It's been a year!!

I flew out on June 23rd last year to begin an adventure in Zambia via family in Zimbabwe. It was a very surreal day leaving behind good friends and going to live in Zambia a place I had only seen from a distance over Victoria falls. So I've been out of England for over a year now and you are probably wondering what I've learnt from being here so I thought I would share some of my wisdom with you all!

The day I left saying goodbye to some great friends! 

Some things I've realised since being here:

The love of simple things (you see it a lot in the kids):
- recycling plastic bottles and lids to make toy cars
- using the plastic bags from loaves of bread and a stick to make crowns
- another use of the bread bag is making kites with a few added sticks
- Laughing at little things, like what Miss Chapman looks like with no glasses. It's hilarious!
- making up games like guess what is in Miss Chapman's bag.
- having a whole class sing a song to praise me for reading a story so nicely to them  (with actions) The song goes 'well done, well done such a good Madame/teacher'

About cycling:
- Off road cycling is fun
- if you start falling put your foot down ( haven't quite mastered that one yet I'm just so determined that I can stay on the bike but when it ends up sideways it doesn't really work.)
- sand and mud are equally difficult to cycle through
- puddles can be deceivingly deep!

How to navigate by random landmarks
- the really sandy bit of road
- the bumpy bit of road
- the potholes
- the huge puddle
- the 2 trees that are close together
- the billboards

That unfortunately random landmarks can change (which might mean you end up lost)
- sand turns into mud
- trucks smooth out bumps in some places and make new ones in others.
- potholes get bigger and more of them appear
- puddles dry up
- trees get chopped down or burnt
- pictures on billboards can change

God speaks though any thing if you are open to Him for example:
On my route to Kamfinsa it has been changing so much with the seasons
- it is crazy how different a place can look
- sand becomes mud, nothing becomes tall grass, puddles become dust bowls,
- As I was praying on the way God began to speak I realised that even though our circumstances can look very different as seasons in our life change. God remains the same He is still with us still directing us.

I realised that university did actually teach me something that I have been able to use in training teachers here and in making decisions about things in the process of setting up the school.

I recognised just how important friends and family really are! Skype is a genius invention!

A good church can be hard to find. I have tried many whilst being here and only just decided on which one to go to. I still miss the Kings Arms family!

About time for an update a trip to the UK, term 2 begins and other things.

So it's been a really long time since I last wrote. So sorry to keep you all in suspense. 
What's been happening since I last wrote, well I mentioned we were going to have our official opening day. That did happened last term and went well the kids did so well and all the visitors were very excited and impressed by the classrooms and how well the kids were doing.

I also mentioned I was able to return to the UK for a friends wedding which I have done. It was quite a surreal and shocking  experience to see people in 'real life'. I found myself thinking this can't be real quite often, but people assured me I really was in England and I had been living in Zambia for 9months. It was incredible to be able to be there to celebrate my friends wedding! I loved catching up with friends and family. I also managed to celebrate my nieces first birthday while I was there which was such a privilege, I am very much enjoying being an aunt. 

I have only been back in Zambia for 2 weeks so far but am loving being back. Good to be reunited with my friends here and to see the kids again. Term 2 of school got off to a good start last week. The kids all came back and were excited to find out that because our new topic is Our World we are going on a trip to the airport this week! 

I've also been out to visit the guardians again. Unfortunately Charity who I mentioned last time, is still very sick she was in hospital for a month when we took her before but didn't really recover. When I went to visit her last week she was hardly speaking, her whole foot  and fingers were covered in sores. We decided the journey to hospital at this point would be very difficult for her and she said she didn't want to go back. Luckily there is a clinic in the village where she lives and the doctor has prescribed some medication which he expects should work within 2 weeks so hopefully that works and she will be well next time I see her. 

Here is some shocking news for you all! It is getting cold here. Yes that's right I have been wearing jeans and a hoody in the mornings and evenings. It really does get cold in Africa if you don't believe me you will just have to come and visit! 

Mud, dancing, rain, mud, lightning, thunder, more mud, chicken, Patricia and Charity.

Stuck in the mud

A few weeks ago I experienced a very African phenomenon of super thick sticky mud. Anne-Mette and I were driving out to a youth conference in Misaka. There had been quite a lot of rain so the puddles were huge and the road very muddy in places. We got to one part where the options we're go through a huge puddle, or follow the other car tracks through some very thick looking mud. Having no idea how deep the puddle could be the muddy route looked best. So we went for the muddy path. Unfortunately turns out mud is pretty slippery, so our back wheel ended up in the deep puddle and the others were just spinning. We weren't to far from Misaka so Anne-Mette ran to get some help. With a few more hands and some more experienced mud drivers we managed to get the truck out with not too much difficulty. It's all part of the fun!

