"Ant on an apple, Ant on me, Go away ant, This apple is for me!"

 

We have begun to provide the education for our children.  At the present time we are using our volunteers to teach each morning from 9-12.  We are all learning together, and the children are improving on their English as the teachers speak in English all morning. 

 

Each week we spend time talking about the letter of the week.  This week we had snacks of apples, apple pancakes, talked about ants and other creepy crawlies.  The older group practiced drawing circles and round letter "a's".

 

The younger group plays with play doh, does puzzles, colors, has music class, rhymes, books, and nature walks.

 

 

The Splendor of the King

There is a song that we often sing: "The splendor of the King, robed in majesty, let all the earth rejoice.  How great is our God."  It is unbelievable to see the clouds around here.  It is unlike anything I have ever seen.  As Benedict says, God has a huge canvas to paint on.  And the vast expanse of sky that you see here, the huge puffy clouds, the layers of clouds is truly amazing.  Last night there were the beautiful clouds, pink as the sun was setting, and lightening in areas of the sky.  What a magnificent display!!!!

 

Matilda

On Monday (March 10) I took Matilda back to the hospital.  For 2 weeks she has been home with a halo thing on her head and chest to keep her immobile while her back and neck heal from the surgery.  On Monday they admitted her.  Tuesday they removed all the apparatus.  Then Thurs, Fri, and Mon and Tues they will do intensive physical therapy.  They will be teaching her mother what she needs to do.  Then they will send her home next Wednesday with leg braces and a wheelchair paid for by one of our volunteers who has had great concern for her.  We may also have our welder make a simple walker for her to use.

 

About 2 weeks ago her father was arrested for theft.  We believe that he is in jail for 18 months.  So we are encouraging her mother to make things for the Chimwemwe ladies so that we can sell them and she can have some money that way.  Right now some relatives are helping her with having food.  We pray that she is not kicked out of where they live since her husband won't be working during that time. 

Measuring plants, feeding rabbits, doing puzzles

 

Today may have been our first day of school at our village of hope.  Yesterday all but 2 of our children were sent home from the community school because of conditions on their scalp, a result of poor nutrition before they came to us.  They were told not to return until it is gone.  So since we were having questions about some of things that the children were being taught, we decided that this gave us the reason for starting our own school now rather than waiting until September. 

 

Today our 3 young women who are volunteers from the states taught the older 8 children for 3 hours.  Sena and I taught the younger group.  The older group mapped out the village and talked about community, counted beans for math, and talked about the parts of a plant and then went out into the fields to measure the different kinds of plants.  Our younger group had a music class (my area of expertise), did puzzles – a first for them – for about an hour, colored a little, and ended the school day by walking ½ mile to the market to feed and observe the rabbits and the chickens.

 

We have a great place for hands on learning: animals, crops, nature to explore.  For now we are meeting in the 2 houses where the children live.  But the land has been cleared, and designs have been drawn up for our school.  We were planning on opening in September.  So our timetable has been pushed forward.  Now we will begin to identify a couple of teachers while we work to finalize the curriculum.

 

Of course the biggest need right now is for the funding to build and equip the school.  Compared to the US, the cost is not great.  We have a committee in the US that is working on curriculum, planning, materials, etc.  Until those things are finalized, we will be exploring our world, and in the process learning English, getting to know one another, and demonstrating how fun learning can be.

A Medical Minute

 

I have realized that knowledge I take for granted has never been taught to the women here.  At our last meeting of the Chimwemwe Ladies Club, we began having a medical minute.  Even though I am not a nurse, I know more than they do and we can certainly research information that they would like to know about. 

 

My first topic was drinking and pregnancy.  Drinking beer is a very big thing here.  You will drive down the road and see plastic containers by the side of the road just waiting for the beer truck to come by and fill up the containers.

 

Two of the ladies in the group are pregnant and I also heard that they drink a lot.  So that was my medical minute.  Drinking is very bad for your baby when you are pregnant.  I hope it has some effect and maybe saves some little child from having the problems associated with drinking during pregnancy.

 

 

Simple to Complex

 

In October, Christine and I felt led to start a woman's club, the Chimwemwe (happiness) Ladies Club.  It seemed a simple, good idea.  We would gather women together, teach them new skills/crafts, sell the crafts, have Bible study, and encourage one another.  It has been just that until a couple of weeks ago.  A group of ladies from one of the villages wanted to join.  At first we thought about 4-5 women.  There are many more who want to come, so our numbers have almost doubled.  With it has come the challenges created in a culture where jealousy is a huge part of how people think, feel, and act.  The old group has been afraid that they will be left out, that I will turn my allegiance to the new folks, that the new people will just want to destroy what we are about.  The last 2 meetings have been anything but a meeting of happy ladies. 

 

It doesn't discourage me because I believe that the challenges of working through this will provide teaching and acting out to the women of what it means to operate without the jealousy.  But it isn't what I expected at all.  I said to Christine on Wednesday, "You didn't tell me it would be so hard!"

Rain and Electricity

 

We are still officially in the rainy season.  In December and January there was more rainfall in Zambia than anyone could remember.  Roads became impassable and in some places flooding was very bad.  Normally, the rains should continue into March with a possible rain or two in April.  However, we have had very little rain for the last month.  This isn't good.  Even though there was so much before, we continue to need rain.  The ground here dries out very, very quickly.  Folks who got their crops in late will be in trouble, because they too need the rain.  So pray for more rain.

 

An increasing problem in southern Africa is electricity.  More power has been promised than is available.  As a result we often have cut-offs.  In South Africa the situation is becoming critical.  They have not maintained their plants for the last 20 years.  Due to lack of electricity they are shutting down coal mines.  But they need the coal to produce electricity.  A vicious cycle.  Foreign investors are pulling out of South Africa in large numbers, due in many ways to the shortage of electricity. 

 

They say that in Zambia the situation will continue for several years.  We are increasingly having the power shut off.  Where we stay, at present, they have a generator which is usually working.  They only use it from about 7pm-10pm. The cost of diesel to run it is high.   The other night the generator was broken so we were without power from about 3pm until about 9am the following day.  We can adapt in most ways pretty easily.  However, it does prove to be a challenge for Benedict who needs to sleep at night with a breathing machine.  We may have to get a small generator just for that. 

 

Benedict did get a little gas cooker so that we will be able to make dinners when the power is off.  It also makes it more important to explore wind and solar power.  The problem with some of these technologies is that they require more capital to set them up.  Over the long haul they would be cheaper but not initially.