- January 28, 2009 -
There are only a few times during our stay as Peace Corps volunteers when all 40 people from my intake get together, and In-Service Training (IST) is one of them. On January 17, we all traveled down to a government hostel in Lusaka for two weeks of supplemental training and meetings with our program trainers. Getting to see everyone again, and hear their stories from site, was an incredible time- i continue to be amazed at how everyone's village offers a completely unique experience. Some people live with families, some without. Some live right next to town, some live 200km away. Some have NGOs all over the place, some have villagers who've never seen a white person before. We all have different successes, issues, and problems, which means we've all changed quite a bit since Swear-In back in September.
Our supplemental training was short, but very important. We learned primarily about sustainable agriculture, about how to better utilize the resources around the farm to improve soil fertility and reduce the cost of inputs like fertilizer. This is a hugely important issue for Zambia, because farmers here are so dependent on government chemical fertilizer support (which is currently being reduced by 80-90% in my village), and very susceptible to drought and other climate change phenomena.
We also invited our counterparts to come down for a two-day workshop on project management. We focused on how to teach villagers to better identify their own talents and the resources within their community. This is a critical step that is missing from many people's thought process. Most people here seem to think that large projects need funding from the government and outside NGOs; one of my biggest and most critical roles is to help people see the potential they have to complete these same projects without any outside help, using just their own creativity and hard work. It's a tough thing to try and teach, so I'm extremely glad that Ba Elias was able to come down and attend the workshop with me. We'll have a lot of work to do when I get back.
It was also fun to catch up on the wide world of sports. The NFL playoffs were playing on satellite TV, but there was a 12-hour delay or so between the live game and the showing here in Zambia. Thus we all had to make a pact that we wouldn't check the scores online before the game came on, spilling the beans for the rest of the group. In that *other* kind of football, the Zambian soccer team made quite a run in the African Cup of Nations, but got knocked out by Nigeria after a 0-0 overtime tie led to a 5-4 loss on penalty kicks. It's fun to see how crazy everyone is about soccer here. During the games, each shot on goal is accompanied by a deafening roar that seemingly comes from everywhere around town. But after the Nigeria loss, and another excruciating one to Cameroon (89.5 minutes of hard work and brilliant play against a far superior team got ruined by a few seconds of stunning, ball-through-the-goalie's-hands ineptitude), the entire city of Lusaka sat in stunned, despondent silence.
But after two weeks of fun in Lusaka, everyone's getting a bit worn out and now we're getting ready to head back to our sites. The next few months should be productive and exciting, as the rains ease up a bit, people begin to harvest their crops (and hopefully fish ponds), and a new intake of volunteers comes in (yay, we're not the newbies anymore!!!). And my family's coming to visit in May, which will undoubtedly be a fantastic experience!!!! Talk to you soon!
Monday, February 1, 2010
La Navidad de las Dugongos
- January 6, 2010 -
Being from Michigan I’m a firm believer that Christmas should never be associated with words like “tropical paradise”, “coral reefs”, or “death by pineapple”. But being so close to the equator and so far from home and family this Christmas, I was forced to make compromises… Thus with the prospect of snow angels thousands of miles away, I settled for second best: traveling with four other Zambia PCVs down to Vilankulo, Mozambique to celebrate the Holidays on the ocean.
Being naïve newbie volunteers, we decided to make the trip overland, via the Zambian border at Katete. But this being Southern Africa, traveling is never as innocent or as simple as it would seem. By the time we made it, five full days and 17 vehicles later, we realized the wisdom of those who flew. On one leg of the trip we got stuck in the rain while sitting in the bed of a pickup truck. Another leg found us standing on top of our luggage for 14 hours on a double-booked coach bus fighting constantly with angry, pushy, over-crowded Mozambiquans (Mozos for short???). Still another ride involved cramming 24 people, 20 bags of luggage, a dozen crates of empty beer bottles, five sacks of beans, and a chicken onto a tiny pickup truck. We discovered that outside of the main roads (like the Great East & North Roads out of Lusaka), there is so little traffic that we really didn’t have much of a choice of transport; either take the overloaded coach bus today, or wait and hope that tomorrow’s coach bus has a bit more room. Long story short, getting there sucked.
