One Thing per Day

Hi everybody! Yes, I know, it’s been forever since I posted but it’s my blog and I’ll post when I want to!

I have lots to catch you up on, so I’ll just give you the headlines: since I last posted, I visited (and fell in love with) my new site, finished my vigorous Pre-Service Training, left Chongwe, swore in as an official Peace Corps Zambia volunteer and gave a speech in my local language while I was at it, and moved to my amazing village!

I arrived in Demu, Southern Province in mid-November, and until February, my role here is to learn from the community, meet lots of new people, and learn how to live on my own in the rural setting. This 3-month period is referred to as Community Entry. Having CE before beginning any programs is amazing because it allows me to understand the needs, wants, and readiness of my community, and approach programming with wisdom, hard-working counterparts, and a willingness from the community.

Community Entry is a highly non-structured time. While there are certain things I am meant to do, such as conducting participatory learning analyses, meet my local traditional leadership, and build a relationship with my clinic staff, I am left to get to know Demu as I see fit. Each day is wildly different from the previous, but I am still finding ways to build routine, such as drinking a cup of coffee and reading in the morning and eating dinner with my incredible host family most nights. On any given day, I might: walk to the clinic to chat with my clinic staff or make a poster, work in the fields with my family, walk around and get slightly lost and ask a new friend for help (Two of the first phrases I learned in Tonga were “please help me” and “where do I live?”), attend community meetings and the meetings of NGOs in the area, visit different churches, and more!

During PST, the visiting Volunteers of the Week all told us to aim to do One Thing per day during CE. “Pshh, One Thing per day?! Come on, that sounds like NOTHING” I thought to myself. That advice is REAL. Going out to to one thing per day feels like a real accomplishment. And by One Thing, I can mean just helping my bamaama cook dinner. Sometimes I don’t even do my One Thing. And I get hard on myself. But I have to remember that even though I didn’t do my One Thing, I still cooked over coals that day, or had a great conversation with a family member, or did my laundry by hand, or just did what I could, and give myself some grace. Community Entry, though it looks a lot like me sitting around and not doing much, is challenging. Every day, I stumble through citonga, remembering (or often forgetting) people’s names, cultural faux pas, differences in understanding (of time, of my charades to get the point across, of a word I’ve definitely leaned but can’t remember), and over bush paths. Even if I haven’t done my One Thing, I go to bed dog-tired at the end of the day.

And my host family is there for me through it all. Without them, I would simply not be functioning here. They help me start my brazier every single time (often, there’s already hot one by my door in the mornings!), fetch my water for me (they do not allow me to do it!!), feed me the yummiest food, provide me with guidance and good company, and support me however I need it. My biggest ally here is my Bamaama. Not only is she incredibly compassionate, and making cook, and an inspiring matriarch to the family, but she is also deeply involved in the local health efforts AND speaks English fluently. I lean on her for everything. She invites me to meetings, takes me to the places I should know and introduces me to the people I should meet, and is just incredibly understanding and has a great sense of humor about all of my integration challenges! My Bataata is the headman, which opens many doors for me. His voice holds weight—what he says, goes, what he plans, happens. He is so kind and always makes sure to greet me in the morning, even if it means coming home from the fields to do it. I have many younger sisters and brothers that work so hard in school and at home. My sisters are the ones that keep me functioning here. I feel simply so grateful to have this incredible host family on my side and just outside my door. I couldn’t do this without them!

The biggest lessons I have learned so far in CE are to extend myself some grace, try to do that One Thing per day, always cover my food, a greeting goes a long way, and that going to bed early is a beautiful thing.

This post is getting a little long, but I promise to try a bit harder to post more often; I know I have many loved ones who want to know how I am doing, and I thank you all for that! I will post pictures of my new place once I have the walls plastered and painted, so hopefully in about one month. Tulobonana lino-lino (see you soon)!