Next step: law school

I've been home about 2.5 months and have spent about the last 2 months studying for the LSAT to get into law school. Life after Peace Corps has its challenges, it took me forever to be comfortable paying for parking, I hate wasting food, and sometimes I feel too fancy. But overall I am happy to be home. And even happier I completed my service.

Thanks for reading<3

Menstrual Hygiene

Menstrual Hygiene My last big project for my service was a day long program facilitated by myself and another volunteer and a woman from a USAID project called SPLASH, which focuses on hygiene. She specifically taught about menstrual hygiene in schools. I had written the grant and got it approved. Everything was in line for a great day of learning about reproductive organs, traditional beliefs about menstruation, common practices, and best practices. Men would participate to learn about supporting menstrual hygiene and reduction of stigma. We would end the day with each of the female participants learning how to make reusable pads out of appropriate materials, and how to care for them. Unfortunately I was called home because my Dad became terminally ill and I was unable to complete this project. I hope the volunteer who replaces me has an interest in this subject so that I can send the materials and curriculum. Menstrual hygiene keeps young women out of schools, approximately 5 days a month which is about 60 days a year, that’s enough to fall behind and drop out. Often times they use old pieces of blankets, mattress, unsanitary cloth, cotton (think cotton balls), two pairs of underwear. Some girls lack even these resources and are forced to sit in the sand in a skirt. Some of the pad designs that we could make have strings similar to a bikini so that the women can tie them on, in case they don’t have panties. If anyone else is interested in holding similar programs I would be happy to chat, I’m a bit heartbroken I wasn’t able to provide this training for my own community, and would love to help other people to do so.

Camp ELITE for boys

Camp ELITE In March I wrote a grant to fund a week long Camp ELITE (Early Leaders in Teamwork and Equality). We brought together boys and men to learn about: gender equality, HIV/AIDS treatment, prevention, and stigma, malaria prevention, signs, and treatment, environmental conservation, goal setting, and reproductive health. There were 18 boys, 9 adult male community counterparts, as well as 9 Peace Corps Volunteers who participated. Everyone came from various rural villages throughout Eastern Province Zambia. We had a great time facilitating sessions and learning together, with several soccer, capture the flag, Frisbee, and kickball games throughout the week. The goal of the camp is to teach the boys and young men the skills and information they need to create a weekly club in their own communities to pass the information on. It was exciting to watch the boys come out of their shells throughout the week, to find topics they were passionate about, and teach each other. One of the participants that I brought from my community is 15 years old and at the end of the week did a correct condom demonstration while teaching it to the entire group. I couldn’t have been more proud. Planning and organizing for the grant was stressful but it was well worth the smiles on everyone’s faces.

Above: the entire group of participants for the week, me with the boys and counterpart from my community, and me giving a boy a sign that says "without a bike" as a obstacle for him to overcome to reach his goals.

Turning 25

As a child, 25 sounded so old. I planned to be married and maybe have a kid by now. I never would have guessed I would feel at home in a mud hut in Zambia, Africa. I may not have my own kid, but I love the kids in my village and little things in daily life make me appreciate being here. Like Gilemon's face when he wants my camera...

My birthday was on Thursday and my four closest Peace Corps friends, Holly, Joy, Meggan and Morgan, came to my hut to celebrate. Joy made delicious food, and even a cake (although the middle was raw), and we chatted and had a great time. It was such a satisfying and unique birthday. Sure I missed family and friends stateside but it was definitely a special one to remember. Friday Morgan and Meggan went back to their own villages, but that evening a few Zambian friends from town came to share my birthday and we had a lot of fun. While we were talking about village life together, Quincy said, "The village is unity." Its so beautiful to see 4 generations who all live and work together. Saturday was the big party and 6 more Americans came out and brought a Brai (BBQ). During the day we were surprised when Nyao traitional dancers came to my house. They are intimidating but my family was there so it was a lot of fun and they didn't overstay their welcome.

