Be free! Now and forever

I quoted Walden by Thoreau in my very first post of this journey so I will do just that as I end this journey:


 "In proportion as he simplifies his life, the laws of universe will appear less complex, and solitude will not be solitude, nor poverty poverty, nor weakness weakness"
I will dearly miss this simple life

Here I am. Two years and 3 months older. It’s been journey of constant learning, of shrewd realization, of internal discipline and self growth. A journey though rain, early morning fog, the relentless African sun. A journey by bike, open-bed trucks, barefoot.

                A journey for all life. For my little sister Prisca who has grown into a young women; babbling English phrases and dreaming of a seat in a high school classroom. A journey for fourteen young children who entered preschool a year ago and are now donning their grade one uniforms with pride as they march around with unmatched confidence. A journey for families who have welcomed new babies, for families who have lost each other to HIV.

What have I learned? As a teacher, as a human, as a friend, as a sister, as a daughter; I’m not sure I have completely processed how much I’ve grown. I know I am not the same person but it’s like everything that lives and breathes and thinks and feels— growth is just hard to measure when it’s part of everyday life.

                Yet there is something that has boldly inspired me. Something that I know I want to hold on tightly to forever. It’s a simple phrase, and in Zambia can be overused or redundant. But to me, the meaning has morphed since I’ve arrived here and my current perspective is one that I hope will be ever appealing throughout my life.

In Zambia we say: Be Free

And once you learn how to be free, life is yours.

I strongly feel that I have been set free here and I’ll attempt to explain why, and how.

I’ve achieved a sense of realness from this experience. This “realness” is a sense of being in which you can sit down with yourself or with someone else and feel completely at ease to say or do whatever you want without a barrier of censorship- it’s just being free. And it comes from the routine of being stripped of all the barriers that society presents to us.

                 I got to this realness because of the lifestyle I live. It is not glamorous by the standards of American society but it’s the most beautiful thing to me. I draw water from a well, I bathe with a bucket, I pee in a hole in the ground, I eat with my hands, I live with mice and bats, I have only one small mirror, I don’t use makeup, I arrive to work covered in sweat and mud, I cook on an open fire, and there is little privacy in my day to day life. I am one with the earth. When the sun goes down, my body lays down.

                The physical environment of my lifestyle requires openness and it is not conducive towards privacy or hiding. I live in a culture where people show up unannounced. Even if I’m violently sick in my pit latrine, or singing Mariah Carey in kitchen (my kitchen is outside), I am immediately expected to pull out a chair and entertain any visitor that shows up, and sit with them. So you see, there are not many doors to separate yourself from the rest of the world in this lifestyle- almost every action and movement is exposed.

                Even among fellow Peace Corps Volunteers this is the case. When I have a friend come visit they usually stay for two or three days because it may take a full day to reach my house from wherever they biked or hitchhiked from. In other words, we are cooking, cleaning, sleeping, and eating together each time we want to “meet up.” It’s not like America where I can arrange to meet a friend at a certain time. In America, I can even choose to not entertain at my own house if I don’t feel comfortable. In America- I can prepare myself, do my hair if I want, and then “meet up” with my friend for just a few hours and then go back to my own home with my own shower, throw my hair up, fall asleep.

                This lifestyle is natural and unpredictable. If I cry, there is a good chance it will be in a public setting. If I fall off my bike, same thing. I will either laugh or cry in the presence of others…it's not a matter of holding it in until I get home. Everything around me is home.

               

                And you get to the point where any notion of formality or sense of pride has been squashed by humor, honesty, and realness. You forget that you’re “supposed” to throw out that tomato that fell on the floor rather than cook it anyways. Or that you’re "supposed" to change your clothes after two days. Or that the bathroom is the only appropriate place to use the toilet. Or that you’re supposed to politely engage in small talk before you dive in to inquiring about personal matters.

                But it just makes sense. But when it’s your last tomato, and your family is hungry, and the closest market is a 45 minute bike ride away, it just makes sense to eat it. Or when your clothes are not really that dirty, and laundry means fetching 30 liters of water and washing and rinsing by hand, it just makes sense to keep them on for two days--- it’s raining anyways. Or when your closest Peace Corps Volunteer neighbor bikes out to your house from 30 kilometers away just to visit you, and there is no waitress or movie theater or car in sight, it just makes sense to ask them about personal matters, they surely deserve more than surface level company.  Or when you have bats in your outdoor toilet; it just makes sense to pee in a bucket in the middle of the night rather than going outside. Sometimes I think that society just complicates things to the point that it makes sense.

