This is Mr Milambo, my good friend and Nchimunya, a boy that I work with. They are near a beehive that we keep as part of the project we work with. Mr Milambo is a agriculture extension officer and also does other random things that keep him extraordinarily busy





This is a photo of me with some of the kids that I work with. They want to use this for a website or something.

Anyway, it is one of the few existing photos of me available here.






That boy Nchimunya likes to flip whenver the mood strikes him. I caught him in the middle which was no small feat (for either of us).







There is a cute miniature gecko that I wanted to take a photo of with a pen demonstrating how small the animal is.







This is the backyard of my friend frank where I spent some days resting. It is about 500 km from where I live and work.




This is the old man that is my nearest neighbor. His name is Cleon Benos and his father was greek. He is very funny and kind and we get along great.









This is mpedcili, which means I am still here. She is a daughter to the late siblings of the wife to the old man above. They are keeping here and making sure she grows up with at least some opportunities. She is about 16 years.












This is a young boy to the old man. He is known as Beno. He is about 19 years. He lives in the country capital and is studying computers. He is good to hang with when he is visiting his parents and not at school.

October

Well, I have been here well over a year now in Zambia and a bit over a year in Southern Province.

The new project/site is going well. I am learning quite a bit and becoming adapted to my new surroundings (with electricity).

We are preparing for graduation of the current students enrolled in the program that will likely happen with fanfare around the middle of November. We are also finalizing some funding applications for the project that involves brainstorming, budgets, goals, and logistics for the coming year.

I am actually at my home only about 5 days a week as I find myself at our district planning headquarters about 60 km away in Choma very often. Peace Corps has a computer there and I use Internet to download and send necessary materials for the project. I get a little tired and busy as the project meets Tuesday, Friday, and Sunday and I find myself in Choma at least one other day a week. This usually leaves me Saturday as the only day that I am really at home and resting. It is worth it, though, as the kids are great.

Let me say a bit about the participants. The participants range in age from 13-18 and have been previously identified as vulnerable in some way. I would say that some of them can write, and less can write well, even in local language. They are fluent in the local language, but only a handful is able to communicate well in English. They understand well enough, but getting across new concepts is very challenging and something I usually rely on a translator for. My Tonga is getting better but trying to catch young peoples dialect is challenging even for me in English, much less another language.

Facilitators are also involved in the project and come both from within the community and from within line ministries. They are supposed to create a curriculum; lesson plans, and come to the teaching site to facilitate sessions with the children/project participants. The current reality with regard to facilitators is that coordination and interest sometimes appears to be lacking. . Lately, for a number of reasons, I have been the only facilitator in attendance. Others come sporadically due to family obligations, household work, official work, or other things. We hope to change this by my presence and by electing new community facilitators for the next cycle that will come regularly. This will hopefully lighten the load on the few that do attend now and encourage them to come in the future.

Rainy season is coming again and I hope to plant maize, sunn hemp, sunflower, and beans on a large scale (~1 kg of seed each) and have a small garden for vegetables and herbs. My neighbors, the nurse and her husband are still getting along famously. We greet each other daily and frequently chat. The old man speaks incredibly fast “old” Tonga that is making me come up to speed fast. He also speaks English, but he understands me better if I speak Tonga.

Anyway, life is still good and we are trying to do the best that we can.

Best and love.

niko

This is the head mistress of Keemba Basic School with her grandaughter Royce (red hat) and daughter Joy (left)










This is when some incoming trainees for the HIV/AIDS program came to my site to visit before starting their training. This is a number of boys and men that stay in the compound including the headman (seated on a lazy chair).







This is a cookins shelter at my site in Pemba where the women wanted me to take a photo of them eating.









This is the entrance to the garden at the main project site in Pemba. The dapper young fellow is Chimunya and he is incredibly knowledgable, skilled, hardworking, and not camera shy.










