I have been in Zambia for 8 months now. My work in the village has begun to slowly take off. We have many activities planned although there are the occasional delays due to lack of supplies or the inevitable wait for people to help with building projects. Funerals and other meetings have postponed a lot of my meetings but I have managed a few steps forward. I am working on beekeeping, although the hive has taken 2 months longer than expected (he said it would take 4 hours!) Our farmers group has planted pine nurseries, had compost demonstrations and will soon keep rabbits. Its funny when the Zambians want me to take more action but could have done much of this on their own.
Zambia just elected a new president in a very peaceful election. I was woken by the sounds of screaming and celebration very late in the night. I went outside to investigate assuming that Sata had been elected. Coming with the promise of change (sound familiar), many Zambians believe that this man and party can fix the deteriorating infrastructure and raise the levels of poverty that still exist heavily in this country. I was told that Zambia was just raised to the status of developing country but still see the villagers living on less than a dollar a day. In fact they feed their entire families on less than a dollar a day. There is a huge disconnect between the cities and the rural areas and although the status and wealth of the country is improving the wealth remains concentrated in those areas. Many people believe that the only way to ensure the lives of the poor are improved is through education. So I went to my school.
I came to our basic school to propose two things, an environmental education club at the school (or rather two for the different levels as basic schools run grades 1-9). I also proposed the forming of the GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) club. The head teacher seemed very eager for my plans to work at the school. When meeting with the teachers, they seemed far less eager to work more than they already do (which sometimes is not at all!) All government workers on the local level seem to have an interesting attitude in this country. It does , however, make me feel very grateful for our hardworking staff. It would be difficult to get paid like americans and not work like them. Even here.
In the meantime, I have been trying to prevent the slow death of my football team and have been busy with the most important thing you can do here, playing with the 20 puppies that now live at my site! As I search for the perfect names and try to keep them from chewing on everything I am enjoying my time in the village.
