This Is Normal For Me

I so love getting texts, emails, Facebook messages, or letters from everyone back home in the States or abroad in Europe.  Thank you!

The one common request I hear is everyone wants to hear about my adventures or any neat stories.  The funny thing about that is most events that happen to me would probably make great stories.  However, they have becomes so common place in my life here that I fail to share the little things.  So, today I decided I needed to share some of the random happenings of my life in Zambia. 

 One activity that always results in a story is travelling!  Here in Zambia hitching is actually the most common, efficient, and best way to get around.  For those of you reading this and concerned for my well-being, I assure you, hitching is one of the (if not THE) safest modes of transport in Zambia. 

It does seem to be that most hitches or rides to and from anywhere end up creating quite an interesting adventure.  First off, the types and kinds of vehicles range from small Toyota cars to mid-sized vans to large trucks and canters.  Sometimes I find myself in the front of a van with a child on my lap or sitting in the bed of a canter on a spare tire with goats and pigs as my traveling buddies. 

One day I was going to Town with a friend and we hadn't seen too many vehicles pass us.  When a small pick-up finally rolled up with already twenty people in the bed, we'd been walking for 5 or 6 km.  Therefore, we found ourselves standing just behind the cab for the last 55 km.  We spent the ride singing Christmas songs and discussing life with the other passengers. 

Another day I was already in Town and wanted to head back to my village.  Another gal and I had met this guy the day before and because he was just out and about driving around, he gave me a free lift to my corner where I could catch other transport.  We even stopped for chocolate and Fantas mid-way! 

Sometimes it doesn't have to be random vehicles or people who happen to be going where you're going.  Just recently I visited another volunteer who lives very far in the bush down bumpy dirt roads.  On a good day, transport with a canter will take 2 hours from the nearest Town.  Our trip took four and a half hours! 

I am not sure how many people were in the vehicle, but there were many.  We sat on bags of fertilizer up against the left side of the canter and I am not quite sure how our feet found room, but they did!  It was only sprinkling as we started off, but a few kilometers down the road we found the big heavy green tarp over our heads to protect us from the rain.  Of course, there are plenty of holes in the tarp and if you are under one of those holes it would almost be better to be without any protection! 

With the rain comes muddy roads.  We'd probably gone 45 minutes before actually getting stuck.  Its amazing though when it happens.  All the men jump out and hook a rope to the truck and push and pull the vehicle out of the mud and water.  After getting stuck twice, the third time we all had to get out; men, women and children.  Now it was the fourth time I believe when we really got stuck.  You know its a bit "shupa" (difficult in Tonga) when the men start hauling even the 50 kg bags of urea out of the canter and 100 meters down the path. 

As all this was happening, I happily held the new kitty that would soon become the other volunteer's rat killer while he assisted in the pulling with the other men.  At one point the men and women hoisted the rear wheels of the canter and put branches under the tires to help with traction.  I was actually most shocked by the usage of the trees above all else.  In my area, trees and branches are so scarce that no one would even think to use them as traction for the vehicles.  However, is this particular area there are still many trees scattered everywhere. 

Luckily, during this particular canter ride we made it home by 21:00.  After heavy or continuous rains, sometimes that same trek takes over six hours and puts people at home around 02:00 hours in the morning! 

Oh the joys of transport in Zambia!  To me, these events are so 'normal.'  I hardly think to share them with others because I almost doubt they could be at all entertaining or interesting!  And then I remember what its like in the States or Europe.  If you are late for a train, you are left.  If you want to go visit a friend, you get in your own car and drive straight there.  If in a vehicle you make less than 60 mph it is easy to get mad and blame whatever little hold up made you late. 

Not here.  Patience and flexibility are key when it comes to traveling anywhere in Zambia.  But, a funny or interesting story may be the result for the 14 hour day and make the trek worth it! 

Transport and hitching have become the norm in my life here.  There are also probably many other things that I find to be just part of my life that others might find wildly unfamiliar.  I will try to remember to pass on those stories!  Feel free to continue sharing about your lives!  Nothing is off-limits to share with me!  Mundane or exciting, it is all so interesting to me! 

Photos For You!

After three months, I am now finally out of Community Entry and into the 'real world' of Peace Corps Volunteer living.  As I shared before, I had a busy first few months in the village and here are some photos to show a little bit of my life in my village!  

Near a stream just a twenty minutes walk from my house!  So pretty!

Some men from the village helping capture some fish for a sample harvest of the area dam.

  

  Just the beginning of rainy season.  One of the first rains to come to my village.  This is my toilet and view from my front door. 

 Jaylene!  This is my little puppy who I brought home in December.  Here she is only two months old!

 The sun rising around 5 AM one morning when Jaylene needed to go out to go potty! As beautiful as it is, I do not make it a habit of checking it out daily!

 Calf Vaccinating.  All of the area farmers brought their calves to one area to be vaccinated and tagged one morning by the District Veterinary people.  

