What's the water situation like? Do you have running water?
The water situation was pretty easy to get used to. There is no running water in Melu, but there is a outdoor faucet in Mwange Camp where we can get water that's safe to drink. The water we use in Melu for bathing, boiling, cooking, washing our clothes and other household things is from the small river near the house. The family is really good about keeping big jugs full of river water for us to use.
An interesting fact: when rainy season comes, the river in Melu dries up – contrary to what I would have guessed. It was explained to me that this happens because during the rainy season there is a lot of farming in the area surrounding the river, so even with all the extra water from the rain, the plants still need to soak up all the water from the river in order to grow. When the river stops, we get our water from a bor hole near the house, which we pump water from underground. (Water from bor holes is untreated.) Most of the water for the refugees in Mwange is from bor holes.
What do you do for fun out there in the middle of nowhere?
We do a lot of fun stuff, including but not limited to:
- I've been able to read a ton of books: from the new Harry Potter to books on international development and the war and poverty issues in the DRC.
- I'm singing with the Swahili choir at church, which is amazing – I've never had so much fun at church. We practice a couple times a week and it's been great helping me to learn Swahili. I've also been working with the piano teacher to learn the songs for Morgan Thalenberg's wedding (here's us practicing in the Piano area). People like the songs so much that we are going to teach them to the choir.
- I've been teaching the younger Mubanga kids the "Itsy, Bitsy Spider" song, and most importantly teaching them the hand movements with the song. It's been really fun doing trying to teach without speaking hardly any English or Bemba.
- Daniel and I have been writing letters in English back and forth with the older Mubanga kids who are learning English in school. The letters they write are hilarious. Below is a picture of Jared, I and Moses hanging out.
- We listen to music all the time (with the Mubanga's usually turning the stereo on around 5:00am), mostly African pop and rumba artists, but also some random American country and gospel artists. Daniel and I know every word to every song at this point!
- Daniel and I walk/bike everywhere, whether to the next village over to visit a Peace Corps volunteer named Lysdsay or to Mporokoso for meetings.
- Since I can't play football (soccer) with the big kids yet (because I can't quite run yet), I play "panta" (kick) the ball and "posa" (throw) the Frisbee with the younger kids. A few of them are going to be great athletes!I'm really enjoying getting all your emails and writing back. It's great to hear what people are doing in the States!
- I learning a lot about African cooking, but I still have a lot to learn, especially from the Congolese. The Congolese are incredible cooks and cook food very differently from Zambians. Below is a picture of Sophie (our house mom) and her baby, Clementi in front of our nsaka (kitchen area).
- A lot of my time is spent learning Swahili, French and Bemba. I feel much more comfortable than I did 2 months ago, and I'm really excited to become fluent (hopefully) soon.
Life here is good and I'm getting ready to go back to the States for the last week of October and the first week of November for Morgan's wedding. Hopefully I'll get a chance to see a lot of you in those 2 weeks!
Xoxo
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