13 July 2008

When we spoke to Andy and Ashlee yesterday they were just cuddling up with a cup of hot cocoa. It has been cooler and Ashlee was in long pants and long sleeves. There disagreed about the actual temperature, Ashlee thought 60-70 and Andy thought it was warmer, but the villagers are still wearing their sweaters, so it must still be winter. We talked to them about the food that we sent to see if they still had some left.

They are trying to ration it out, since the “Hungry Season” starts in November and they do not know what to expect. They said it typically runs from November to January. We have been trying to figure out the right time to visit and had been thinking about Christmas, but knowing that it will be rainy and a time of famine, makes us thing that late spring would be a better time. I promised them that we would load them up on food as it gets closer, so they can go ahead and enjoy what we sent now, but I understand that sense of uncertainty.

I asked what meat they have been eating and so far it is mostly beef and chicken. There was recently an illness that came through that killed most the pigs and they have not been replenished. Ashlee said they were offered some warthog recently, and had she not been there she was certain that Andy would have purchased it. She said it was in a burlap sack and not appealing so she turned it down. She said that hippo meat is popular, but only in the rainy season. She thinks it is illegal so it probably won’t be in the shops, but she said they would like to try it some day.

They went on Friday night and stayed with the young American doctor and his family. There was a mission group visiting so there were a lot of Americans. Ashlee said she got to take her first shower in a month and while she couldn’t stay in too long because hot water is limited she did get behind her ears and belly button cleaned out. She said it is hard to get fully clean in a bucket. She also enjoyed being able to lie in bed and read past dark. In the morning they made French toast with the kids.

Ashlee said it is interesting that knitting is now work and not just a hobby, but she is enjoying it. She has been trying to write down patterns for what she knows. If you go to the fabric store she would love to have any of the free crochet or knitting patterns that are available and yarn is always needed. She met a lady that will soon be leave that had a whole box of clothing patterns that she gave to Ashlee so she is hoping there are some good patterns in there, but she has not had a chance to look through them yet. She has also started teaching an English class and Andy is teaching the kids Karate. They started teaching some organic farming techniques to about 10 local farmers. They are technically not supposed to be working yet, but the people are anxious to learn what they have to teach so they have started early. They said some places they have visited when they tell them that they can come back later tell them to do it now or not at all. They said that they other volunteers are in the same boat. They are still struggling with the language, but they can get the point across. They have a lot of English speaking people around so they are not picking it up as fast as some of the volunteers who are in more remote areas.

They are hoping to go to the Provincial House next weekend. They are only allowed to go every so often and they are ready for a break. They were warned that 6 weeks is about the limit before you need to get away for a couple of days and they are just reaching that point and are definitely ready for a weekend of television, electricity and running water.

7 July 2008

I missed reporting last week but we have talked to them pretty much every weekend. They seem to be doing pretty well. They are moving forward with their PC projects and Andy will start teaching some classes very soon. When we spoke to them on 29 June 2008 they had been to the Agriculture Show, which is like a state fair, where they had a booth. People come from all over and bring their best and largest crop items to show off. Andy and Ashlee did some demonstrations on organic farming and composting. They were able to meet people from all over the district that typically would be too far to visit. They told the people that if they want them to come to their villages to do demonstrations and teach to call them and they would make the trip. It seems that there was some good interest.

They are learning about how to acquire different and better food. It is all about who you know. There is a man in the village that can get/grows sweet red onions, and other foods, but he does not sell them at the market. You have to make friends with the guy and then he will let you have his vegetables. They have also made friends with an American couple from Tampa that are living in Kasempa. He is a doctor recently out of school and she is raising their two young boys and is currently 7 months pregnant. They were excited to meet other Americans and have invited Andy and Ashlee to visit any time. They are already making plans to visit with them this next weekend. They have a much more modern house with a decent kitchen. Dad observed last night that the husband will likely have to deliver his own child. That is kinda scary.

