Heidi in the Hut

Saturday, August 9, 2014

The End is Near

So I just took a majority of my stuff to the Peace Corps office. It's just starting to sink in that I have just over a week left in the village and a little under a month left as a Peace Corps volunteer.

For the good, bad, or ugly life here has become so normal to me. It's become harder to picture what life is like in America. I know there's less thatch. Less chickens running around. And a lot of fast food.

It's bittersweet when I think about leaving. There are definitely things that I am going to miss. My kids, eating village chicken, and living a life so tied to nature. But, there are also things that I am definitely looking forward to. Actually understanding what people around me are saying, my friends and family, and of course....WASHING MACHINES!

Thursday, July 10, 2014

A Trip's Log

Tuesday June 17th

9:40 Get to minibus station to pick up kids
10:30 Bus finally arrives. See excited faces in the window.
10:50 Kids witness Shoprite for the first time
12:30 I get hungry, go to forage for food. Take 2 kids with me.
12:35 I find meat pies and shwarma. Kids find a big screen TV and the World Cup.
14:30 Board bus. Kids ask every 10 minutes if we are there yet for first hour.
22:00 I feel sleepy and irritable. Kids asleep in positions I didn't even know existed and definitely don't look comfortable.

Wednesday June 18th

02:00 Bus rolls into Lusaka. I am exhausted. Kids are suddenly awake and very excited. I am worried.
2:15 Kids are now back asleep. We are allowed to sleep on the bus.
5:15 I wake. Kids are very awake and have to pee.
6:40 Fight through complete chaos at the bus station to buy tickets for next bus ride to Livingstone.
6:50 Buy tickets and fight my way back.
7:20 Everyone pees before getting on the bus.
8:30 Bus leaves. Kids excited.
8:50 Kids have to pee.
11:00 Kids have to pee again.
12:30 And again. I buy lunch.
13:30 Start to nap.
13:40 Kids wake me up.
14:25 Make it to Livingstone.
15:10-16:00 Sit awkwardly with kids and counterpart.
16:00 First encounter with electric kettle. Water is already hot when you want tea. Amazing!
16:30 Show girls how a shower works. Chaotic watery chaos ensues for the next two hours.
19:00 Go in search of a Nshima dinner.
20:20 Nshima takes too long. Napapa and Emmanuel fall asleep at the table.
21:30 Everyone make it to bed. Kids are suddenly awake.

Thursday June 19th

6:14 First sounds I hear waking up: "Ba Heidi likes to sleep" eer actually the Bemba equivalent to this.
7:45 Take girl's to Shoprite.
8:20 Girls take another shower.
9:00 Begin to cook breakfast for 7 people.
9:50 Send for my counterpart.
10:00 Miss free shuttle.
11:00 On our way to Victoria Falls!
11:00-13:00 Kids explore, get wet, see baboons, bungee jumpers, and learn about nature.
13:30 Make lunch
15:00 Head to the crocodile farm where kids learn about turtles, crocodiles, and snakes. It is also the kids first encounter with a play area.
17:00 Make an American dinner for the kids. Hamburgers. It's a hit.
19:00 Kids get to make nshima for some Americans. Kids are very happy to have made contact with nshima that day.
21:00 Bedtime.

Friday June 20th

6:35 Wake up.
7:15 Girls shower.
8:40 Shoprite...again.
9:00 Make breakfast. I got more of a rhythm today.
10:00 Find out kids aren't at all ready like my counterpart claimed they were.
11:10 Girls left sink on and I find our room has turned into a small lake.
11:40 Check out and move to next hotel. Apologize for lake.
11:45 Kids set eyes on the play area. And move with lightning speed towards it.
12:30 Watch as lions and cheetahs try to hunt the children through the fence as we try to learn about them.
13:45 See elephant while driving down the road. Elephant ears, although large, are no where near the size the kids imagined they were.
14:00 PLAYTIME!!!!!!!!
17:30 Hunt for nshima dinner.

