Jessica Maslen PCV
Peace Corps Zambia
PO Box 710150
Mansa, Luapula
Zambia AFRICA
Make sure Africa is written big, some volunteers have found that their package has travelled to other continents before making it to
Things to send me... candy, chocolate, letters, pictures, newspaper clippings, beef jerkey, anything else you may think I might like...
We had a great time with our meetings and dinners. There are 18 volunteers and 8 guests.
3 volunteers will be leaving at the end of the month, and then we will be gaining hopefully 10 new volunteers in late Septemberish.
Electricity has been very sketchy. It seems to go out at the most inopportune times. Like when we are about to put lasagna in the oven, sit down for dinner, watch a movie, or have a dance party. At which point someone calls the company and tells them that they are ruining our party. (At which point the electricity just went out again).
So I wrote this and then the internet stopped working so I am back to finish it up and send it off.
The power is back on, that is good news! Tomorrow morning I will be going back to site. I might be back in town on the 4th (I also had an invite to go North to an orphanage up there). We will see, it is a five day weekend that week (Friday through Tuesday) which will make travel interesting. I am actually not sure if I am allowed to travel up there yet so I might just go down to the house.
Okay, got to get back and pack up!
I Love and Miss all of you!
I hope that all is going well.
I can not believe how time seems to fly right on by!
Jessica
(And I am sending this before anything else happens. The power just went out again. Everytime I try to send this, it has taken all day. And I am at the place that does not have a backup generator. Fortunately it was just a few minutes this time!)
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
June 1st Update
Everything has been going as well as expected. Not perfect but you have to expect a few bumps in the road.I was dumped at my site on April 27th, spent the first 2 days trying to find stuff and get settled. The second night I managed to get violently ill at about 3am (not fun). At daylight I was able to hike to the termite mound and call the Dr. She said to get to the PC House in Mansa, probably Malaria. So I called the lead volunteer and she came and picked me up, there was no way I could have made it to the road to hitch a ride. I started the medicine and was better in a couple of days. (Although my fever was over 103 for about 36 hours and was over 105 at the worse part.) I stayed a couple of days in town to recouperate and then headed back to site.
At site things have been going well. I have been meeting people, yelling at the kids, chasing my chicken, and fetching dirty water from the stream. The hardest challange is the language. I speak so very little of it. I understand quite a bit and getting better although the people think I know nothing. The kids have been helping me out some (when they are not driving me crazy). One thing that is kinda funny is how they say my name. BaJessica. The last part of my name sounds like seka which in bemba is the root for laugh. Which they say fits me because I am always happy and laughing (probably because I have no idea what they just said).
Yes I do have a chicken. I ended up going on a day trip with the headman from the neighboring village to buy nails for my furniture that he is building, This was an all day trip which involved several stops to visit family. I received 20 oranges, 12 large sweet potatos, a stock of sugar cane, and a chicken. All of this strapped onto the back of our bikes. It was very interesting. I felt so bad for the chicken. You had to have been here... He is about 55, yellow winter coat, blue sailors hat, hot pink sunglasses, complete with a chicken strapped on the bike.And yes my water source is a stream. It is dry season and the water level has dropped and it is looking pretty sad.
They are working on a bore hole but who knows when that is going to get finished (do not hold your breath). It is where everybody bathes, washes clothes, washes dishes, soaks cassava, and also soaks reeds and grasses for baskets (they make alot of baskets).
Food is very limited. There is no meat (almost). All they eat is fish (which has caused a lot of blindness). There is also sweet potatos, cassava, and peanuts. For fruit there have been oranges and lemons.Things have been moving slow but that is just the way it goes in the village.
I have to get going, I am only in town for meetings.If anyone has any questions let me know...It will be another month before I come back and have internet access!
At site things have been going well. I have been meeting people, yelling at the kids, chasing my chicken, and fetching dirty water from the stream. The hardest challange is the language. I speak so very little of it. I understand quite a bit and getting better although the people think I know nothing. The kids have been helping me out some (when they are not driving me crazy). One thing that is kinda funny is how they say my name. BaJessica. The last part of my name sounds like seka which in bemba is the root for laugh. Which they say fits me because I am always happy and laughing (probably because I have no idea what they just said).