In my mind those are the processes of how we achieve this freedom.

               And what does it look like on the outside? I sometimes feel like a fountain erupting with happiness and freedom and realness. And it is so easy to live that way when society is not telling you how to behave, or talk, or dress. A very obvious testimony to this is by noting how Peace Corps Volunteers dress. There is no television or magazine to tell you what to wear, thus there is no fashion expectation amongst us. So we feel free to express ourselves in any color or cut we want. Bright orange pants with a studded vest? If it makes one feel fabulous than one will exert fabulousness. I mention the Peace Corps population not to generalize but because I’ve observed it to be true among so many of us. I like to think that we are an elite group of people not because of the places we’ve been, the universities we’ve studied at, the confidence we portray, but because we’ve had the opportunity to peel away all of those outside layers in order to relate on a level of basic human understanding.

It’s refreshing, natural, and makes perfect sense to be free in such ways. And because of it I’ve learned to weed out the parts if me that never really were me, but were what I thought I was supposed to be. In return, I’ve gained a clearer portrait of who I am, what my passions are, what I believe in, and what I want. There isn’t much to cloud this.  Thank you Zambia

Having said that, I am prepared to hold on to these ideas tightly as I jump the train to Zanzibar, hop a boat to the Greek islands, and board a plane back home. I am determined not lose along the way what I’ve gained over the past two years. America, land of the free---you and your societal norms better be ready for me and my new kind of freedom.

My feelings about leaving and moving on are mixed and intense. I try to fill my days with visiting as many people as I can and trying not to think about IT. IT is a big deal but it does not make sitting in my village with my family and friends any easier if we keep reminding ourselves about it. I feel like I'm standing on the shore as I watch a huge tsunami enveloping towards me... I know it's coming and I know I'm supposed to scurry about and prepare myself to be taken away. But the whole thing is much too overwhelming to think of what to do, what to say, I'm awestruck. So I just stay where I am and live each day as I have for the past two years, IT's going to consume me anyways so I will just accept it and give in when the time comes.

11 days until I leave the village
22 days until I leave Zambia
44 days until I arrive in New York

posted pictures on facebook recently, but here are some more:

 CAMP GLOW 2013:

 STAFF ROOM:

 MY WATER SOURCE:

 This is how you carry a baby in Africa:

 PRESCHOOL BUILDING:

 CAMP GLOW:

 LAKE MALAWI:

CAMP GLOW:

 Camp GLOW:

 

This is my last post of my Peace Corps service. Thanks to all who have followed and supported, I have really enjoyed telling my story to you all. My last day in Kampinda village will be Monday, April 8. My last day in Zambia will be on Thursday, April 18. From there I will be travelling with some friends to Zanzibar, Tanzania and then to Greece. I will arrive back in New York on Saturday, May 11^th.  

Close-of-Service requires a great among of paperwork and protocol. I’ve copied and pasted my Description of Service, a condensed synopsis of all my documented work the last two years in case your interested, it's like my diploma. I admit I’m a bit proud so I wanted to share with you all ! Cannot wait to start the next chapter and to be reunited with all of you in May !!!!

Description of Service

Shannon Doyle Linehan

Republic of Zambia, Southern Africa

The Rural Education Development (RED) Program

Ms. Shannon Linehan arrived in Zambia on Feburary 3, 2011 to serve as a Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) under the Rural Education Development (RED) Program. The RED program operates in collaboration with The Zambian Ministry of Education (MOE). Volunteers work to support the MOE’s goal of “innovative and productive life long education and training accessible to all by 2030.” To do this, volunteers are placed within a zone consisting of both government and community-supported schools to provide assistance to as many teachers, schools and communities as possible. The work of RED Volunteers is focused in the areas of teacher support through teacher training and professional development; community support through co-curricular activities and non-formal education; and student development through co-teaching with a Zambian teacher to enhance teaching methodologies and improve the students’ learning experience.

Formal Training

Ms. Linehan’s 27-month Peace Corps service began with a rigorous eleven-week pre-service training (PST). Training was comprised of both cultural and technical instruction. A substantial amount of training hours were devoted to cultural sensitization and assimilation to the rural Zambian lifestyle. Her training included 139 hours of Icibemba language instruction and 22 hours of cross-cultural training. Throughout PST she lived with a Zambian family to foster cross-cultural education and local language proficiency. The second component of training comprised of 91 hours of RED specific technical training. Amongst the important topics covered were: overview of MOE initiatives and syllabus, teaching methodologies, classroom management, lesson-planning, sustainable development approaches, using limited resources in the development of teaching and learning aids, implementation of extracurricular activities, social mobilization, and Income Generating Activities (IGA). Upon acquiring these skills, she embarked on the practical component of PST through lesson demonstration and observation. Additionally, Ms. Linehan received 10 hours of instruction on HIV/AIDS issues and intervention. During Ms. Linehan’s time of service she attended additional trainings including a 10-day in-service training with a focus on project design and management, a 2-day co-teaching workshop, and a 5-day PEPFAR training on HIV/AIDS community education outreach.

