Blog part of a letter sent to Erin G and received 6-3-09

4-19-09

I am about to enter my final week of training and just started reading "Life Of Pi". I came across this passage and think it perfectly describes our group of trainees.

"In many ways, running a zoo is a hotel keepers worst nightmare. Consider: the guests never leave their rooms; they expect not only lodging but full board; they receive a constant flow of visitors, some of whom are noisy and unruly. One has to wait until they saunter to their balconies , so to speak, before one can clean their rooms, and then one has to wait until they tire of the view and return to their rooms before one can clean their balconies; and there is much cleaning to do, for the guests are as unhygienic as alcoholics. Each guest is very particular about his or her diet, constantly complains, and never, ever tips. To speak frankly, many are sexual deviants, either terribly repressed and subject to explosions of frenzied lasciviousness , or openly depraved, in either case regularly affronting management with gross outrages of free sex and incest. Are these the sorts of guests you would want to welcome to the inn?" pg 14

....OK, so maybe not perfect, but a pretty good description. Except the "gross outrages" are more subtle and manifest into inappropriate jokes in mixed company, or a stronger need for hugs. Both are equally scandalous acts in Zambia. There is also the similarity in the way we are watched like zoo animals. "Look, there is a new group of White People in a constructed habitat
that is made to look like their natural home. Lets watch and see how they live."
...and it makes me smile.

It is going to be hard to walk away from training. Well not really training but my training group. Sure it is nice to actually have a schedule and a defined purpose for everyday, but I have a feeling I won't really miss 4 hour language sessions, 3 hour tech, and all day medical, cultural, and admin. presentations 6 days a week. It's just the people I don't want to leave. It is always the people. My life is and has always been about the other people in it. (thus the reason I even write this blog) And somehow in only 2 months I have become ridiculously close to people here. Peace Corps plays this horrible game where you are placed in an extreme situation with a group of people and just as you are making this your family, you all are torn apart and are scattered across the country.

So here goes- I am jumping into community entry- leaving behind another family and entering a village for 23 months.

Kafwako Lukatazno
( Ain't nothin but a thang)