Camp GLOW

Lizzy was invited to help run and manage Camp GLOW (Girls Leading our World) earlier this month.  Camp GLOW is a worldwide Peace Corps program which helps to empower young girls.  For fun the girls went rock climbing, canoeing, made pottery, while also learning about the perils of the sexual culture in Zambia, leadership roles for women, and most importantly how to say, "NO!"  Camp GLOW is such a success that just this past week President George W. Bush and former First Lady Laura Bush visited and participated in Northern Province's Camp (also seen on the Today Show).

Lizzy and the participants from Kanona Village (Precious and Vera)

Central Province Camp GLOW 2011

Kasanka National Park

This past Monday we were able to spend a night camping at Kasanka National Park, to witness the largest mammal migration. The park is about 100 kilometers away from our home, and has 8-10 million fruit bats who visit in November. In addition to the bats the park also is home to elephants, crocodiles, hippos, antelopes, and exotic bird species.
During our first night, we walked from our campsite along the river (which might have been a bit risky since we found out hippos frequented the area by our campsite) through the forest into the field where the bats congregate. At 7:00 in the  evening the night sky turned from clear and blue to a black filled sky like a tornado touching down spinning millions of bats in every direction; simply put it was one of the most spectacular scenes we have ever witnessed. Unfortunately the pictures below don't do it justice.

Welcome.

Campsite with a view.

Batman Begins

Batman - The Dark Knight

Room with a view.

Watch your step.

November Photo Recap

Ben plays a heated soccer game with Kanona Basic School 6th graders.

Our new little Zambian family

Just walking into town.

Lincoln, gets his first bath, no more fleas:)

A night of dancing! (Joseph, Penlope and Wellington)

Mom, I finally fit a dog in my purse!

Turns out Usa is not a big fan of bathing.

Special water delivery. (Eric, Patience, Penlope, Joseph, Abbute, Ronnard and Wellington)

Motley Crue. (Joseph, Wellington, Ronnard and Eric)

The ladies that really take care of us.  (Cristal Beth, Rhoda, Nerry, Tressy and Felix)

Love these little guys.  (Wellington, Felix, Ronnard, Joseph and Jared)

Here's the Big Speech

Ben and President Sata do lunch...

Ben and Lizzy go to the State House

This past Friday (October 21st) we were fortunate enough to visit the State House, the Zambian version of the White House. For Ben, it was a dream come true, exactly the type of thing he always wanted to be a part of. It started by taking a convoy of American Embassy vehicles (the ones that have the little American flags) through the streets of Lusaka. Coming to the gates of this magnificent looking palace, gave this surreal feeling that you can't put into words. Ben was then escorted by the head of Public Affairs of the Embassy inside the President's house where all the dignitaries were seated, and shown to his seat front and center of the ceremony. Soon after the President and the American Ambassador walk in, with all the pomp and circumstance you would expect. After a few remarks to the invited guests and press, Ben and the rest of his training class went outside to the courtyard for a photo opportunity (which ended up on the front page of the three daily papers). 
After the picture taking the group then exited through the back to where the President's military band began playing their version of 'Hail to the Chief' and had lunch outside under a large beautifully decorated tent. Both of us sat at the table with the head of the UN mission, the chief of the economic section at the embassy, Head of Public Affairs, and a highly ranked Air Force official. During lunch, Ben was called up to front and gave a speech in Bemba to the President, and presented a pin to him, which he ended up putting on him. The speech went well, and Ben did not prick him when pinning him. All told there were about 250 people present, mainly Ambassadors from other countries, American embassy workers, and press. It was undoubtedly the pinnacle of our professional lives, and a moment which we will never forget. 
It was only the third time in the fifty year history of the Peace Corps, that Peace Corps was invited to an official state lunch or dinner. This was the first State Lunch thrown by the new President, Michael Sata. The only unfortunate part was we were not allowed to take in cameras, so we do not have any pictures, although we do hope to get some from the American Embassy, and various Zambian media outlets. It should also be noted that the American Ambassador (Mark Storella) who we met two weeks ago at Lizzy's swear-in, along with the Embassy workers, did a fantastic job of helping to organize the event. 


Times of Zambia
Daily Mail
The Post - Note, the headline does not match the article

Lizzy is an Official PC Volunteer

Painting nails with my host family :)

My Ba Mayo and Ba Taata, Blessing is the baby on the left with my Ba Mayo, she also lived on the compound, the other baby is a random my Ba Taata just thought would be a nice added touch to the picture.

Hanging out with the kiddos:  David, Edward and Jenny



Swearing in!



It's official.

On October 7th, I said goodbye to my wonderful host family that I have spent the last three months living with and was sworn in from Peace Corps Trainee to Peace Corps Volunteer at the US Ambassador's house.  This is when most people move to there villages which they will be living in for the next 2 years.  However, since Ben still had two weeks more of training I was able to move with him and his host family.  He swears in October 21st at the President of Zambia's house (post to come!) and then we too will be off to the village of Kanona. 

