it. I went back to my village the next day (11th) and my headache was still there. I made it to my hut on the 12th and then a fever kicked in. My temp continually went up and down from 103 and 99. There was no way I could bike back to the boma to get to Solwezi with the fever so I had to wait until Tuesday (15th) for the Department of Fisheries to stop by and take me in to town. Once I got to Solwezi the worst part of the malaria kicked in (Google for symptoms). I took our blood test and found that I had mixed malaria (Falciparum and Vivax). After taking Coartem I felt better and waited a couple extra days in Solwezi to make sure. I got to ride up with the new RED (education) volunteers to drop them off at their sites for second site visit and was then dropped off at my site.

Then, I went to Siobhan's site on the 25th because she was hosting the second site visit after the volunteers spent a few days alone at their sites. On Sunday the 27th at around 5pm, I got super cold (on a warm day) and thought "here it goes again". It is wierd how once you get malaria you are able to see it coming right away next time. I didn't realize I had malaria the first time for 7 days. After about 30 minutes of freezing I got a headache. I took our blood test and failed with Falciparum malaria. Once again, I had to wait for transport but after taking my coartem I felt much better. I called the PCMO (Peace Corps Medical Office) and they wanted me to come down to Lusaka to do some blood work. So, off I went!

New RED volunteers. I got to take the PC truck back to Lusaka with the four RED volunteers and learned quite a bit during the 12 hour ride. They are a great group and I really hope they make it through swear-in. Their names are April, Dianna, Andrea and Brien. Brien is the closest of the four at 47KM South of me.

New LIFE (agriculture) volunteers. I have not hung out with the new LIFE volunteers but I will be going to Solwezi with them in the PC truck tomorrow morning. I am sure I will learn a lot about them then! Their names are Larry, John and Kelly. John and Kelly are married and Larry is my closest volunteer at 17KM North of me. The RED volunteers will swear-in in 2 weeks and the LIFE volunteers will swear-in one week later.

I got my preliminary results from my blood test and they said I was clear of malaria now. So I will continue taking my prophylaxis and hope that i don't get it again.

I hope everyone back home is staying safe and not getting sick like me ;)

Love and miss you all

On January 29, 2011 a very dear friend of mine passed away. Ashley was diagnosed with Breast Cancer in August of 2009. I still remember when I found out about it. I was living in Oklahoma at the time and I flew home for a vacation. The day I left to go back to Oklahoma Ashley told me. I was sad but I knew she was a fighter. I have known her family for so long and don't even want to consider the pain they are feeling. I remember seeing Ashley during the Pop Warner days, Little League and during high school when I played baseball with Kyle. I am happy that I came back from Oklahoma before coming to Africa because I got to see Ashley a lot at softball games and tournaments. When Ashley shaved her head while going through chemotherapy it had been over a year since I shaved my head with a razor... I know I am bald on top and always kept my hair short, I decided to start shaving it again for her. When I came home I went to dinner with Ashley. We went to Outback Steakhouse and I still remember which table we sat at. I know everyone says great things about there friends but Ashley was the type of person that you could never say anything bad about. I am going to miss her so much. Ashley was a mom to a gorgeous daughter named Jayla. Jayla will certainly grow up knowing that her mother was one of the best people ever to come out of St. Augustine. With so many friends and family by her side, many wish they could be so lucky to have a mom like Ashley. I am going to miss Ashley because she was my friend. She had a sweet smile and BLUE eyes!!! I am going to miss her at the softball games and around town. I have had people tell me things that try to lift my spirits about her passing, but it still hurts. One I do agree with though is when one of my friends told me that "She is happy with God now and she is no longer suffering." I still find it hard to smile when I think about her but when I look at pictures of her I can only think of the great memories we had. God took a great person from us but our wounds will heal. I have a lot of free time over here in Africa to think about her (not sure whether that is good but we will find out). My tears will continue to fall for her.I pray for all of those out there that are battling this awful illness and I pray that someone finds a cure so that these wonderful angels of our world stay with us a little longer. My prayers go out to all the family and friends of those who have lost someone to Breast Cancer. My thoughts and prayers go out to all my friends that knew Ashley. I will be reunited with Ashley again and I can't wait to give her the biggest hug. To see her eyes light up when I walk through the gates and call her name. For now, Ashley will look over all of us. She will be there for us when we need a helping hand and she will listen when we need someone to talk to. I will never forget how hard she fought this battle and the many people she inspired while doing so.I love you Ashley Elizabeth Daniel. I am proud to say that I knew you and that you were my friend. I can't wait to see you again and hold you in my arms one more time. March 30, 1987 - January 29, 2011 RIP

HOLY FUN!!!

