Still kickin it in Zambia!

It seems that bog writing has not been something I have been very dedicated to over the last several months. I think that when I initially began writing, I thought that I would have exciting things happening to me nearly every hour of every day. In the beginning, each day seemed like a new adventure, but now, even though those same strange and shocking things happen to me continuously, I think I have become somewhat desensitized and no longer find them as inspiring to write about. I realize, however, that one day, when my life returns to its normal routine in America, I will want to look back and have a record of the things which I hope will have the same shocking effect as they did when I first experienced them. Also, I realize that you all at home may want to hear about what is going on over here : ) So, without further rambling on about this update, I’ll get down to what has happened over the last several months.


Medical

Yes, I know the title of this section sounds absolutely thrilling (not!), but I promise that illness here is something to definitely write home about. Unfortunately, last year, I suffered 2 major illnesses which put me out of commission in my village for a few weeks. The first was a bad case of mono, which was confirmed when a vial of my blood was sent down on a nice vacation to South Africa for testing around June/July. I initially thought that my body was achy from too much bike riding and being out of shape, so the diagnosis, as strange as it may sound, did make me feel somewhat less lame about myself.

My second illness came in October and was a bit more exciting, albeit, definitely much less desirable than mono… My best Peace Corps friend, Emily, and I headed out on our first trip to see the famed Victoria Falls in Zambia’s Southern Province. The trip, which took place the week of my birthday, started out great – we rode in a luxury bus with movies and air conditioning! We made a quick stop on the way for some snacks, and I enjoyed some chicken and chips. We arrived in Livingston, where we checked in at our hostel, and proceeded to go for a nice dinner at a well-known Italian place (in Zambia?! Go figure!). The next morning, we took the hostel’s shuttle out to the falls. We walked around, taking advantage of all the beautiful photo-opts for nearly an hour before I started feeling dizzy and queasy. I told Emily that I needed to sit and rest for a second, thinking maybe a cold Sprite would help. Unfortunately, this was not such an easy fix, and we ended up rushing back to the hostel in a taxi while I tried not to vomit in the backseat of the cab. The following hours leading up to the next morning, were some of the worse I have ever experienced. Rushing to the toilet nearly every 10 minutes is something I would never wish upon anyone. Luckily, Emily was there and was in constant contact with the Peace Corps medical staff, who were assisting us in trying to figure out what to do with me.

The morning following the onset of this mess, Peace Corps sent an ambulance run by a team with funny accents from South Africa to come and fetch us and take us to the airport. I was hooked up to an IV right in the hostel room and whisked away onto my very own private jet (this is what I told myself at least, in order to make the situation seem more glamorous than it actually was). As sick as I was, I did manage to peek out the plane’s tiny window and catch a glimpse of the falls from the air. I count it as a huge success that I did not poop or vomit on the plane, and I am sure that this was appreciated by my 2 fellow passengers riding in back alongside the stretcher. We landed in Lusaka, where I was then taken to a private clinic and kept for 3 nights and pumped full of IV fluids and medicine. The stay in the clinic was almost as difficult as being transported there, as I was sequestered in a tiny room with a half-functioning TV, and left mostly alone by the staff, who I think were under the impression that American’s don’t like to be bothered with chit-chat. I wasn’t prepared for a vacation in the hospital, so laying up in the bed with nothing but colorful strapless sundresses made me look like quite the ridiculous patient.

In the end, after much speculation and testing, it was confirmed that I had suffered a bad case of amoebic dysentery…Worse birthday present I have ever received!! I am so thankful, however, that I wasn’t alone at the onset and had a wonderful friend to watch out for me and call the doctor when I was too weak to hold the phone up to my ear. So, thank you, Emily!!!

Although I would never wish to go through such an ordeal a second time, and if I had the choice, would have preferred to have never experienced it, I now have bragging rights when chatting about medical stories with my fellow volunteers : )


Work

Work in the village is going pretty well. At 1 year and 5 months into my contract, I have learned who to work with and who to steer clear of. I have narrowed my focus to two main projects – Child Nutrition and HIV Education.

The HIV education program has me biking all over my catchment area with my village counterpart to give a health talk and Q and A session to students ages 12 years and above. The program has gone really well thus far, as the students are very curious about the issue and eager to ask questions. Providing such information on an extremely taboo topic that is often left unaddressed has proven to be really rewarding.

The child nutrition program focuses on rehabilitating the under 5 population identified as malnourished who reside in my catchment area. During a bi-yearly screening, we identified that over 50% of the children between ages 6 months to 5 years are suffering from various levels of malnutrition. The project has a supplementary feeding component, and focuses on teaching the mothers of these children how to cook more balanced meals for their children using local ingredients. The program also includes health education on other issues pertinent to raising healthy children. Many of you have already heard about the program via my recent Facebook message, so I won’t go into further detail. If you aren’t on Facebook, and want more information about this project, send me your e-mail address, and I will forward the information on to you.

