My new role model: Esther Duflo

In the last two weeks I have gone on 4 different outreach visits with ny clinic staff to the designated Neighborhood Health Committees (NHC). This generally consists of me showing up at the clinic at the time they ask, waiting an hour till they're ready to leave, and biking 20 minutes to 1.5 hours. We arrive at the NHC to find between 20-over 100 mothers waiting. We start with a song in local language that says if ur child is malnutritioned the parents are responsible. Then we do introductions and then I've been giving a health talk about needing protein, carbohydrates, and vegetables/fruits, as well as clean water. I ask lots of questions and try to get the women as engaged as possible. This last time my clinic staff gave me 12 bottles of chlorin to give out to people with right answers. The mothers were so excited to receive it and really trying their hardest to answer my questions. What blows my mind is a bottle of chlorin cost about 1 kwacha ($0.20 USD) and they obviously want it because they understand they will be able to prevent diarrhea and clean their water with it, so why don't they just buy it? You might be thinking, well they're poor. And that's true, but they have a little money.

In my new favorite book Poor Economics by Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo on page 48-49 they talk about this exact dilemma. "People in Zambia know about the benefits of chlorine. Indeed, when asked to name something that cleans drinking water, 98 percent mention Chlorin. Although Zambia is a very poor country, 800 kwachas (rebased currency currently sells chlorin for 1 kwacha) for a bottle that lasts a month is really not a lot of money- the average family spends 4,800 kwachas (rebased currency would make this 4.8 kwacha or about $1 USD) per week just on cooking oil. Yet only 10 percent of the population actually uses bleach to treat their water." It's a mystifying fact that I want to talk to people about, to understand why they don't buy the chlorin when they understand the benefit.

I have been completely inspired by Poor Economics. The authors have given complexity to the debate of
Foreign Aid and through randomized control trials actually tested how poor people make decisions and what they choose to spend money on. While I enjoyed reading Dead Aid and The End of Poverty they both fail with sweeping generalizations and a taste of one size fits all cures. Poor Economics avoids such conclusions and instead works to understand what works and what doesn't in specific situations. As in much of life, theres not one answer, sometimes aid is beat, and sometimes a free market is needed. But what I appreciate most if the position of power and respect they reserve for poor people. They point out that in industrialized countries we've often had the right choice made for us, such as chlorinating your water, because it comes that way straight into your house. But the poor don't have these luxuries, and as someone currently chlorinating my water its a pain in the ass and I'm always wondering if I put too much in and maybe I'm poisoning myself-and I have a college degree, unlike the average village Zambian who rarely makes it to grade 12.

I always need a goal, need to be looking forward to what my next step is. For a long time it was college, then Peace Corps. Although I still have a lot of time (2 years) to figure it out, I've truly found a new role model in Esther Duflo who as a woman under 40 has already accomplished amazing things and it shows through he many awards. She is currently the Professor of Poverty Alleviation and Development Economics in the Department of Economics at MIT. And to study under her is my new goal. Looking at the Poverty Action Lab ( MIT) website, I will actually be qualified for field work there after my Peace Corps service. Bachelor's degree, check! Work experience in a developing country, check! Self-motivated and independent, check! Knowledge of local language, check! I feel like I have a direction and even more inspiration for my service. I love the power of a good book.

To finish the beginning of my story about my health outreach to the NHCs, we weigh babies, which is tallied on their individual card that looks like a graph, talk to mothers if their kid(s) are malnutritioned. The clinic staff or community health workers test for malaria, HIV, and syphilis. The head nurse talks about family planning and distributes birth control, and they vaccinate babies. This is every month in all 8 NHCs and I plan to continue going, meeting people, and trying to understand them, as well as teach them the benefit of preventative medicine over curative.

Visited a witch doctor

Today was excellent. I woke up on my own time, relaxed and read, then my counterpart came to get me. We biked about 8 k to the local witch doctors house/ office. Dr. Siliya Mbewe. He is a certified traditional healer and has traveled to Indonesia, Spain, south Africa, Ethiopia, and Tanzania. He was trained by his grandfather who was also a traditional healer along with his father. He is the assistant director general in the Traditional Health Practitioners Association. He studied up to grade 12, and has taken other classes in HIV and other things. He can use traditional medicine such as herbs to cure many illnesses such as asthma and primary stage of STDs. He can also cure infertility. I was happy to hear that if someone has malaria or HIV he refers them to the clinic, and if his medicine fails he refers them also. I asked him directly if he recommended for people with HIV to sleep with virgins to which he.said no, that isn't traditional healers advice. I was also happy to hear that he encourages people to use pit latrines and drink clean water. He sees 50-75 people everyday. We had lunch together and he was very nice and answered all my questions and invited me back to teach me. I plan to work with him, to learn from him, and also try to encourage him to teach about condoms, nutrition, and bed nets. He is well respected in the community.

