Pam Called Me!

Pam called my phone from AFRICA!  It was an area code and 6 numbers after! I was like... hmm.. totally a telemarketer or something.  Then, I heard the accent and knew who it was!!  She said things are going well over at the orphanage, but the chickens are no good.  She also said that Lu-Lu's birthday is ONE DAY before mine!! He will be two years old!  He is on Facebook too!

"Like" MMO on Facebook to see Lu-Lu! Or, you can look at my Facebook profile!

Mulunda Miaka Orphange update Sept Oct

MMO is on Facebook!!

A September-October update just came out! Click here to check it out!

Orphanage update again... GREAT news!

Pam, Menda and the family officially move to MMO!

Moving in! After years of dreaming, prayers and work, Pam, Menda and their family have taken a step of faith and officially moved to Mulunda Miaka Orphanage this past Monday! Up until this time the buildings at MMO were all under construction, and they had lived in their home near Mukinge Hospital, about a 30 minute drive away.  There is still lots to do at MMO: of the four buildings, only one is fully finished, and there is still no running water.  However, Pam and Menda felt the time was right and the need too great, and are eager to continue the development at MMO.  A water filter must be purchased before water can be pumped (via an already installed solar pump) to the recently assembled holding tanks, which will provide water pressure to all the buildings.  Please pray for MMO that progress would continue to go smoothly, that Pam and the family would settle in well at MMO (Menda is still away at medical school, returning home for good the first week of November) and that funds would be available to purchase the water pump and essential kitchen appliances like a stove.  Pray for the orphaned children that will soon have new opportunities as they move into MMO. See the pictures below for more information (and for more pictures, click HERE or go to mmorphanage.org and view our latest update). Also, feel free to email me for more specific details at mmorphanage@gmail.com. Thank you so much for your support, Chad for the MMO Team www.mmorphanage.org/donate Chickens Sustainability: By the end of this month, 500 more layer chickens will arrive at MMO. Profits from egg sales of the current 400 chickens are already paying MMO workers and helping with building costs! Buildings First Building Completed:The first of four buildings has been completed, allowing Pam, Menda and family to move in! Contributing to construction costs is a major way your donations can help finish MMO. Solar Sustainable Power:The solar panels seen above are providing electricity to MMO! Water Almost: The well is drilled and the tanks installed, but a filter is needed before everything can be connected. Cost: 1,700 USD The Girls Chi-Chi and Sibo: (Short for Chipego and Sibongole).  Pam and Menda's two daughters, enjoying time together as the family moves in to MMO.  They have enjoyed taking in Lulu as their newest baby brother, and look forward to an expanding family as MMO prepares to take in more orphaned children.   Lulu Lulu is MMO's first orphaned child, taken in by Pam and Menda last year.  The Office for Social Welfare will determine the need of orphaned children in the area and send children to MMO.  Earlier this year, an orphaned child who would have been taken in at MMO had we been open, died of malnutrition. This was one factor contributing to Pam's desire to move to MMO even without everything being finished.  Running water and a kitchen are still being worked on, but they are now in a better position to take more orphaned children.

Mulunda Miaka Orphange update

Visit the MMO website to read about the latest updates... and to see a photo of Lu-Lu :)

MMO website

It's the Final Countdown...

So, today, we traveled in our favorite plane to Lusaka... the city! Lusaka life is very different from life anywhere else we had been.  It is more westernized than other parts of Zambia... women wear pants, there are restaurants, malls, streetlights, tall buildings... you name it! You can learn more about Lusaka here: Zambia Tourism

Pretty much our whole time in Lusaka was spent visiting and SHOPPING! At the marketplaces, we were able to haggle for our goods that we were buying and we got some GREAT deals!

Unfortunately for me, I'm afraid this is my last blog post about my trip.  I hit all of the big highlights and have no more tales left. I hope you have enjoyed reading.  I certainly have enjoyed writing.  Blogging is a bit addictive... especially when you actually have something to say.  Good thing I leave for Ohio tomorrow and start work the week after that... I don't know what else I would do without my blog! Ay yi yi!

I will leave you with one last illustration of just how trendy we were in Mukinge!

