Friday, August 18, 2006

Offical PCV!

Hello Folks,
It has been a while since I last gave you an update. Sorry. I am now an official Peace Corps Volunteer! We had our swear in last Monday and I am now in Solwezi preparing to go to site. I will be moving to Shukwe on Monday August 21. Shukwe is in the Mufumbwe District and lies about 225 K outside of Solwezi. I was able to meet a few of the other volunteers that work in Mufumbwe and they seem like a really great group. I am really looking forward to moving to site and getting to know all my counterparts and neighbors in the village.
I can't believe I have been in Zambia now for over two months. Time has been flying by here so fast. I have learned a lot and I am becoming fairly proficient in Kikaonde. I was even chosen to represent my language class at swear in by giving a speech in Kikaonde. Communicating will be interesting once I get to site. It will be nice to be around a lot of people that speak Kikaonde but there are a lot of people in my catchment that speak other languages like Lunda, Lozi and Chokwe. Bemba is even becoming more prevalent due to the influx of mining business in the province.
One of the projects I will be involved in as LIFE volunteer is seed multiplication here in Zambia. We were given a whole bunch of seeds and it will be great working with the local farmers and on my own to grow some of these plants. I am hoping to keep a pretty good garden while at site. This will allow me to grow most of what I eat and it should be a lot of fun, and I will probably never have as much time to work on a garden as I will while I'm here in Zambia.
I hope that everyone is doing just swell back in the states and I really love hearing from you folks. So keep the letters and the e-mails a com'en. I will let you know soon of my new mailing address here in Solwezi.

Peace, Love and Happy Trails!

Topher