TRAVEL: On Jan. 2nd, myself, Hunter, Michelle and Joe hitched from Solwezi to Lusaka at 6am. It took seven hitches to reach our final destination but we got two hitches that were AWESOME! The trip is 14 hours long if you go by PC vehicles, it took us less than nine. One car was doing 130KPH the entire time we were with him. When we arrived in Lusaka, we stayed at Cha Cha Cha Backpackers Lodge (hostel). Upon arrival we all jumped in the pool then had dinner to combat our long day. We went to sleep at 10ish and then I got a call from Will saying he couldn't find our hostel... So I had to wake up and go find him because I couldn't describe the correct location.

The next morning we left the lodge at 7am and set off to hitch to Livingstone! Because there were five of us, we brok up into two groups: Hunter and Joe, and Michelle, Will and I. It is easier for girls to get a hitch so Michelle went with a bigger group. Hunter and Joe walked ahead of us to seperate the groups. We got picked up maybe a minute after the split by two ladies whotook us 300km to Choma (200km short of Livingstone). Our next hitch took us the remainder of our trip. Throughout the entire hitch we only had to pay 70pen total for a 21 hour drive. We arrived in Livingstone six hours before Hunter and Joe who arrived at 21hours (9pm).

Once we arrived Will and I jumped in the pool for a couple of hours. Around 18hours we saw two other volunteers who were also staying at Jollyboys. Hunter and Joe arrived just after we finished cooking dinner.

JOLLYBOYS!!! Jollyboys is a backpackers lodge that gives the visitor exactly what is needed when wanting to see everything in Livingstone. Inside the lodge grounds is a pool, bar, ping-pong, pooltable, internet room, lounge area and a peace and quiet loft! There is also a great opportunity to meet people from all over the world.

PEOPLE I MET: My favorite were the three Australians I met, Conrad, John, and Marianna. Conrad and I played some awesome ping-pong games! I also hung out with them a couple of the nights at the lodge just before they left. I met two girls who are volunteering in Namiia who are from Britain and Scottland. Their names are Ellie and Mel. We met a few girls from South Africa named Ashley, Laura and Donnae. A large group of PCV's from Namibia, who were about to COS (close of service) were also there for one last vacation before going home. We met a group of missionaries from all over the USA including one from Niceville, FL. Her name is Kimberly and we later found out that we have a mutual friend back home! Also in that group was Natalie, Tom, Daniel and Woody. Everyone in our dorm room was PC except one girl whose name is Zoyla from Colorado. She is doing an internship in Namibia.

FUN : When we woke up on the forth of January we took the free shuttle, provided by Jollyboys, to Victoria Falls!!! Thanks to PC we have Alien Registration Cards that gets us into the park for 7pen ($1.20) instead of $20.00 if you're not a resident. The falls are literally too beautiful to explain but I left some pictures. After a few hours of looking around we all decided to go to Angel's Pool (pics of us jumping off a cliff). We had to walk for 20-30 minutes through knee to theigh-high water to get to our destination. The hardest part though was at the very beginning. We had to side-step for 50 meters on a concrete wall that was 4in wide and 8in beneith the rushing water. Once in the Angel's Pool water you can swim to the edge of the falls. After we got back to the trails we decided to head back to Jollyboys and grab dinner!

After a long night of ping-pong, swimming, pool and for some people, drinking, we all went to bed. The next morning a few of us went back to the falls to look at some trails we didn't get to explore the first time. Will and I wandered down a path and kept going after it ended. We found a concrete tunnel and decided to go into it. We put on our headlamps and wandered in. After about 30 meters in, we saw a colony of bats and decided to head back. A little later we ran into a family of baboons who were completely used to humans and were not afraid to steal our food. I was able to get within a few feet of a mother giving a little TLC to her baby. I have a picture of a baboon sitting on a bench as well. After checking out the many other trails, we headed back to Jollyboys. Hunter and Joe did not join us on this adventure but they did include us in for dinner when they went shopping. They bought sausage, chicken, pork, steak and baked beans from a can. It was a protien overload. Hunter does not care for vegetable EVER! Once again everyone hung out and made their rounds of talking to different people.

The next day we spent relaxing by the pool and waiting for 230pm to roll around. Hunter and Will went to the Crocadile Farm and got to hold a snake and baby Croc. Myself, Joe, and Michelle went to a park that allowed you to play with baby cheetah's and lion's. The cubs were each six months old. This encounter was by far the best thing I have ever done. I mean, it's not everyday you get to play with two lions. The whole interaction lasted an hour and we got a lot of great pictures.

The next morning a few of us went and played golf at the Royal Livingstone gold and Country Club. It was by far the worst kept golf course I have ever played on. However, we had a lot of fun. On the 6th hole it began to absolutely downpoor on us. We took a 15 minute stop of play and then decided to call it. Once we got about 200ft from when we called it, it stopped raining. We started back! On the 8th hole it rained again but this time never stopped. After ten minutes of waiting we decided to play through the rain. On the 9th hole I was searching for my ball by a tree and ten seconds after I walked away, the entire tree fell. I ended up winning by 5 strokes!!!

