Hey Hey Hey

Hey everybody!!!

I'm an aunt!!! My sister Jessica delivered Avery Elizabeth on 21 September, making me an aunt at last. She's beautiful Jess. She is going to look just like you did as a baby! SO CUTE. Can we call her Peaches? I wish I could figure out how to get her photo up here. She's so cute!!!

So, it is really sad that I'm not there to be part of the whole new baby phenomenon, but I'm doing really well here in Zambia. I have come to a point where I can say that I love my job and my village. My house? Well, I'm still working on loving it. I have a serious rat problem and an even more serious termite problem. These things have just manifest themselves in the very recent past. I've armed myself with some rat poison to take back to site. I'm done with the whole not killing animals thing. It's over.

Right, so work. . . I'm working with the Anti-AIDS Club at one of my schools every Wednesday. I love working with them. They're lots of fun. They're about 40-50 students in grades 7, 8, & 9 (which in Zambia means they range in age from 12 - 17). We have a good time and they ask really good questions. I'm working with them on life skills, something they do not otherwise learn in Zambia. For instance, they don't know what I'm talking about when I say "self-esteem" or "self-respect" (which, of course translate as the same thing in Bemba).

I am also working with a bunch of farmers to do some composting work. They use a lot of fertilizer in Zambia and it is depleting their soil and screwing up they're crops. So it is better to make some compost from materials they have in the village to rejuvinate the soil and make their crops more nutritious. So on Friday I had a meeting on compost with my AIDS Support Group to teach them (all in Bemba, I am proud to say) how to make a successful compost pile. I'm pretty excited about it. I'll get to do some practicals in the garden with them this week.

In other news. I'm seeing someone. He's awesome. I'm really happy. His name is Blessed. He works in public health development with Society for Family Health (it's a USAID organization that does social marketing for condoms, mosquito nets, chlorine to make water safe for drinking, etc.) He lives in Nchelenge (32k away from me), but he is always showing up in the village to surprise me. I like him a lot.

So. I'm happy. I miss you all. Thank you all so much for mail and pakages. I got to Mansa yesterday to find 3 packages and a huge stack of mail that went to the training site in Kitwe and has finally made it here to Mansa. So many thanks to the Ritchies, and my mom and dad for sending EXCELLENT packages. I am so excited to have some dried fruit, new really soft sheets, and a bunch of new clothes!! (they're perfect!!)

I love you all. Be well and I promise to write more sometime soon. I uploaded a few more photos, but didn't have the time to do all of them. Lots of love,
LIBBY