Changing with the seasons

Giving Thanks with the Northern Province Peace Corps Family:

G

November. The rain is moving in and the hot African weather is moving out. Seeing, feeling, and hearing rain reminds me of February weather- the month of my arrival. Reminding me that I’ve almost been here full circle already. The clouds are thick and full now. Like marshmallows of mashed potatoes (what a tease!) But at any moment they can turn black and angry and everyone will look to the sky when a big gust of wind plows through.

When I first arrived in the village, I constructed a seasonal colander mapping out the shifts from season to season as it effects the activity of every man, woman, and child in the community. So now that I have nearly clocked a year here- conversations and explanations are resurfacing from the season calendar activity.

 

“Caterpillar months.” That is what my head teacher told me significantly disrupts Term 3. Cycling to

school in the early morning I pass trees that scream out at me “Muli Shani Madam Shannon,” a handful of third graders crouched in the trees plucking juicy green “ifishimu” (caterpillars) from canopy branches.

There are two types, the juicy green ones that remind me of a cartoonish character, or something from The

Lion King. And a black/yellow kind, a bit hairy and thinner than the green. Both longer than my finger. There

is a third- a very hairy gray/red kind that causes leaping and shouting. “Mona!” (look) they’ll say. There are

the poisonous ones, and you don’t want to accidently pluck that one from a tree.

 Fast moving but camouflage- these beasts are collected by the bucketful in the bush.  They are then dried out and friend with cooking oil and salt for a tasty relish with nshima or are sold for 30pin a gallon (50pin if you manage to make it down to Lusaka). They are packed with protein- which accounts for the rapid pace in which they grow.

                My head teacher also mentioned rainy season effecting school going children. When he told me this is was dry season, with nearly 1,000 pupils at school- I couldn’t really conceptualize what the difference met. Now I know. I came to school the day of the first rains to find it mostly empty- the few pupils who actually showed up for the morning chores held umbrellas and ever wore citentenges over their uniform. I of course, the one teacher who lives in the bush rather than a few steps from the school, was the only one who managed to show up for work . Yet I was covered in mud from my 1k bike ride with a grade six pupil on the back carrier *we slid out several times). Of course this was a perfect excuse for the teachers not to go to school on time and then yell at the pupils who live nearly 6k away that rainy season is no excuse to not report to school. I wonder if they are aware of the dangerous bridge made out of branches that passes over the river that divides Mulabe village and Kateshi village- making it impossible for small children to cross when it rains.

                What my head did not tell me was that rainy season/term 3 is “review term”- the grade 7 write their nation exams in October and the grade 9 are writing as we speak. Huge interruptions- and teachers regard it as unnecessary to teach since they feel they have already gone through the year’s work during term 2 and 3 (22 weeks total). We’ve had no teacher for grade 6 all term…yet they still tested them to see if they could move onto grade 7.

                The elections were also a huge interruption. No one could sit still that week- all ears were glued to radios.

                Back in the village I watch the farmers prepare their fields for maize- the crop that requires the most rain, the least pesticides, and provides the majority of your meals. At the same time they are waiting patiently for the government to pay them money for selling last year’s maize yield to the food reserves while grumbling about the former government that ate up all the money for campaigns.

            

    Families are struggling for vegetables and for the past week, we’ve been eating just chicken with our nshima. Now typically, families don’t just kill their chickens to eat. Chickens- like any animal, are simply a form of savings- extra cash if they ever need something. You may trade your chicken for a large battery to power your single light bulb, or for a dog if you feel you need a security system on your property. But you rarely kill it and eat it- especially not ever for three nights in a row. So I knew something must be wrong when we were eating chicken for three nights in a row. And low and behold- there goes that seasonal calendar. Turns out in November, all the chickens are overcome with some sort of village disease, and they die off rapidly due to some sort of flea or something. So my Bamama(grandmother) has killed all her chickens before they fall sick. It was a sight to see my small neighbor kids carrying around handfuls of headless chickens. It just left me to wonder what we would be eating if not for the chickens and the relish that I bring over every night. What would my family eat if this chicken disease didn’t exist and I wasn’t around? For me, rainy season makes fetching water easy. I jut plop a bucket underneath the great big sky. Sweeping my yard it easy because you surely cannot sweep a stream that flows through the dirt. It also means a leaky roof. When my house was rebuilt they failed to finish thatching at the very top- which to me seems like the most important part. I ended up not having enough buckets to catch all the leaks, and the bucket that teetered on top of my mosquito net proved to backfire as I tossed a little too hard in my sleep and the whole thing dumped on me.

