Life in the Village...

Hello from the village in Africa (via my sister Linsey on her computer. Because I have no access to internet whatsoever, Linsey is typing for me as I dictate over the phone)! It's my second full week in the village and things are going really well. I am lucky enough to have had some visitors to help me get settled my first week. Ada, Courtnae, and Lori made the five day journey from Kenya to dwell with me in my little hut and meet my community. We had a ball and they were able to share in some firsts with me: my first community meeting, my first really intense bike ride through the african bush, the first time that I've taken the blood pressure of expectant mothers, my first two and a half hour Catholic mass in Bemba, and my first village dance party. It was quite a tease because now I'm adjusting to the village all by my lonesome, but ironically, as the only american that has ever lived here, I am rarely alone. I have a stream of constant visitors walking up the path to my hut, and there are always iwes (village children) sitting on my porch or peering in wonder at me through the bushes. My first three months at site are what Peace Corps calls "community entry", which is basically me getting to know not only my own village, but the six other zones in the area I am responsible for. My primary job is to support the decentralization of the health care system in Zambia. I'm here to make sure the chain leading from the community to the capital is in tact. My primary focus is on the Neighborhood Health Committee, which consists of volunteers at the community level who are responsible for the well being of their villages and for communicating their health needs up the chain. I have seven NHC's and my goal is to meet with each of them and discuss their activity and knowledge and make sure they're serving the communities. This will probably entail extensive health training with each group. I live within a five minute walk from the rural health center (clinic) which serves the seven zones of my catchment area. I'm also going to be doing a lot of work there and with the staff. What sets Peace Corps aside from other aid organizations is its focus on sustainability. Every project that I undertake, right down to the decisions I make on an everyday basis, should be sustainable so that when Peace Corps is no longer in the village, it won't be a loss for the community, but they will be able to function independently. This idea is what makes this process so long and difficult. For example, instead of facilitating a training to NHC by myself, I should instead try to train other members to do the talks themselves because that is more sustsainable. The health sector of Peace Corps can be one of the most challenging ones because it's hard to see results and we're really depending on the motivation of the community to achieve success. I know it will be a challenge but I am really excited about my work, I have definitely kept very busy. I don't know where all this free time that I'm supposed to have is. I think once I get used to life in the village and the way that things work here, things will settle down. I've been doing a lot of work helping out at the clinic, which serves around 2,000 villagers and has a 3-person staff. Last week I witnessed my first birth at the clinic, a seventeen year-old girl delivered her baby in a room with a table and a bucket of water, then not even a week later, the first death. It was a four year-old girl who lost the battle to Malaria, the second largest killer here in Zambia. Sometimes it is hard to strike a balance between the awe inspiring beauty of the culture I am emersed in and the feelings of helplessness at the reality of their hardships. Every day brings new joys and new challenges. Earlier today I was feeling frustrated by the crowd of kids that were staring at me, as they often do. I just wanted some alone time. But then a minute later I was laughing as they tried to teach me Bemba and help me as I sorted through my laundry. Norman Vincent Peale once said, "change your thoughts and you change your world." I found that to be so true. Every day and every situation is what I make of it. At the end of the day, I couldn't be happier sitting on the porch of my mud hut staring at the stars by candle light. Until next time, love and prayers from Zambia.