Zambia Gott Katie

Image hosting by Photobucket I hope everybody enjoys my site. I will try to update it as often as I can but since internet is limited, it may be hard but stick with me. Thanks everybody!

Saturday, March 25, 2006

One week until SWEAR IN!! :)

Hello everybody,
Well today is probably one of the last times I will sit at a computer for quite awhile. Internet is extremely limited where I am going but I will try to get to a computer at least once a month.
Well, the past 2 months have been crazy. I really cannot believe that it has already been 2 months...time is flying by. I swear in on March 31st and become a Peace Corps Volunteer..so exciting. Then I head off for my post!! It is going to be really sad to say good bye to my host family and all of the great friends that I have made here but the next chapter of this journey needs to begin.
I just want to say thank you to everybody for the letters, pictures and packets. It is such an amazing feeling to get letters from friends and family back at home. I want to share some of my favorite things from the past 2 months with all of you.
First of all, living in Zambia is great and very different than life in the states. It is really nice living without things that I used to thing were a necessity life power and running water. I am starting to love my bush baths and studying over candlelight. :) My host family has treated me so well and same with the tech staff for Peace Corps Zambia. I still cannot believe that I killed a chicken with my own hands and saw a goat being killed. Bemba is a hard language to speak but I am learning it slowly. I am getting more used to the food and am very excited to start cooking for myself but not doing my own laundry. Doing laundry is soooo hard!!

Oh, so one of my greatest nightmares occured last night. While I was writing a few letters and my hut was attacked by huge fire ants. The ants here are brutal and when they attack then really do. I yelled for my Ba Taata and Ba Mayo and they came running from there hut. There was probably like 500,000 ants...no joke. They started to pull straw from their roof and put it on fire. (Fire is one of the best ways to get rid of them) Basically, there was little bon fires all over the yard trying to get rid of these horrible things. Meanwhile, the ants are climbing up my pants and my Ba Taata's and they latch one when they bite...Gosh it really hurts. It took us over 2 hours to get rid of them all. I tried to go to sleep but that didn't really happen. I think the rats might be back so it is a good thing that I am leaving in a week. All of these fun things like sleeping with rats, crickets, being attacked from ants and sleeping with chicken fleas is all part of the experience and I would not trade it.

I am very lucky and grateful to be here. Some mornings I wake up and cannot believe that I am here in Zambia. Zambia is amazing and I hope some of you can come out and see it first hand.

Well, that is it for now...love you all..check out my new address...stay safe and healthy...Oh, I think I might be getting a cell phone so check back later for my number.

LOVE YOU ALL AND THANK YOU AGAIN!!

One week until SWEAR IN!! :)

Hello everybody,
Well today is probably one of the last times I will sit at a computer for quite awhile. Internet is extremely limited where I am going but I will try to get to a computer at least once a month.
Well, the past 2 months have been crazy. I really cannot believe that it has already been 2 months...time is flying by. I swear in on March 31st and become a Peace Corps Volunteer..so exciting. Then I head off for my post!! It is going to be really sad to say good bye to my host family and all of the great friends that I have made here but the next chapter of this journey needs to begin.
I just want to say thank you to everybody for the letters, pictures and packets. It is such an amazing feeling to get letters from friends and family back at home. I want to share some of my favorite things from the past 2 months with all of you.
First of all, living in Zambia is great and very different than life in the states. It is really nice living without things that I used to thing were a necessity life power and running water. I am starting to love my bush baths and studying over candlelight. :) My host family has treated me so well and same with the tech staff for Peace Corps Zambia. I still cannot believe that I killed a chicken with my own hands and saw a goat being killed. Bemba is a hard language to speak but I am learning it slowly. I am getting more used to the food and am very excited to start cooking for myself but not doing my own laundry. Doing laundry is soooo hard!!

Oh, so one of my greatest nightmares occured last night. While I was writing a few letters and my hut was attacked by huge fire ants. The ants here are brutal and when they attack then really do. I yelled for my Ba Taata and Ba Mayo and they came running from there hut. There was probably like 500,000 ants...no joke. They started to pull straw from their roof and put it on fire. (Fire is one of the best ways to get rid of them) Basically, there was little bon fires all over the yard trying to get rid of these horrible things. Meanwhile, the ants are climbing up my pants and my Ba Taata's and they latch one when they bite...Gosh it really hurts. It took us over 2 hours to get rid of them all. I tried to go to sleep but that didn't really happen. I think the rats might be back so it is a good thing that I am leaving in a week. All of these fun things like sleeping with rats, crickets, being attacked from ants and sleeping with chicken fleas is all part of the experience and I would not trade it.

I am very lucky and grateful to be here. Some mornings I wake up and cannot believe that I am here in Zambia. Zambia is amazing and I hope some of you can come out and see it first hand.

Well, that is it for now...love you all..check out my new address...stay safe and healthy...Oh, I think I might be getting a cell phone so check back later for my number.

LOVE YOU ALL AND THANK YOU AGAIN!!

NEW ADDRESS

My new address in Central Province is:

Katie Gottbreht--PCV
PO BOX 840038
Mkushi Zambia
Central Province

Here are some good things to send me: soup mixes where water is the only thing that needs to be added, crystal light or gatorade, ranch powder packets, any seasonings, chocolate, spagetti sause dry mix, snacks..etc.

Thanks everybody!!

