Patience = happiness

My first 7 months in Zambia were more of an emotional roller coaster than I ever thought possible.  Though I had plenty of moments of loving it here, almost every day was a battle to convince myself to stay.  This is probably a shock to some of you who have seen my pictures and heard me talk about all of the incredible experiences I've had, but I'll be honest and say that I had many moments where I almost packed by bags and threw in the towel.

But I am happy to report that I am actually really loving it here now!  I went back to my village (after an emotional breakdown) for the first time in over a month and fell in love with my life.  I am teaching Grade 6 English and though it's only been a week since the term has started, it's started really well.  I'm also finding other secondary projects in my village that make me excited to be there.  I think that's the biggest, and best, change in my PC service.  I actually want to be here, in my village. I'm starting to enjoy my PC job, teaching and secondary projects.

 My big project for this term is to get a school library going.  We don't have many books for the pupils to read; unfortunately we do have books that are technically for the grades we have (1-7), but the reading level is so low for the pupils that they can't read most of the books we have.  But the other problem is that there is no organization for any of the books, so pupils can't even find the books that are on their level.  So my project is to organize the books and a space for a library to happen. I want to foster a better reading environment for both the pupils and the teachers.  There is also a group of volunteers from my intake that are trying to organize a HUGE book donation so that we can divide the books between all of us.  The very sad reality in my village (and in many Zambian villages) is that many of the pupils can't read English and unfortunately if you can't read and comprehend English  you can't progress into higher grades.  All of the tests, regardless of subject, are written in English.  So pupils have to be able to not only read the words but also comprehend the answers.  I'm hoping that if I can really focus on reading and comprehension in my Grade 6, my English Club, and the library, that at least a few pupils will be able to move on beyond grade 7.  Bit by bit...

Though I am beyond thrilled that I am enjoying the village life now, even my alone time!  And let me just take a minute to say that for those of you who may not know me as well, I HATE alone time!  Or did.  Being in a village in Zambia, however, has taught me to really enjoy my time by myself.  Don't get me wrong, I love when people come to visit me, but I also love when they leave. I never thought that I would be happy to spend part of my 25th birthday by myself, but that was one of the best parts.  I had a few other volunteers over the night before my birthday and it was wonderful to have them there to celebrate, but it was equally great to have them leave the next afternoon.  I made one of my favorite village dinners: popcorn and hot chocolate, and listened to a "This American Life" podcast on my porch.  It was wonderful.  But if you would have told me even two months ago that I would spend the evening of my 25th birthday alone, I would have cried at the thought of it.  So thank you Zambia for teaching me that my friends are indeed fun, but I'm a whole lot of fun too!

But, back to the non-village life... I have SO many out-of-village events coming up in the next 4-5 months!  It's craziness! But also super exciting!  The last of September and beginning of October are pretty chill, but come end of October and  November I will hardly be in my village at all.  I'll be out for: a week trip to Lake Tang., watching the Presidential Elections, PEPFAR(an HIV/Aids training with a counterpart from my village), two days with my intake at the waterfalls near-by, Thanksgiving week at the PC house, a trip to Central Prov. for the biggest mammal migration on the planet (bats), and then I think I will finally be going back to the village for a few weeks.  But then the fun begins again: taking a train to Tanzania for Christmas and New Years, and then straight to Lusaka to pick up Danielle for her visit to Zambia! 

I really am trying to take in every day regardless of what it offers.  This is such an incredible experience I have been offered and I am learning to take in the bad with the good.  And more so, I'm realizing that the bad isn't always bad. It's often just different.  And I'm okay with different; there's usually a way to spin the "bad" and see it for the good that it is.  The first 7 months here might have been 7 of the hardest months of my life, but I am so glad I was patient and have found happiness in this beautiful life I'm living.