2008 08 22
Well, I’m done with In Service Training and will probably be going back to Chipata tomorrow. The IT guy at the In Service Train Trust gave me the keys to the computer lab so I will be able to use the internet for a little bit longer. Need to go pack and see how my counterpart is getting back so that I know whether to travel with him. Will probably be in Chipata till Tuesday when I will go back to site with the country director. Till then, I hope you have a big pot of synthetic pig tails ready at a moments notice (synthetic because we wouldn’t want to offend the vegetarian story tellers now would we).
Month: August 2008
Well today is our first day of training with a Zambian counterpart
2008 08 21
Well today is our first day of training with a Zambian counterpart. I think the first three days were slightly more informative but it was nice to hear the differences in views between the Zambians and the PCV’s as to what the challenges are. Downloading some more podcasts and doing a little more research then I’m going to hang out with some PCV’s who will be going back to there respective provinces in two days time.
The president of Zambia died Tuesday
The president of Zambia died Tuesday. In other news, there’s free internet at ISTT…
Because the president died we had what I thought would be a free dinner at ISTT and I talked to a Lusaka forestry person for a while.
Today we in the morning we learned about how to file our quarterly reports, then had a meeting with the country director. After lunch we had breakout sessions on topics volunteers had expressed interested in learning more about. I attended sessions on fuel efficient cook stoves, jatropha oil making and community radio. Now I am doing some research on pedal powered and wind generators, (slowly) downloading some podcasts and sending some emails. I will be able to leave my laptop connected though so hopefully a couple of the 207 podcasts I would like to download will get done. Tomorrow we will start the second part of the training which will be a two day workshop on project design in which we will work with community counterparts, in my case my DFO (District Forestry Official)
Got up at 345 and got to the bus stop at 515. I was slightly worried when I got there because there was no one there…
2008 07 20
Got up at 345 and got to the bus stop at 515. I was slightly worried when I got there because there was no one there, but I called a number that was on a flier at the stand and he said he would be coming shortly. The bus left at 600 and got there at about 1530 (9 ½ hours if you don’t want to do the math) then I got a taxi to Shopright, bought some good granola, powdered skim milk 1kg of peanut butter and maybe a few other things that can only be found here in the capital. I then walked, carrying my hiking backpack loaded down with everything I brought with me from Chipata plus everything I had just bought, the kilometer or so to Arcades, the other mall, because I remember the grocery store there had good bread. Well they were all out of whole grain just about everything, although I finally bought some whole wheat buns. Spar is basically Shopright except everything is more expensive. Got a taxi to Mogul, the guest house all the PCV’s who have business at the Zambian PC headquarters stay. Checked in, started to walk to the office but, as it was then dark, wasn’t certain where the headquarters was so I went back and met the other PCV’s who was staying there then decided to splurge on Chinese food because I basically hadn’t had any since I left Connecticut, however it wasn’t the best dish I’ve ever had. Got to bed later then I wanted so I probably won’t get quite as early as a start as I wanted.
At IST (In Service Training) in the ISTT (In Service Training Trust, no relationship just a coincidence that they have the same name)
2008-08-17 to 2008-08-19ish
At IST (In Service Training) in the ISTT (In Service Training Trust, no relationship just a coincidence that they have the same name). Sunday night a bunch of my intake from a bunch of provinces went to an Indian all you can eat restraint for 20pin, then everyone else wanted to go to a bar and I didn’t really want to pay for a taxi myself so I went along. It was alright, there was good live music although loud, but I was really tired. Finally some other people who were also tired and I flagged a taxi and we got back. My room mate at the dorm we were staying at and I chatted for a while about what our last four months had been like, then I went to bed it being after 2300 hours and use needing to get up early. Pa Monday in the morning we started on “processing” how our last few months have been, then we had a visitor from the conservation farming organization. After a good lunch, we had medical and safety admin stuff for most of the afternoon and then about an hour more of “processing.” When this was done I tried to use the wi-fi here at the ISTT to do a few things but only was able to download some antivirus updates before the connection stopped working. I tried to reconnect for a while but finally gave up and ate some bread and ketchup, broccoli and ntochi (banana) mostly because they would go bad sometime soon definitely not because I was hungry. Then I cam out of my dorm and played a game with some other volunteers until about 2230 when I went to bed.
Today is my second training day, we have a little more “processing” then I think we are going to learn about citrus propagation. In the afternoon I guess we have medical all day.
