The last month

Hi friends.... These blogs of my time in peace corps are my own and do not represent the peace corps. These are my reflections and experiences.


After the first two weeks not allowing me to connect much to getting a new phone that I love a lot and finally getting access to my things and now the blog all while staying focused on learning and getting my homework and studying in... Here I am! It's been a wild an exciting ride so far and some days I still can't believe I jumped on but I'm glad I did. I'll try and give a quick run down of the last month so we will be caught up. Ok so here goes.


• June 8th flew to Philadelphia for staging (somewhat of a welcome and deeper understanding of what peace corps does, there ideals, standards and the sort) where I met fellow volunteers. During this time we also received a stipend for food and incidentals I still have most of it (most of you know I like to save but it was quite a bit for two days but I was very grateful as I didn't know we were receiving it! So praise Him!)


 • June 9 we left hotel at 2am (my roommate and I decided not to go to sleep) loaded on two buses as it was 64 evenly split education teachers volunteers RED and health volunteers CHIP. We rode to Ny JFK airport which peace corps factors a lot of extra time in case of accidents delays etc. So our flight wasn't until 11am but we arrived safely at airport around 6ish. So just chilled out until it was time to board.
• From JFK we flew to South Africa this flight was 15hrs. I had never flown more than 3hrs it was great I had on my compression socks and everytime the Lord prompted me to get up and stretch I did and prayed for those on the plane and their families. I also watched two movies, slept, listened to music and wrote some in my journal. I enjoyed the map that showed where we were and how much further we had to go. I remember waking up and we had just made it to the coast of Cape Verde. It was unreal how far we had gone and I was on the plane traveling past continents. Then even from that point we still had about 7-8hrs to go haha. I just smiled and enjoyed the ride. The food was very good. I watched the movie Focus and wasn't able to finish the end the movie with Will Smith, but we arrived in South Africa and while it was the wee small hours of the morning back home, it was about 10am in the morning in South Africa. One day I will finish the movie.
• Our next flight would be to Lusaka, Zambia  my soon to be home. This was a two hr. flight the food was also good. One of the meal choices served on the South African plane was Nelson Mandela's favorite food, so of course I tried. It was beef potatoes and something else but the name of it escapes me. It was very good.
• Arrived June 10 in Lusaka airport. As we were walking in they checked our temperatures not just us but all ppl arriving in country. I'm sure it was a way of making sure ppl weren't bringing in diseases that were horrible. I knew I wasn't sick so I was not worried. There were three one from our group that had fevers but they were able to enter so I guess all was well enough.
• Once we went through customs and everything was squared away we we warmly greeted by Peace Corps Zambian staff and as some Peace corps volunteer leaders. (I have some photos but will not have access to those until later) We were then taken to the Red Roof Inn where we resided until Saturday. While at the hotel in Lusaka we had different sessions from banking to medical sessions. It was very comforting to know that all these things were planned and mapped out so nothing was hard. It could be tedious but it was all very necessary and we all handled it well. We started taking malaria medicine as soon as we arrived (don't worry I will post a blog on that topic alone). So as I said this three days were filled with lots of things until around 7pm then we were free to play the last nights we had dance parties which I found some new songs I liked.
•   Sat. we went to the mall to get phones and SIM cards operating in order to talk with family and friends. (however I lager discovered that my phone I brought could not download what's app so I would have to wait to the next trip two weeks later where I bought a new phone) So before I made very few calls as it was expensive. After that we were all shipped out to our host families. All of the host families volunteered to be host families. Peace corps then supplies money to help with the feeding of us. It is minimal said the (peace corps...PC). PC director so it really is because they want to. Very similar to those who host foreign students into their homes.
• My host family entails my mom aka Yamayo, Beauty, my eldest brother James who sings and plays the keyboard, Ronald who also plays keyboard and the bass I think. Then Phyllis who had a beautiful voice, Lamech who is in boarding school whom I haven't met, Danny who is 14, and Taila who just turned 13 (she lives to dance and is such a good dancer).


So fast forward... We've had training in language where I'm learning Mambwe which is only spoken in Northern province. Usually about four hours then we go to Tech which is where we are trained in how to teach. So I've already done two mock lessons and lessons plans so I feel a lot more comfortable with teaching. Our staff is amazing and one of the teachers has inspired me to no end I really want to be like her because her love for teaching is amazing. Her name is Chilufya, I love her so much. Then we also have sessions about gender equality, as that is also work we will try to promote in our communities. So pray for the continued opportunities for girls and women and that men support it as well. Learning about gender issues and stereotypes has been very informative and interesting. Lots of deep issues and many things to pray for. Our next largest sessions are about HIV/AIDS which is also part of the work I'll be doing while here.


Fast forward some more.... We just recently found out where exactly we'll be living and had a two day conference where we all met our principals which are called Head Teachers. The head teacher will be our counterpart, basically the one who will help us integrate into our communities and in the school as well. We also found out what generation volunteer meaning if this is the villages first volunteer etc. I am a third generation so I pray to continue to educate in all the ways God has planned for me.
So... right now I'm back in Lusaka, the capital and I and all of us who will be in Northern Province are leaving at 4am to visit our sites for two weeks and communities of where we'll be living and working. So I'm excited although I'll miss my friends that I've made along the way. We will see them again after we all arrive back in Chipembe, our training site. Anyway thanks for reading and waiting for this post. There is Wi-Fi at the hotel so I was able to finish it. I'll try and put some photos on here but if they don't post I'll keep working on it till next time. I love you all be encouraged! God loves you and all that seems complicated in your life He can't wait to un-complicate them for you. We'll talk soon!


ln His amazing love,




madetoencourageyou