Happy New Year from the Royal Solwezi

Andy and Ashlee enjoyed the New Year's in the Royal Solowezi a hotel in the Boma. The hotel had fireworks and live music but Ashlee soon bored of that an opted for a little TV time. The provincial house was full of volunteers and they were in need of a little peace and quite and ESPN. She said they got an American station and were able to watch a count down of the most significant events of the year. They thought it ironic how may they had not even heard of. Ashlee said they would be there for two nights and would go to the provincial house tomorrow after is settles down a little bit and do some cooking and Internet surfing done before going back to the village.

They said it was a good time for a break. They have both been pretty frustrated with village and their project lately. Right now all they are getting is a hand out and a "Give me Christmas". They are constantly asked to give them things and there is not nearly as much interest for learning how to do something.

Ashlee was full of American football comments after two days of ESPN. She couldn't believe Miami was in the playoffs and her only satisfaction in this year's Chief's season is that Detroit managed to be even more pathetic. That is a wound I am sure she rubs plenty of salt into for Andy. Some things never change.

A Zambian Christmas

Andy and Ashlee enjoyed their Christmas dinner with an interesting group of English speakers from across the globe at the American doctor's house. There were guests from Australia, England and the States and quite the potluck spread. We only spoke to them for a few minutes, but they seemed to be enjoying themselves. The weather was really hot which made it even harder for it to feel like Christmas.
They were thankful for the boxes the received from Aimee and Aundre, Clara, and Jerry and Wanda. They always love to receive gifts and always find Jerry's finds most interesting. This last box was a huge box of Luzianne Iced Tea bags, 100 slim jims and Halloween candy. They love every bit of it!
They dropped 5 rolls of film in the mail recently so hopefully I will have more photos posted soon.
Merry Christmas to all from the jungles of Africa! God Bless and let's keep them in our prayers always!

The Animal Report

Tosh

Ashlee and Andy have a new puppy and is name is Fuzzy Nut. I wonder which of our beloved friends came up with that one. I am going to go out on a limb and say Andy. Actually the puppy belongs to one of the villagers' but he has started staying in Andy and Ashlee's gazebo so they have just sort of adopted him. Tosh didn't like it at first but and left home for a few days but is now back. He is a very friendly puppy and Ashlee says it feels good to come home to something that is happy to see you. Animals are not treated well by the people. That would be hard for someone like Ashlee who is such an animal lover to handle. That is why the animals come around their house a lot. Ashlee says it is kind of like the kids, be nice to them and they keep coming back. Andy's brother, sorry I am not sure which one, sent them some flea and tick shampoo and Ashlee washed him up. She said it killed about 90% of the fleas. His ticks were so bad they were between all his toes. It said on the bottle to shampoo for five minutes which Ashlee determined was physically impossible, but she did the best she could.
She was telling us about a parasite/maggot that gets into the laundry if they don't dry the clothes adequately before wearing them. They had gotten kind of lax on that until recently. She thought there was an infected bite on Fuzzy Nut's head so she tried to squeeze it to release the infection and she squeezed hard enough that a large maggot came out of the sore. If they do not adequately dry their clothes the parasite gets into the clothes and then buries under the skin. She said that her run in with the sore on the dog freaked her our enough to double dry the clothes. (Are we sure we are up for this trip guys?)
Ethel their chicken died. You can see the chicken house in the new pictures on the Fickr site or check this one:

Chicken hut

They now have a new chicken and they have named her Deep Fry since that is what will most likely happen to her in the end. Now that is keeping it real. Ashlee went to church on Sabbath and the benches that were built with the money donated by the Columbia SDA Church are finished and they will be done with the pulpit and chairs for the roster soon. The next project will be finish the floor and then bring electricity to the building.
The river is out and rising ever so slowing closer and closer to them. Most of their garden is coming up Andy had planted 6 new banana trees in their yard. It had been raining most of the week so they are pretty much house bound. Ashlee has been quilting and got a garbage bag of scraps from the tailor for 25 cents.
When Mom and Dad talked to them Ashlee wanted to know all about Carl Peterson (the Chief's GM that recently retired). She likes to keep up on the sport when she can.
An outbreak of Cholera has come into Zambia so they have been advised by PC on how to handle that with sanitation and chlorinating every thing they drink.
They are counting down the days until our visit. Ashlee has it marked on the calendar and it was only 136 days till we would be there for our visit.