The last day we were there was also our travel day back to Lusaka for our meetings. Will and I challenged Hunter and Joe to a hitch-off. Whoever could hitch back to Lusaka the fastest would win 10pen each. If you pay for the hitch, it is 1 hour added to your time for each 10pen paid. We all made it for free but Will and I won by three hours. Now we are in Lusaka doing meetings for the next two weeks. Atleast I get to see everyone!!!!

Hope you all enjoyed :)

I also wanted to give a shoutout to Missy Cessna! I hope you continue enjoying my blog! ps. your daughter has a shopping problem lol.

Let me start by describing the photos... The first is myself and two other volunteers before a soccer match against the trainers in September...

The second photo is of Jon Q (Johnny Quest as we call him) at the same soccer event being silly.

The third and fourth pics are of Joseph, these were taken at another volunteers site when we made chicken... yes, those are the insides of the chicken that Joe is about to put into his mouth... no he doesn't actually do it. The one next to it is him making the fire rise from the Earth with the village kids around him. lol

So, Oct 1st I was posted at my site in Mukang'ala, Zambia. My hut is 8x16ft with a veranda of equal size! The first three months at site are "community entry" and we are not to really "work" until it is over on Dec 18th so I decided to do as much house repair as possible.I completely rain proofed my ceiling with plastic. This made my room so dark that I literally had to hatchet, hammer and push two bricks out of my walls to allow for more light. Before I did this there was only one window in my hut and it faced the North so I never got any light but this fixed the problem! I also had my housing committee concrete the inside of my bedroom. I have done some serious work in my gym. I mentioned some of that on Facebook... I now have a pull-up bar, dip rack, wrist roller, and I use 20L jugs of water for curls and lunges lol. I also have a concrete floor space for jump rope, abs, dot drills and what ever else I think of while working out! I have been having a lot of fun doing these things. I have not however gotten around to my garden yet. But because of the lack of veggies in my village, they may come when I am done with provincial meetings, which I am at right now. I also had my village put a door on my chimbushi (toilet).For everyone waiting on photo's, I want to apologize for not having them up yet. I sent a compact flash card home with 1300 pics and someone stole it :( But this time I am sending them home on a CD so hopefully it makes it. Once my mom posts the pics on the website I purchased, I will give yall the details of it! So, very soon.Biking: I have done A LOT of biking since being posted. I was just over 800km on Nov 1st and now I am well over 1,000km. I love it though. It is a lot of fun and great exercise. I bike to either the Mwinilunga boma or Ikelenge boma for veggies every weekend. Then, on Monday's I bike 13km to get service on my phone so I can check all the football scores lol. The road workers have been working to fix my road. From Ikelenge to Mwinilunga, they have been putting down a hard-pan gravel to fix what used to be super sandy dirt. Although I much appreciate their efforts, I was a little upset when I heard that the rainy season is going to make them leave for another area before they finish my road. That sucks because there are a few parts now that are even worse then what they were before. Rain: Rain here is WAY WORSE then it is in FL during hurricane season. It literally rains 5 out of the 7 days a week, at minimum. It started raining in early to mid October and won't stop (from what I hear) until late March - early April. So I am not too excited about that. But the rain does have its benefits... I get to read all day long because Zambians don't go out in the rain. I have read a great number of books, as well have many of the other PCV's in my province. I guess it is just a great way to kill time. The Fergusons: Ross, Mel and their three boys asked me to come up to their house (on the Nchila Game Reserve) to hang out and get to know them a little more! Michelle and Erin are PCV's that live really close to them and were also at their house when I arrived. After introductions and talking for a while, Mel made a Mexican pizza, 2 meat lovers pizzas and an awesome salad for lunch. After lunch, we had afternoon tea and desert, ice cream with chocolate syrup. They have electricity so they can have these things. The boys and I played a volleyball match and it seriously made me miss playing on the beach back home. But I can't even describe how great it felt to play again. I will be making many trips up there to play with Tim, their oldest, because he wants to get into the game. After volleyball was dinner. Mel made Potato's, beans and salad while Ross cooked the steaks. After dinner we watched a movie and had desert, a wafer chocolate pie/cake... It was incredible. I slept in their cottage and was the first to wake up in the morning. After taking a shower (yes, HOT) I went into the house and Mel and Michelle were just waking up. For breakfast we had pancakes and sausage with a homemade strawberry syrup. I couldn't believe that I ate these meals myself. It was all sooooooo good. Mel is also trying to start a business selling dried pineapple and before I left, I bought K70,000 worth. lol. Cooking: I myself have been trying to cook different things and have actually come quite good at making different breads. I have now made banana, pumpkin, regular bread and flat breads! Because I don't have an oven, I use a double boiling technique. Literally, I boil a large pot of water and set the smaller pot with bread inside the larger pot. I have also made no-bake cookies for the kids in my village as well as for myself. When I go to Ikelenge I make sure to always buy meat from the butcher shop and have been working on different marinades for the steaks and hamburgers that I make. But meat is very expensive, so I don't get to do that too much. Besides the lack of fruit and few choices in veggies, I would say that my nutritional intake is actually quite good. My adventures while heading to provincials was funny and kinda scary. I literally had no money when I started to head towards to the Mwinilunga boma on Sunday. I was planning on withdrawing money from the ATM in the boma, staying at the Catholic Mission and then catching a bus in the A.M. (our actual travel day) to Solwezi. However, when I tried taking money out of the ONLY ATM within 300km, it was clean out of money. I also didn't not have enough time on my phone to send a SINGLE TEXT. I was seriously S.O.L. But then, luck returned to me when I saw Hunter and Siobhan still waiting to hitch out. Hunter apparently had the same problem as I did and Siobhan didn't have enough money to cover Hunter, and now I was added demise to this awesome party. Ha. So our only option was to hike into Solwezi a night early and hope for the best. Well, we got a hitch and arrived in Solwezi safely. I was able to pull out my money at the bank there and then we got to stay in the Provincial house that night. Luck was on my side that day... Or was it?

