Mukinge

So, I know I said I would give you stories, but I figured it best to give you some background on where we went before I get into the stories. 

Above Photo from Wikipedia
Below is from http://wiki.machaworks.org/Communities/Mukinge

Mukinge is a small town-ish area in Kasempa, which is in the North- Western Province of Zambia. It consists mainly of a hospital, a few schools and some residential areas (and let's not forget the "Take-away" and the BOMA!).  It's interesting because, just like in America, people come from all different levels of wealth.  There are the homeowners who are educated, dressed well, and have careers and a few miles away, there are villages where they live houses like this....

The house we stayed in was HUGE.  It had five bedrooms.... and a SHOWER! We were thinking we would have to take baths instead of showers.  We had to boil the water before we drank it for fear of getting sick.  We also took malaria meds.. just in case!  

It was the dry season while we were there... that means no rain, no humidity, and very chilly mornings and nights.  Even though, we were grateful for our house, there was no heat, so we were very cold at night!  Thankfully, it was a full moon while we were there, so even though it got dark early, it didn't get pitch black while we were walking from place to place.

Zambia is 6 hours ahead of South Carolina/Ohio time.  This only made communication more difficult.  Internet is a rare commodity over there.  One of our team members had an international data plan on her phone, but it didn't always work.. even with a cell tower on the hill.

It is also not very easy to get to!  We flew into the city of Lusaka and then had to take a six-seater plane (aka puddle jumper) to the "air strip" in Kasempa! We could have taken a bus for 13 hours, instead of the plane, but that takes too long!

When our plane landed, people from the village came to the fence to see us.  It's their entertainment for the day.  We were also greeted by other missionaries... I was too nauseous from the flight to talk to them though!

More to come soon...