Exciting Couple of Weeks

I think it's safe to say it has been an exciting couple of weeks here in Zambia. Our three greatest fears are snakes, male predators, and car accidents all of which came to greet us.
The excitement began two weeks ago when on the final leg of a six hour car ride, the vehicle carrying Ben flipped taking a turn (see below). Fortunately, Ben made it out with nothing more than a few cuts and bruises, but three of the passengers were taken to the hospital for a week; everyone is now healthy and back at training. Kudos to the Peace Corps for quickly sending staff to be the first responders.
One week later, at about one in the morning Lizzy was woken up by a man peering through her window yelling that he wanted her. Lizzy was able to scream and scare away the intruder, and luckily nothing more came about. Lizzy's host Dad was kind enough to sleep outside of her hut for the remainder of the night.
And this leaves us with the snake. Ben was recently up at our permanent site in Kanona, when after dinner he went inside his hut and peering about with his flashlight noticed a tarantula on the wall. Having to face the music, Ben grabbed a shoe and killed the spider, on his way outside to throw the spider away, he was greeted by a Puff Adder snake, just a few steps from the hut. Instinctively, Ben screamed like a little girl, and the neighbor came over and swiftly killed the snake with a stick.

We are both very fortunate to have had such good outcomes, and such great people around us. Thanks to everyone for the prayers and well wishes to help keep us safe.



Photos courtesy of PCT Ben Frigo-Vaz



Rural Aquaculture Promotion

Ben is entering his sixth week of Rural Aquaculture Promotion training, or RAP for short. RAP is a well received program that villagers are excited to learn about, because one pond helps provide the majority of protein for a family, creates a supplemental income to their annual maize harvest, and helps diversify their often limited diets, among other things. A RAP standard pond is 10 by 15 meters in size, with a depth of 1.3 meters, and are dug by hand with a shovel or hoe.

Our New Home

This week we were able to visit our new house which we will move to permanently at the end of October.  We live on a compound with 4 other families, about 6K away from the village center of Kanona.  The families are great, there are several children who are absolutely adorable.  Ben's counterpart, David Mulenga, lives on the compound with us, which makes it very convenient for both parties. A 'counterpart' is someone who has requested a Peace Corps volunteer on behalf of the community, and who acts as a liaison between the volunteer and the community. Now onto the pictures:

Lizzy and Martius (our new best friend) in front of our house.

Ben and Martius.

Our kitchen/dining room 'insaka'.

 

Next door neighbors.

Backyard.

Dishes are done.

Bridge home.

Auxier Welcome Party in Chibempi

In honor of Lizzy's coming to Chibempi to stay with Ben and his host family, Ben's host family the Mukukas threw a traditional African dance party. The party was planned for Saturday night (when Lizzy arrived) and the village had been practicing every night of the previous week. Unfortunately, after five hours of dance practice on Saturday the battery for the stereo died and the party had to be delayed until Sunday morning. It was still a great time, and as we have come to realize is pretty typical of Zambian planning.

 Ben and Lizzy leading the African 'congo' line.

 Solar powered, car battery Zambian entertainment system.

 Zambian knife girls (a traditional Congolese dance).

 Ben with Uncle Lolands Mukuka.

Lizzy and Ben showing Zambians how to really dance.

Getting settled...

 Ben outside my house with my new bestfriend.  Ben named her Charley, she sleeps outside my door every night!  I feel very protected:)

 Touchdown Zambia!

 The sunsets are amazing here...I live just in front of the palm trees a bit.

Since arriving in Zambia a few weeks ago the time has flown by.  We are both in training, Lizzy in Chongwe and Ben in Chipembi until mid October when we will be together again!  Ben was able to stay with me in Chongwe until his training started this last week so that was nice and next weekend I will get to go to see where he stays.  We are each living with host families during our training which is quite an experience.  We live in mudhuts, I have a metal roof but Ben has the real deal thatch roof and electricity is no where to be found.  The food is taking a little to get used to, we eat a lot of nshima, which is basically a massive polenta cake that you use to scoop anything else you might have on your plate.  We are both learning Bemba and found out that we will be living in the Central Province outside of Serenje once we are done with training and official Peace Corps volunteers!

Going Away Party

A big thank you to everyone who made it out last night for our going away party. We both had a great time, and are really going to miss everyone!

Yellow Fever Vaccine (2 of 2)

Less than 4 hours after Ben posted of my hardship with Yellow Fever he was neck deep around the toilet himself.  Hopefully this is not a precursor to our travels.:)

Yellow Fever Vaccine

According to the CDC when you receive a Yellow Fever Vaccine, you have a 1 in 20 chance of any negative side effects. However, according to Lizzy that percent is one in two. Five days after receiving the Yellow Fever vaccination, Lizzy found herself puking uncontrollably, fortunately it only lasted 24 hours and we are all very glad it didn't last one second longer!