Saturday June 21st

7:00 Showers
8:00 Breakfast
8:30 Play
9:00 Play
9:30 Play
10:30 Watch in amazement as my counterpart translates almost the entirety of the museum.
13:00 Hop on bus. Will reach Lusaka at 18 hours.
18:00 Still on bus.
19:00 Still on bus.
20:00 STILL on bus.
21:00 Yup, still there.
22:00 Finally reach Lusaka. Head to guest house for some sleep. Kids suddenly wake up.
24:00 Go to sleep.

Sunday June 22nd

6:30 I'm the last to wake up. Help kids shower.
8:30 Go to mall and forage for food.
9:00 Take kids on the escalator to the second floor. They really enjoy it.
9:05 Take kids on elevator down. Little girl screams and tries to pry door open. The rest of the kids like it.
9:10 Head back to guest house.
12:00 Take kids to get ice cream for the first time. I think that is the coldest thing they had in their entire life. And they have no idea how to eat it.
13:00 Kids and counterpart get on bus to Kasama.
13:10 I'm relaxing at the guest house.

Thursday, June 5, 2014

Misengo's Agriculture Show

Yesterday I participated in Misengo's second Agriculture Show. It was actually a lot of fun! I spent literally the day before the show with a local women's group cooking and baking a variety of foods. They wanted to enter the competition. First prize 75 kwacha.

I had my own booth. I taught several simple appropriate technologies. All of which are extremely simple to do and cost little to no money. I demonstrated how to generate chlorine, solar disinfection (leaving water in the sun for 6 hours in a clear plastic bottle and it's safe to drink), using ash as an alternative to soap to wash your hands, a homemade level, and of course a condom demonstration. My booth had a lot of visitors and I really hope that a few of them will incorporate my teachings into their daily lives.

It's Raining Impashi

I was drifting off to sleep in my nice warm bed when suddenly I felt a bite, another, and another. I thought it was only a few impashi (flesh eating ants) that had been stuck on my clothes when I went to sleep. Then I started feeling bites on my head. I look up and realize that my pillows are swarming with impashi...my mosquito net an inefficient barrier for these little demons. As I sat staring, trying to comprehend what I saw I began hearing drip, drip, drip. It was as if rain was dripping from my roof. Impossible, because the rains have already stopped until December. Then I saw it, my walls looked liked there were black rivers flowing down from top to bottom. The dripping sound was not water, but impashi dripping from a vicious waterfall of ants. I left the house grabbing my hammock and a blanket. Hoping to get some sleep while waiting for them to pass through my house on their never ending journey. I went to some trees in the corner of my yard, hoping this would be far enough away from the madness. It wasn't. In the two minutes it takes for me to set up the hammock the army had appeared. I had to stand under a tree for hours, in the cold, waiting for the impashi river to flow past my home. Impashi had gotten stuck in my hair when I was lying in bed. The whole time I was waiting, they were biting my hair. It was enough to drive someone mad. All I wanted was some sweet relief. Some sleep. Finally my bedroom had been cleared out, not the rest of my house, but that was enough for me. I fell into a deep, blissful sleep.

Sunday, May 18, 2014

Help me Help Others

I have a goal of taking a small group of village kids, ones that I have worked with for the past two years, on a week long educational trip showing them not only life outside of the village, but conservation techniques, and interviewing professionals to motivate them to have and achieve goals in life. These kids are really great and dear to my heart and I would like to give them a gift that they will never forget. If you would like to donate please click on the link below.

http://www.gofundme.com/9arl18

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Appropriate Technologies

This entry is about a month later than I intended. Sorry sorry! Last month another volunteer and I held an appropriate technologies workshop in Kasama for Peace Corps Volunteers and their counterpart from their respective villages. We had 12 people attend (6 PCVs and 6 counterparts).

Appropriate technology is basically using the resources you have available to fulfill your individual or your community's needs. Another goal of the workshop is to improve on already existing technologies. For example, during the workshop we demonstrated many fuel efficient cookstoves (sawdust stoves, pop can stoves, stoves that minimize the amount of wood or charcoal needed). We had several demonstrations throughout the workshop, but each team had to develop their own projects. Teams built ground nut shellers, a hydro powered pounder, solar dryers, soap, and a pedal powered bicycle water pump.

We heard a lot of great feedback from the participants of the workshop, especially from the counterparts, who were really beginning to think outside the box to fix their problems.