This is Bonanza and Hakainda in Keemba. Bonanza was pictured before. Hakainda is the oldest boy staying at the Keemba compound and is incredibly strong, hardworking, knowledgable, and kind.






This is a photo taken at the project site in Pemba when some district officers came for a site visit.

I have been living in my home in Pemba about a month now. I am getting used to having electricity, sink, tub, and such. The water only runs indoors if folks aren’t filling their jugs at the main tap and it happens to be during the hour and a half a day that the water is on.

I share the house with Mr. Benos and his wife, Jennie Benos. Mr Benos’ father was greek and his mother indigenous Tonga people. Jennie is a nurse at the local clinic and also a facilitator for the project I work with. Mr. Benos is a welder and is incredibly active, usually working in the yard from about 7 hours to 18 hours daily. The have about 4 children, only one of which is around, but is mainly at the farm some distance from town. The others are in Lusaka. Some children of dead relatives stay with them and are essentially treated as their own.

They are very sarcastic and kind. They are also forcing me to speak Tonga by speaking all the time in Tonga. My Tonga is getting better, but still needs work.

I am starting a garden again as I have moved sites. We have already in the yard, papaya, grapefruit, avocado, mango, banana, and a hive of bees living in the main house, which I received a liter of honey from. I plan on growing some amaranth, a bit of maize, some beans, and some other plants sent to me by my good friends Will and Nathalie stateside.

The work is very busy. I go between Choma, Monze, and Lusaka meeting with folks about the project. It is a lot of coordinating and chatting, which I am getting better at.

The main project site is about 5 km from my home and is where about 30 children meet 3 times a week to learn about agriculture and other things. They are currently involved in mushroom production, beekeeping, and gardening. They will probably be graduating soon so we are looking into how to assist the graduates in starting up their own projects through micro finance or other assistance. There are other side projects of 30 adults and another of 30 children about 8 km from the main site.

One of my jobs is to try and assist in moving the project forward without losing any of the lessons learned already. It is challenging as always to get folks to communicate with each other. This has been something that I have seen in the HIV/AIDS sector and even within Peace Corps. People will go off and deal with their slice of the pie and be doing similar things without working together or communicating.

The kids are awesome and well skilled and the idea behind the project is desirable and possible here. I am enjoying working with this project very much.

In other news, my program supervisor quit. He was working too much and decided he had enough, as far as I know. The gossip abounds, which appears to be very Peace Corps. I miss him around, but I don’t plan on losing him as a friend.

I will be taking my first official vacation to go around with my friend Laura from NM checking out health related projects in Zambia. I have a whole week off and am actually looking forward to not really having a set schedule.

I once again hope everyone is well.

Love.

Niko.

July

In Choma at the provincial house, a place that volunteers pick up their mail, decompress, and come for tri-annual meetings.

I have officially moved to another site (pemba) about 70 km from my original one (keemba). The new site is near the road and I will have electricity and access to other amenities such as more than one vegetable and fruits. When I say official, I mean that by papers and such. However, there are some housing issues at pemba, so I will be in limbo, living at the provincial house for a couple weeks.

The project I will be working with is known as JFFLS and AFFLS (or Junior/Adult Farmer Field and Life Schools).

http://www.fao.org/hivaids/

They are supported by FAO (or the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) and work to assist more vulnerable members of communities in coping with effects of HIV/AIDS. This is done through some direct and indirect support such as food, seeds, agricultural knowledge, LIFESKILLS, psychosocial support, etc. Since I will just now be starting there, I think I will see how things are going there for a few months and will then provide a better picture of what my work actually entails.

They have identified some issues including lack of coordination and background in HIV on the ground and have agreed at a number of levels (district, national, local) to work with a Peace Corps volunteer at the site to assist in such things.

I have left my former community and will still be traveling back there to assist in bringing the new volunteer that will be posted there in about a month’s time up to speed and in checking on some work they are doing there. Given the short distance, there should be no problem accomplishing this.

