Random!

VICTORIA:

About one and a half weeks ago we were given a sheet that had all the names of the children at the haven so we could sign up for at least one we’d go visit every day. They wanted to make sure that all the children were getting attention, that way not just one child is held by 20 people at different times during the day! I signed up for Victoria in Haven one because shes the girl I held on the very first day! She was on in July and is so cute; the only thing is she never smiles. I’ve held her and played with her every day, trying to make her laugh but she has a concerned look on her face with tears falling down (even if she’s not “crying”). BUT a few days ago I held her for probably one & ½ to 2 hrs and she FINALLY SMLIED!! It was adorable, I think she just had to warm up to me because after that she just got better and better! She claps, laughs, “talks”…now all we need to work on is her standing so her leg muscles can build up and she can walk! That’ll take a lot of time, but I love going to the Havens, & look forward to seeing her every day!

NEW BABIES:

I was sitting in Haven 1 holding Victoria when Ba Cecilia came in from the front porch with a baby saying “Look we got a new baby!”… I was shocked; I guess I never really thought about the process and how all those kids came to live at the Haven?! So we asked her and she told us that some people call ahead and warn them when they are coming to bring a child and other people just show up and expect them to take it. Most of the children still have families, the only reason they are placed here is because their family can’t take care of them because of their age or health, but once they are older most will go back into the village and live a normal Zambian life. That day Ba Cecilia had actually received two babies, one was a day old and its mom died in child birth from lose of blood and the other baby (the one I saw come in) was 2 months old and the mom died of an illness. It was really sad to see these two babies crying, knowing that they weren’t going to live with their family for the first few years in life, but all the aunties that care for the children love them and do so much that I know in the Haven they will have a good life.

CHURCH OUT IN THE BUSH:

Sunday we drove about an hour to a village for church. It was a completely new experience. The building was practically a square hut; The walls were made out of mud and it had a thatched roof. We sat girls on the left and boys on the right, because in some places its culturally inappropriate for mixed genders to sit together. The benches were just really rough wood planks that were about 6 inches wide with a leg on each side holding it up, I was fortunate enough to have a flat spot, others in our group sat on random humps and bulges because spending money on comfort to them is not a necessity. Communion was really different, Biblically we do the same thing, its just they lack the money to have several trays going around at once and the wine was definitely not welches lol. It was a really bitter fruit that is locally grown that they just added water to; I don’t know if it was safe to drink so I took a really tiny sip but luckily no one that I know of got sick from it. During the service an elderly lady or “Baama” came in and sat behind me and on her way to sit she shook all of our hands because she was just so delighted to see all these Americans worshiping , it was so sweet seeing how welcoming and happy she was. One of my favorite parts about church here is how friendly everyone is because it’s a tradition they grew up learning. After worship is over the men leave from the back bench to the front and then the women from the back to front leave and when you get out the door everyone’s lined up and you have to go through the line shaking everyone’s hand greeting them. Once you get to the end you stand next to the last person and all the people behind you greet you. I don’t know if that makes sense or not, but essentially in the end you’ve greeted every single person that was at church that day!

GIRLS DORM:

The George S. Benson College students started arriving last Monday and so we’ve met a few here and there. Michelle met two girls that invited her to come visit them thurs. in their dorm room so she took me and Stephanie with her. When we first got there we were really confused on where their room was so we met a girl named Cheapo which means gift, she told us shes the only daughter of seven children…anyway she showed us where to go and then said we were welcome anytime to her room which is #6, she was so welcoming and the hospitality didn’t stop there. When we got to the room we were looking for we knocked and then went in and it was the smallest dorm room I’ve ever seen, it somehow fit 2 bunk beds in it and 3 school desk chairs but I don’t know how. We all introduced ourselves to each other and met Fita, Deborah, and a 3^rd girl that has a name I can’t pronounce. They cleaned of the only chairs they had and offered it to us, and its rude not to accept so we took them and talked to them for a while about school random stuff. I noticed while we were talking one of the  girls left the room and came back and was then hand washing 3 cups, after she filled them up with a juice and gave each of us one. It was just so polite and we’ve learned in their culture that they always offer something when guests are in their homes. I felt really bad drinking it because I knew they spent money on it and I could just go back to our house or to the kitchen and get whatever I wanted. After talking for a while we taught them how to play spoons. It shocked me when we asked them they said they had never played a card game in their life! It surprised me but they just don’t have the luxury of sitting down and entertaining themselves. They loved the game though, they always laughed at whoever didn’t get a spoon!! While we were playing they were talking to us about random things and one thing they said was “do you all three have boyfriends?”…and we all said “No” and they were SHOCKED! One of the girls with a concerned look on her face asked, “Well when are you planning on getting one?”…and we replied “I don’t know, just whenever we meet someone we could see ourselves with. So then we asked them if they had boyfriends and all three of them did, one had been dating her boyfriend for 2 years now and is planning on marrying him.

Klaus Muller:

We visited Twin Fountains which is a college that focuses on agriculture. A German named Klaus Muller was the founder. He first moved to Namwianga missions and taught agricultural science at the secondary school, but decided that hands on learning would be more effective. He then moved to Lubbock, TX for three months because the land there is most similar to Zambia’s and learned how to work better with the land. After he came back to Zambia and started twin fountains. Its 2,000 acres that are used to teach students how to…grow crops year round, handle and train cattle to plow, manage money, along with teaching them about Christ. It is a really good program; it’s 2 years long and costs a total of $2,000 (which sounds cheap but here the average annual income is $700), during their time they will learn everything I listed above and sell all the crops they grow. If they are working hard in their garden and tend to it as they should then the school will double the amount of land they can plant on, which means more crops to sell. After the 2 years are over they graduate and are given the amount of money they earned through their crops. Last year Klaus said his top 2 students graduated with $2,500 each, which means that they really sold $4,500 of crops in 2 years!! That is Amazing!!!