The Mango: So sweet and yet so bitter

Ashlee was under the weather last week, She notices a blister like rash on her face and concentrated around her mouth which was extremely uncomfortable. She called up the PC and they said it is a common condition that volunteers run into. It is a poison ivy-like rash that is developed from the juices on freshly picked ripe mangoes. So the fruit that she has been impatiently waiting on for months now has now created some serious heartache. The solution? She must take care when picking the fruit and then thoroughly rinse it and let it sit out for several hours and then she can enjoy. A bit less instant gratification, but definitely better than a blistered face. She said she took some benadryl and was out of it for over a day waiting for it to go away.
The weather had been changing all day when we spoke today. It started out cloudy and switched to sunny and 92 degrees and had been rained most of the evening. The rain at night makes sleep a challenge even with ear plugs. At least their roof doesn't leak, which is more than their friend Sarah can say. She had to sleep under a poncho a few nights to keep from getting soaked. Her village is supposed to help her rethatch her roof so that should make things a lot better for her.
Andy and Joseph have been working on getting a tree farm together. The recently met with the chief and they made the presentation to him about he tree farm and he liked it so much he gave them 50 hectares (1 hectare = 2.47 acres) of land to start the tree farm and promised them more land when the first one was completed. The chief was going to also start a tree farm on his own land.
Ashlee had been working with a nurse from the local hospital (from Hong Kong or Singapore) on the malnutrition they were seeing in the babies and small children admitted to the hospital. They identified the children admitted for malnutrition and then visited the villages where these children came from to try and teach about how to avoid malnutrition. They visited many of these villages, using a car to get so far and then walking several miles per day throughout the villages to visit the families and learn about their diet. Ashlee said it took 45 minutes to ride her bike from home into the hospital each morning and then she leave from there to visiting the villages, and then return to the hospital and she ride her bike 45 minutes home again. It makes for a long but rewarding day.
One of the things they are trying to introduce is the use of peanuts as a source of available protein. The villages have peanuts, or ground nuts as they call them, but apparently need help in understanding how to use and store for prolonged supplies. They also have a funded project to introduce soybeans into the villages as an even better crop from a nutritional standpoint. She is working on teaching the villages how to plant, harvest and store. She was going to create a manual on the techniques for future Peace Corps volunteers as several of these villages are scheduled to get volunteers placed in them in the next year. It seems like there are high times and lows working as a volunteer, but this works seems to be rewarding for them both and they are seeing progress in their work.

Note from an American wife

Got a text from Ashlee today:

"Someone asked how much Andy paid dad for me today."

I told her next time to tell them that he is still paying.

A Day for Thanksgiving

I was happy to hear that Thanksgiving dinner was coming together and when Andy said he got a turkey the first thing that came to mind was a frozen Butterball, of course. What he actually meant was he had bought a living, breathing turkey and they kept it in the lower house at the Provincial house for the week. Ashlee said they had to get up at 6 am to prepare the turkey, including killing it, which she left to the others, plucking it, cleaning it, gutting it and then getting it ready to cook. She said that was an experience, but not one she needs to relive any time soon. After getting the turkey seasoned and in the over then were able to roast it for about an hour before the electricity went out. So they stoked up the grill and got some hot coals then they buried the bird in the coals and were able to cook it the rest of the way.

There were 32 volunteers that attended the feast from all around the Provence. Ashlee organized everyone preparing a dish and it was a fairly traditional dinner. They had green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, pasta salad and rolls as well as the turkey. The house is meant to hold quite a few less than 32 people, so they were packed in. Andy and Ashlee always get dibs on the sick room in the house as they are the only married couple and it is the only room with a double bed, so they were happy to have their own room. The festivities went on all day and when we talked to them it was evening and they were winding down to a German movie that came from China and was subtitled in English which didn't actually make any sense in the English language. Ashlee had given up on it before we called. It was funny at first, but became annoying.

