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