Salt-stealing cows

Wow! So please, do not expect such frequent bloggings as these. I put up more pics.

We swear-in on Friday. Swearing in for Peace Corps means the same thing as swearing in in the military. We will be swearing to defend the constitution, etc., etc. I get to make a speech in Tumbuka and it will be televised on ZamTV!! crazy.

Friday, I will become an official Peace Corps volunteer! I can't believe I've been here 2 months and that training is almost over! I'm very excited to move to my village, but I'm also sad to be leaving all my fellow trainees. We have all grown very close over the past weeks. 2 trainees went back home last week and that was a weird experience. It was very sad to see them go. It also brought up a lot of mixed emotions and feelings and thoughts and re-evaluations about what I'm doing here and whether or not PC is right for me, if I can handle it, etc. They put a lot of emphasis on contemplation and evaluation of our personal commitments. PC is not an easy journey and it seems a high percentage of people leave before their 2 years are complete. There are situations and emotions that we will go through (and some I/we already have) that are maybe impossible to convey to you because without experiencing them yourself, there are no words. Experiencing and living through these alone and without adequate expression is difficult and everyone deals with it differently on a personal level. I wish all the best to Anthony and Laura. I think we all felt a twinge of jealousy knowing that they now have air conditioning, loved ones nearby, ice cream whenever they want, loved ones nearby, fast internet, loved ones nearby, Mexican food, family and friends...can you tell what I'm missing the most?

People are so different and unique. This is especially fascinating when you realize that Zambians are as diverse as Americans. Loved ones, I know you are still nearby, and will be even closer in 2 years, but I've got a job to do and a Zambian life to live and am terribly excited to get to it! Your words of encouragement in letters, emails, and phone calls are incredibly important to all of us volunteers. Personal comforts can easily be lived without (just ask most rural Zambians). If anything this experience is showing me what is essential in life, what I thrive on personally and as a human being. And only after 2 months! Meghan and I were talking last night and wondering what we will be like in 2 years (as a person). What will our views be? What will be important to us? What will be different? What do we hope will change? What do we hope will not change? What kind of person will we be? How will we come to terms with losing the person we once were? I think these are questions most people face at different times in their life. It just seems like we are fast-tracking them through such an intense experience. But I must admit, this realization makes it all the more exciting and intriguing. I just hope you all still like me. :)

It is odd what has become common-place in my everyday life. I'll try to write down some examples and share them with you at a later time. I've crocheted 7 beanies so far and hope to finish 2 more this week! See my photos for a few.

What's that? You want more philosophizing from me? Ok...so I've been thinking a lot about what I'm doing here....what am I doing here? Have you been wondering the same thing? What the crap does Peace Corps actually do? I honestly did not have a good idea when I first applied nor when I got on the plane to come to Zambia. I think I have a better idea now and I will try to share it with you best as I can...

Peace Corps promotes development and cultural exchange. Yes, I am helping people to develop fish farms, but I am not forcing them to nor am I pretending I know what is best. I am going to be living in a community and providing them with information. Information they could not otherwise find access to (sorry for ending so many sentences with prepositions...my english is going to crap here). When I arrive in my community, I will not tell them that they need fish ponds. If farmers wish to know how to build and manage fish ponds, it is up to them to come to me and work with me in attaining that knowledge. I am to be like a reference point. If the villagers do not want fish ponds, but wish to learn better agricultural practices or maybe they want to grow an orchard, or beekeeping, or they want to know how to make jam, or how to market their crocheted things, or they need help with applying for loans from NGOs...or any number of things...I am there to receive their questions and help them find answers. I am an information resource, not a pusher of beliefs or ideals. Because you are not here, it might be hard to realize the isolation of rural Zambians and their lack of accessible information. It's hard enough to me to find reliable internet, and with the low literacy rate, where and how is a mother of 7 kids (with an 8th grade education) going to find information regarding proper nutrition, and/or information on how to start a sewing co-op with 14 of her closest friends, and/or how she can grow better crops to provide food for her family year-round (yes, most all the women have their own vegetable gardens from which the family survives on. The men grow the cash crops). I will be there to answer questions. If I do not know the answer, my job is to use the resources I have available to me to help them find an answer.

