February 22, 2007

Hey guys! I don't know about all of you, but 2007 has been such a whirlwind year for me so far... Between all of the workshops I've attended, trainings I've worked at, and illnesses I've dealt with over the past 2 months, I think I've spent less than 2 weeks at my village. I've been told that a Peace Corps volunteer's 2nd year of service just flies by, and I'm starting to believe it! I'm looking forward to some good 'ole quality time at my site and all of the chores and activities that go along with it- fetching water, cooking, biking, playing with village kids. After spending so much time dealing with public transportation (a nightmare every time!) and living out of my backpack, getting back to my hut sounds so good.

As some of you may have already heard, I battled my 1st major illness recently (other than that spider bite way back when). No worries, I'm fine now... It's just another story to add to the list of unexpected things that make living over here so exciting! Alright, I hope ya'll enjoy the following few exerpts from my life...

A Small Dose of Witchcraft

About a month ago I was chatting with my neighbor, Ba Friday, when he relayed the following story to me... There is a young couple who live in a nearby village who recently lost their young child to some sickness. They held a funeral for the child and borrowed a hoe from a fellow villager to dig the grave. A few days later, the man who had loaned them the hoe believed he was seeing the dead child playing in his fields when he went to work!

He told others about his sightings, but no one else ever saw anything in his fields... Ba Friday said that the man has now gone completely mad- the result of which is obviously the work of a local witch. The village is now trying to find out who is the witch who cast this curse on the madman so that they can have the black magic reversed. "You mean only the witch who cast the spell has the ability to make it go away?" I asked. "Well yes, of course," he responded. You learn something new every day.

Tick Bite Fever

Yep, I had Tick Bite Fever. No, that's not the same thing as lime disease (which everyone keeps asking me). Here's the story...

A few weeks ago I was in town to get some work done and to meet with a couple of the new trainees who had just arrived in country and were scheduled to spend a few days with me- seeing my village, learning about local customs, etc., etc. The 1st night I simply couldn't sleep, and I ended up staying awake the entire night. The following day I was working on the computer when I began to get a pounding headache- which I assumed was mostly the result of not sleeping the night before. Within 24 hours that headache had escalated to what I would guess a migraine feels like, and I was running a fever. At this point I took a malaria test- negative. I called the Peace Corps medical office, and the nurse simply recommended waiting until I was feeling better before taking the new trainees to my village.

The next morning (Day 3 of the headache) I decided to accompany another volunteer in showing the new trainees some of the local sites- the market, the grocery store, etc. (This was their 1st trip to an African market, and I didn't want to miss out). Terrible idea... Within a few hours, my head felt like it was in a constant "brain freeze" state! I was absolutely miserable! The pain felt like it was connected to the back of my eyeballs and every time I moved my eyes in any direction it agitated the headache- even turning my head too quickly to look at something felt like my brain was jiggling around! The only comfortable position was to lay down with my eyes closed... even bright lights made my head hurt. I took another malaria test- negative. My fever was 102 degrees.

I called the medical office again, and this time the nurse requested that I let another volunteer take over my job of hosting the new trainees and that I head down to Lusaka to get checked out. So early the next morning I got on a bus for a 10-hour ride of total misery. Every turn, every pot hole, every slam on the brakes felt like a bomb exploding in my skull- intensifying my "brain freeze" to an almost unbearable state.

When I finally arrived in Lusaka, they drew some blood and it was concluded that I was most likely suffering from Tick Bite Fever. The symptoms of Tick Bite Fever are severe headache, accompanied by fever and usually small rashes all over the body. ...Of course, there's usually a tick bite somewhere that is also surrounded by a rash. On my 2nd day in Lusaka, a red, flaky rash appeared right in the middle of my forehead- so, all signs pointed to Tick Bite Fever (except for the fact that I never found a tick bite on my body... I did, however, read on the internet that it can be up to 8 or 10 days after the tick bites that you come down with the fever. So, the bite could have completely healed before I ever got sick.) To make a long story short, it was a total of 8 days before I was back to normal. I don't think Tick Bite Fever can be fatal, but it is definitely painful. I'm just relieved that whole episode is over!

PCV of the Week

As I mentioned earlier, this year's batch of new trainees have arrived and are going through their 9 weeks of training before being sworn in as volunteers. This year I was fortunate enough to be selected as a "PCV (Peace Corps Volunteer) of the Week", which means that I got to attend the training for 1 week and help facilitate sessions regarding our work, life in the village, Zambian culture, etc.

