I cannot believe I am finishing up a year here. Some days it has felt like I've lived another life out here and that each day was a year in itself; but, as it gets closer and closer to the day I leave, the days feel shorter and shorter. Currently, I am working with the new FORGE Project Manager to teach her all about FORGE and how life is in Mwange. It's fun to look back on everything and to synthesize all the knowledge I've gained over the past year about everything from how to take a bucket bath to how to work best with UN officials.
The biggest question I keep getting is: What's next?? While I've been out here, I have done a ton of work in health and with the Red Cross. Because of the many experiences I've had in Mwange and in my Zambian village and because of the many horrible medical cases I've seen (as well as the many medical miracles), I now know for sure that I am meant to be a doctor. I have decided to finish up my pre-medical requirements at Mills College in Oakland, starting in Fall 2009. Until then, I'll be taking a few classes and hopefully working in either a hospital or medical research lab. There's a lot of school in my future, but I'm really excited to be so sure of what I want to do.
While this has been an incredible year, I miss my friends and family SO much. I am extremely excited to get back to the comforts of a developed country and to be around people I know. I will miss the friends and places that have become my home this year, but it's time to get home. I arrive in the Bay area on 9 July and then I'll be in the Annapolis area from 17-27 July. I don't have a phone number yet, but you can always email me. I can't wait to see you!
xoxo
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Back to Mwange
In Mwange, I was met with a lot of work. There had not been a Project Manager in Mwange for about a month at the time I arrived because at the beginning of May, my fellow Mwange Project Manager decided to go home. Consequently, there was a lot to catch up on!
Although I was gone for almost three months, not much seemed to have changed in Mwange. Everyone was still yelling and complaining about the same things in the meetings that UNHCR has with the refugee representatives. The children are still incredibly impressive as little adults, with 6-year-olds acting as little women with water jugs on their heads and their baby sibling strapped to their backs. Our FORGE refugee staff members are still amazing at rallying the community together and teaching them about important repatriation, health and education issues. And, I’m still the white girl with blond hair that must be rich! But, it is nice to be in a place where I know how things work and people know me, even if they still call me “MZUNGU!!”
I have also really enjoyed moving into my mud brick house and making it feel like home. The Kalabwe village where I live now is a great place and I am very happy to have moved there. I only wish I had more time to spend with the headman and his family. They are the most generous people I have ever met and they work so hard and care so much about making me feel comfortable. It’s funny to be 23 and have people lecturing me to make sure I take a bath and clean my room and eat everything on my plate:) I will miss their family very much.
xoxo
Although I was gone for almost three months, not much seemed to have changed in Mwange. Everyone was still yelling and complaining about the same things in the meetings that UNHCR has with the refugee representatives. The children are still incredibly impressive as little adults, with 6-year-olds acting as little women with water jugs on their heads and their baby sibling strapped to their backs. Our FORGE refugee staff members are still amazing at rallying the community together and teaching them about important repatriation, health and education issues. And, I’m still the white girl with blond hair that must be rich! But, it is nice to be in a place where I know how things work and people know me, even if they still call me “MZUNGU!!”
I have also really enjoyed moving into my mud brick house and making it feel like home. The Kalabwe village where I live now is a great place and I am very happy to have moved there. I only wish I had more time to spend with the headman and his family. They are the most generous people I have ever met and they work so hard and care so much about making me feel comfortable. It’s funny to be 23 and have people lecturing me to make sure I take a bath and clean my room and eat everything on my plate:) I will miss their family very much.
xoxo
Some time in Lusaka
Between my time in Meheba and heading back to Mwange, I spent about a week in Lusaka. I worked really hard the whole week, but it was a much needed break from life in the bush. For my first few days, I worked with FORGE’s Lusaka coordinator (Alyssa) to write a really exciting grant proposal, which I will write about more later, to submit it before the deadline. I also had to finish up all the documentation for the work I did in Meheba; and, I wanted to do as much as I could to get things in order for Mwange before I left to the land of limited electricity and even less communication.
Even though we were really busy, Alyssa and I managed to have a really great time. She introduced me to some of the other ex-pats that work in Lusaka for organizations like the Clinton Foundation and Emery on development issues such as education, health and HIV/AIDS. It was great to see how well adapted these 20-somethings had become to life in Lusaka. And, it was really nice to know that not all development jobs in underdeveloped countries have hard living conditions.
