February Rains

Hey everybody,

Hope the failing economy isn't affecting you too negatively back home. Apparently things are really sliding, and the effects are noticeable now. I wish you all the best with everything, and you are all in my thoughts. I guess, to put a positive spin on things from the bottom side of the world, I chose a wonderful time to put off getting a real job and travel to Africa. While things here are not much better with regards to economic times and employment (in fact they are drastically worse), life here is going well.

I spent about 2 weeks in Lusaka, the provincial capital, doing some training with the other Peace Corps Volunteers that came into country at the same time as me (in total there was about 30 of us). The training consisted of instruction in secondary projects we can start in our villages - including HIV/AIDS trainings, teaching, sustainable farming techniques, etc. The idea is that we will take our community analysis skills to our communities, and give the villagers the tools and knowledge to analyze their own problems, and help them find sustainable solutions for these problems. I learned a lot during this time of training, and I've come to realize that the best way to accomplish positive change within my community is just to enable others to do things for themselves. This has been a bit difficult at first, as I am a bit of a control freak and could make faster headway doing things myself. However, the idea is that while this process is a bit slower, once I return to America my village will remain with the tools which enable them to analyze and solve their own problems, thus it will be 'sustainable' as they won't need another PC volunteer.

The second part of the training involved a 'counterpart' (community partner) from each of our respective villages. I brought my host father, and for 2 days of very full training the group analyzed the skills and techniques which should be used to bring positive change to our communities. Overall it was a very rewarding experience, and upon returning to my Village my counterpart has been very excited to begin working on projects to improve village life. My role in my village has changed a bit now from a lecturer and leader to a facilitator. Its a fine line, but basically when I make meetings now I ask questions to encourage the villagers to find solutions, rather than offer the solutions myself. Again this can be a bit frustrating, but we are making some headway and have identified several projects which may improve life for those in Chibo. As with anything in Zambia, these projects will take a long time, so we aren't rushing into anything.

While in Lusaka myself and 2 other RAP volunteers got to participate in the planning of a fish pond at a local wildlife conservatory. This was a great experience, for more than one reason. We got to watch lions and cheetahs feed, which was definately impressive. We also managed a sweet experiement that brought me back to the early 1990's and one of my favorite cartoon films - Riki Tiki Tavi. We were planning the site location for the demonstration pond at the conservatory with another volunteer when we found a baby spitting cobra slithering across our path. After watching the cobra stand on its midsection and spread its hood, we managed to catch the snake with a stick and force it into a bucket. At that point, we carried it to the Mongoose exhibit, and released the snake inside. Watching a Mongoose hunt down and kill the snake was very amusing - albeit a bit unfair for the spitting cobra. Still, once you actually see a poisonous snake face-to-face, the whole simpathy, animal rights sentiment really flies out the window (at least for me). Plus, my justification is that the workers at the park would have just killed it anyways - this seemed like a more dignified death (I'll admit that term is a bit oxymoronic). We are hoping to return to the conservatory within the next few months to begin construction of the demonstration fish pond and arrange for its management and stocking.

In one week I'll be headed to Zanzibar - an Island off the coast of Tanzania - for another vacation. There is a music festival which will be extremely unique and exciting, and hanging out on the beach will be a nice break. While the timing of this vacation isn't perfect because it breaks my momentum in my community a bit, the music festival is only once per year and I really want to attend. Upon returning, I'll be teaching fish farming to 8th and 9th graders 1 day a week, and also doing HIV/Aids training with these students, in addition to the fish farming trainings and programs in which I'm already participating. All in all, life in Chibo is going very well and I'm managing to stay very busy. When I'm not working with fish farmers, I'm usually playing guitar or reading. Time in a Zambian village has definately given me a new respect for 'downtime' and the appreciation of television and mindless entertainment.

On that note, myself and 9 other volunteers managed to pull an all-nighter last night to watch the Superbowl. The game, as you probably all know, was very exciting. While i'd like to have seen less Referee involvement, it was definately a nice slice of home to watch some good old 'American Football'.

All my best to everyone back home, I hope I can speak with you all soon

- Hos