How he diagnoses someone is that u take a pinch of ground herb medicine and drop it into a stump in his office. He sits behind a desk and theres a small ceramic pot in it facing him which he calls a screen and he reads ur prognosis off of. I asked to do it and this is exactly my medical reading:

Body medical report
1 blood water, brain and synoviol fluid just fine and good in reproduction.
2 Peace coorps.
3 no STD, no HIV/AIDS, no TB no asthma no bronchitis NIL

4 nothing danger.
5 no one is after you be free stay well till you finish your 2 years with us here
6 anybody who may trouble you just report to us. For action to the trouble maker
7 nothing danger

On the way home we passed about 10 guys making bricks and my counterpart asked me to stop. Apparently as soon as these guys saw me they asked ro take a photo with me. I got off ny bike and went and held a brick while standing with them for the picture. It was the first time I've ever felt so famous haha. Afterwards my counterpart said to them it would be 5 pin ($1) for the print out. And after we got back on the bikes he let me know they're a bunch of drunks and work for beer. Haha

After coming home I was super lucky to get to talk to my brother for about 2 hours. Nothing better than that.

afterwards, I changed a flat on my bike (first time in my life hehe), bathed, and went to sit with my family. I saw some of the smaller kids from my compound walk up and they had a tiny little dog. I immediately ran over and picked him up and havent put him down since. I convinced the boy who acquired him to give him to me and once he agreed I was so happy I jumped up and down saying zikomo kwambiri (thank u very much). I've named my little guy Biscuit Bernard and I already love him. He's so malnourished and sweet how could I not?! I even kept him on my lap during dinner which my family didn't like but afterwards 2 different people actually brought me nsima to feed him. My amai asked where he was sleeping and when I said "bedi" she thought it was hilarious. Today has been the best yet and I feel even more at home now that I have a fuzzy friend. 

Week 1, getting better each day

My first night in my new home I felt homesick, but I'm much more comfortable now and getting moreso each day. The next day my counterpart came over and brought stands for my.water filter to make it like a sink,.and helped me set up my kitchen stuff. My.atate brought a bed frame. I'm enjoying spending time with my family and I have a lot of fun with my peer age sisters. They braid my hair, teach me how to do their hair, we dance, visit people around the village. It's nice Im never alone unless I want to be.

Its also given me a really good perspective to read The End of Poverty by Jeffrey Sachs. It's very interesting and well written and breaks down political, economic,environmental, and social problems that hold back poor countries. He groups all of sub-Saharan Africa together although he does mention Zambia specifically. Whereas the chapters on India and China, Bolivia, and Poland focus mostly on free markets and changes in economic policy AMD farming techniques, when he gets to Africa he writes almost exclusively about the need to reduce malaria & HIV prevalence, as well as water.and sanitation. I was shocked and couldnt help but feel good. He complains that.the developed nations have.yet to reach their goal of contributing 0.7% of GNP (gross national product) to help fight poverty, and so much that could be done, isn't being done. While I think he's right, I am a proponent of capacity building and direct education more than aid. And I can't help but think peace corps is on the right track by having us teach people.about HIV, malaria, nutrition, and water and sanitation. The optimist in me has resurfaced and I know I can help people change their lives for the better. Having a bigger perspective helps me stay motivated. Yes I miss running water, and so many other American luxuries, but I am living in a way that is considered extreme poverty and with that considered I'm pretty happy. And even if I'm not, I'm confident I can help people and that's why I'm.here.
Thank u friends and family for your support I couldn't be here without u.

Moving in & celebrations of womanhood

Today I moved into my hut for real. This is the first day of my next two years of indepent service.

I'm homesick. When I first came to Zambia my host mom spoiled me with a lovely little hut, great food, personal space, and taking care of all my real needs. Shit just got real out here. I expected to find a bed frame in my hut, like my counterpart said I would, which I didn't. I did laundry and because the well is already starting to run dry, I didn't really have enough water to wash my clothes well. Moving is stressful anytime but its real hard when u get dropped off an hour from anything that resembles a city and hardly anyone speaks English. I'm sure once I'm settled in ill feel better but for today I miss the statesand my family, shoot I even miss my host mom. although I have to remind myself this is a job and its bound to be challenging. I think its especially hard because I've been enjoying just being around Americans and living with electricity and running water for over a week. I felt overwhelmed by all the nyanja and like I didn't understand or remember much of anything.

When I arrived there was literally 30 people here to great me. They helped unload the cruiser and then grandma grabbed my hand and led me to eat nsima. Afterwards I did laundry and tried to settle in. I even managed (after a few tries) to build a shelf to put my clothes on.
Later on I bathed and then went with 4 of my teenage sisters to a celebration of a. Young woman getting her period the first time. They took her shirt off and tied a chitenge around her hips and had her follow one of my sisters in dancing as they sang and played drums. Man can they move those hips!! After a few songs they deemed it appropriate to also teach me how to be a woman and please a man by having my also imitate the dancing. I was terrible. After a while the younger woman sat down and it was just me imitating. I had fun with it but it wasn't my favorite experience. There's dances of moving ur hips while ur in all different positions as well as one where I pretended to smell my pits and crotch. Haha its how zambian culture teaches women so I do feel lucky to be included and very grateful only women and kids were there. I'm on my way to being a real Zambian woman, I carried 20 liters of water on my head today, and afterward went back to get another bucketful which I also carried back on my head. I'm so afraid of the well drying up.
After the puberty party my sisters and I walked home singing songs and dancing which was fun. We had dinner, the same as lunch, nsima, pork (with the rind), and green veggies. I'm looking forward to being able to cook for myself and feeling at home, right now I just feel scattered. People are all very nice and excited to see me and work with me.
Tomorrow I might start building my couch or bedframe. I can't lie, I was feeling a little down, and then I looked at facebook and saw other people complaining and it gave me comfort. Hey misery loves company. I'm really happy I have movies on my kindle which I'm going to cuddle up with right now. Goodnight, and I'm looking forward to a better tomorrow. Only 726 days of my service left.