Life from abroad

The Faces of Zambia

Posted on Friday, 27 January 2012 by robjkentjr

17 Jan 2012 | Magalela Village, Zambia (-17.3014, 26.0948)

From a photographer’s point of view, the subjects are amazing and I love walking around the village taking pictures of each interesting person. Personally, this is only possible because I know each of them, or at the very least have spent some time talking to them. But these are the people of my village, in which, we are now considered family. Having lived there a year, Rasa and I now stare with the villagers when someone new passes through. We are no longer the ones being stared at.




		All very interested in what I am doing.

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Posted in Africa, Zambia | Tagged Africa, beautiful, boat, car, cold, cow, cows, crops, death of a child, encounter, fish, friend, good, grass, happy, heart, hospital, Human Interest, Jackie Chan, language, life, love, mom, park, peace, Peace Corps, photo, photograph, photographer, picture, point of view, Rasa, simple pleasures, smile, Tonga, travel, travel photographer, U.S., village, walking, wedding, Zambia | Leave a comment

Moving-In to our new home

Posted on Friday, 13 January 2012 by robjkentjr

11 Jan 2012 | Magalela Village, Zambia (-17.3014, 26.0948)

First, let me start off by saying I am sorry for not posting a blog. Besides admitting to being lazy, I have also been much more interested in using what precious electricity we have to catch up on the news and do research for our projects. Second, this blog marks a new format for what I will be doing. There will still be photos (five verses seven) but I am trying to add a bit more context to them so you will know a bit better what has been happening. Lastly, I will be going way back to May of last year to recap our first couple of days in the village.

After 12 weeks of training, Rasa and I have finally arrived in the village. Should I say it was anti-climactic? Well, almost because it was harvest season and there was really no one around. I would say it was more of a relief to finally be on our own schedule and not Peace Corps relentless activity merry-go-round of tasks. We were home and glad to be there during a quiet time of the year.




		Not much to our humble abode now but we just ordered furniture so we should be all settled in soon.

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Posted in Africa, Zambia | Tagged adventure, Africa, bath, breakfast, bugs, Choma., city, coffee, cook, Cooking, couple of days, cows, eating, electricity, food, fresh milk, friend, furniture, Garden, google, harvest season, home, Human Interest, humble abode, jerrycan, kids, life, love, Lusaka, meal, money, night, Peace Corps, photograph, precious electricity, provincial capital, quiet time, rain, Rasa, shower, sleep, Solar, Tonga, town, train, travel, U.S., USA, village, volunteer, volunteers, walking, water, water source, Zambia | 3 Comments

Swearing-In

Posted on Thursday, 25 August 2011 by robjkentjr

06 May 2011 | Kabulonga, Lusaka, Zambia (-15.4194, 28.3487)

I am so sorry about the month-long delay in getting this blog post out (and answering email); both of our computers succumbed to the elements within a week of each other and I just now got one up and running. The other is still packed in a bag waiting for a new brain. (If anyone had an old SATA hard drive, I would be very appreciative if you could send us an early Christmas present!) Now on to the post…

I cannot believe I made it through another Peace Corps Pre-Service Training (PST) successfully AND I actually passed my language test at the end! We were all relieved to be finished with the exams (there were two others in technical and health) so we celebrated by cooking an American meal for our host family and meeting the U.S. Ambassador and Chieftainess during swearing-in.




		Here is Heather dishing out mashed potatoes from the mother of all pots. Good thing it was so big because the locals loved them!

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Posted in Africa, Zambia | Tagged Africa, ambassador, America, bad, chieftainess, christmas, christmas present, cook, Cooking, dishes, drive, early christmas, Embassies and Consulates, good, Government, heather, host family, kids, language, language test, locals, love, Lusaka, lusaka zambia, meal, mom, new brain, Peace Corps, potato, potatoes, pre service, sata hard drive, shower, the U.S. Ambassador, train, U.S., USA, volunteer, volunteers, Zambia | Leave a comment

Animals

Posted on Thursday, 7 July 2011 by robjkentjr

24 Apr 2011 | Munda Wanga Game Reserve, Lusaka, Zambia (-15.5606, 28.2709)

For our second to last week of training, we finally had some fun; we took a field trip completely unrelated to work. Well, I guess there were still trees there and we had to listen to a lecture but after that it was animals and waterslides.




		A Waterbuck as he sticks his tongue at me.

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Posted in Africa, Zambia | Tagged animals, bird, bus, Business, cheetah, eagle, field trip, food, game reserve, grass, lunch, Lusaka, ostrich, Peace Corps, pet chicken, photo, photograph, rain, smile, tea, tongue, train, trees, U.S., USA, warthog, water, waterbuck, Zambia | Leave a comment

Übergardens

Posted on Thursday, 30 June 2011 by robjkentjr

17 Apr 2011 | Chisiko Village, Chongwe, Zambia (-15.3668, 28.6984)

For the 10th week of training, we had our second community day and spent it with our family visiting their massive garden and making a compost pile. I often feel there is little more we can teach the locals about farming and after seeing my host-dad’s operation, I know it is true.




		I found another beetle crawling around the flower of a native sesame plant.

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Posted in Africa, Zambia | Tagged Adam, Africa, beetle, Botswana, brick, Business and Economy, chongwe, dad, Dow Jones & Company, Economic Development, farming, flower, Garden, girls, Government, Hand pump, happy, life, locals, making a compost pile, massive garden, palm fronds, Peace Corps, photo, poisonous snake, Pump, rain, sea, sesame plant, ships, Solar, tea, train, U.S., village, water, Zambia | Leave a comment

Life abroad: As Robert sees it

The Faces of Zambia

Moving-In to our new home

Swearing-In

Animals

Übergardens

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