Mindy has received her assignment. She is in the very North, Eastern portion of Zambia. I'm not near a computer where I can get to Goggle Earth and show you where she is but once I get back in the states I'll do that. Below is an email we received from Mindy describing her visit to her village. The italicized text is from Mindy's email.
Hi guys!!! Hope all is well. Anyway, things are good here.
We went and saw our new sites over the weekend. Sunday night we actually got to stay in my hut. Usually the volunteers we are replacing are already gone, but mine is a special case. Lea was finishing a huge project so she had to extend her stay, and we actually helped move her out on Monday morning as we headed back down to Moans. It was awesome getting to visit with her and hear all about the village. Then we walked around and she introduced me to some of the local village people, including the headman that owns my house, who I will be working with a lot. So, about the house...
I have the best house in all of Peace Corps Zambia! It is a lake house, or should I say hut. It’s about 150 yards up hill from the lake. It’s just a five minute walk down to the water, where all the women are washing their clothes and the fishermen are bringing in their boats. From my porch, you can sit and watch the water.
It is a fishing town, so there is a lot going on, and I am right on the road (usually not the case with volunteers, but I’m not complaining). On clear days you can see the boats from my house, and at night the fishermen are out on the lake.
Here they eat a small fish called Kapenta (sort of their version of sardines). The Kapenta are attracted to light. So the fishermen go out at night, and their nets have 12 or 14 lanterns on them that they cast into the water and the fish swim to the light. It makes for an incredible view! Across the darkness are all the glistening lights and it actually looks like a sky line.
So, at night when I’m missing home, I can sit on my front porch and it actually looks like I’m driving over the hill in to the valley... ah LA. Because Luapula is the "land of lakes" even in dry season it is greener than most of the country.
My village is Nchelenge. I am actually the most northern volunteer in the country so unfortunately it is about a 20 hr. bus ride to Lusaka, but is an overnight bus so I can sleep. In exchange I actually have one of the closest PC (Peace Corps) "neighbors"... Becca! We requested to be near each other, but didn't know they would put us so close. She is only about 10 k away or a 40 min. bike ride as the case may be. We should get to see each other at least once a week.
So, things are good here. We are going to spend a couple of days in Monsa, where the provincial house is, along with all the provincial offices. W will make some introductions and just tool around town. It’s back to Lusaka on Sat. for 2 more weeks of training.
Our induction ceremony will be on the 26th. We have all kinds of tests first, language, medical, safety and security, so it will be a busy week, but if all goes as planned I should be moved into my new home by the 30th or so.
As always keep Mindy and all the other Peace Corps volunteers in your thoughts and prayers.