Firefighter

I just got back from a visit to the site where I will be living for the next two years. The house is very nice with a fish pond in the front yard and a crazy dog named Lucky. On the first day we arrived at my site, myself and two other volunteers were sitting on the front porch shooting the breeze when a fire broke out near my neighbors house. This is a very common occurance this time of year in Zambia. People start fires to control the bush and for slash and burn farming. We weren't very alarmed and we continued talking for about ten more minutes until the flames started getting closer and bigger. Finally the flames were about 20 feet high and about 20 yards from my house, so we decided we should do something. We grabbed buckets and started throwing water on my house and on the fire as the flames kept growing. Soon enough all the neighbors had joined in on the fight. There were kids no older than ten running through the burned bush with bare feet fighting the fire with tree branches. There were old women with bowls of water splashing the flames. Finally we were able to stop the flames not more that 10 yards from my house. It turns out that the guy who started the blaze was hungry and wanted to eat some rats for dinner, so he started the fire to scare them out. That was my first day at my new home for the next two years.

Run!

I have some time for a story today. Yesterday, we were driving in from the bush in a land cruiser stacked with luggage and bikes and white people. The places were we are posted do not have real roads, so they don't see many cars or white people. As we would drive through each village, all the kids would come out and chase after us until they couldn't run any more. At one point I think we had about 20 little kids chasing our car. After this happened three or four times the guy driving said "watch this." He proceeded to slam on the brakes and stop in the road. Suddenly all the kids smiles and laughter turned into sheer terror. They all took off running in different directions into the bush and didn't look back. Why? I don't know.

My phone number at the provencial house is 011-260-4-222-948. Please only call if you know I am here and it is a decent hour. I am here now and will be until tomorrown morning (12:00 AM Sunday in California).

Shorty

This will be short because the computer I am using sucks and it takes forever to post stuff. The name of my village is Misungi. I am 70 kilometers from Kasama in the Northern Province. I have a dog, a cat, and a fish pond at my house. I will go there tomorrow or the next day. Talk to you when I get back.

I'm Back

Sorry for the long absence. Two weeks ago blogger was down and then I had a mean bout with the a 48 hour virus that I am sure will come back to visit me multiple times while I live here. Here is the way it works. It starts with a fever and you just want to lay down and die. Then the diarhea starts. For me it started during dinner, and continued all through the night. Going to the bathroom 10 to 12 times during the night at my homestay is no easy task. First you wake up in a cold sweat and have to find your way out of your mesquito net. If you can manage that, the next thing you have to do is find the light which you half harsadly threw on the ground after your last trip to the latrin. If you can find a light, the next thing you have to find is the keys to unlock the front door and sandals, so you don't step on a black momba snake or a frog or stub your tow on the way to the latrin. Once you make it to the latrin, you hover for ten to fifteen minutes, drop satan and repeat every 30 to 40 minutes.

Anyway, now I am all better and everything is fine. I learned the sight where I will be posted today, but I already forgot the name of the village. You wouldn't be able to find it on a map anyway. I will be in the Northern Province and the closest real town is Kasama. I will be up there for the next two weeks, so I won't be blogging or calling or mailing anyone. Supposedly there are some nice water falls within biking distance of my house, so I am looking forward to that. There is also another volunteer that is getting married while I am up there and I have been invited to the wedding, so that should be exciting. Beside that everything is good and I will be in touch when I return from site.