Unlike missionaries and some NGOs, Peace Corps does not promote hand-outs. We do not drive into villages in fancy vehicles, unload a bunch of free crap, and then drive off to expensive hotels with electricity and running water. PC trains individuals to learn the language of the locals and how to take care of oneself in such a rural setting. Then, they drop us off to live with and learn from the people for 2 years. Hopefully, by becoming a trusted member of a community, we will be better able to understand their needs and all the cultural implications wrapped up in the issues and work with them to come up with better solutions to their problems/needs/wants/desires. Also, our development work aims at sustainability. We do not tell the people what they need, instead we work with them, listen to them, and try and help them achieve their goals as sustainably as possible. Sounds good in theory right? We'll see what I think about it all in 2 years...

Oh, not to say missions and NGOs aren't doing great work here....some are, some aren't. Success comes in different forms for different people. I guess what I've learned through training is that our main purpose is to focus on promoting practices that the people can continue to benefit from after we leave their villages. To teach them things that can be passed on to future generations. The second and third goals of PC are cultural exchange. Teach them about American culture and learn Zambian culture to pass on to Americans.

So how about a story?

The little girl (Patti) at my homestay family is scared of cows. These last few evenings after supper we all sit around and chat a little. Patti, being a toddler, will throw tantrums. She likes to grab the container of salt and throw it. So lately the grandmother (Patricia) will hide the salt and when Patti cries for it, Patricia will tell her that the cow outside stole it (there is no cow outside). Then, she will make loud cow noises and Patti will scream and throw herself onto her mother and try to hide! It is so funny! We have a salt stealing cow. Also, my sister Marcey, has recently brought up how interesting it is that different cultures have different sounds for animals. In America, cows say "MOO." Here, cows say "BAUW."How's that for some cultural exchange?

Much love to all. Hope all the philosophizing doesn't have too much B.S. in it...I'm still not sure myself, but I thought I'd give a crack at it (if nothing else, to be able to laugh at myself in a year or so...). Maybe it will give you a better idea of what I'll be trying to achieve personally and professionally over the next 24 months and it will give us all something to discuss in months/years to come.

Thanks for listening. Lutani makola! (go well)

Sabata

Check out photos here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ehoelting

I visited my soon-to-be new village, where I'll be living for the next 2 years! It was such an incredible experience. The people are so nice and welcoming and generous. They taught me how to make peanut butter! My village's name is Jimsangu and I am now the daughter of a group headman. So the hierarchy of the traditional system in Phikamalaza is:

Chief
8 group headmen
10 or 11 headmen underneath each of the group headmen

My Zambian "father" is a group headman over a certain area of the Phikamalaza chiefdom. His last name is Nyasulu or Zulu for short. So my name is now Erin Zulu. Everyone calls me Anya Zulu (Anya is like "Miss"). Also, "r's" are usually interchangeable with "l's" so my name sounds like Ellen Zulu! :)

My village actually wanted a female volunteer. This is a very good thing! There is a very strong and large women's group already formed in my village. They have a few fish ponds built as well. They want to learn American crochet stitches and want to teach me their Zambian stitches!!! As you can imagine, I am very excited about this! I received many gifts while I was there (bananas, papaya, teas, a fruit called cabeza). I was even given 2 live pigeons...one I ate for supper that day, the other for lunch the next day. They left the one in my house in a pot over night. When I woke up the next morning it had jumped out and was sitting in the corner!

The 3 volunteers that have been living in Lundazi district for a year are amazing human beings! I am very excited to be a part of their "Dazi family." I really did not want to leave, but I had to come back to training so that I can swear-in and become an official volunteer (I'm still just a trainee).

