Just about dinner time...

Ashlee was in the middle of making a Zambian dinner when we called. Andy offered to take over so she could talk and she hesitantly accepted. She is one that has learned to prepare the local cuisine and she was worried about his first time being unsupervised, but she finally succumbed and let him finish up.
Andy is recovering well from his injuries. He is still a bit sore but it is not slowing him down. He will travel to Lusaka before Thanksgiving to visit the doctor and get his tooth capped. Ashlee has to be in Solwezi at that time for HIV/AIDS training so they will travel to Solwezi together and then Andy will go on to Lusaka. Ashlee has decided that she would prefer not to stay in the village solo if she can help it. She will be able to stay at the provincial house while he is in Lusaka and they will travel home together when he returns. That works out well for them both.
They are the envy of the volunteers because they receive so many packages. (Thanks everyone!) Their friend Sarah has a disappointing visit to the post office but reported that Andy and Ashlee had seven waiting for them. So the next day they rode into town. They said sometimes they have to unpack the packages and load up their backpacks to get everything home so sometimes they aren't sure what came from who, but either they still love every bit of it. This time the big score was the car charger from Andrea that will allow them to use the crank charger to juice up their Internet phone, which is critical now during the rainy season when sometimes they do not see the sun for several days at a time. They also were excited about two boxes from Jerry one with Little Debbie's and tons of mac-n-cheese and the other all candy! They figure they burn enough calories to justify scarfing down a bunch of candy, which they immediately did. They also got a box from one of Andy's brothers, Bev, some grad school applications for Andy and one from the PC volunteers that used to live in their house that had a log of Velveeta. They have been finding new things to try with the cheese including Sloppy Joe's, tomato soup and Zatarans. They are always super excited to get anything from home so keep it coming!
Ashlee is excited about the approaching World AIDS Awareness Day, December 1. She has been doing some training and other preparation for the upcoming event. She visited a prison last week as a part of their HIV/AIDS awareness program. They met with 25-30 prisoners and taught them about circumcision, condom use and ways the disease is spread. She said one of the main ways that it is spread in the prison system is the sharing of clippers which use razor blades. It is difficult to approach one of the ways the disease is spread which is homosexual sex. It is illegal in Zambia for men to have sex with other men so they do not provide condoms in the prisons. I guess that would be promoting illegal activity, but it is increasing the spread of the disease and education is very limited.
Joseph, one of the local men that has befriended Andy and Ashlee, has decided to try and come to the US for a university education. His house burnt down recently and he has decided that is they path he should travel. Ashlee was telling him to look at Andrews online as it has such a strong international presence it is a good environment for foreigners. He said that he looked at it and will try to get accepted.
I could hear Andy calling in the background and Ashlee apologized for saying goodbye when there were a few minutes left on the calling card, but the food was hot and she wanted to join Andy. Not a problem at all. There is no microwave to keep it warm. When its hot its time to eat. Enjoy!