They have also found out who to talk to about getting clothes made in their village. Andy have a pair of interesting Capri pants made, which is the best kind to have for bicycle riding. His are green, yellow, blue and black with African shields all over them. They also learned that unless you specify otherwise, they pleat everything, so Andy knows to ask for no pleats next time. Sounds more like coo lots to me. Ashlee is also going to have some clothes made.

Jerry and Wanda sent them some seeds for marigolds that they received from one of their friends in Lithuania, and Ashlee has planted them so now the same marigolds will be on three continents. They received several packages in the last few weeks all of which they are very thankful for. They get so excited to get even the smallest things from home. Ashlee said she is having the hardest time with the food. She really misses food from home so be sure to include food on any packages you send. They also have an old battery operated CD player that I found in my old college stuff, so they would like to receive music too. Anything that is new that sounds good, or a mixed CD you make would be great. Andy is very into music. They said they played some music for the locals and the favorite was the Grateful Dead, but they love anything American.

Ashlee said that it is interesting that they have most everything to make Mexican food, but there is very little cross over. They have the ingredients to make tortillas but they really only use the corn for mush. Ashlee has been making tortillas and is planning to teach some of the villagers how to do so. Very one tracked minded concerning things. She said that one of their neighbors was cleaning out his garden since it is the winter season and there were several green tomatoes still on the vines. She asked is he was going to throw them out and he said he was. She stopped him and taught him how to make fried green tomatoes. The have everything needed, egg, cornmeal and seasoning. And they liked them. So rather than tossing all the tomatoes out he was able to feed his family. Something so simple has stretched their food supply out.

Ashlee said that she finishes her chicken coop, but now she can’t find anyone who will sell her a chicken. I guess they are pretty valuable. At least now she is ready. Andy has been working on a fence for their yard to keep the chickens and goats out of their garden. They learned that the pineapples in their yard will take 2-5 years to develop, but they are still hoping to eat one or two before they leave Zambia.

They have been told that the river that is ½ mile from their house will have crocodiles and hippos come the rainy season, so they are excited to see that. Hippos can be very mean, so they know to be cautious, but would like to get some good photos.

They have been lucky and been fairly healthy since arriving. Their friend Sarah has not been so lucky and has been sick three times since arriving and has a parasite which is common, but not great for the digestive system.

They had company and managed to have a decent American 4^th of July with burgers and beer. They have been put on warning concerning the issues with the Zambian president. He had a stroke on the 29^th while in Egypt and was moved to Paris. Rumors were leaked that he died, but that is not substantiated and the government is investigating how the rumors were released. I believe this is his second stroke so that is not good. It sounds like it is possible that they could be pulled out if government things to do not go smoothly. If you read anything about it text them with what you learn. They had only received a few reports via radio, but not much has been coming out. They are very anxious to know whatever we can tell them. I just sent them a text with what I learned this morning.

1 June 2008

We caught both Andy and Ashlee at home this week. They were reading by candle light as the sun had already gone down. They said it sets around 7pm since it is the winter season. They have both been going through a lot of books since they got there. Next week they are going to the provincial house for a group meeting and they are having a costume party called “Anything but clothes” and Ashlee was telling us about the costumes that she has been working on for them. There were a few large plaid plastic bags left behind by their predecessors that had some holes in them, so she made pleated skirt and halter top for her and shorts and a v-neck tank top with pockets for Andy using only the plastic bags and duct tape and coke bottle tops for the buttons. Two hours of the day are too hot to do anything outside so she has been working on the costumes for a couple of weeks. They had two peace corp. visitors in the last couple of weeks both of whom were very impressed with Ashlee’s ability to make costumes with no pattern. Sara, one of the volunteers, asked if Ashlee would come to visit her village and teach the ladies there some classes on sewing as she does not know how and that was a request from her village. Ashlee said they have a sewing machine already, so she is going to go stay for a few days and teach a few classes. Who knew all the skills we learned at home growing up would turn out to be so valuable?! Thanks Mom! There sure are all kinds of education that are important in life! Ashlee has also been knitting with the yarn Andrea sent to her.

