Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Jonah day...

Today was one of those days when the advice, “Never work with children or small animals” seemed rather good. The kids have been climbing the walls all day, I had a kid pee on the floor during assembly and then fiercely deny it, another was sent marching for elbowing and shoving his way down the hall to get a broom for clean up. To add insult to injury, he then proceeded to march while reading! I’ve had a lurking headache all day, and the constant scrape and bang of chairs mixed with the cacophony of children’s voices just gets to be a little much. Thank the Lord for His mercies and for the snatched moments of peace and quiet! Days like this are more difficult to live through, but they sure do build patience and give perspective better than the good days!

The first blooms are starting to dot the flamboyants, and beyond all reason the grass is starting to come in green. The trees have mostly shed their leaves and replaced them with fresh green ones, and now the parched bush is breathlessly waiting for the first good rain to send every plant into a burst of growth. It’s overcast today (which might explain some of the kids craziness), and while the new dining hall isn’t quite ready for a rain, the rest of us are!

I can’t believe the term is already a quarter gone! The first half-term is next weekend, and September is almost over. As the kids would say, “Imagine!” I have just two more months with my 6th graders, and three more months before I have a new batch of kids to get broken into my classroom! How does the time go so fast?

Jonah day...

Today was one of those days when the advice, “Never work with children or small animals” seemed rather good. The kids have been climbing the walls all day, I had a kid pee on the floor during assembly and then fiercely deny it, another was sent marching for elbowing and shoving his way down the hall to get a broom for clean up. To add insult to injury, he then proceeded to march while reading! I’ve had a lurking headache all day, and the constant scrape and bang of chairs mixed with the cacophony of children’s voices just gets to be a little much. Thank the Lord for His mercies and for the snatched moments of peace and quiet! Days like this are more difficult to live through, but they sure do build patience and give perspective better than the good days!

The first blooms are starting to dot the flamboyants, and beyond all reason the grass is starting to come in green. The trees have mostly shed their leaves and replaced them with fresh green ones, and now the parched bush is breathlessly waiting for the first good rain to send every plant into a burst of growth. It’s overcast today (which might explain some of the kids craziness), and while the new dining hall isn’t quite ready for a rain, the rest of us are!

I can’t believe the term is already a quarter gone! The first half-term is next weekend, and September is almost over. As the kids would say, “Imagine!” I have just two more months with my 6th graders, and three more months before I have a new batch of kids to get broken into my classroom! How does the time go so fast?

Sunday, September 25, 2011

An election and a sick day

I’ve been waiting for the election results to be in to do an entry on my classes visit to the polling station at the river, and then I was nauseous to the point of not being able to function yesterday afternoon, so I’m finally getting around to writing. I’m still a little queasy, but I’m hoping another good night’s rest will set me right. There is a lot of sickness going around right now, and a couple other staff members are feeling a little off as well. Too bad the kids can’t just go home so we can get better in peace!

Last Tuesday was election day here in Zambia, and I took my class down to see how things are done. Sakeji is a polling station, so there were two ‘streams’ set up down at our two chotas at the river. We were able to go right into the chotas and see up close how the process worked. A few weeks back, they had voters registration, so there were booklets with photos and information on all the registered voters. They were in full color, so they must have cost a fortune! After a voter was found on the list, they went to the second desk to get their first ballot. There were three separate ballots for the three different levels of government—presidential, parliamentary, and local government. Each ballot was again in full color, and had pictures of each of the candidates. Apparently there were 10 presidential candidates! After filling out the first ballot in the little booth, the voter would file it in the appropriate sealed plastic container. Then they would go back for the next ballot, file it, and finally go back for the third.

The counting started that evening, and went on into the next day. The cell network was actually turned off for awhile during this process as people were spreading false information around. There were riots on the Copper Belt when it looked like Banda would be re-elected, but eventually it was announced that Sata had won. Then there were riots in the many other places that didn’t want him in. It was very peaceful up here, though the people of this area are not happy about Sata getting in. Apparently, there was some rigging of the votes to get Sata in—to the point where they can’t even recount them. This is not all that surprising, but rather sad. Sata is very anti-foreign investment, so it will be very interesting to see what he does while in office. He claims he wants to get ride of the Chinese on the Copper Belt, and if he actually does start deporting people, it makes you wonder where the missionaries will be. Of course the other big question is where the country will be without foreign investment, and how long it will take all the good accomplished by these people to crumble away. Clearly, Zambia needs our prayers in these interesting days.

There have been several days when it looked like it might rain, but even yesterday’s wind and dark masses of clouds only produced a little spatter. Apparently it poured at Kalene for about 10 minutes though. I’m looking forward to our first real good soaking of the season. I know I’ll get tired of the constant rain before dry season rolls around again, but the first rain of the year is always an exciting event. Things are already greening up here—I don’t know where the plants are finding the moisture! The flamboyants are just starting to come into bloom, and the jacarandas are in their full glory. The end of dry season makes up for the barren brown of the rest of it!