Lots of pics and then the blog!!!

So, Saturday morning we left Lusaka and everyone branched out to their district provincials as the final goodbye of being Trainees came to a close. Everyon's schedule of being posted is different depending on where you were placed, what was open on Sunday around you, and if you were paid by Washington or not. Some people are being placed today and other on Friday. I am going to be placed on Thursday! The 2010 class of volunteers at my provincial house are John Mann, Siobhan Goodwell, Jack Hawley, Hunter Shaffer, Michelle Christensen, John Quiery, Romana Fetherolf, Audra Blanchfield, Kimberly Tomczak, Nicholas Besley and Joseph Harvell.

Upon arrival to the provincial house, we were greeted by fellow volunteers Renee, Sprinks, Tim, Sydney, and our PCVL Liz (she is awesome). Renee, Sprinks and Tim cooked up an amazing Mexican meal for us. We had Shawarmas, rice, beans, veggies, beef on a stick and tortilla's! Not only was it for us newbie's coming in but also for Sprinks because it was her birthday! The night was pretty chill after that. Everyone sat in the living-room and watched a movie together. I have no idea what the movie was about because I missed the beginning (trying to upload pictures) but it was pretty good from what I saw. I went to sleep at around 10pm in a hammock outside on the porch at the provincial house, then I woke up at 1am to listen to the Gators kick butt on the University of Kentucky! GO GATORS!!!Sunday, we didn't have anything to do because everything is closed on SUndays in Solwezi, Zambia. Once everyone woke up and breakfast was finished, we all kind of hung outside and played a few games while talking and figuring out what was going to be happening Monday-postings. The games we played were a blast and I also got to work on my tan haha! I am turning white again in Africa... I honestly didn't think that would be possible. After dinner all of us went to a bar and had a little fun dancing and playing pool. The DJ's love Peace Corps Volunteers seeing that he mentioned we were in the club about 30 times in the first hour. Around 11pm half of the volunteers went home and the other half went to a bar called Titanic III. Around 1am everyone was back at the house and sleeping before the big day of shopping begins Monday!(two days later, now it's Tuesday)Well, I was moved up in my posting from Thursday to Wednesday! So i will be posting in a few hours! I am so excited to begin this adventure. I am also happy about a few people in my province. there are a people that will make this two years go really well!SHOPPING: So Monday we went to Shop-Rite (grocery store) and I spent 1.7 million Kwacha ($370). After Shop-Rite, we went to a wholesaler and the hardware stor in which I spent another 800,000 Kwacha. So all together in the day I spent $500 US. Then came Tuesday where I spent another 1.5 million Kwacha! haha. Now I am broke. But I will have a very comfortable house and lots of food for the next six weeks! Today I had to buy a bed, some buckets for clothes and food (to keep rats out), and I got a couple awesome bike shirts from DAPP (Goodwill, Salvation Army), they even have the three pockets on the back!Great American Celebration: As passed down from previous generations, the new trainees are welcomed in an American Independence Day fashion. We cooked burgers, chicken, salad, and a few other great American meals. After all that was done we went to the lower house and played a beer pong tournament! Renee and I won with little competition. (Two previous frat boys who thought they knew what they were doing). But Renee and I had plenty of cushion all night while holding down the tournament. We won both the winners bracket and the final Championship Game by three cups, in a 10 cup double elimination tournament. We then ended the night in Fourth of July fashion with some good 'ole fireworks!!!!!Well, I just want to give yall a heads up, I will not post on my blog for SIX (6) weeks so it will be a while before I can tell yall how I am doing. In six weeks we have to come back to the provincial house for our quarterly meeting so I will update the blog then! I am going to miss all of you, but at the same time all the letters I have reveived will keep me company! I love yall and God Bless you allXOXOLove, Kenny Ray

ALRIGHTY!!! We (trainees) have all just said goodbye to our host-families in Chongwe and are now getting ready for the big move to all Provence's. It was very sad saying bye to the family though. But, we did leave in the great American fashion. It honestly felt like a Superbowl party. There were four trainees in charge of deciding what food was going to be served and who would be doing all the cooking. Those four were myself, James, Brooks, and John Q.

