Thursday, May 16, 2013

Reentry: One Week

(written 15 May 2013)

I've been back in country for one week.

My first impressions of America:
 - Stairs are common, and my knees still creak.
 - The post office staff is remarkably efficient, they don't debate shipping costs, and they possess supernatural powers that allow them to transport a package from Florida to Alaska in a mere 4 days.
 - More water is run down the sink for no reason than is needed for an entire day's use in the village.
 - Paper towels are extremely wasteful but so handy that they're used ubiquitously.
 - Houses are enormous, with vast amounts of wasted space.
 - Mid-size cars have grown and are practically the size of an SUV.  Everyone drives the same non-grey, nondescript color.
 - Food is unbelievably good.  The variety is staggering.  Yet many people eat mostly non-food or highly-processed food, both expensive and poor in nutrients, which is confounding given the availability of delicious nutritious options.
 - Eating out appears to be the status quo.
 - Air conditioning makes every place too cold.
 - Many people spend the amount of money that would put a child in my village through grade 8 or 9 for an entire term (and the absence of said amount prevents many from enrolling) on a meal or an outfit without batting an eye.  I have done so numerous times already, though I cringed a little inside.
 - iPhones have taken over the nation.  They do appear to be pretty handy.
 - Cars can now turn on without the driver removing the key from his/her pocket.
 - Sidewalks are every bit as wonderful as I recall.
 - The current dress styles are not particularly flattering on my body.

and perhaps most importantly,
 - Family stay family despite years of absence.

Reflections on myself:
 - I have a strong sense, influenced by Zambia, of what kind of family lifestyle I do and don't want my (future) kids to have.
- Writing letters to people I care about is still a priority.
 - Not having my own phone (and hence not knowing for certain the date, time, or anybody's latest plans) is pretty nice, and I may stretch that out as long as possible.
 - I almost miss nshima.
 - My body still hasn't quite figured out a rational sleeping/waking schedule.
 - I'm getting back into some "American" habits far too quickly, even if I resisted them the first couple of days.
 - Constructing sentences in Mambwe is already a challenge.  Caipa sana.
 - I'm scared.  Of forgetting.  Of losing my language, my connections, my values.  Of Zambia drifting away and becoming a hazy phase in my life's timeline.
 - I hope that, despite our distance and potentially years (ahead) of absence, my Zambian family will also stay family.
 

A Transition

(written 8 May 2013)

It's 11:25 Eastern Time, and I'm an RPCV--a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer.  Here in Dulles airport in D.C., awaiting my connecting flight, things feel surprisingly normal.  The international flights were luxurious, of course; hot running water in the lavatories--imagine!  I didn't have hot running water in my house.  I didn't have cold running water in my house--or any water at all, unless I pulled it from the well and carried it in myself.  Cheese and chocolate at every meal!  Delightful.  I was overwhelmed initially by the staggering number of movies, music, and other entertainment options, but I barely slept as a result, too enamored with the sights and sounds of my personal screen and plastic-wrapped headphones.

Now I'm home, back on American property, even if my feet have not yet touched American soil.  My Peace Corps journey is over in some ways, but because the 3rd Goal (teaching Americans about the host country of my service) is ongoing (hence the reason PCVs are not "former" or "ex" but simply "Returned") I'm not in a hurry to hang up the hat quite yet  I had more things I wanted to write: about meeting the Polish priest to whom much of the credit for anything translated into Mambwe is due, about working in the district library and my love affair with books, about the meaning of luxury in the village and more.  Perhaps I'll still write some essays on these topics.  Perhaps their absence will be a reflection of the many things I wanted to do in the village and didn't.

Nonetheless, it seems dreadfully negligent to reassume my life in the USA with a blog that ends in midair, last updated over two months prior to my Close-of-Service (COS) date.  Likewise, I've done a poor job of including photos in this forum.  Thus I've decided to try and address both deficiencies efficiently.  Hence, behold my photo summary of Peace Corps: Community Exit (the last 2.5 months).

I focused this term on finishing up my work, trying to spend less time at school and more in the community, both for my sanity and to make up for a less balanced approach in the past. Rather than solo- or co-teaching a class, I worked with 7th graders doing remedial and supplementary reading.  This was really rewarding, and because we worked in the staff office, many teachers saw my literacy instruction methods and copied them.  Skills transfer!  I also made last visits to several of the schools in my zone.


The signpost for Twime, the school up the mountain which is in transition from being community-run to being a full-fledged government school.

I finished a preliminary organization of the district library's collection (a year in progress) and worked to create links between people at the local district provincial and national levels who can drive it forward.

Working with the clinic to help with Under 5 baby-weighing and health lessons and with a community committee to organize a VCT (Voluntary Counselling and Testing for HIV status) and family planning event spiced up my life.  Moving outside of the school's structure helped me to get a taste of the types of work many other PCVs do and helped prepare my community for the possibility that they get a Volunteer in the future whose project focus is on health rather than education.
An outdoor Under 5 session at the Masamba Rural Health Centre
Women were offered a variety of family planning services through partner organization Marie Stopes International


Pupils presenting poems and dances at our VCT event
Pupils wait out a rainshower in a room set aside for HIV/AIDS information.
 While efforts to organize a community library were not as successful as I hoped, I was able to leave behind books sourced from my family and the Canadian High Commission to start a community library shelf in one of the village shops.
Yes, that's my college classmate on the cover of a magazine joining our humble library shelf.  I found the juxtaposition of our two lives amusing.

