Rainy Season

Hello all!

It is now officially rainy season in North West Province. It has rained every day for the last few weeks, but still usually only an hour or so during the day and some more at night. This means that work as far as education has slowed down (kids are off of school in December) but picked up as far as gardening. My work lately has been really slow, but I am excited to help conduct another nursery school teacher training in a neighboring area in mid-December. It is a good time to do trainings since ideally the teachers will be ready to teach by the time term one rolls around in January.

I have also been fortunate in meeting lots of people from all walks of life recently. I have been working more with the Zambian Department of Fisheries because my host father is building a fish pond with the help of another PCV, I have also met game lodge owners, lumberjacks from Spain, and all sorts of other random characters. It keeps life interesting, that is for sure.

One interesting thing I have been able to do is go fishing with my host mother and brother, Dear. I spent the entire day speaking to them in Luvale, since their English is limited. We used a mosquito net (my host mother insisted it was an old one and that they have one on their bed) but other people were using spears (boys, with little success) or woven baskets. I even caught several fish with my bare hands! We ended up catching maybe 80 fish, the largest being about 3 inches long. My host mother was disappointed at the catch, but I thought it was a nice day anyway.

Stevie is a God

So Stevie wrote two songs for In Service Training, and she posted them on her blog, but I want to post them here as well. She is a genius.

Go Slow
Chorus
[Go Slow, don’t move too fast Just enough to keep the kids coming to sweep the classGo slow, don’t move too fastNext term might see some teachin’ so sit back and relax]

Now let me tell you all a little tale
Of life under the sun for one quite pale
The mission in front was impossible
To make teachers willing not just capable

Chorus

At first I hoped to be just a fly on the wall
But soon there was nothing to see at all
The first week of term was for cleaning the class
And all the complaints were just a pain in the ass
No rural hardship so we fight for the cause
And then with the what what, sports and nataz
The strike was decided the only way
No learning to do so pupils stayed at bay

Chorus

Yet I still have three months to fill with time
So I thought I’d tell you about in this here rhyme
With the schools all deserted and empty
I found many other things tempting
There is the important job of entertainin’
Always a hit- what’s that mazungu makin’
I became master of the brazier cake
Cause mufu birthday’s were serious to take

Chorus

Chasing after the DEBS took many a day
Happy to find a new one’s on the way
See our DEBS happened to be a big fat jerk
And seemed to hate me just as much as my work
Never turned down a single invitation
Resulting in hours of church and salvation
I made friends with the small one block boma
On days with power we cried HALLEJAH

Chorus

The strike finally ceased with 3 weeks to go
Hit the ground runnin’ on with the show
My ZIC’s quite a rockstar, she is one sassy lady
We were bikin to schools in my zone daily
Managed to fit some TGM’s in
Did lots of work with a program called SHN
I am used when it comes to life village side
Just ok with selling my soul… for a free ride

Chorus

House décor included some painting
And when I get home there’ll be kitty waiting
Let’s hope that the go slow is truly finished
Otherwise my to read list will be diminished
Not sure how much real teaching there will be to see
When all of these kids out runnin’ free
But I’ll still be there tryin’ to fight the good fight
One step at a time, proving education’s a right

Chorus…just a bit of culture exchange

Southern Cross
Verse 1
Cast out on a shipset on land all a blaze
unknown how life has come this way
everyday set the course destination unsure
and the patience of waiting and waiting, not knowing if it matters at all

Chorus

When the sun melts away
And one by one the stars appear
Then I gaze at the Southern Cross
And the world melts away
All the worries and the doubts
And I know that this is right

Verse 2
Some days start so strong
endless movement forward
this could be the real start of things
yet somehow turn away
everything falls apart
and I'm sinking and spinning and trying
just to keep floating at all

Chorus

When the sun melts away
And one by one the stars appear
Then I gaze at the Southern Cross
And the world melts away
All the worries and the doubts
And I know that this is right

Bridge
How much can you change without taking what is there
And How much take you give without knowing if they care
And How much can you take without loosing while you came
There's value in unseen efforts
The beauty's in the choice of time