Our menu:

Main course: Pizza, beer brats, hotdogs, chicken, thin steak, tostatas, and bean burritos!

Sides: Dirty mashed potato's, Salad, coleslaw, Mac-n-cheese, apples and Bananas

Desserts: Fried Oreo's, Honey yogurt, fried bacon pieces, Rice Crispy Treats and Fruit salad

The food turned out AWESOME! It was sooo good. The prize winner was definitely the pizza though. Gotta give props to Jocelyn (a 3rd year ext. Volunteer) for making the doe and sauce! All together though, it was all amazing. We started cooking, cutting, slicing and dicing at 8am and served food for 300 at 2pm. I couldn't believe everything was actually finished by then. While all of the cooking was going on, I made a few corndogs as well but those were only eaten by those laboring over the hot grills. While everyone was doing all of this food prep, I was sneaking away to take pics of all the great moments. I even have some people crying (onion cutters), others were drinking wine (salad handlers), and those drinking beers (the grill kings). I seriously wish the internet was faster so I could post pics. But, it isn't.

After all the food was eaten we were given a dance from this group in the Eastern Region. It was hilarious and fabulous at the same time. We all had so much fun. In the end, the host-families all gave trainees going away gifts in which made some trainees cry. Yup, I have pics of that too haha.

We are now at ISTT (Lusaka training center) where we will do our swearing-in tomorrow morning. After that we leave for our provences. I am so excited to finally become a volunteer!

To Sally's mom, I told Sally I was going to write about her after she told me you were reading my blog! haha. But welcome!!!

I just want to say I think it is awesome that Salley Cessna shaved her head!

For our swearing in, most of the guys, are going to have nice 'staches!!! it is hilarious. I have pics and will send them home for my mom to upload on Facebook b/c the internet is WAY TOOOO SLOW HERE.

After that tear jerker of a post (well, for me anyways). Now I will tell you about my second site visit.

I have an awesome house, as described in the second to last post.

Sunday: well, we showed up on sunday to the site (which is becoming my house) a little after 6pm. Upon arrival we were to go to the Chiefs house to give a gift and make him aware of our presence in the community for the next 10 days. His house is literally 20yd's from my house. AWESOME! After going and meeting him we went back to the house to make dinner. First, as a volunteer, you hardly every have more than 2 people at your house, so dishes are scarce. That being said, we had 7 people at Marks (our host volunteer) house. We didn't have enough dishes for everyone to have a plate and food to be served so we had to put all the food in a 2 gallon bucket. We proceeded to shake the bucket to mix all the ingredients and then there it was... We ate the next 6 dinners together out of the bucket, along with breakfast each moning to finish leftovers haha.

Monday: Because I am replacing an existing volunteer (Mark) the community threw him a going away party. Zambians know how to have a going away party. Mark traded his bed for the slaughtering of a goat and 5 chickens for us to eat at dinner before the party started. (super cheap, I know). After feasting on all of that plus Nshima, the party began. After all the singing and dancing and introducing me as their next volunteer, the excitement began. Our language trainer was at this party (you need to know that). So, the Zambians were doing a skit about Mark, but the skit implied that he did nothing his entire two years of service. This was very offensive to our language trainer (being Zambian herself and knowing her culture doesn't do jokes like this), and the "Zolleywood actors" never mentioned anything positive about Mark. After the skit was over Harriet (trainer) spoke about how if Mark was no help, why would they want another volunteer? And if they didn't want another volunteer, then to tell her and she would place me somewhere else. She was pissed. But in the end, everything was settled and they said for "lack of time" is why they didn't show all of his accomplishments and apologized to Mark. It was pretty exciting to say the least.

Tuesday: The most epic battle of Risk (a board game) took place, in which I lost. I was not created to rule the world I guess. lol. But, it was my first time playing and I didn't pick up the strategy until after I was already out. but we had a lot of fun playing and it was a heated battle as teams were formed very quickly. (Not ok, by veteran Risk player standards).

Wednesday: After language class (every day until 1pm) Mark was presenting the Chief with a walking cane and the Chief was, in return, giving Mark his old one. It was awesome to watch and I have many pictures of it. Other than dinner later that day, not much happened and it was pretty chill.

Thursday: Thursday we got out of language early to go to this celebration of these kids "coming out of the bush". In Zambia, boys are showered and bathed by their mothers until they are circumcised, usually between the ages of 4-10. They are taken into the woods with some older guys and have to stay for a month after the circumcision takes place, for healing I am guessing. but the boys were out and a huge dance celebration took place, so we attended. The boys are given money, new clothes, and new shoes for their "becoming of men." It was a pretty cool celebration to watch. After the party we went home to pack and get everything ready for the trip to The Source of the Zambezi River.

