Pictures! (more on facebook)

A cool billboard in Lusaka

Ricardo, Kamizhi (Brittany) and Kevin hoeing our permaculture garden!

Here are blogs from others in my group :)

http://zambiaigo.blogspot.com/ Brittany.

http://w4justice.wordpress.com/ Beth

http://steviegreenwell.blogspot.com/ Stevie

End of In Service Training

The "Boma Bike" the most tricked out bike in all of Mufumbwe!

Hey all!

I am back again..internet overload! I just finished up 10 days in Lusaka hanging out with my entire intake, which was great. We really bonded more as a group which was nice. I was going to try to go up to the Likumbi Lya Mize festival, but the dates were sketchy (is it 23rd-28th? 28th-31?) so instead I am going to host the new kids for their second site visit!!!! The details for that are also wonderfully sketchy, but I will be hosting somewhere in between 4 and 7 people for somewhere between 3 to 7 days. Haha. I am excited but hopefully it goes well.

Love you all,

Carrie

Hey everyone,

I forgot to ask on the last post, can anyone that gets letters from me please keep them so that I can make photocopies when I get back to the States? I would love to keep them since it has basically been my journal. Thanks!

Facebook | Carrie Navin: zambian (north west) baby funerals

Facebook Carrie Navin: zambian (north west) baby funerals: "If the baby dies when it is less than one month old it is not treated like a normal person as its soul has not really been on earth long enough to be considered part of the human world. When the baby dies, the mother is not allowed to cry or else she will become infertile. The baby is not buried in a graveyard but under the mwenge tree in a shallow grave with its head facing west. If it faces east the mother will be infertile. Before they cover the baby with soil, they tie a white cotton thread to the baby's finger. When they bury it, the string is tied to the mwenge used. I asked if this is to keep the baby from coming back from the dead, and did not get a straight answer."

Facebook | Carrie Navin

Facebook Carrie Navin: "There was a zambian rebel leader that spent a lot of time in my area and affected the people so i thought i would write about him.
Just before zambian independence the major domestic political party was going to put up Nkumbula as their presidential candidate and Mushala as their vp candidate. Kenneth Kaunda, the secretary of the party played a trick and instead of campaigning for Nkumbula, campaigned for himself. Kaunda ended up winning the election and instated a one party system. Mushala was put as the minister of wildlife and was based in jivundu (25km from me) Mushala was pissed and quit and tried to run as president, which was illegal in the one party state. So he ran to namibia and angola to get support, training, and weapons. While there he also learned juju to make himself invisible to the government troops. He came back to zambia in 1975 with soldiers, the zambian government sent troops to stop him. They fought bush battles in kashima (this was the early 80s so most people i know here were directly effected. After a time when Mushala burned houses in kashima, the locals took up arms (dogs, bows and arrows) to fight. Mushala was hit in the heel and two kashima men were shot. Mushala fled to congo for ammunition and to take revenge on kashima. His wife at the time was living in jivundu and was fed up with living in the bush and so she gave up mushalas camp to the gov troops. When Mushala came back from congo they ambushed him and shot him in the eye. He is buried in solwezi.

My host father told me this tale so it is his fault if it is exagerated or wrong, haha. I think there is a book about Mushala so if you are interested check it out."

6 months!

Hey all!
I have been in Zambia for almost 6 months, so I am on my way to In Service Training in Lusaka.
Things at site have been great, I love it there so much and everything is wonderful. I am working hard with Lister and my host mother on reading and writing in English and we read together almost every day. Lister is making amazing progress!

The nursery schools are still going really well. They took a field trip to my house to see my cat, and I got to see them all walk like a cat, meow like a cat, pet the cat, and count its legs. Too adorable for words. The teachers are working overtime to catch them up to the government school terms so that the kids old enough to go into grade 1 will be better prepared to start in january. I am really proud of the teachers for all their hard work and enthusiasm.

Thank you to everyone who has sent things to me and for the nursery school, it is all very very very much appreciated!!!

In other village news, I got a new bafwa (bathing shelter) because my first one had holes in it (not very condusive to private bathing, huh?). I also am having my toliet replaced for the same reason, and my garden fence was almost finished when I left site! So I should be able to start my new garden when I get back.

I got the chance to connect with my host kids more; we got to make makish masks from the packages you sent and the markers. They absolutely loved it.

With the kids I also started a "trade condoms for balloon" program because they use condoms (sometimes used ones...gross, right?) to make balloons. So I will trade any kid that comes to my house a condom for a real balloon. Hopefully it catches on.

Otherwise things are great and I hope you are all doing well!