In a place where crocodiles are common and snakes are associated with witchcraft, Wolf never felt threatened. “I’ve never felt safer, people-wise,” Wolf said. “They treated me like a guest of honor.” When medical issues forced her to leave, she headed back to Windthorst. But not before spending a month in Namibia. Just for fun. She will go back to a different part of Zambia in August for her third and final year in the Peace Corps, but this time as a supervisor over several volunteers. An interpreter will assist her with a completely new language and new group of people. “The experience changes your perspective on the world,” Wolf said. “It’s like going to the moon.”
With a master’s degree in interpersonal communication behind her, Erin Wolf, known in Africa as Ba Eleni, committed two years of her life to the Peace Corps in Zambia
Beauty in simplicity
Windthorst resident returns from Peace Corps with new appreciation
Amanda Warner
For the Times Record News
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Caption: Erin Wolf of Windthorst talks about her experiences working for the Peace Corps in Zambia during an interview Wednesday afternoon. Wolf has spent the past two years working in a small village, and intends to spend another year in the country. Photo: Jeffrey Haderthauer/ Times Record News
Ba Eleni loves hot showers.
After living for more than two years where heating water is just not worth the time, showering has become a luxury she takes advantage of at least once a day — sometimes twice.
With a master’s degree in interpersonal communication behind her, 27-year-old Erin Wolf, known in Africa as Ba Eleni, committed two years of her life to the Peace Corps.
“You really find the beauty in simplicity,” Wolf said of her experience with the Bemba Tribe in Safwa, a rural village in Zambia.
When a typical day in Safwa meant rising with the sun and accomplishing just one thing per day, a busy stay in Windthorst is overwhelming, Wolf said.
“I was apprehensive about coming back,” she admitted.
Wolf started her adventure in January 2006 with nine weeks of training in Zambia. She was sworn in as a Peace Corps volunteer at the end of March and immediately left for Safwa.
English is the national language of Zambia, but there are also several tribal languages still spoken, and many dialects within them, Wolf said.
Just two or three men out of the 400- to 700-person tribe spoke broken English. They were her connection to the rest of the tribe at first, but that wasn’t good enough for her.
Wolf worked to learn the Bemba language to earn the tribe’s respect.
A family built her a one-room mud hut to live in, and she immersed herself into the culture, mimicking their traditions and lifestyle.
The tribe wore torn and dirty clothes, so she wore torn and dirty clothes.
They took a cold-bucket bath just once every several days, so she said goodbye to daily bathing.
They used an outdoor pit latrine when nature was calling, and she was left to do the same.
“I needed to look greasy, dirty and smelly,” she said. “No one cares about looks.”
Safwa is a very rural village right on a big river. The nearest town, and closest Peace Corps volunteer, is a six-hour bike ride away.
She usually just hitchhiked.
“You could sit on the side of the road for an hour or 8 hours,” she said of her time spent waiting for a ride. She limited her trips for groceries and communication with her family to just once a month.
Wolf made contact with several local schools in a 20-mile radius. She wrote bush notes to each school to introduce herself. Each bush note would travel from person to person, until it reached its destination.
“Who knows if it ever gets there,” Wolf said.
She soon began to teach.
She would schedule one meeting a day as often as she could to teach AIDS prevention and education. Her schedule became regular, only interrupted by mushroom or caterpillar season.
“They eat caterpillars the length of your finger,” Wolf said, who refused to partake in this particular delicacy.
In a place where crocodiles are common and snakes are associated with witchcraft, Wolf never felt threatened.
“I’ve never felt safer, people-wise,” Wolf said. “They treated me like a guest of honor.”
When medical issues forced her to leave, she headed back to Windthorst. But not before spending a month in Namibia. Just for fun.
She will go back to a different part of Zambia in August for her third and final year in the Peace Corps, but this time as a supervisor over several volunteers. An interpreter will assist her with a completely new language and new group of people.
“The experience changes your perspective on the world,” Wolf said. “It’s like going to the moon.”