Friday: Again, after language we got our bikes and trekked to The Source. Before reaching our destination, we came up to a sign that was literally the D.R. of Congo/D.R. Zambia. Yes, I crossed the line haha. After that, we reached the main building to The Source. Now, think of (or google) the Zambezi River and then think of it ALL starting from a hole in the ground that was literally three feet by three feet. But who am I to judge... After-all, I have only been here for a little more than a month. But we took bottles of water from this source and drank it (without water purification tablets haha). Yea, we are daredevils haha. My second bottle had a water purification tablet though. lol. We ended up camping in the campground and roasted marshmellows... There were no smore's because chocolate is hard to come by and there was no way chocolate was going to last 7 days without being eaten.

Saturday: As we woke to the early morning sunrise peering through our tents, we packed everything and began our trip back to Marks site. Shortly after arriving the truck came to take everyone but me away and drop them all off at their new sites for three days of aloneness (don't think that is a word but... it's a blog so). I spent the few hours of daylight I had left bathing in the river (200m) from my house and then started cleaning my new/future house. I had to get to bed early because I had a soccer match in the next town over that I had to leave early for.

Sunday: When I woke up, I was told that we were going to leave at 9am instead of 8am because my neighbor was very sick and they thought he may pass away at any moment. nine turned to ten, then the coach told me to just go ahead and they would catch up. The field was an hour bike ride from my house. As I was riding I came across Nchilla Game Reserve where there were buffalo, deer, sable, and a few other animals. I decided to turn into the park (knowing the Zambian team would be late). As I was riding around taking pictures I came up to a church where four older white ladies stood talking. I approached them to say hello and they already knew who I was and that I was replacing Mark. (word gets around whereever Kenny Ray goes haha). But after introduction, Ester invited me to lunch with her. After the bike ride, I couldn't refuse. Ester works at the orphanage and has been there for 37 years. She made Frenchtoast and veggies. For dessert we had fresh cut pineapple and a layered dessert with jam, custard, and a whipcream topping. I ended up spending almost 4 hours there. Realizing I had probably already missed the soccer game, I decided to leave. When I arrived to the field, I got news of the elderly man's passing. I rode home and attended the beginning of the funural ceremonies.

The next two days were pretty much the same thing... I sat on my porch cooking, cleaning my house, and keeping the kids busy. The entire community never left my neighbors house for the next two days. For all I know, they are all still over there greiving the death. Literally 24 hours a day, they are outside praying, worishiping and mourning the loss of this man. There were at least 12 huge log fires set up and all going at once. I learned that this is done for each of the man's kids/grandkids.

Wednesday: Now I am back in Solewazi waiting to catch a bus tomorrow at 6am into Lusaka for two more weeks of training and then back out here to Kaseki for two years of service!!!

Love, Kenny Ray

Hello everyone! Today was a hard day. When we began our trip from our second site visit back to the provencial house, I began thinking about Brent (RIP). I wanted to really connect with him again but in a car with 12 people it is hard to do. I began reading The Shack by William P. Young (the book I read right after Brent passed). It made me think of how much I really miss him and others that I have lost but also that God wanted them all in heaven with him. Brent will forever be missed down here on this earth but I seriously can't wait to see him again. Tears come to my eyes just thinking about him. When I got to our provencial house I learned that a girl I went to middle school with also passed, She commited suicide. I have been checking up on Rance (may God please let him pull through). Rance went into a coma three months ago and has yet to wake up. I played volleyball with him in St. Augustine and his amazing wife, Barb! My prayers are always with them. I also learned about a 24 y/o from South Florida who passed away on the 5th of Sept from a drive by shooting in a South African town. He was with his fiance and a few other people. God Bless his family as well and keep them in your prayers.

Life is rolling bye so fast in the states so I am a little thankful for time being so slow in Zambia.

It is hard not to cry when you think of people passing, especially when they are close to your hearts. I still have not figured out what I want to do for Brent on Dec 2oth this year... I wish Zambia had an ocean, or even just a lake near my place so I could go in the water to be with him. I will think of something though. I have pictures of him so... Angyalfy family, I love you all and miss you all. Brent was very dear to all of us.

I think it is easier for a girl to show her emotions because a guy or girlfriend will quickly come to their aid.... For a guy it is much harder. I know that when it comes to lost family/friends everyone will understand but it has been a long time since I showed any emotions (crying in particular). The last few times I have, have been when Wally passed and when Brent passed. But the more I think of them the more I want to let it all go. The book I mentioned above, The Shack, seriously had me in tears more than a few times while riding in the truck... No one in there even noticed though (thankfully).

I wish there was some way that I could reconnect with them (Brent, Wally, Michelle, Allen, JR, Ashley) in a physical sense. Or even in the same way Mack does in the book when he meets God. If only the connection to the other side were so simple. They will always be in my prayers though and I know they are always looking down on me. The goosebumps I just got are evidence that they are close at all times, even if we don't see them, or even when we don't know they are on our minds. What I would do to hug any one of them.

