Last Entry

            My African adventure is officially over.  When I first heard about this opportunity, my initial reaction was, “Sure, why not?”  I wasn’t really nervous about going so far away, nor was I overly excited or enthusiastic about it.  I looked forward to it, but I wasn’t expecting the experience to be what it was.

My attitude completely changed soon after landing in Zambia.  Somebody told me that once you’ve been to Africa, it gets in your blood and always stays with you.  They were right.  I fell in love with Africa.  I had no idea that I would grow this connected to it.  My time spent in Zambia wasn’t always perfect: there were moments where I felt sad, homesick, tired, and irritated.  But those moments were few and far between.  Most of the time, I was supremely happy.  I loved the weather, the animals, the plants, but most of all, the people.  Never before have I had the pleasure of working with such happy, pleasant, and content people.  The kids played outside all day long with nothing but sticks, avocados, and a deflated old football to entertain themselves.  The women worked all day in the garden, cleaned and cooked, and usually worked an additional job but still found time to come to English class and work hard.  Everywhere I went, I was treated like a very welcome guest. 

I’ll never forget my time spent in Africa.  I believe it has changed me for the better.  I hope the next time that I complain, I’ll think about the families I met who each own about six pieces of clothing or about the schools that can’t even give each child a single piece of paper.  Material things don’t make you happy; I was reminded of this every day in my short time in Zambia. 

Thanks for reading along and allowing me to share my experiences with you.  I am so blessed to have had this opportunity and to have so many people praying for me and thinking of me.  If you ever get the chance, go to Africa.  I promise that you will love it and never regret it.   

Sightseeing in London

            I think I saw nearly everything there is to see in London today.  We took the tube into downtown and walked all over.  Just some of the things I saw include: Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Houses of Parliament and Big Ben, the London Eye, the London Bridge, the Tower of London, the Tower Bridge, Globe Theater, and about a thousand other cathedrals and monuments.  We also walked briefly through the Victoria and Albert museum and the Natural History museum.  I’ll have to match up my pictures with the maps to remember everything.  I had a great time exploring the incredibly beautiful city.  There are lots of construction projects going on in preparation for the Olympics and I’m looking forward to see what they turn out to be. 

Some weird things from today:

-          I was taking a picture of this artwork on the sidewalk of different country’s flags.  I took a picture of Zambia’s flag, USA’s flag, and was looking for Estonia’s flag when a middle Eastern man came up to me and said, “No, stop taking pictures. You have enough.  No more pictures for Americans.”  I was really confused because I was in no way doing anything disrespectful.  He actually started walking on the art so he would ruin my picture.  And how did he know I was American?  I was taking pictures of several different flags and I don’t think I was speaking this entire time. 

-          There were people dressed in different movie characters along the Thames River by the London Eye.  There was Shrek, Captain Jack Sparrow, the tin man, and a bunch of others.  It was strange and kind of creeped me out.

-          I thought the Tower Bridge was London Bridge.  London Bridge is actually very boring and looks just like a regular bridge. 

I was constantly surprised by how many different accents I heard.  I rarely heard an actual British accent – most of the time it was some other European or Asian accent.  I had no idea how diverse London was.  Anyway, it was a good day full of sightseeing.  I’m very tired from all our walking and am looking forward to my (surprisingly comfortable) bed on the floor. 

Travelling to London

            I woke up at 5:30, showered, ate a quick breakfast, and packed up a few things quickly before heading out to the airport.  Everything went smoothly, thankfully.  The flight was uneventful.  There were lots of new movies available (The Vow, New Year’s Eve, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, etc.) so I watched more movies/TV than I usually do in a two-week period.  I experienced a bit of reverse culture shock when one of the movies showed a person driving in New York City and I wondered why they were on the wrong side of the road. Being in London is strange. The buildings and cars seem so beautiful and clean: again, I think this is another example of reverse culture shock.  I can communicate with everyone so well, too, so I have this feeling of being extremely comfortable and not at all concerned that I’m in a strange city.  We figured out the bus system and got to our hotel.  While this hotel is very nice and clean, it is completely bare bones.  There’s only one bed (which probably means I’m sleeping on the floor), no telephone, no remote control for the teeny little TV, and no shampoo.  That last one is definitely a bummer, especially since we both have fine, blonde hair that does not do well without .  Rachel and I are already staking out which women we are going to try to borrow some from.  Right now we’re sitting in the café/bar area, waiting for some dinner, and enjoying a nature show on Africa.  There’s nothing else very interesting for me to talk about unless I type reviews on all the movies I watched.  I hope tomorrow’s walking tour of London goes well and we enjoy our last little mini travelling adventure.  

