Sunday, April 13, 2008

Kalomo, Community, Language and other things....

So, I will be the Kalomo boma (town) volunteer. I returned from 2nd site visit with more questions than answers. I will be a replacement volunteer, which will be interesting because the volunteer I'm replacing is well loved in the community and town! She is a great person. I just want everyone to accept me for me and not constantly compare me with my predecessor. The house is a typical mud hut, but it has a beautiful porch that I can chill on for days!!!! The only problem is...gasp...ants!!!!! The ant problem that she is having is crazy. She's trying to get it taken care of before I move in, but someone told me recently that the problem is still occurring. I'm all for living in the bush but I don't want the ants taking over my living quarters...period!!!! I am still a "Betty" after all!!!! I don't know what I'm going to do if I can't get the problem under control.

I'm optimistic about working within my community, mainly because they seem excited to work with me. I feel that I can do some good work. I will never complain about CPS again!!! Here, they have either Community Schools, Government Schools, or Private Schools. Community Schools are in the rural communities and that community is supposed to pay the teachers, even if not in cash, they are supposed to pay "in kind", with things like a chicken or millet mill, etc. But, in most of the community schools the community is not contributing at all because they really feel that the government should provide a free education to everyone. (That may be true, but many of us realize that you can't always wait on government bureaucracies to get around to you...you gotta do for yourself). All children are supposed to go to school, but many times the girls are not put in school because they are needed to work around the house and to help take care of the family. Or, many just get pregnant and start their own families, which causes them to drop out of school. The Zambian government is doing a great job of implementing policies that encourage girl children to attend school and not drop out but, it's a slow process. Anyway, everyone goes to primary school (elementary school), but from every school there will only be 1 or 2 spots per year for students from that school to go to high school!!!! So, many students just drop out and work on the farms. They don't even see the point in wasting time going to school when they will inevitably work on the farm anyway. The government schools have less of these types of problems but their biggest problem is that they are largely affected by HIV/AIDS. HIV/AIDS has totally taken away many of the educated in Zambia. And, this is just the tip of the iceberg!!!! But, it's a Christian nation and that will get them far.

I'm vigorously preparing for my language exam that will happen before swear-in. I didn't do so well on the last exam so I'm working harder than ever to try to get it. I guess I overestimated my ability to pick up on a new language. Oh, how I long for Spanish!!!!!

In better news...I finally got mail!!!! Tracy sent me Flamin Hot Cheetos from South Africa. I'm guessing that is why the package arrived so soon (a week and a half from the time it was sent). I'm still waiting on packages from a few other people but I haven't received anything from the states just yet. Oh yeah, my camera is broken, so I have to buy a new one. The screen is scratched up and every time I try to zoom in to take a picture it just cuts off on me!!!! I need a camera to document this journey.

All in all I'm having a great time here!!!! The weather is lovely, the people friendly and dollar goes a little farther or further (i don't know). Even though I haven't received mail you should still send stuff in email like, new music. I've been listening to the same music for a month and a half so feel free to send new music. Well, I love ya, I miss ya....

Kim