What a hard day. I was unaware this morning when I woke up that I would spend my last day in Zambia attending the funeral for one of the babies we have fallen in love with at Haven II. She was almost 2 years old and her little body just couldn’t make it. Everything in man’s power was done to make her live, but sometimes man’s measures are futile. She died yesterday weighing 5 pounds.
The funeral was held in her village. Her mother had died in childbirth, but her father is still living. We arrived after 2 ½ hours on a dusty trail to women wailing and crying. What a sorrowful sound! I hurt just thinking about it. The crazy thing is, Tiana lived in the orphanage her whole life and these people didn’t even really know her. But, the loss of life is mourned, not just the loss of a relationship.
Sadness and relief intermingled. It is so unfair that things like this happen and I cannot begin to understand it. But, Tiana is in a much better place. She no longer has to live with the cruelties and injustices of this fallen world.
We leave in just a few hours to travel to Livingstone → Johannesburg → Nairobi. The next two weeks will be spent traveling in Kenya and Tanzania. Hopefully I’ll be able to get internet access at a couple of points along the way, but definitely won’t get my hopes up. This is Africa, after all…
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Friday, November 9, 2007
Hard Goodbyes
Over a week of goodbyes. I’m not good at parting, never have been. We’re all trying to take advantage of the time we have left, and that has left us physically exhausted, on top of the emotional exhaustion the constant goodbyes have created.
On Thursday, Sarah and I spent our last day at Basic School. It was awful! For clarification’s sake, I mean ‘awful’ in the ‘one of the hardest things I’ve ever endured’ sense. Grade 3, where we have spent most of our time and have built the deepest relationships, sang us a goodbye song. I cried during it, as did several of the children, including precious Davis. He was picked up off the streets of Lusaka about 2 months ago and now lives at Eric’s House. Initially, Davis was a disruption because he had never been in school before and was not used to all the rules. He stole my heart from the beginning and has been my boy ever since. I read to him some in the afternoons and spent a lot of time playing with him. He called me his ‘supporter’ when I told him how proud I was of his good behavior at school. Seeing the drastic behavioral changes Davis has made is so encouraging and is indicative of the incredible work the Merritt family is doing at Eric’s House.
All that to say, bidding goodbye to Davis and the other children in Ms. Sharon’s class was so hard. The class gave handmade rugs to both Sarah and me. The class has spent hours making them out of extra strips of citanges (the pieces of fabric that women here use for everything- skirt wraps, carrying babies, dancing, and much more). They are the sweetest gifts! I bet that over 80 different hands have worked together on each rug. After school, the Headmaster, Joshua, made sure that Sarah and I said goodbye to every class and every teacher. Then, our entire Grade 3 class escorted us about a mile and a half of our walk home and we bought them ice boxes, frozen juice wrapped in pieces of plastic. I am going to miss these kids!
We took our final exams today. For Chitonga, we had to perform a skit during chapel using the language. We chose to give brief snapshots of the entire Old Testament. The George Benson Christian College (GBCC) students laughed a lot, which is what we had hoped for. Our awful accents probably added to the humor, as well. Everyone said they enjoyed it and it was fun to do, so I would consider it a success.
I thought it would be a good idea to have all our tutors over for a tea party to have one more fun night with all of them. So, Leonard made a tray of his delicious snicker doodles and our tutors came over. It seems as if every gathering here in Zambia turns into a talent show and tonight was no exception. What began as a few people and groups singing evolved into a dance party- African style. We ended with a prayer and the Zambian National Anthem. It was nice to have such a light-hearted ending to our time together. It will be extremely sad to leave everybody, but there is solace in knowing that we will all be together again in Heaven. Then we will be able to sing and dance forevermore!
On Thursday, Sarah and I spent our last day at Basic School. It was awful! For clarification’s sake, I mean ‘awful’ in the ‘one of the hardest things I’ve ever endured’ sense. Grade 3, where we have spent most of our time and have built the deepest relationships, sang us a goodbye song. I cried during it, as did several of the children, including precious Davis. He was picked up off the streets of Lusaka about 2 months ago and now lives at Eric’s House. Initially, Davis was a disruption because he had never been in school before and was not used to all the rules. He stole my heart from the beginning and has been my boy ever since. I read to him some in the afternoons and spent a lot of time playing with him. He called me his ‘supporter’ when I told him how proud I was of his good behavior at school. Seeing the drastic behavioral changes Davis has made is so encouraging and is indicative of the incredible work the Merritt family is doing at Eric’s House.
All that to say, bidding goodbye to Davis and the other children in Ms. Sharon’s class was so hard. The class gave handmade rugs to both Sarah and me. The class has spent hours making them out of extra strips of citanges (the pieces of fabric that women here use for everything- skirt wraps, carrying babies, dancing, and much more). They are the sweetest gifts! I bet that over 80 different hands have worked together on each rug. After school, the Headmaster, Joshua, made sure that Sarah and I said goodbye to every class and every teacher. Then, our entire Grade 3 class escorted us about a mile and a half of our walk home and we bought them ice boxes, frozen juice wrapped in pieces of plastic. I am going to miss these kids!