Sunday, March 19, 2006

So I am going to....CENTRAL!~~

Hello guys...So this last week was pretty unbelieveable. I found out where I am going last Thursday and on Saturday 4 of us headed there. I will be in Chikupili in Cental Providence. I am 80 km from Mkushi which is the biggest city close to me. I am definitely living in the bush which is going to be great. I met my new family which consists of 10 new bro and sisters and they have over 30 kids. There are kids everywhere of all ages...LOVE IT!!! My house is pretty big...about the size of my kitchen at home. One of the best parts is that I get a dog. My dogs name is Ena and he is great. God I am soooo happy. Also, there is a large mountain in my backyard which I can hike whenever I want. The area is beautiful...lots of trees and everything is green. It really is one of the most beautiful places I have been to. There is another volunteer names Rich who is 3 km from me and Matt who is 30 km. I am going to have to cycle alot in my area which is also a plus. Basically I got the site I wanted and could not be much happier. On Wed. we had a huge party at Rich's site where we killed a goat drank lots of tea wine and other village brew. Everybody is very welcoming and I cant wait to get back there. The clinic where I will spend most of my time is 8 km from my house which is around a 45 minute bike ride. One Sunday we went to a Catholic church which I will start to go to once I am posted. Everything is in Bemba so I cannot understand any of it but the singing is beautiful.
5 of us took transport back from Mkushi to Kitwe on Saturday. It took us 5 hours and the majority of it we were in the back of a pick up truck and of course it rained so we all got pretty wet. It was a fun adventure and will have to get used to it. It was really nice coming back to my host family. When I got home they came up yelling Ba Katie and all gave me a huge hug. This morning I found a HUGE spider in my house....no joke it was like the size of a deck of cards. I yelled and my mom came to kill it:). What else...the rats in my hut are gone, we killed them with some poison.
Oh, letters take like 10 days to reach me and packages take around 3 weeks. They may take longer once I move since Mkushi isn't that big of a town. Also, interent is not really available in central providence which sucks but I am in Africa and can't really complain.
So I am back in Kitwe for the last 2 weeks of training. I know these last 2 weeks are going to be hard since I know where I am going but I will just have to deal with it the best I can. The rain is starting to slow down...it isnt raining everyday anymore. Life is great and am so happy. I hope all of you are doing well and keep me posted.

Here are some things I need: Snacks, chocolate, lolly pops, games for kids and cookies.

Love you all!!!

Sunday, March 05, 2006

What a week

Hello All,
So this was an interesting week. I TALKED WITH MY SISTER, MOM AND DAD...SO AMAZING. That fact made my week and was very thankful that the cell phone service here is fianlly some what working. I still have chicken fleas eventhough they sprayed my room. It is okay...I like to be itchy constantly. I had my first presentation to a group of Zambians. We asked them what were major health concerns and problems within their community. They said malaria, coughing, TB, diarrhea and lastly AIDS. Then we asked them to compare those health concerns to one another...they said coughing in worse than AIDS. It was a huge eye opener to me and showed me how hard my job here really is going to be to educate about a disease that they have little knowledge on. People in Zambia are more concerned with diseases that you can cure then AIDS. Also, people don't get tested here so they will die or a cough but it really is AIDS.
We had homestay day on Tuesday. After class I came home and did homestay things like cooked vegies and learned how to wash my clothes. Man, washing clothes is not a easy task. I hope you all think of me next time you start your washing machine back at home. You guys get to turn a knob while I scrub and scrub...gosh it sucks. Good thing I wear things numerous time before they need to be washed :)
On Saturday we all went to a dam. We could not swim in the dam because it is full or crocodiles but they did have a pool that we could all swim in. We Bbqed up some hamburgers...they were sooo good but left me feeling ill for quite some time afterwards.
Whenever I come home my little brothers come running up to me yelling Ba Katie Ba Katie. (you say Ba in front of somebodys name as a sign of respect). The one that is 2 normally has wet himself and all he wants to do is climb all over me. It is not my favorite part of the day but it is okay...i guess. I do the helicopeter with them a few times and they we play in the dirt. I really love my family and it is going to be hard to leave them in a few weeks.
The other night after I had completed my bush bath and was entering into my hut...I saw something climbing on my bike. So...not only do I have fleas but now I have RATS!! I thought I had for some time now but it sucks. All night I hear them in my room walking around in the roof...gross. Again thank God I have am ipod. Oh and 2 people in my group have Malaria eventhough we are on meds.
This Thursday I get my site....I am sooo exicted. Then on Saturday I head to the site and stay there for a week. It should be a great time...finally I am going to find out where I will be for the next 2 years.
Zambia is beautiful and wonderful but I am ready for the rain to stop. It normally rains at least once a day and sometimes we have crazy thunder and lightning storms. I don't like them all that much but am getting used to those too. Hope all is well...I will talk to you later. Love ya..oh stop mailing things to my Kitwe address since I am leaving here soon and getting a new one soon. I will post it once I get it.

Thank you JEHDA for the 2 letters, MOM for the People magazine and DAD for the letter!

STOP MAILING TO MY ADDRESS

Hello Everybody,
I just wanted to let you all know to STOP mailing things to my Kitwe address. I am finding out my site this Thursday so in the next few weeks I will post my new address. On Saturday I am actually going to my site and staying there for a week so after that I will post it (if I get the address). If you have mailed things in the past few days to a week, I will still get them, it will just take alot longer. Thank you for all the cards and letters...I am saving them all.

Love you all..Katie