No Sleep, Many Adventures

I've always loved sleeping so much, especially a solid 9 hours followed by a good morning of birding. You can't top that. Lately sleep has been hard to come by. I wake up at 3 or 4 am every morning, and I can't figure out why. What is by body trying to tell me?! I'm especially perplexed because my days are usually exhausting. My theory is that there is not enough time in the day to think, and I need time to think, so Travel is the most exhausting thing. My transportation standards are now lower than anyone in the United States could possibly imagine. I'm just happy to be moving these days, as long as it's faster than walking. Two days ago I spent 13 hours on one bus going about 600km with a baby kicking me the whole time, and no sleep...par for the course.
I've been on a few adventures in the last few weeks away from Kelondu. My community entry period ended on August 10th, so I had to travel to Lusaka for In-Service training. From Kelondu, it usually takes at least two full travel days to get to Lusaka. I started off on my bike around 7am, then made it to Mwinilunga around 11. I waited on the road for about 4 hours in Mwinilunga with no luck, so I stayed at the Catholic Mission that nigh and took the bus to Solwezi the next morning, a 4 hour trip. From Solwezi, I hitched the next morning to Ndola, 4 hours, then from there to Lusaka, another 4 hours.
After In-Service Training, I went down to Livingstone, an amazing town that in many ways feels like Adventure Land at Disneyland. I think photos can say a lot more than writing...

Where are we going? I experienced what the Amaamas know so well, walking 10km with a Zambag on my head.

My brother Cliff and I in our garden. We have Kale, Cabbage, Peas, and Lettuce.



Kelondu Basic School about 1km from my house. This is the school I usually work at, Grade 1-7.



My village tuck shops, you can see the pineapple fields in the distance.

The Great Victoria Falls from the Zambian side. I'm one of the few people in the world that has seen the Zambezi Source before visiting the Falls.

Me at the boiling pot below Victoria Falls. This is the put-in spot for the Upper Zambezi rafting trip.

Amabanda anyanya ku Samuteba.

Amazing Vic Falls at sunset. What else can I say?

This day I cooked caterpillars with onions and garlic, a hit in Nswanakabinda village.

This is one of the 7th graders Bwembya holding an Amethyst Sunbird he found with a broken wing. This day we walked to the Zambezi Source from Kelondu, a two hour walk.

Ami kwitempa. (Me in the garden)

The amazing Chitunta plain about 25km from my house. This photo does absolutely no justice to how beautiful this place is.

The lip of Vicotria Falls from the Zambian side. In the background you can see the footbridge across the knifeedge and the road bridge between Zambia and Zimbabwe.

We are again in Solwezi for our provincial meetings. About 40 other Peace Corps Volunteers from Northwestern province have come to the provincial house for a few days to discuss some of the house rules, Peace Corps policy, and enjoy each others's company. I have been posted in my village for 6 weeks now.To get to Solwezi, I had to ride my bike for 3 and a half hours on a dirt road to the main town in my district of Mwinilunga, then get on a bus the next morning for 4 hours. The buses are actually pretty nice and modern. But, of course one of the two buses broke down, so the one working bus had twice the amount of people on it, plus chickens and pineapples.

Right now is the cold, dry, windy season. It's usually windy and in the 40s in the morning, but it gets up into the 70s during the day. We are growing some cooler weather vegetables in the garden; cabbages, peas, lettuce, and carrots. The garden is my big project right now, and its been a little bit of an obsession. Right now is a hard time for people because there isn't much to eat other than cassava root and leaves, as well as some fish and whatever people forage for. We have a few guavas still on the trees around the village, and pineapples are just around the corner.

I have really enjoyed exploring the area around my house. There is such a contrast between the landscapes, just short distances around my house. We have a lot of dry upland forest called ivunda. There is also the dense, moist riverine forest called itu along the watercourses. The region where I live has alot of springs, so these forests grow around these springs and the trees can get plenty of water during dry season. There are also some amazing plains, like what you would expect to see in Africa, both dry, upland plains and grassy wetlands, both just minutes walk from my house. I had a chance to walk into Nchila Reserve to see some Impala, Sable, and Puku antelope up close. Watching the impala run through the grass is amazing. The grass is very tall right now, so you just see a bouncing head most of the time.

