Nighttime Blues

So it's 10 PM. I've been asleep for about 2 hours. I woke up to the lovely melody of the dog scratching at the door. I let the dog out then figured he had a good idea. Sometimes, a pee bucket is a great thing. I hate those late night trips to the chimbu. Right after I crawled back into bed, just as soon as I was drifting to sleep...dude...there was something going on under the bed. The cat was catching a mouse. Oh yeah! I almost grabbed my headlamp to look under the bed to watch. I'll be honest its cool to see. Like national geographic but on a much smaller scale. Almost looked. I'm not sure why I didn't actually. Some reason. But then the fight moved out to the main room. I was up. Things were getting heated. Let the games begin! My headlamp. My spotlight for tonight's events; bestowed something that sent a shiver running down my spine. Not only my cat was on the hunt. This was a joint effort. A cat and dog team. Each taking their turns nipping at tonight's intruder...the deadly snake.

Because pictures say a thousand words...

This is where I draw water.

There is a river and waterfall only an hour or two bike ride from my village.

Pious and I found a lizard. You can find lizards everywhere in Zambia!

This is a huge crocodile that I saw at a crocodile farm in Livingstone. You can find crocodiles in the wild in Zambia, but they're not common where I live.

There's a few pictures! I hope you enjoy. I'm going back to the village for a few weeks.

Three Blind Mice

Taking my afternoon nap I hear "Ba Hidine! Ba Hidine! Mulefwaya rat?" Miss Heidi! Miss Heidi! Do you want a rat?) Words that have started becoming all too commonly heard these days. I stumble out the bed and make it to the door. Blink once. Blink twice. Mwila and Bright are holding a rat proudly into the sunlight. Sure that I would buy today's kill, which I have to admit, is a lot bigger than their usual fare offered. Only 1 kwacha! A steal. Sadly, I have to turn them down. "Nshekwete 1 kwacha." I respond in my rudimentary Bemba. Their faces hid no astonishment as they slowly lowered the mouse to their sides. The whole time repeating my answer. Discussing them amongst themselves. Truth is: I'm a regular customer. Rats are commonly enjoyed in rural Zambia. All over the world. My cat seems to love them. He enjoys every one.

Left a good job in the city

Just another typical week in the village. Tuesday morning I woke up motivated and determined to get some programs started. So I went to the school, the clinic, and to see Ba Annie. Nothing. Defeated I went and home and did some stuff around the house. My iwes wanted to help...well...really they just wanted popcorn. But they brought me some water and swept the yard, etc. As helpful as they try to be; they really add more stress than anything.

Wednesday ended up being a bit more fruitful. My main counterpart, Gilbert, came to see me. I hadn't seen him since February.Turns out he was in driving school all that time and just never told anyone. Then in the afternoon I went to the clinic and the clinic in charge bought me a leg of goat from a man walking around selling them out of a mealie meal sack. Delicious! And a nice treat for me and my family. Really...Americans never really eat goat. We're missing out you guys. Also I tried my hand at grinding millet by putting the millet in between two stones and moving the top stone back and forth. Does this make sense?

Thursday I made a program at the school for next week. A friend is going to to a condom demo for the boys and talk about HIV. I'm really excited to have him and I think he'll do a good job. Then I went to the clinic to pass out Vitamin A and de-worming tablets to all the kids and I watched them cry as the nurse gives them shots. Bwahaha!

Stomp

Picture yourself, sleeping, dreaming, maybe you're dreaming of a bountiful harvest. One that will feed your family and provide for your basic needs. Upon waking, you first look at your children; still sleeping peacefully in the cool mornig air. You do your best to provide safety and comfort to your family with what little you have. Your sling shot rarely leaves your side; incase a snake should intrude and you have dogs to protect while you're away. Yet, your children lay there, night after night, exposed, perfect prey for one of Africa's sneakest killers. The Anapholes mosquito. Unfortunately there was no net distribution this year. And after school fees, not enough money to buy your own. One of your children, your youngest, wakes with a fever and headaches. Malaria. You walk the 9km to the vlinic with your child slung on your back only to find out they are out of malarial drugs. There is nothing that can be done. Sadly, you walk the 9km back home. No food or water. The malaria spreads, becomes cerebral. Luckilly your child recovers, but develops brain damage. A future gone; with just one insect bite.

