Things That Worry Me While I'm Biking

    The main mode of transportation for volunteers in Zambia is a mountain bike. Whenever I go to town, I cycle the 8 kilometers to the paved road then catch a ride. Biking 8 kilometers takes me about 45 minutes. Within these 45  minutes, there are a number of things that I'm focused on, mainly things that worry me while on my bike that could ruin a bike ride or day. These things are, in order of importance:

1) Cow patties - if you're unlucky, you'll roll right through a fresh one resulting in your legs and torso, and sometimes even your face, being splattered with cow feces. If you're having a really bad day, you may have even been biking with your mouth open and a few specks or chunks ended up in there. Cow patties are by far the thing that causes me to be on alert and dodge and weave.

2) Biking with your mouth open - anything can end up in there. Even if you don't hit a pile of cow manure, you might swallow a fly or gnat.

3) Snakes - there's not much you can do if you come upon a snake in the path. The best strategy, lift your legs and hope it moves and doesn't strike at you.

4) Sticks that look like snakes - see #3.

5) Ditches - I can't steer so there's always a possibility of me ending up head over handlebars in a ditch. Sometimes the path is a narrow little trail beside a ditch. These make  me extra anxious.

6) Sand - riding through sand is the easiest time to wreck (minus being on a path alongside a ravine). The sand slows you down and makes you feel like you have no control. To combat this you have to go fast and attempt to keep your wheels straight but this makes it seem like you're even more likely to wreck. It's a delicate balance.

7) Low-hanging branches - self-explanatory.

8) Loose rocks - I'll always hit the one loose rock in the road which jerks my wheels one way or another and makes me scramble to maintain control. Maybe this happens because I can't steer and we tend to veer towards the things we're focused on. I'm always focused on that rock trying not to hit it.

9) Large rocks - again, I always end up steering right for them. They're like magnets for me and my bike.

10) Flies and gnats - they end up in your mouth or continually try to land on your face. Annoying.

11) COW PATTIES.

Tales from the Bush: Part 1 - Dinner and a Murder

I'd been in my village only a handful of days when I had my first evening visitor. Typically you don't receive guests after dark in Zambia, but this guy didn't care about cultural customs. Unfortunately this got him killed.

When night falls I become much more wary and paranoid while at my house. This is a result of the possibility of meeting some of my more testy and unpleasant neighbors under the cover of darkness such as a variety of venomous snakes, camel spiders, feral dogs, etc.

So, as I was cooking dinner on one of my first nights in the village, I heard a chewing sound coming from the floor of my cikuta. The noise continued until a small hole began to appear. Neither the cat nor dog were disturbed by this. I, on the other hand, was.
Inching my way closer to the slowly expanding hole, I shined my flashlight into. Immediately I saw a round eye with a small, black pupil. Of course I thought snake since one of my biggest worries about living in the African bush is encountering one of these reptilian neighbors at night in my yard.

When under this assumption what is the first thing any sane person does? Well, my first reaction was to sprint to my house, grab a long stick, Leatherman, and some string and begin making a makeshift spear.

I marched outside, ready to face my "guest." I stretched out my arms, gripping the spear, and jabbed tentatively into the hole. After the first strike, the blade at the end of the stick came loose, wiggling back and forth, no longer firmly attached. A few more pokes and misses with the spear and I decided to be brave. Unlashing the Leatherman, I crept towards the hole. Making a last, mighty attack, Stabbing one more time, I began widening the hole to confront whatever creature awaited.

I spied my nemesis. Using the tip of the knife, I scooped my mangled guest from the hole. I had just defended myself, to the death, against a dung beetle. Feeling silly and a little sad, I gently laid out the beast that had caused me so much worry that evening. Now, instead of allowing my preconceived notions if Africa - that danger and vipers and warlords are lurking in every dark evening - I now patiently wait to determine what might be making that sound and even help those little dung beetles chewing through my floor to emerge.

Tales from the Bush

There are so many little things that happen here that I fail to write about because to me these events are just part of being in Zambia. In the course of writing letters though, I realized that maybe these silly stories might actually be entertaining to those of you in the states. So, I've decided to start a series of blogs titled "Tales from the Bush." I hope you enjoy them.

