Out with the old and in with the new. For the life of a villager, this can be interpreted in many ways. Some of the things I learned during training I have found as very useful, however, as I quickly discovered, I was living the life of luxury in Chongwe. If I was directly taken from the plane to the bush I am not sure if I would have made it. In retrospect, 
life was easy during training however at the time, I thought I had been dropped off in the middle of nowhere. Now I really know what nowhere really is. It is biking uphill 10 km to find electricity, but still no luck in finding running water. It is going for days without realizing that you haven’t spoken English. It is waking up at 4:30 am to chickens and goats and pigs and screaming children just to sweep your dirt yard. It is co-habitating with spiders, termites, lizards, frogs and rats. It is going 4 weeks without washing your hair or looking in a mirror. It is cycling 36 km (22.5 miles) in one day. It is attending traditional ceremonies with men wearing headdresses and animal skins. It is living in a village with a polygamist Headman. It is finding 101 uses for a stick. It is craving pizza so much that you dream you are swimming in marinara sauce. Chimate Village is quite a large village. Mufumu (Headman) Chimate is a polygamist. Between himself and his two wives, they have 20 children, 21 counting his newest child, Kristena Zulu – ME! Following Zambian traditions the Headman passed his tribal name Zulu to me. I am not certain where Kristena came from. It is not Christina or Kristen but a ‘Zamblish’ combination of the two. Now I am expected to name the next born child in the village. There is a young girl who is 6 months pregnant and I thought of giving the name Liberty to her child to represent America. Her pregnancy was unplanned and she and the father of the child do not intend to marry. The father and his family were ordered by the Headman to give the girl two cows and 300,000 kwatcha (about $73). Dowries are a common practice in Zambia. I have been asked countless times how many cows my father is requesting for my dowry. I just tell them that I do not know how to cook nsima and they are no longer interested! A man will not marry a woman if she does not know how to prepare their staple food of nsima. Other than being served on a plate, I have not seen any rats (knock on wood). It is harvest season now but I have been told that once the crops are taken from the fields that the rats come in the villages to look for food. So, I have that to look forward to. As of now I have traded my host family rats for pit latrine bats. The bats have taken residency in the depths of my latrine as their bat cave. I have decided that bats are much more terrifying than rats, I mean aren’t bats just rats with wings? Using your imagination, I am certain that you are able to envision why I am much more afraid of bats in my latrine than rats in my house. Peace Corps Medical Office would get a good laugh from a med report that begins with “Well, I was squatting over my pit latrine when…”.
life was easy during training however at the time, I thought I had been dropped off in the middle of nowhere. Now I really know what nowhere really is. It is biking uphill 10 km to find electricity, but still no luck in finding running water. It is going for days without realizing that you haven’t spoken English. It is waking up at 4:30 am to chickens and goats and pigs and screaming children just to sweep your dirt yard. It is co-habitating with spiders, termites, lizards, frogs and rats. It is going 4 weeks without washing your hair or looking in a mirror. It is cycling 36 km (22.5 miles) in one day. It is attending traditional ceremonies with men wearing headdresses and animal skins. It is living in a village with a polygamist Headman. It is finding 101 uses for a stick. It is craving pizza so much that you dream you are swimming in marinara sauce. Chimate Village is quite a large village. Mufumu (Headman) Chimate is a polygamist. Between himself and his two wives, they have 20 children, 21 counting his newest child, Kristena Zulu – ME! Following Zambian traditions the Headman passed his tribal name Zulu to me. I am not certain where Kristena came from. It is not Christina or Kristen but a ‘Zamblish’ combination of the two. Now I am expected to name the next born child in the village. There is a young girl who is 6 months pregnant and I thought of giving the name Liberty to her child to represent America. Her pregnancy was unplanned and she and the father of the child do not intend to marry. The father and his family were ordered by the Headman to give the girl two cows and 300,000 kwatcha (about $73). Dowries are a common practice in Zambia. I have been asked countless times how many cows my father is requesting for my dowry. I just tell them that I do not know how to cook nsima and they are no longer interested! A man will not marry a woman if she does not know how to prepare their staple food of nsima. Other than being served on a plate, I have not seen any rats (knock on wood). It is harvest season now but I have been told that once the crops are taken from the fields that the rats come in the villages to look for food. So, I have that to look forward to. As of now I have traded my host family rats for pit latrine bats. The bats have taken residency in the depths of my latrine as their bat cave. I have decided that bats are much more terrifying than rats, I mean aren’t bats just rats with wings? Using your imagination, I am certain that you are able to envision why I am much more afraid of bats in my latrine than rats in my house. Peace Corps Medical Office would get a good laugh from a med report that begins with “Well, I was squatting over my pit latrine when…”.
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