Thursday, September 15, 2011

The Lady On the Porch

Yesterday evening I came back the house to drop off my basket of marking, and to my very great surprise I saw a pair of feet sticking out from behind the crates on my porch. Cautiously advancing I found that the feet belonged to a little lady wrapped in yetengi with a bowl beside her who was apparently quite happily camped out back there. After greeting her I then stood there and tried to think of any Lunda phrase I knew along the lines of, “Do I know you and why are you on my porch?” Nothing came to mind, so I asked her if she was waiting for someone. She showed me her crucifix that hung around her neck, and just kept sitting there. So, I texted Pam to see if she could come down or send Mark, and then headed back towards the school to see if I could find someone. Mark happened to be in the office, so he came and escorted the lady away—apparently she is a local crazy lady who has showed up here periodically.

I have to say I was a little unnerved by the incident, but proceeded to go on the walk with Beth, Jill, and Bethany. By this time is was pretty dark, so I had my flashlight out in case of snakes and to prevent myself from falling in a hole. When Beth and I were coming down the road from the shop we saw someone at my house moving around on the porch, so my first thought was that my visitor had come back, but it turned out to be Pam coming round to see if I still needed help—she had forgotten to check the time stamp of the text. Never a dull moment!

The past few days have been interesting weather wise as it has been really overcast and even thundered a bit, but hasn’t rained. It would be so nice to get a decent rain, but I’ not sure if it’s going to manage it today. I guess that means I need to start keeping track of my umbrella again! The jacaranda trees are starting to bloom, and the flamboyants won’t be far behind. The jacarandas color reminds me of the wisteria back home in the spring—sometimes I miss East Texas’ seasons!

I’ve been encouraged by the way many of my students who were really struggling are doing so far, but it’s early days yet. Any prayer for my sanity and their progress would be appreciated! This is the term where we have to make the hard calls on whether our students pass into the next grade or not, so we are all praying for wisdom as we evaluate each one. We are also going through applications for the next school year and setting up interview weeks. Third term is a very busy one, but with the Lord’s help we can do anything He calls us to!

Thursday, September 8, 2011

A new outfit and a taste of home.

Last week Beth and I set out to get some yetengi outfits made for us before the seamstress got too busy with her fields, so we duly set off with some sketchy directions to Rachel’s house, the Lunda word for seamstress, our yetengi and notions, and high hopes. After a minor detour and second attempt which involved asking directions, we managed to find Rachel’s house and start the process of being measured. Now, neither Beth nor I are what could be termed ‘slim,’ so much to our chagrin we were told a couple of times that we are just too fat. Now, in Zambian culture this is a compliment—if you are fat, than you are obviously rich enough to eat well! Also, Rachel was sadly simply stating the obvious. After the measurements were written down, Rachel told us to return in four days and the outfits would be done. We duly returned on the appointed day to find Beth’s outfit finished, my skirt halfway done, and the shirts for Beth’s nephew’s cut out. There were some slight alterations made to Beth’s top and then we went our way with the promise of the rest of the items being done the following day.

All Saturday I kept an eye out for Rachel, but she didn’t appear. Then, Sunday morning, I had just gotten up and was in the process of starting to get ready for church when I heard Ceili barking and voices coming up my walk. After throwing on my kimono I opened the door to see the watchman and Rachel. She had walked all the way in from Ikelenge to bring my outfit! I tried it on, and while the skirt fit nicely, the top wouldn’t zip all the way down. Despite having the grim number of inches around my hips, Rachel apparently didn’t take that enough into account! I was able to wear my skirt to church that day, and then on Monday my top arrived via Rachel’s son Tony who works here. Some clever modifications made the top now fit nicely, so I have a very cool Zambian looking outfit to take home with me.

Two of our staff members were in Canada this holiday and have just recently returned, so Beth and I had them over for a nice supper and ‘girl night’ on our last night of freedom. Bethany brought me back an unexpected treat from Canada—something you can not get over here and which I have missed. It’s funny how when you’re out here, it’s the little things that you miss the most—things that just aren’t manufactured in SA or don’t make it out on the containers. What did Bethany bring me? A bottle of Dr. Pepper—the soft drink that makes the south run. I was so tickled that she could cart that all the way from Canada just to bring me a taste of home. Now I just need to find a suitably solemn occasion to enjoy it!

The kids are all back, and already there is a lot more noise on station! The long holiday is over, and it’s time to plunge back into our busy schedule. I’m looking forward to being in the classroom again, and participating in that most awesome calling—to share Jesus with children. So begins another adventure at our little school in the bush!