Another wonderful Colorado Team

On Monday we had 2 families arrive for almost 2 weeks from Loveland,
CO. Already after 2 days we are enjoying them. There are 4 adults
and 7 children and youth, the youngest is 9 and the oldest is 17. The
females are staying in our house and the males are in a newly finished
house that will eventually be used for children. They are helping at
school, playing with our children every available minute, helping with
a honey project, and building a counter in the market. They are 2
great families.

Old Teacher, New Teacher

Yesterday was the last day for Teacher Maureen Kaela. We closed the
day with a surprise going away time. The mothers and aunties came.
All the children were there, the Patty family women, the Schwartz
women. Special cake and cookies had been made, so we all got a
treat. Maureen was very tearful. It was very hard for her to leave
and she said it was the first time she had to leave people that she
loved so much and that she felt were like family. We presented her
with a gift and prayed for her.

Our new teacher is Precious Mulonga. We interviewed 7 people and she
was the one we had chosen. Kimberly knew her and was hoping that she
would be selected. She has taught and made lesson plans similar to
the way that we are set up, with areas and having learning taking
place in a variety of ways. She arrived on Sunday and has been at the
school Monday and Tuesday even though she begins to be paid as of
today.

Wind and Cold

Most people think that anywhere you go in Africa will be hot. Well we
are in the cold time of year, and I had forgotten how cold. Yesterday
it became very windy and the cold came in. This morning our outside
thermometer registered 41 degrees. Buildings, including our houses,
do not have heaters. In fact this morning I had one of our workers
get a brazier and light it with charcoal to put in our big room that
we use for the school since it was so cold in there. Yesterday and
today I've had 3 layers on. The team that arrived on Monday still do
not have their luggage so we are sharing some of our jackets with
them. Today is also very windy. It is almost noon and the
temperature is 62 plus the wind.

We are blessed to have solid walls and windows that close, blankets
for sleeping, and jackets for outside. But it is hard for the people
in the villages and so there are more runny noses and sicknesses.

Isaiah 11

Since we are talking about animals this term, we have tried to have several weeks of study about animals mentioned in the Bible.  This next week will be Jonah and the whale and we will be talking about ocean life.

The last few weeks we have been talking about mammals.  On one wall is displayed with wild animals, another wall is tame animals.  Then this week for our Bible lesson we studied Isaiah 11.  It turned out to be quite something as it included Felix, our resident artist.  Basically there is part of Isaiah 11 that lists a number of situations where wild and tame animals are at peace with one another.  For example, the wolf and the lamb, the ox and the bear, etc.

Felix has sculpted all the animals listed.  He also made a small child since the passage says, "and a small child shall lead them."  In addition he has been drawing beautiful pictures of what the passage describes.  So we have a beautiful picture of a leopard with a goat.  He also drew one of a lion and a lamb.  He is now working on a picture of a cow and a bear together.

It was a wonderful week of talking about this scripture and Erna and I will always think of the children and each other when we read that.

Animal Babies

It seems to be the time for animal babies.  We have 2 baby oxen, one brown and one black.  That brings our little herd up to 8. Some of them belong to Auntie Harriet.  Of course there is Samantha and her 8 baby pups.  Sena has started bringing one of the biggest and the smallest to school each week for us to weigh and measure.  We are keeping a chart of their progress.  It is amazing how much they grow in one week.  Then probably within the next week or two our cat, Simba, will be having another liter.  (Oh, joy!)  Of course there are baby chicks in the chicken pen.  So it is a place of learning first hand about birth and life.

 

Patty's arrive

On Wednesday night late, the Patty family arrived.  This family of 5 is from Texas, and have been here 2 other times.  Their plan is to be here a year.  Alan will be helping with purchasing and business activities.  June will be helping with the school.  She also homeschools their 3 children; 11yo, 14yo, and 15yo.  They were last here in December.  It was encouraging to us to see their amazement at all that has happened in the last5 ½ months. They are renting the house on the Green farm that we stayed in when we first arrived.

Harmony

 

As  a musician, I am always very interesting in the music here in Africa.  Here folks have to make music to have music.  Unfortunately in the states, people don't know how to make music, they just listen to pre-recorded music. 