Hitching down to Lusaka - this was the easy part where I still had room to take pictures
Fortunately, Vilankulo was the perfect place to recover from such an arduous journey. With palm-lined beaches, warm turquoise water, and a hostel right next to it all, swimming became at least a thrice-daily activity. Vilankulo is famous for its 4+ meter tide differences, so the beachfront always looked different than the last time you swam there (this also meant that no matter how high up the beach we placed our stuff, we would inevitably end up scrambling to keep it dry). We also took a trip in a dhow, a simple-yet-remarkably-effective Arabic sailing vessel, out to the nearby Bazaruto Archipelago to go snorkeling on a pair of incredible coral reefs. Through the crystal clear water we must have seen 40-50 species of tropical fish - groupers, puffers, angelfish, clownfish, parrotfish, a couple of barracudas off in the distance, and even a lionfish. Not to mention the coral itself came in all colors and patterns. On the other side of the reefs, world-class deep sea fishing kept us well-fed with red snapper, tuna, and kingfish (it was a common sight to see the local fisherman walking around selling 30lb red snappers fresh out of the water). Unfortunately we never caught a glimpse of Vilankulo’s most famous aquatic animal: the dugong. This nearly extinct cousin of the manatee is so rare that it’s attained nearly mythical status - although photos grace the cover of nearly every tourist brochure and people walk around sporting “Equipo Dugongo” (“Team Dugong”) t-shirts, even most locals have never seen one in person. Yet Vilankulo remains one of the last dugong-inhabited areas in the world.
Our little hostel chalet and the surrounding beach - not a bad place to set up shop for a week!
The insane four-meter tide difference turned ocean into desert and left many a boat beached for several hours at a time
But aside from the snorkeling, swimming, and seafood, I really just enjoyed hanging out with the other volunteers, getting to know them a bit better - we get precious little time to spend with volunteers from other provinces. Thus sitting under the pavilion eating pineapples, playing vicious games of Phase 10, and blasting Christmas music was the perfect change-of-pace from the humdrum of Northern Province village life. We also took some time to explore the town of Vilankulo itself, which despite its status as a top tourist destination remains a *very* African city: lots of dirt roads, vacant lots, walled compounds with broken glass set on top, gravity-fed plumbing everywhere, unreliable electricity, and a big central market containing an impressive variety of crafts and citenges. And during our explorations we somehow managed to befriend every dog in the entire town - had a giant gaggle of them following us everywhere - much to the dismay of our hostel’s gate-keeper. By far the most notable canine was a cute little puppy named Dent, who accidentally killed a duckling while trying to entice it to play, and whose punishment (dealt out by our evil hostel worker nemesis) was to get a brick thrown at his head. Fortunately he survived, though he had a baseball-sized goose egg on his head and still seemed a bit wobbly when we left.
Our dhow trip out to the Bazaruto Islands
After watching New Years fireworks from the beach, however, we started off on our long trek home. Tired of overcrowded pickup trucks and double-booked coach buses, we decided to take minibuses the entire way to the Zambian border. This proved to be a bit faster and a whole lot less eventful. A couple days later I was back at my site, ready to squeeze some work in before heading to In-Service Training the middle of January. All in all our trip to Mozambique was a great experience, but next time I think I’ll fly!
Being from Michigan I’m a firm believer that Christmas should never be associated with words like “tropical paradise”, “coral reefs”, or “death by pineapple”. But being so close to the equator and so far from home and family this Christmas, I was forced to make compromises… Thus with the prospect of snow angels thousands of miles away, I settled for second best: traveling with four other Zambia PCVs down to Vilankulo, Mozambique to celebrate the Holidays on the ocean.
Being naïve newbie volunteers, we decided to make the trip overland, via the Zambian border at Katete. But this being Southern Africa, traveling is never as innocent or as simple as it would seem. By the time we made it, five full days and 17 vehicles later, we realized the wisdom of those who flew. On one leg of the trip we got stuck in the rain while sitting in the bed of a pickup truck. Another leg found us standing on top of our luggage for 14 hours on a double-booked coach bus fighting constantly with angry, pushy, over-crowded Mozambiquans (Mozos for short???). Still another ride involved cramming 24 people, 20 bags of luggage, a dozen crates of empty beer bottles, five sacks of beans, and a chicken onto a tiny pickup truck. We discovered that outside of the main roads (like the Great East & North Roads out of Lusaka), there is so little traffic that we really didn’t have much of a choice of transport; either take the overloaded coach bus today, or wait and hope that tomorrow’s coach bus has a bit more room. Long story short, getting there sucked.
