One Year in Zambia

So it is officially February 2012, that makes a year of Peace Corps service. Well technically I think I was on the plane on Feb 1^st last year, but I’m counting it. To mark the occasion I got to host first site visit for the new RED’s coming in this year. It was a blast, I tried to give them an experience of everything. I took them to school to observe classes and talk to the teachers. My HIV support group came over to talk to them about working in the community. My favorite part though was making a huge Zambian dinner with Nshima, chicken, chiwowa (pumpkin leaves), soya, soupu, and potatoes. My counterpart came over and helped us kill the chicken (well the trainees did) and cook. The people at the dinner included teachers, villagers, my host family, my pcv neighbor, and the new volunteers – it was pretty great. It was really heartwarming to see all the people my village that matter to me in one place sharing a meal. Happy anniversary Zambia.

Women in World

We had our first meeting with the G.L.O.W. girls club; I have to say this has been one of the most rewarding parts of my Peace Corps service. 76 girls came from grades 5-9, and 2 Zambian female teachers came to help facilitate. Since this was just the first meeting we worked on the rules or the club (attendance, time, etc). But we already started talking about women in the world. It was sad to me to see that 90% of my girls didn’t believe that a woman could become president or hold a position of power. A lot of the village girls think the only thing they can do is get married and have children. The next meeting is called “girls can do anything”, we intend to talk about famous and influence women in history and talk about setting goals (long term and short term). So I plan on presenting a list of famous and powerful women:

Zambians:

1. Dambisa Moyo – Lusaka Born Zambian, now a international award winning economist and author. She holds a PHD in Economics.
2. Susan Nakazwe – Female mayor of Lusaka
3. Julia Rosa – Zambian born actress, famous on American Television.
4. 21 women in the Zambian national assembly.

Female Presidents and Prime Ministers

1. Sirimavo Bandaranaike, Sri Lanka
   Prime Minister, 1960-1965, 1970-1977, 1994-2000.
2. Indira Gandhi, India
   Prime Minister, 1966-77, 1980-1984.
3. Golda Meir, Israel
   Prime Minister, 1969-1974.
4. Isabel Peron, Argentina
   President, 1974-1976
5. Elisabeth Domitien, Central African Republic
   Prime Minister, 1975-1976
6. Margaret Thatcher, Great Britain
   Prime Minister, 1979-1990.
7. Maria da Lourdes Pintasilgo, Portugal
   Prime Minister, 1979-1980.
8. Lidia Gueiler Tejada, Bolivia
   Prime Minister, 1979-1980.
9. Dame Eugenia Charles, Dominica
   Prime Minister, 1980-1995.
10. Vigdís Finnbogadóttír, Iceland
    President, 1980-96.
11. Gro Harlem Brundtland, Norway
    Prime Minister, 1981, 1986-1989, 1990-1996.
12. Soong Ching-Ling, Peoples' Republic of China
    Honorary President, 1981.
13. Milka Planinc, Yugoslavia
    Federal Prime Minister, 1982-1986.
14. Agatha Barbara, Malta
    President, 1982-1987.
15. Maria Liberia-Peters, Netherlands Antilles
    Prime Minister, 1984-1986, 1988-1993.
16. Corazon Aquino, Philippines
    President, 1986-92.
17. Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan
    Prime Minister, 1988-1990, 1993-1996.
18. Kazimiera Danuta Prunskiena, Lithuania
    Prime Minister, 1990-91.
19. Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, Nicaragua
    Prime Minister, 1990-1996.
20. Mary Robinson, Ireland
    President, 1990-1997.
21. Ertha Pascal Trouillot, Haiti
    Interim President, 1990-1991.
22. Sabine Bergmann-Pohl, German Democratic Republic
    President, 1990.
23. Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar (Burma)
    Her party won 80% of the seats in a democratic election in 1990, but the military government refused to recognize the results. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991.
24. Khaleda Zia, Bangladesh
    Prime Minister, 1991-1996.
25. Edith Cresson, France
    Prime Minister, 1991-1992.
26. Hanna Suchocka, Poland
    Prime Minister, 1992-1993.
27. Kim Campbell, Canada
    Prime Minister, 1993.
28. Sylvie Kinigi, Burundi
    Prime Minister, 1993-1994.
29. Agathe Uwilingiyimana, Rwanda
    Prime Minister, 1993-1994.
30. Susanne Camelia-Romer, Netherlands Antilles
    Prime Minister, 1993, 1998-1999
31. Tansu Çiller, Turkey
    Prime Minister, 1993-1995.
32. Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunge, Sri Lanka
    Prime Minister, 1994, President, 1994-2005
33. Reneta Indzhova, Bulgaria
    Interim Prime Minister, 1994-1995.
34. Claudette Werleigh, Haiti
    Prime Minister, 1995-1996.
35. Sheikh Hasina Wajed, Bangladesh
    Prime Minister, 1996-2001,2009-.
36. Mary McAleese, Ireland
    President, 1997-.
37. Pamela Gordon, Bermuda
    Premier, 1997-1998.

Hello From America-land!

My family flew me home for the holidays! To be honest it’s a bit strange, I wasn’t expecting a trip home until I was done with Peace Corps, but this has been a nice break from the bugs, and heat. So what do you notice about America when you have been living in Africa for almost a year?

• - THERE ARE SO MANY WHITE PEOPLE
• - THEY ALL SPEAK ENGLISH
• - Everyone seems to dislike color (compared to Zambia’s chitenges)
• - There is so much food!
• - Why do we need 400 types of everything?
• - Everything is so easy! Laundry you throw in a machine, you can just turn on a shower, and you can cook for on a stove.
• - There is constant distraction, tv, internet, ipod, radio, movies, etc.
• - You rarely interact with the actual climate, the air in our houses, cars, shops all have artificial climates.
• - America caters to everyone, I went to the museum of sex on one block passed a church and a palm reader on the way.
• - Transport is easy, if you don’t have car there are trains, planes, buses.
• - You can’t do anything without money

Most surprising of all was how easy it has been to come back. I was a bit nervous that people had moved on that I couldn’t just glide back into life. It has been very easy, from the moment my plane landing I have been surrounded by friends and family and they want to talk about Zambia more than I do. One of my friends actually introduces me as “This is Lisa, she’s home from Africa!”. Granted it’s a great pick up line “So I just got back from Africa…”

Anyway enjoy the holidays! I’ll be back in Zambia Jan 2 or 3^rd.

Camp GLOW!

One of the projects in Peace Corps I am the most excited to be taking part in is Camp Glow (GLOW = Girls Leading Our World). This is a worldwide activity that PCV’s around the world put on every year. It’s a girl’s empowerment project, which is something I think is very important for so many young women around the world. This year I came as a sort of helper/observer, next year myself and 2 other volunteers in my province will be in charge of organizing the camp (yay grant writing!).

This year’s camp focused on so many topics. Unfortunately in Africa girls are lowest on the totem pole. There are a lot of opportunities denied to them, usually their education. Worse is that many are in sexually abusive environments and have no one to turn to for help or even understanding. Things are getting better but it is still a huge issue. On top of that, they have to deal with all the same issues American teens do; acne, boys, getting their period, and weird body changes. This camp is a safe environment to discuss it all.

This year we talked about sugar daddies, prostitution, HIV, STI’s, hygiene, self-esteem, puberty, did condom demos, counseled them on sexual abuse, talked about staying in school, offered STI testing and on top of it all we got to do some rock climbing and canoeing.

It’s a really brilliant program and it is a pleasure to be a part of it.

Video of our slideshow!

Individual Photos Here