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Hi Friends of SPF !
I'd like to introduce myself as the newest member of the SPF Zambia team. I have been in Zambia since February 2010 serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer, and I'll be here with SPF through May 2013. For Canadians (or fellow Americans) not familiar with Peace Corps, it is a program of the US government. Here's the blurb tagged on the end of Peace Corps press releases:
About the Peace Corps : Since President John F. Kennedy established the Peace Corps by executive order on March 1, 1961, more than 200,000 Americans have served in 139 host countries. Today, 9,095 volunteers are working with local communities in 75 host countries. Peace Corps volunteers must be U.S. citizens and at least 18 years of age. Peace Corps service is a 27-month commitment and the agency's mission is to promote world peace and friendship and a better understanding between Americans and people of other countries. Visit www.peacecorps.gov for more information.
50 years after its creation, the Peace Corps mission and 3 goals remain the same :
1. Help the people of interested countries in meeting their needs for trained men and women
2. Help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served
3. Help promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans
Peace Corps is not directly connected with university studies. I completed a B.S. in Plant Science, with emphasis in plant biology, in 2007 at the University of Missouri.
I finished my 27 months of Peace Corps service in April and am extending for a 3rd year, still as a Peace Corps Volunteer, but now working with the Simon Poultney Foundation. For 2 years I lived in a rural village 20km from a paved road in a mud brick house with a grass thatched roof, without electricity or running water. My Peace Corps program is called LIFE-Linking Income, Food and the Environment. Some projects I worked on in my village were: fruit tree planting at the local school, organizing a field day to promote growing soybeans, linking rural subsistence farmers with soy seed and inputs, agro-forestry with conservation farming, beekeeping with women's groups, and leading a girls club to teach about HIV/AIDS and life skills.
I'll be using my knowledge and experience working on agriculture and forestry projects in a rural Zambian community to help SPF and Chibwelelo Ward carry out their vision in those areas. We plan to help local beekeepers increase their production and income by equipping them with modern "top bar" hives to replace traditional tree bark hives, providing training where needed, and linking producers to reliable markets for their honey. We hope to organize an agricultural input loan program with conservation farmers so that they are able to plant their crops at the proper time to take full advantage the growing season and diversify the types of crops grown. We'll be planting lots of trees: indigenous trees, trees for timber, and improved varieties of fruit trees whose yummy produce will be enjoyed by all, and can be sold to a company in Kabwe.
I'll keep you posted on our progress! Please feel free to contact me at blairmobley@gmail.com.
Blair Mobley | 