                

 For the coffee company---which is not producing coffee at the moment but rather, wheat-the rainy season means they have to work fast to gather all the wheat before the rains come down hard and ruin all the output. This first batch of wheat will be their first profit since they reopened after they went into debt. All the coffee is in the nursery. And once they finish up the wheat, they will start planting soya beans.

For the bush, the rains mean greenery. It’s growing so fast. When the first rains came, it was like everything woke up. spiders and snakes and all sorts of flying insects. And at the end of the day- it’s still November in New York. And right now the last thing Owego wants to hear about is rain. And as the winter sneaks up on all of you back home, the rains are slowly moving in Zambia. Gone are the cold mornings biking to school with my fingerless gloves, the harvesting of cassava. Gone are the days when the teachers’ seasonal excuse was the classroom being too cold. Gone are the days spent in community entry wandering down bush paths and trying to rein act my American exercise running schedule. Gone is the brief but brutal hot season. Gone are 4 close friends, as they are now settling back into their new lives in America. Gone are the days when it was too hot to teach, when I melted just sitting and we would run to the nearby waterfalls after school.

I spent Thanksgiving day with all of my fellow volunteers in Northern Province. We gutted a pig and roasted it underground with a hot fire. We also slaughtered a turkey, had mashed potatoes, stuffing, desserts, casserole, and so much delicious food. We split up into cooking teams, utilizing our one stove, one large outdoor grill, and several braziers- coordinating cooking times around each other. We were worked together day and night and at the end had a beautiful meal with beautiful people. It was the first Thanksgiving that the emotions of thankfulness and gratitude overcame me with such strong power. We stood in a circle and stated what we were thankful for. We mentioned our families back home and we mentioned our families in Zambia. We thanked each other for the support system of volunteers and for all the new friendships we’ve made. And there was a mood that filled the room. This is the toughest job one might ever pursue. It’s lonely and frustrating, long and tiring. But how could I ever ask for anything different? We are all blessed to be able to do what we do. And to have each other to fall back on when the times get tough.

Anyways. Here is some of the projects that I am looking to start after the holiday season.

-Adult literacy classes

-Preschool

_Girls empowerment club

- A school library

-    Continuation of the penpal project with Meaghan’s school

And in the spirit of the holiday, thanks for all the continued support. Your letters, emails, everything. It really helps. I’m so thankful for all of you 

 

My friend's puppies

 Ukusefya Pangwena, the celebration of the Bembas. This is my chief being carried on a crocodile

 This is my friend dancing on stage for the chief.

 

Hitching to the festival

 Dirty festival feet

 I have turned my insaka into a classroom. Welcome Friend!

 Last day of school assembly

 Making village beer

 

Ukutina ifishimu. In english: Extracting the feces of catepillars

 

Catepillars- its whats for dinner

 

My friend Abigail and myself

 The coffee company

 

 Village friends

 

My co-teacher

 My new pad

 Washing clothes

washing dishes

And now that elections have come and gone...

"For the fortunate among us, the fourth danger is comfort, the temptation to follow the easy and familiar paths of personal ambition and financial success so grandly spread before those who have the privilege of education. But that is not the road history has marked out for us.

There is a Chinese curse which says "May he live in interesting times." Like it or not we live in interesting times. They are times of danger and uncertainty; but they are also more open to the creative energy of men than any other time in history. And everyone here will ultimately be judged - will ultimately judge himself - on the effort he has contributed to building a new world society and the extent to which his ideals and goals have shaped that effort."

