Thankful Week

A group from LDS Charities came to train Midwifes to train others on Maternal and Newborn care.  Enjoyed taking them to church, feeding them, and helping them get everything set up.  We wish we could stay for the whole training but we have to go to a senior couples conference.  

 At the beginning of the Midwife training, they sang an opening song and had a prayer.  Loved this song.  Wish we knew what the words meant. 

The Dr. showing the uterus contraption they use in the training. 

Just had to eat here.  (Janet's maiden name is Bushman)

We wondered how they made charcoal.  Here's a charcoal mound burning in a low oxygen environment.  Many people here cook with charcoal.  

Had a great Thanksgiving feast.  An American family who works at the US embassy invited the couples and many of their coworker families.  In October they brought the turkey and ham from the U.S.  Really great traditional thanksgiving dinner but we missed our Family.  The day after Thanksgiving the roads were completely clogged and upon asking why we found it was because of Black Friday.  They celebrate that here even though they don't celebrate Thanksgiving.  

We are working to put a borehole in for a school so they can have clean accessible water.   First two pictures below shows the engineer doing the borehole siting study to figure out the best place for the well.  They put stakes into the ground hooked to wires that run to that machine in the briefcase then run current through it and measure conductivity then repeat the process moving the stakes out further and further in different directions.  

This was the school's water source.  Just a hole dug in a ravine.  It wasn't so muddy and dirty before the heavy rains this week.  

 The best teeter-totter ever at this school. 

A bit of the farmland out in the bush on our way to the school.  We have to use 4 wheel drive on the road to get there.  So fun!  Who gets to go 4x4ing on their mission??

Another Busy Week

We are trying to juggle about 8 potential projects so we have been quite busy meeting with various government offices, schools, businesses, and health clinics.  On our travels we have taken some pictures to show the country side. 

A large farm operation on our way to Chibombo (2 hr drive)

Can you tell it is watermelon season.  Yes we stopped and got one.

 On our way to Chibombo we saw a sign that said there was a Marriott hotel with a Safari option.  We were ahead of schedule so decided to check it out.  We drove on a very rough road for 3km then a nice dirt road for 4km.  A Marriott out in the middle of no where?

On the way to the Marriott we spotted this interesting tree. Looked like cactus at the top.

Arrived at the Marriott.  It was actually very nice and secluded.  

Saw a few animals on the Marriott premises and down by the lake.  It is just a very small hour long safari drive. Maybe we'll try it some weekend.

Drove out to a school (see school room below) that needs some repair and a teacher's house.  On the way we drove past a home where they had about 10 large mango trees.  They are just starting to come on this and next month. The school room is in bad shape because they haven't held school there for many months because they don't have a teacher.  We are exploring various options for revitalizing this school and making them eligible for a government supplied teacher.

Got the pit latrines at one school pumped out to prevent cholera outbreak when rainy season starts.

Took Elder Wester and Tshimbundu out for pizza for Elder Wester's birthday.  He was an assistant and is now training.  Headed home next month.

Today was quite hot.  Relief Society decided to meet outside.  Rainy season is late starting so farmers are worried. 
Janet is sitting on the other side of the tree!

Literally went 4x4ing (very rough terrain) this week as we drove about 7km into the bush to a school where a borehole is needed.  A pretty drive with little farmer plots (large gardens) along the low lying areas.

Roasted caterpillars.  We were too chicken to try them partly because we had a audience and were afraid of gagging!!!

We made a visit to a rural school and received the royal treatment.  This choir welcomed us as we drove in singing a song welcoming us to their school.  It was great.  They were really putting their best foot forward.

 The next three pictures show the school rooms for these children.  In the younger classes (the third picture), the kids sit on floors because they don't have enough desks.  The second picture below shows the older class in their desks.  Normally, they wouldn't have this many students at once because half of them meet in the morning and the other half meet in the afternoon.  We were very impressed that, as we had requested, their teachers had finalized a priority list of needs with good cost estimates.  We are recommending that the church provide building materials for a 3 classroom building, Latrines, desks, and other school supplies.  The community will do all the building.

The video clip shows preschool children at another school learning English in a fun way by chanting "We are Walking" (or jumping, or marching, or ...)

Found a KFC!  Finger-lickin' good.  