Convenience

My church in the states is doing a Lenten study called A Place at the Table. Participants are challenged to address the issues of consumerism, consumption, and over indulgence and in the process to share what we have with those in the developing world. During the week, members are asked to eat a diet similar to what someone in the less developed areas of the world would eat on a daily basis. The money saved will then be used to fund projects in these areas with a focus on access to clean water.
     I loved that my church family was doing this study and asked to be a part of it through doing the readings and providing what little insight I may have from Zambia. Today's lesson really hit home for me. It tackled convenience and boy oh boy have I learned what this word means since being in Zambia. It means having what you want when you want it in the fastest and easiest manner. In a way, it means being spoiled. I've also learned that I took convenience for granted when I was in the states. I now appreciate what this word truly means and I no longer take it for granted.
     Zambia is a wonderful place. There is a cultural richness I haven't experienced anywhere else. The care and friendliness that people show one another is astounding. The joy that comes with merely sitting with someone and chatting is unmatched - it is people-focused and laughter filled. Everyone shares what they have and offers help where they can.
     Zambia is also a country still in development. With that comes certain hindrances to convenience. Towns are typically small and filled with tiny, family run shops with a few chains present. And while grocery stores in Lusaka and Livingstone are fairly well stocked, that same store in my town and others like it probably aren't. It may be out of cheese, fruit and/or vegetables, spices, meat, coffee, or ice cream for months. I haven't seen granola (my favorite breakfast food in my grocery store for a year.) You never know what will be available when you make your monthly or bi-weekly trip to town. It can be rather frustrating, and inconvenient, when, on one of these rare trips, there are no apples or carrots or powdered milk. But even in this I am spoiled, a privileged shopper because I can afford to shop at a Spar or Shoprite (the local grocery store chains). So, even though I may be upset when Spar has no cheese, to put things in perspective, the majority of Zambians I know have never tasted cheese.
     When I first arrived in my village, it was fun to duck into the little shops looking for what I needed or just to explore. With time and the unique sport of catching public transport to get to my nearest town though, sometimes I just wanted a one-stop shopping center. In America there are stores where you can buy everything you need from groceries to clothes to auto parts. Chances are you can even walk into a more specialized store, like Home Depot, and still find everything you need for your weekend construction project. I mention this because recently I co-facilitated an Appropriate Technology workshop and must have visited a dozen different shops tucked away all around town to find all of the materials that were needed.
    There are do many other "convenient " things I could talk about that we take for granted in the states - paved roads, cell phone plans, hobbies - but I think the point is clear. We really do take convenience for granted.
     Zambia has given me a new appreciation for what convenience is. Next time I walk into a Home Depot, Food Lion, or Target I will think how amazing it is that I don't have to visit 12 more stores before I'm finished with my shopping. Hopefully being here also makes me a more conscientious consumer and reminds me that for some families convenience means having to shell peanuts you harvested from your own field so you can eat dinner tonight.

Fields of Gold

I don’t normally do this but I was so impressed by the size of these fields and the amount of labor involved in maintaining them that I’m posting a picture. It’s not that I’m against pictures or anything but they always throw off the text by ruining the alignment and it also takes a lot of time to upload a picture.

This is one of my host Mom’s groundnut (nyemu in Tonga) fields (and this is my Mom!). She has multiple fields, larger than the one depicted, about a 30-45 minute walk from the house. She proudly gave me a tour of this field a few weeks ago and I can’t even describe how much respect I have for Zambians.

This field may not look huge. Coming from Indiana, where the fields stretch as far as the eye can see. But, when you begin to think about how the fields are prepared, planted and maintained, who wouldn’t be impressed and astonished? Preparation and the first weeding is done (in Southern) using oxen to plow and cultivate. This process typically takes a few weeks. After that, it’s all manpower. Everyday from now until April, farmers will  spend in their fields, hoeing row after row of weeds. They’ll also continue planting things like sweet potatoes until mid-March

.

Now, take another look at the photo. Imagine having about 5 more fields this size or larger that you manage and maintain using only your hoe and the strength of your back and arms. It’s incredible.

I was also impressed by the diversity in my Mom’s field. Interspersed with the groundnuts are a few rows of sweet potatoes, sprinkled here and there are squash plants and okra.  My Mom has a right to be proud. She’s dedicated a lot of time and energy to her fields. The process of planting a field doesn’t begin and end merely with the planting of a few seeds. It is a process that takes an entire year and many, many steps. From harvesting to drying to storing seeds to preparing fields, planting and weeding it is something that can be seen in daily life throughout the year. I’m starting to realize that I can learn a lot from my community. Things like dedication and hard work, about building your life on the land. I thought I was placed here to teach people improved methods of agriculture. What I’ve experienced and learned is that instead, I am the one learning techniques that I hope to bring back to America and improve my home garden and fields.