My community wasn’t happy but they accept it. Many of them complained that they had grown used to my presence and weren’t happy. They are happy for the project and me but are sad for their “loss”. I will be visiting them about every month for a while as I still want to see how my new community and old community can learn from each other given the distance is short and I just want to keep in contact with my “family” and friends there.

On other notes, I finally visited the Victoria Falls for a day and was amazed. I went with a few friends that are working here (from Emory) and one of them bungee jumped off a bridge into a deep canyon. He enjoyed and I think the contact high may be the closest I come to trying it myself.

I am doing well, though I have been getting tired from the copious traveling from place to place setting up my site move.

Best be in the moment though, so I am happy in general.

I hope everyone is well.

Love. niko.

June

I have just finished harvesting my maize and hosting 4 new volunteers that will be this years HIV/AIDS volunteers. My harvest should be around 400 kg of maize and was quite a task though the boys that live at my compound assisted me a great deal. Given that I eat about 10 kg a month, I will likely use the maize to support some of the poorer families in my area.

The dry season is here and the mobility is increased greatly. I will endeavor to visit all the health posts in my area before the rains come.

The HIV/AIDS work is going and I have cleared up some confusion about my role here. Some wanted me to “preach” the message of HIV/AIDS while my role is more of a facilitator drawing upon local knowledge and resources. I mentioned teaching might be part of my role if there were not so many trained people in my area (there are about 20 highly trained folks that can facilitate in a culturally appropriate manner and in local language). My job as I see it is to coordinate efforts and help all the trained folks learn from each other and discover what else the community might want them trained on (such as psychosocial support for those affected).

I had an interesting conversation with my headman the other day. He said people were complaining to him about my initial choices of company here. They told him that he should tell me to stay away from them but he said to them that he trusted my age and experience to come to same conclusions my community had already reached. They then waited as I quickly discarded these people as their motives for befriending me caused me some suspicion.

This came up as the headman was complementing me on my demeanor within the community. Apparently my choices have earned me some respect and I am not considered a boy, but a man, even though I don’t have a wife. Interesting how this works. I had a feeling everyone was watching me, holding their breath. It appears that everyone has decided to breathe again.

Other news is that I will be developing a new site that I will move to before August. The work helps our HIV/AIDS program as the site sort of works in conjunction with FAO and some agreements were signed at national levels regarding USG Peace Corps working with the UN, specifically FAO in this case.

It is work supposedly assisting vulnerable children and their families to access knowledge and social support funded by a variety of donors and working within the Ministry’s of Agriculture, Education, and Health. I don’t want to say too much more about it as I have yet to see the reality as I have only had high level meetings and have not yet met the community or district folks where this is happening. It is designed after the Junior Farmer Field and Life Schools (JFFLS) in conjunction with FAO.

Another volunteer will take my site as I leave so my community won’t be left empty-handed and my new site is both within my province (same language) and about 100 km from my current site.

More updates to follow as I am going to get very busy with all this.

Take care.

Love. niko.

This is the western side of my field. My maize is five lines and extended to the trees in the distance.








This is the eastern side of my field. My field ends where you see the trees in the distance.






This is jee-lo (older one), joy (white dress), musala (next to joy), and esther. They are really fun to hang out with and like to play a lot. jee-lo does not really play that much. Like most women around here she mostly does work around the house (drawing water, cleaning, cooking) and attends school in the morning. They all stay within my compound.

This is mayben (from left to right), chico, and andrew mazuba. They stay in a village halfway in-between town and my village. Notice the pumpkin strapped to my bicycle in the background.

This is Osman, a Sierra Leoninian by birth who is extending his service for a third year here in zambia. I am working with him on the survey I mentioned before.

I am waiting for my maize to dry, after which I will store it for use as ground meal. I am looking into obtaining a hand mill so I can nixtamalize some maize to make tortillas and tamales. Nixtamalization changes the cooking and nutritional properties of maize and is done by cooking and steeping in a basic solution, usually lime (Ca(OH)2).