Hippos, Giraffes, Warthogs... OH MY!

Boat ride and Game Drive in Botswana today! After customs in Zambia and Botswana, we began our excursion with a boat ride on the Chobe River...

We saw crocodiles, 

 LOTS of hippos,

Warthogs in the distance, 

water monitors, and a few other creatures.

Then, after a nice lunch of impala steak and warthog pie at a nice resort, we ventured out on our game drive..

We saw many giraffes

and many, many elephants,

who were getting very close

 and rolling in the mud!

We saw some cheeky monkeys...

and various other game animals.

Here's the official bird of Botswana...

And we made friends with some girls from Japan who took our photos at the stretch point!

After our day of wildlife, we went to a market to do a little shopping and then 

ate pizza at an Italian Restaurant!

Wordless

So, there is a trend among bloggers these days called "wordless Wednesday."  Well, it's not Wednesday... but I am going wordless today! Not because I don't have anything to say, but because words cannot even describe the majestic Victoria Falls.... Without further adieu....

                                      

Macha Macha Man

So, this six seater plane that we have to take around Africa is not so bad.... when you take a day or two (at least) break in between each flight.  Ascending into the air and being in the air is easy.  It's the descent that is the worst! The plane sways from side to side the entire way down.. and if the pilot has to turn... forget it! Then, to top it off, it's a lucky flight if you get a concrete landing strip! Many times for us, it was grass!

Today we had to take a flight to Livingstone.  This is the city where we will see Victoria Falls and go on a safari. Well, it turns out this happens to be the same day that some air force cadets are graduating.  On a normal day, we wouldn't even know about this, but today, is a different story.  Apparently the president, Rupiah Banda, wanted to give his well wishes upon these graduates. And, for security reasons, he shut down all activity at the Livingstone airport!

Rupiah Banda, President of Zambia, photo taken from
http://www.postzambia.com/post-read_article.php?articleId=8773

We spent a short time there, and departed for Livingstone (again!), but unfortunately it was not enough for our equilibriums to balance out.  So we were nauseous on top of being nauseous.  It was awful! Once on the ground in Livingstone, it took us a bit of time... but we hit the ground running to the falls!
Well, no big deal, we will leave later, right? Well, we did not find this out until we were already in the air! Luckily, our trusty pilot friend, Rick, had a solution for us. He landed us in a town called Macha.  It turns out there is a mission base there as well.  When we landed, a man named Guellermo was at the air strip. He is also a pilot.  He had a flight later in the day and he said that something told him to go to the air strip to prep his plane.  Even though, on a regular day, he wouldn't prep the plane until it was time to go.  When he heard the plane coming in, he got on the radio and Rick told him the situation.  Guellermo phoned his wife who had soda and muffins ready for us.

Last Day in Mukinge

Well, today was our last day in Mukinge.  We visited the Academy and the secondary schools in the morning.  We were given a tour of the secondary school.  It is a boarding school, so two of the teachers showed us where the girls sleep, bathe, and do their laundry.  The girls were in the middle of cleaning for open house. 

After the tour, we were off to a wedding shower.  Also called a kitchen party or tea party.  This was certainly an experience.  It began with the bride and two other women, hidden under cloth, processing in with other women singing, shouting, and dancing in behind them. The three women stayed hidden under the cloth until the groom came and picked out which one was his bride.  When the groom left, the food was served and as we were going up to get food, women were called up to hand the bride her gifts.  Some women danced up, some not so quietly! Other women just politely walked up and handed her the gift.  When it came time for gifts from the family, they all gathered around and chanted and danced around the bride. It was quite the experience.  I learned a few things that I will take back and use at Brandy's shower!! ;)

After that, we went over to Pam and Menda's for dinner.  It was my last hurrah with my love Lu-Lu! Oh, and the other kids too! ;)  We had a nice Zambian meal and enjoyed the time with our friends. Pam has a lady who helps her named Aunty Penny.  Pam invited Penny's husband over and we all ate together.  It was nice. Oh, I should also mention that Penny made the Nshima.  She had to stand on a stool to stir it...

It was good, too!