Youth Day

Saturday March 12 was Zambia's Youth day! However in my village, it was celebrated on Friday. I'm not exactly sure what the founders of this holiday intended when they created it, but for Luchembe, it involved a lot of work on the students' part. The entire week leading up to the event, the students slashed grass, gathered firewood, swept, and generally stayed OUT of the classroom. Originally the festivites were to occur on Saturday, but it was decided that all 4 schools in the zone would come to Luchembe to celebrate on Friday (therefore elliminating yet another day of learning). Each school had various groups/clubs perform skits, songs, poems, and cultural dances. It really was a lot of fun to watch. My GLOW club did some great songs and dances, and my Chongololo club was supposed to perform a skit, but time got tight and they were cut :o(. The dances were a lot of fun though because the students would start doing their thing and then the teachers would jump up and dance for a bit and give the kids money or sweeties. I don't want to brag, but I caused kind of a riot when I got up to dance for a minute! haha. I think the kids had a lot of fun, but it's just sad to see all of the work that children have to endure here.

I've been busy working in my garden lately. The fence is falling down a bit, but with the rains continuing on, I figure I have to keep it up. I had a few ears of sweet corn turn out (albeit they were quite small). I had a lot of green beans and also a few cucumbers. My tomatos are still growing, just waiting for them to turn green. Watermelon is slowly coming up, but I'm not sure it will last. So I recently planted peas, cabbage, lettuce, and summer squash. HOpefully they will pop up before the rains end for the season. Otherwise I've enjoyed working in it, even though the weeds here are out of control.

The week that I hit my one- year mark in country was pretty tough for me. I felt a bit unaccomplished and like I hadn't really done much in the year that I've been here. In the village, it's difficult sometimes to feel appreciated by the people. There are sometimes I feel like the villagers don't really want my help, they don't trust me, and they don't care that I'm around. However the other day, my counterpart Lawrence made me feel really good by telling me that him and his wife were my helpers and were there to help me in anything I wanted to do in the village. I am planning a big VCT day and was feeling really frustrated that day with the lack of support from various clubs/groups in the village, and Lawrence really boosted my confidence. I hope his family and I can work together for this VCT day because I really feel like it will make a difference.