We played ultimate Frisbee for a few hours one afternoon, which was great. I was so happy to be on a field and competing. I’ve missed that! We also dressed up one night and went to get drinks and see the new Sex and the City movie, which somehow premiered in Lusaka at the same time it did everywhere else. I don’t even know much about the TV series, but it was fun to see New York and hang out with other Americans for a change. After a good week to reinvigorate my spirit and get me ready for some more time in the bush, I was off to Mwange.
xoxo
Even though we were really busy, Alyssa and I managed to have a really great time. She introduced me to some of the other ex-pats that work in Lusaka for organizations like the Clinton Foundation and Emery on development issues such as education, health and HIV/AIDS. It was great to see how well adapted these 20-somethings had become to life in Lusaka. And, it was really nice to know that not all development jobs in underdeveloped countries have hard living conditions.
We played ultimate Frisbee for a few hours one afternoon, which was great. I was so happy to be on a field and competing. I’ve missed that! We also dressed up one night and went to get drinks and see the new Sex and the City movie, which somehow premiered in Lusaka at the same time it did everywhere else. I don’t even know much about the TV series, but it was fun to see New York and hang out with other Americans for a change. After a good week to reinvigorate my spirit and get me ready for some more time in the bush, I was off to Mwange.
xoxo
Meheba – Living Situation
My fellow 4 Project Managers in Meheba were amazing. I feel so lucky that I was able to go there and spend time with such a smart, fun, interesting group of people. I learned a ton from them and will be forever grateful for all of their help with the projects we worked on. We could not have accomplished nearly as much if they weren’t there to lend a hand or advice. But, what I’ll remember most are the times when we weren’t working. We would save power during the day, so that we could watch an episode of The Wire (yeah, Baltimore!) each night. We cooked together all the time, had bonfires, spent nights in the middle of a field looking at the stars, and talked about the States.
The living situation was also great because phone access was only a short bike ride away. I also had my own room and my own space, which was a really nice change after sharing a room in Mwange. I got back into running on the most gorgeous perfect dirt road I’ve ever run on. I would run to the river that passed under the road as often as I could each week. We also had 4 cats, including 2 very new kittens, that were the most domesticated cats in all of Africa, I bet! The 2 kittens were very entertaining. The place was also full of magazines and movies sent by the parents of the other Project Managers. I feel like I know more about what’s current in US Weekly now that I’ve been away for a year than I ever did before I left!
After two months, it was time to head back to Mwange and take care of business in my last month or so in Zambia. Yes, I’m already nearing the end. Only one and a half months left.
The living situation was also great because phone access was only a short bike ride away. I also had my own room and my own space, which was a really nice change after sharing a room in Mwange. I got back into running on the most gorgeous perfect dirt road I’ve ever run on. I would run to the river that passed under the road as often as I could each week. We also had 4 cats, including 2 very new kittens, that were the most domesticated cats in all of Africa, I bet! The 2 kittens were very entertaining. The place was also full of magazines and movies sent by the parents of the other Project Managers. I feel like I know more about what’s current in US Weekly now that I’ve been away for a year than I ever did before I left!
After two months, it was time to head back to Mwange and take care of business in my last month or so in Zambia. Yes, I’m already nearing the end. Only one and a half months left.
Meheba – The Community
Meheba is one of the most interesting culturally fascinating places I have been. In one day, I would bike to a Rwandan community to have a meeting, then I would stop by the Congolese market to take food back to my Block that was inhabited by Angolans and Zambian school teachers. Needless to say, it was a bit overwhelming at first to try to get used to all the different cultures and try to keep up with greeting people in the correct language!
Meheba is divided into 8 different Blocks, each with its own culture, personalities and stories. Sometimes the Blocks are made up of refugees from only one country, but other Blocks are classified more by social status and have refugees from all over Africa. In Meheba, there were refugees from DR Congo, Angola, Burundi, Rwanda, Sudan and Somalia. Registration of all the refugees in Meheba was happening around the time I was there, so refugees were coming from all over Zambia to make sure they were officially registered. I even helped register a few of the Somalis when UNHCR was short-staffed.
From my time in each of the communities and through my work with the FORGE advocacy agency, where I would help one of the FORGE Project Managers listen to refugees’ stories and try to direct them to the right source of help, I learned so much about African culture and history, specifically the effects of colonialism, of each country’s struggle for independence, and of the many problems of corruption. If you’re interested in reading more about history Sub-Saharan Africa, I’m posting a list of books you should check out that have been extremely helpful for me.
xoxo
Meheba is divided into 8 different Blocks, each with its own culture, personalities and stories. Sometimes the Blocks are made up of refugees from only one country, but other Blocks are classified more by social status and have refugees from all over Africa. In Meheba, there were refugees from DR Congo, Angola, Burundi, Rwanda, Sudan and Somalia. Registration of all the refugees in Meheba was happening around the time I was there, so refugees were coming from all over Zambia to make sure they were officially registered. I even helped register a few of the Somalis when UNHCR was short-staffed.