We took our final exams today. For Chitonga, we had to perform a skit during chapel using the language. We chose to give brief snapshots of the entire Old Testament. The George Benson Christian College (GBCC) students laughed a lot, which is what we had hoped for. Our awful accents probably added to the humor, as well. Everyone said they enjoyed it and it was fun to do, so I would consider it a success.
I thought it would be a good idea to have all our tutors over for a tea party to have one more fun night with all of them. So, Leonard made a tray of his delicious snicker doodles and our tutors came over. It seems as if every gathering here in Zambia turns into a talent show and tonight was no exception. What began as a few people and groups singing evolved into a dance party- African style. We ended with a prayer and the Zambian National Anthem. It was nice to have such a light-hearted ending to our time together. It will be extremely sad to leave everybody, but there is solace in knowing that we will all be together again in Heaven. Then we will be able to sing and dance forevermore!
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Everyday Life
Matt, Sky, Brian, me, Sarah, and Courtney. My favorites- not afraid of looking like a fool to lighten someone else's day.
Some of the sweet kids at St. Mulumba Special School.
Baby Gary, discovering some flowers while spending a little time outside.
Katie, Ashley, Sarah, me, and Dululu with most of the older babies. These little ones have stolen our hearts!
Brandon sugars! He has sickle cell anemia, but always has so much energy! He is a sweet boy that smiles all the time and repeats anything you say.
Me, Ashley, and Sarah marching one-by-one with the huge ants. These ants are ultra aggrassive and will attack if you interrupt their lines.
The Headmaster of the Basic School, Mr. Joshua. This is the trunk of supplies our group gave them full of basic things like pens, paper, glue, rulers, etc. He was so excited and was saying how now the students could do art. Also, every teacher will be able to have one of the little, plastic pencil sharpeners. (The students sharpen with razors blades. It is scary to see Grade 3 kids pull out a razor blade in the middle of all their friends and begin scraping their pencil.)
Little Musa, my boy! This was taken at the Rock, where we had the cookout.
When me, Sarah, Courtney, and Ashley 'stole' ingredients for Girls' Night from Louisa, Meagan, and Ashley. They had already given us permission to use their stuff, but we figured we'd get it all in style. They were all in their kitchen when we went in and snuck around, pretending nobody was home. They thought it was hilarious!
These are just a few pictures of life as I know it. Sadly, I have no photos of the huge swarms of flying ants that attacked last night or the 6 inch centipede that was crawling through our house this morning when we woke up. Gross! The pictures don't show how beautiful the sun looks as it rises or falls. They can't capture how friendly these Zambians are. Words nor picture could show how much love we have for these babies. They can't relay how much Mildred, our housekeeper, glows when I call her our African mother. They will never be able to show how suprised Zambians are when we greet them in their native tongue and their faces light up, showing a mouth that lacks teeth but a spirit that lacks nothing. The photos will not explain how common-place it has become for us to have no electricity, internet, or even water. They can never show the encouragement and motivation my running group shares with one another or how goofy all my friends are.
I sure wish pictures could tell an entire story! I love these people and will miss them badly.
Monday, November 5, 2007
Power Outage
Last night, the power was off all night. It is not uncommon for the power to randomly leave us in the dark, but this is the first time it has left us without fans for an entire night. The summer heat is oppressive; the thermostat read 85 F when we crawling into bed at 10:30. Ridiculous!
The mosquito net that typically protects Sarah and me from the relentless predators stayed open last night in hopes of catching any sort of breeze. Armed with a thick layer of bug spray above the ever-present sweat, I tossed and turned, but could not find any sort of comfort. So, I opened the window, against my better judgment, for we had been warned that snakes and lizards could crawl in through an open window. I was eventually able to fall asleep. I am glad to report few mosquito bites and zero snake bites.
This morning, I was told that the first big storm of the season had come through last night. A huge clap of thunder struck a tree right behind our house, luckily missing our tall, thatched roof. Apparently, everybody but me was startled awake by the commotion. Thank goodness for earplugs! The storm last night was the beginning of the rainy season, so every few days should prove to bring heavy rains for a few hours, cool the air for about a day, then leave more oppressing heat in anticipation of the next heavy rainfall.
Only one week left here in Zambia. Awful. This morning, we cried through chapel, Americans and Zambians alike. I hate that the goodbyes are already beginning.
Sunday, November 4, 2007
The Farm and The Rock
Friday was packed! The morning was full of classes and tests. After lunch, our entire group toured a Subsistence Farming School. The school is about a 30-minute drive from where we live and is owned by the nicest German you will ever meet. We learned a lot of the techniques taught at this school over the summer at HUT. It was encouraging to actually see these things in practice. They have such a neat program in place!
From the farm, we went directly to The Rock. The Merritt’s large family of former orphans and street-children invited us to a cookout at their favorite picnic and stargazing spot. It was so much fun! All of our friends were there and the view from this big, spacious rock was extraordinary! Davis and Musa helped me try to count all the stars, but we only got to 80 and hadn’t covered even a sliver of the sky.