I will keep praying for all of them and all of you out there. I love you all and can't wait to see you all when I come home.

Shawn, keep the PaddleOut going until I get back!

First, I'd like to say happy birthday to my twin sisters Laraine and Christine! I love you both.

Last night all of the RAP'ers found out where we would be going to stay for the next two years! This is my site description: "You are replacing Mr. Marky. This is a third generation site near a river and school. 40km from the Mwinilunga boma and 330km from the provincial house. You are close to the Fishers farm (where you can buy meat and real butter) and also close to the source of the Zambezi, a national monument. In your free time you will be able to bike through Nkanji Game Reserve and see greater kudu and zebra. Your house is covered in green vines and is a beautiful site during the rainey season."

My closest neighbors are Michelle (40km), Hunter (40km), Jack (70km) who are all 2010 RAP Volunteers. Mark and Sydney (20km) who are 3rd year extension Volunteers, and Erin a RED '09 Volunteer.

Before going into what we will be doing and where we are going for second site visit... I wanted to talk about what is going on with our PC group. We have lost yet another trainee from the CHIP program. She was MedSep due to lying on her application. All the RAP'ers are still here and the CHIP'ers have lost 6 people to ET (early termination). Many have said that it's because the RAP program does a lot more hands on work. But that is just the excuses.

Today we took our second language test in which i feel pretty good about how I did. I made a 92% again. Learning the language in 10 weeks is no joke. But I am trying. Today we (the trainees) have a soccer match against the trainers in which the volunteers have NEVER won. Our group of trainies has informed me that we will win though. I am going tobe playing, which means I am going to be the laughing stock for all the Zambian trainers, my fellow trainees, and all the people watching the match. Soccer is not my sport. Now, on Sunday we leave for our second site visit. Myself and the other RAP Lunda speaking volunteers will all be going to Mwinilunga to be hosted by Mark, at my future site. We have a lot of things that will be going on such as meeting new people, working with fish farmers, practicing the language with the locals and doing 4 hours of language training each day with our language instructors. That will be done the first 7 days of second site visit. After the 7 days we are going to be left alone at our site for 2 days. By we, I mean the trainees. We are going to be left alone out in the bush for the first time. I am looking forward to finally being able to cook my own food and have the time alone for the first time in a long time. Once we get back from second site visit we have just about two weeks of training before swearing in and becoming volunteers and not trainees.

I hope everyone is doing well back home and I miss all of you. GOD BLESS

Much love from Zambia, Africa

First, I want to say that Burke, I am glad you found the blog!!

These last two weeks, I have been living in Chongwe, Zambia. I am staying with a host-family and also another volunteer. My host family consists of a mother, Judith, and her son Jono. Jono is about 15 years old and a little quiet. He may not know a lot of English though which would explain his quietness because I don't know much Lunda (my language to learn) yet. I am getting there though. I had my first full Lunda spoken exchange today. That made me feel really good about where I am in the language skills. My host mom, Judith, is a wonderful lady. The Peace Corps has it set up to where we don't have to do a whole lot around the house just yet, that comes in a couple weeks I believe. So, she does the cooking and dishes and Jono gets our water for both bathing and drinking. It is nice not having to do those things but at the same time I feel like they believe we are helpless. So I may jump into the grind of things a little sooner then the PC would like. Chongwe is a beautiful place to see. The sunrise and sunsets are amazingly beautiful. I have a ton of pictures of both. The sky at night is another site to see. Upon the billion stars that are always out, you can also see the Milky-Way. Yes, I have pictures of that too :)

THE FOOD!!!!

The food out here has been a big surprise. Nshima (please google) is not very good, but they say I will come to love it. I disagree. But, Nshima is served at every meal except breakfast so I hope to come to love it soon. That is were the bad ends. Every night I am served either fish, beef, goat or chicken supplemented with two of either cabbage, spinach, rice, beans, soup or fritters (fried bread). Lunch is usually a pasta or rice dish with regular bread or soup. Oh, last night I had sausage. Breakfast has been boiled or scrambled eggs, the classic PB&J, or fritters. All meals are followed by "tea" which is either coffee (my favorite), tea, or hot chocolate. It is Lunda culture to not have anything to drink while eating. That is super hard to accomplish when eating nshima, but I have not broke tradition.

THE AMAZING GROUP OF PEOPLE!!!

Although we have already lost four people to ET (Early Termination) I can say that I have 54 amazing friends here with me in Zambia. A few of us have decided to make a new tradition among our group by having cut-off chitanga Thursdays where we have a fabric "chitanga" made into a shirt with no sleeves and Bichi Fridays (fresh friday), where we dress in our Sunday best. We are currently looking for other ideas for the other days of the week lol. The other volunteers are from all walks of life in America and not one is from FL. I have come closer to a few people that are going to be in the Northwest Provence with me for the two years of service, but everyone has every ones phone numbers too. I don't think we have a single outcast in our entire group. I would actually be upset if any of the 54 that are left decided to quit. Our youngest volunteer is 21 y/o Leigh, she is from Cali. Our oldest is 62 y/o Cheng, from Washington. My NWP group consists of Jack from Idaho, Michelle from Washington, and Hunter from Rhode Island. Let me just say this, my language group (Jack, Michelle, and Hunter) are freaking hilarious. I can't tell you how many times I have cracked up laughing in class. Our teacher is always right there laughing as well though.