Catch the fire

We visited the Catch The Fire church with the team from Denmark. It is a great place. I enjoy going the church there. When we were last there we had a great worship time! I felt led to go and dance with some of the older ladies in the church. Dancing with them was so much fun, they were full of so much joy and thankfulness.

Mid term break.

We went away to Nsobe bush camp, where we stayed in some really nice chalets.

With outdoor bathrooms, a bit strange showering in the rain and hoping no one will walk past while you are on the loo. But thankfully being quite isolated none of us were caught unawares.

It was a very relaxing time of chatting, playing games, going for walks, eating and drinking yummy things. The rain continuers! We were out for a walk one day and it started to rain we carried on regardless, as the rain got heavier and heavier we had to make a choice, continue and accept we would be soaked or turn back and try to avoid a total drenching. I'm sure you can guess which option I went for. A few turned back but Charlie, Malene and I continued enjoying the refreshing rain and eventually, after giving up the flip flops, the squishing of mud between our toes. We got back to camp drenched and joyful.

Storms

The storms are still here the lightning and thunder  is crazy. The thunder has been unbelievably loud at times, making you jump out of your skin and causing the windows to shake. They also bring with them the increased possibility of power cuts, and lots more mud.

Kapumpe

School is still going well! On the whole the children seem to be picking up English well although there are times when we realise that maybe they haven't understood everything as well as we had hoped. One funny incident was when asking what day of the week it was their reply was chicken, followed by all sorts of other answers, fruits of the spirit, banana, patience. Clearly we are teaching them something!

We also have our official opening day this Wednesday so we are busy preparing the kids for doing a little presentation of the work we have been doing including a few songs.

Adventures
In the past few months me and friends here have decided that we want to make sure we have some adventure times with God just asking Him what he wants to do and then going out into the community and following His lead.

So last week Anne-Mette and I met to pray, as we started it began to rain but we were to excited to not go out, I felt God gave me the name Patricia and word orange, Anne-Mette felt we should walk rather than cycle and go in the direction of town. So off we went in the rain which got heavier and heavier! Chatted to a few people at the roadside stalls, where they sell tomatoes, bananas and onions. We offered to pray for them they looked a little confused and said they were all well! So we carried on up the road.

Everyone in cars driving by looked very shocked to see two girls walking in the pouring rain, but we were having fun. By the time we got to the next stall it was torrential rain so we sheltered with the ladies there, they introduced themselves and then Anne-Mette saw a little girl about 2 years old playing in a puddle she asked what her name was "Patricia" WOOO! We noticed it looked like she had an infection in her eyes so we prayed for her. I was so excited and surprised, love how God loves to speak! On the way home we celebrated by jumping in all the pothole puddles it really fun you have no idea if they will be toe deep or knee deep before you jump in!

Hospital

As part of the work I'm doing with the orphan project we go out on visits once a week to see how the guardians and kids are doing at home. Through this I have met a lady called Charity she has been sick for a very long time about 3years or so. When we first went to visit with the Danish team she was quite unwell and it was clear she was very weak, we encouraged her, sang and prayed with her. A few weeks later we visited again,  she has sores on her lips, fingers and toes. She said she should have gone to the hospital but didn't have the transport money.

Last week her grandson came to see us and said she was worse and thought she needed to go to the hospital as she had been given medication from the local clinic but there was no improvement. So we went to pick her up. She found it very difficult to get up and into the vehicle. We made it to the hospital. Driving in I realised I had never been in a hospital like this before. We drove up to the door saying casualty and helped Charity out. Walking in we were directed to an assessment type room which was very bare with a desk in the middle surrounded by nurses and doctors on stools. There were people sitting all around the edge of the room having various treatments. The label on the door said medical and gyne cases. The nurses struggled to find Charity's veins tying a piece if plastic tubing around her arm and tilting their heads trying to get a better angle, eventually after about 4 attempts they managed to get a needle in. She was clearly in pain and afraid of the needles, it was hard to watch.

After the assessment they decided she needed to be admitted so we went to buy her some food, so that she would have something to eat while she was there. We prayed for her and encouraged her that God was with her.

New Year brings some new things

-Our New School begins

Last Tuesday we started school properly in our building including running water, electricity, painted walls, tiled floors, lots of excited children in their new uniforms, a Zambian Teacher called Fatima and quiet a few ants.

The first week of school has gone very well, the children have been enjoying all the activities we are doing with them from singing to playing games to writing their names to counting a bit of sports, music, art, science and then some more singing (we do a lot of that).

They seem to be picking up English reasonably well the main phrases of this week have been "please may I go to the toilet?"and remembering what to say when someone says "good morning" most of them used to reply with "I'm fine" so we recapped the difference between "how are you?" and "good morning". Oh and they have all learnt a new word "SCOOTER" this is a vital one for them as this is their favorite toy and we encourage the to ask for it in English.