From my time in each of the communities and through my work with the FORGE advocacy agency, where I would help one of the FORGE Project Managers listen to refugees’ stories and try to direct them to the right source of help, I learned so much about African culture and history, specifically the effects of colonialism, of each country’s struggle for independence, and of the many problems of corruption. If you’re interested in reading more about history Sub-Saharan Africa, I’m posting a list of books you should check out that have been extremely helpful for me.
xoxo
Meheba - The Biking
Mehaba is HUGE and consequently I was on a bike for a good portion of each day. I really enjoyed being so active and seeing so much of the backcountry paths. In my pictures you can see how overgrown the grasses were and how thin the paths were at times, but that just made it more interesting. Biking was always an adventure, whether you had to bike to the top of what seemed like a mountain or you were going over bumps and bumps for what seemed like miles.
On my very first biking trek, I saw a cobra. And I saw a few more after that. It was pretty crazy to see a big snake crossing the dirt road right in front of you and then to realize it was a cobra! The first one I saw reared its head up and hissed at us before proceeding into the bush. I saw many more snakes in Meheba than anywhere else, but the snake-sightings became less frequent during May because the community began to burn the fields that the snakes lived in, consequently, burning all the snakes. It sounds harsh, but after seeing one of the cobras in person, it sounds like a great idea to me! And that comes from a girl who hates killing even little bugs!
After my biking experiences in Meheba, I am looking forward to getting back on a road bike on a tarmac (paved) road back in the California foothills, but I will always remember the bumpy, dusty, sand pit trapped, snake infested, overgrown grass, crazy paths of Meheba.
xoxo
On my very first biking trek, I saw a cobra. And I saw a few more after that. It was pretty crazy to see a big snake crossing the dirt road right in front of you and then to realize it was a cobra! The first one I saw reared its head up and hissed at us before proceeding into the bush. I saw many more snakes in Meheba than anywhere else, but the snake-sightings became less frequent during May because the community began to burn the fields that the snakes lived in, consequently, burning all the snakes. It sounds harsh, but after seeing one of the cobras in person, it sounds like a great idea to me! And that comes from a girl who hates killing even little bugs!
After my biking experiences in Meheba, I am looking forward to getting back on a road bike on a tarmac (paved) road back in the California foothills, but I will always remember the bumpy, dusty, sand pit trapped, snake infested, overgrown grass, crazy paths of Meheba.
xoxo
Meheba – The Work
After the amazing vacation I had in Tanzania, it was time to get back to work. But, for the next two months or so I would be in a different province of Zambia in Meheba Refugee Settlement. I’d visited Meheba a few times for meetings, but for this project, I was in for the long haul. After one of my worst public transport experiences thus far (I sat on a bus for 5 hours waiting for it to take me to Solwezi, the main town near Meheba. After 5 hours the bus driver told me that they had decided not to go to Solwezi anymore. I don’t think I have to try to explain how frustrated I was!), I arrived in Meheba. In Meheba, I worked with the other Project Managers to implement the new FORGE model focused on collaborative project planning. Through this model of project development, FORGE works hand-in-hand with the refugees to develop projects that they want in their communities.
We started the implementation with huge community-wide meetings in each of the 3 communities we had chosen to work with in Meheba. During these meetings we talked about all the different needs the community had. We also had the community chose 6 representatives that would work with the Project Managers to develop a project to meet the needs the community mentioned.
Every week, we had 6 meetings with the representatives from each community to discuss project ideas and teach them about project development. The complicated topics were not always easy to explain (especially to some of the representatives who had NEVER been to school before), but in the end we came out with three great project ideas that I believe will truly make lasting change in each of the communities. We have decided to open two preschools in the less-educated community, a health center in the community with no access to a clinic, and a market with a seed-selling component in the remote community made up almost solely of farmers. It was a learning process for everyone, but we accomplished so much in a short two months.
xoxo
We started the implementation with huge community-wide meetings in each of the 3 communities we had chosen to work with in Meheba. During these meetings we talked about all the different needs the community had. We also had the community chose 6 representatives that would work with the Project Managers to develop a project to meet the needs the community mentioned.
Every week, we had 6 meetings with the representatives from each community to discuss project ideas and teach them about project development. The complicated topics were not always easy to explain (especially to some of the representatives who had NEVER been to school before), but in the end we came out with three great project ideas that I believe will truly make lasting change in each of the communities. We have decided to open two preschools in the less-educated community, a health center in the community with no access to a clinic, and a market with a seed-selling component in the remote community made up almost solely of farmers. It was a learning process for everyone, but we accomplished so much in a short two months.
xoxo
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