Ashlee was describing the difficulty she has been having keeping ‘decent’ while trying to ride her bike as it is not acceptable to show above the knee, however walking around topless is completely acceptable. She has been wearing a long skirt most of the time but tying in knots on both sides to keep it out of the way. Andy said that they were warned that if you are a boob man the African women will change your mind in no time. They were telling us about a woman one of their friends saw who was actually breastfeeding a child who was riding on her back. I will let your imagination fill in the blanks on that one. Whew! Who needs TV with that kind of entertainment?

Ashlee said that the villagers were quite impressed with her volleyball skills in last week’s tournament. She said that she had served 5-6 aces in a row and one of the men turned to her and said “you are making points with those” and she just smiled and replied, “I know.” She said it was fun to play.

They are getting to know the two boys who live next door and are going to tutor them. She said they are in the 6^th and 7^th grade, but they are behind where they should be. They are really good boys and they enjoy their company and they help them a lot around the house. They are collecting manure for their garden and they have found they can barter with the kids to get manure. The previous people left around 1000 pencils and they pay the kids one pencil for each bag of manure. They have been generating some interest with the project and hope to teach the villagers about natural fertilizer. The cost of these products is also rising there so it is important for them to learn how to help their crops with a renewable resource. They don’t have an understanding of crop rotation or alternating plant types and the soils get tire and don’t produce as well so they are also trying to teach that basic concept. There is one man in particular who is always coming by to see what Andy is working on. Most people are hesitant, but this one guy is very interested so they plan to teach him everything they can and see if it starts to bring more people in as it goes. Andy is also planning to build a chicken coop so they can get a chicken and have fresh eggs and the occasional chicken dinner, but they cannot eat a whole chicken and there is no way to preserve any food so for now they plan to buy half chickens at the market.

They have encountered an issue they are not sure how to deal with. A common practice there is illegal production of charcoal which is made from illegally chopping down trees and treating it. They recently discovered that one of the villagers is doing this at his home. He has been a really friendly guy and they don’t want to make and waves in their village, but since they work for the forestry department they are kind of the enforcers of the rules, but don’t really know how to handles it.

They went to church on Saturday and were able to get a list of things the church needs put together. The pastor, in fact, has 25 churches under his charge. They said that once the church is completed if they build a house the Conference has said they will give the church its own pastor so they are working towards that. They are sending a package of recording and information to the parents to present at their church.

It is the burning season there and they said they burn everything to the ground. Ashlee speculated that it helps with the snakes, but they have never gotten an official reason. She said the smoke is irritating to her and right now it is pretty much every day. If it helps with the snakes that is good because their neighbor killed a 3-1/2’ spitting cobra the other day. These snakes spit poisonous venom at you and it can blind you. The antidote is breast milk and Ashlee said there is always someone around who breastfeeds so that is good. Actually any milk will do, but they told them breast milk is the best.

They did some shopping while in the village. Andy just got a new outfit. It is a LA Laker basketball uniform only in olive green and navy/purple. They said the outfits are available in just about any color but the Lakers purple and gold. The NBA logo has been replaced with SV. Everything there is a knock off. They wanted to get an outfit for Aundre, but they didn’t come large enough. They said they are very lucky because their Boma has so many things. They think it is because of the hospital. There is one store in town that has candy and soda that they get from Lusaka every week so that is nice.

They will be at the provincial house next weekend so they said not to call as they don’t know when they will be home. They are supposed to get a ride home from the peace corp. after the big party Saturday night but don’t know when they will reach their home on Sunday.

Everyone remember that June 14 is Andy’s birthday so you can drop a card in the mail and it will arrive late or you can text him.

