Ben and Lizzy's Mud Hut

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Community Entry

Ben and I have just completed our first three months at our site, a period coined ‘Community Entry’ in which Peace Corps requires volunteers stay within their district, and fully integrate into to the community before beginning to work on their projects. During this time, we met with village elders, headmen, NGOs, villagers, and in general just got our bearings. Throughout this period we also were able to start new hobbies and rekindle old ones.

Ben started a garden (which he will help teach villagers about) that Lizzy now helps with. The garden started with just a few green bean plants, but now has over 250 stalks of corn, 60 head of cabbage, 60 green bean plants, 75 rape (Zambian leafy green), 100 ground nuts, 75 heads of endive, a dozen potato plants, 30 tomato plants, plus lots of carrots, onions, basil, garlic, baby marrows, cucumbers, watermelons and lemon peppers.

Lizzy has been taking to crafting, mostly using the local chitenge fabric found here in Zambia. Some of the projects undertaken have included upholstering chairs, making clothing and pillows and other decorations around the house (15x9 mud hut). She has also been making frames from materials around the compound and painting the interior of our hut.

On the work front, we will begin volunteering at the school each week teaching health classes, as well as helping with other classes and after school programs. Lizzy will begin working at the clinic a few times each week, and Ben will be working with a sustainable agriculture NGO which aims to reduce illegal poaching and increase food security.

Zambia in Numbers

Square footage of our mud hut = 135 square feet

Distance to get water = 200 yards

Distance to health clinic = 4.5 miles

Distance to get potatoes = 13 miles

Distance to get cash (ATM) = 140 miles

Distance to get flour/rice = 45 miles

Average number of Zambians sleeping in a mud hut = 6

Average amount of time waiting for a hitch = 45 minutes

Price of 1 egg = 20 cents

Price of 5 onions = 20 cents

Price of 2 yards of chitenge fabric = 2 dollars

Price of 1 coca-cola – 50 cents

Price of 1.5 ounces of distilled cane liquor = 10 cents

Sunday, December 11, 2011

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

Thursday, November 24, 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.