 

Our children love to sing.  Often for morning meeting on Fridays, we do lots of singing.  Yesterday was no different.  We let them take turns leading songs.  Roman was very funny as he went to the front of the room, and would give a slight nod to those he wanted to come and join him in leading.  He would shake his head "no" if someone was volunteering to help and he didn't want them.  One of the teachers said that he was like a choir director.

 

Even the 2 Zambian teachers each sang a song for everyone. 

 

But the wonderful thing that I am observing is that the children are beginning to sing in harmony.  No one has really taught them how to do this.  Two or three children will sing a part, or add something.  In the US, it is a challenge to get students to hear and sing the parts.  In Africa it is so natural.  And it is so beautiful to hear.

 

 

On Strike!

At the beginning of this school term – beginning of May – the government teachers here in Zambia went on strike.  One of the reasons was that those who teach in the rural are suppose to get a hardship allowance.  Well they haven't been getting that.  The strike is continuing.  Now other government workers have joined.  This is including nurses and doctors. 

A little boy (not one of our children) was bitten by a snake.  Kamau took him to Liteta hospital and they said that they were on strike so wouldn't see him.  Kamau had to take him to the private doctor at Fringilla.

We also learned that the hospital at Liteta is only receiving ¼ of their budget.  The director for this area, Dr. Teesha, does not know what they are going to do, or what services they are going to be able to provide.

The government does not have enough money to do all these things they need to.  It doesn't help that by law if you go out on strike, you still get paid your full salary.

Benedict is thinking that the little clinic we are building for our workers and children may be more important than we at first thought.

 

IMPORTANT MESSAGE

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Family

We have the great joy of having our son Christopher here for about 6 weeks. It is wonderful to get to share with him our life here.  He is using his skills in graphic design to do work on signs for the market and restaurant, websites for the school and the Chimwemwe ladies, and miscellaneous other jobs.  Of course Sena loves having her brother around.  On Sunday he preached at our church on Pentecost Sunday, and I think we were all blessed.  What a gift to have our family in the US connect with our family in Zambia!

75%

For the last 3 days we have had the challenge of almost no electricity.  Just like he does in the US, Benedict always calls the electric company ( Zesko here) to let them know we have no power. The information that he got was that they are working on the big electric turbines at Kafue Gorge.  As a result, 75% of the country has been without electricity except for maybe 4-6 hours in a 24 hour period. 

It makes you realize how much we depend on electricity.  Here at the Village we use electricity to pump the water.  So if it is off for too long we run out of water.  We haven't been able to use the copier at the school, so have to make work sheets and manipulatives by hand.  If we want to work on the computer we can only do work as long as our batteries last.

At night I'm usually ready to go to bed by 8:00 and with no electricity it makes it even harder to try and stay up.  I've also noticed that since the days are shortening and it is dark later in the morning, with no electricity, the children get a later start and school has been starting late.

But we can still see the beautiful Zambian sunrises and sunsets.  We can still hear the bird songs and that crazy rooster that starts crowing at 3am. And we can always walk to one of the houses and visit with the children and mothers.

 

 

Ladies of the Light

On Saturday, the Ladies of the Chisamba Dutch Reformed church hosted a tea.  There were 11 of us from the Village of Hope who attended at the invitation of Erna, one of our teachers and the wife of the pastor.  The teachers, housemothers, aunties, Kimberly, visitors and couple of others went.  It was held at Fringilla and was a lovely event, held on the verandah of one of the buildings there.  Each plate had a variety of foods that might be appropriate for Bible times.  Down the middle of the table were fruits and nuts and other things to eat.  The speaker was a pediatrician who lives in the community but is from South Africa.  In the last year she has had uterine and cervical cancer, surgery and chemo.  She was a very lovely and articulate young woman.  There was music and special numbers.

Ladies were invited to dress up as women of the Bible.  I just wore one of the dresses I had been given in Ghana and took a tambourine.  I was "Miriam" who led the children of Israel in song after crossing the Red Sea.

It was a lovely morning on a beautiful day.