Yes I do have a chicken. I ended up going on a day trip with the headman from the neighboring village to buy nails for my furniture that he is building, This was an all day trip which involved several stops to visit family. I received 20 oranges, 12 large sweet potatos, a stock of sugar cane, and a chicken. All of this strapped onto the back of our bikes. It was very interesting. I felt so bad for the chicken. You had to have been here... He is about 55, yellow winter coat, blue sailors hat, hot pink sunglasses, complete with a chicken strapped on the bike.And yes my water source is a stream. It is dry season and the water level has dropped and it is looking pretty sad.
They are working on a bore hole but who knows when that is going to get finished (do not hold your breath). It is where everybody bathes, washes clothes, washes dishes, soaks cassava, and also soaks reeds and grasses for baskets (they make alot of baskets).
Food is very limited. There is no meat (almost). All they eat is fish (which has caused a lot of blindness). There is also sweet potatos, cassava, and peanuts. For fruit there have been oranges and lemons.Things have been moving slow but that is just the way it goes in the village.
I have to get going, I am only in town for meetings.If anyone has any questions let me know...It will be another month before I come back and have internet access!
Monday, April 20, 2009
Hi everybody,Just a few more days left in this stage of training. I visited my site a couple of weeks ago. I am in the Luapula Province, in Mwense district, in the village of Chiposa ( 7 K east of the town of Mwense). My house is situated smack dap in the middle of the village. My nearest volunteer neighbor is 25K away although he is finishing up his service so then the next is 40K away. I have a large house (in terms for volunteers) complete with 4 (although small) rooms. And thanks to the previous volunteer the bathing shelter is in the house (cement floor with a drain). I have a very small nsaka (gazebo) for visitors since it is not appropriate to have people in your house. And I have plans to add a chicken coop and an oven. I will also need to get a cat because there are mice and snake problems there. The previous volunteer did alot of work with the schools, tree nurserys, and seed multiplication. So I will be continuing that and would like to include rabbitry, beekeeping, food preservation, and other income generating/ food security projects. It will depend on what the community wants to do. I know the women are very excited about having a female volunteer and already said that they want me to teach then to sew (they probably know more than I do). We were left alone at our respective sites for a night and then had to hitch into town. I took a mini bus which was interesting, it took us 3 hrs to reach Mansa which is where the Peace Corps Provincial House is located because we had to stop at every little village or shop to pick people up or drop them off. From there I was going to meet up with other volunteers and we were going to take the night bus back to Lusaka (9hr ride) but upon arrival at the house found out that our visas had expired. So the Peace Corp had to drive us back. We spent all afternoon at immigration getting it straightened out but I still do not have my work visa, hopefully it is not lost!
Next week is going to be very busy with exams as we finish up. On Friday we Swear-In and officially become volunteers! And then we are dropped off at our site where we are left to cry (so we have been told). The first month is community integration where we are not allowed to leave our site at all fot the first month and then the following two months we are not allowed to leave the Province but I can go to the house in Mansa. The Provincial house is a place where we can hang out. We are allowed four days a month. There is electricity, TV, tons of movies, lots of books, bunkbeds, and best of all hot water and a shower! After the three months we go back to Lusaka for a week of training and then sent back to our village.
I miss you all but have been doing well! My boma is pretty small so I do not know if I will be able to have internet access. It may just be when I go to Mansa to the house. (I do not even have cell reception in my hut!) I was going to include pictures of my house but they will not open on this computer. I will try later (the computer and internet is very slow!)
Love you all!Jessica
And like always please share this with everyone!
Next week is going to be very busy with exams as we finish up. On Friday we Swear-In and officially become volunteers! And then we are dropped off at our site where we are left to cry (so we have been told). The first month is community integration where we are not allowed to leave our site at all fot the first month and then the following two months we are not allowed to leave the Province but I can go to the house in Mansa. The Provincial house is a place where we can hang out. We are allowed four days a month. There is electricity, TV, tons of movies, lots of books, bunkbeds, and best of all hot water and a shower! After the three months we go back to Lusaka for a week of training and then sent back to our village.