 Chilongwe.  A traditional ceremony where women gather to dance and eat together!  One woman buys a kitchen set for another friend and all the ladies gather in order to see what the new kitchen tools are.  

 In the local village town at World AIDS Day.  Here are two of my friends from Sweden who are doing research at the Mission Hospital.  

 This is my outdoor kitchen or chilling area with a rock path I made to the door.  It gets so muddy and dirty, so I put the rocks to decrease the dirt and such I bring into my house.  

 My garden!  The small dirt patch here is my little garden in my yard.  Two friends helped me clear the grass.  If everything grows well, I'll have beans, cucumbers, squash, peppers, and watermelons in a few months.  The grass structure to the left is my shower!

 Planting season!  You can see the dark soil in the field that make up the furrows as this family plants potatoes.  The big tin-roofed structure in front is the dip tank that I have been trying to get my community to get working in order to save their animals from tick-borne diseases.  

And Jaylene again.  She has grown so very fast!  Here she is chewing on one of my broken sandals.  She loves to eat my shoes, but she knows she is not totally supposed to!  

And those are some photos to give y'all an idea of what's happening over here!  I just spent the last week in Lusaka for In-Service Training.  Training was okay, but it was a super week spending time with those I haven't been able to see in so long.  Back to my village tomorrow.  

Where Do I Start?

Oh my goodness.  Three months have flown by!  So many Peace Corps Volunteers always say how the 27 months of service fly by.  I never believed them really, however, I have been in Zambia for almost six months now and I can hardly believe its been half of a year! 

The first three months went by pretty fast, but these past three months have flown by! 

Living in a thatched roof house is normal now.  Walking down the hill to pump my water is just part of my day.  Even washing clothes by hand has become somewhat of a relaxing chore from time to time. 

During the past 90 days of community entry where I spent most of my time in my village, I have definitely had some major ups and major downs. 

One of the best parts of my life in Zambia is the scenery that I get to enjoy each and every day.  I do live in one of the prettiest areas I think!  I get the mountains and valleys and far stretching fields of maize and other crops.  In addition, my village is so accepting and welcoming of me.  They even stick up for me to others who call me magua and let them know I do not like that! 

In November and December I was busy biking around to farmers' places talking about fish farming with them and answering questions.  I staked a few ponds and have one farmer that has finished one.  We have yet to stock the pond with fish though!  Also, I have been working with other farmers trying to get their dip tank working so they can dip their animals and avoid the effects of ticks. 

In addition, I spent quite a bit of time just visiting women and families in the area.  I watched the families go to the fields to plow and plant.  I also attended some traditional ceremonies...my village LOVES to watch me dance!  I held a meeting with the women in the village and they are excited to build a market nearby.  The market has been keeping me busy this past week or two. 

Along with integrating into my community and meeting people, Peace Corps service truly has some challenges.  If anyone has ever tried working in a developing country, they may have experienced some of these challenges. However, I feel like until you really experience it for yourself, you never truly know. 

First of all, there are so many reasons why developing countries are still developing.  And developing slowly.  One reason being that they just don't know any different.  This is the life these people have been living for centuries, why change?  However, even those people who do have some idea as to what could be achieved, they just don't work towards it.

This is the biggest struggle for me.  Many villagers like to call themselves sufferers.  They say sufferers never rest. However, I was told this by one gentleman as he sat under a tree all afternoon doing not much of anything but chatting.  Besides the lack of motivation, when I ask some villagers about how we can go about improving a situation, they can sometimes easily give me an answer.  Then when I ask further questions as to how to go about doing this, they come up with an excuse for every reason why it has not already been done. 

It is definitely a huge part of the culture as to why many villagers have these attitudes.  For as long as many people can remember it was always a vicious cycle of planting during the rains, harvesting after they had gone and trying to feed everyone in the meantime.  Life was simply living.  Nothing more, nothing less.  Existing in short.   

Existing is never a bad thing.  Sometimes we all take a 'time out' in life and just exist.  So, the real problem now isn't that their way of life is wrong or bad, its that many of the people living this way have this illusion of something more and getting it without doing anything extra.  They no longer want to just exist, but to thrive. 

I hope to be an encouragement to the villagers showing that hard work and persistence will help them continue towards what they want.  For those that want change or improvement in some area of life, I hope to be a resource to the ways to go about it.  We all sometimes don't know what path to take, where exactly to go, or how to do something.  For my community, I am there to help in the what and how, their part is the doing! 

Besides the wonderful roller coaster ride that is volunteer work in a developing country, I am doing well!  This next week I get to enjoy myself in the city of Lusaka with all the other volunteers and friends that I spent those first three months with in training!  We all get some further training as well as giving of presentations about our communities.  Should be a great week! 

I am still taking one day at a time.  Trying to enjoy all the good in order to get through all the struggles!  I am wishing everyone a great January and start to the new year!  And again, we all get a new beginning every single day!