Hitching down to Lusaka - this was the easy part where I still had room to take picturesFortunately, Vilankulo was the perfect place to recover from such an arduous journey. With palm-lined beaches, warm turquoise water, and a hostel right next to it all, swimming became at least a thrice-daily activity. Vilankulo is famous for its 4+ meter tide differences, so the beachfront always looked different than the last time you swam there (this also meant that no matter how high up the beach we placed our stuff, we would inevitably end up scrambling to keep it dry). We also took a trip in a dhow, a simple-yet-remarkably-effective Arabic sailing vessel, out to the nearby Bazaruto Archipelago to go snorkeling on a pair of incredible coral reefs. Through the crystal clear water we must have seen 40-50 species of tropical fish - groupers, puffers, angelfish, clownfish, parrotfish, a couple of barracudas off in the distance, and even a lionfish. Not to mention the coral itself came in all colors and patterns. On the other side of the reefs, world-class deep sea fishing kept us well-fed with red snapper, tuna, and kingfish (it was a common sight to see the local fisherman walking around selling 30lb red snappers fresh out of the water). Unfortunately we never caught a glimpse of Vilankulo’s most famous aquatic animal: the dugong. This nearly extinct cousin of the manatee is so rare that it’s attained nearly mythical status - although photos grace the cover of nearly every tourist brochure and people walk around sporting “Equipo Dugongo” (“Team Dugong”) t-shirts, even most locals have never seen one in person. Yet Vilankulo remains one of the last dugong-inhabited areas in the world.
Our little hostel chalet and the surrounding beach - not a bad place to set up shop for a week!
The insane four-meter tide difference turned ocean into desert and left many a boat beached for several hours at a time 
But aside from the snorkeling, swimming, and seafood, I really just enjoyed hanging out with the other volunteers, getting to know them a bit better - we get precious little time to spend with volunteers from other provinces. Thus sitting under the pavilion eating pineapples, playing vicious games of Phase 10, and blasting Christmas music was the perfect change-of-pace from the humdrum of Northern Province village life. We also took some time to explore the town of Vilankulo itself, which despite its status as a top tourist destination remains a *very* African city: lots of dirt roads, vacant lots, walled compounds with broken glass set on top, gravity-fed plumbing everywhere, unreliable electricity, and a big central market containing an impressive variety of crafts and citenges. And during our explorations we somehow managed to befriend every dog in the entire town - had a giant gaggle of them following us everywhere - much to the dismay of our hostel’s gate-keeper. By far the most notable canine was a cute little puppy named Dent, who accidentally killed a duckling while trying to entice it to play, and whose punishment (dealt out by our evil hostel worker nemesis) was to get a brick thrown at his head. Fortunately he survived, though he had a baseball-sized goose egg on his head and still seemed a bit wobbly when we left.
Our dhow trip out to the Bazaruto Islands
After watching New Years fireworks from the beach, however, we started off on our long trek home. Tired of overcrowded pickup trucks and double-booked coach buses, we decided to take minibuses the entire way to the Zambian border. This proved to be a bit faster and a whole lot less eventful. A couple days later I was back at my site, ready to squeeze some work in before heading to In-Service Training the middle of January. All in all our trip to Mozambique was a great experience, but next time I think I’ll fly!
Rainy Season is Coming to Town
- December 19, 2009 -
Christmas is just around the corner (the lack of Christmas carols here is deceiving!), which means that here in Zambia, rainy season is just getting into full swing! Unlike America, where rainfall is scattered throughout the year, Zambia's rainfall is entirely concentrated in a six-month period between November and April. (from May to October, there literally won't be a single cloud in the sky!). And the rain here is absolutely fascinating to watch! Thunderstorms take their sweet time rolling in (I can see the storm clouds by mid-morning, but it might not rain until late afternoon), and offer spectacular 360-degree lightning shows accompanied by thunder that rumbles for 30 seconds or a minute from one side to the other across the sky. And the storms come from any direction, defying the influence of any jet streams that may be around.
My yard turns to mush, but my grass roof holds strong during the rainstorms
This wacky weather has a huge impact on my farmers and on how life operates here in Zambia. Without irrigation or farm equipment, neither of which are found in rural Zambia, farming revolves completely around the rains. During the dry season, the ground is too hard to plow by hand, and too dry to plant anything. Thus nowadays my farmers are working double-time to prepare, plow, and plant their fields before too much of the rain has gone by. The Bemba name for the month of December, "Mpundu milimo"( meaning "twin jobs"), reflects this hardworking time of year. After the maize is planted, the workload eases up a bit, but then the "hungry season" kicks in for the months of January and February. During these two months supplies of food from the last harvest are running low, but it's still to early to harvest this year's crop. And the rain wreaks havoc on many vegetable crops like tomato and onions. Thus food will be scarce, right at the time when people are working the hardest. It's no surprise then, to hear that villagers often lose significant weight this time of year.
During the rainy season everything turns green- including my bathing shelter!