Eastern Province is very beautiful! Lots of mountains and rolling hills. However, Lundazi district is on a flat plateau...just like Lubbock. But there are lots of mango and banana trees everywhere! Bananas here taste so much better than any I've had before. Lundazi also has a castle! Don't believe me? check out my photos (link at the top)

We did not have enough time to set up a P.O. box at the post office. Soooooo unfortunately I have no address to give you at this time. It makes me sad. Next month I will be able to give you an address.

I have a week and a half left of training! We will swear-in on Sept. 25.

Yesterday, we went into Lusaka and saw lions, monkeys, birds, camels, lots of different ungulates, wild dogs, and a cheetah! We got to swim and I ate a crocodile burger! It was quite a lot of fun. There was also a 22nd year anniversary concert for Peter Tosh going on, so I got to hear some reggae! MAMA AFRICAAAAA!

I'm starting to wear chitenges more and more. Chitenges are pieces of cloth that women use for all kinds of things...usually as a skirt, but they also use them for aprons, blankets, to sit on, to carry a baby with, towels, etc.


Here is a list of things to send me....if ya feel like it:
hard candy (life savers, jolly ranchers, butterscotch thingys, etc)
gummy candies (jelly beans, gummy worms, sour gummy worms, etc)
drink mixes (koolaid, whatever)
COFFEE! (there is only instant coffee. except for one grocery store in Lusaka)
soup mixes....heck, if you can fit a macaroni and cheese box in that would be incredible!
velveeta cheese
magazines (doesn't matter how old the issue is!)
books
fun paper scraps
YARN!!!! (any color, any style. the yarn here is super thin)
crochet patterns
thread
kleenex packets
maps (good for educating the kids)
crayons, markers, crafty things to foster creativity in the children
anything lightweight laying around the house that you don't want.

Zamtasticalness

The top picture is a sunset as seen on the path to my house. The next photo is my hut with chimbuzi in the background. The next photo is of my fellow Tumbuka friends/students/soon-to-be neighbors inside our classroom! left to right: Cherie, Dan, and Scott.

So I chopped off my hair! My friend Leah chopped hers off with me. Here are our before and after photos. And actually, mine got trimmed down a little more than what's in the picture to even things out.
I leave tomorrow to visit my site for a week. From what I've heard (and I will know more after next week), it is right on the Zambia/Malawi border! During that time I will get a P.O. Box. Please, stop sending mail to the Lusaka address now and wait for me to put up my new one.

We are having a dance party tonight! wooooo!

I can't remember what I posted on the last blog so I don't know what to say on this one! I feel like I'm leaving out important details so email me some questions and I will try to answer them on the next blog.

The weather is getting windy and is warming up. Things are supposed to get really hot and dry. Then, at the very beginning of November the bottom of the sky will fall out and it will rain almost non-stop until March. But for now it is mild and the stars are beautiful at night. I have seen a shooting star and have watched a full cycle of the moon. Being outside almost all the time, I am really paying more attention to nature....yes, even more than I did in NHH and growing up on the ranch. There are a heck of a lot of bugs.

Here are the coordinates for my hut (just during training): s15 21 57.97 e28 41 43.98
Put them into google earth to see my roof! :)

Mukhale makola! (stay well)

Nowhere you can be that is isn’t where you’re meant to be

It has been about one month since I left home and the U.S. Just some
quick information regarding my intake group: there are 42 of us total
forming 2 groups. My group is RAP and deals with helping farmers
integrate fish farming into their livelihoods. There are 18 Rappers.
The other group is CHIP and they are focused on community health. So
PC Zambia has been calling our intake “fish and chips.” Cute, huh?

