Site Update

We’re blogging together!!! (kind of).  PC actually told us that Joey would have time in Lusaka today, so we prepared a blog together ahead of time from our home-stay. 

First, we would like to update you on our new home!  Joy returned home from a 5 day visit to our new place located in the Central province. Our first house together is a 2 room mud hut. There is just enough space for a small bed and to store our food. Because there is no electricity, and they only leave small holes in the walls as windows, there is very little light inside the hut. Many families have outside areas called “insakas” which are areas where people come to cook and socialize. After just 2 days at our site, I already had neighbors and local teachers coming over to chat! The house is just a hut for now, but we will make it home before we know it! We also have a bathing shelter behind the house and a pit latrine.

The property is located at the end of the road next to a very well respected family in the community. It is very private and very, very beautiful. We will soon post photos! The intent of living near a family is that this family will somewhat adopt us for the first few months we are there. The husband and wife are considered elders in the family and have 7 children. All but one of their children are either married or away at the local boarding school. One of their grandsons also lives with them. They only speak the local dialect, so Joy had a bit of a hard time trying to communicate, but their son did speak a bit of English so he was a huge help! The whole family is so sincere and delighted to have us in the village.

Joy also had time to explore the local school. It is a Missionary school that was originally founded by 7^th Day Adventists. There are 7 teachers and over 370 students. There is also a preschool at meets a few times a week! I was very excited about the possibility of working with that program. I also worked closely with the Head Mistresses and I believe we have already started a great working relationship. My role as a PCV in the area is that I will be co-planning and co-teaching with many different teachers using more student-centered teaching methods. On Wednesday, there was a zonal teacher workshop held (meaning the other 6 schools in my school zone came to the Mission school) and I had a chance to introduce myself and explain my role. Most of the teachers were very receptive, but I can also see I will have to keep defining my role and stating my intentions. Many schools in Zambia are experiencing teacher shortages and it would be easy to just assign me to my own class, but that is not the goal of my program nor is it as sustainable as working with teachers and implementing new ways of teaching.

There are less than 4 weeks left in our Pre Service training. After seeing our new home, it is becoming more and more real. Joey leaves Sunday for 10 days where he will be traveling to our site, working with currently serving volunteers and spending time at a Zambian farmer’s college. I’m sure he will have a lot to share when he returns! I know I will be waiting to hear all about it! 

Cool notes:  We saw a water monitor a few weeks ago, and our brother recently killed a green mamba in a tree near our house - it was a juvenile, maybe only 3.5 feet long and thin, but Joey had a snake book with him and he confirmed that it was in fact a mamba with a coffin shaped head.  Zambians don't ask questions about snakes because so many are deadly like the mambas and they don't want them living near them.

Shoutouts to Rob and Jess for getting hitched and to MSU B-ball for making the Elite 8.

Peace and Love,

Joyce and Joseph (these names are the Zambian have solved the problem of us having nearly identical first names for us)

Everyday ZamLife

Here are some everyday things that we have noticed since moving to Zambia....

1. African time is real! You never quite know what time things will actually take place!
2.When people say the store is "just there" it could be 1k away or 25k away!
3. If things aren't "Zamtough" they will not last (ex. i have already sitched up my backpack 3 times..thanks for the sewing kit Mom!)
4. My classroom is a mudhut with a straw roof , a dirt floor and has no walls. It is easy to get distracted by lizzards or giant spiders crawling around.
5. Crockroches are "just a nusence"
6. A good cup of coffee is a teaspoon of instant coffee mix and 5 teaspoons of sugar
7. Cheeseburgers in Zambia are not the same
8. We now own the best cell phone we have every had (who knew?)
9. Yesterday I saw a boy wearing a "I heart pink" tanktop and one of the workers around town had on a MSU t-shirt.
10. The people here love Tracy Chapman, Celine Dion and prowresting.

These are just a few of the obersvations we have made in the past month. Mostly life is a blur. We have already grown and are challenged every minute. This Saturday I will leave Joey at our homestay for 6 days while I go visit our site with the RED project. I am feeling a bit nervous, but couldn't be more excited! We are the first PCVs to be in our village, so it is a very important time. When I return home, Joey will go for 3 days by himself with the LIFE program to see our site. During the 6 days I will visit the local schools, meet the Head Man, and have lanuage lessons with my neighbors. I'm sure we will have lots to update next time about our new site!

For now, I must finish up shopping here in Lusaka. We want to find a soccer ball to bring with us. Futbal really is everywhere! The children use a wad of plastic bags as a ball.

Much love to everyone!!!

Muli Shani! (Hello)

Hello Everyone! We have safely arrived in Zambia. Since we have arrived, we have been so very busy! Today is the first time we have seen a computer, and it looks like Internet will be very scarce. But we are here!! For the next 7 weeks we will be staying in Chongwe with our host family. We live with a lovely older couple and 7 extended family members. It is a very loving home. We live without running water or electricity, but we are already adjusting and feeling at home. During the week we are busy with technical training and language training. Joey and I are learning the language Bemba and we found out we will be placed in the central province. We will be the first PCV in our village! Very exciting.

Each moment is new here and there is so much to take it! Everything is different and it is incredible how innocent and new we feel. Learning how to go to the bathroom in a pit toliet, how to eat dinner with just our right hand, and how to filter and fetch water from the well are just a few of the new things we are learning.

My time here in the Internet cafe in Lusaka is just about to expire! We will try to update the blog again soon.

Shalenipo! (goodbye for now)