-Robert Kennedy

The first paragraph explains pretty much exactly why I decided to get on this crazy ride in the first place-- eight months ago. THe second paragraph describes how I feel about my service up to this point, a summation of my thoughts each and every day when I am in the village. Questioning it I am making any sort of difference... and a cocktail of fear, accomplishment, excitement, doubt, and lonliness.

Last week was Zambia's national election. For a young country of 47 years, the majority of Zambia was demanding "change" --- an all too familiar slogan from another election- in another country. THey wanted change from the current ruling party-MMD - who had run the country for the past 5 terms (20 years). For security purposes we were instructed to stay in our villages as the towns and BOMA areas had commotion and small rioting. Everything was fine in the end. The opposition won and the ruling party stepped down peacefully. Horay for a Christian, passive, friendly nation! But of coarse-- there was no learning and no school for the entire week.

Co-teaching is semi-successful. Although exhausting, it pays off when my teacher thanks me for all she has learned and discovered by working together. What I am ultimately woring into each lesson is trying to build up a concept of creativity and critical thinking- I think I have to break down these walls of rote memorization before I try any drastic jeapordy-type review games or colorful acrobatic learner-centered teachin methods--- its way too over thier heads. A success story: in comprehension I have been teaching pupils to try to break apart passages by simply asking the questions Who, What, Where, When, and How. After a few classes...when they realized they have to do a bit more in-depth thinking since Who, What, Where, When and How are not words that are actually spelled out in each passage.. I tried something new. I've got a lot of American newspapers sent from mom. I cut up some articles and brought them to class and had them work in groups and answer the four W's and How regarding the article along with what they learned, and what questions they have regarrding words they didnt understand (they are too embarrassed to ask out loud because the teacher may make fun of them, so by putting it on paper I was able to answer them when correcting). It was a surprisingly smooth lesson because they were genuinly interested, and it wasn't the same boring story from thier text books about "The different types of Teeth in your Mouth," which is actually one of the passages they had to read...twice.

Anyways. Thanks everyone for your continued support. I miss you all more than you know. ANd Owego keep your head up. I heard about all the flooding.... your a strong community with a good support system of families.

until next time... twalamonana!

...And here's my world map progress...

Painting during election week...since there were no classes

My grade nine's!

My senior teacher's wearing thier Patriot Front icitenge's on the day election results were announced. That's the new President Michael Sata that you see on there

Trust, Esther, and Oksillia

And Jessica pushin them around

THe biggest spider I've ever seen. It had hair. And was about to crawl on me before my friend Jenny killed it

A teacher and grade nine pupils painting the whole wide world!

haha soooooo serious

Keeping on

It’s strange getting a new intake in-country. The new fish farming and the new health volunteers are in training now and are already coming out on site visits—events that seems like only days ago for me. I went into Chongwe to visit my host family from Pre-Service Training while I was just in Lusaka for In-service training and I was able to meet the “newbies” at the training center. They were asking all sorts of questions- about language, solar chargers, provinces, everything. And I surprisingly knew all the answers with ease… and I thought- when did this happen? When did I move out of the newbie spot. Anyways- I am not writing about the new volunteers—I am writing about how far I have made it thus far and how awesome it feels to have gotten some momentum going. There are still challenges- I have not really started any work yet and it gets overwhelming going from village to hanging out with a bunch of Americans to going to town where it’s busy to speaking Bemba, English, Bemblish – social confusion overload. Zambians dance around problems… or deal with them through a hierarchy of people. Nothing seems to ever get solved. But I am still taking life here day by day. Thinking about two years is overwhelming. Panono panono (bit by bit).

