Winding Down!

This has been another busy week as we are all trying to get the things done this week that we put off until the end. On Friday afternoon, we finally took a short trip out to Klaus Mueller’s development farm called Twin Fountains. Klaus is a German man who runs this large farm & he uses it to teach people how to farm better in this culture. He has up to 40 students at a time who come here for a 2 year stint to learn agricultural concepts. While they are here, they are given a plot of land to farm & Twin Fountains markets their goods for them. If they put into practice what they learn, they will be able to use it to pay for their schooling, housing, & may still be able to take money home at the end. One of his more successful students is going to be leaving with approx $500 which is a huge amount of money for a Zambian farmer!

We took our lovely yellow school bus straight from Klaus’ farm out to Jordan’s rock which is a large outcropping of rock at Namwianga where missionaries have been having picnics under the stars for the last 70 years! Roy & Kathy Merritt arranged for our group to have a cookout there. Their Zambian workers made us grilled chicken & steaks, potato salad, pea salad, baked beans, rolls, jello, & cake. We enjoyed the meal along with a bon-fire & singing under the stars. The Zambians love to sing & most are very good at it! It was a very enjoyable evening.

Saturday was a free day with most of us going into town. We did some last minute shopping & I dropped some fabric off at a tailor who is going to make me an African suit (skirt & top). All total with the fabric, it will cost me less than $20 for a custom-made outfit! I am looking forward to seeing it!

Sunday, several of us went into Kalomo to the High School church there. The boarding students that attend Kalomo high school cannot leave the campus, so they have formed a church there which is run entirely by the High School students. One problem with going with a group of white people, is that wherever we go to church, we are always asked to preach, teach class, do communion – whatever. Unfortunately, this meant we didn’t really get to see how the high schoolers did things, but it was obvious that they were well prepared & organized & enthusiastic!! We had Bible study for about an hour, then worship for about an hour, & then just as we thought things were winding up,. They wanted all the visitors to introduce themselves & say where they were from. To our surprise, we were not the only visitors! There were another 10 or 12 students there from Namwianga High School. The person in charge announced that the church’s choir would sing 2 songs, then the Namwianga singing group would sing 5 songs, & our group would sing 2 songs. Each of the Zambian groups sing a song as they are walking up to the front & as they are sitting down in their seats & these songs are not included in their allotment of sings, therefore, we heard a total of 13 songs - & many of the Zambian songs go on forever!!!
Those students all sat there & with an enthusiastic Amen at the end of every song! I can’t imagine our high school students ever taking on such a project much less being excited about sitting on a hard bench for over 3 hours at a time in 90 degree heat with no fans & listening to group after group after group singing to them!! It was inspirational to say the least!

We hurried home from worship to start lunch only to find that the power had been out for about an hour. We had planned on having spaghetti & had it all prepared except for frying the meat & cooking the spaghetti…. So we commenced to making a fire & just as it was getting going well, --- you guessed it – the electricity came back on. That’s the way it is here!! We all enjoyed our Spaghetti dinner with a big salad – something we don’t get a lot of here. That evening as we were preparing dinner, the power went out again. We had just finished frying tortillas for chips & were warming tortilla soup. We waiting a while to see if the power was coming back on – so when it didn’t we made a fire to finish cooking our soup over. We had a lovely dinner by candlelight that night. Shelby had brought one of the Haven babies home with her this day. Carole has come home with us a few times & is finally adjusting to having people love on her. Shelby is really going to have a hard time leaving her as it just breaks your heart to know that even though she will be clean & fed, that is about the extent of the attention she will receive. She is one of the more introverted kids & not one most people would drawn to, so it’s been really a good thing for Shelby to take her in.

We went to bed that night with no power which means no fan!! It was a really hot, still night & the mosquitoes were swarming like crazy. We had to put our mosquito nets down which makes it all the hotter, but we just couldn’t stand to be covered up as it was so hot & the mosquitoes were too bad not to be. It took forever to fall asleep, but About 3 am., everyone awoke to a huge thunderboom – it appeared to have struck somewhere close. The next morning, revealed that a tree about 100 feet away had been hit.

All this week, we’ve been having a lot more clouds & overcast skies which is nice as it keeps it cooler but also means the rains are coming closer. This is good news for the people here as they wait until a good rain before planting their fields. Unfortunately, this also means the power will be going out a lot more!!

Monday was a class day with students working on finishing projects & books that they have put off until the last. We’re trying to make sure that the girls are pretty much caught up in their studies also as we will probably have limited internet access after this week.

Tuesday, the rains came & in a big way!!! It had been cloudy all morning & as we were eating our lunch on the veranda, the rains started. The house we were in has a tin roof, so by the end of the meal, no one could hear anything but the rain!! Several students got out & played in the rain! It’s amazing how exciting rain can be, but when it’s so dry – & you haven’t really seen it in over 2 months, it’s big news!! It rained off & on all day, which also means the power was off & on all day too. It was amazing how cool it got – probably down into the low 60’s!!! It felt GREAT! I know we’re going to freeze when we get home, but with temps in the 90’s all the time, a little break was great! Don’t worry – I know it won’t last long!