Eighty Pounds and Eight Hundred Days

I’ve been thinking about blogging a lot lately, and how it’s a really cool platform to be able to open up a dialog about my life here, but it’s hard to have a dialog on Tumblr if you at home don’t also have an account. Therefore, I’m gonna try out running a double blog, or however I can explain it. I’ll still keep this Tumblr, but I’ve also made a Blogger account, and I’ll be copy-pasting my blogs as I post them onto that account - where you can now comment easily on individual blogs!

Like I said, this Tumblr will still be active, so if Tumblr is a better format for you (all my Tumblr friends who follow me, this means you, haha) then by all means, you can stay here! But if you want to be able to comment on any post in particular, it’ll always be on my new Blogger: twoyearsinzambia.blogspot.com!

My birthday is in less than a week! Although that doesn’t coincide with the timing of this blog post as far as postal timing is concerned, it’s still been a while since I made a wishlist… So if you’re looking to send me a belated birthday present or just a regular care package, here’s what’s on my mind:

Dark chocolate ~ We can’t get anything more than ~30% cacao!

Gatorade mix ~ Lemon lime and fruit punch are my favorites but any are good. Helps to stay on top of dehydration and tastes waaay better than oral rehydration salts…

Crossword puzzle books

Hats ~ It’s getting cold here… Slouchy knit hats are my favorite!

Sour candy ~ Warheads, sour belts, Toxic Waste, Sourpatch Kids - anything! The sour candy they sell here is lame in comparison.

Pretzels, trail mix, assorted nuts, dried fruit, snacky stuff

And the same as before applies - if you send me embroidery floss, I’ll send back a friendship bracelet, and if you send a disposable camera, I’ll fill it up and send it back!

I remember one of the best camping trips I’ve ever been on. It’s not really the trip as a whole that stands out, but the small things about it – folding origami dinosaurs, going for walks along the Puget Sound beaches, and telling scary stories in the tent at night. But as sharp as all the good memories are, they’re nothing compared to the agony that I recall first: mosquito bites, literally over one hundred of them all at once. I’m sure you all can relate to the itchy, overwhelming feeling.

For most people in America, mosquito bites are an annoyance, something that we reluctantly accept as part of the summertime experience. But we’re lucky in America – we don’t have to worry about sleeping under bed nets, being alert for a fever and rigors, or taking prophylaxis pills daily. In America, we don’t have to worry about malaria.

To an individual living in Sub-Saharan Africa, malaria is simply a fact of life. I encounter it daily. My host mother will come and tell me about one of the girls who is suffering from malaria. My meetings are rescheduled because of a funeral; the man died from malaria. Babies show up at the clinic with fevers through the roof, and their mothers leave with malaria treatment to administer. I tell my host family I’m feeling under the weather and they immediately ask if it’s malaria. The disease is everywhere.

Malaria, for those who don’t know, is a parasite transmitted by the female Anopheles mosquito. It is transmitted from human to insect, then insect to human again, through a bite, usually within the hours of 11 PM to 5 AM. There are different species of the malaria parasite, but the most dangerous is one that we encounter often here – cerebral malaria, caused by the Plasmodium falciparum parasite, which can and does kill. All it takes is one unlucky bite.

Why does malaria persist? After all, it’s highly preventable. There are hundreds of insect repellents specially targeted towards mosquitoes. Bed nets are commercially available, and are often even given away for free thanks to funding from malaria relief organizations. There are medicines available to cure malaria, and again, they are often provided for free to those in need of them. So why is it still such an issue?

The major reason is a lack of education. People in rural villages have lived with malaria all their lives, yet some still don’t know even the most basic facts about the disease. Every illness is presumed to be malaria, even if its symptoms are nothing near the fever, chills and rigors, headache, and other telltale symptoms of malaria. People are also often unclear on how malaria is even transmitted. Wild myths exist, such as my personal favorite: that you can catch malaria by eating green mangoes.

Even when people are provided all the materials necessary to avoid being bitten – bed nets, mosquito repellant smoke coils, DEET spray, and other things – the missing link is the education. Without proper education as to the reasoning behind the application of all the preventative measures, people often fail to see the point in them. They know they’re supposed to hang a bed net and sleep under it every night, but if they don’t know why, they won’t feel compelled to protect themselves.

I can say with all certainty that my bed net is my favorite possession – above my iPod, my warm socks, and my coffee sent from Seattle. My bed net does more than just protect me from mosquito bites. It also keeps out other creepy crawlies and gives me a sense of security. No matter what is happening outside that net, inside it I am safe.

Luckily, we don’t have to worry about malaria in the United States. It was eradicated by the use of DDT, and as such, we don’t have to sleep under bed nets or take other precautions against the disease. But we’re privileged in this respect, and we often forget about how deadly malaria is. Historically, Peace Corps has named a goal to stop the spread of malaria, and today we’re going full-steam ahead. Peace Corps Volunteers in all African countries are currently hard at work to reduce the effects of malaria in their areas. There are murals being painted, skits being performed, information fairs being held, and blogs like this one being written – but we can’t do it alone. So much of the support for malaria-ridden areas comes from those areas that are malaria-free, such as the United States. But if the people capable of speaking up against this disease aren’t aware of its impact, we’ll never get the support we need.