"Suggested" Packing List

Here is the suggested packing list, please let us know what additions and deletions you recommend:

Also, please keep in mind that we are only allowed 2 bags each with a combined weight of 80 pounds.

General Clothing

• A good raincoat.
• A fleece or light jacket (it does get cold)
• A couple of long sleeved shirts of choice.
• A sweater
• 3–4 good-quality T-shirts.
• 2-year supply of cotton underwear and socks
• 1 bathing suit
• Lots of bras (especially sports bras)
• Sweat pants/shirt for warmth, running, sleeping.
• 2–3 shorts for athletics or in your house (these can be bicycle shorts, but no short running shorts)
• 2–3 pairs of jeans, zip-off, or other comfortable pants.
• A couple pairs of dressy, easy-care, trousers (khaki is good) and dressy shirts
• Hat (baseball or safari-type to shade you from the sun)

Men should bring nice pants and a button-up shirt and at least one jacket and tie for meeting government officials or to attend important meetings or functions. Women should bring shirts with collars and short sleeves, 1–2 dresses and 3–4 skirts of cotton/polyester at or below the knee (not sleeveless, low-cut or revealing) and an outfit for meetings or official functions.

Shoes

• 2 pairs of good sandals (e.g., Tevas or Birkenstocks)
• 1 pair of boots
• 1 pair of sneakers/low-top hiking shoes.
• A pair of shoes that can be worn when trying to look nice (male Volunteers suggest bucs or loafers); female Volunteers suggest nice sandals/flats)

Note: Volunteers with large feet may have a hard time finding shoes that fit in Zambia.

Personal Hygiene and Toiletry Items

Unless you have favorite brands you can’t do without, you should be able to buy what you need in Lusaka and provincial capitals. These include cosmetics, soap, toothpaste, general cleaning products and deodorants, hair conditioner, good razors and razor blades, Q-tips, and hair-care products. Bring only enough to get you through training. Peace Corps provides brand-name tampons; bring only enough for training.

Kitchen

• Spices
• Can opener
• Basic cookbook
• Ziploc storage bags (although ants and roaches can eat through them)
• Packaged mixes for rice, pasta, sauces, and drinks (e.g., Kool Aid), etc. Miscellaneous

The following are general items you may wish to have but you will need to prioritize and choose for yourself. Remember that it is a composite list; for each person perhaps only a few items will be critical:

Highly Recommended

• Umbrella
• Headlamp
• Flashlight
• Sleeping bag
• Tent
• Leatherman or Swiss army knife
• Music (CDs, tapes, I-Pod, etc.) (Note that CDs tend to get scratched up easily)
• CD player or Walkman
• Mini-speakers
• Shortwave radio (3–7 band)
• Games (cards, chess, Scrabble, etc.)
• Hair elastics
• Two good water bottles
• Good-quality sunglasses
• Camera with accessories
• Travel alarm clock
• Small backpack/bag
• Money belt
• Journal
• Bicycle saddlebags
• At least eight color photos of you (photo booth-type is okay) for visas, work permits, and ID cards. You can purchase photos here if necessary Optional (depending on your interest)
• Camel back canteen
• Bed sheets (since bed sizes vary, double-size flat sheets are the best choice)
• Binoculars
• Small sewing kit
• Pictures or posters for hut decoration
• Bandana
• Guitar (bring lots of extra strings and picks)
• Sports equipment (football, volleyball, basketball, Frisbees, etc.)
• Fishing equipment
• Batteries (you can buy them here, but they are expensive)
• Film (you can buy this here, but it’s cheaper in the U.S.)
• Sleeping pad
• Bicycle handlebar extensions
• U.S. stamps (letters may be mailed in the States by people traveling home from post)
• Maps of the United States and the world (good teaching aids and wall-hangings).
• Art supplies, sketch book
• Film mailers

Staging Update

We received official word that staging will take place in Philadelphia on July 18th. Since we are unable to leave Portland on Monday and arrive on-time for the orientation at 12:00 on the 18th, we will be leaving Sunday morning, July 17th. Our schedule is now as follows:

Depart: July, 17th  6:00 AM Portland, OR

Arrive: July 17th 5:00 PM Philadelphia, PA


Monday, July 18, 2011

12:30 PM
Registration

Official registration as Peace Corps
trainee

2:00 - 4:25 PM

Who We Are

What's Expected of You

4:25 - 7:00 PM

What You Expect

What's Next

Closing

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

2:30 AM
Check out of hotel

3:00 AM
Bus arrives for loading and
departure to New York JFK Airport

Flight departs for Zambia