On to the story I have told 20 times... My boy Will was definitely feeling this girl one night and flirting with her. They were talking about scars and other things about each other when Will decides to take his short sleeve shirt completely off to show her a scar that was literally by his armpit but still on his arm. Mara (a volunteer) and myself busted out laughing when he did this. I was wearing a snap-up shirt and proceeded to rip it open while saying "Mara, check out my scar" all while pointing to my calf... Just to show how pointless it was for Will to take of his shirt when showing the girl his scar. Mara and I as well as 10 other people in the room are now ALL laughing. That is just a little info on the great people that I am sharing this experience with in Zambia.

CLOSING!!!

I have had such a great time out here so far and I hope everything continues to go this way. I will write again when I can, but I don't know how long it will be from now. I hope everyone is doing great back in the States and remember, always write me letters because other PCV's say that is what gets you through the rough days. I love and miss all of you

This is our group in the line for Customs! We were constantly overwhelming these people because it is not easy to handle 58 Americans who want sleep haha!

Here is 2 of the people in our group (the only married couple) Shaun and Megan with a group of Soccer players from Namimbia

Hey everyone. I just wanted to say that I made it safe to South Africa but we missed our connector because of a delay in ATL. We got to spend the night in some hotel in Jo-Berg last night and let me tell you, it was a blast. Myself and 9 others went downtown via taxi and went to a club. It was the best time and I also figured out who the "fun" people are going to be... lol. I have slept a total of maybe 8 hours in the last 3 days... Too much to do and not enough time. I figured since I was able to go out in downtown I now don't have to make a trip to Jo-Berg in the near future. So Cape Town will be my next South African adventure.

I want to say that the Peace Corps is doing so much right now for us and have been a huge help in getting us rooms and getting some of us back on flights haha. We had about 15 people on a 10:55AM flight to Zambia this morning, another 15 or so scheduled to leave at 6:50PM tonight and the rest are on standby for hte 6:50 flight and not sure what will happen to them if they don't get on that flight. But flexability is what the PC is all about isn't it?

Everyone here is super interested in getting started in Zambia, but now we are just hoping to make it there :)

Everyone is just waiting on the information about where we will be staying after just missing our connector!!! Everyone about to go through customs!!! Jo-Berg here we come!

As you all know, I am leaving for the Peace Corps in 4 days! These past few weeks have been so crazy with trying to get everything together and telling everyone goodbye. I have been looking forward to this moment for so long and now I am so close! Not a day is going to go by that I don't think of everyone back home but at the same time, we all know we have to grow up and venture out at some point... my venturing point is now.

Packing is insane. Think of all the clothes you have in your closet or dresser and then think of which 4 t-shirts, 2 pairs of jeans, 3 pairs of slacks, and 3 dress shirts you want... yea, that's all you get to take for clothes. Most of y'all that know me, know that I have a ton of clothes. I want to bring every piece of clothing I have too lol. I have an 80lb pack limit which, trust me, isn't much for a 2-4 year trip. I have managed to get all of my essential items in one of my bags (now i just hope it isn't stolen once I land in Africa). One thing that I have noticed about the packing though is that I already feel like I have an understanding of what it will be like over there... Everyone wearing their best clothes every day and not really having much else other than what is on their back.

The amount of blogs that I have read is insane. I googled "Peace Corps blogs in Zambia" and just started reading the crazy amount of blogs that have been written by other PCV's in Africa. I would recommend y'all doing the same thing if you really want to know what my life is going to be like over there ahead of time. I know I was interested. One thing I was able to pick out of most of the blogs was that my first month of service (after the 3 months of training) is going to be the hardest. This is the time that I will not know anyone in my village and feeling lonely and missing home even more. So as soon as I get my permanent address, please start sending letters right away. The more the better!

My U.S. comforts; I am bringing a solar panel backpack to charge both my camera and my iPhone. Although I will not have service, I am bringing my phone because it has a lot of pictures of my friends and family. My backpack will charge both the camera and phone completely on one full charge. I am so excited to use this thing, you have no idea.

Living conditions in Zambia; I will not have electricity or running water. Although there will be a clean water source near me, it will still be a hike to get to it. my bathroom will be a pit latrine (hole in the ground). I will also be living in a clay brick house with an all grass roof. From what I hear, it will leak. But I could not be more excited for this adventure. The things that I will see, and send y'all pictures of is going to be one heck of a lifetime experience.

I am going to miss all of you.

Please take care of yourselves and keep me in your prayers.

I will update this blog as much as possible once I am over there so keep an eye out.

God bless