Malaria is almost certainly not a problem in your American backyard, but it is an ordinary part of life here in Zambia. Stop and think about that, though – a killer disease, an ordinary part of life? A parasite that kills hundreds of children daily, par for the course? A preventable and treatable illness that is so ingrained in the culture here that it is casually mentioned even while it robs life? That’s something I can’t believe. We Americans have grown to forget the seriousness of this disease, all thanks to its eradication in the States. I hope that someday my friends and family here in Zambia, and people all throughout Africa, can enjoy that same luxury – sleeping with the cool summer breeze over their skin, unhindered by a bed net, and only having to worry about mosquito bites as the pesky itches they are and nothing more.

April 25^th is World Malaria Day. If you’re in an area free of malaria, I invite you to take a walk in our shoes. Imagine sleeping under a bed net every night, quite possibly with your entire family. Does it feel a little claustrophobic? A little stuffy? Well, it’s better than the alternative. But until the threat of malaria is eradicated, bed nets are the way to go. They really do save lives – especially those of pregnant mothers, children under five, and persons living with HIV. A quick Google search can bring you any number of veins through which to donate these nets – often just USD$5 apiece. For more information on what we’re doing in Africa, please visit http://stompoutmalaria.org. You can also get involved and keep updated by ‘liking’ the Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/StompOutMalaria!

What will YOU do to help Stomp Out Malaria?

I’m slowly furnishing my hut, piece by piece! Today I brought my shelves home.

The carpenter lives halfway to the road, across the river, and then some, so my brother yoked up the oxen to pull my shelves home on the sledge. Unfortunately, the path was a bit too rough and washed out, so in order to keep the shelves from banging against the ground, he carried them on his shoulders for me - and I got to drive the oxen!

I’ve driven cattle by horseback before, but never ones as well-trained as these. My family has four bulls, and they all have names. The two we took were Black and Chilobe, and they also have Canter and Bruce. The boys will respond to their names, too - if they’re turning too far to one’s side, you just have to say that one’s name and they turn away from that side! I was amazed. Tongas are so good with their animals.

I’ve just finished putting all my clothes onto my shelves, and now it’s time to scrounge up some dinner. Can’t wait to meet with my HIV+ group on Thursday!

After a busride up from Kasama, through Mbala, and on to Mpulungu (on which I was really sick, unfortunately), we arrived on Friday night and have been having an awesome time since! Including plenty of Tanzanian beer, of course.

On Saturday, seventeen of us pooled some kwacha to hire a boat to take us an hour and a half up the lake to hike to Kalambo Falls. It was a brutal hike, several hours long, 20km roundtrip: first up a mountain, then flat for a while, and finally down a steep hill to the falls vantage - and then over another hill to swim in the river.

The falls are gorgeous - 235 meters tall, the second tallest in Africa, right on the Tanzanian border. We hung out at the top for a while, swimming and rehydrating and taking photos, and then hiked all the way back down again.

Yesterday, for Easter Sunday, we swam in the lake all day and had fresh fish n’ chips. I’m loving this vacation! We’re headed back south tomorrow, and I’m PUMPED for Malaria Month! More to come on that…..

Wow, long time no blog.

I’ve been spending my time in the village! I’m just back to town after a month of staying in the village, doing a challenge: thirty days with no electronics, trips to town, or visitors. It was a great month! Difficult at times, yes, but really worthwhile.

Time passes interestingly here. The minutes seem to tick by at a glacial pace, but once you’re over the hill and you look back at the last amount of time, whether it be a week or a month or more, it’s passed in the blink of an eye. It seems like just last week I was saying goodbye to my family on Skype for the month.

Looking back on the thirty days, I’m not really entirely sure what passed most of my time. I read a lot, certainly - some ten books or so - but not all of my time was dominated by reading. I took long walks in the hills, worked on murals and other artwork, cooked, played my guitar and sang, and played a lot of solitaire.

I wandered to some really incredible places. My favorite walk I took was born out of the intention to find the granite crossing of the small nearby river and then follow it upriver to the small waterfall, but I wasn’t able to find a path through the maize fields to the river until way beyond the crossing, as I found out when I finally made it down to the water. I decided to follow the river, though, and popped my shoes off and waded in it, following it downstream. I walked for over an hour in the sunshine, without seeing a sign of any people. When I got to a wide bend, I took a dip in the cool water, just enjoying the solitude and the gorgeous blue sky. Then I found the next bush path and struck out for home. I had to climb over a mountain and then figure out how to get down the steep other side, but wound up at a family’s compound and they set me off in the right direction, back to the main path.