I am learning the language Tumbuka (pronounced “Toom-boo-ka”). If you
wanna see the area I will be in for 2 years starting at the end of
September, or if you just wanna practice your geography skills, find a
map of Zambia and look up Eastern Province and then within it, the
Lundazi district. There are 4 of us going somewhere in there. I will
find out my exact site next week. Then the next week (1st week of
Sept.), I will be traveling to my site to check it out and set up my
new mailing address for all you love-letter-writers out there.
I have been living with a Zambian family for the last 3 weeks. They
are an unusual Zambian family in that there are only 3 of them: a
grandmother Ba-Patricia (age 48), her daughter Eneress (age 24), and
Eneress’ baby Patti (age 1.5). That’s it. No men, no cows, no goats,
and heavens-to-betsy no chickens! Speaking of animals, I have seen
nothing crazy….other than a herd of monkeys crossing a road. The only
“wildlife” around are lizards, small birds, dogs, cats, cows (not very
many), goats (quite a few), and a sushi-load of chickens (“sushi” is
Bemba for poop. Oh, and “taco” means butt, so you can imagine the
jokes).
My days are pretty full and busy. I wake up around 6:30am. After using
the chimbuzi (outhouse), I eat breakfast and walk to language class.
Language class lasts from 8am to noon. Then, I have 2 hours to eat
lunch and ride my neat Trek mountain bike to technical training. In
technical training, I learn all the ins and outs of rural fish
farming. It is pretty interesting and involves quite a bit. This lasts
from 2-5. Then, I bike home while rockin’ out to the Beatles
(obviously), Tom Petty, Bob Marley, and/or Vampire Weekend (thanks
Caitlin! And I hope you had a very Merry Birthday! I was thinkin’
about you August 2 and wishing I could’ve celebrated with you). The
trail I get to ride my bike on is really fun and you can haul buns (or
just water, on your head as most Zambian women do).

When I get home, my ba-mama has hot water ready for my bucket
bath!!!!! Hands down the best part of my day. It is very relaxing. The
African sun is usually just setting. The view from my bathing shelter
looks out across a valley. I can see other huts and sometimes people
walking around. Children are always playing and you can hear them
laughing and yelling at each other. There is a lot of singing here, as
well as some really fun bird sounds. And I get to stand there naked,
in a light breeze, surrounded by a straw enclosure that turns golden
as it catches the long, evening rays of a sunset, with my feet soaking
in warm water, completely immersed in this far-away land rich with its
sounds, smells, strangeness, and surreal moments. Then I dry off, dump
the dirty water, and get ready for supper.
I eat every lunch and supper with the family sitting on a reed mat.
The staple food here is shima (or nshima, or sima depending on your
language) which is made from corn flour and water. You ball it up and
use it to scoop up whatever else you are eating (potatoes, beans,
eggs, chicken, vegetables, etc.). After supper, I hang out and listen
to Patricia and Eneress talk really fast in Tumbuka and try to pick
out words I am learning. Then, I go to my hut and read/write in my
journal/study Tumbuka/brush my teeth/practice my aim in the
chimbuzi/occasionally talk to Jim, Mom, Dad, Birdy, anybody that
calls, and then fall asleep somewhere around 8 or 9. The sun goes down
around 6 and since there is no electricity, there is not much to do.
And it is REALLY nice getting a good 10 hours of sleep every night!

Oh yes, I should probably let you know the communication situation. I
am going to have very limited internet use. Good, fast internet
connection, that is. But please note: I have internet on my phone so I
can check my gmail. However, I’ve tried repeatedly (as well as other
volunteers here) to reply and send emails from gmail and it has never
worked. So feel free to send me quick emails any time you want. I’ll
get them, but won’t be able to reply. Just let me know what’s going on
with you and the outside world. I can reply to myspace and facebook
messages (I know I said I wasn't going to use them....but to
communicate with you I will make exceptions). I have almost zero
access to currentevents. There are very few places with internet fast
enough to upload pictures or to operate on Skype. But I do have a
phone that you can call anytime after 7ish my time, which is noon for
central time. BUT remember, I go to bed by 9…..so you only have a
2 hour window! This will change in October when I am at my site and
no longer have classes or any schedule for that matter.