Giant Leaps Forward Every Term

 

It has been a little over a year since we began teaching the children here at our Village. What has evolved is the living out of our principles for teaching/learning of our School of Hope.  As we begin Term 2 of 2009, I look back on the giant steps we have made as each term began.

 

Term 1 – 2008:   We began teaching in the middle of this term with volunteers and using the living areas of the houses where the children lived.

 

Term 2 – 2008:   We hired 2 Zambian teachers and continued using the houses for classrooms, adding the large newly built room of the Guest House – now our living room. We had 3 teaching spaces that we rotated between.

 

Term 3 -2008:  We moved to the 2 classrooms at the Community Center.  There was a rough cement floor, bookshelves, and tables and benches, not painted, and no walls high up so sound traveled easily between rooms.   I set up a "Director's desk" in the big meeting room that was filled with hundreds of boxes and other things that had come over on the first container to arrive.

 

Term 1 – 2009:  The big room was finally cleared out.  The 2 classrooms were painted and the walls extended between the different rooms.  The floors in the classrooms were finished.  We expanded to use the Meeting room, but it was not painted, and had rough cement floor.  (The problem with the unfinished floors is that there is always dust and it is difficult to keep clean.)  We hired a new Zambian teacher and one left, giving us still 2 teachers.  We hired a mentor teacher, experienced for 16 years teaching in South Africa.

We were up to 24 students by the end of the term.

 

Term 2 - 2009:  We are in the process of preparing for this term.  The large room has a finished floor and the walls are all nicely painted.  We have 4 more large bookshelves.  We are using one of the classrooms for an office and have 3 bookshelves loaded with our "library," teacher resources, and supplies.  There are 2 bookshelves in the big room, and 1 in the other classroom.  We have added some desks and chairs for one room. 

 

So it is always exciting to see the children's faces as they see what has been done.  Classes will start next Monday.

 

 

 

Update:  Matilda

 

It seems to be time for an update on Matilda, the 9 yo (more the size of a 5yo) who was dying of spinal TB when we stepped in to help.  At the beginning of April she came to our house (the guest house where the Schwartz family lives) so that we could tend to the wound she had from a very bad burn on her leg.   During the last 5 weeks, she has been in our home, the wound is almost totally healed.  A ministry in Lusaka has given her a shiny red wheel chair, just her size, and free physical therapy to help strengthen her legs for walking and to prevent future fractures in her hip, legs, and knees.  She knows how to cook on our stove and makes her own eggs (a favorite), shema, and relish.

 

On Sunday, Matilda's mother came to visit.  We made the offer to either continue to have Matilda live in our Village of Hope where we could continue to help with the PT, or to have someone come to their home 2x a day to do the exercises with her and to take her 1x a week to Lusaka for her treatments if she thought Matilda should come home.  Her mother, Alice, said she was very grateful for all that we have done for Matilda and that she is not able to manage her.  She accepted our offer for her to remain here at the village.

 

So our plan is to have her be the first child in the next house, and begin work with the new housemother who will arrive on Monday.  Today Mr. Phiri, who lives in the same Nyrienda village where Matilda's mother lives, saw her outside coloring with some of her friends.  He said what a big improvement there has been in her since she has been here.  He said it was so good that she had come. 

 

So once again God has led in areas we had not considered.  Now we have a child with a major disability who is part of this family.  All the children love pushing her in the wheelchair and having her around.  It sensitizes them to the needs of those with disabilities. 

 

I think the big challenge (and you can pray for us) will be Matilda's strong will.  Her will has helped her survive, but it also can be used when she doesn't want to do what she doesn't want to do.  When school starts next week, she is going to have to fit into a schedule like she has never done before.  But I'm expecting great things to happen!

 

Love Note

 

A couple of days ago, Isaac came to my door.  With his shy smile he handed me a homemade envelope with a message inside.  This was what it said:

"I love Auntie Kathleen.

Auntie Kathleen loves

    me too

God told Auntie Kathleen

   to make the Village

of Hope. That the kids

            can learn.

God we bless you and Ben"

 

The page was decorated with hearts and crosses.  What a wonderful love note and blessing to me!