HOTOBER!

It's sweaty and it's dusty and hot season is in full swing here in Zambia. Villagers are starting to wake up around 4:00am so that they can get to their fields and start cultivating before the heat comes in full force around 10:00am. People stay indoors or in the shade all day until around 16:00 when they return to their fields to get a bit more work done once its "cooled off." Peace Corps Volunteers learn to love their huts' cement floors because they stay relatively cool most of the time. After I bike home at the end of the day I often find myself lying spread out on my cement floor for an hour or two (maybe thats why I'm always dirty?) Hot season means a change in bugs too: out go the ants and in come the termites. The first rains will be coming anyday now...

The Gwesani Malaria project is in full swing and we have completed 3 out of the 11 Malaria Field Days in the community. Above are a few women showing their new mosquito nets that they received at their community's field day. We are giving out 100 nets per field day and over 200 people have been attending each event and receiving malaria education about how they can control the spread of the disease in their villages. Pretty exciting. Coordinating the Malaria Field Days has been a real challenge since mosquito nets are in high demand and we need far more than 1100 nets inorder to reach 100% of people sleeping protected everynight. Despite the difficulties of giving out limited but much needed resources, the field days have been a real success. The newly trained Malaria Educators are doing an awesome job of teaching community members and the community has been very responsive in promoting the Gwesani project and socializing people to start using their mosquito nets consistently and correctly.

Another project that I am really (really!) excited about is a new bee keeping cooperative that the local HIV/AIDS support group and I just started. The group just registered with the government as an official Community Based Organization after we have spent the last few months writing a group constitution, forming bylaws, and mobilizing a solid membership base. They named themselves Tikondane Support Group (Tikondane means "love eachother"). Above is the group hanging their first bar beehive (ooo african bees). We will be hanging 50 hives total this first harvest season and have even found a company to buy the honey back from us after we harvest it. Zambia is the biggest honey producer in Africa and with twice a year harvests Tikondane might be able to start making a good bit of money which they will use to buy nutritional food supplements for people living with HIV/AIDS, transport people in need of hospital care to hospitals in town, and pay for the school fees of children orphaned from parents who have died from AIDS.

I've also spent the past week listening to election results from AmericaLand on my shortwave radio (my radio consistently makes my daily "What I'm thankful for List"). Above is my main hut decoration, an Obama chitenge made in Tanzania. I voted from Zambia a few months ago and, despite the election results, it was nice to hear that there was good voter turnout in the U.S. As hard as it is to stay up-to-date on American politics from over here I try my best and I'm proud of the progress made by the Obama administration so far. And I am always moved by the inspiration that he has provided to people in all of the Southern African countries that I have visited to become more politically involved in their own governments.

Thats all from here folks. Kevin and I will post pictures after our village wedding in a few weeks!

Your sweaty friend,

Yanni