Natalie's Blog Beginnings

So I've decided to start a blog for those who haven't figured out, don't feel like, or refuse to join my yahoogroups. Hopefully this is more successful in getting information across. I will still post to my yahoogroups as well, or maybe I'll just post the link to my blog to yahoogroups so people will know when I update the blog.

For those who haven't heard from me since May, I made it to Zambia in one piece. I have completed the intensive 9-week Peace Corps training and I am now officially a volunteer. Before now, I was just a mere trainee. We had a swear-in ceremony that was aired on national Zambian television.

For those who didn’t know I left the country… where have you been?!? I decided to join the Peace Corps sometime in March or April after the long application process and I’ve come to Zambia to work on the HIV/AIDS Project (HAP) which focuses on supporting the Zambian governments Ministry of Health decentralization makeup which aims to empower the community to educate peer to peer around health issues, to get funding and resources from the government to implement interventions that make people more aware of the effects of HIV, how to prevent it and how to have more nutritious diets so that those living HIV positive can live healthy for as long as possible. Even though the government has made this effort to put systems into place that will make the above work, they don’t have enough manpower to train people on the grassroots level so that they know how to run community groups, access funding from the government and so on. That’s where I come in, my job is to build the capacity of community members in the village and help them to identify health issues in their community, potential solutions and resources to make these things work. My program also has the goal of supporting orphans and vulnerable children and their caretakers and encouraging behavior change. So my job is to put myself out of a job by training leadership in different communities so that they can do all the above for themselves when I leave in two years, if it works than it should be sustainable. I think one of the hardest parts is behavior change, because that’s the only way the HIV problem will be alleviated if people change the way they think of sex, some of the sexual practices that may be tradition, and by having the desire that is strong enough to want to change their behavior. But you all know how strong habits can be when that’s all you’ve ever known. If you have any ideas or tips around methods for influencing behavior change please let a sistah know.

I have had a few village experiences throughout training during site visits where we visited other volunteers. I will post about those in a back log that corresponds with the date of my original emails.

As of now, I am stuck in a town called Choma because there is a diesel crisis going on across Zambia. There is no diesel in the entire country, therefore the Toyota land cruiser that is supposed to take me to my village is grounded until fuel comes. I’m a bit restless here because I want to start working and getting to know my new community, stop living out of my luggage and begin settling into my new two-year residence.

Peace Corps Zambia has what they call provincial houses, so in every province that volunteers serve in there is a place that they can call a home away from home. It is communal living, that is where I am now. I have never experienced such a variety of personalities as I have in Peace Corps, my greatest challenge is being a quiet observer rather than giving the volunteers here a piece of my mind. I think it is important to first observe the way people are in order to properly formulate how you will respond to their challenging and sometimes negative attitudes. All the American volunteers here have different ways of coping, different ways of interacting with Zambian, and different ideas of what respect is, so I ask you all to pray for me as I quietly observe in the beginning until I’m ready to put it on them if I deem it worth my energy to express my feelings to them.

On brighter topics, I would love to hear people’s ideas of travel itineraries. If you were in Zambia surrounded by 8 different countries which one would you visit first and what would you want to see there? I’m thinking first Botswana, then Tanzania. At some point, maybe next year I’ll definitely visit South Africa. If you think of any good combinations for sightseeing, let me know, and even join me if you can! After some months in the village I’ll be exploring outside the country as well.
I think that will be it for now, I will post again when something exciting happens (such as me moving into my village). Have a great day! J