Circle Dances and Settlements

In the middle of the circle, voices cheering, singing, all-emcompassing protective support just by the mere presence of others. Whether the beat is generated by clapping hands or a pumping sound system, it's overwhelming nonetheless. Syncopations throw my body for a loop forcing me to change my standard dance moves, desperately searching for some movement, some method, some motion to relay this overwhelming urge to flow and sway. In the middle of the brightly lit day surrounded by the giggles of children, or late into the night so that the darkness of the nightclub envelopes us, people I've never met before welcome me all the same. Both circumstances produce a sense of camaraderie; we're all in it together. As a muzungu (white person) with bright red hair there's no doubt that I stand out like a sore thumb, and although there are inevitably a few giggles and hollers of "muzungu," they are quickly tempered by the movements, by the sounds, by the beats. And while the divisions between the world I've called home for 22 years and Lusaka aren't completely erased and will never be, the lines a blurred a little if only just for several minutes.

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On another note, I've been given my intern position: I'll be a programming intern working on the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) project, so part of the time I'll be organizing the stuff for the urban refugees and the rest of the time I'll be organizing stuff for the refugee settlements we work in outside of Lusaka. About once a month I'll actually get to go to one of the settlements about 8 hours west of Lusaka to help with the training of the GRS coaches, VCT (Voluntary HIV Counselling and Testing) events, monitoring and evaluation, and all the other fun business-y type things that interns do.