-Some new adventures- going out and about

After breakfast on Saturday, as Anne-Mette, Charlie and I talked about what to do with the rest of our day, we remembered that we had talked about going out to different communities to see what God wanted to do but hadn't actually gone yet. So we thought we would go to a nearby village where there is a clinic to offer to pray for people there.

As we cycled up to the clinic we recognized a lady walking away from it (she is a teacher from another village around 10km away) we asked why she was there she explained her daughter was unwell with suspected malaria but the clinic was closed. She then asked what we were doing there, we explained, and she was very happy for us to pray for her daughter. It felt like we were where God wanted us to be. We have since found out that just a few hours later her daughter was feeling well again! How exciting!!

 While we were there I remembered a lady (Albertina) who had been taken to a witch doctor and been held there for over a month because there were rumours in the community that she was also a witch doctor (not sure how this was meant to help her?) she had been released just before Christmas. So we set off to visit her house. Along the way we passed the house where one of our pupils (Purity) lives she had been unwell and missed school on Friday. When we saw her she was still looking very weak and unwell so we offered to pray for her and her grandmother was happy for that. So we prayed and continued on our way to Albertina's house. We chatted with Albertina prayed for her and her grandson who had been with her at the witch doctors, she seemed encouraged! On our way back we saw Purity again and she was looking a lot more lively which is great!

-a new level of recognizing Gods provision

One of the most difficult things about being here is missing people in the UK especially when there are big things happening in their lives. Since I have been here one of my best friends has got engaged and is getting married at the end of March. We decided as I couldn't be there we could set up an iPad with Skype and then I could still be part of it! But to my utter shock through some very generous people it has become possible for me to actually travel back for her wedding! I am so excited to get to be fully part of it! God really does provide for things that are important to us!

- a new theme - Emmanuel - God with us
God seems to have been reminding of this name of his in a number of ways, so funny when it feels like everywhere you turn you are being reminded of the same thing. Here are some examples of how God has been reminding me that He is Emmanuel (God with us):

- songs
- printed on a milk carton
- finding a bible in the roof of a prayer hut with EMMANUEL written in big letters across the front
- on stickers on the buses
- in the name of one of the churches we visited

Christmasish time, no mistletoe, a little bit of wine.

A collection of mini updates:

Christmassyness: (In the last two weeks it has become Christmassy here which is nice)

- First we decorated our house with a combination of things we found in the cupboard and some nice seeds we painted to be Christmassy. 

-On Tuesday Charlie and I took the play-school children out for ice cream (They loved it although it took some getting used for quite a few of the kids, also it turns out wearing a seatbelt is very exciting thing, I realised this when there was a bus full of kids shouting "me belt, me belt" as I clipped them all in)

- On Thursday it was christmaspartytime at the play-school this involved music, hilarious dancing, snacks, presents, games and laughing. A great way to finish the term!

-One more Christmas related item! If you are reading this thinking, I should be Christmas shopping, I have a solution, how about choosing something from the project that is sponsoring our kids, here is their giftlist (www.threeeighteen.org)

Falling off bikes:
- this seems to be a new skill I'm developing!
- today was my 6th fall and the most impressive of them all. I was cycling back from a conference with some friends we had been through a few puddles and then I saw a nice big one and it didn't look too deep so I decided I could go through the middle, my friends needless to say didn't follow me. I ended up sitting waist deep in a very muddy puddle laughing a lot!  

School progress: (it's been full speed ahead, January here we come) 

- many pots of paint + many hours of painting = one finished school building woo woo! 

- lots of lifting + shifting = furniture being in place 

- measuring + stapling + hammering+ drilling + blue tac sticking =  it looking  like a classroom 

- moving resources + organizing things= its almost ready for the teaching to start

Wildlife: (I have included this mainly as evidence that there are no elephants in the garden/ a common misconception): 

Snakes : yes we have seen quite a few recently, although mostly harmless ones (1 in a tree, 1 in the grass near our house and at least 2 by the school!) , 

Beetles:  yes too many to count really lots with cool colours and even a Titan beetle (worlds longest variety of beetle.) 

Ants: yes of all different shapes and sizes always busy. I did get bitten by a very large one this week felt more like a bee sting! 

Elephants: nope none not one, ok, unless you are counting pictures or sculptures of them!? 

Rain : (I love it, this statement about rain may confuse some of you so let me explain) 

1 - it reminds me of being a kid ( I have enjoyed the adventure of running through the storms watching for lightning and getting completely soaking wet in minutes) 

2 -it makes driving more exciting (The huge puddles provide much entertainment while driving) 

3 - it's proper rain ( Firstly the drops are huge and they come down quickly, secondly it's still warm) 

     

Simplicity is the way forward!