I am also doing several smaller side projects. My most recent one has been a hand washing demonstration with school-aged children in the 7 schools in my catchment area. During the demonstration, I use glitter to symbolize the germs that we cannot see on our hands. This visual has been a huge hit with the kids, and inevitably at the end of each session, a few members of the audience have glitter smeared all over their faces for decoration : ) Another repercussion is that I also now have children coming up to my house and holding out their hands saying “Salliwe, look! Ma germs!” The older girls seem to be under the impression that the actual name for glitter is germs and have come several times to my house begging for “ma germs!”

I have also done a few joint projects with Ed. Our greatest success being a community-wide HIV education session in his village. Over 100 people were in attendance! Working as a male/female team has proven really effective, as it allows us to reach both gender populations in the community.


Home for the Holidays 2011

As many of you probably know, I spent the holidays back in the US of A! When I first came to Zambia, I had not anticipated going home at all during my service. I had really hoped that my family would instead come and visit me. Unfortunately, the price of plane tickets and vacation for 4 in Zambia is much more expensive than a ticket for 1 back home to North Carolina. Timing with the family at home also proved difficult with everyone extremely busy with work and my brother and sister pushing to get through college. At any rate, when the idea was proposed for my family to bring me home instead of them coming to me, I was thrilled to be going home to visit the exotic place known as High Point, NC! It sounds cheesy, but there really is no place like home. After being away for a year and 5 months, it was so nice to walk on Carolina soil again! I did feel a bit like an outsider for my first few days though. My first shock came when standing at the Subway counter at Dulles waiting to pay for my fist American meal. For one, I felt like I smelled, having been on an plane for 20+ hours and wearing clothes that hadn’t seen a washer/dryer for over a year, and two, I felt stupid struggling to count out the American money to pay for my food!

The weariness suffered from the long hours of my overseas flight soon gave way on my last leg of travel from DC to Charlotte, and a frantic search for my family began as soon as I pushed my way through the crowd and off the plane. The reunion was amazing – seeing my family, led by my mother, arms waving in the air as they rushed over for a hug, is something I will never forget. I am sure that the line of 100+ people who stood as witness to this while waiting to get through security will also never forget, as there were a few tears shed : )

Settling in at home was like being ushered into a palace. I have never slept in a bed so soft, eaten food so delicious, or felt so clean in my entire life! (Sit back and take a few minutes to appreciate the comforts you have!) It was so wonderful to visit with family and friends and catch up on all of life’s happenings over the last 17 months I’d been away. I brought home some local food (nshima) that we cooked over a fire in the backyard. The Zambian dishes were by no means as big a hit as the traditional hotdog cookout with neighbors and cousins, however, the new foods were better received than I had anticipated.

As short as the 2 weeks at home were, by the time the holidays were over, I was ready to head back to Zambia and finish out my work in the village over the next year with renewed energy. It also helped that Ed had remained in Africa for vacation during the time I was at home, and I was eager to get back to him and brag about how wonderful America had been : )


More Exciting News!!!

Lastly, I bring you a more personal update. As many of you already know, I have found my partner in crime while serving in Zambia. His name is Ed and he and I are Peace Corps Volunteer neighbors, living in villages just 3 miles apart. (Who knew it would take coming all the way to an African village to find a decent American guy?!) The past year with him has been so much fun and until he came along, I didn’t realize how much I needed another American nearby (and not just any American, of course). It is great working with him on joint projects, seeing each other on weekends, and traveling together when we have vacation time. Our relationship has been quite the show in our villages, as our neighbors have watched the romance unfold as if we were in a soap opera on television. I can’t go anywhere in my village without people inquiring about “Mr. Edi” and asking me to pass their greetings on to my “husband.”

Because I couldn’t imaging leaving Zambia without him in the plane seat next to me, I have applied to extend my service until his contract is up in April 2013. Thus far, I have been approved to extend in my village; however, ideally we would like to live together. This option requires a bit more paperwork and approval from a higher level and we are still waiting to hear about this. If granted, we are required to have a village wedding so that our co-habitation is not frowned upon by our village neighbors, who feel that such a practice would be inappropriate. We will keep you posted on what becomes of the situation, and perhaps I’ll be a Zambian bride before the year is up ; )

P.S. I have begun posting my pictures on Facebook in addition to more frequent updates on my daily village happenings, so if we aren’t already Facebook “friends,” send me a request if you want to be kept more in the loop : )