After hanging out and eating dinner, we sang for a while. I laid down on the rock, which still carried a faint reminder of how hot the sun was that day. Musa snuggled in my arm and fell asleep beside me. Miriam crawled on top of me, curled up, and fell asleep. I saw 4 shooting stars. God is good.
From the farm, we went directly to The Rock. The Merritt’s large family of former orphans and street-children invited us to a cookout at their favorite picnic and stargazing spot. It was so much fun! All of our friends were there and the view from this big, spacious rock was extraordinary! Davis and Musa helped me try to count all the stars, but we only got to 80 and hadn’t covered even a sliver of the sky.
After hanging out and eating dinner, we sang for a while. I laid down on the rock, which still carried a faint reminder of how hot the sun was that day. Musa snuggled in my arm and fell asleep beside me. Miriam crawled on top of me, curled up, and fell asleep. I saw 4 shooting stars. God is good.
Friday, November 2, 2007
Thriller and Things
A group of 9 (5 Harding students and Louisa, Meagan, and Ashley) created a short dance to Michael Jackson’s Thriller. We practiced, but were definitely not good. It was a lot of fun, however. On Halloween night, we went to several different houses (including a couple of different missionaries, some of our close Zambian friends, and the Harding group) and performed. The people living here lead tough lives- whether chosen or allotted. We wanted to just give people a reason to laugh. It worked; everybody thought it was hysterical! I’m not quite sure how it happened, but ‘Thriller- On Tour’ is booked to perform again Saturday at the George Benson Christian College choir party. Funny!
Yesterday, Sarah and I taught Grade 8 reading class at the Basic School. It went really well. Then, we went over to Grade 3, where we had left some other Harding students to do teaching projects for one of our classes. Ms. Sharon was administering promotional exams to Grade 7, so we just reviewed a little and sang fun songs. Then Davis got up to share a story with the rest of the class. He told the story in Nyanja, Peddy translated it into Tonga, and Charles relayed it in English. It was neat!
I spent the afternoon at Maureen and Audrey’s dorm. They cooked a traditional nsima and village chicken meal for Tessa and me. It was a pleasantly lazy afternoon. I am going to miss these people.
The power company had scheduled to shut down the power all over town all day yesterday. But, because it was scheduled and this is Africa, it never happened. Therefore, I wouldn't be suprised if the power is off all day sometime soon.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
St. Mulumba
Today I had the amazing opportunity to visit St. Mulumba Special School in Choma, the town an hour away. What an encouraging and incredible experience! It is a school for blind, deaf, and intellectually impaired- the only school of its kind in the country. Only 4 girls went, so we were given a complete tour and were able to ask any and every question we had. The student: teacher ratio was incredibly low and the 22-year-old facilities were clean and decently equipped, which is a rarity here on both counts.
Classrooms were decorated sporadically with hand-drawn pictures. In the classes for the blind, there were vocabulary lists on the wall. There were raised pictures with the word underneath in Braille, so the students can read the word and feel it, too. 2 of the upper level teachers are blind as well. In the classes for the deaf, the teachers say everything they sign so that the students can learn to lip read. Their garden produces some of what the 210 students eat. The students are encouraged to spend time working in the garden, as they will need that skill when they are eventually living on their own. There is a chicken hut that produces more than a sufficient amount of eggs for the school, so the leftover eggs are sold at market. The money generated is able to help 2 students with their term fees. Some of the students are sponsored, some are paid for by family members, and some of the students cannot afford to pay. To these kids, the administration turns a blind eye for as long as possible.
I was able to sign some with the kids (thanks to Bethany and Silly Billy). They use American Sign Language (ASL) with a few variations. We were invited to have tea and scones with the teachers in the staff room during break. The students are getting specialized educations at a rate conducive to their success. The faculty loves what they do and are genuinely concerned about the well being of their students. It was an awesome experience!
Classrooms were decorated sporadically with hand-drawn pictures. In the classes for the blind, there were vocabulary lists on the wall. There were raised pictures with the word underneath in Braille, so the students can read the word and feel it, too. 2 of the upper level teachers are blind as well. In the classes for the deaf, the teachers say everything they sign so that the students can learn to lip read. Their garden produces some of what the 210 students eat. The students are encouraged to spend time working in the garden, as they will need that skill when they are eventually living on their own. There is a chicken hut that produces more than a sufficient amount of eggs for the school, so the leftover eggs are sold at market. The money generated is able to help 2 students with their term fees. Some of the students are sponsored, some are paid for by family members, and some of the students cannot afford to pay. To these kids, the administration turns a blind eye for as long as possible.
I was able to sign some with the kids (thanks to Bethany and Silly Billy). They use American Sign Language (ASL) with a few variations. We were invited to have tea and scones with the teachers in the staff room during break. The students are getting specialized educations at a rate conducive to their success. The faculty loves what they do and are genuinely concerned about the well being of their students. It was an awesome experience!
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