Anyways- I guess this is a benchmark. I have made it through community entry and I am confident this is where I am supposed to be. I have really become attracted to the Peace Corps philosophy and design. There is much controversy about NGOs and aid programs. Do you ship a bunch of food supplies to Somalia? Do you send a bunch of money to help children you have never met? It’s aid and it’s helpful. A lot of NGOs here in Zambia concentrate on one thing or another while Peace Corps stretches itself (some may say too thin) across the country targeting practically anything across all four sectors (health, agriculture, fish farming, education). And I don’t see anything wrong with focusing on a specific goal for a specific population. But what really works about Peace Corps is we are the only organization in the world that helps the people in the rural areas and are living with them too. I see white people or Asians in Kasama town and they are amazed that I survive in the bush and even know the language. And when the Zambians ask how the hell I know Bemba I have to explain--- it’s because I am living in the rural areas—to help develop your country—because people from the top trying to make changes in Lusaka city are not doing enough—and THAT is why I do not live in Lusaka city or Kasama town with the rest of the Musungus (white people).

So yeah—Peace Corps gets stuff done! It is probably the toughest job in the world. But the coolest too.

And we also have tons of fun when we're together::

 ANd this is at Lake Bangweulu in Samfya, Luapula Province

 

THere was a missionary couple who had a beautiful dog named copper. Fun , playful, healthy, and not scared of humans-- unlike ordinary Zambian dogs. Reminds me of Mac!

community entry completed

If my feet could talk- they would write this entire post. They would tell you how I stepped on a piece of burning coal cooking eggs for breakfast, cut the side of my tow with a "icikwakwa" -- that is a slasher- clearing grass in making a netball grounds, have blisters on my heels from teacher shoes, and have cracked heels from walking around the vill. But they would also tell you how I walked out of my village yesterday having completed my three months of community entry- marking a new phase of PC service. Woot woot!








Things are well- my house is getting ready for an extension while I am at IST in Lusaka. I have completed drawing fyonse ifylao (all the countries) on my world map -- and we are getting ready to paint next term. I am also prepared to tech next term and dive into English and Civics for grade 8 and 9. I've also been attending football games on Sundays- which is an awesome time to watch awesome football and hang out with the community.




I've learned a lot in community entry. As it turns out, most of my observations stem from the interesting dynamics and behaviors of the children here in the village. I can't help but notice how similar they are to American children - yet how polar opposite they are trained by their elders. Families here have an average of six children or more per household. Everything in Zambia is built on a hierarchy. You have to work your way up to the top, and a lot of it has to do with age... and gender. The children, or "iwes"(literally meaning "you" in Bemba but without the added respect --"imwe') are used for fetching water, taking care of the younger siblings, cooking, sweeping, to speak when spoken to, and to listen and respond to whatever the elders have to say. And this becomes particularly a problem at school. In school- the grade 8 and 9 pupils are the respected pupils- with their classrooms in the better block of the school, with their nicer uniforms, and with their authority given to them by the school staff. The younger pupils sweep, water, and are more often than not (certainly more often than grade 8 an 9) cut short of proper education.  They knock off around 10 hours, meaning they get about 2 and a half to 3 hours of learning per day. If there is a teacher absent in grades 1-5, those pupils are sent home or told to do yard work around the school. If there is a teacher absent in grade 8-9, a teacher from grade 1-5 will step in to teach, leaving her class behind. This could have to do with the nationwide tests that are given at the end of term three for the grade 9. But mostly what I've noticed is the is simply no emphasis on lower level learning.

This is such a problem. The pupils learn so little in these lower grades, are pushed through year after year, and by the time they reach grade 8 where they are old enough to get paid some sort of respect and old enough to hold a teacher accountable for their education, and old enough that English is supposed to be used daily, routinely, and consistently- they have no background skills. It sure is hard to teach solving the degrees of certain angles when a pupil does not know his times tables that he was supposed to have been taught years back. And it sure is hard to learn English grammar when a pupil's entire English vocabulary is "Good morning Madam, How are you?" And so it sets lessons back, and puts a whole class of pupils in varying levels of understanding, and makes it harder to teach what need to learn this year, as well as what they were supposed to learn in the past years.