The Cycle of Peace Corps

            During training, PC covers what they term “The Cycle of Vulnerability and Adjustment.” There are graphs and tables to help you chart the various cycles throughout your service. I shrugged it off and chased my own thoughts down the rabbit hole when the topic was presented on numerous powerpoint slides. Yeah, training was difficult but I thought everything would be great once I got to my village. I’d be on my own schedule, teaching people, integrating into the community, learning the language (piece of cake!), and sailing through my 27 months of service on gleeful wings of rainbow joy. Or so I thought.

            Recently, I dug up those handouts on the cycle of vulnerability. And, you know what? It’s pretty spot on. I'm in my 12^th month of service, labelled “Acceptance.” This is when your mid-service crisis strikes. You are struggling to fit in, reflecting on your failures, becoming withdrawn and disappointed, attempting to overcome loneliness, and becoming lackadaisical in the pursuit of work.

            Reflecting on this, I’d say PC is pretty close to the mark. Lately, I’ve definitely been struggling with being here, with feelings of ineffectiveness and uselessness in my village. Almost like I’m merely existing here and not being a productive, contributing member of society. I don’t have a lot of contact with other volunteers so looking at graphs and tables reassures me that others are experiencing this same thing (PC had to acquire these statistics and information somewhere, right?) Even if I feel like I’m a terrible volunteer and that I’ll never accomplish anything during my service, at least I’m not alone in these feelings and thoughts.

            The life of a PCV isn’t easy. It’s really tough. We struggle with keeping our spirits up when, for the tenth time in a week we’ve been told we don’t know Tonga/Bemba/Nyanja/other random African language or that we don’t visit our neighbor/headman/school/village that’s 20 kilometers away enough.

            But, looking back at the graph, it suggest that PCVs will begin to feel normal between months 11-15 and that the pace at which projects occur will increase. And for every forced smile in response to not sweeping your yard correctly there are twice that many genuine smiles. So, since PC has seemed to be right on target for each stage of the vulnerability cycle, I’ll trust that they’re right about the whole normality feeling kicking in soon and ride out the storm of my mid-service crisis knowing that it happens to everyone. Even those who though their wings would always be dry and lifted towards the skies.

Camp GLOW (Girls Leading Our World)

           Internationally, women in many countries do not experience the same freedoms and liberties as women in the United States do. In some instances, women still can’t own land, ask a man on a date, control household money, or decide when they want to marry and start a family. In Southern Province, the land of the Tonga’s, many women is even 2^nd, 3^rd, or 4^th wives. It is common to be told by a man upon the first meeting that he loves you, wants to marry you, or wants you to give him a child. Men are expected to pay a dowry to be allowed to marry. If this isn’t paid in full even after marriage, a woman will be told to return to her parents until it is covered. Many times during conversations where I’m explaining about Peace Corps and the work of the organization and my project and that I’m here alone, people exclaim, “And your husband gave you permission?!”

            As a way to empower and encourage respect of women, PCVs around the world host Camp G.L.O.W (Girls Leading Our World). GLOW is an attempt to instill a sense of self-worth in young girls, to encourage them to respect themselves and their bodies, and teach life skills.  We do this through organizing something like a summer camp for girls between the ages of 11-15 and inviting community counterparts to attend sessions as well.

            In December 2013, volunteers in Southern Province sponsored a camp. For one week we dedicated our time to mentoring 16 girls and 8 counterparts. We covered topics such as self-esteem by providing profiles of successful women like Oprah and Joyce Banda, the president of Malawi. Girls wrote positive things about themselves on flower petals and pasted them in journals that they were encouraged to write in so that they could be reminded of the good characteristics and qualities they possess. The girls also learned about budgeting, healthy ways to respond to peer pressure, healthy relationships, and sexual health. They participated in arts and crafts such as making friendship bracelets as well as doing team-building activities.

            Through programs like GLOW, volunteers touch the lives of young women in their communities. They’re exposing them to ideas and topics that are often avoided because they’re uncomfortable. They’re attempting to raise the next generation of young women into confident, self-respecting teens and adults. In my mind, children are the real way that change is going to happen. Whether it’s worldwide or in a small African village, children are the key to change, development, and to a country that is filled with strong, independent, and creative individuals. It also brings about the topic of the importance of women in society and can lead to mutual respect between genders and within communities and households. A girl who has expectations, confidence, and knows how she wants to be perceived and function within a community can be a strong driving force behind change and development. Lets support our girls as they navigate the obstacle course that is teendom and encourage a sense of pride in being a woman!

The Camp GLOW Song by Amanda Eilefson

Girls are strong

Girls are smart

Girls have big hearts

Oh yeah!

Girls leading our world

Girls leading our world