Turkey , Bats & GLOW

Thanksgiving was really quite lovely this year as the 40 volunteers in Northern province celebrated together at our provincial house in Kasama. Because we are so many these days, some of us had to stay at a nearby guest house. We had meetings beginning on Tuesday, and ended up cooking through about 3 days to get ready for Turkey day. We had two turkeys, five chickens, and most of the regular fixings. After this nice weekend, I headed south to Central province. The plan was to meet up with two guys from my intake so we could go to Kasanka National park and see the bat migration there. One of my good friends Bart was pretty sick though so we ended up staying at the Central provincial house in Serenje for two nights. We then hitched about 80km north to get to the national park entrance. Kasanka was the first privately run national park in Zambia, so the managers came and picked us up at the entrance. We camped out one night and got to see about 5 million bats at dusk. These tan fruit bats migrate here beginning in October to feed on the fruit trees here (mostly a bush tree fruit called amasuku). They come from as far away as equatorial Africa, but mostly originate in the DRC. At dusk they head out up to 50km away to feed on the trees. I read somewhere that where they roost, the weight of all of the bats on one tree can be the same as about two elephants! It was really quite a site as the bats came out of a line of trees about 200 meters from where we were allowed to stand. Looking up, I saw more bats than sky. Incredible. I have to admit I was a bit nervous we might be victims to the bat’s waste, but luckily none of us were hit. The park also offered an early morning viewing of the bats, but due to time and money we weren’t able to participate (in fact, the three of us that travelled there together had greatly underestimated the costs we would incur at the park—mostly the transport throughout the park, and barely had enough to pay when we left). However, as we were being driven back to our campsite after seeing the bats at dusk we saw the small herd of elephants that stay in the park. There were about 11 off to our right and one just ahead of our vehicle. The driver stopped and revved his engine to apparently scare the young elephant away. It trotted off a bit, but then stopped when it was behind our vehicle and started to charge after us! The driver floored it, and we sped away as the elephant eventually gave up its chase. It was a really exciting experience. How many people can say they were chased by an elephant! I got extremely lucky hitching the 300km home by myself as I got picked up by a super bwana (fancy) lift. It’s times like these, when people selflessly pick dirty white people up on the side of the road and drive them long distances for free, that my faith in humanity is restored. In the second week of December, I completed my 7th and final application to Graduate School. It really has been quite a process trying to work out all these applications here. It seems like back in the day when I was applying to undergraduate, things were a lot more simple and streamlined. Everything is online now, down to ordering copies of my transcript, and GRE scores, and the letters of recommendations that I needed from professors and bosses. With limited internet access up at our provincial house, I had to do a lot of the applications in waves. Most of the programs I applied to are ‘International Relations/Studies/Development. I do have two oddballs in there (A Masters in Community Planning and a MA in Cross Cultural and International Education), so we’ll see what happens. None of the schools are in Illinois, so it will really come down to cost when I have to make a decision. I’m really indecisive, so I’m not especially looking forward to making this choice. During the second week in December, I participated in my second Camp GLOW (Girls Leading Our World). The nine of us volunteers who stay in Mpika all brought two girls and one teacher from our community to Lwitikila Girl’s School. It’s a beautiful private, Christian boarding school near the Mpika town. We used this venue last year and had such a great time. This year, we decided to invite the teachers for only one day of sessions, while the girls stayed the entire week. Last year we had problems with the teachers asking for ‘sitting fees’ (money like per diem that is usually paid to them here in the Zambian culture when they go to workshops or other meetings through the Ministry of Education), as they were staying the entire week. Dealing with teachers here can be quite difficult as they feel they are not a part of the village (even though they live in the village). Since they are usually the most educated people in the community, they will sometimes have a sense of entitlement. Plus, since the government always pays them these ‘sitting fee’s, they can’t seem to understand why Peace Corps has a strict policy of NOT paying sitting fees. To be fair, last year their room and board were all covered, and we gave them a thank you gift as well. So instead of dealing with the awkwardness of unhappy teachers, we had them come on a Sunday and leave on a Tuesday this year. Since the month of December is their break month, they want to be with their family, which is understandable. Plus, the reason we bring them to begin with is to teach them how to run a GLOW club back at their school. To be honest, they really don’t need a week of lessons to learn this. This change this year went really well, and I think it will be a permanent change for future years. The purpose of the camp for the girls is to teach them about female empowerment and talk about issues that they may not get to discuss at home. It’s often the first time some of these girls get to leave their village, and you can tell they are just thrilled. We teach them goofy camp songs, play team building games, lead them in craft activities, and even take them swimming at Lwitikila Falls (again a first for a lot of the girls). The educational sessions have topics like assertiveness, confidence, motivation, rape/sexual abuse, business skills, the female body, and goal setting. We even had VCT services available for them and all 18 of the girls participated and were tested for HIV. I asked one of the girls I brought (a nearby neighbor of mine) if she was missing home at all , and without a beat she said , “Nope”. I think all of the girls had a great time. I feel like this has been one of the most influential programs I have been able to participate in here, and am so glad I’ve been able to do it twice now. All of the funds that we had were donated by friends and family at home, and I can’t thank everyone enough. If you donated, you really made a difference in 18 girls’ lives. I think this is an experience in their life that they will never forget. Now I’m celebrating Haunkkah in the village. Two of my friends came over on the first night and we made both homemade and boxed latkes (courtesy of my Aunt Cassie in America). It was really nice to have people to celebrate with. I remember last year lighting the candles alone in my hut and crying thinking that I had a whole other holiday season to get through by myself. This year, I keep thinking that this is the last ____ (fill in the blank) I’ll have here in Zambia, and that makes me want to cry a little. So strange how much my feelings about this place have changed. I’m heading to Mutinondo today- a wildlife park about 80 km south of Mpika town- with 9 other volunteers. We’ll stay through Christmas, and I’ll head home on the 26th. The first day of 2012, will be spent heading down to Lusaka for our Close of Service (COS) Conference. Everyone from my intake will go to the capitol for medical appointments and meetings meant to prepare us for the end of our service and transition back to America. The nice part is Peace Corps puts us up in a fancy resort for two days as a treat. I’m really looking forward to this and to seeing all of my old friends for one of the last times.