They had traveled to the BOMA for the week as Ashlee had AIDS training and Andy had to travel to Lusaka to get his tooth repaired. Ashlee went a few days ahead and they are only allowed a limited number of days at the Provincial House. Andy came a few days later and left the next day for Lusaka. He make the journey the next day and stayed with the same young couple. When he arrived at the dentist they informed him that his tooth had been given to someone else. The tooth that was custom made for his mouth. Frustrating! So he returned to the BOMA for Thanksgiving. It is two days travel each was to get to Lusaka, so he was not a happy camper. They will both go next month as Andy does not wish to go make the trip alone again. I guess you can't be too surprised in a country and runs the way that Zambia does, but it still is aggravating.

Ashlee also had an interesting week with AIDS training. Several volunteers were there for the training and they got quite an education. There a couple of interesting stories to share, and Ashlee promised a letter with even greater detail. She said the PC hired a local artist to make several wooden penises for the volunteers to demonstrate how to apply a condom. She said the artist earned his fee as he made the penises anatomically correct in a variety of sizes and colors. She said the volunteers loved them and all decided that they would have to keep them as artwork. This was shocking to the Zambians.

One of the reasons that condom education is difficult is the beliefs the of the people. One man kept saying that they couldn't use the condoms when the women are pregnant. The volunteers were perplexed until the man said he couldn't wear the condom while the baby was in the womb because the baby needs to be watered to survive. So they believe that the man has to water the baby in the womb with his sperm for it to survive. How do you even rebut that one?

Ashlee said that sex is very different in their culture. It is not optional for a wife. She is expected to give it up any time, any place and there is no law against a man raping his own wife. Families also encourage their young daughters to have sex with men in the village as they often receive gifts in exchange. How sad! But I guess to a degree, many American women practice the same kind barter system for sex but at least it is of their own free will.

They are planning to build up their DVD library before coming home. There are all kinds of bootlegged videos. They just bought a DVD of all of Michael Jackson's videos. They also found one that has 20 James Bond movies. Andy was excited by the Best of Jackie Chan. The quality is hit or miss, but they can often get movies that are in the theater for cheap. Occasionally you see a head walk by as they are often filmed in the theater and then reproduced.

The are staying at the Provincial House through Saturday as there is an Olympic themed costume party on Friday night. Costume hunting is fun there are so many cast offs from the states that make for great costumes.

Clothing is a funny thing in Zambia. Ashlee needs a camera at all times to catch some of the hilarious things she sees. Much of the clothing that is sent to Africa is clothing that is rejected by the Christian charities so many people are walking around in vulgar T-shirts with no idea what they say. Men are also often seen in women's clothing which is a riot. Some of the T-shirts they have seen are "I like boys" (homosexuality is illegal) "Where do you want it? The yapper, the snapper or the crapper?", a young boy wearing a Tinker Bell T-shirt that says "You wish you were me" or men running around in "#1 Mom" shirts.

They bought some raw hides for their dog Tosh, but she couldn't figure out what to do with them, so they brought them to the Provincial House dog, Boss. He is a huge dog, twice Penny's size, but is the dumbest dog. They gave him the turkey carcass, and he just stared at it. Pets are a different thing there. The are excited to get their cat when they return home. It is finally big enough to ween. They are planning to name it Cream Puff. Which doesn't relate to the cat's appearance at all, they just think it is funny. Ashlee describes it as a mouse killing machine and hopefully it will be in full effect be the time we visit. This time of year the creatures become more of a pest. Fortunately Andy and Ashlee have a tin roof, but for those unlucky enough to have a thatch roof, the pests are falling into their houses as the rain drove them out of the thatch. Rats, mice, snakes and other creatures have been falling into the huts of the other volunteers. Most will line the insides of their roofs with plastic, but the locals just deal with the inconvenience. Yuck!

The mangoes are finally ready and that is another reason Ashlee is excited to return to their house. She has built a dryer and will try to preserve quite a bit and also wants to make some jams. That part sounds good to me, but you can keep the live turkey, falling rodents, and being used as a sexual ATM.

