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!
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....
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!
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.
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...
Today we had the privilege to see a preschool called "Bright Stars" in action. It is run by two Zambian women, one of whom we met earlier in the week at Fran's house. Fran is a missionary who has been in Zambia for quite some time. Throughout her years, she has taken in/adopted 5 or 6 girls. Nesi is one of them and she is running the school. As with previous posts, I'm not posting photos with the kids' faces, but I am posting photos of the outside of the school (the one with JJ), photos of the "playground" equipment, and a photo of a girl in her school uniform washing her hands before snack.
Although I have no photos of the inside of the school without showing kids' smiling faces, I will tell you a bit about it. Picture two miniature tables, about the width of your kitchen table and the height of less than 2 feet. Then picture 8 or 10 children sitting around it on tiny stools. There were 3 different rooms for the kids... The morning session was divided into 3 year olds, 4 year olds, and "reception," which is basically our kindergarten. The afternoon session had grades 1-3. I helped mostly with the three year olds in the morning. We did not stay for the afternoon session. JJ and I taught the kids how to play "Simon Says" and "Red Light, Green Light" (which we called "Stop and Go"). I learned a new song/chant that I can do with my little ones this year.
Another thing I learned, which was a trend throughout the trip, was to be grateful for what I have. I knew I would be grateful when I saw how the Zambians lived, but I didn't think about how I would feel in a classroom. Especially since we saw the preschool. These kids were packed so tightly together. I used to complain about being in a portable classroom without much space for the kids to play. Well, these kids had NO space to play in their classroom. They had no toys, no housekeeping center, no creative writing/coloring table. It was very different and very sad. I feel even more grateful this year. I have transferred schools. I will get my first indoor classroom and it is large! I am also getting all new equipment and materials. It's amazing how I have been blessed with all of this stuff. Even without all of the toys and materials, these children were still so happy to be at school. I think part of it was because their teachers were happy they were there. In these last two years of teaching preschool, my main goal was to make sure my students knew that I love them. These Zambian teachers seemed to love their students, too. I guess we are not that different after all....
One last thing that I will mention is that a new building is in the works for Nesi and her school.... This photo shows the floor and walls. When more money is earned for it, construction will continue. Hopefully the kids in the new school won't have to be so squished... and maybe, just maybe, they will be able to have room to play :)
My new friend, Pam (short for Pamu) has been working on building an orphange for quite a while, along with her husband Menda. She explains, in a video on YouTube and on the orphanage website, that there are so many children orphaned because of the death rate in Africa... mostly due to AIDS. You can read about the orphanage and watch videos by visiting the Mulunda Miaka website.
We wanted to help Pam and Menda and see the orphanage. Their car broke down that morning, SO, we took a taxi about 20 km (about 12 miles) to get there. Some of the road was paved with tarmac and the rest was a newly made dirt road full of bumps and holes and whatnot.. it was a rough ride. This first photo that you see below is Pam and Menda, on the orphanage campus, in front of the house where they will live.
When we first arrived we toured the grounds and were able to see the chicken coops (currently 400 chickens, 500 more are coming soon), the buildings, and the gardens. Below is Pam showing us the water pump.
And after all that hard work of touring, it was time for lunch! Pam made meat pies... and they were delicious! A meat pie (pictured below) is pastry-ish dough filled with spices and meat and deliciousness! Can you tell I'm hungry right now?? ;)
After lunch, it was time to work! JJ and I went to the chicken coop to "gather" the eggs. I put "gather" in quotations, because moments before we walked over there, the caretaker of the farm had already gathered them, but JJ and I still wanted to go in there, so we did! We each found ONE egg!! Notice the footwear...
JJ, Beth and I carried the eggs (I could only take 5 trays without fear of dropping them) to the "room" where we ate lunch. I say "room" because there was a ground, bricks, and a roof... no windows or anything. But there were chairs, so we worked in there!
Our next task was to clean the eggs.. and it took forever with 6 people working! Each little egg had to be cleaned off so they would be ready to be sold! If I remember correctly, there was close to 2300 eggs!
When the painter arrived, JJ and I were off to paint! It was a crazy ordeal in itself, but those details are not necessary here... Take notice the very, very strong ladder that JJ had to stand on and take note the hand brush that JJ and I used as opposed to the roller that the painter is using. :)
After painting, it was time to go back into town to the BOMA (market-type area) to sell the eggs. Pam opened the trunk of the taxi and the eggs were sold in less than five minutes!
Here is a video from YouTube about the orphanage. It was made a few years ago, so things are different now, but I thought it was cool to see how they do construction in Zambia... It also has some good African music!
