Mwapoleni Mukwai!! (Greetings). I am in Lusaka on my way to Lake Kariba in Southern Province, home of the Tonga tribe. It is my first real vacation and I am really excited for a break. So much has happened since I last wrote. Things in the village are going really well. I am still really busy and trying to put all of my various projects into action. Work with my Neighborhood Health Committees is going well. I just trained my second group and have a third in December. Im also working on various other trainings and workshops including Soya cooking/Nutrition, Anti-Aids clubs & HIV education, and a preschool project. I've been able to attend some cultural events including the big Bemba festival last month. President Mwanawasa helicoptered in and gave a speech among the traditional dances and performances. Each tribe in Zambia has a traditional festival once a year and I was excited to be able to go. Zambia is so rich with song and dance. It is remarkable to see the little ones and the elders shake and twist to the drums.
As I experience more and more here I continually learn about the nuances of the Bemba culture. The Bembas are the largest tribe in Zambia and the language is the most widely spoken of the 74 here. They are known for their sense of humor, strange cuisine (monkeys, caterpillars, and termites among other things), and tribal unity. One interesting thing I just learned about is when a woman is menstruating she will place a red bead on the bed to let her husband know it's that time of the month. He will take it and put in on the table and when she is finished she will replace it with a white bead meaning she is pure again. The women here are something else. They are tough as nails and I often see them in the fields working, carrying 20 liter water jugs on their heads with a child on one hand and another on their backs. They never stop working. It often takes hours to prepare food considering they go collect it in the bush, pound and cut, gather firewood, fetch water, and then begin cooking. It has been such an enriching experience to witness, and take part in.
The rains are coming and my roof is a bit leaky. My villagers have been gathering grass to re-thatch my roof for months (they take really good care of me). The nightly lightning and thunder storms have been a refreshing change from the dry heat of October, however I'm nervous to see what the full power of the rain brings. My villagers have been warning me about the snakes because they tend to seek dry warm places during the rains. A few nights ago I arrived home after dark and opened my storage room (across from my hut) to put my bike in and I heard some rustling. I figured it was the mouse who has made a home there. I flashed my light in the back corner and next to my spare bike tube (which has startled me before with its long black shape) was a long black tail. I stood there in shock for a good 10 seconds before it registered what it was. "wait a second...this tube has a TAIL" It moved and I screamed, bolted out of the room, and stood hyperventilating for a few minutes before I ran to my neighbor who came with his 6 kids (all carrying sticks) to save the day. Turns out it was a 30 inch black cobra who was probably seeking shelter and following the mouse. I was hysterical for a few hours, but then I composed myself and was able to relax. I was pretty proud considering my paralyzing fear. I only had nightmares for the next 2 nights and vowed to get a cat which i'm working on. Ohh life in a mud hut!
I am looking forward for the land to turn green and for my farmers to start cultivating. Most of my village is having a rough start to planting season because the Government decided to cut way back on fertilizer subsidies this year and failed to tell anyone in advance. A lot of my villagers requested 10-12 bags and only received 2 . People are in quite a flurry about it considering the bags run about 120,000 kwacha and they usually get them at 50-60,000 through the gov. People didn't have time or the information to budget for the cut back so they will be suffering next year when harvest comes. Fertilizer is a make or break asset to a farmer here in Zambia.
I'm really happy here and loving Zambia and the village. I can't express how lucky I feel to be here and how much I appreciate your support, letters and packages...Ok I'll try to update again soon.
MUCH LOVE...lisa

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