It’s All Worthwhile

Excerpted from an Email from Peace Corps Volunteer Jessica Hillsley to Linda Bowers May 2, 2008

In Lumwana, as is probably the case in many third world villages across the globe, it is frighteningly easy to lose faith that the goals you and the community have set will never be reached. It is easy to believe that all the time and energy you've put into increasing development will go nowhere. When a community expresses great interest in HIV education but continually misses the meetings; … when a library that should have been built in less than a year's time takes over two years to construct … so many ideas and projects seem to be failing, seem to be going nowhere, at least not anywhere fast. And my response to this, too often, has been jadedness and self-reflection in a sort of negative sense. What am I doing here? What, ultimately, is the point?

The children. In reality, of course, it is everyone. Children, parents, grandparents…but it is the children that initially remind me of what I'm doing in Zambia.

When I'm in Lumwana, I meet with the kids in my compound almost every night. After all have finished eating, and the sun has gone down, I go into my mud hut and light the candles. Slowly kids of all ages trickle in, from my compound and the neighboring huts. Fifteen to twenty kids cram onto my floor, blotting out my reed mat and overflowing onto the cold concrete. The candlelight illuminates the many faces and allows me to see that each and every one of them is all smiles.

I dodge heads and toes as I make my way over to the world map on the wall. As a group they are able to identify all continents and oceans. Then one by one, they come to the map and point out whichever country I have mentioned. As each steps forward, those left sitting can't help but voice their approval, disapproval or direction. It ends up being a group effort, especially when it comes to locating a new country. I tell them to find India and that it's in Asia. All then jump to their feet and fingers are suddenly overcrowding the continent of Asia. It's all excitement when someone is successful in finding it.

From there we move on to English. I read them vocabulary words in Lunda and they give me the English translation. Occasionally we do dialogue, after going over different tenses. They clap and whistle at the chance to practice actual conversations.

"How much these oranges?"
"Five thousand."
"Ah! Too expensive, you can lower price."

They each take multiple turns practicing and when I eventually tell them we have finished studying for the night, I am met with frowns. I promise I'll meet again tomorrow and they file out the door smiling once again and wishing me a good night in English.

During the day, I sometimes hear the kids practicing the English they learned and repeating the names of countries we located. And always, when I return from a trip out of the village, the kids ask, "Tukutanga lelu wufuku?" (We will study tonight?) Not only do they remind me of the study sessions, but they show up brimming with enthusiasm.

There is a thirst here for knowledge. And though sometimes it is most notable in the children, it exists in everyone. That is why this library is so important. The Elizabeth Bowers memorial library will provide a public venue for education of all ages in the community, as well as an unprecedented amount of resources. While village schools have books for students to read, the library will have books and other resources that everyone can use on a daily basis. Plus, they can choose what they want to learn about.

So many of my projects have taken so long to reach even the smallest level of success, and some still haven't reached even that. This, of course, can be quite disheartening. I imagine that at times you have similar feelings, given the amount of time library construction has taken, but from someone who lives in Lumwana and sees the need of the community on a daily basis, I can say with confidence that what you are doing is going to go somewhere. As you, through this library, open villagers' eyes to the world, a real difference will be made…any time from now. ;)

Any change takes a long time, especially behavior change, as you know. Everything in development seems to deal with behavior change, even constructing a library. Timeliness, efficiency, planning, these are not behaviors that are generally emphasized in Lunda culture, but they are behaviors that are important when completing a projecting. Getting the workers to use these behaviors has taken quite a long time.

You have waited long for this project to be completed. And finally, we are nearly through the first steps. I supposed all the steps that follow will never be completed as they are ongoing education for the people of Lumwana. Thank you for your patience, persistence, and dedication to this project. It seems your motivation has not faltered and the children, no, the people of Lumwana will be the benefactors.