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Africa » Zambia
Aerogramme - Tuesday, June 19, 2001
by Rat
Today's (paper) mail delivered the first aerogramme from Rat & Jena, postmarked June 5th, from Kitwe in northern Zambia. Here is what they had to share as of 6/5/01:
Greetings from Mwakera! I hope this is not the first you've heard from us. To date I've sent two brief emails, and hope to have spoken to you by phone by the time you receive this letter. Both email and telephone contact will be (for the next 8 weeks or so) very unpredictable -- but I hope to have the phone figured out soon.
I'm writing this over a plate of steaming nshima (maize mash), pinto beans, rice, and an unidentified leafy arrangement. Just yesterday Jena and I moved out of the comforts of the forestry college housing (where we had stayed for three days) and into our homestay location. In one week our sleeping quarters have gone from a five star hotel in Atlanta (said to be, at 71 floors, the tallest hotel in the western hemisphere) to a safari lodge just outside Lusaka, then to the forestry college hostel, and finally arriving last night in the village for our homestay. Goodness, how our standard of living has slid! Our host family is overjoyed to have us and they, like all Zambians thus far, have been the warmest and most giving people we've ever met. [There's so much to write and so little space on these clever little aerogram things!]
Our days for the next 8 weeks will go something like this: Awake in our hut to the sound of roosters, bathe in kettle-heated water then eat breakfast (and instant coffee) with our host parents, Briton and Emma. (Briton & Emma, with only five children, are a smallish family by African standards.) We are then off to language class for the morning hours -- Jena, myself, and two other volunteers in our group are learning Tonga, the language of the southern province. (BONUS: One of our Tonga instructors is a botany professor at the college!) After lunch with our host family, we bike to a nearby village for our technical, cross-cultural and medical sessions.
Allow me to quickly describe the Zambian infrastructure -- some of the "roads" that we use to get from place to place are too sandy/uneven/rutted/just plain crappy for even our new Peace Corps-issued mountain bikes! And we all love it here!
In 8 weeks the 4 Tonga-speaking volunteers in our group will be placed in villages just south of Kafue National Park, the largest park in all of Africa. Poaching and politics are both at insane levels in Kafue -- it will be very challenging. As part of our training in the area of wildlife and conservation we will soon be taking a couple of safari drives in South Luangwa Park in the eastern province. Zebra! Lions! Elephants!
All of the images that come to mind when you think of beautiful Africa are really true! Rolling savannah with scattered acacia trees, sunsets that melt your heart, groups of children who laugh and yell when you bike past. Today Jena and I rode through a market and everyone's response was as if a parade were going through! All 60+ people there watched us with smiles and amazement as we pedaled along, shouting "Mulishaani" (a Bemba greeting that translates roughly to 'How are you?')
That's about all I can muster by candlelight -- if this message sounds abit disjointed, that's because it was written in free moments here and there (VERY busy training schedule plus a bit of culture shock) and/or my anti-malaria meds are making me loopy. I get a bit dizzy on the day I take it.
JP and I both miss you all terribly, but it's so beautiful here that we're not letting it bother us. Feel free to email this to everyone.
Much love -- Rat and JP
PS: The moon looks sideways from down here!
More PS: I just watched a fish eagle chase and nearly catch a heron -- high avian drama!
- Created:
- Tuesday, October 12, 2004 at 12:25 PM