Overall it more than I could have ever hoped for and I'm glad 10-year-old-me was completely wrong about where I would be at 25. It was a fantastic last birthday in Zambia and unlike any other. Also made better from all the love I received from family and friends stateside. I'm looking forward to what surprises the next year will bring and where I will be for 26. XOXOXO

A good day

It's times like these i know i will miss Zambia. Dailess came to get me for lunch, and as I sat with two agogos I didn't know, eating shima & beans & kapenta (small dried fish that are friend with onions & tomato) it started to rain. The last month, or maybe even longer it's been over 100 degrees. The rain smelled incredible, incomparably fresh. As though the earth and soil itself had been craving it and let out a refreshing sigh of relief. We sat  on the mud floor with the thatch roof around us and no walls, chatting and enjoying watching the rain dampen all that had been dry & hot for too long.
One of the two  unknown agogos started to ask me questions. Do i chop down trees for fire? Do I farm? I had  a hard time understanding her & when I glanced over at one of my host moms, Amai Nkhoma, and my favorite Agogo & my sisters Dai & Lonti I could see them smirking as i answered. I think they enjoyed the obvious surprise of the unknown agogo when I said women in Zambia work a lot, but I don't like to and I don't farm. next came the part when she offered to bring her son to marry me. She was even more astounded when I said I didn't want a man, and he wouldn't like me because i wouldn't work or have kids. it was a good feeling seeing my family smile knowingly. After a year they know I'm lazy & I'm not getting married. I may be a crazy young woman but they know me & may even be happy to have me around.
After lunch, Dai sat with Amai Nkhoma and an english reader notebook teaching her to read the sentences and put the right word in the blank as we all sat in the shelter & enjoyed the rain.
I'm back in my own hut now. It's still raining and thundering. I can hear goats running around under my eves to seek shelter & chickens  squaking. the rain is gently falling, the pour has trickled down to a drizzle & kids have their tongues & out & are chattering & standing under the eves of the nearby huts. The other day someone asked me if life in Zambia is more simple. I cant answer that entirely, the challenges are different, the struggles people face are unlike anything in the states. But i do think that happiness  is more readily available & maybe even more simple. After months of not even a cold drink in all this heat, a little rain is much more appreciated than the new iphone 6s.

Midterm Conference

This picture is of my neighbor in my village. One woman is pounding ground nuts (peanuts) into powder and the other is the woman who lives there, Anya(Miss) Nchedwa with her son Phyela (sweep).

A few weeks ago I embarked on the eight hour bus ride down to Lusaka for Midterm conference. It was the first time in six months that the entire group of people who I came into country with was all together. I am guilty of isolating myself, even from friends in Zambia. I think we all do it to an some extent, we get used to a slow pace, quiet life and don't reach out as much as I should. It was exciting to see everyone again, and reassuring. Friendships that were made during that first 3 months of training were sparked back to life. It was also super pleasant to realize that EVERYONE, all 22 of us from the original 27, was in much happier and healthier frame of mind than when we had last seen each other. We aren't the new kids on the block anymore. We have Zambia figured out to an extent, we are comfortable.

Even the conference sessions brought new spark into my service. It was inspiring and reinvigorating to hear about other people's services, their personal and work projects, failures, and ways of overcoming them. I have a few concrete plans and goals for the next year planned, as well as a few nice African vacations.

We also talked about what comes next. One year. That isn't so long. What is just over the horizon for us? Zambia has the highest rate of all Peace Corps countries of volunteers who extend a third year. I don't think that is for me. So my mind keeps churning up ideas for what's next. As always, I am indecisive, but I think keeping it in mind helps to prepare me and add an aspect of urgency to my service, which isn't generally present in Zambian culture.

Camp GLOW

The pictures above are of all the people who attended Camp GLOW 2014. Mercy Banda & I. And two girls with their special bracelets, as well as burned out glow sticks from our dance party.

If you have read my blog before you know I LOVE the GLOW club I help facilitate at Ndaiwala school. GLOW is a worldwide program that focuses on young women empowerment, and is an acronym for Girls Leading Our World. In August Peace Corps Volunteers in Eastern Province put together a camp for 9 volunteers, who brought one community mentor and two young women from school. Each day of the week long camp had a different focus; goal setting, gender, reproductive health, leadership, HIV/AIDS and malaria. The goal of the camp is to disseminate enough information and have enough fun to inspire volunteers with the help of community mentors and the teenage girls to start a GLOW club in their own communities.

In my community I already have one awesome GLOW club at one of the two government schools, and so I brought Mercy Banda from that club. Mercy was chosen by the club and I have to say they chose well. There is another school down the road from me that has only been a government school for a couple years; the classrooms are mud half-walls with thatched roof, and they only teach grades one through seven. After receiving permission from the Head teacher at this other school, Mwenda Nampingo, I decided to fill my last two spots with a community mentor and young women from that area. Because I haven't worked in depth with the school previously I asked the teachers to recommend a good student to attend, as well as a young woman as community mentor.