In Lusaka now
-Well, Monday I met with the District Commissioner who said he would talk to the District Education Head. I then talked to my Forestry counterpart about finding a ride to Chipata or maybe directly to Lusaka for a dental follow up and then for In Service Training and he said he’d get back to me about a ride tomorrow.
-Tuesday I packed up and debated bringing a load of my stuff to the BOMA that day so as to lighten the load on Wednesday but finally decided I wouldn’t do a trip that day. I studied a little chinyanja and read a little, then went to the dimba (garden) and watered everything really good.
-Wednesday I got up at 400 hours and had a slow ride with all my luggage to hopefully find a ride as I hadn’t heard back from the Forestry officer as a result of insufficient cell service at my site. I just missed one government vehicle that was going past me as I rode in. No one in the forestry or education commissions knew of any vehicles headed for Chipata that hadn’t left already so I started walking towards the market to see whether I could find anyone there. As I was halfway there, I saw a SUV coming my way and I flagged it down. It just happened to be going where I wanted to go so I had a ride, although it was going to be a little bit before they left. They were with the health department and were just in the district to do checkups. I got to Chipata around 1200 I think and they let me off at the bank because I was down to k100,000 and the bus plus taxi was going to cost more then that. Then I worked on a web photo album with the hopes that I would be able to upload it in Lusaka if the Wi-Fi system had been seat up yet. Then I went to the market to stock up on vegetables because they are way more expensive for the most part in Lusaka and then went to bed because it would be another early rise tomorrow.
-Thursday I got on the bus to Lusaka for k30,000 more then last time as a result of petrol prices going way up. Then I sat on the bus for till almost 1600 hours. When I finally got off for good, I got waived by a taxi (instead of waiving too one) and he took me first to the place I bought my battery and a florescent light as the bulb for the light had gotten broken. He then took me to Shopright where I stocked up on granola, and then finally to the guest host were I was to spend the night.
-Friday (today) I walked to the PC Zambia headquarters around 700 hours and found that there was, in fact still not Wi-Fi. I met with the doctor who said I had an appointment with the dentist at 1000. I then met with the General Services Office (GSO) about what the next step should be on finding a tree wheeled cargo cycle, then at 1000 went o the dentist who basically said that it was still the same problem as the last diagnosis had been and suggested that I get Senseodine toothpaste that has something in it that is supposed to help sensitive gums. Then I met with my APCD who said that next week during IST we would do some more looking into companies that could make the cycle I’m looking for. I then had a lunch in the cafeteria there of lepu and kapenta. After that good lunch, I went to try to find someone who had been helping me finally file clams on the insurance I had on my camera that died. While I waited for here, I tried to download podcasts on the PC computers but it was annoying because the mp3’s I was trying to download would open using Windows media player instead of downloading. I finally met with the person who knew about the insurance company and we filled out everything with her writing something that would hopefully substitute a police, airline or embassy report. I then went back to my trying to download podcasts and successfully got the computer to not auto play using windows media so I could download two podcasts instead of one at a time.
I now am going to go back to the motel and sleep as I am very tired for some reason.
Somewhat uneventful weekend, working on photo album and meeting with people in BOMA today
Well, this weekend I did basicaly what I had told you last time I
would – read a book I had downloaded to my phone and water things.
Today I met with the district education head & the person in charge
all the district ministries about my internet idea. I am now working
on a photo album that I hope to be able to upload while I'm in lusaka
for IST.
Somewhat uneventful weekend, working on photo album and meeting with people in BOMA today
Well, this weekend I did basicaly what I had told you last time I
would – read a book I had downloaded to my phone and water things.
Today I met with the district education head & the person in charge
all the district ministries about my internet idea
Back In Chadiza for a short while
Well, I will be here for a week or so
then I will go into Lusaka for in
service training. I got back to my village yesterday night via taxi
and went to my dimba in the morning, then biked in to the BOMA to get
some ntochi and tomotoes, meet with the
District Education Official who was still in Chipata, and also the
Forestry person. When I get done with this blog, I will see whether I
can find any cardboard to use for the solar stove I want to make.
this weekend will be fairly layed back involving dimbianization and
reading of some digital electronics matereal I downloaded to my phone.
Trying to post via phone
2008 08 06
Today I went looking for a basket and couldn't find one so I got some
things at the market and then had an early lunch and started out to go
to the market. At the end of the driveway, I saw a bike loaded down
with baskets. They weren't really what I was looking for, being too
shallow, but I bought one anyway. Then I went to the Wi-Fi place and
foundout how to post via email which I will use to post via my
cellphone which this is a test run of