E-mail from Charlye (2-19-07)

Muli Bwanji? (how are you?) Greetings from Chongwe village! Living with my host familyand being submersed into the culture, the language, the traditions has made me feel less like a M'azungu (foreigner) and more like a true Zambian each day.

VILLAGE LIFE
The Kayumba family have been wonderful. My atate (father) Andrew and amayi (mother) Ester consider me their 8th child. My amayi prepares my bucket bath two times a day..and she even boils my water for a hot bath! Someone in the family walks me to and from language and technical classes each day..2km each way for a total of 8 km! I get three hot meals of shima (grits) and two sides either eggs, beans, eggplant, cabbage, rape (spinach-like greens), and chiwawa (pumpkin leaves). I haven't been served meet since the first night. They offered me the liver and gizzard of a chicken out of a pot which had the feet and head still attached! I took one bite--and that took all I had in me--and left the remainders on my plate. They haven't served any meat since..thank goodness! They cook with tons of saladie (cooking oil) and the food lack nutrition. So, basically I eat carbs soaked in oil---yum yum, healthy! I get a lot of bisquits (cookies) from the tuck shop in the village..that is what I live for each day! I play with my 7 brothers and sisters everyday. Rhoda (16), Ramson (15), Elizabeth (13), Phabeon (10), Moses (7), Unius (2), and Victoria (10 months). We play football (soccer), frisbee, and they have taught me some games as well. We sing songs and practice Nyanja a lot. They are great teachers. I am surprised by my level of understanding at this point, but I guess living within the language helps (or requires) you to learn quickly. The highlight of my day is when Uni runs and greets me with a big hug and smile each time I come home! She is adorable! My atate had malaria earlier this week. It was very scary but he went to the boma clinic and they gave hime medication. He is feeling better now. Ted in my training group also had malaria this week but he made it thru fine and is back to good heath now!. It is the rainy season and a lot of the villagers are sick with malaria. It is very sad to see the sick riding to the clinic in the back of ox carts.

CHURCH
I visited a catholic church with my family. That was an experience! The church is a mud hut packed with villagers. We were so packed we were practically sitting in each others laps. The traditional dress for women is to wrap a chitanga around your waist over your clothes. So not only is it sweltering hot, we are all packed into a small church with no breaze and I have on double clothing! There was a lot of singing and dancing. A group of girls danced up and down the isles with each song. They waved their hands and yelled out. The men are required to sit on the left side of the church and the women on the right. Each week a different member of the church serves as the preacher. The entire service lasted over three hours and did I mention it was all in Nyanja!!

HELLO MOTO!
I am fortunate to have a nice mud hut of my own with a mattress on the ground and a small desk and chair. Before I left the states I heard stories of how I would develop close friendships with the bugs and rodents, but I did not realize these stories are in fact true. My first night in the village was challenging due to language barriers. My family and I communicated with gestures mostly. I sat in the M'palla (outdoor kitchen) and watched my amayi prepare dinner. After 3 hours, I knew only one word..Moto (fire). After dinner, my bath was prepared. I went into this shelter type thing and saw a bucket and a 6 inch black catapillar! I immediately ran out. I knew I had to face the music, and I was needed a bath in a bad way so I decided to make a new friend. Since I only knew one word in Nyanja, I decided to name my new friend Moto. Every morning and every night Moto is in the bathing shelter waiting for me. Sometimes he brings friends, other catapilars, roaches, spiders. I also had roaches and rats in my hut....they ran across my floor and climbed up my walls keeping me up at night. After about a week without sleep and living in terror I decided that something had to be done. My family could not understand that Americans are afraid of mice and rats. There wasn't any rat posioning to be found b/c they eat rats! So, my family got me a cat. Zambians do not name their cats or dogs, however, they do name their oxen (go figure). So my new cat's name is Chona (Nyanja for cat) and he loves rats!!! So I am now rat free and happy! So my two best friends are a catapillar named Moto and my cat named Chona!

The culture, people, and landscape is amazing. I love Africa! The sunsets are breathtaking. There are green rolling hills as far as you can see in all directions. The stars are incredible...I would never have imagined stars could be so bright. I saw a falling star the other night. I have been to traditional ceremonies with amazing music and dancing. The people are glad to have us here and to teach us the Zambian culture.

I love you guys and miss you more than ever. I am having the time of my life. Til the next letter.....

Charlye