Mercy proved Ndaiwala proud throughout the week. She participated fully, had a great attitude--even when things didn't go her way, she helped the other girls, and even led songs for the group to get energized. On the last day she was chosen by the Volunteers as GLOW girl of the week. I was so proud. Not only because she gave it her all, but because many of the teachers expressed doubts about bringing her as the Ndaiwala representative (worries about a possible boyfriend, or her being chosen purely for popularity and not for academic reasons).

Tamala was the student chosen from Mwenda Nampingo school and I was dissappointed to learn, she not only doesn't speak English, but she doesn't speak Nyanja--the language I have learned in Zambia and the translators used throughout the week. People back home may be shocked at my negligence, but in a country with 73 languages, it's not such a surprise. I will say I should have interacted with her more but she was shy and I figured if the school chose her, it wouldn't be a problem.

The community mentor chosen was Esther Phiri, which is funny because that is also my name here in Zambia. She had previously worked as a volunteer teacher at the school. She is a nice young woman who is married, and she brought her toddler, who surprisingly enough wasn't a hassle at all. Unfortunately for me, Esther is either very shy, or doesn't speak English very well. But that is ok, because this club is for them, and it doesn't need to be in English. She does speak Nyanja so at least she was able to understand the translation of the lessons.

At the very end of the week the four of us were working together to make a plan for GLOW club once we returned home to the village. Luckily for me Mercy was willing to take in the burden of translating between English and Tumbuka so we could all work together. When I asked Tamala what she hoped to work on in GLOW club in Mwenda Nampingo, she became very quite and explained to Mercy and Esther that she didn't know why she was chosen to come and that she wasn't capable of leading a club. Immediately Esther and Mercy began to encourage and support her. Telling her that she was smart enough and the teachers had chosen her because they knew she is smart and capable. I also reminded her she wouldn't be doing it alone, I would be there every week to support her and help as much as they wanted. She smiled and looked reassured. She opened her notebook she had decorated as a goal journal on day one and I was impressed to see she had filled the pages. I was blown away and nearly brought to tears as I listened to her list off different activities and topics she wanted to bring back to teach to her community. All week I had been frustrated feeling that she wasn't understanding much because of the language barrier, and while she may not have learned as much as others, I have no doubt she benefited from this experience.

The point I most lost my cool during the week of 14-hour days was while teaching about female reproduction. There was a question from the group of how a woman can not get pregnant while not on birth control or using condoms. I put the question back to the class, and hoped someone would regurgitate the information about ova meeting sperm in the uterus. A community mentor advised that traditional medicine such as herbs... I interrupted her. This was not the time to talk about traditional medicines. I said something along the lines of, "With respect to your culture, right now we are talking about SCIENCE." And then of course repeated the information about ova and sperm. Afterwards I felt bad that I had cut her off and shut her down so completely. I was grateful for the support of my fellow volunteers who reassured me that I hadn't been out of line and it was okay to show my passion something which I obviously care so much about.

I also brought in my abstract Evergreen hippy methods as much as I could manage. Abstract thinking is not taught on school here, and not common. My step mom, Ann had donated beautiful blown glass beads that she made. Each girl, community mentor, and volunteer received one. I asked them each to hold it in their hands an channel their goals and reams into that special, unique bead. A few were confused, and luckily I had a Zambian woman from Lusaka help me translate so they could better understand the idea. I hope the bracelets they all made serve as a reminder that they do have goals; goals they can accomplish. And that each one of them is unique, interesting, and beautiful, even more so than the bead.

On the last day we stood in a circle, and as I had done in many an Evergreen final class, created a web of string. I started by mentioning a skill or fact I had learned this week, and followed it up by something I had learned about myself. The young women and mentors had no problem listing off skills and facts, but we had to ask nearly every person what they had learned about HERSELF. Although it was a struggle it was satisfying for me, other volunteers, and probably even the girls and mentors to see the thought process on their face, and hear the eventual answer. Many had learned they could try something new, make friends, speak out, and one community mentor said she had learned women were just as good as men. We wrapped up by acknowledging that we are all interconnected and committed to holding up our part of the web so we can all succeed.