On April 21, 2011, having completed her Pre-Service Training and achieving language proficiency in Icibemba Ms. Linehan swore in as a Peace Corps Volunteer. On April 27, 2011 she was posted in Kateshi Zone, Kasama District, Northern Province. She lived in a traditional mud-brick hut, with a grass-thatched roof, void of electricity and running-water. She used a nearby well for water, an open fire for cooking, and a bicycle for transportation. Upon entering the community, Ms. Linehan employed her training in community entry to identify areas of need as well as establish relationships with key local counterparts, whom she would work in collaboration with throughout her two-year service.

Site and Program Specific Activities

Ms. Shannon Linehan was a member of the eighth group of volunteers to be placed in Zambia to serve under the RED Program. Ms. Linehan’s primary efforts in the village are noted as follows:

--Co-planned and co-taught 8^th and 9^th grade English; serving a combined total of approximately169 pupils.

·    --Solo-taught an 8^th grade English class of approximately 70 pupils.

·    --Established a consistent and functioning community preschool. Trained a community member in preschool teaching methodologies and child development. Co-planned and co-taught lessons to 40 children from ages 3-6. Organized funds, materials, and manpower toward a permanent and secure preschool classroom. Also created an organized Parent-Teacher Association.

·     --Instituted a literacy “night school” program for adults in the community in which 42 men and women of varying literacy proficiency levels participated in classes two times a week.

·    --Planned and led weekly Girls Leading Our World (G.L.O.W.) club; a girls empowerment club focused on leadership, confidence, and healthy decision making. Participants included approximately 56 girls in 7^th, 8^th and 9^th grade. The club was spearheaded by Ms. Linehan, a counterpart teacher, and two peer leaders. Highlighted topics included; HIV/AIDS, confidence, boyfriends and peer pressure, future goals, early pregnancy, and assertiveness.

·    --Instilled professional development amongst teachers through Teacher Group Meetings (TGM). Meetings explored: project design and management, classroom management strategies, gender in the classroom, targeting different learning styles in the classroom, and co-teaching strategies.

Additional Projects

During Ms. Linehan’s two-year service she also engaged in activities beyond the scope of the RED Program. These included:

·    --Wrote and received a grant to fund Camp G.L.O.W., a week-long girls’ empowerment camp focused on leadership and imparting confidence to participants. Participants included 16 girls, 11 volunteers, 8 teachers, and 11 Peace Corps Volunteers from three districts within Northern Province, Zambia.

·   --Organized camp G.L.O.W.’s activities and lessons. She also supervised the sessions carried out by Peace Corps Volunteers, facilitated teacher sensitization sessions, and oversaw the implementation of the 8 clubs that were formed as a result of the camp.

·   --Organized a Peace Corps World Map Project at Kateshi Basic School, in which a 4 X 2 meter map of the world was painted on the wall of a school block.

·   --Trained 30 American trainees during a separate Pre-Service Training. Ms. Linehan co-planned and co-facilitated alongside Zambian colleagues for week-long training component about teaching in the Zambian classroom.

·   --Facilitated frequent HIV/AIDS sensitization sessions with 8^th and 9^th grade students. This included giving factual information, answering questions, condom demonstrations, and escorting groups of girls and boys to get HIV tested at Voluntary Counseling and Training (VCT).

·   --Coordinated a pen-pal exchange project with an 8^th grade classroom in Zambia and a school in northern California in which students could exchange cultural perspectives as well as practice their writing skills.

 

Pursuant to section 5(f) of the Peace Corps Act, 22 U.S.C. 2054(f), as amended, any former volunteer employed by the United States Government following his/her Peace Corps service is entitled to have any period of satisfactory Peace Corps Volunteer Service credited for purposes of retirement, seniority, reduction in force, leave and other privileges based on length of Government service.  Peace Corps service shall not be credited towards completion of the probationary or trial period of completion of any service for career appointment.