I must say that I really enjoyed getting to spend time and help out with all of the new trainees. Mostly, it was reassuring to meet all of these new arrivals- full of excitement, enthusiasm, nervousness, etc.- and really get a fresh perspective on just how far I've come in the past year. Many of them had new hiking pants, sandals, backpacks, water bottles, prescription glasses... it reminded me of how much I stressed over what to bring! They asked all the same questions I did when I was in training: "So did your 1st year go by fast or slow? Has it been really difficult being away from your friends and family or did you get used to it pretty fast? Where can I buy stamps? Can I wear workout shorts to exercise in the village?..."

I had no idea how much I've grown and adapted and gotten used to the peculiarities and wonderful aspects that make up Zambia. I truly do love it here... There were several trainees who had even read my website entries before coming here. One of my favorite comments was, "You had me really worried about taking Mefloquine!"

A Bus Ride to Remember (or better yet... FORGET!)

The following is an excerpt from my journal on Feb. 21, 2007... I returned from Lusaka yesterday afternoon after sitting through the most disgusting bus ride ever... So I arrived at the bus station in Lusaka around 3:45 am for a 5:00 am departure time. I climbed into the bus- which was already over 1/2 full with Zambians who had been sleeping there all night- and searched for an open seat. I found a seat, put my fully-loaded hiking pack in the back (which some guy tried to charge me 5,000 kwacha for, but I refused... I won), and then tried to settle down for a nap:

About 15 minutes later, some guy showed up and informed me that I was in his seat (he proceeded to show me the seat # on his ticket and he did ask really politely, so I agreed to get up and move). I looked for a seat # on my own ticket - #11 - and then headed that way. There were 2 men sitting in seats #11 and #13, with #12 open between them, and I could have easily just sat in between them, but (A) I wasn't too crazy about being squished between 2 Zam guys for 10 hours, and (B) I like to sit next to the window on these long trips. That was probably the biggest mistake I could have made- the decision to insist on seat #11.

So, I squeezed passed the 2 guys and into my seat next to the window. The man next to me had unbearable body odor, and he was sitting with a car battery in a mealie meal sack wedged between his feet, so there was no getting around him being scrunched up next to me. He was wearing a thick denim jacket, so his arm that was pressed up against my arm was making me sweat (not to mention, the denim felt kind of sticky, like it had never been washed since it was 1st bought by someone back in the 80's)... But the worst part was yet to come.

I rested my head on the window and tried to get some sleep. Moments later, I noticed something moving. I looked at the window to find roaches crawling on the glass! I scooched away from the window (putting me in much more intimate contact with my neighbor guy than I would have preferred), and tried not to look at the bugs. That's when I noticed the roaches crawling on the back of the chair in front of me, up the wall below the window, and on the floor by my feet!

The next 1/2 hour or so was spent flicking away bugs that got too close to me and trying not to dwell on how nasty and unclean that bus must have been to have acquired a roach infestation. So, at 5:00 the bus took off and they turned the lights out- they turned the lights out!! There I was, sitting amidst a community of roaches, and now I couldn't even see where they were!

I finally resigned myself to the fact that they were going to touch me and crawl over me whether I fought against it or not, so I rested my head against the window and went to sleep... I awoke a few hours later and to my surprise, didn't see any roaches. Maybe it was because the sun was up and shining into the bus. Or, maybe the strong current of air that was coming in through some of the open windows had something to do with it? I didn't know, didn't care.

About 7 hours into the trip, we made a stop in the town of Mpika for people to get food, walk around, use toilets, etc., so I got out to stretch my legs. I was talking to a well-dressed Zambian man about his sister who lives in America, when I felt something moving on my leg... I looked down to see a big roach crawl out of my pant leg and across my foot! Ugh! I then shook my pant leg and 2 or 3 more roaches fell out - DISGUSTING! So my little theory that the roaches magically disappeared when the sun came out was totally wrong- they were hibernating up my pants! Yuck.

Well guys, that's all I have for this letter. We are currently deep in the heart of rainy season here, so even if I weren't running around so much, it would be difficult to accomplish much more work at home anyway... Meetings are cancelled without question if it's raining outside. Also, one of my villages is on the other side of the Lukulu River, which at my crossing point has swelled from a width of around 30-40 meters to about 1/2 a kilometer! That community has insisted that I do not return to visit them again until mid-April, when the water has receded some... For now, the river is too dangerous- the current is swift and there's a lot of vast, shallow areas (only 1-2 meters deep), making it a potential playground for crocs.

Happy Valentine's, Mardi Gras, and St. Patrick's Day! The big news in Zambia right now is that Brittany Spears shaved her head. I swear, you can't escape pop culture no matter how hard you try. Take care, everyone!

Shalenipo,

Erin