Greetings from Zambia. I apologize for my sparse correspondencelately, things have really been busy. Work is coming along ratherwell and I finally feel like I am getting the hang of the way thingswork here. I didn't realize it would take me 6 months to becomfortable with the work infrastructure in the village. I took theavailability of information and the basic organization of the statesfor granted. It seems like you can find out almost anything with thestroke of a computer key or a phone call, but here you can askquestions till your blue in the face and receive ten different answersand you wont find what your looking for until you have been around fora while. I understand now why this is a 2 year commitment. It ishard to become familiar enough with the system to work or changeanything in a shorter amount of time.

The work opportunities are vast here, especially in the health field,and it was overwhelming for a while to decide what to focus on. Itseems like every one of the 6 health thrusts (malaria, tb, hiv/aids,integrated reproductive health, child health/nutrition, andwater/sanitation) is a problem in the village and there are so manyprojects to undertake. After realizing that 33% of my areas childrenunder 5 years old are underweight, I decided to focus on child healthand nutrition. I asked all of my NHC's to form nutrition clubs intheir zone to support underweight children and mentor their parents onnutrition. I told them I would train both the NHC and Nutrition clubtogether on the health thrusts. Trainings are a big part of myproject and provide knowledge and guidance to NHC's and various clubs. A lot of the time people are a part of a club, but don't have theresources or information to make the club thrive. Some of my longtime NHC (Neighborhood Health Committee) members didn't even know whatan NHC was, or what their roles and responsibilities were.

My zones were excited about the project and one had a communitymeeting the next week, formed their nutrition club and we had a 6 daytraining the first week of September. I had to pull it together injust 2 weeks, but I had help from one of my counterparts in a near byvillage and a peer educator I met in Kasama, and the training wentreally well. It was 4 hours a day in the Kasonde Mwamba (7.5 k pastmy village of Mwamba) Catholic Church. It was an incredibleexperience and I enjoyed teaching very much. The 12 members of the NHCand the 12 Nutrition Club members showed up every day with the pensand paper I gave them and were excited to learn. My goal is to have each NHC participate in the next training so thatwith each zone that is trained, I am doing less and less facilitation. It is vital to have the club members become confident in spreadinginformation so that the health education will thrive when the PeaceCorps leaves the area. Sustainability is key.

The first training got the area moving and I've had multiple requestsfor trainings. I am planning another one for the second week ofOctober, which is the height of hot season and will probably be achallenge. I am missing the cool evening air. The days have becomequite uncomfortable and I have had to make multiple trips a day to thewell to keep my garden alive. I have tomatoes, onions, and cabbageoutside of my hut, and it's glorious to see my own produce sprout andgrow. I waited for weeks for my cabbage to grow in the middle of thegreen leaves that were sprouting and I thought it was strange that theballs in the middle weren't forming. I just figured cabbage took awhile until one of my neighbors asked why I wasn't eating it one dayand I realized it was Chinese cabbage. Here I was waiting for theround cabbage I was use to to form as my edible cabbage was dying. Iguess I have a long way to go in my gardening career. I willdefinitely not confuse my tomatoes…that's for sure!

During the dry season (April-November) the people of Zambialiterally burn the entire country. Instead of slashing the tallgrasses that grow around the bush, they simply light it on fire andevery night I see an orange glow in the distance as the fire rages.It's incredible that a country that is 95% flammable is set ablaze andamazingly kept under control. I still don't know the trick. One dayI looked out my window and saw the 15 foot flames a few yards from mystorage hut and prayed it wouldn't spread to my thatched roof. I'mjust waiting to come home one day and find my hut burnt down, butIt's still standing so far. The bush is beautiful right now, thehillsides are covered with turning trees, from green to red, to orangeand then brown. It's nothing like autumn in the states, but it's niceto see some color in the mass of green and brown.