Band practice at the Roman Catholic church.  The instruments are made by hand; guitar heads are made out of old X-rays.
I also tried to focus on having more time to experience Zambia.  To reacquaint myself with my role as Learner.  I pounded homemade peanut butter, sifted cassava meal, learned to use a treadle sewing machine, helped repair the thatch on my roof, hung out at the dorms, wandered the village, sat in on a church band practice, and sat more with my family and others.

Thatching my house
Sifting cassava meal
Improving the aesthetics of my house with a new coat of mud along the bottom exterior
Learning how to use a treadle sewing machine with my friend Jane
Jane happens to be much more patient with the sewing machine than am I
Getting my hair done by grade 8 and 9 pupils at the girls' dorm

The mosquito net longevity study (no photos allowed due to study protocol) gave many opportunities to interact with the community outside of my normal routine, as well.

Making nshima in a showmaker (big pot)  for my last village party
The last three months witnessed another PCV/family village party complete with dancing around a bonfire (thanks to very determined efforts by many), as well as to visits from other PCVs to my site and last visits by me to some of their sites, as well.   I was particularly privileged to take part in a traditional (if watered-down to accomodate our mizungu sensibilities) Mambwe women's initiation ceremony in my village with two close PCV friends.
Lunch with the family on party day (That's my friend Jessi, not me)
PCVs hanging out as I begin the long process of packing and giving things away
Group dinner at the NoPro house with PCVs, including our three incoming agricultural Volunteers
Mambwe initiation ceremony

Coming of age as Mambwe women





Tea at Tyler's.  He is my fellow South Dakotan, a PCV who lived about 150km SE of me for my last 7 months.

Then came the goodbyes.
To pupils, family, friends.  A last night in Mpulungu, Easter Sunday morning contemplation in the old church built years ago by the London Mission Society.  A day saying goodbye to Mbala and many of the people and businesses that have been important to me there.
Easter morning at Niamkolo church

Mpulungu at dusk
Lake Tanganyika

The Catholic church clock tower.  The third side's clock didn't say the correct time, either.
Box 420083 has brought me love from the U.S., Norway, Ireland, Antarctica, and beyond
My best friend and counterpart at Masamba, hard at work in Mbala during his term break from the University of Zambia
One of my hardest goodbyes--brothers Joseph and Davey (and unknown friend), living independently in Mbala while attending Grade 10.
My Zambian brother Davey in a shirt that says U.S. ARMY, holding a snap of my biological brother Michael, a private in the real U.S. Army.

The Mbala/Mpulungu junction at the head of the Kasama-Mbala tarmac road


Goodbye to the community at a farewell party thrown by my school, and to the pupils through my favorite circle dance with a chorus of "Bashana bashana bashana...," and assemblies.







Last moments--ordinary ones--with my Zambian family, the joy of my Peace Corps service.




Photos of family, both American and Zambian, on my sitting room wall


Packing up and giving away.  Boarding a 7:30 a.m. bus with a few belongings in the trailer in back.  Sobbing the first 40 minutes of my two-hour ride to Kasama.




My main host family: me, Ireen, Davey, Sarah, YanaSam, Meleby, and YasiSam Bwalya.


Then goodbye to the rest of Peace Corps.   A night at Chishimba Falls--our Northern Province treasure--and a costume party with most of the Volunteers from the province.  A quote on the wall, as is the custom for every PCV when s/he closes service, and an official ring-out in the PC/Z headquarters in Lusaka.




Officially ending my Peace Corps service at our office in Lusaka






Then I embarked on a holiday (vacation) to Tanzania: 3 days on a train, a Vespa "disaster" in Stonetown, healing on the glorious beaches of Zanzibar, two 20-hour bus rides sandwiching an incredibly restorative visit to parents of an old friend, and an imbasela trip to the Serengeti (the most spectacular natural celebration of Africa's flora and fauna I've ever seen).



Then, goodbye to Mama Africa, for now.  I'll be back, though I don't know when, why, or how.  I'm grateful for the Peace Corps.  In the D.C. airport, I encountered a group of young, green, army recruits bound for basic training.  As we rode the shuttle to our departure terminals, I told them of my own soldier brother, currently in Afghanistan.  I wished them well, and I hoped that they believe in what they're doing, just as I hope for Michael.

I didn't always know, and still don't, if what I did as a Peace Corps Volunteer was good.  If I made the most of it.  If we are right to be there in the way we are.

I do know, however, that I believe in the ideals of Peace Corps.  I believe in my community, and I believe in my family.  I have done my level best.  These initial hours in the U.S. have felt more familiar to me than I might have expected, but it is, after all, my home.  Nonetheless, Zambia is my home, too, and I know that I will miss it every day.