Help me "Complete the Clinic!!" (And Ifyakulya.)

May 16, 2014

So first off, a shameless plug about the grant Im working on; Complete the Clinic. My village has no medical facility and the closest one is 15 km away, problem is its technically in another district so my villagers get turned away a lot. The nearest clinic within out district is 40 km away, and we have no transportation or cell phone service in my area and biking 40 km is sometimes a problem for sick or pregnant women.

In 2011, the Ministry of Health started building a clinic in my village but ran out of funding so progress has stopped. Ive got their backing that if I finish buying supplies (80% paint, doors, locks, ect, windows, and a solar fridge, along with basic medical supplies and vaccines) theyll help cover the costs of labor, staff placement and some medicines. So thats where my donation grant comes in! Ive only $2,300 left to raise of the $5,000 I budgeted for so more than half way there! There is a catch, if I DONT raise the $5,000 I dont get ANY of the money thats been donated, even if Im at 4,900. And the sooner I raise the money the sooner I can get to work, and everything here takes FOR.EV.VER. Ive only got 1 year left and I want to make it count.

Heres the building Im working with right now, we're SO CLOSE

Fun medical facts on Zambia:

60% of the children (and 40% of adults) are Vitamin A deficient which leads to lack of development in eyesight, attention, their immune system and also proivides maternal and lactation complications. The clinics are suppose to provide supplements to the under 5, but my village has neither.
Of all the people who die of malaria in Zambia, more than 50% are children under age 5
Malaria accounts for 20% of maternal deaths

SO, if youd like to donate, or know people who would (co-workers, friends, family, ect), or perhaps they want a tax deduction PLEASE spread this link around:

https://donate.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate.contribute.donatenow&keyword=14-611-006

Ok, after that little plug, heres whats been happening in my life in Zambia. We just passed our midterms (1 year since swear in! Can you believe it?! Because I can not). It was great seeing everyone again, especially those I hadnt seen since November. Anyways, we all traveled down to Lusaka, ate amazingly well, played bocci ball, went dancing (all night), and now were all pretty broke. Worth it. Unfortunately, my camera was on the fritz while there (now fixed!) so I have no pictures to show you of our shenanigans, but here are some pictures of some local bush fruits and the infamous UBWALI so I hope this gives you a better idea on what Ive been nomin on in the village, on the daily, which explains the title "Ifyakulya" meaning "things to eat"

UBWALI! So that pot of ubawli and little bowl of bowl greens was lunch for 3 adults and 3 children and 1 toddler. Just a hint of what (and how much) we eat in my village.

Fresh mangos, straight from the tree, nothing better.

The big one is called "icisongule" and looks like a weird brain but tastes like a sweet tart. SO GOOD. The two smaller ones are called amasuku, and the inside is super sweet but the outside (if it touches your mouth/tounge) is super bitter. There was a learning process to eat that but both are really common from september - december and are delicious!

Mufungu. Essentially its a small Zambian plum, about the size of a large grape. Also delicious and I collect them in bulk. We also made mufungu wine one time!

Now heres a Mojo montage! Thanks for reading all!