My garden is yielding fresh amaranth leaves and herbs and some melons, squash, beans, and tomatoes are on the way. Everything is very healthy, but the dry season is coming and things are starting to dry out already. I have a separate small tree nursery that I hope to move to a fenced area soon. There are goats, chickens, and cows that decimate most greenery that they fancy so keeping my green things alive is going to be a constant challenge.

The work I am doing in the capital goes well. It keeps me very busy and has reminded me that I need to adequately rest sometimes before trying to do too much ( I got really tired).

The village work goes well as well and is always challenging. I recently had a meeting and really annoyed a couple of people who were hoping to get preached at about the dangers of HIV/AIDS. I said I don’t proselytize and wanted to emphasize that I felt it inappropriate and naive for me to come in and preach answers to them without fully understanding their culture or how HIV has affected them. I therefore wanted them to discuss the HIV-related problems in the community they see and offer suggestions how to attenuate them and I would guide them or offer advice also suggesting that behavior change was a strong issue. There was a pretty heated discussion between some in the community that agreed with my approach and others that just wanted me to teach them about HIV/ARV’s/ transmission issues. It was quite interesting.

Malaria has been bad as of late. I have seen numerous folks, usually children, going into convulsions from severe malaria at the clinic. There are a lot of issues surrounding this disease here, though the science of its’ transmission is relatively simple. I am not usually outdoors after dark, as the mosquitoes get pretty bad around dusk, though their number has decreased as the rains have eased off.

Other than that life is still good, though I have lost weight as I am not working in the fields anymore and my muscle mass has decreased.

This is marjorie (majo). She has moved to live with here mother in Kalomo (south of where I live) so I will probably rarely see her any more. I made her smile which was an accomplishment. She also was staying at the compound where I stay.













This is Hamagaye (or raoul). i took this photo as a public health example.

He has been spraying cotton with extremely toxic chemicals with a sprayer that leaks onto your back (I have used it) and without shoes or protective clothing. This is an issue, but other things such as malaria, TB, and HIV are more likely to be significant cause of morbidity to him.











This is Mr. Wellington or Weka. He is staying at my compound but is moving to Luapula province very soon to stay with his uncle. The headmistress where I stay is his aunt. He lost both parents to HIV and is being helped by extended family. Judging from the roughly 20% of children at schools here being either single or double orphans, I'd say his story is not a rarity.







This is my yard in late January. Grass is still growing and growing and growing...

I walked to my maize field yesterday. Slight rain, sun peeking out from behind scattered clouds. The maize is past my head and thick cobs of maize are sprouting everywhere. A wind and rain day has knocked over some of my maize as the ground was loosened by the heavy rains.

I plucked two fat cobs and took them home to fire-roast and eat while hot. I was eating them and sitting in my cooking shelter thinking how nice village life is. The simplicity is something beautiful that I am trying to embrace with open arms. I was thinking about how tied to natural cycles I am when in the village, something that becomes lost when I am in the city. I don’t notice the rain, the wind, or the sun quite as I do when my doorstep is near the bush.

Recently, I have been working in the outskirts of the capital, Lusaka, assisting a volunteer in developing a survey to measure behaviors and beliefs related to HIV/AIDS in his ~7000 person catchment area. He is a crisis corps volunteer working with an NGO there. Crisis corps volunteers have completed a 2 year Peace Corps stint and are extending service in a number of “crisis” areas, such as HIV. My class work at Rollins as part of my MPH gives me background in this area; hence I have been requested to come to the capital as often as necessary to make an instrument that may be adapted or used by other volunteers or NGO’s here.

It is a bit tiring coming here out of the village and adjusting to urban life for a few days of work at a time, but I am glad my MPH is proving useful as there have already been things I was able to clear up regarding the survey. As a friend of mine says, “we don’t have resources to squander here”. This makes me want to squeeze as much out of this survey and make sure it is as systematic and thorough as we can make it.