Anyways, we all know the critical period of brain development and how important education is for child development, but it's frustrating to not be able to work effectively with the younger grades because of the complete language barrier. Of coarse, it is impossible to try to change an entire educational system at the hand of one person, or even one organization....but if I can work with one teacher in the co-teaching model, influence the way she teaches, which may influence one of her pupils' learning--- which may influence her to be a teacher-- which will influence the way she teaches- and the cycle goes on- maybe there will be some impact.

Anyways-- Chopwa for a month and some days. After two weeks in Lusaka is to the beach in Luapula and then a PEPFAR (President Bush's Presidents Emergency Action Plan For AIDS Relief) training back here in Kasama. Busy busy. But check out my pictures-- thanks to Abby who kindly uploaded them for me

http://s1134.photobucket.com/albums/m603/slinehan7/Zambia%20Part%201/

Also-- here's what my world map looks like so far. But you cannot see the pencil lines of all the countries

Pigs that destroy everything

Memory, Ruth, and Helen

 My best village friend Modester and baby!

 Spending the fourth of July at my waterfall with friends

 She's still scared of me

 Dancing

 Eating nshima

 Grade eight pupils helping make bricks for my house

Thanks!!

Thanks to all you wonderful people for you love and messages and pictures. The summer party looked like a success. But no chocolate fountain? What's that all about?

Well- progress is slowly starting to surface. I'm pretty sure I'll be co-teaching English next term for grade eight and nine. I also want to try to start adult literacy (people keep asking). Which will be a task and a half but hopefully at IST training in August I will obtain more guidelines.  I've also-- as a result of simply getting fed up with 3 and 4 year old not talking- have started teaching my small neighbors and family members basic pre-school stuff. I have three books I brought from home (the very hungry caterpillar) and after work I sit in my insaka and teach colors and shapes. And I've showed the older one's how to teach the younger ones. And what do you know- now they are talking. It's much better than sitting and staring. I've also busted out my ipod ( the time has come) and we do dance parties. It's funny- their FAVORITE song is the Obama Song by Michael Franti. They like shouting "YES WE CAN!" so cute. So anyways- I'm thinking of starting a little library in my insaka- easy-to-read books for all ages would be awesome if anyone can manage to send them.

The world map: the background is finished now I'm drawing a huge grid: 2 by 4 meters. I don't think I'll get done by the time community entry is finished but that's okay.

Community entry is only 3 more weeks! Went by so fast. I'm in town now waiting for my supervisor from Lusaka. We are visiting the DEBS office and then she is coming to my site to see the school and my house. Tomorrow I'm facilitating a teacher meeting on corporal punishment. Thursday I'm visiting a small community school I stumbled upon the other day. It's not in my district but very close. And they only have one teacher. Friday I am meeting with a woman's group. This past weekend I was busy. Went to a birthday party for a grade 5 pupil -- she named a pig after me (not sure if that's a good or a bad thing but I think it's pretty cool). Painted the world, and visited the radio station in town (maybe I'll do another DJ show in Africa). This weekend I'm staying in the village because the weekend after that is a concert in town that I want to go to, then the following weekend community entry is done so I am meeting up with my fellow volunteers in Kasama to celebrate our accomplishments, then the weekend after that I leave for IST.

On a random note- because I am sitting here in the internet cafe with Motown Philly blasting- Zambians have a love for a few American things- Obama (you can find more Obama attire here than anywhere else- belts, bags, shirts, sandals, hats), Mariah Carey, and Boys II Men. Some of these songs that I haven't heard in years come on people's ringtones in passing. It makes me smile since I still know all the words!

I am continuing to learn like crazy... mostly through observation and interaction. One of the most frustrating things is the lack of motivation with the teachers. One of the best things is the intense motivation by the pupils. The desire to learn is really something interesting. Even when I get home from school- there are kids waiting in my insaka for help with homework or just to read a book or magazine. It's pretty awesome because it is the one thing that I think will make my job a little easier.

Happy birthday Rachel and Meaghan! Enjoy the rest of summer