Officially a volunteer!

So I am officially a Peace Corps Volunteer!!! It is so nice to be finished with training although I will admit that it will be sad not to see everyone until our IST conference in January. Swear-In Ceremony was held at the U.S. Ambassador's house and it was such a nice event! We had people from different government ministries attend, as well at various directors of NGOs and embassies attend. Kate and I had outfits made out of citenge (colorful cloth that Zambians use for everything!) and they turned out so well! I have posted some pictures so you all can see. The ceremony was full of speeches, including speeches by some of the newly sworn in volunteers. Ashley, from my Bemba group, was chosen to give a speech and she did such an amazing job as well! She is so fun, and I am going to miss her and Ryan since they were my closest neighbors at homestay and I saw them every day!
My homestay was a great experience but I am glad it is over. It was sad to say goodbye to all of the wonderful kids and my Bamaayo but I am ready to be on my own and try to take care of myself! Last Wednesday, we had a cultural farewell day where we bid thanks to our homestay families by preparing an American meal for them. It was a great event but a very long day for us. We started cooking at 8 in the morning and the families arrived by noon. Before we ate, we had a little ceremony where I gave a speech in Bemba thanking the families-I was so nervous but luckily they laughed at the right times so I guess I was saying things correctly. We also gave gifts to our families and they gave us gifts. I gave my family lots of pictures that I had taken over the course of two months, and they gave me a very nice and useful cooking pot!
Thursday, we were picked up by the cruisers early and taken to Lusaka for some last minute administrative sessions before the swear-in ceremony on Friday. Thursday night, a group of us went to Arcades, one of the malls here, and saw a movie-Kate and I saw the Proposal while the majority saw GI-Joe because we had already seen GI-Joe. After the movies, we all had some drinks at a local restaurant and I was able to get a mojito and it was sooooo good! It made my night! Friday we had the swear in, then we were taken to another mall to do some shopping for items we couldn't get in our provincial capitals for our sights. I didn't buy much but got some photos developed, so that was nice. Afterwards, the northern province crew went to an Indian restaurant which was delicious and cheap!
Saturday, we left early for Kasama, the provincial capital in Northern and it was so nice to be on our way to sight posting! Sunday, we went to some waterfalls near Kasama and they were beautiful! We went swimming and unfortunately, as we were climbing through some wet rocks to get closer to the falls and swim, I slipped and badly stubbed my big toe and it still hurts today...it will be sore for some time but I am glad we got to go to the falls!
Yesterday was a crazy day because all nine of us new volunteers had to shop for our sites, which included household supplies, food and fun stuff. It was chaos but we managed to get everything we needed and spent less money than expected! I am so ready now for site! Today, we are posting four volunteers. Tomorrow I get posted so after this, I am not sure how much I'll be able to update this blog but I will certainly try!
The next three months is a period called community entry in which I am technically not suppose to do any work. Instead, I am suppose to go around to all of my villages in my catchment area (around 20k) and introduce myself and my role in the village. I am also suppose to use this time to assess the needs of the community and start making plans for possible work. Many have asked what I'll be doing specifically so here is a little bit of my job description: I am serving as a community health improvement volunteer so my job is to look at the various health issues in the community and see what we can do collectively, with local resources and local leadership to address and improve their health. In Chibaunsa, access to clean, safe drinking water is a major concern for them so that is something we are going to work on for the next two years. Also, diarrhea is the number one illness for children in my catchment and this is linked to the water issue so hopefully that will also be addressed. Of course big picture wise, malaria and HIV are huge and will always have to be incorporated into the work. I am located pretty close to the boma (town) so I will be able to collaborate on projects with NGOs in my village. I am really excited and anxious to start work so it will be hard to just observe in the next three months, but I know it is absolutely necessary so either way it will be good.

Alrighty well I must end this for now because my internet time is running out. I miss you all so much!! Please please continue to write and send me little messages, I love hearing from you all!

Also, my phone number in Zambia is: +260977746365 if anyone would like to call our text me!

Here are some pictures of PC Zambia Life :-)

Kate, Ang and I at PC Office Zambia

Kate, Ang and I with the new country director for Zambia!

At the waterfalls in Northern

My Bemba Group with our wonderful language teacher, Ba Leonard!

Well hope you all enjoyed the blog! Please write me! Also, if anyone would like to send me things, I have listed a few items that I could really use:

* Sharpies
* Good pens
* Wet Ones-antibacterial wipes
* Gum
* Easy Mac
* Crystal Light or powdered flavoring for water
* Vanilla-they have the fake stuff here
* Duct Tape
* Batteries-triple A and double A-they are terrible here

THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!
Miss you all so much!!!! LOTS OF LOVE! ~Sarita

Pictures of my life in Zambia!