I miss you all but have been doing well! My boma is pretty small so I do not know if I will be able to have internet access. It may just be when I go to Mansa to the house. (I do not even have cell reception in my hut!) I was going to include pictures of my house but they will not open on this computer. I will try later (the computer and internet is very slow!)
Love you all!Jessica
And like always please share this with everyone!
Sunday, March 15, 2009
I have so much to say and so little time!
Everything is going great!
I am learning Bemba. They have been keeping us very busy from sun up to sun down. I am definitely getting lots if exercise from riding my bike (and I am pretty sure it is up-hill both ways!)
My homestay family is great. I have 6 siblings (only 4 are at home) and one on the way. The food is great, very fresh. I have stayed healthy although seem to get sick from the immunizations every week.
We have language in the morning for 4 hrs then lunch and then technical stuff in the afternoon. Aside from learning the language we have been learning how to garden, farm, about tree nurserys, beekeeping... the list goes on. I am really looking forward to moving out to my site and trying it all out.
We had our first language test on Friday and it ended up going better than what I though. Thank goodness for corrupted english. (bedi, foloko, supuni, kabeji, iwindo, jamu...) And then there are no Q, R, V, X, or Z and there are no words that start with D, J, H, or J.
I still do not know where I am going to be posted but will know at the end of the month.
I am running out of time.
Part of my job is to educate those back at home about the people here. So I will leave a proverb...
Apali umunwe, e pali ibala. (Where there is a finger, there is a cultivated field.)
I am learning Bemba. They have been keeping us very busy from sun up to sun down. I am definitely getting lots if exercise from riding my bike (and I am pretty sure it is up-hill both ways!)
My homestay family is great. I have 6 siblings (only 4 are at home) and one on the way. The food is great, very fresh. I have stayed healthy although seem to get sick from the immunizations every week.
We have language in the morning for 4 hrs then lunch and then technical stuff in the afternoon. Aside from learning the language we have been learning how to garden, farm, about tree nurserys, beekeeping... the list goes on. I am really looking forward to moving out to my site and trying it all out.
We had our first language test on Friday and it ended up going better than what I though. Thank goodness for corrupted english. (bedi, foloko, supuni, kabeji, iwindo, jamu...) And then there are no Q, R, V, X, or Z and there are no words that start with D, J, H, or J.
I still do not know where I am going to be posted but will know at the end of the month.
I am running out of time.
Part of my job is to educate those back at home about the people here. So I will leave a proverb...
Apali umunwe, e pali ibala. (Where there is a finger, there is a cultivated field.)
Mailing address
My address is below and I would like pictures, comics, and small stuff like that.
Sending packages. Family members and Volunteers like to send and receive care packages through the mail. Please be advised that packages can often take 1-2 months, but sometimes as long as 4-6 months. Unfortunately, sending packages can be a frustrating experience for all involved due to theft and customs taxes. You may want to try sending inexpensive items through the mail, though there is no guarantee that these items will arrive. We do not recommend sending costly items through the mail. It is recommended that packages be sent in padded envelopes if possible, as boxes tend to be taxed more heavily. Even though many Volunteers choose to get local post office boxes, you may always use the following address to send letters and/or packages to your family member:
Jessica Maslen, PCV
PEACE CORPS/ZAMBIA
BOX 50707
LUSAKA
ZAMBIA
DISCLAIMER: These are the views of Jessica Maslen and do not reflect the Peace Corps.
Information on sending packages
Sending packages. Family members and Volunteers like to send and receive care packages through the mail. Please be advised that packages can often take 1-2 months, but sometimes as long as 4-6 months. Unfortunately, sending packages can be a frustrating experience for all involved due to theft and customs taxes. You may want to try sending inexpensive items through the mail, though there is no guarantee that these items will arrive. We do not recommend sending costly items through the mail. It is recommended that packages be sent in padded envelopes if possible, as boxes tend to be taxed more heavily. Even though many Volunteers choose to get local post office boxes, you may always use the following address to send letters and/or packages to your family member:
Jessica Maslen, PCV
PEACE CORPS/ZAMBIA
BOX 50707
LUSAKA
ZAMBIA
DISCLAIMER: These are the views of Jessica Maslen and do not reflect the Peace Corps.
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