September 16, 2008

Muli shani bonse!

As I sit down to write this, it hits me that it's been about 4 months or so since the last time I found myself here, sitting down to send one of these mass e-mails. As a result, I feel like it's only appropriate to preface this update with two statements: 1) I sincerely and profusely apologize for the delay. These periodic e-mails are my only form of communication with many of you, so I'm sorry that I've been so out-of-touch; and 2) Entirely too much goes on in a matter of 4 months here or anywhere else in the world for me to sum it all up without burdening you with what would most likely be the longest e-mail you've ever received, flooding your inbox, and prompting you to either delete it or only give it a brief skim, making the delayed update only a waste in the end. So, the following will merely be a recounting of major recent events in my Peace Corps experience, leading to inevitable generalizations and lapses in narration. Hopefully this task of drastically condensing my life without being able to go into details will prompt me to simply write more often in the future, seeing as it would allow me to avoid all of these disclaimers and limitations.

So, let's see, the most obvious question is: where to begin? Life continues to go relatively well for me here in Zambia. September 20 will mark 7 months since I moved to this beautiful country and 5 months since I became a resident of Maloba Village. Not only have I never lived outside of the United States for this long, but I've truly never had life pass by quite as quickly as it has these past few months. I'm happy to say that I've emerged from my "Community Entry Period," the first 3-months of service in the village, relatively unscathed and ready for 21 more months. Peace Corps encourages volunteers to take this period as time to assess community needs, familiarize yourself with the area, and simply adjust to village life. For someone like me, taking the time to just adapt and observe before diving right into a packed work schedule isn't the easiest thing in the world, but I understand and deeply appreciate Peace Corps' organic, from-the-ground-up approach to development.

Although I'm far from fully adapted to daily life in the village, I can say with confidence that Maloba has truly started to feel like a home to me. As my Bemba proficiency continues to increase and my familiarity with the dynamics of the community grows, I'm feeling more and more like a thread in the woven fabric of daily life here, instead of on a different plane entirely. It's difficult to put the subtle progression of my integration here into words since it's not any sort of sudden, grandiose ephiphany, but more of a complilation of small occurences and observations. I know I will never stop being somewhat of an outsider here -- a reality of the insurmountable disparity between my experience of the world and that of my fellow villagers. But having a child absentmindedly place his hand on my knee when sitting next to me, like I've seen so many children in the village do with their mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers...how can I explain? What words express that moment when something so small means so much, especially when you've spent every moment of every day grasping for a sense of belonging in a world so different from the one you come from? All I can say is that, though I have a long way to go, the gap between me and my community is slowly getting smaller, allowing more room for connections and relationships to form in spite of a plethora of differences, making me hopeful and resilient in a world where so many claim that this kind of common understanding is impossible, that conflict is inevitable.

In terms of work, my first 3 or 4 months involved spending a great deal of time meeting with individuals and various groups, finding out what they've been working on, what they hope to work on, and what sorts of challenges they face. Along the lines of my project's objectives, I've met with many lead farmers and farmers' groups in my area to talk about organic gardening and conservation farming, as well as starting a garden of my own to demonstrate some of these techniques. I never had a garden of my own back in the States, and I have to say that it's been a lot of fun and even therapeutic getting my hands dirty and watching things grow. Aside from that, I've spent a lot of my time with women's groups, giving talks on nutrition, going over basic business skills as a foundation to start small income-generating activities, learning how to cook local dishes, and sometimes just getting together to sing and dance. In fact, the women in my village and I get together almost every Friday afternoon to dance for about an hour or so. I have yet to figure out if this is simply for fun or if they see these as much-needed dance lessons for me, but it's one of my favorite times of the week nonetheless.

August proved to be one of my busiest months yet, involving almost 3 weeks out of the village. We're not allowed to travel for our first 3 months of service so, seeing as this period ended for me on July 30, I took my first vacation at the beginning of August to neighboring Tanzania. As luck would have it, my dear friend from college Sasha was traveling with her father and younger brother throughout the East African country and I was able to meet up with them for a few days of safari in Tarangire National Park. With my modest volunteer budget, getting to them cheaply from Zambia involved a 3-day train ride and a 10-hour bus ride, but traveling in it of itself proved to be one of the best parts of my trip, providing many interesting experiences and encounters along the way. Traveling alone was never something I had done or would have had the ambition to do prior to Peace Corps, but living by myself in the middle of a rural African village has upped my comfort with solidarity, to say the least. I never expected to see someone from home so soon in my service, so seeing Sasha and her family was more exciting than I can express.On top of that, taking guided tours both by car and on foot to come face-to-face with incredible wildlife in its natural environment was an experience I'll never forget, inspiring both awe at the beauty of nature and sadness at just how rare these animals have become. Plus, having hot showers, soft sheets, and amazing food when I've been living in the village was indescribable. I can only imagine how enjoyable these simple pleasures will be after more than 2 years.

Straight from Tanzania, I made my way back to Zambia and headed to Lusaka, the capital, for a week of "In-Service Training." Taking place after our "Community Entry Period," these sessions focused on evaluating how our service has gone so far and discussing some activities we might want to implement in our villages in the future. This was the first time many of us from my training group had seen each other since being posted to our respective villages, so it was a busy and exciting week, with a lot of catching up to do. Sadly, Zambian President Levy P. Mwanawasa passed away during that week, prompting a lot of commotion and mourning in the capital. Since the Vice President is an appointed, not elected, position in Zambia, there will be another presidential election this month. Fortunately, Zambia is a very peaceful and politically stable country, so none of the complications that often arise with elections in developing countries are expected to result, but it's a very interesting experience being here during this significant time in Zambia's history.

Coming back to the village after such an extended time away was simultaneously exciting and difficult. Towards the end of my travels, I was very much looking forward to getting back to the people and places I now have as my base. At the same time, seeing friends from home and spending time with fellow volunteers reminded me how much I miss the people and places I can relax and be myself with and leaving me only wanting more. After about a week or so, however, I easily got back into the rhythm of the village and have busied myself starting what looks like will be the biggest project of my service -- building a community school for the Maloba area. The closest school is currently over 7 km away, so the children in my village and adjacent villages walk this distance twice a day, every school day, resulting in significantly low classroom attendance, participation, and performance. Under the current Ministry of Education guidelines in Zambia, if a community builds their own school building, the government will later provide additional resources such as teachers, desks, books, and other classroom materials. So, we're submitting an application to the Peace Corps Partnership Program, which will set up a website and help us generate funds for this much-needed project. In fact, this is what has brought me here to Mansa, my provincial capital, this week, where I'll submit our application for review.

Well, I think that's more than enough recap for one e-mail. I really will make a greater effort to send more frequent updates in the future and not let life whisk me away here to the point of detachment. I've found that receiving and writing letters has been one of the best and most personal ways of keeping in touch, so please continue to send news along that way, in addition to e-mail (in case you've misplaced it or don't yet have it, my address is Sara Blackwell/PCV, Peace Corps/Zambia, P.O. Box 710150, Mansa, Luapula, Zambia). Hearing from you truly makes me feel closer to home and gets me through the moments of loneliness and homesickness. Unlike the frustrating experience of slow Internet connections and high Internet cafe fees, writing letters is the only other thing besides reading to do in the village once the sun goes down, so I guarantee a letter in return if you send one my way.

Hoping that each and every one of you is healthy, happy, and enjoying life.

Miss and love you all madly,
Sara