I was having a really great time for most of the month, just listening to the birds and insects outside at night, singing to myself a lot, and getting lots of practice on my guitar, but I really was starting to miss my iPod by the end of it. It’s nice to enjoy the natural ambiance, of course, but it’s really relieving to just be able to put your headphones in and drown out the crying baby across the field or the dogs and roosters causing a ruckus at 2300 hours every night.

That, and I missed the variety of books offered to me by my Kindle. I had plenty of hard copy books borrowed from the Peace Corps house library, of course, but whereas the books on my Kindle are “I’ve always wanted to read this!” type books, the books I nab from the PC library are of the “I guess this looks mildly interesting” type. There were definitely a handful that I struggled through because I was just not into them. I’m excited to continue reading some of my favorite series (namely the Dune series and the Lord of the Rings trilogy) on my Kindle now!

Of course, my intention was to spend a solid thirty days in the village, but the best laid plans… I got a really bad sore throat near the end, and on day 21 I woke up with what I was almost certain was strep throat. I had to call the medical office, and sure enough, they had me go into town to pick up penicillin at the house. I felt really defeated and upset about that. Luckily I didn’t have to stay the night - I just picked up my drugs and went straight back home - but I was still disappointed that it made me have to break the rules and use my phone, then go to town. Still, I’m glad I went, because my strep cleared right up after the first day of antibiotics.

After that, I spent the last week at the clinic, which was a welcome change of pace! I went on the monthly outreach under-5 clinic to Siabunkululu, a neighboring village, and talked to the mothers about fish farming and the importance of a protein-rich diet for growing children. Then for the other days I’ve just been helping at the clinic itself, hanging out with the staff there and bouncing ideas for projects for World Malaria Month - next month in April - and more HIV/AIDS prevention.

I’m here at the house for a few days now in preparation to head up north to Serenje for a meeting for Camp GLOW (Girls Leading Our World), the girls’ empowerment camp put on by PCVs. After this national meeting, we’ll continue to have provincial meetings until we hold the camp in several months.

After the GLOW meeting, I’m taking my first vacation! We’re going to Lake Tanganyika, up north in Mpulungu, and I’m excited to see more of Zambia. I have only seen Lusaka and Southern provinces, so I can’t wait to get to see Central and Northern as well - and hopefully some of my friends up north too!

When I come back from vacation in early April, I’ll be throwing myself back into my work in the village. I’m planning to keep helping out around the clinic for a few days a week as my schedule allows, with a special emphasis on malaria prevention. We had out packs and packs of coartem, malarial treatment, every day to all ages. I’m hoping to try to reduce the rates of malaria in my area.

On top of my clinic work, I’m going to be continuing to pursue farmers for aquaculture work - I’m hoping I’ll have some success now that the rains are ending and there’s less work to be done in the fields. My counterpart and I will be traveling to farmers’ homes to meet their families and see their land.

Lastly, I’m hoping to visit Mudukula Basic School in May (I have to wait until then because April is a break for the Zambian school system) to talk with the headmaster about doing some programs in the classroom. I want to get involved with more youth life skills education, HIV education and prevention, and possibly getting some youth interested in fish farming clubs.

So that’s how my life has been! The lack of updates is not only due to my last month in the village, and my difficulties in solar charging sometimes, but also because there’s really not that much too noteworthy happening for me… I’m just enjoying the company of my amazing host family, cooking some delicious chili, playing a lot of guitar, and getting as much work done as I can get my hands on.

More from me after my travels up north!

Well, we had a break from the rains for maybe two weeks, but now they’re back in full force - nonstop for most of the day. Everyone is busy in the fields again, laying fertilizer for their maize.

I’ve made no real headway with any fish farming still, but I’ve been busy with other projects. My friend Ashley, a health education Volunteer, came to stay earlier this week and facilitated an HIV talk at my clinic, and then we taught a small group of women how to make cheese back at my house. Just this morning, the chairman of an HIV+ support group in my area came to talk to me about linking up with them. I’m brainstorming ideas for teaching positive life skills at my local school, and at the end of March I’ll be going to the national meeting for Camp GLOW 2013 in Serenje.

My home life has been excellent. Enjoying the good Seattle coffee my family sent for Christmas and reading a lot of really interesting books. I made myself some curtains today, too!

Looking forward to sunny days again…

All wrapped up with IST. What a week… We had a lot of sessions that were pretty constructive, because we all know our sites now and the specific things we need to learn more about. There was also a beekeeping session, and I’m incredibly excited to build some hives!

It was really great to see everyone again. We went out at night for dinner a couple times (pizza, Thai, and burgers, to name a few), to see some movies (‘Silver Linings Playbook’ and ‘Rise of the Guardians’), and to get a bit of shopping done - mostly for groceries I can’t easily get up-country, like balsamic vinegar and mustard, but also things like seeds for my garden and Peaceful Sleep, our favorite mosquito repellent.

Last night, my friend Jo and I stayed at a hostel called Lusaka Backpackers and had a really fun evening talking to some Dutch girls who are here for midwifery training. We got up this morning and headed into town to buy me a guitar and now I’m headed back to Choma for the night. I’m excited to go home!