I believe you must dial this to reach me: 011-260-977-746-154
I believe others have told me that calling cards are cheaper than
Skype for Zambia.
I also believe that all you need is love.

Ok, I guess this is all for now. Hopefully, I will be able to come
back to an internet café to upload another blog before I am posted at
my site. I’m not sure of the internet situation at site, but hopefully
I will be able to blog every month or two.

Keep on living courageously, all you fine folks out there. I miss you
dearly and look forward to hearing from you. And remember, love is all
you need. All together now! All you need is love! Everybody! Love!
Love…love is all you need.

T-minus

Today, my family is going to Dallas to pick up my little sister (who flies in from her summer in Germany).

Tomorrow, my family drops me off for my flight to Virginia, where I will be for about 36 hours.

Wednesday, I hop on a plane (and yes, I intend to hop) for Johannesburg, South Africa, where I will switch planes for Lusaka, Zambia.

Thursday, I arrive in beautiful and far away Zambia.

I've got soooooo much to do today! Although Jim and I shaved him, I don't think Mesa is going to fit in my luggage. He loves visitors so feel free to visit him at my parents house!

You, yes you, can write and mail me a letter today! Keep in mind I am a very fast swimmer so I will most likely beat it there, but it would be oh so wonderful to receive a piece of you to have with me on my adventures.

Erin Hoelting, PCV
Peace Corps
P.O. Box 50707
Lusaka
Zambia

This address will be posted on the sidebar of this blog. IT WILL BE CHANGING at some point in the next month or so. It can take a month for your love letters to reach me, so start writin'!

here's one of my favorite pictures from my going away party at Skooners in Lubbock:
it's me, Daniel, and Yvette

Independence Day

I just watched a spectacular fireworks display in Houston with Jim my love, Monkey my brother (with me in the picture to the left), and Will my fantastic friend! This year marks the 40th year anniversary of man landing on the moon....so Houston celebrated by putting on the largest fireworks display in North America.

I have officially left Lubbock. I'm sorry if I did not get to see you before I left, but my time is limited and there is still so much to do. I will miss the west Texas sunsets and I look forward to the day I will be able to return to the place of my birth. Take care fellow Lubbuckians! I love you and will miss you dearly.

So for staging, I will actually be leaving Dallas on July 21st and heading to Arlington, V.A. I will be there for a little over 24 hours before flying out to Africa on the 22nd. I am sad about all the people and things I will miss, but I am still very excited about the crazy journey ahead of me. I also broke down and bought my very first (and possibly last) ipod...I've gotta take my music with me somehow. woo technology....I hope (but don't believe) you won't disappoint me.

Monkey and I are on a trek around Texas...well...just Austin and Houston. I'll put pics up later. Peace.

Here is Jim and I at an Astros game.

2 weeks left in Lubbock

As many of you already know, I will be serving in Zambia in the Peace Corps. I leave July 22 for staging and then head to Africa a few days later. I do not have specific details for staging yet.


So I spend my last 2 weeks in LBK trying to hammer out a research paper for my final class....talk about a lack of motivation. It is pretty dang hot outside though and I do not want to run the A/C much so I spend my time at the library "working on my paper." I think I spend more time staring out the huge windows....maybe I should move to the basement.

Well, I don't have much more than this to say, so I'll leave you with a list of birds I have been watching flittering around outside:

robin
house sparrow
house finch
doves - mourning and rock....probably
grackles
brown feathers
gray feathers
man weed-eating with a cigarette wearing a black cowboy hat
old man with a funny hat
obese lady
lady on phone with a backpack, purse and 2 handbags

nervous potential freshmen with bossy parents and schedules
ol' bushel-britches
flip-flops
orange

here's a picture of Mesa on his move to the ranch

Stay tuned for more information on how to send me love in the form of letters and packages filled with all those neat things that the internet hasn't figured out how to send. yet.