I've been seeing some of the birds that people come to the northwestern corner of Zambia to see including, Bannnerman's Sunbird, Black-collared Bulbul, Black-and-Rufous Swallow, Brown-headed Apalis, Levaillant's Cisticola, and Anchieta's Tchagra. It's been great because all these relatively rare species of birds are literally in my backyard about 5 minutes down the trail from my house. My host family has been teaching me the Lunda names for all the birds. I'm also learning Lunda names for the local trees, of which there are hundreds.

I've been sick a few times, with a cold and strep throat. I also got some skin infections on my leg, so I'm taking some antibiotics. It's very difficult to stay clean here, but it might help to stop playing soccer and gardening barefoot.

I know that I can't possibly express in words what my experience has been like, so I will try to post more pictures next month. In the meantime, please keep writing. All your letters have been meaning a lot to me.

Another Blog link with good photos

Here is a link to a fellow volunteer's blog. Robert takes a ton of pictures, and there are a lot from our training that he has posted.

http://www.robrasa.com/hisblog/

More Photos - Swearing In

 These photos are from second site visit. It was our first chance to see Northwestern Province and the villages that we will be living in for the next two years. As I have been saying for the past three months, the bugs here have been one of the most impressive things about this place.

We saw this butterfly along the Kabompo River. The pink color on the hindwing can't really be seen in the picture but it was very bright.

This caterpillar has about the size of an index finger

We named this caterpillar 'Hellraiser'

 These photos are from my village in Ikelenge district, Kelondu. I will be arriving there on Tuesday for 'community entry' which means I will stay there for 3 months and "get known" by the villagers. Kelondu has about 300 households, so I surely won't be meeting everyone in that time.

This is my chota. It's the place outside my house where I'll eat, cook, and talk with people. It's not quite finished in this picture, but it will have a cement floor, short walls around the outside, and the roof will be finished being thatched. As you can see, goats will be an issue in my village, especially because I plan on doing lots of gardening.

This is the headman's brother, Robert, showing me the pineapple fields behind the village. The headman owns 4 hectares (8 acres) of land devoted to pineapples. You can see the strip of forest in the background behind the fields. This forest is very impressive spring-fed true tropical forest.

My house in Kelondu. I have a small orange tree outside my door, as well as several guava trees.

 These photos are from our cultural day in Chalimbana, the last day with our host families from training. It was our chance to say goodbye to the Katooka clan. We wore our chitenge material clothing that we had made by a local tailor.



The Katooka family, from left to right: Sylvia, Jessica, Amaama Anna, Me, Beauty, Ozzy, Rachel, Gloria, John, and Kelly.



Me with Jessica, Ozzy, and Gloria (hiding of course)

The Lundas with our Language and Cultural teacher Golden.

Me giving my speech at the U.S. Ambassador's house.

Last week of training

Training is finally ending next week, and we will be officially swearing in on May 7th. Today, we had our Final Language Proficiency interview. I had a role playing situation for my interview in which I had to explain to a village headman what I was going to do in the village and why I was there. The good thing was, when I visited my village a few weeks ago, I was faced with that exact situation in real life. I am very anxious about getting to my village. It's the situation I have been thinking about since I decided to apply for Peace Corps; getting dropped off in a village and being there for 3 months until you can return to civilization. I'm very excited about getting used to being there. I have been selected to give a speech in Lunda at the swearing in ceremony next week in Lusaka. I will be thanking everyone involved in training us. Here's the speech I have written...

Budidi mwani. Atwimushi mwani.
Ijina dami yami Larry Maurin. Kwimenaku mabwamu jami akashikola mu Peace Corps, tunazang'alali kwikala kunu.

Tunakukeng'a kusakilila mfulumendi ya United States of America hakututemesha kwinza nakuzatila mu Zambia.

Chamuchiyedi, tunakukeng'a kusakilila mfulumendi ya Zambia ha kutwiteja kwinza na kuzatila kunu.

Chamuchisatu, tunakukeng'a kusakilila ankong'i ejima amu Peace Corps, swejee antang'ishi a madimi, chisemwa, na Technical ha kuwunda kwanyichima yawu hadetu.

