Zambia!

Ok, so we have arrived in Lusaka, Zamba (the Capital City). I will give you some general first impressions...

this place is WAY more developed then Guinea. It seems like that is limited to the City, but It is crazy to see. Parts of it actually look like America. Jessica Worl (the other Guinea Volunteer that came to Zambia) and I found some crazy, nice in Americam standard, restaurants, and sent way too much money. to give you a bit more, we found a bowling alley, a movie theatre, a camping store, electronic store, and more. Maybe this sounds siilly, but for an old Guinea Volunteer, it was amazing. I guess this is what happens when you actually get tourists into the country and have strong buisnesses invest in your Capital city.

This probably isn't a good sign, but I am already getting annoyed with all the stuff. I am actualy really excited to get back to a mud hut and talk with people that aren't used to the crazy flow of tourists.

So we got our orientation and the program looks great. I am doing CHIP (Community Health Improvement Project). The program is a combination of what used to be an HIV/AIDS ed project, and another that focused on all of that other stuff that I mentioned I did in Guinea.

Here in Zambia AIDS is a huge issue. I think the statistic is 16 percent of people have AIDS, and that nuber increases drastically around urban areas. I have hear that it kills over 4000 teachers each year. I think that the situation provides a great opportunity to foster some real change in the communities.

Anyways, I am trying to get a bit adjusted. I will write another post right away with the new mailing address for all of the hundreds of people sending me letters :-P