I hope to get more pictures out to people and up on the blog, butI've had some unfortunate luck with my camera. The lens broke at theend of training and after sending it back to the states, paying tohave it fixed, and transporting it back with some visitors to Zambia,it was stolen out of their luggage. I am hoping to get a replacementsoon. Theft has been my biggest problem so far in Africa. I had mywallet stolen at a busy market in Lusaka and a few small items takenfrom my hut (soap, laundry line, ect). But overall I feel really safehere. My community is very protective of me, and if there is ever aproblem, the village Headmen and Chief get involved right away.Zambians have a very jovial in nature and peaceful spirits. It seemslike people know my name everywhere I go and I almost feel too welcomeat times. My favorite thing is to hear the kids shouting at me as Iride my bike on the dirt trails, "muli shani ba Lisa!" (how are youLisa), or "mulya kwisa ba Lisa?" (where are you going Lisa?).

I started to give English lessons to one of my counter parts, who isalready quite competent, but wants to polish his grammar andvocabulary. Good thing spelling isn't involved or we'd be in trouble. I found myself at a bit of a loss trying to dig into the vault ofthose jr high English classes. I think it will be a good opportunityto practice Bemba as well. We were doing sentence diagrams and aftermy example I asked him to give me a sentence. He thought and said"Lisa is very fat." I laughed for a good minute and he lookedconfused. I explained that though that is a compliment here (Ihope), it is quite taboo to call a girl, or anyone for that matter,fat in the states. I thought it was the greatest sentence he could'vesaid and it made me smile. In a country where food is scarce, havingenough to put some skin on your bones is a sign of prestige. If onlythey knew how obsessed Americans are with staying thin. What a world.

Overall I am feeling a lot more confident in my ability to access mysituation and create sustainable change in my area. I really love myvillage and am becoming attached to the people I work with every day.My Bemba is still lacking and It is one of my main frustrations, butluckily there is at least one person in each club or group I work withthat can translate for me. I hope to dedicate more time to learningvocab and hopefully it will start to click. For now, I am stillpainfully incompetent. I still long for home, friends, and family. Ialways feel a boost of confidence knowing that all of your thoughts,letters, and sentiments are coming my way. I am learning so much fromthis experience. My life will forever be changed by Zambia and I amthankful every day for this roller coaster I am riding. The ride goeson….until next time! lisa

Summer is COLD in Zambia...

I didn't think I would have to be bundled up in Africa, but turns out June and July are Coooollld here. It is winter and hard to believe y'all are lounging in the sun. It is surprisingly chilly at night, but still manages to be hot during the day. It's like fall and summer all in 24 hours. I never quite know how to dress. Things have been really busy lately. I traveled to Central Province this past week to run a half marathon. It was a marathon just to get there. A few friends and I hitched (a very common and usually safe way of transport here) from Kasama to Mpika (2 hours south) in a pick-up truck and actually hit a GOAT on the way. Yeah it was brutal, never hit anything like that in a vehicle before. It was a surprisingly small bump, but traumatic none the less. We made the rest of the trip on the back of a packed cargo truck. We, along with 20 fellow Zambian travellers, were on top of sacks of beans and other crops for the 4 hour trip. It wasn't a bad ride, though when the sun began to set we were FREEZING...the wind is merciless on those open trucks. We managed to make it from Kasama to Serenje (half way across the country) for 15,000 kwacha (about $4). Not bad. The run was a success, i did the 13 miles in 1 hour and 46 minutes, better than I expected. Unfortunately I injured my hamstring in a freak ultimate frisbee accident the next day and am in Lusaka for medical treatment now. I am getting it checked out later today, we think it might be a tear, but not sure. I am bummed because I am very active in the village and it is killing me to hobble around. I'm hoping for a quick recovery. It was a trip to roll into the traffic and development of Lusaka. I instantly missed the serenity of the Village. It is strange to see such a drastic difference of lifestyles. From bikes to cars, windy dirt roads to pavement, moonlight and stars to city lights. Hopefully I'll be able to return up north sooner than later. I'll be sure to keep you posted. All the love..Lisa