You may think this is an extreme situation. But things like this happen all the time.Just yesterday, at my clinic, we had to send people home, untreated. Because we were out of malarial drugs. There was nothing we could do to help them. And no transport out of Misengo until Monday. So it will be Tuesday before the drugs are available at the clinic. I would say; this time of year, during rainy season; an average of 80% of the patients we see are diagnosed with malaria. Some of them walk further than 9km to get treatment.

Malaria is caused, primarilly, by the Anapholes mosquito, which only comes out between midnight and 6 AM. This is why nets are so helpful in preventing malaria. There is also IRS (indoor residual spraying) where the health department will come and spray all your houses with insecticide (DDT) to help repel mosquitos. This needs to be done once a year, at the start of rainy season. Realistically, this is not always an option.

The most susceptible to malaria are pregnant women, immune compromised individuals, elderly, and children under 5 years of age. Others have built up an immunity to it. Most of the cases we see at the clinic are children under 5 years. Malaria has an incubation period of 9 days before you show any signs of sickness. The signs of malaria are: fever, chills, sweats, headaches, nausea & vomiting, body aches, and general malaise.

Malaria is a serious problem in Africa. 90% of all malaria related deaths occur in Sub-Saharan Africa. How will you stomp out malaria in 2013?

.Stomping Out Malaria in Africa is a Peace Corps initiative that uses strategic partnerships, targeted training Volunteers and intelligent use of information technology to support the local malaria prevention efforts of over 3,000 Volunteers in sub-Saharan Africa. For more information go to www.stompoutmalaria.org and follow Stomp activities at http://www.facebook.com/StompOutMalaria.

Across the Sea

So I know its been a while since my latest blog entry. Sorry about that. To make up for my lapse in entries I'll try to make this a good one. But, I am going to go ahead and put in the disclaimer *Other lapses will occur...hopefully not too often. But they will occur.* It just comes with the territory of living in Africa.

Right now I'm sitting on my porch (obviously I wrote this in the village and am now posting it at the PC office in Kasama), its a sunny day, electronics charging with the solar charger, and impashi taking over my house...again. Got a freshly popped boil under my armpit. Doesn't hurt too bad. There are two neighbor kids coloring in my insaka and another chilling on my porch. Slight breeze in the air and roasted maize in my belly. Life is good. I gave a health talk at the school on handwashing and balancing your diet. I think it went really well. My interpreter didn't show, so the teachers had to take time out of their work to help me with my talk. It worked, but I know they had other things to do.

I am watching the boys color and noticing that they are coloring, colored pencil next to colored pencil, the same picture. I think this image is very representative of the Zambian culture. They are friendly, polite, find joy in the small things. and share with others.

Yesterday was Sunday and I biked to the waterfall by my house. There I enjoyed an afternoon sitting on an old delapitated bridge, dangling my feet in the water, feeling the force of the water as it rushed past my legs, soon to plummet down to the falls below. My friend and I were discussing important details of unimportance about our lives; and foods we miss from America (a common topic amongst Peace Corps Volunteers). Also, I realized that I need to start biking more. Three reasons: 1) it was fun; 2) i really suck at it; and 3) the trip was definitely more exhausting than it should have been.

Other points of interest about my life this year...I just got back from Zanzibar. Went to the Sauti Za Busara music festival. Which I would highly recommend. It was traditional african music from all different countries in Africa. The music was uplifting and spitit filled. And I have never seen a more diverse crowd and commingling. I also have to add that Freddy Mercury (Queen) is from Stone Town.

Here is a list of stuff that I did while on Zanzibar:
1) Beach (I was there for 3 nights and moved into the water for much of that time).
2) Learned a Messai tribal dance (from some Messai tribesmen we met on the roadside. The dance consisted of mostly jumping).
3) Went on a spice tour (ate a free lunch. Score!)
4) Got lost around Stone Town (this was pretty much a constant).
5) Ate some awesome street food (so many flavors and spices...I almost forgot they existed in Zambia).
6) Sauti Za Busara (my spirit was uplifted and I was a dancing fool).

We stayed in Dar Es Salaam for a night. While there we ate at Mamboz corner bbq. The owners were incredibly nice people and the food was great. I highly recommend going there if you ever find yourself hungry and in Dar. Then it was just a 40+ hr train ride back home to Kasama.

Switching subjects completely I just want to let you know that I made it through training in Lusaka sans car accidents. I was happy. Hope you are too.