Preparing & Information

Tonight I am once again housebound in the snow and thinking--obsessing--about my upcoming adventure in Zambia! For the last few hours I have been reading blogs from other volunteers who have tread the path before me and feeling intimidated and anxiously excited about the upcoming months! Am I brave enough to bear the mice, the bats, the snakes, the malaria pills, and bike maintenance tutorials? Do I have enough strength to bike upwards of 50 miles in a day? How will I do without immediate access to Mama J's fabulous cooking/kitchen? What can I do to be successful in contributing to sustainable development for a country that is horribly impoverished and stricken by the AIDS pandemic? I can't know any sure answers yet, but I'm embracing the adventure and hoping I come out the tougher for it.

For those of you who are thinking "I remember Stacey is going somewhere in Africa to live in a hut and do something with kids...," but have forgotten the details, this paragraph is for you! (Those who have had to hear this speech hundreds of time, please skip.) For the next two years, I will serve as a coordinator for an interactive radio instruction program focused on bringing primary school curriculum to the people of rural Zambia who have neither facilities nor instructors for traditional schools. I will be departing from Denver for orientation on Sunday, January 21st, which will be held in Washington, DC, to meet my PCV (Peace Corps Volunteer) group. From reading notes by former volunteers of my program, I'm expecting to serve with about thirty other people. My group will have three days of intense how-do-you-dos and cautionary tales followed by a round of shots in DC before we get on the plane for Zambia. Our non-stop flight from DC to South Africa is 16 hours!! For the first three months, I will be training in Kitwe and will then be assigned to a village for the remainder of my two year term.

My address for training is listed at the bottom of this site. I will update the address once I've been assigned to my new home. We have been warned that one of the most difficult aspects of service is the isolation from friends/ family. Because I’ll more than likely be living in a location without electricity, I will have very limited access to email. Thus, snail mail will be extremely appreciated. It seems we'll have quite a bit of down time for writing, so I will certainly return your letters. Many of you have asked about shipping packages, and my mom has offered to help coordinate this effort to minimize postage costs. Her email is: rfjbosslady@hotmail.com. You certainly can ship things on your own, but if you would like to participate in a joint-effort, she’d love to hear from you.

I have also been requested to get together a list of things I might periodically need while I'm in service as well as some of the items I'm trying to collect prior to departure. I'll update this list after I arrive in Kitwe and know a bit more about what can be purchased in country. For now, these are items I have noticed are often highlighted as useful on-site or are commonly requested by volunteers already at their post.

• Protein bars/granola bars
• Thick twine/rope
• Powdered drink mixes
• Storage bags
• Instant oatmeal packages
• Beef jerky
• Batteries
• News Magazines
• Posters for decoration
• Spices
• Packaged mixes for rice, pasta, sauces
• Anything Americana—the Zambians love to have gifts from the U.S.
  

Thanks to all of you who have been so supportive and helpful in this effort. Without you, I could never have found the courage to leap out of academia and the corporate world to pursue this old dream of mine. I hope to be an effective ambassador of all the love being sent to the nation of Zambia from home.

For now, I am continuing to finish managing logistics for departure. I am attempting to envision how to fit 2 years of necessities to meet an 80lb luggage requirement and I’m making lots of phone calls to financial folks to make sure I’m free to make less than $200/month. (Fortunately, this goes a long way in Zambia!!) And if anyone knows someone looking for a great 2005 Toyota Corolla, let me know!

Until next time…
Stacey J.