The practice of fish farming

“Experience: that most brutal of teachers. But you learn, my God do you learn."- C.S Lewis

By now you probably have a rough idea on some of the happenings that occur with village living, though up till now, I have excluded descriptions of my work and how well my progress is developing thus far. Peace Corps is a wonderful organization. Wonderful in many ways, but namely for the reason that they grant their volunteers so much freedom in diagnosing what volunteer service is most needed, after which a volunteer can choose to focus more time and energy upon such a needed service, despite the fact that they may not have been hired for that specific field. I was trained and hired as a fish farmer and received 3 months of training in the operation of successful fish farming practices. I thoroughly enjoy what I do though the work is hardly year round, and a practicing fish farming volunteer must channel his energy, especially during the off-season, to other productive services.

Upon entering my community, I was encouraged to put off work and simply make my first three months a planning and information gathering period. I refuted these instructions and decided, due to seasonal timing, to begin work immediately with all willing and able farmers within my community. This decision was based on the fact that October falls just before the rainy season, which begins around December. Since Eastern Province is one of the driest regions in all of Zambia, and since all pond water is dependent on rainfall, ponds must be constructed prior to the rains. If not, one would find great difficulty trying to construct a pond in such soggy conditions, and also because farmers spend most of their time growing the cash crop maize during this season.

In my first three months I was able to measure and stake around 12 ponds and have about 8 completely constructed, or renovated. For various reasons, many ponds didn't actually get built or farmers failed to dig them out before maize season. In some cases farmers didn't want to clear the land, digging a pond seemed like too much work, or in most failing cases, farmers wouldn't show up. My catchment(area I’m responsible for) is a 20km radius from where I live; this includes about 15 villages. I have only worked with about 3, so considering these numbers, and the brief amount of time I've been given (really the poor timing in which we were placed), I consider this a successful start. By the time rain season ends and farmers return from their maize fields, I will have almost a half of a year to construct as many fish ponds as humanly possible within in my catchment.

Working with farmers has had its pleasures and challenges. The majority (about 90%) of my village is peasant farmers (both men and women). They concentrate on heavy maize growing from December to April because the price of maize fetches the most revenue. In the off season some (but very few) grow other crops to add a little supplemental income, but the prices of such vegetables doesn’t even compare somewhat to the amount of money gained upon a maize harvest. The majority of these farmers are uneducated and the few who are have only attended basic schooling (elementary to us Americans). With that being said, very few speak English and understand the science behind even their own profession of growing. So meetings and explanations must be presented in the simplest most basic of forms including (and primarily) illustrations and models. They are a very ‘bandwagoning’ culture, meaning that if they witness another Zambian finding success in a new innovative way, they are more likely to try as opposed to being the first guinea pig. Being the only white person within a considerable distance also takes much convincing, both on the front that I am not here to hand out money, and also for the basis of trust.

There are many niches to take advantage of, because the people are so friendly, it's easy to approach and create relationships. Through the building of relationships comes trust, and through that trust comes a willingness to experiment (in some cases). Even though I have yet to stock any of my fish farmers ponds, they have shown enthusiasm and I trust that soon enough we will have a few ponds stocked.

Aside from fish farming I have been encouraging organic gardening and composting as resources for making quality compost are quite ubiquitous. Most people have their farming and gardening venture far from their house so having a more convenient source of nutrition with more variety and having it in constant use would promote better nutrition. I am also working on a potential teaching position at the school where I wouldn't directly be teaching full time, but part time in a secondary alternative project to fish farming, especially because my school is very understaffed with teachers.

Its currently a slow time right now with finding fish farming work, and I look forward to April and May when i will have a better opportunity at finding willing and able fish farmers who want to start practicing. I spend the majority of my days fixing up my house, teaching English to the neighboring children and disciplining my disobedient kitten. Life is good and I have no complaints even when my garden gets overrun by pigs or I have to fetch water multiple times in one day. I feel I have little to complain about and still, with over six months of peace corps service under my belt, wouldn't change my situation for anything..