Muli Shani!! (How are you?)

I just wanted to give you a quick update on everything. I am in Lusaka saying goodbye to my best friend here who has ended his service and is headed back to the states. There are so many incredible volunteers that cycle through each others lives, I guess I'm getting good at hello's and goodbyes. Things in the village are going really well. I am kept VERY busy with the preschool, nutrition clubs, the clinic, and my health committees. I want to sincerely thank everyone who has been involved in the school, whether it's donations, supplies, or support, I appreciate EVERYTHING!! We are currently clearing the land where we will build the chicken coop. Sr. Chief Mwamba, a high up Bemba chief for whom my village is named after, has given us his approval and allotted us a beautiful plot of land by the market. The village is also gathering stones and sand for cement, and starting to mold bricks out of mud found in a near by village. I am constantly awed by the work people do here to achieve things that are so commonplace in the states. The bricks will be made by putting mud into molders, then dried in the sun and burned with charcoal. We even had to make the molders out of planks of wood that were carried on the back of bicycles the 25 k from Kasama. The wood was so heavy, I could barely push the bike, let alone cycle it down the bumpy bush path to the village. Stones are found in the bush, crushed into small bits with mallets and carried to the location where the cement will be mixed. It is also harvest season and all my villagers are working in their fields and making the treacherous journey to sell their crops in Kasama. Life is bustling here in Zambia!! I am so so grateful to be able to experience this life, and see something change and develop that will impact so many lives. I wish you all could see the things I see and experience the beauty and struggle here. I am trying my best to keep you in the loop. Until next time.....loveeeeeeeee lisa

Milex Kids during outdoor activity

Boy from "Mango" class practiucing numbers
Mango Class
Latrine Break :)

Hello everyone. I have great news...my proposal for the expansion of a pre-school in my village is FINALLY up on the peace corps website. When I first came to Mwamba, I was invited to observe a class that Mirriam Mwamba, a local teacher's wife, had started the year before. When I walked into her tiny decorated classroom and saw how she interacted with the 7 eager kids there, I knew this was something special. Several months later the Mwamba's approached me and asked for my help to expand the school to accommodate more of the villages orphan and vulnerable children. The community was excited and supportive and our Peace Corps Partnership Proposal blossomed. Now there are over 110 students ages 3-7 who attend Milex (Mirriam + Alex) Nursery School every day. They are buzzing with knowledge and their voices can be heard throughout the village. We need help with basic supplies, classroom renovations, and construction of a chicken coop to sustain the school. Any donations would be MUCH APPRECIATED...you can help by giving online at https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=611-034 or go to www.peacecorps.gov under Peace Corps Partnerships, find Zambia and L. Sekulich. Any donations are tax deductible and we can't get any of the money until we reach our goal. I have attached a copy of the entire proposal here if you want to find out more. Feel free to e-mail or post any questions. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!! And a special thank you to those wonderful souls who have already donated!!!

Im in Lusaka for my mid-term medical exams, which means that this is officially my mid-service mark. Hard to believe. I'm glad to report that I'm healthy and very luckily haven't suffered the various medical ailments I've seen in other volunteers. Strong Like Bull! This year has flown by and I have been kept very busy. The next few months will also be nuts as I work to raise money for my Peace Corps Partnership proposal expanding a preschool in my village, which I will write more about soon and be sure to bug y'all for donations :). Things in the village are good. The rains are tapering and the maize stocks are popping up. Mangos have finished but now the fresh maize is everywhere, which i LOVE. The village is lush, green, and soggy and my farmers are working hard in their fields. The season has brought all sorts of new critters including a few new snake sightings, and an ant infestation, which has come and gone several times. Luckily, my roof was patched so leakage is minimal and my beautiful yellow flower fence is in full bloom around my compound. I had a successful fish farming workshop and soya cooking demonstration in the last month and have another next week. It is hard to find good sources of affordable protein in rural areas and soya beans are great for that, but people aren't comfortable with how to cook with them and it is not a common village crop. A bunch of my nutrition clubs are starting to grow them this season, which I am really excited about. The groups LOVE cooking demos because they get to eat a lot of fun and new foods and also watch me struggle over the brazier. It's also a great opportunity to teach basic nutrition and empower the clubs to be more comfortable with giving nutrition advice. There is a lot of malnutrition in the village and people are really lacking accessibility and information. The clubs are always so grateful to have workshops, I usually leave with a barrage of gifts, banana bunches, sweet potatoes, maize, mushrooms ect. I am continually awed by the generosity and appreciation the villagers show. I want to end this post by thanking everyone for the wonderful birthday wishes and incredible packages. I am so LOVED and feel INCREDIBLY lucky to have such support! THANK YOU!!!!! nalimutemwa (i loveeeee you) lisa