Verse 3
All it takes is one day
one sweet moment of bliss
then the shore somehow comes into view
on it goes spend your days
slowly gliding along
without seeing, or asking,
not knowing how this became home at all
When the sun melts away
And one by one the stars appear
Then I gaze at the Southern Cross
And the world melts away
All the worries and the doubts
And I know that this here right
When the sun melts away
And one by one the stars appear
Then I gaze at the Southern Cross
And the world melts away
All the worries and the doubts
And I know that this is right yes
I know that this, this is right

New library books waiting to be categorized

Sweet little girl with missing front teeth at the high school graduation

Akuli Musana (It is hot!)

Hey Everyone!

I am in Lusaka on my way to a music festival, and I have FREE internet! So let me update you all.

First of all the big news is that there is a new intake of fish farmers and health volunteers, so Mufumbwe has grown by 4 more volunteers. I have already biked to one of the sites, my new nearest neighbors which are about 27-30km from my house. They all seemed to be getting settled alright, and we are really excited to have new faces.

I have been working on my garden a lot, my fence is all put up and I am working on perma culture techniques, so I am learning as I go. I have already planted onions, marygolds, and hot peppers. When I get back to site I hope to plant oregano, cilantro, basil, rosemary (thanks Aunt Nancy!) carrots, lettuce, celery, green peppers, and tomatoes. I have never gardened before so if even one thing grows I will be really happy! I generally work on it between 5-7am because it has been really brutally hot out lately, and I have to fetch water from my borehole to water the plants.

Hot season is in full swing here. We did get our first rains a week ago, but since it has continued to be very very hot. Most locals get up around 4 or 5am and head to their fields, come back around 10am and do work around the house. Then work starts up again around 3pm when it starts to get a little cooler. The mornings are wonderfully cool, but it is difficult to get to sleep at night because it is so hot. The rains are supposed to start at the end of the month, which will be a welcome relief.

The library in my zone, thanks to the previous volunteer's hard work, just recieved over 4,000 books from America. So I have been busy busy going through them all, reminicing, and categorizing. We had to categorize, shelf, stamp, pocket, record, and label all the books, so I am sure I will be busy with that for quite awhile now.

The schools in my zone along with the Ministry of Education (MOE) have been rock stars this term. One school is building 2 teachers houses, and 2 new classroom blocks (one by the MOE and one community funded.) Another school just put a roof on their long standing roofless classroom blocks that was community built (imagine, 3 classrooms and two offices not being used because there is no roof,) they got two new teachers, which doubles their staff, which is a much needed addition. They had 200+ kids and only two teachers, one of which was the principal so he wasn't really supposed to teach. They are also getting another classroom block built by the MOE. So my area is really developing quickly. Let's hope the projects are followed through to fruition.

Otherwise I have studying Luvale, hanging out with friends, sewing, reading, napping, visiting schools, having meetings, and other things like that to keep busy. I might be starting two more nursery schools soon, but I am not sure if they are serious or not.

I think that is about all for now. Check out picture on facebook.

Amazing Shop Names

I will keep an on going list of all the amazing shop names I see here in Zambia

That Place-Kabwe
Boom Shaka-outside Kabwe
Stranded Millionare-Mufumbwe
Just in Case Butchery-outside Lusaka
Mysterious Hardware-Lusaka
If Not, Why Not?-Kasempa

Then the variations of Shop Rite:
Shop Left-Between Solwezi and Kasempa
PoshRite- Kasempa Turnoff
Write Shop
Rite Shope-outside Lusaka

Quick Update

Hey all!

I am back in Solwezi for a couple days for a resiliancy training and to welcome Lynn as our new PCVL (Peace Corps Volunteer Leader I think.) The big news is that a Shop Rite opened in Solwezi, which has pretty much revolutionized our lives here! I mean...cream cheese!?!?! Amazing!