More Zambia

Stopped along the road in Chongwe after a meeting there.  They were just performing along the roadway. 

The church put in a borehole (well) for a rural community 3 years ago.  After filling one 5 gallon bucket, I was pooped. 

The children always love getting their pictures taken.  In their classroom.

This little guy was Grandma's friend.  He followed her around while we were at a school.  

Not sure what this flower is but it was huge (about a foot across).  Grows off a vine in a member's yard.  Maybe Angela can tell us what it is...

We have been exploring many project opportunities this week including several school projects, water projects, and health clinic support.  So many needs and we can't do everything.

Most of the poor areas of town and in the country side the women and children pump water and carry their buckets, sometimes a long ways, morning and night.  In the rural areas the church has put in wells so they don't have to go so far to get good water.  Helps the kids have more time for school.

Along the roadways between towns, we see these stands everywhere. 

We visited this school about 40 kms from Lusaka then off the highway about 2kms.  These kids were just hanging around because school was not in session.  The primary age children all sat on the floor for school because they don't have enough desks.  Also they lack teachers.  The government will provide these rural schools with a teacher if the community builds them a house and latrine.  We hope to provide materials so they can build another teacher house and provide desks.

Shows some homes they live in out in the rural areas.

A very nice view of the country side.  We were on our way to a school about 4km from the main road.  Good thing we had a truck because some gullies were very deep.

Witnessed a baptism today of a young man in our ward.  His fiancé is also planning on being baptized in November. We are in the Chainama Ward.  The church meetings included the same great doctrine and spirit.  The church is the same everywhere.  Also another man was confirmed.  I asked him how far from the church he lived and he said Not Far.  But another church member said that his Not Far was 3-4 km away.  His family walks to church each week over 2 miles one way. 

Loved this outdoor baptismal font. 

 Missionary couples in Lusaka.  Mission President Kupu and his wife (from Tonga) on the left.  Fakalata's, Lewis (wife taking picture), and Jones.  Family home evening.  We had a great time!

 Just some typical streets near our apartment.  The vans are their buses... crammed full of people.  Notice walkers.  Many people walk, often miles to get to work or the store.  Few bikes and hardly any scooters.

Some really pretty trees here.  Top one has purple flowers and then the pretty red one.

This is our Stake Center.  Very nice building.  We don't attend church here.  Ours is a rented facility with regular chairs and no air conditioner but good breeze.

  Today we visited a school in Lusaka to explore a possible project.  Many schools here are nice but this one is in a very poor area.  They get no help from the government so they do the best they can.  Several years ago the church provided building supplies and they built their first building.  Since then they have added more rooms as they have money.  They also provide some housing for some of the kids who come from bad home situations. 

 The start of the primary age school. 

 This is a classroom in the pre and primary age building.  The floor is just dirt and these are the frames for their desks. They can't afford the boards for these desks at this time.

 Their large room for the school.  Notice only one desk available and no other chairs for the other students.  This floor is cemented. 

 This shows three of their best desks in one of the rooms. 

 This is their computer room.  To move to the next grade, they have to take a test each year at a government school and the test for the older kids is on computers.  None of their computers actually work so they teach them keyboarding here but no way to see if they are doing it correctly. 

At this school they provide a bed in a room for some of the kids.  This bed is where 3 boys sleep, ages 21, 18, and 16.

Some children outside the school.  When I showed them this picture of themselves, they laughed and were so excited.  

More sights of Lusaka.  These boys had made drums and were beating them in a great rhythm on the street corner while one of them asked for money. 

This is the top floor of our 4-plex apartment.  The water tower services the apartment building.  We do have good bottled water we can drink.

Zambia Arrival

Proof that we really made it to Zambia.  After about 28 hours in airports with a 15.5 hour flight leg, we arrived Saturday night grateful to be here!  Sunday we caught two sessions of conference and the Lewis's gave us a quick tour.  Had lunch with 4 recent converts, one of whom has to walk an hour to church. 

Everyone walks here so we feel very blessed to have a truck to take us to remote areas.  They drive on the opposite side of road here so trying to get used to that. Here's our brand new Ford Ranger with only 46 miles on it.  We are afraid to drive it!

A picture of the front of our apartment on the bottom floor.  It is very nice.  We've been busy picking up a few things for the apartment and setting up our internet and office within the apartment.