By solar powered light

Things were winding down for the evening when we spoke to Ashlee today. She was reading by the light of the solar powered light I recently sent to them . It has several different settings and they have found that on the middle room illumination setting they were able to able to use it three nights so far in a row without charging it. She said that the highest setting is actually too bright, so that is good to hear. I have been working with the manufacturer to try and their village to the list of recipients of their Buy One Give One (BOGO) program. Unfortunately they can give to afford to ship the lights to Zambia with the current purchase price, but have agreed to sell them to us at the discounted rate they give to not for profit organizations. I am working out the details to start fundraising for the purchase of these lights so that we can possibly take them with us when we travel to Zambia in May. Ashlee was very excited about how well they work and the possibility of starting some kind of program where the lights would be the incentive. She said that one of the problems the students have with school is there is no way for them to do homework in the evening. Have a solar light in the home would allow the students to help their parents after school and do their studies in the evening. As soon as I have more details I will do a posting.
Andy had already retired for the evening as there were storms the whole previous night which kept him up most of the night. Ashlee said that unlike Missouri where the weather typically comes from the West, they had a three storms today that came from three different directions. She said there may have been hail last night because it was extra loud like drums banging on the roof all night.
They area already making plans for Christmas. They will go to the doctor's family in Kasempa for dinner and to spend the night. Ashlee said she visited them a few weeks ago and swam in the pool. She said it was so wonderful and the cleanest she has been in months. Daren and Alyssa have become good friends and they enjoy having some American friends nearby.
The decided to be a bit adventurous and try to make it to the village by a different path. They started out in the direction of the village and followed the path as it winded through many small villages that were completely off the grid. Many of the villages being along a small foot path off the main path. They saw children who watched them with curiosity as two white people on bicycles with helmets on rode their bikes along the narrow foot paths. At one point they came to a river and Andy had to carry their bikes across. Another thing for the children to wonder at. Zambia if finally in bloom and Ashlee's said it is an amazing transformation. She said there are 4 or 5 kinds of orchids that have come to bloom in the village. Purple and other vibrant colors. She said there are some many things in bloom that her sinuses are completely blocked, but it is very beautiful.
They have been working on their garden and have just started to see things popping through the soil. They were starting to wonder if anything was going to grow, which was making them look bad since they are there to teach agriculture. But once the rain started their garden immediately started to grow and so has the grass around their house. So far they have green beans, beets, cucumbers and green peppers starting to show. Right now there is very little food in the towns and they have been relying on the goods we have sent them from the states. She said the government comes around to make sure the villages have food but the only thing they measure this by is the corn meal or sheema. They call the rest of the vegetables and side dishes relish and sometimes there is nothing but the sheema to eat. There is little to no understanding of a balanced diet. The main foods that are available now are mushrooms that are in season that the people gather from the forests and are the size of a larger platter, and fish and crabs that are starting to be more abundant since the recent rains have raise the water level in the river. Dried beans are a way to get a bit more protein in their diets during these times, but it is difficult as they really need to slow cook all day and if the people are working in the fields there is no one to keep the fire going. There is always cabbage, but Ashlee said she doesn't care if she ever eats cabbage again in her life. The mangoes on their trees area bout three weeks from being ready to eat, but the locals have been eating them for a while now. She said she broke down today and ate a green one and if kind of tasted like mango. She can't wait for them to be ripe, along with the bananas. The plantain trees that they thought had died have been growing with the recent rain and she said they are growing a couple of inches a day. Another common protein source during this time of year is caterpillar. Ashlee has opted for vitamin supplements, but Andy occasionally dabbles in the local meats.
Their neighbor and motherly figure, Doris, was telling Ashlee a story that she shared with us. She heard a squealing from her front yard and she went out and found a spitting cobra constricting around a small rodent (Ashlee wasn't sure what kind, but it is larger than a rat, but smaller than a pig). She killed the cobra with her hoe and took the creature home and fed it to her family. She was quite proud of herself. Ashlee says she is quite the statuesque figure but she could envision her our in the yard hacking away at the snake. She said Dorris has become a dear friend. Sometimes she shows up and tells Ashlee, "I think we will eat together tonight". Last week when their boss, Don, was in town and spent the night she brought over sheema and relish because she knew Andy and Ashlee's mill for grinding corn was broken and it was important for Don to eat well.
The people are telling them at the rains came hard and early this year, so they are relieved to know that what they are experience is atypical. They have been having trouble sleeping even with their ear plugs. They are getting excited for a family visit. Every conversation usually ends up on food and the mass quantities they plan to consume when we are visiting. That is fine with me. I also like to eat!