I will be assisting in training surveyors and will also be assisting in training the new group of HIV/AIDS volunteers scheduled to arrive in June. I am busy, but happy that my brain and effort is being used for something that might positively impact the health of people.

I am well and turning 32 years old while in the city. I may celebrate by smiling, something commonplace that just feels good.

I once again hope this finds everyone well and I will eat a freshly roasted cob of maize for each of you. I know, the sacrifices that we make for friends.

Love, niko.

written February 15, 2006.

More time has passed.

I have been weeding my 200 x 3 meter field most of my waking hours. It is quite a bit of work and I am becoming quite strong and calloused.

This is the busy season for farming and most folks are in the fields from sunup to sundown. I have a great deal of respect for the manual labor that mostly women appear to do. I must say that people are surprised that a “white” can weed and do manual labor. People were expecting me to pass out or something or at least burn in the African sun, yet I just get darker and drink lots of water. This should change people’s perceptions of “whites” here.

The new school term has started, people are in the fields, and HIV work is slow. Mostly I am trying to network, form a coordinating body for HIV activities in my zone, learn Tonga, and try and aggregate and make sense of the copious amounts of data collected through the health services system.

I have finally started formal Tonga lessons with a teacher that is from the region where the original Tonga’s hail from. Apparently where I live is not where real Tonga’s are from, but rather where they have migrated. My understanding of what people are saying is increasing, as is my vocabulary. I plan on sitting for the Tonga exam given to grade 12 students in December and I want to receive passing marks.

Already rains this year appear better than last years. We have hope that the overall hunger here will be attenuated a bit.

My crop should be more maize than I can feasibly eat so I am looking into how it can benefit those in my community feeling the effects of HIV. I am also looking forward to making tamales and tortillas. That should trip people out.

On the public health side, there have been cholera outbreaks and some deaths near my district in the Kafue plains where the Kafue river runs. Some deaths due to bird flu have also been reported in northern Nigeria. I was in Thailand when it was breaking there. Everyone keeps poultry so has considerable ramifications as birds migrate down here.

Anyway, I’ll sign off for now.

Love. Niko.

post holidays

I have been living in the village about 4 months now. It has been going well and I think I am both becoming used to village life and my community is becoming used to my idiosyncrasies such as being very independent. People are also feeling comfortable asking me for a thing, which also has its ups and downs.

The holidays in the village were largely uneventful with regard to celebration of any sort. Since it is planting season and most are starving from poor harvest last season, everyone was in the fields planting or doing something related to it. I spent Christmas Day and morning building a fence for my garden, cleaning around the house, and collecting firewood (which is a never-ending task). The fact that almost all of community is Seventh-Day Adventist may also play a role in how little celebration there was as I heard that there were celebrations in other rural communities in Zambia.

My crops are doing well (maize, soybeans, as well as small things in the garden) and rainfall is better than last year as reported by folks in my area. I will harvest much more than I can feasibly consume so I am thinking of ways that the food can benefit those affected by HIV in my community.

Other than that I am in the process of applying to graduate school in international food science that I hope to start at the completion of my service. I work on applying every time that I am in town and near Internet, which is about every two weeks.

I am still fit and have been getting quite a bit of exercise as I build and work in the fields and in my garden. Working out is useless here as I can help others do manual labor that keeps me in good shape. Field greens are now available which are quite tasty and growing randomly all over the place.

Anyway, we are well and I hope everyone had wonderful holidays.

Best to all and enjoy the below photos.

Niko.




This is a photo taken at a World AIDS Day walk in my community. About 200 folks showed up and did drama and such.








This is s photo of a singing group at World AIDS Day.










This photo was taken from my doorstep in late November, 2006. Pretty dry huh?

This photo was taken from the same place december 30, 2005. Demonstrates how green things can get.