Sad Good-byes

            I feel very emotionally drained right now.  Today was so much fun yet so sad at the same time.  This morning we had a little ceremony for our ladies.  We gave them certificates, a picture of Rachel and me with a letter written on the back, and a picture of the class.  Afterwards we served some biscuits and juice and showed a PowerPoint of pictures we had taken in our time here.  I didn’t think I was going to cry, but when Sarah came up to receive her certificate and hugged me tight and whispered in my ear, “I will miss you.  Go with God,” I pretty much lost it.  She was crying, Rachel was crying, and some other ladies started crying too.  We hugged all the ladies and said we would see them later in the afternoon and then went with Dee to Kabwata again.  It was so sweet of her to drive us all the way down there again – it’s through downtown, which means confusing round-a-bouts and tons of traffic.  We had a really fun time shopping and bartering and then Dee offered to take us out to lunch.  We went to Mint, this adorable restaurant in the mall, and had some very delicious, fresh, healthy food. 

            After returning home, packing up our new purchases, and changing clothes, we headed over to campus to see the kids.  We walked over to Pastor Kawiliza’s house to give him a card.  He wasn’t there, but we had spoken to him earlier in the day and had said our good-byes already, so that was okay.   Then we walked down the street to the Mutetamis house.  Pastor Mutentami, his wife, and his second-youngest daughter Margaret were there.  Pastor invited us in and then thanked us profusely for our work here for a good ten minutes.  I started tearing up when he said, “Say hello to the people in America for us.  Some people we know, and others we do not yet know.  Remember us and think of us.”  He led us in prayer, which got me crying harder.  I hugged his wife and daughter, who were also on the verge of tears, shook Pastor’s hand, and Rachel and I walked out the door completely sobbing.  We must have looked absolutely ridiculous on our five minute walk back to campus. 

            We stopped by to give Regina her certificate and pictures since she wasn’t there this morning and then sat by the football field to wait for kids to come and play with us.  Charity and Bridget came out with the preschoolers and we could tell something was going on.  A littler after 4:00, they all came over with cards for us.  The older kids (the ones who I taught) gave me their cards, shouting, “I love you!” and “I will miss you!”   Then the younger ones came with theirs for Rachel.  Charity handed us two of the LCAA chitenges, which was so sweet and exactly what we wanted.  Charity then gathered the kids together and she sang us a song while they kind of swayed back and forth to it.  The whole time I was continuously crying.  During this time, Dave was getting the older kids ready to play kickball, so after we hugged all the preschoolers, I watched the kids play kickball until the ladies started congregating on the field.  Charity said that they wanted to learn how to play, so I got Dave to come over and explain the rules, and after a while we started a game of ladies versus boys.  We got absolutely crushed, but the ladies had so much fun.  They’re so competitive and were so thrilled when they finally scored a home run or got some of the boys out.  I wish I was able to videotape the boys when they were up to kick.  They started doing cheers like Chipolopolo does (the Zambian national team who won the African cup). 

Kickball got over at 5:30, and then Rachel and I knew the moment finally arrived when we had to say good-bye to everyone.  We started with the ladies first.  Rachel and I were sobbing and most of the ladies were too.  Regina and Sarah asked for our addresses so they could write us, and the other ladies hugged us tightly and murmured things like, “God bless you,” “I will miss you,” or “Thank you for all you’ve done.”  Then we started in on the line of kids.  At first, they were all doing well – no crying from any of the younger ones yet.  But then I got to the end of the line and I saw Barnabas N. and Given leave the line to go stand behind a tree.  I walked around and they were both standing there crying.  These were the two boys I feel like I had the closest relationship with and I knew these would be the hardest good-byes for me.  I hugged them both tightly and we all stood there crying for a while.  Given kept asking, “You are coming back, right?  When will you be back?”  Rachel and I both answered him several times, but he kept asking, not wanting to accept that we couldn’t give him a better answer.  We wanted to wait around for the other kids coming back from school to show up, so we stood there while the kids one by one started bawling.  Mwandida was crying hysterically.  Mirriam, Samuel, and Bertha stood off to the side, crying continuously as well.  Bismarck, Steward, and Sarah’s husband came over to say their good-byes.  They expressed their gratitude and said that the campus has been changed by our presence. 

The only student I didn’t get to see was Mildred, which is so sad for me.  We couldn’t stick around long though because the missionaries were all leaving at six to get to dinner, and by this time it was already time to go and we were still in athletic clothes.  We said good-bye to Dr. Wendland and made our last trip back over to the guest house.  Our faces were streaked with tears and we could barely talk.   We quickly changed into nicer clothes and met Dave and Dee to get to dinner.  We joined the Birners, Sargents, and Hartmanns at Rhapsody’s, a very upscale restaurant at Arcades.  Sue gave us a very funny present consisting of things that will remind us of our crazy Kafue trip together, as well as a malaria-testing kit since they’re difficult to come by in the states.  The Hartmanns gave us some chocolate (inside joke – not funny if I try to explain it).  We were then given LCCA chitenges as a thank you.  It was a very nice evening and a good way to say good-bye.

Writing this right now is of course making me cry again.  I will never forget Given’s heartbroken face staring at me, waiting to hear that I will be back in a couple weeks.  Nor will I forget the feeling of Brian pulling on my leg, begging for a hug, Emily clutching to my hand and never wanting to let go, or Barnabas acting like a dork to make me laugh.  I have to come back someday to see these people again.  I just have to. 