The start of rainy season is also an adjustment for me. Biking back from Kasama with 50lbs of clothes and food is no longer a convenient endeavor, since the road now has a foot or two of mud and knee-deep pothole-lakes in many places. Grass and weeds grow like crazy now - a foot per week is not unusual, which means I'm constantly having to dig my house and yard out from under a mountain of weeds. People don't like to go anywhere or do anything while it's raining, so I'm always left guessing whether or not I should travel through the rain to a scheduled meeting. And I'm not very good at predicting the rains just yet (after all, they do come from every direction), so getting stranded in faraway villages is a constant threat. Just yesterday (probably my worst day at site thus far), I was biking home from a village 35km away. Our introductory meeting had run waaaay late, and it started to downpour almost immediately after we left. My counterpart, Ba Elias, and I ended up biking/walking almost 20km in the dark and rain, which took us several hours. It's been a long time since I've been that soaked and miserable. But luckily I used the opportunity for some cultural exchange: I was riding behind Ba Elias and kept losing sight of the road and his outline in the dark. So I taught him how to play Marco-Polo! He'd say "Marco", I'd say "Polo", and we could both keep track of each other while biking home in the dark/rain! So rainy season definitely will require an adjustment, and is full of various inconveniences and annoyances, but I realize that this rainfall is what brings life to the land and allows my farmers' crops to grow.
But because Christmas is coming up, and because my farmers are all busy in the fields, now seemed like a good time to use a few vacation days and see a bit more of Southern Africa. So I'm heading down from Kasama today to meet up with some Central and Eastern volunteers, and we're heading down to Mozambique for Christmas and New Years!
Christmas is just around the corner (the lack of Christmas carols here is deceiving!), which means that here in Zambia, rainy season is just getting into full swing! Unlike America, where rainfall is scattered throughout the year, Zambia's rainfall is entirely concentrated in a six-month period between November and April. (from May to October, there literally won't be a single cloud in the sky!). And the rain here is absolutely fascinating to watch! Thunderstorms take their sweet time rolling in (I can see the storm clouds by mid-morning, but it might not rain until late afternoon), and offer spectacular 360-degree lightning shows accompanied by thunder that rumbles for 30 seconds or a minute from one side to the other across the sky. And the storms come from any direction, defying the influence of any jet streams that may be around.
My yard turns to mush, but my grass roof holds strong during the rainstormsThis wacky weather has a huge impact on my farmers and on how life operates here in Zambia. Without irrigation or farm equipment, neither of which are found in rural Zambia, farming revolves completely around the rains. During the dry season, the ground is too hard to plow by hand, and too dry to plant anything. Thus nowadays my farmers are working double-time to prepare, plow, and plant their fields before too much of the rain has gone by. The Bemba name for the month of December, "Mpundu milimo"( meaning "twin jobs"), reflects this hardworking time of year. After the maize is planted, the workload eases up a bit, but then the "hungry season" kicks in for the months of January and February. During these two months supplies of food from the last harvest are running low, but it's still to early to harvest this year's crop. And the rain wreaks havoc on many vegetable crops like tomato and onions. Thus food will be scarce, right at the time when people are working the hardest. It's no surprise then, to hear that villagers often lose significant weight this time of year.
During the rainy season everything turns green- including my bathing shelter!The start of rainy season is also an adjustment for me. Biking back from Kasama with 50lbs of clothes and food is no longer a convenient endeavor, since the road now has a foot or two of mud and knee-deep pothole-lakes in many places. Grass and weeds grow like crazy now - a foot per week is not unusual, which means I'm constantly having to dig my house and yard out from under a mountain of weeds. People don't like to go anywhere or do anything while it's raining, so I'm always left guessing whether or not I should travel through the rain to a scheduled meeting. And I'm not very good at predicting the rains just yet (after all, they do come from every direction), so getting stranded in faraway villages is a constant threat. Just yesterday (probably my worst day at site thus far), I was biking home from a village 35km away. Our introductory meeting had run waaaay late, and it started to downpour almost immediately after we left. My counterpart, Ba Elias, and I ended up biking/walking almost 20km in the dark and rain, which took us several hours. It's been a long time since I've been that soaked and miserable. But luckily I used the opportunity for some cultural exchange: I was riding behind Ba Elias and kept losing sight of the road and his outline in the dark. So I taught him how to play Marco-Polo! He'd say "Marco", I'd say "Polo", and we could both keep track of each other while biking home in the dark/rain! So rainy season definitely will require an adjustment, and is full of various inconveniences and annoyances, but I realize that this rainfall is what brings life to the land and allows my farmers' crops to grow.
But because Christmas is coming up, and because my farmers are all busy in the fields, now seemed like a good time to use a few vacation days and see a bit more of Southern Africa. So I'm heading down from Kasama today to meet up with some Central and Eastern volunteers, and we're heading down to Mozambique for Christmas and New Years!
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