UPDATES It's Been Awhile, but GOOD NEWS! My Parents Came to Visit!!

Where does one begin after being away so long. I guess I should begin at the beginning, but knowing the way my mind works, I'll probably be jumping around quite a bit. I'll try to put dates on things for context, but no promises.

APRIL

After my trip to South Africa, I was feeling renewed and energized to get back to work. I moved back in the direction of working with adults since the rain began to let up. After my first try at organizing Neighborhood Health Committees to get to work, there was an “at first burst” of energy to do the work, then when that died away people became less responsive. When the rain started, it became almost hopeless because people have to survive so they were in their fields trying to make a living. So I decided to focus on schools for the next phase. Now as the seasons are changing again, I decided to give it another try. I decided to ask each of the 5 areas I worked with what they wanted their future to look like, and what they were willing to do to get there. A few of them responded with a renewed energy and gratefulness that I did not give up on them and that we could give it another chance. So I started cycling all over the place attending meetings, helping them create their constitution, assisting them in developing action plans so that they can soon begin health interventions in their areas. I will train them with the health education they need to start teaching others. I will try to link them to resources so they can continue learning and teaching after I’m gone. And I will inject as much HIV/AIDS prevention, transmission, treatment, and positive living information as I can. We’ll see how it works out in a few months. There is definitely great potential for progress.

Also in April I did some exchange work with another volunteer, Scott. His community invited me to train 15 of their HIV/AIDS Support groups in Peer Education. I agreed and scheduled it for May 15-18^th. Scott came to my village and did a workshop on building improved storage bins for harvested maize. He also talked about improved agriculture techniques.

In the weekend of April 7^th, I attended my first big traditional ceremony in Zambia. My friends Lisa and Osman traveled with me to the Western Province to attend the Kuamboka Ceremony. It is a huge event in a town called Mongul, where the chief of the Losi tribe crosses the river in a huge canoe rowed by about 100 skilled men. And his wife also has her own canoe as does his children.

As you can see, there are a large amount of people on the boat. The Losi men where red hats that look like berets and have a traditional costume that they put on at this event. Here is a picture with me posing with two Losi brothers in their traditional garb.

It was an interesting ceremony and we enjoyed ourselves.

MAY

In May, I facilitated my first Peer Educators Training from the 15^th to the 18^th. 15 people received certificates as trained Peer Educators. They were all members of HIV/AIDS Support groups in an area called Muzoka. The training included information on HIV/AIDS prevention, transmission, positive living and treatment. There was a special segment on condoms and how to give condom demonstrations to their peers. They also learned basic counseling skills to assist people in beginning to think out whether or not they want to go for an HIV test, or Voluntary Counseling and Testing VCT as it’s called here.

MY PARENTS ARE HERE!!!

Also in May my parents came from May 26^th - June 15^th. They came to visit me for my birthday and to see where and how I live in Zambia. We had a great time together. This was their first time to the African continent and I gave them a wide array of activities to experience during their stay.

We began in Lusaka. On the first day we were invited to a “Matebeto.” A Matebeto is one of the many wedding preparation events when the family of the bride gives food to the family of the groom and they make a huge event out of it and invite friends and family to witness it. We attended with our friends, the Mwenachenya family.

We also met the governor of the Bank of Zambia and his family the Fundanga’s and visited them in their home.

Then we went to Karaoke in Lusaka. Karaoke is my father’s favorite pastime in Boston so we enjoyed singing a duet at a restaurant in Lusaka.

After Lusaka we traveled to Choma. We had dinner with the United Nations Volunteer and his family in my area. He coordinates the District AIDS Task Force and all HIV/AIDS activities in the Choma district.

On my 25^th birthday, we were together.

In Choma, we visited the historical museum.

We visited the Choma General Hospital which was particularly of interest to my mother since she is a nurse. My parents witnessed the struggles of the health care system here because of lack of resources and money. We discovered that maybe 40% of the childbirths at certain hospitals in Zambia may not make it on any given day because of the lack of resources to deal with childbirth complications. Things like bed sheets, folders to keep medical files, medical supplies that cannot be reused like syringes are difficult to get when a hospital is not adequately funded. Below is a picture of the Choma General Hospital record room, there are no computers or systems to organize patient files so this is where they are found for thousands of people throughout Choma district.

We received a warm welcome in my village by my headman and his wives. Here is a picture of us outside of my house.

We went to visit my nearest neighbor who owns over 160 cattle to see some of the bulls and heifers.

My father helped feed one of the largest bulls…

My mother was a bit afraid of them and didn’t want to get to near…

So she kept her distance behind the tree.

My village organized a welcoming celebration for my family and the women did some traditional dances to the drums.

I brought Mommy and Daddy to visit a community school in my village…

The next stop was Livingstone, to see the famous Victoria Falls..

In Livingstone we also went on a sunset cruise called the African Queen…

The sunset was gorgeous…

We took a daytrip to Botswana for a Safari, it is only a few minutes from the Zambian border. We were able to see 3 out of the “Big 5”. We saw a Hippo’s, Elephants, crocodiles, and Buffalo out of the big 5. Then we also saw giraffes, warthogs, baboons, eagles and other birds.

We had a wonderful trip. It was such a blessing to have them with me here in my new element. I’m so glad that we were able to share this experience together in our lifetimes. This is the 1^st trip that we’ve taken out of the United States as a family in my lifetime (after age 1). It’s been an entire year since we’ve seen each other, and that’s the longest time I’ve been away from my family.

THANK YOU MOMMY AND DADDY for making my year better!!!