A long time coming...

It’s been quite some time since I’ve written. My apologies. I haven’t felt the need or desire to write for a few reasons. First, I haven’t come across those little stories that make the idiosyncrasies of other cultures fun to read about or at least I haven’t noticed them. I’ve also been really busy. Busy with work, busy with life. And I’ve been making a lot of big decisions as life is concerned. I keep thinking that when I’m done making these decisions that I’ll start worrying about things like my blog. I realize now, that those decisions will never cease.

So here I am.

Life has been a series of strange, good and bad, lucky and confusing, events these last few months. I’m still in Zambia. As for work here, we’ve started a number of projects. Our school garden has started harvesting and the kids are taking complete control of managing the garden. It’s really great to watch the working, gardening in ways that the families might not normally use. Also at the school we’re starting to setup our apiary (our beehives). We’ve organized a few day workshop and will then, in the next couple of weeks set up our hives and bait the bees. The school children will hopefully take over this project as well… Both of these aiming at providing some beneficial skills that the children can use later on.

In the village I’ve been working with a few women’s groups starting a poultry farm. We have 50 chickens (starting small) that we’ll begin selling in the next few weeks. With the proceeds we’ll pay back the loan that was taken to buy the chicks and then we’ll use the leftover to buy more chicks, medicine and feed. The project has been going very well thus far, and as long as the chickens don’t get sick we’re expecting to bring in a good amount of revenue. Also in the village I’ve been working with a carpenter’s group. We’re writing proposals for a three-part training that will train 20 people in tree nursery management, basic carpentry skills and basic business skills. The idea is to create a system of environmentally and financially sustainable carpentry, selling the end products as local markets and using revenue to replace used tree. The grant will be handed in at the end of the month, in a few days… Hopefully things work out and we’ll be able to fund the training.

Other work involves a few model gardens at health clinics and the beginnings of an orphanage. The orphanage will be a local orphanage aimed at providing free schooling to a group of 35 children that have been left orphans due to HIV/AIDS. As of now we’re looking at ways to sustainably fund the orphanage rather than applying for grants and loans. We’re looking at the possibility of a poultry farm, a piggery, and/or some fish ponds, any and all of which would be used solely to fund the orphanage. But this is still beginning. I’ll follow up on this one.

As for life. I am faced with a number of really big decisions right now. And every time I think that I’ve figured it out… It falls apart. So, I’m looking at grad schools. For now I’m looking for a Masters of Public Policy or Public Affairs program. But, given that the grass is always greener on the other side, I start thinking that maybe I should look into other things. Either way, I’m studying for the GRE, October 24th. Wish me luck. I had plans to take some time off when I got back to the states, move back to Salt Lake and devote my complete attention to grad school applications and furthering the process of finding happiness in my life, but it looks like I’ll start my grad school applications now, hoping for a Fall 2010 admission. We’ll see.

The days in Zambia are getting hotter and longer. The bike rides seemingly worse every day. But in general, still a great place. I had a great visit with my Mom and Sister a few weeks back. We travelled all over Zambia, white water rafting at the base of Victoria Falls and on a safari in South Luangwa National Park. The grand finale was a big party in my village. We killed a goat, a pig and two chickens. There was lots of dancing, a few heartfelt speeches and some long goodbyes; it was, by far, the best part of the trip. As for now, I am looking forward to Christmas; I’ll be back in the States for a few weeks for the holidays… I have no plans other than just being home for Christmas, let me know if you have other ideas…

Well folks. Thanks for always staying in touch and being supportive, I’ll need that now more than ever. This long transition back to the States will be a lot harder and a lot longer than I ever expected if intend on hitting the ground running. It’s surprising me that I’ve even started thinking about it already.

It’s always just the beginning of a whole life time of adventures…

Take Care,
Marshall