Vacation Is Over, Now Back to Work

Happy New Year Everyone!!! I’m at the tail end of my vacation and actually started back to work yesterday with Provincial Meetings in Mansa. I’ll go back to Nchelenge tomorrow and dive into what looks like a nice and busy January. Vacation was incredible. Check out the photos by clicking on the Flickr thing to the right. Blessed and I went to Malawi for Christmas and to Livingstone, Zambia for New Year’s. We were in Malawi for 4 nights, two in Lilongwe (the capital city) and two in Nsenga Bay on Lake Malawi. We got to visit with some of Blessed’s family. His aunt lived in Cape Town for some time, so we got to talk a lot about South Africa a lot. She was really cool and we had a nice day at their house. Lake Malawi is so gorgeous. We spent Christmas Day on a little island in the middle of the lake. It was so beautiful. The water is so clear. We went snorkeling and saw some beautiful tropical fish. We were the only people at our guest house that day, so we had a private lunch practically on the beach. It was awesome. The next day we shifted to a beautiful hotel, where we stayed one night in a chalet right on the beach. I felt so grown up that I could afford to stay in this place. We could walk out our door and be on the beach. You’ll see the photos. Gorgeous. We ran into a friend of Blessed’s (we can’t even leave the country without this happening) on the beach. He and his wife gave us a ride all the way back to Chipata in Zambia. I wasn’t feeling well and ended up puking on the street in Chipata, so my memories of our one night there are few, but graphic. It’s a real cute place. From Chipata we went back to Lusaka for a few days. I got to eat a salad with actual fresh cilantro on it. Believe me, that really does rank in the top ten of my vacation experiences. We went on a mission to find a venue for our wedding in July (yup, if you didn’t read the last entry, it’s true!!!) and we were very successful! We are pretty sure we’re going to have it at Lilayi Lodge in Lusaka ( www.lilayi.com ). We saw giraffes and antelope on our drive in. We’re pretty sure that’s the place! From Lusaka we went to Livingstone. We stayed one night with one of Blessed’s best friends, Vundukai. He lives and works out on a farm compound for an organization called Sons of Thunder. They have a clinic and an orphanage for children with HIV out in the middle of nowhere (or that’s how it felt anyway). So we stayed there and he gave us a tour of the orphanage and the grounds on the farm. It was really cool. We proceeded to Livingstone the next day (New Year’s Eve) and checked into a really cute guest house/hotel place. We went to a club on the Zambezi River and had drinks and dinner while acrobats jumped around. We danced in the rain and called it a new year! On New Year’s Day, Blessed and I went to Victoria Falls. It is amazing! (I know I use those words “amazing,” “phenomenal,” “gorgeous,” etc. a lot. I need a thesaurus.) I can’t believe people are saying there is MORE water in April! (It makes sense, because it is the very end of the rainy season, but it just doesn’t seem possible that there could be more water than is already falling!) We hiked down into the part they call the Boiling Pot where the white water rapids are and you can watch all the people bungee jumping (maybe another time) off the bridge that separates Zambia from Zimbabwe. Again, see photos. Anyway, our vacation was incredible. We had such an awesome time. Blessed is an excellent travel companion. I’m excited to go back to the village too, because I have a lot of projects going on in January. I’m working on fixing up a community pre-school for orphans. They’re doing a really good job already (65 children come to school there every day), but the structure is totally insufficient and they need help getting a new structure and some pit latrines, desks, etc. I plan on working with them to start growing soya beans and ground nuts so the kids have some protein to eat every day. It should be cool. They have a lot of support from the community and the PTA (57 people came to the meeting I attended right before vacation). I’m pretty pumped about this. It’s not in my village, but in a village between Nchelenge and Kashikishi. I’ll also be working on a series of HIV/AIDS workshops at a mining company in Nchelenge with my friend and colleague Lea. We’re doing 4 Fridays in a row and then we’ll follow up quarterly. We haven’t planned it yet, but we’re pretty sure it’s going to be a lot of fun. Miners in Zambia are a high risk population, so it should be pretty rewarding to work with them. I do, however, have some projects in my village too. My Neighborhood Health Committees are actually going to get up and working in January. I’m optimistic that they might actually start doing village inspections and project identification this year. I have seven NHCs and none of them have even met since last January. They’re supposed to do village inspections every quarter to plan their interventions. Well, none of that has happened in a really long time. So, I’ll be really pleased if this gets going. I mean, when it gets going! Of course, I’ll be going back to working with my Anti-AIDS Club at my school. I’ll miss all the kids who’ve left for high school. I’ll have to come up with a new bunch of favorites. I was finally getting to know most of their names when the school year ended in November. 2007 promises many wonderful things. I am especially excited about seeing my family, as well as Kara and Mekkin, in July!!! So exciting!!! I wish you all a happy and prosperous 2007. Be well, I'll be in contact when I can. Thanks to all of those who have sent me packages and letters. I love you all, you're so sweet. Okay, much love, LIBBY