As of 24 September 2010 I am now officially a Peace Corps Volunteer!!
I'll try and give you a quick update on my life in my final days in training and my first few as a volunteer...
We ended our training with language tests, technical test/presentations, and a medical exam. The best day was our cultural farewell party we had at our training place (FTI) with all of us trainees and our host families. We cooked American foods (pizza, mashed potatoes, rice krispie bars, etc)for probably about 300 people and then had a program featuring cultural dances, speeches, and a gift exchange. At the very end we volunteers were welcomed up to dance Zambian style, and of course I jumped at the chance to break it down. Afterward my host family said, "ba Emily, we saw you dancing...and you know how to dance!" I think it was one of the highest compliments I have received since arriving in country. I credit these skills to the many dance parties I had back in the States...
After a great day of partying with our families and enjoying one last family dinner under the stars at my home stay, I had to say goodbye to my wonderful Mulolo family the following morning. It was a bittersweet goodbye and as I hugged my bamaayo one last time with tears in my eyes she said, "now don't make this goodbye for forever, I need to see my daughter again so come back and visit us." I said "don't worry bamaayo, tukamoonana" (which in Bemba is we will see each other). I plan on going back to see them in January when I'm in Lusaka for a week for our in-service training!
Friday was our big day...swear in! We were brought to the US Ambassador's house for the event, and let me tell you I would totally consider becoming an ambassador if it meant I got to live in a place like that. It was HUGE with a pool and tennis court! Unreal! After some much needed photoshoots with friends and teachers because I was wearing a handmade dress AND make-up for the first time in months, the ceremony began. There were speeches from a representative of the Chieftainess, Minister of Health, Peace Corps staff and directors and one representative from each of the 6 languages. I was selected to speak for the Bemba Chippers and my part was to talk about what we have learned about culture. I was nervous beforehand about speaking in bemba in front of many natives, but I'm glad I had the opportunity to do so :)Then we raised our right hands, took our oath and committed to our service for 2 years.It feels great to finally be a volunteer after months of applying and weeks of training!!
Now I'm up in Kasama waiting at our provincial house until Wednesday when I will be posted at my site. Then begins the process of community entry...this is a three month period where I will focus on integrating into my community and settling into my house. It'll be so strange to finally be at my home, not living out of a suitcase, and being the only person that looks like me for miles and miles. Please pray for me during this transition as I begin making Misengo my home.
Also, if you're thinking to yourself, "man, I'd really like to send something small to Emily, but I don't know what she could need/want!" Well my friends in America I'm here to give you some tips!! If you want to spend a couple dollars to send me something light consider the following:
-pictures of you doing something fun! (and it doesn't have to be fun even, I'll take anything and I'll put it in my hut)
-Mix CD...we have a computer at the house so I can upload it onto my ipod! Please feel free to add any Bieber (I've got the fever...)
-Crystal light type things (water sometimes gets a little boring for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and everything in between)
Okay thanks for reading!!!Hope you all are enjoying the lovely fall time :)
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Culture Lesson
Today we had day one of our 'host workshop.' This workshop is for us pcvs and for our counterparts who will help us get integrated into our community. We tried to start off the first session, but not first without getting ground rules... obviously. Here are the rules the zambians came up with:
Speak through the chair, observe punctuality, full participation, no noise, no smoking, phones on silent, no beer, no necessary movement, all equal participants. The penalty for breaking any of these: dancing.
We all had to keep from laughing at this seemingly crazy and obvious rules. It was a cultural lesson for sure and got me prepared for my next 2 years worth of meetings
Speak through the chair, observe punctuality, full participation, no noise, no smoking, phones on silent, no beer, no necessary movement, all equal participants. The penalty for breaking any of these: dancing.
We all had to keep from laughing at this seemingly crazy and obvious rules. It was a cultural lesson for sure and got me prepared for my next 2 years worth of meetings
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
CONGRATS!!
My dear friends Justin and Sarah are engaged!!!!!
A big congratulations to the both of you...I love you both so so much :)
A big congratulations to the both of you...I love you both so so much :)
Home Sweet Home
Hello from the Northern Province Peace Corps house in Kasama, Zambia. Tonight I will be here at the house with the rest of the volunteers before we head back to Lusaka early tomorrow morning. We just finished watching Mean Girls here and let me tell you that movie is hilarious....did I think it was hilarious when I was in the States? Nope not really, but having gone nearly 2 months with zero films I am pretty sure I would have loved anything.
So since I last updated a LOT has gone on! I am just finishing up second site visit like I mentioned above. Myself and three other CHIP volunteers, along with 2 bemba language teachers (including my favorite ba Whiteson) made the trek up to Mpepo to stay with a current volunteer for the week. The week was a busy busy one that included the following: meetings with many NGOs in the area (such as DAPP, DOPE, Africare), having lunch with the Chief at this palace, listening in on a STAR circle meeting (people come together who either are HIV positive or at least know someone who is HIV positive), giving a good nutrition lecture to grade 9 students, and just getting used to village life.
It was also a great time spent getting to know Ba Whiteson more...each week we would have medical sessions where pretty much we would learn about some ailment or animal that could either have us get medically separated or killed. I was fine with all of the talks because most things are very controllable...all except for snakes. That talk made me not so happy and left me feeling at any moment I may cross paths with some snake and would die. So I told ba Whiteson this the following day in class and ask for ways I could prevent any sort of snake from entering my home. This conversation was close to 3 weeks ago and still he assures me not to worry that I will be okay...I think he does this because he is fearful that I will go back to America haha. Well over the site visit I learned his greatest fear, or at least the one that equaled my fear of snakes: shots. Even us talking about them got him so freaked out that all I could do was laugh and laugh. He hasn't had them since 1991! He was shocked I was able to not only receive them easily, but also be the one to give them. It was a bonding moment for sure that we could assure each other how absurd the other persons fear actually was.
