I live with a senior chief. In every village is a headman, he reports to the senior headman of a few villages, who reports to a chief of a larger area, who then reports to the senior chief of an even larger area. Literally I'm an African princess. My whole family is extremely welcoming and won't stop feeding me. Zambians think its great to be fat and are trying to fatten me up as soon as possible. They laughed and laughed and thought it was crazy that people in America want to be skinny. I guess we always want what doesn't come easy. Anyway, my atate (father) has 3 wives and 18 kids!!! The family is huge!! I know almost no body's name except atate (friday phiri) and a sister named betty. The compound is huge and there's at least 10 huts, probably more. Atate has a nice brick house off by itself.
Almost everything I do my family finds hilarious and mimicks. They offered me roasted peanuts and when I picked one up it burned my hand so I dropped it. This was probably the highlight of their day because they immitated me for a good 10 minutes. Also while I was helping cook dinner a boy came and sat by me and when I realized he was holding a dead mouse I jumped up and was like I'm not eating that!! If nothing else, I will entertain Zambians for the next two years lol.
My hut is huge!! It's got 3 rooms and is really nice. Right when u walk in the door u see the lion that Ben Snyder, the last pcv, painted. I have no doubt this is exactly where I'm meant to be for now.
I never liked being called Samantha, for a long time I went by Sammie, and then in college I repatriated my brother's nickname, ezzie. Ezzie has gone over pretty well the last couple months, but within an hour of being here I was renamed Ester Phiri. Awesome. Maybe I shoulda stuck with Samantha.
At meal times I sit with my sisters and we start by washing our hands and then we all eat with out hands out of communal bowls. It felt kinda weird at first but I actually like it. Bite by bite we all dig in. It makes sense really, no way would I wanna wash individual dishes for over 20 people, by hand everyday, every meal.
I carried a bucket of water on my head today. I did pretty good. Someone took a photo on their camera so I'll try to get it. There's a well literally 5 meters from my hut so its great I won't have to haul water very far.
It's beyond beautiful here. I love it. It's warm and has lots of mountains and trees.
My address for the next two years is
Samantha Ezgar/peace corps volunteer
Po box 510203
Chipata, Eastern Province, Zambia.
I would absolutely love to get letters and photos. I'm also gonna post a list of stuff I'd like in case anyone is feeling generous and like mailing a package :)
My compound is essentially on the tarmac which is super great. I'm about 30 km from the boma (post office, stores, etc), 20 km from other peace corps volunteers, and only 15 km from Malawi's border!! I'm only like 3 hours from Calcutta bay I think. I'm super excited to be able to travel and relax on the beach.
Overall I'm happy and healthy. My biggest concern with placement was safety and I feel beyond safe living with such a huge family, having so many sweet sisters, and living with the chief. My nyanja is improving and so is my cooking. If u aren't already, u can see tons of my photos on facebook or instagram.
I love u and miss u all!!! Xoxoxxx
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