This is to certify that, in accordance with Executive Order No. 11103 of April 10, 1963, that Ms. Shannon Linehan served satisfactorily as a Peace Corps Volunteer.  Her service ended April 18, 2013, completing 27 months of Peace Corps service in Zambia.  She is therefore eligible to be appointed as a career-conditional employee in competitive civil service on a non-competitive basis.  This benefit under Executive Order entitlement extends for a period of one year, except that the employing agency may extend the period for up to three years for a former volunteer who enters military service, pursues studies at a recognized institution of higher learning or engages in other activities which in the view of the appointing authority warrants extension of this period.

Preschool Complete!

It took us 7 months, 2000 bricks, 4 bags of cement, 20 iron sheets, a whole community, and lots of faith. But finally—the roof has been raised, the cement smeared, the desks assembled, the locks on the door. We have our very own single block classroom.

The process itself was… a process. And I am sure I can say I will never do it again although I am very grateful for the outcome. It was a challenge to complete the structure towards the last few months but we completed it…. four months after the projected date.



All the materials and transport were bought and the community was responsible for the manual labor and construction. Yet the realities of rural development overpowered what one may think of as simple tasks.



We were off to a good start until around September. People were making bricks and attending meetings. But September is maize selling time when people package up their harvests, take it to the food shelters, and get the equivalent of 13$ per 50kg bag. It’s a busy time. Villagers are gathering maize from the fields, husking it, sifting it, dividing it into bags, scrambling to find affordable transport to the nearest food security shed, and estimating how much they need to ration out for the rest of the year to set aside for feeding their families.



Well, then October came around. In Northern Province, in Kasama especially, that means caterpillar season. It’s a busy time. People are in the bush; women with buckets, children with empty water bottles, dished, my discarded tupperware of butter-all overflowing with juicy fat caterpillars which will suffice for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the next two or three months.



In December the first rains arrived and planting season started all over again. Now this is a busy time . Try and get people to dig a foundation at any given day when they are out digging maize beds in which their livelihood depends on for the rest of the year.



But despite the seasonal calendar, we managed to persuade a handful of people here and there to work on our little dream. And despite the challenges, we are tremendously proud to have mobilized toward development for the first time. I have also linked the community with the District Education officials, who have made the trek from town into the bush, which was an incredible honor in the eyes of our villagers. The district has agreed to partner with the community in future developments, and has donated a number of desks for our preschool.



Our village in unique from other villages that Peace Corps operates in that it is essentially an offshoot of the coffee company. The people here came for work long ago when the company was thriving. Back then churches, a clinic, and Kateshi Basic School were even built within the company’s boundary. Houses for higher level employees were established with electricity and tin roofs. However, the planters, water pumpers, security guards settled just outside the boundaries of the company in a village that we now call Kampinda.



Time has passed and the company went bankrupt. But the people of Kampinda have remained. And they still go to the company for everything; to pray at its churches, to use its electricity, to get treated at its clinic, and to get an education at its school. So in a way, this unique village has been raised on dependency. And it’s difficult to wean it off this dependent lifestyle. But in another way, it’s the perfect setting for a Peace Corps volunteer to instill sustainability.

I present to you... Kampinda Preschool:

Raising the Roof!

Ba Angella, the teacher

Kalibu! (You are Welcome!)

Excited for a new school

First Stages of a Floor!

F

And windows too!

And a door!

The fourteen that graduated onto Grade one with their final assessments

Cementing the floor

Filing the gap between the top of the walls and the roof

So that it can look like this!

Desks that the Ministry of Education/Kasama District donated. Supplies that partners in America donated

 Corridor

 Our own little school house!

 The concept of a talking sponge with eyes and a pirate flag was almost as hard to explain as completing the Spongebob puzzle itself. But we got the hang of it!

 First Day of school

 Teachers Corner

 Matching game

 

 Thank you FRC! Count Ba Angella as a fellow member of staff!

 The two above pupils are enrolled in our preschool for round two. This is the first day of school for the term and they remember how to write their names, a skill we taught last year.

Twatotella sana. Twaumfwa Bwino pantu twakwata preschool mu mushi. Nomba, abaana bakalasambilila bwino :)

We Thank you very much. We feel very good because we now have a preschool. Now, our children will be learning very well :)

Okay now I'd like to share one of my favorite people with you. My new baby sister, Loveness:

All you need is Love

 Teaching one of my teachers how to make pizza:

 Grace (front left) in her new uniform starting grade one!

 Impashi, flesh eating army ants. They had marched through my house at night while I was sleeping. I didnt notice them until I was on my way out in the morning. And they too, were on their way out. Good thing I didnt wake up at night to disturb their line!!!!

 On that note, see you in three months America!