Panono Panono (Little by little)

Hey hey hey.

So, we had our Provincial Meetings yesterday, followed by the Luapula Superheroes Party. Good times. Photos to come eventually. Unfortunately Elliott was in absensia. He missed the flying contest. I am adding more photos today to the Flickr account. So check them out. There are some sweet ones of my amazing neighbors and of my house. It is entirely possible that you'll hear from me again in the upcoming days. I still have not been paid (or rather, my living allowance is not showing up in my account) so I have no money to take back to the village. I'll have to stick around in Mansa until that gets sorted out.

Okay, so my site. I am really liking it. My area has close to no clue about sustainable development and it is going to be a major challenge to get them working on projects. However, my clinic officer is new and he is coming from an area where he did a lot of work with the Community Based Organizations at his clinic. So, together we can start some exciting things happening in Kanyembo. I am told there are two women's groups (I haven't yet met with them - one wants my help to build a bore hole because there is an insane water problem in Kanyembo) and an active breastfeeding group (to promote breastfeeding for proper nutrition for babies). I am also told that there is an HIV/AIDS support group. I'll find out more about that this week, but I haven't met them yet. So, at this point I am still just trying to network around my village and meet the people I am supposed to meet. Introduce my self everywhere I go, etc.

I do a lot of introductions when I go to the lagoon to draw my water everyday. The women are really surprised and confused as to why this muzungu is there drawing water. They all try to help me and they ask me lots of questions like why I'm not married and why I don't have children. I've been told several times that if I were Zambian I should have 4 or 5 children by now. However, when I tell people that I am 24 they all tell me how young I am. I guess I look older to them.

Yeah, so I have a beautiful lagoon right by my house. If I stand in just the right place at my house I can see the water. However, I walk down there everyday to get water and I do my laundry at the lagoon also. It is gorgeous and the sun sets over the water every night.

My neighbors are going to help me plant some vegetables in the many plots of dirt around my house. We are going to do it together, which is awesome because I eat all of my meals at their house, so it is good that we can grow some food together. We're going to plant soya!!!!, tomatoes, maize (corn), sunflowers, rape (a kind of cabbage), okra, onions, carrots, cucumbers, soya, soya, and more soya. Soya is an amazing food. It is magical because it is a complete protein all on it's own. You can make a million different things with it and it is super nutritious and delicious!! One of my major tasks in the village is to get the people to eat soya. They all grow it, because it is so easy to grow, the seeds multiply really well, and if you plant at the right time of the rainy season, you don't even have to weed it. So lots of people grow it, they just don't eat it -- they sell it. Particularly in a place with so much malnutrition, they need to be eating soya. The problem is Zambians like to do things the traditional way. They like to cook the same relish (all food in Zambia is called relish, unless it is nshima) their mothers and grandmothers cooked and they don't frequently try new things. So, I'm going to do my best to make soya part of the culture in Kanyembo at least. Nshima (the mealie meal staple) is a definite part of the culture. Whenever I meet women in my village they want to know if I know how to make nshima, if I know how to pound cassava (which is how they turn it into mealie meal), etc. Nshima is eaten at least twice a day by almost everyone in Zambia. It has no nutritional value (especially cassava nshima, sorghum and millet have slightly more nutritional value, but no one eats those).

Okay, more about me and my site. My house is inordinately large for a Peace Corps Volunteer. My friend Lea was visiting on my birthday and she was sitting in the sitting room and I was in the "kitchen" and we couldn't hear each other talking (which might not be weird for an American house, but my house is all open ceiling-ed with a thatch roof). I have only a bed and two chairs to furnish this large house. I called it my "kitchen", but I don't really cook and it has no running water or anything that makes it anything more like a kitchen than a bedroom. My site still has no toilet or bathing shelter, so I'm using my neighbors. My Provincial coordinator has come twice to tell my community that if they don't make me a toilet and bathing shelter that she will come and take me back to America. They sound like they don't want that to happen, but they still haven't done anything.

I'm really busy in my village, having at least one meeting each day. It is kind of crazy to schedule two things in the same day here. Nothing starts on time (I schedule most of my meetings for 14 hours -- 2pm -- but people usually show up around 15 or 15:30) and you can't have meetings in the morning because that is when everyone is out in the fields cultivating and working on their gardens.

I've learned there are certain things one must tote around everywhere in Zambia:
1) Water
2) Toilet Paper
3) Hand Sanitizer (although, I'm nearly over that one)
4) A Book (you get to do a lot of waiting)
5) A Headlamp (you never know how long you'll be waiting)

So, this is a long entry, but I'm trying to post as many photos as I can. So I am sorry for the random stream of consciousness.

I hope everyone is doing well. Thanks to all of those who called on my birthday. It was really sweet of you all. Duncan, sorry we got cut off. My mom tells me that you want to come visit!!!! Do it. We have a saying in Luapula: GET IN THERE. It should really be the next Peace Corps Worldwide slogan. (My other favorite Peace Corps slogan is: "I always knew the glass was half full, I just never knew I could bathe in that much water." so true.)

Okay, so that's what I can think of for now. Pretty sure this has cost a fortune. Awesome, since I have no money right now. Everyone think good thoughts for my sister Jessica who is about to have a baby "any time from now" -- I wish you well Jess. I love you. Please know that I'm thinking of you constantly and I really wish I was there.

Okay. Shalenipo Mukwai (stay well).

Hugs & Smooches,
LIBBY