Greetings from Zambia. It's hard to know what details of my foreign lifestyle to fill you all in on, considering I rarely get to update the blog. I could fill endless pages with observations and wonderment of my life in the village. I can only say that I am continually challenged and humbled by the ups and downs of my work and everyday life. Work is really picking up, I've had a slue of meetings with my Neighborhood Health Committee and other communities as well. It's been very difficult for me to communicate to my community why I'm here in Zambia and what my work entails. Naturally they see me as a miracle worker coming from the land of opportunity and it's heartbreaking for me to have to tell them that I can't build their bridge or fund their schools. On the other hand it's beautiful to have them be so excited and thankful for my presence, and to merely watch them take joy in my attempt to live a Zambian life. I'm getting used to the laid back lifestyle of a Zambian village; my meetings usually start from half an hour to an hour late. People usually trickle in throughout and I'm never quite sure who's going to show up. Sometimes I have 15 village kids sitting in wonderment as to what I'm saying. At the end of every meeting, my communities love to teach me a new aspect of their culture, which usually involves cooking a local dish. My latest venture was homemade peanutbutter, called ichikonko in Bemba. It involves shelling, roasting, peeling, and pounding ground nuts. It's quite exciting to see a peanut transform into butter. My villagers always laugh at joy when I try to participate in the culture. I'm still getting used to life in the village, though I've been able to establish a routine and I'm excited to become more familiar with the groups I'm working with and really progress with them.
I'm really starting to make my mud hut feel like a home. Though I still get bombarded with critters. It's amazing how cockroaches don't phase me anymore, where as I would have been horrified before to find one sharing my living space. I had to remove 2 tarantulas from my hut just last week, and had to get a village kid to help me with a giant spider who happened to be on the inside of my mosquito net (which is a definite faux pax and a no-no). The village kids come in handy quite often, and luckily they're never too far away. I cemented the floors of my hut last month, and I've never been so excited about....cement. It cuts my dust intake in half so my lungs are much happier! Not to mention a significant cutback on ants and termites. Termites, by the way, I have found to be incredible creatures. They work at an incredible rate, have mounds that are six feet high, and are often eaten as a local dish. I sometimes come home to find termite tunnels popping up all over my hut. My snake sitings have risen to 4! I am doing surprisingly well at handling the encounters. I've only had one near my hut and again, the Iwes (children) came to my rescue. It's hard to imagine not sharing a space with a crawly creature or two.

I want to thank everyone for their letters and love. One of my favorite things to do after the sun sets is to read letters by candle light when I get lonely in my village. Thank you for taking time to share this adventure with me and for keeping me in your thoughts and prayers. This experience continues to be enriching and is pushing me to lengths I never could have imagined. I am endlessly grateful for the opportunity I have to serve and I am strengthened by the thoughts of friends and family at home. Until next time, Lisa.

Lisa's Friends Visit Her!

Some of Lisa's dear friends (college crowd that she went to Europe with, Guatemala with, lived with in college and later all moved to Seattle for the past year are teaching in Kenya and recently took a 5 day train ride to visit her. Here is their note that I thought you might like to read.

Sandy...
.we are back in Kenya... lamenting our departure from your darling daughter. we love her so soooo insanely much and words simply do not do justice to the amazing experience we had with her. she is healthy and let me TELL YOU has a village that is FANTASTIC. villagers stopping by her hut left and right to offer to fix this, or build that. they are so proud to have her there. her view is STUNNING and we can't wait to get you pictures somehow... or as soon as possible... (may have to be June). the first night we got there we stayed up till 430 talking... please rest easy know how excited the community is to have her there and how willing and present they are. she has a momentous task ahead of her indeed. one that is challenging becuase of the intangibility of the results.... but ulitmately she is the right person to be first generation in a site. she is motivated. we think that africa is going to be really good for lisa. she is going to come back in two years and be soooo relaxed. it is just about impossible to be uptight here... you can't and don't really need to stress about time and such.. so, great. :) we love you and spoke often of how much we love you.. you are so fun! thanks for bring our friend into the world. our lives are better becuase of her... and soooo many others. i know you are so proud.... know that we love YOU and can't wait to see you again soon sometime when we are not galavanting across the world :) love love love courtnae, ada and lori--

"We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work. We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between "master" builder and worker. We are the workers, not the master builder; the ministers, not the Messiah. We are the prophets of a future that is not our own." – Oscar Romero

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.