In the last few weeks I have been reminded of how full of grace God is! I have been enjoying just spending time in His presence it is such a simple joy that we can so easily skip over. Also in the process of writing the curriculum we have been deciding how to teach the kids in a way that equips them to develop a real relationship with God. Through this I haven been reminded of Gods goodness and His plans for us to live as His children. A current favorite song that the kids sing at playschool is about God being wonderful and him sugaring our tea and buttering our bread, it's a good song with actions and even sweeter in a Zambian accent! 

Since being here I have been asking what is my main purpose, where should my focus be, why have I been called to be here. In day-to-day life its easy to think what impact am I having? how am I serving the people around me? and then come to the conclusion that there is so much more I could be doing. I feel like God has been reminding me that He first calls us to love people. So this has been my focus rather than asking myself what am I doing! I'm asking how am I loving the people around me? For example Last Monday 2 new orphans joined us in the playschool (Alice and Mabel) so I am doing what he has called me to do by loving these kids and helping them realise their value.

All the girls together at school from left to right Esnat, Mabel, Alice, Purity and Gift!

Here is a dangerous book that my brother and sister-in-law gave me for my birthday, it's the story of a 21 year old girl who moves to Uganda on her own and ends up adopting 14 children  

Trist and Naomi did say perhaps I shouldn't get too many ideas from the book. So far I haven't adopted any children although when they run towards you with huge smiles on their faces it's hard to imagine that you wouldn't want to! 

My days out here can be very varied although I am mostly teaching in the playschool, we have just started some teacher training sessions with the teachers from the playschool and two from Kamfinsa school. Which was a scary prospect be when you sit down t plan them it turns out you do know more than you thought and you might actually be able to teach some one something. Here are some other things I have been up to:

Painting ceilings in the classroom, the school building is nearly finished now!

Swimming at the top of waterfalls, my mum was not so pleased about this one!

Relaxing with Charlie and Liz, we are living together which is fun!

Zip wiring across the gorge, not nearly as scary as I thought! 

Eating nshima with the students, it's just Sadza with a different name. 

Other things I have been enjoying:

Lemon creams, they are yummy as you can tell by my face! 

Toasted marshmallows, we eat these pretty often! 

After church greeting everyone and shaking hands, I love community living!

The smell of the rains, brings back memories and just smells so good!

New Bemba words 'balenga' reading  and trying to learn days of the week but they are tricky. 

Life and adventures in Zambia!

So in the past few weeks I have returned to Kamfinsa where I have been teaching once a week. Although the first week I arrived to find the school wasn't open, so I happily joined Liz to help with a discipleship group of 14 woman she is starting running there. It was a great time of worshipping together in Bemba (including some songs I now recognize), dancing together, praying and Gods peace coming!

In the play-school as part of our school day we have introduced 'Time with God sessions' which we have been planning to help the kids have a real relationship with God. During one of the first sessions we were singing a song Thank you Lord for ............ and the children chose something they were thankful for. For the rest of the day children were walking around singing Thank you Lord for (bicycles, food, various people's names) such a demonstration of how to be continually thankful! 

Last weekend we went camping at a place called 'The Sunken Lake' it was a very unexpectedly beautiful place (see the photo) it was a great time to enjoy being outside, swimming, jumping off rocks, a rope swing and campfires! There were around 20 people there (unusually all white)  it was quite a shock to see so many white people in one place!

Esnat, Gift and Purity are well settled into the play school now and getting some more English. Which is great it means there are more opportunities to add in different activities (including parachute games, which all the kids love)

. It is difficult at times to feel like you are having a real impact through the day to day things you do, but as I was reminded recently that even impact on an individual scale has significance. I was told a story about a wise old man and a small boy who was busy throwing starfish one by one back into the sea, after a storm where thousands were washed up. The old man told the boy he could never make a difference, the boy simply picked up one more starfish threw it into the sea saying "it made a difference to that one" and continued along the beach picking up the starfish. 

Yesterday I went along on some home visits to see the guardians homes who have applied to join the new orphan project. We visited 5 homes including one who will be another pupil for the school  (Mabel). It was interesting to see some different places and meet some of the people, practice some more Bemba and enjoy some more off road driving, involving praying that a bridge would hold the weight of the car and finding some very narrow tracks. It will be a very difficult process to make decisions about which orphans we can support. There are over 300 (single or double orphans) who have applied and we can only support around half that amount. We are just praying for Gods wisdom in it all?! 

One of my newest Bemba words is 'katwish ' meaning 'I don't know' which I'm sure will come in useful! We have also impressed some of the bible college students by knowing the Bemba word for window (insolokoto) which some of them didn't even know!