Reflections

Time is flying by and my life is ever changing. It is time for reflection as I sit in Kasama on my second of three birthdays in Zambia. A year ago I was bright eyed and in a constant state of awe and confusion as I tried to take in all of the wonder and challenges of this new place. I didn't know what life in my village would be as I attended my bemba classes and sat through tech. training. I wondered how I was ever going to bring change to a community that was so foreign to me. I am still bright eyed and awed, but now my goals are becoming reality. As I become more familiar with my role and learn to weave through the complexities of development I only hope time will allow me to bring my plans to fruition. Mwamba has become my home away from home, and though I am often pulled out of the village for work and various adventures, and am often still flustered by the cultural differences here, I am always relieved to return to my little mud hut and the people and children waiting for me. I have learned to take what is offered around me and work with the skills and ambition that lies in my surrounding communities and to mesh that with my knowledge and my connections with home to enrich the lives around me. Though I am constantly striving for sustainability and change, I never fail to realize that the people around me have impacted me more than I can ever hope to impact them. I am truly living this life and it is beautiful to me. I am awakened by farmers planting their maize fields and children making their walk to school, tattered black uniforms and bare feet. I am kissed by the pouring rain and tickled by wall spiders. I always have dirty feet and finger nails, I feel the cool force of the sweeping river current. I stare at the rolling hills around me as I bike down the narrow red dirt roads that weave through the bright green bush. I am filled with the excitement of a health training and the sparkle in the villagers eyes as they answer my quiz questions or facilitate a lesson for the first time. My heart flutters as the children of Milex preschool sing in class and recite the lessons learned that day. With each joy the reality of the poverty of village life is still present. The sober touch of AIDS, malaria, and malnutrition is felt all around me. People live on. They work, love, laugh, sing and cry. The suffering and joy is life in the village. The support and love from home and the people around me keeps me strong and on my 25th birthday this experience, place, and the people in my life are the greatest present of all. Ever thankful... lisa

ps mom got 2 packages, havent opened yet but thanks...and lins SO GOOD to finally talk to you loooooove you!!!

The Greater Salt Lake

Aka: The Dead Sea. We bussed an hour and a half outside of Jerusalem to the Dead Sea which is surrounded by the cliffs of Israel and Jordan. We hiked in the rocky beige cliffs and gazed upon the endless desert. Despite the chill in the air, I made it into the blue water and it was WILD. I floated effortlessly and my body burned from the salt. The dead sea is the saltiest body of water on earth, not to mention the lowest point. The rocks along the shore had a hard crystal build up of salt and nothing can survive there. It is 30% salt where as the ocean is a mere 3. My skin was smooth and soft from the water and my eyes burnt from the air around the surface. The sensation of weightlessness was unlike anything I've experienced, I couldn't have drown if I tried. It was a nice afternoon.
The last couple of days, I have spent exploring Jerusalem and learning more about Judaism and what it means to be Jewish in Israel. My friend Lyndsey and I went to Haifa, the second largest city in Israel, for "the holiday of holidays" where Christmas, Hanukkah, and Ramadan is celebrated. We went with "seeds of peace" a really great organization that brings Israeli, Palestinian, Jordanian, Egyptian, and American kids together for peace and conflict resolution. It was incredible to see the kids reunite for the first time since they were in the program together. The Israelis and Palestinians are often kept apart by boarder patrol and the giant wall that is being built around Israel, and the kids were ecstatic to reunite. We wandered around the city, saw the majestic Baha'i Gardens, listened to live Opera, and ate some great street food. The food here is heaven, falafal, hummus, yummy fruit, and great chocolate! It was a great day.
I attended my first Shabbat service and dinner afterward. The service was a liberal hippy gathering with beautiful singing and spirit filled people. The dinner afterward was at an Orthodox house and was right after a wedding, so there was incredible food, prayer, singing, and dancing in a circle around the table. YES, that really happens, and its fabulous! I felt so honored to be included at the table, and everyone was so welcoming. I am learning so much and experiencing an entire culture and place I am so unfamiliar with. Tomorrow we will see the Dome of the rock and the Holacaust museum. HAPPY NEW Year! LOVEEEEEEE me.

Jerusalem

It has been a glorious 3 days in Israel and I am in a constant state of wonderment. The girls and I went to Bethlehem, which seemed only appropriate for the Christmas celebrations. It was a short bus ride from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, but we had to get off the bus and go through the check point to get into the city. The check point is in the middle of a giant wall that stretches the borders of Israel and is intended to keep Palestinians out. Only those who live within the walls or have proper identification can get through. It was sobering to see the division so concretely. The massive wall was covered with messages like, “free Palestine,” “We are not terrorists,” “Bring Peace to Israel..” ect. It was very powerful to realize how for granted I take the freedom of movement. I can’t imagine what it is like to be kept from somewhere because of my origin or religion. Our United States Passports allowed us to enter Bethlehem and we walked down the windy streets to Manger Square for the Christmas Eve celebrations. The square was bustling with people and there was a stage set up in front of the church the evening of the 24th. There were choirs and performances all night leading up to midnight mass. We opted not to try to fight the crowds and to attend a service in the morning. The President of Palestine was the special guest so there were a lot of people wanting to attend. We ate falafel and drank sweet tea while listening to the music. I quietly observed all that was going on around me. In the morning we went to the Church of the Nativity, saw the place that Jesus was born, and attended mass there in Arabic.
This was/is only the beginning. Today we visited the Wailing Wall and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher (crucifixion/burial place of Jesus). The wall was lined with people praying and putting notes in the cracks of the white Jerusalem stone. People walked backwards from the wall so their backs weren’t turned to it. We were there as the light was radiating off the golden Dome of the Rock and Jerusalem shined.
Jerusalem is breathtaking. I had no idea how beautiful it would be. It is built on a series of hills that is a whirlwind of new and old. It is incredible to be in a city that is so significant to Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. There is so much intensity and stimulation packed into this little city. I haven’t felt unsafe at all, though I can sometimes feel tension in the air. It helps to be with Hannah and her wonderful friends here. I love the food; we have had falafel, pita, and hummus everyday, a vegetarians dream! Not to mention the delicious pastries. I could get use to this. For now, I’m just trying to keep my feet on the ground and not be totally swept away by this experience. Ahhh more soon….i hope Christmas was wonderful for you too! Love lisa