Every adversity, every failure, every heartbreak, carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit. - Napoleon Hill
Unbelievable as it may be, Its getting to the point in my service where days go by and the closing draws near. Its kind of like dying in a sense - you want to get everything that you had wished for yourself done before its too late. A PCV bucket list if you will. What's even harder to accept, at least for me and my untouched bucket list, is the fact that I've been here for almost a year and a half and haven't left this country. Not once. The holidays are a great opportunity for a PCV to get away and do things outside of village life. With all this in mind, the decision wasn't difficult. One of the more convenient visits, mainly because of affordability and proximity was a country that I'm practically bordering - Malawi. Malawi is a small, and fairly unheard of country, in many ways similar to Zambia and almost impossible to distinguish. For one, they speak Nyanja; the same language as me (though a different dialect), the people are friendly and the urban set-up is virtually identical - minibuses, an unusually high currency system, and ruthless cab drivers who don't look twice a pedestrians. It was especially a done deal since all transportation and boarding costs were taken care of thanks to a generous birthday present (Thanks again, you know who you are).
And so the planning was made, the date scheduled and the boarder was crossed. My first impressions - Are we really out of Zambia? It really was difficult to tell. A short boarder check was the only thing that made it its own. As we ventured further and further into the country, I couldn't help but notice how green, lush, and full of tress the country was compared to Zambia. Much of the growth was in part due to it being rain season, but the groves and groves of unscathed trees that we were passing by were obviously protected and adding to the beauty of the country. A beauty that Zambia would also possess had it not been so raped and plummeted by deforestation. I've mentioned before that Zambia ranks high in world wide deforestation. Malawi, on the other hand, had environmental protection laws in many areas of its country. The areas that we drove through and it was a night and day difference compared to the damage that had already taken place in Zambia. Malawi took care of itself.
Our commute, though not as smooth as we had hoped for, ended up well. We arrived safely and secure at our destination - Lake Malawi, Ncota Bay. It was a sleepy town right on the lake of beautiful Lake Malawi. I'm not sure if the climate and fauna was always as lush and beautiful as we had seen, but I suddenly had flashbacks to my tropical days in Hawaii. The scenery was that of an island. The air was dank and humid, but there was a cool breeze that blew of the lake constantly. There was lush foliage all about and the lake couldn't have been more picturesque. Our lodge was one of the recommended premiere accommodation spots and it was easy to know why within our first few hours. The place was tucked away in a hillside overlooking the bay. A breeze was ever present both at night and in the day, the staff were accommodating and food and drink menu extensive as it was delicious and creative. They had specials almost everyday including buffet options. As a peace corps volunteer coming out of the village where the same three meals are consumed on a never ending cycle, this was absolute heaven.
Our days were spent either canoeing out on the water, in a motor boat headed to a beach for volleyball and cliff jumping, watching eagles catch fish out of the lake, playing soccer with local children, playing card/board games, and of course drinking with people from all ends of the world. There was an unusually high number of peace corps volunteers as well from Zambia, Malawi, Nymibia and Botswana. Getting to know about them and their service was enough conversation to last an entire day. In town we indulged at local restaurants, shopped at local Rasta shacks and bought jewelry and hand carved sculptures. We really got a feel for the pace of life. The weather fared well and it only rained a few times (but when it did it was still nice). The local food, specifically butter fish, was some of the best I've had since college and everyone was so friendly, nice and happy to be in each others company. Time slipped away much sooner then we expected and we found our self's booking 2 extra days longer then we had intended spending money we really shouldn't have - yet, I have no regrets.
As all good things come and go, we said good bye reluctantly to our little island paradise and headed back to Zambia a few days before new years. On the way out I couldn't help myself and spent a hefty amount of money (with the peace corps budget) on a package of fireworks. Unfortunately my haste failed to recognize that the ones I had purchased weren't the type I desired. All of them were fountain style and designed with smaller children in mind. No explosions in the sky or loud bangs to really get the adrenaline flowing; just an all too safe flow of sparks. Regardless, it was a good new years back in Zambia with a few close friends. We made the best of it and welcomed 2014 in with open arms.
The time had finally come for me to venture back to site and work. Let me explain a bit of background on what was going on while I was away. While on vacation and a few weeks prior to it, I was in the process of getting my kitchen hut rebuilt as the roof was on the verge of collapsing - with or without me in it. The reconstruction period, so I was told, would take no more then a day, especially because the housing committee works together as a team in a large group. Well, things weren't working as hasty as that. It started out being a day, then I gave them 3, 3 turned into a week, a week into a month and by the time I had ventured back from vacation, it was going on 2 months. Life without my kitchen, I found was aggravating. Everything in my kitchen was moved into my small hut meaning things were unorganized, stacked in piles upon each other, and driving me insane. I was cooking both outside and on my bed and tripping on things every time I entered and exited my hut. Think of a sports closet that is stuffed to the brim and then forced closed. The last straw was when I dropped a pot of well prepared dinner all over myself and furniture as I tripped for the hundredth time over the same nonsense. I had to get away.
And so I left my hut on leave with peace corps not to return until it was finally finished. I had told the people in charge and hoped that it would speed up the process, but my kitchen hut lay in shambles for weeks after I had left with no progress being made. It was rain season and most villagers were out in the field preparing their maize crop - exactly what I had feared. Would any of them every come back to help me out? I kept trying to contact and nag the people responsible, but to no avail. When I finally had word that it was finished, after another few weeks, I came back only to find a mess. The roof had very little grass, the floor was ankle deep in mud, there was no window, no door and a gap that may or may not have been a window that you could almost fit a compact car through. I immediately went back to where I was before and awaited a more through job to be done, one that showed they gave a damn. Now the downside to this entire debacle is that all of it occurred in the heart of crunch time for fish farming. I had loads of work to do, including a fish farming grant, and I was burning through money being out of my village for so long. I couldn't afford this to go one any longer.
And so finally after another week or so, it happened. After loads complaining, calling and nagging, they finally rebuilt and fixed all the issues I had with it upon my inital return, and I had a new remodeled kitchen that wasn't going to kill me. If I could go back and make the decision all over again would I? Hell no, I would have taken my chances with the roof coming down on me, but It's nice to have my village life back again. My new kitchen, though structurally sound, lacks windows and still leaks all over. Though I've decided not to make such a big deal about it, I have to struggle in the heart of rain season with moping my floors every other morning. But through all the struggle with living away from home basically in someone elses house, I'm finally back. Back to my animals, hut, farmers counterpart, and most importantly - work. I'm quite behind in my schedule of where I hoped to be at this point, but such is the life of a PCV. Though it will be a headache and require constant nagging of a different sort, in due time everything will work out and though late, I will have caught up on pond construction and stalking before to long.
And so with February right around the corner, and my service winding down, I plan on spending ample amounts of time focusing on work and development in the village. My goal is to have doubled the amount of fish ponds that I had last year, accomplish several more Grassroots soccer interventions with multiple schools, run an unforgettable Camp ELITE with 16 other volunteers and 45 other Zambian villagers and grow a thriving garden through 'Keyhole gardening' techniques that will be noticed and adopted by others in the village. I'm optimistic. I figure coming out of a housing blues slump like the one i'm in will only make rebounding natural. Cheers to 2014 - may it be a year worth looking back on..
