My Work

Wow….this past week has flown by. Time in Zambia seems to go much faster than in the States, although you’d think it would be the opposite! Well, so much has happened in the last week. I am finally settling into my weekly schedule. This is what I will be doing while I am here:

The Mango Tree community center – I will be working with the staff at the community center to start some programs (in the next few weeks we are hoping to start a mentorship program for the youth, as well as an adult literacy class). I am also working on ideas to help generate enough income for the center so that it can be self-sustaining within 6 months. So far, the Mango Tree is generating income from the library (membership fees), the restaurant, as well as rent fees for those who want to book the classroom to hold meetings/clubs/classes. Since the center just opened a few weeks ago, the income stream has been very slow but we are hoping that the recently-finished sign will draw people in as they pass by on the Great North Highway. I realized that I in my last post I included a lot of pictures of the center while it was being renovated, but not many pictures of the completed project. Here are some more pictures that will give you a sense of what it looks like now:

PVCW (Program for Vulnerable Children and Women) – I will be assisting Joyce Ngoma, the director and founder of this small NGO in Mpika (the nearest town to my village). This organization reaches out to communities in remote villages by teaching them income-generating skills (like making small rugs, peanut butter, vaseline, tomato jam, etc) and PVCW sells these products for them in Mpika. PVCW also gives communities seed loans and pig loans. I traveled with Joyce and Marjorie, another woman who works for PVCW, to the remote village of Milunga. Here, we checked on the two pigs which PVCW gave the village. The village is required to provide PVCW with 4 pigs in return when the first litter is born. We also met with the Women’s Group and discussed the products that they will be making to sell in Mpika. The women provided us with a delicious lunch before we headed back to town.

I will also be working at the Chilonga Hospital one day per week. Every Friday, mothers from surrounding villages bring their babies to the “Under 5” clinic, where I will help to weigh the babies, chart their progress (the women come to the clinic once a month), tell them what vaccinations they need, and explain what foods to incorporate into the babies’ diet to make it more nutritious (if the baby is malnourished).

So, that gives you an idea of what I’ll be doing on a weekly basis here. Besides that, I’ve been enjoying making new friends here in the village, and getting used to the way of life here. I’ll attach some more pics below. The purple trees that line the road to my house are beautiful...the market where I buy all my fruit and vegetables...hitchhiking is a way of life here- you jump on a passing minibus or the back of a pickup truck and hold on!.....oh, and the roaches....not my favorite aspect of life in Zambia....I have found that the "Doom" cockroach spray is not entirely effective, so my hiking shoe is getting a lot of use :) Thanks again for your prayers and emails!