Art in Mansa

A friend of mine in Mansa, Victor Mwakalombe is one of the only local artists in the area. I had him paint a photo of Sevren's village for Christmas and gave him a bunch of my photos so he could practice. He found this one and wanted to paint it so I said "sure!" As you can see, he made me look better than the actual photo...I credit his amazing skills. If you want to check out his other work, you can find him on Facebook, although I think you need to 'friend' him to see his paintings. Check him out!

Belated Holiday Cheer

I know I know I know...I am terrible at updating my blog. BUT, better late than never! What am I grateful for this (last) holiday season? Iwes (children) that will sit in one place for long enough on my porch for my to take this photo!

Happy Holidays from all of us!

Keeping Cool

I've been trying to introduce some village appropriate technology ideas to the village. This is clay pot refrigeration, where you put sand and water between two pots and it insulates the inside keeping it cold. Due to the fact that no one in my village makes or wants to make clay pots, it's mainly used as a demo and helps me keep my cheese from going bad!

Vitameatavegamin

My friend Ashley gets Flinstone Gummy Vitamins sent to her and she had a surplus so she gave some to me. Take your vitamins!

Birthday Fun!

It's hard to believe I've been here for long enough to celebrate two birthdays. This year I decided to ring in my 25th year in the village and was accompanied by Sevren. We woke up and made omeletes and when I went to fetch water I was given a nice birthday surprise: a very important meeting at my clinic! When I told them it was my birthday and that my plans for the day were to make cake (cake on a brazure is an all-day affair) they told me, "it's okay, you can bring us cake!" As I was walking to my meeting, my two Peace Corps neighbors, Kristen and Maddy, arrived. I went to my meeting, as my job as a Peace Corps Volunteer is 24-7, and came back in enough time to make cake and celebrate with what has become my Peace Corps family here. Sevren was able to distract the children for a while and I was able to relax and reflect on my 24th year.

My neighbors have a baby, David, whom I like to call "bandume bandi" or "my brother." He turned 1 year on November 26th so Sevren and I went over and made an attempt at a duel-birthday celebration. Now, having a young brother in America, I knew that a 1 year old cannot blow out birthday candles, but we tried anyways. Needless to say, it was funny...and made me feel happy and blessed to be here at this moment in life.