Peace Corps Trainees watching a soccer game: trainers against trainees-sadly, we lost! In the photo from left to right: Kate, myself, married Ashley from my Bemba class, Ashley W and Angela :-)

My favoritest little girl in my village, Mavis! She makes me smile every time I see her!

I love these kids....they love to dance for me and have coloring parties outside my hut!

The village children and I :-)

My homestay family: Bataata Caifus, sister Joyce and Bamaayo Doris...I will miss them when I move to the village, they took excellent care of me!

Northern Province

Hello Everyone!
I have just been on my first overnight bus in Zambia and luckily I survived :-)! I found out two weeks ago that I was going to be posted in Northern Province in Mpika District and so last week we all went out to our sites so that we could see what we would be getting into and returned together on the night bus from Kasama-the provincial capital of Northern to Lusaka. The bus trip took about 13 hours so I am quite far away from the capital but I like it that way! I am so excited and happy about my site...I am living not far from the BOMA of Mpika which is what they call the town so it is perfect location. I also have quite a few NGOs working in the area, including Irish Aid, USAID, World Vision etc that the volunteer before me worked with so I am excited to see what I can possibly do to help. My village is great and the people are so welcoming! I arrived at my actual site on Wednesday and the villages had a huge dance and welcome celebration for me at the rural health center where I will be working. It was overwhelming but beautiful and I really feel like they want me there. I am a 2nd generation volunteer but the volunteer before me left after a year of service so they were really disappointed in that and asked if I would stay three years to make up for it! Haha...I told them I would give it my best for two years and that is all I can promise! My hut is pretty nice...unfortunately I wasn't able to take any pictures but it is pretty big! I have two rooms, one sitting room and then a really large bedroom. I also have a small kitchen outside, a beautiful insaka (gazebo) that is on top of a hill in my backyard with an amazing view of the valley and then a bathing shelter and chimbusu-toilet. I have quite a bit of land and the volunteer before me did some farming so I might try my hand at gardening :-) My house needs quite a bit of work and I plan on cementing and painting the house so as soon as it is cozy I will post pictures! We stayed at our actual sites for two nights alone to get the feel of what it would be like. This was my favorite part of training and it is so hard to be back here in Lusaka! I just can't wait to be out in the bush and trying my hand at this work! My village headman is a very nice man, although the previous volunteer did say that he drinks quite a bit-which is not surprising as most men here in Zambia drink a lot! I also met my counterpart Gilbert-he is the secretary for the Health Community Center so he showed me around my health clinic and is a good guy from what I can tell. He speaks pretty great English so he helps when I can't understand the Bemba. Oh my Bemba is improving, slowly but surely and I was able to make a formal introduction to the villagers and clinic staff entirely in Bemba and they understood so yay for that! Northern Province is really gorgeous with lots of rolling hills and trees...it reminds me a lot of Pietermaritzburg but a more dry version. It is also pretty cold, actually it is the coldest district in Zambia so my winters aren't going to be fun! Luckily winter is ending and the dry hot season is approaching.
From my training group, nine of us are going to Northern. Five of us are in the health program and four are in the Rural Aquaculture program. I am so excited that my good friend from training will be in Northern province because I think after we get posted, it will be hard to see people from other provinces since we are so far away! But Kate is in Northern and we have the same provincial house-a house that Peace Corps provides for volunteers to escape to if they need a break from village life. We are allowed four nights per month at the house, which is in Kasama. It is a nice big house but it reminds me a lot of a sorority house. I met most of the current serving volunteers and they are really great but because I guess the hardship of service, they like to drink a lot when they get together. The house is surprisingly well organzied and will be a nice escape! And there is a full kitchen so we can cook delicious food like we eat in America!
Life in Zambia is great overall but there are little things that get really frustrating. The guys are very annoying and really persistent in trying to get you to talk to them or give them money. I went with a current serving volunteer from Mpika to Kasama and she showed me how to hitch, and the entire two hours that we waited for a ride, we were approached by drunk amaguys who wanted us to take their minibuses. It is so annoying! Hitching is quite popular in Zambia and is actually a much better, sometimes safer way of getting around Zambia then the public transit. Often the drivers of minibuses or buses are drunk so going anywhere with them could be bad. We ended up getting a hitch with a USAID pick-up truck who were heading up to Kasama to build a borehole. It was a nice ride and a pleasant conversation! It was kind of scary the first time but with time, it will be a piece of cake!
Sorry this is so jumbled...I am running out of time at this internet cafe so I must close for now but I promise to update again really soon!
I hope you all are well and please please write me!

Oh I have a new mailing address, please use it:
Sarita Fritzler, PCV
P.O. Box 450100
Mpika, Zambia
AFRICA

Miss you all!