A Lunda ahoshang'a nawu: Winu wambachi wekala mukachi.
(This means: The dance of the tortoise is within)

Nasakilili mwani.

I will be getting to the provincial house next week, so I will be able to post some more pictures. I have photos of my house from my visit to my village. My house is not quite a hut; it has 5 rooms and glass windows, something not common in villages in Zambia. It's the nicest volunteer house I have seen in this country. My host is a pineapple farmer with 8 acres.

I have a new address effective now:

Larry Maurin
Peace Corps
P.O. Box 13
Ikelenge, Northwestern Province
Zambia, Africa

Some pictures, and hello from Solwezi

 
I have made it to the Northwestern provincial house in Solwezi. Here are a few pictures finally.

My homestay family in Chishiko. In front Gloria and Grace. In back, Mary, Ataata Ozwell, and Amaama Jessica.

My itala

This chameleon was going as fast as I've ever seen a chameleon go to get away from me. Chameleons are bad juju in Zambia, so people often kill them.

Visitors from our villages in Northwestern Provice. From left to right: Me, Kelly, Bozwell from Kawiko, John, and Dominic from Kelondu. Dominic is a shop owner and a pineapple farmer.

During technical training on this day we were learning about some of the agroforestry trees being used in Zambia. This big tree is a musang'u or acacia. It's very useful for farmers because it fixes nitrogen.

 

Cattle x-ing



This is one of the basic schools in Chalimbana we went to for world forestry day. A really big storm was rolling in when I took this picture.

Heading out to Kelondu

Hello everyone, tomorrow is a day I have anxiously been awaiting for what seems like a very long time. We are driving out to see our post villages for the first time. The name of my village is Kelondu. The name is derived from the word Kelong'a which is Lunda for river or stream, but not a big river. Last week, Peace Corps sent a representative from Kelondu down to Lusaka for a two day session with us. His name was Dominic Kashimoto, and he runs a shop and grows pineapples. We talked a little bit about expectations from both sides. The idea is that he will go back to the village for a few days and talk to people before I get there on Thursday. The drive from Lusaka to Kelondu is about 17 hours, so we will stop and stay in Solwezi tomorrow night. Solwezi I'm told is an interesting town in the heart of the mining areas of Zambia. Northwestern province will be one of the fastest changing regions in Zambia in the next two years because of the mining industry. There is talk of a Chinese uranium mine opening in Mwinilunga district and the building of a new railroad from the Copperbelt to Luanda, Angola for export of copper and minerals to the Atlantic. I have heard a story about villagers in Mwinilunga finding diamonds and rubies on their land.
I was very excited to finally get some details about my village. I will be about 500 meters from a middle school, and about 1500 meters from the source of the Zambezi River. There is a lot of beekeeping going on in the village, as the region is famous for its honey. You can buy honey for about 10 cents a pound there! I expect I will be doing some teaching and working with farmers a lot. I am so excited to get there. The education volunteers who returned from their site visits to their villages had giant smiles on their faces.
Training has seemed very long. My homestay family has been great, but I am very ready to be done with training and get to my village. The endless power point and flipchart presentations are numbing me. The hardest thing has been that nobody in Chalimbana, where I'm staying, speaks Lunda. Nyanja and Bemba are the languages here, so it's very difficult to practice Lunda. Another thing that has frustrated me is that I haven't seen any wild mammals in Zambia other than rats. Really, they should take us to a game park the first week of training. I am excited to have Nchila reserve near my village because it has some of the only true forest in Zambia and the richest bird life of anywhere in the country. I heard there are a lot of bush babies around there. I can't wait to see those big eyes! So awesome! I got lucky a couple of weeks ago and saw a Schalow's Turaco in Chalimbana. The rain is definitely dying down and the first signs of the cold season are here. We have crystal clear, windy weather, and you can see your breath sometimes in the morning. I am going to try to post some pictures here tomorrow. We'll see how it goes because the internet is pretty slow. Until then, keep sending letters and postcards, even if you have nothing to say. Postage is 50 cents for postcards and a dollar for letters. I promise to write back. Much Love.
Larry Maurin
Peace Corps
P.O. Box 50707
Lusaka, Zambia