I just had second site visit come to my place (unfortunately I missed Likumbi Lya Mize for it) and the new kids are a blast. We are almost doubling the amount of volunteers in North Western Province (we will be 27 total) and Mufumbwe will have TEN volunteers, which is absolute insanity for such a small district. So my new family includes Bob and Marie, Laura, Adam, and Ashley. We are all really excited to get to know them and the rest of the new people.

Otherwise I am still loving life in the village. I went to buy charcoal yesterday at the traditional healer's place and she started getting demon visions or something and ran around her compound yelling. It was definitely interesting after being around Americans for two weeks to be back in the village. I love it though, I got a very warm welcome from my family and my garden fence and toilet are FINISHED. Hurray!

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!

You can't expect my cat, Tuneza, to get all the big mice that come in my hut. Just in case!

Tribal Cousinship

Tribal cousinship is a big part of life here. In America, I prefer "ethnic group" to "tribe" but tribe is the word they use here. So I will use it as well. "Tribe" brings images of cannibalism, living in the bush, and running around naked with spears but really all it means is the historical and language group. In Kashima, there are many groups: the Luvales (which I claim to be a part of), Luchazis, Mbundas, Chokwes, Kaondes and Lundas are the most prevalent. Between these groups they have tribal cousins, with whom they are allowed to tease and joke. These cousinships usually come from war or marriage, but I got the stories of some of the ones in this area.

The Luvale and the Luchazi

The Luvale used to live in the plain by a river and used to raise a lot of cattle. The Luchazis lived further from the river and collected mushrooms. When the Luchazis came to the river to draw water they saw the cattle and wanted to buy them. They asked the Luvales to sell them some and the Luvales took the money saying they would deliver the animals in a few days.
When those few days passed with no animals the Luchazis went to find the seller. When they got to his land they were told he had died and that they should buy animals from the neighbors instead. The Luchazis gave the neighbors money and were told they would deliver the animals in a few days. The story continued like that for awhile until they caught on to the trick and stopped buying cattle.
The Luvales were also fishermen, so when the Luchazis bought fish from the Luvales, the Luvales gave it to them in broken cauldrons with patched bottoms. These cauldrons are very important to the Luvales and they are symbolic of the Luvale village. When the Luchazis stirred nshima in the cauldron, the patch came off and the Luvales pretended to be horrified saying, "You have just killed our headman!" They then demanded payment for the broken cauldron. To this day the Luvales claim the Luchazis are fools and the Luchazis claim the Luvales are thieves.

The Mbunda and the Chokwe

One day, the Mbunda king, named Katawola, went to the Chokwe Kingdom where the chief was called Mushilingingi. Katawola came across a beautiful mwali (girl undergoing initiation) and fell in love with her. Katawola went to Mushilingingi and pleaded that he give him the girl to marry.
Mushilingingi refused as she was still undergoing initiation and offered Katawola another beautiful girl. Katawola refused and left with his followers.
That night he told his followers to sneak in and steal the mwali. They obeyed. The next morning the Chokwes followed and there was a battle. The Mbundas were defeated and Katawola was beheaded and his head was put on a stake.
The Mbundas were infuriated and went for revenge. They captured Mushilingingi and he fell to the same fate as Katawola. After this, the Mbundas and the Chokwes agreed that they were even and would never fight again.

The Lunda and the Kaonde

A Lunda hunter who was exceedingly handsome was named Kabinda Mutatata. One day he went hunting in the bush. The day went on, he was not having any luck and he was getting tired.
He came across a well deep in the bush. He stopped and asked the Kaonde women drawing water, for a drink. The women rushed off to tell their Chieftainess Luwezhi about the handsome hunter.
She beckoned him to her place and heard his life story. She invited him to stay and hunt for her kingdom. After awhile she became pregnant and asked him to marry her. They had many children and to this day both the Lundas and the Kaondes claim to be the parents of one another.

my host brother Upale, helping out

My host brothers at the mukanda ceremony

My neighborhood women and the North Western Crew of April 09!

Geoff, Stevie, me, Brittany, Beth, Mike

Blacksmith Brown

Wicked Awesome Blacksmith Brown, dressed as a wizard (not really, it is his pastor's outfit)

A baby clapping and my house in NW!