25 May 2008

Ashlee was not home when we called. A nearby Evangelical church was in the village for a volleyball tournament and Ashlee was playing with their village. Andy had made it home and was getting dinner started. We could hear him clanging around with the pans. We could also hear the village dog barking and Andy told us that he was training the dog to keep the goats out of the garden. I think he was calling the dog Tosh but not sure. I asked what they fed the dog and he said mostly capente, which is a dried fish, but he will eat anything that is cooked, no raw veggies. They had received the package Andrea sent three weeks ago, so they now how the solar powered phone charger so when it is not cloudy they will have a charged phone. One up coming project is to plant guava trees in the village as there are none currently.

Ashlee got tired of waiting for Andy to get the solar shower working so she did that. From the way Andy described it, it sounded like they virtually shower in the open air until he surrounds the shower.

They met a nurse, I believe at church, who has electricity and the first thing she did was offer them a cold drink. Something they have not had for several months. She invited them to visit any time and I think they plan on taking her up on it. They made a trip to the hospital to talk about Dad visiting and they were excited for the opportunity. They found out that the hospital has an air strip so they can get supplies to the village if the parents bring them. It also sounded like the parents could get a on the plane too which would save a long and arduous drive. They also found that the hospital has a pool and tennis courts.

They are going to the provincial house next week and sounded like they were looking forward to that. They said they could use some light reading if you send a package. Magazines or fiction. Andy specification mentioned Irvine Welsh, the author of Trainspotting. The can also use the magazines for teaching English so any and all kinds are welcome. And Ashlee asked for anything chocolate, but remember the heat so try to find things that won’t melt too badly. Andy also said that he could use short sleeved button down shirts if you are making a trip to the Good Will any time soon, just not in red. Apparently there is a prejudice against that color in the region, but they haven’t figured out why yet. A funny comment from Andy was how bad Ashlee stinks! And it is making her mad! I thought that was too funny not to pass along.

18 May 2008

They attended church on Saturday in Kesempa and with their village on Sunday. They were presented with a chicken by their neighbors, which is a symbol that they are welcomed into the village. They are in turn supposed to kill the chicken, cook it and share it with the village. They did not know how to kill or clean the chicken so they took it home and a man from the village was to come the next day and show them what to do. The feet of the chicken were bound and Ashlee thought it was cruel and since they were keeping it in the kitchen hut she untied the feet. Of course the chicken managed to get out and they had to recruit the boys from the village to help coral the bird. I can just imagine the site! Andy said that when the man came to show them how to kill the chicken but Ashlee couldn’t watch, so he learned how to do it for next time and is planning to build a coop so they can have a few birds. KFC doesn’t sound so good now, does it?

11 May 2008

When we spoke to Andy and Ashlee they were both tired because they hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before as mice were running across the tin roof all night. What do you say to that? They were sitting in the yard coloring with the village children. The kids come over randomly and want to color and draw and they have really enjoyed their time with them. They help with the language and laugh at Ashlee when she says things wrong.

It has been hot but since it is nearing the winter season people are wearing their winter clothes, including fleeces, in 95+ heat. They heard that there is a pool at the hospital in Kasempa so they are making plans to visit there. For now they are cooling off by bathing in their large tub. Ashlee has been working on getting the flower beds cleaned up and planting her garden. She is planning the plant large loofa vines around the kitchen hut while Andy has been working hard to get everything else working. Ashlee is planning to continue the canning education with the ladies in the village and Andy will be working on a variety of project including growing the honey business which currently employs 20 men and is a great income generator. Currently when they find a hive they will cut the tree down to harvest the honey so Andy is going to try and make pots that can be used for hives to help reduce the number of trees that are being cut down. They are saving the wood ash from their fires for building the kiln as it is an important ingredient so that the kiln is well insulated and can burn very hot. Andy thought they would have enough ash in a few weeks. They will also be continuing English classes in the village, a program set up by the previous volunteers.

They have been attending the Adventist church but the pastor for that church has 12 other churches so he is rarely there. They asked Ashlee and Andy to do some classes on HIV education as the people are “awed” by Americans and will listen to them concerning HIV/AIDS. It has been difficult to educate people as even the educators are still dying of AIDS and sex is not something that is talked about. Ashlee said that a man from the church was going around and introducing them to people as “one of us” and Ashlee finally asked why he was doing that and he said “ Well you are Adventist, so you are one of us.” They said they were amazed how welcoming everyone was especially after finding out they are Adventists.