Now it’s late and I need to finish up some last minute packing and cleaning before going to bed.  I can’t believe it’s over already!

Kabwata and Last Day of English

            Most of the ladies were working today, so unfortunately we only had four ladies show up for English class.  We had the two highest ladies and the two lowest ladies, but our class actually went really well.  It was so great seeing the two lower ladies doing really well and speaking English with the two higher ladies.  We played a mix of charades and Pictionary to review English words we learned these past few months. The ladies loved it.  After that, I showed and kind of tested them on a PowerPoint of America.  I tried to make lots of comparisons to Zambia: a mountain lion is our version of a lion, Florida has alligators instead of crocodiles, the northern part of the states has snow (they loved talking about snow – it still is such a crazy concept to them), we have four seasons, you have three, etc.  Tomorrow is our last day of English.  We’re not really teaching; instead, we’re handing out certificates, pictures, and some treats.  It should be fun and a nice way to say good-bye. 

            After class, Dee took us to Kabwata, the cultural village.  When the British started settling Zambia, they tore down all the little huts the natives were living in and built westernized houses instead.  Someone realized that the culture was being destroyed and wanted to preserve a part of it, so they saved these last huts to show people what Zambia used to look like.  Next to these huts, artists and craftsmen sell their work.  Dee knew we were interested in looking at some of these things, so she offered to take us.  We didn’t buy as much as we wanted because we were nervous about packing, but we went back home, packed quickly, and realized that we both have tons more room.  We’re hoping to go back tomorrow to get some other things we liked. 

            After we packed (and joyfully celebrated the fact that our luggage is in no danger of being overweight) we walked over to preschool to drop some things off to the teacher.  We played with the kids – or rather, they hung off our arms and legs while shouting “Teacher!” – and then walked up to the store to get some juice for tomorrow’s party with the ladies.  Then we returned to campus, watched the kids play for a bit, and then played volleyball.  No ladies showed up because of a meeting or something, which was disappointing, but we played with a bunch of the older boys, and that was really fun.  Then we made a strange dinner consisting of all our leftover food (half a chicken breast, some cabbage and onions, and lots of rice) and actually cleaned our house.  Dust gets blown in constantly no matter what we do, so everything in here is pretty much just covered in a film of dirt.  Then I played around on the internet for a while trying to find out easy ways to get from our hotel in London to the touristy stuff downtown.  It was a busy but extremely productive day!  I’m happy we have tomorrow to just enjoy ourselves and not stress out about packing. 

Tutoring Party

            Today was busy!  I had Given, Mildred, and Barnabas show up.  After Mildred and I finished “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” we played a matching game that I created and then Simon Says.   They all loved it, especially the matching game.  After English class, Dee took us into town to get some last minute things we needed for our party this evening.  We had lunch and got everything we needed and just made it back in time for our afternoon tutoring session.  I had a bunch of kids show up for this one – Obey, Daliso, Jeremiah, Stone, Mirriam, Shain, and Given again.  I kept asking why Given wasn’t in school but I couldn’t get a straight answer.  I think he got in trouble for not bringing his books or something.  We played the same memory game and Simon Says and invited Rachel’s kids – Mwandida, Pimbi, and Shadreck – to play with us too.  It was a very competitive, long, loud game.  The kids had a lot of fun and didn’t want to leave at the end of it. 

            We went back and prepared for our party.  The purpose of our party was to hand out certificates that show that the kids were taking English classes; this is very important to the people here.  It can help later with jobs and things like that.  We also gave each kid a picture of us with them and their tutoring group.  Each preschool child received a group picture of Rachel and I with them.  All the kids got a piece of candy, and then we served peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, biscuits, and juice to the kids and their parents.  The parents loved it; the moms ran over and swung their kids around, kissing their faces and telling them good job after they got their certificate.  Afterwards, several of the dads came over and thanked us for our hard work and repeatedly said that they were so sad we have to leave so soon.  We took pictures with many of the families and then cleaned up with some help from the boys.  It was a really fun party and it really couldn’t have gone better.  We were so happy to see that nearly every single person was there.

             We ate a quick dinner and then went over to the Sargents’ to celebrate Nathan’s birthday.  Now I’m faced with the dooming dilemma of trying to pack.  I’m so tired and unmotivated to do that right now and will probably end up pushing it back to the very last second. 

Last Sunday

            Last church service at Bethel today.  I played for it and it went much better than last time – the cables were working so the piano stayed on this time and Rachel held the pages down for me so the wind wouldn’t close the hymnal.  After the service, we got some stuff ready for tomorrow and tried to begin organizing all our things.  Then Rachel’s aunt called and invited us out for dinner.  Afterwards, we went back to their house and watched “Rio” and ate ice cream.  It was a very nice, relaxing evening.  Not much else to report – the next few days will be a whirlwind of teaching, packing, cleaning, and saying good-bye.