Another big day has happened: I have been to MY site :) I am in Misengo village, which is about 70km from Kasama, and 30km from site is a waterfall national park. If you know me even a little you should know the love that I have for waterfalls :) I was nervous/excited for this big day. I arrived at my mansion and was greeted by many children and several Zambians all ready to bring my bags inside. As you see I said mansion and not house...this place is HUGE!
It's a 3 room house with a foyer even! I have no idea what I am going to do with all of this space. Walking in the door into the foyer there are 2 rooms on either side...one I think will be used for kitchen storage and the other maybe my bedroom? Then in the back is one room that spans 21 ft long! Some serious dance parties could be had there for sure. So as you can see there will be plenty of space for any guests that would like to come and stay with me :)
During my views days at my site I was kept very busy meeting many many people. I went and greeted the sub-chief who just kept thanking me for coming to work. I also had the privilege of having a meeting to welcome me to the village. The headmen from my village, the surrounding villages, and the sub-chief all came as well as about 40 other community members to meet me and introduce themselves. I was able to introduce myself (name, nationality, profession) and talk about what the peace corps is and what I was coming to do in Misengo...all in Bemba! Who thought that after such a short time I'd be able to do that!
So it's been a great time on second site visit, but I am ready to get back to my host family. I miss them very much and will soak up as much time as I can with them over my last couple weeks of training. I was so touched to receive a text from them the other day saying they missed me as well. It's going to be a hard goodbye I think....
Prayer Requests:
1. Good Health: My body is doing some weird things I'd rather not go into as I adjust to the new diet and surroundings.
2. Prepare the hearts for my villagers as I come to move in in a few short weeks!
3. Patience as I make the transition into my new home
4. Safety
Again, thanks for reading!! Take note of my new address:
Emily Skurla/PCV
PO BOX 410374
Kasama, Northern Province
Zambia
So since I last updated a LOT has gone on! I am just finishing up second site visit like I mentioned above. Myself and three other CHIP volunteers, along with 2 bemba language teachers (including my favorite ba Whiteson) made the trek up to Mpepo to stay with a current volunteer for the week. The week was a busy busy one that included the following: meetings with many NGOs in the area (such as DAPP, DOPE, Africare), having lunch with the Chief at this palace, listening in on a STAR circle meeting (people come together who either are HIV positive or at least know someone who is HIV positive), giving a good nutrition lecture to grade 9 students, and just getting used to village life.
It was also a great time spent getting to know Ba Whiteson more...each week we would have medical sessions where pretty much we would learn about some ailment or animal that could either have us get medically separated or killed. I was fine with all of the talks because most things are very controllable...all except for snakes. That talk made me not so happy and left me feeling at any moment I may cross paths with some snake and would die. So I told ba Whiteson this the following day in class and ask for ways I could prevent any sort of snake from entering my home. This conversation was close to 3 weeks ago and still he assures me not to worry that I will be okay...I think he does this because he is fearful that I will go back to America haha. Well over the site visit I learned his greatest fear, or at least the one that equaled my fear of snakes: shots. Even us talking about them got him so freaked out that all I could do was laugh and laugh. He hasn't had them since 1991! He was shocked I was able to not only receive them easily, but also be the one to give them. It was a bonding moment for sure that we could assure each other how absurd the other persons fear actually was.
Another big day has happened: I have been to MY site :) I am in Misengo village, which is about 70km from Kasama, and 30km from site is a waterfall national park. If you know me even a little you should know the love that I have for waterfalls :) I was nervous/excited for this big day. I arrived at my mansion and was greeted by many children and several Zambians all ready to bring my bags inside. As you see I said mansion and not house...this place is HUGE!
It's a 3 room house with a foyer even! I have no idea what I am going to do with all of this space. Walking in the door into the foyer there are 2 rooms on either side...one I think will be used for kitchen storage and the other maybe my bedroom? Then in the back is one room that spans 21 ft long! Some serious dance parties could be had there for sure. So as you can see there will be plenty of space for any guests that would like to come and stay with me :)
During my views days at my site I was kept very busy meeting many many people. I went and greeted the sub-chief who just kept thanking me for coming to work. I also had the privilege of having a meeting to welcome me to the village. The headmen from my village, the surrounding villages, and the sub-chief all came as well as about 40 other community members to meet me and introduce themselves. I was able to introduce myself (name, nationality, profession) and talk about what the peace corps is and what I was coming to do in Misengo...all in Bemba! Who thought that after such a short time I'd be able to do that!
So it's been a great time on second site visit, but I am ready to get back to my host family. I miss them very much and will soak up as much time as I can with them over my last couple weeks of training. I was so touched to receive a text from them the other day saying they missed me as well. It's going to be a hard goodbye I think....
Prayer Requests:
1. Good Health: My body is doing some weird things I'd rather not go into as I adjust to the new diet and surroundings.
2. Prepare the hearts for my villagers as I come to move in in a few short weeks!
3. Patience as I make the transition into my new home
4. Safety
Again, thanks for reading!! Take note of my new address:
Emily Skurla/PCV
PO BOX 410374
Kasama, Northern Province
Zambia
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