Their diet for the last several weeks has consisted of sweet potatoes, onion, cabbage, okra, tomato and eggs. (Sounds like summer meals growing up.) They also have all the regular staples like pasta and rice. Ashlee has been making all kinds of sweet potatoes including a kind of curry stew, home fries and eggs, etc. Their current stove is a brazier that takes about 30 minutes to boil water, so dinner takes about 2 hours to prepare. Andy is planning to build them a stove in a similar method as the kiln and hopes to get that made soon. They have been treating themselves to hot chocolate in the evenings is she can get the water hot, but if not they just go to bed. With no electricity they go to bed when it gets dark.

They said that there is a really good article in the latest Forbes Life about Zambia that they wanted to recommend to everyone. http://search.forbes.com/search/find?MT=Zambia I am not sure which article they were referring to, but here is a link to several recent articles.

4 May 2008

Andy and Ashlee have had a great first week in their village. When I spoke with them yesterday they had just returned home from playing volleyball with their village at the church and were experiencing their first big thunder storm. They gave a speech that they wrote in their new language to the village. There is one local man who speaks very good English and he reviewed their speech for them before they gave it and they only had one word wrong so they were very excited about that. After their speech they had the village tell them what they would like to learn from they while they are there. Ashlee said that she was a bit surprised to hear that they wanted to learn how to do a household budget and learn about business planning. They also wanted to learn more about raising chickens, what to do with bananas and how to do karate. I went to the book store yesterday and got a book and set of flashcard for them to learn the basics about karate and Aundre mailed it out this morning. Andy said that he would try to teach them some basic stuff, even though he does not know much about karate. If there is anyone who knows anything about it and would like to mail or email them some additional information that would be great. I picked the book that was the easiest to understand and had a lot of pictures.

Ashlee said that everyone in the village has been great so far. They are respectful of their privacy and they had been warned that the children would hang around and stare at them, but so far the kids have helped pitch in with work when needed, but have not been bothering them. She said the previous couple had the children over to color each day and so they have been keeping that up. She said that she tells them words or points to things and the kids all draw it and then help her with the words. So far they have really enjoyed that time. If you ever send a packaged she asked that you include a couple of dollar store boxes of crayons as she said it looks like they will go through them pretty fast. I sent a couple of boxes in my package. They are going to work with the village school to start an art club as there is not art program in the school which she said will be great experience for them as they both plan to go into teaching when they return to the States.

They saw an Adventist church in Kasempa and decided to go to services on Sabbath. There is an Adventist church in almost every little town. Ashlee said that they were shocked to see her boss, the school principal, head mistress, language teacher and several others they had come in contact with at the church. Her boss asked them if they had come to town to look for him and when they told him no, they were Adventists and were coming to church, he was thrilled. She said that the sermons are in English and are then translated into the local language so that will be a good learning tool for them. The language teacher for the private school was there and it sounds like she may help in tutoring them which they were excited about. They can get Bibles and hymnals in their language so they are also planning on order each of those to help them learn. They were very excited to meet so many Adventists so far from home. Ashlee said that most of the people in church were educated professionals and they all spoke good English for the most part. She said they will plan to go every week.

They also made a stop at the market and bought a delicious pineapple which is very expensive ($1 US) for the locals, but Ashlee said is was very good. She said they can get a head of cabbage for $.50 and tomatoes for $.25. Fruit this time of year is pretty limited so she said if we send packages to add dried fruit. As soon as mango season hits they will have fruit coming out of their ears but for now it is pretty limited. I sent them some dried apricots, fruit leather and some Vitamin C drink mixes. She said that they have a great BOMA, nearby town (6K), that has everything they need so they are very excited about that. Some other volunteers have a 50-60K trek to the closest BOMA.

They are very happy and getting settled in. They should have their solar charger soon and will have their phone on all the time. More later…