Week 4--a death, and continued construction

This week was a little odd because Paul Fisher, a descendant of the founder of our school, passed away on Monday morning, and the funeral was held on Thursday. Paul was not just an important part of the missionary community, but he was also a Lunda chief, so his funeral was an even bigger deal than funerals usually are in this culture. Beth and I took the whole school down to the river at 10 so that other members of staff could attend the funeral, and then the usual afternoon classes and activities followed. I had fun playing with some grade 2 students, but I’m sore today! I don’t even want to think how many years it has been since I last played dodge ball…

Here are a few more pictures of the renovations of the main sitting room. First, coming from the boys wing, here is the new pillar that will help support a beam which will allow the old white wall to be taken out. I think…plans keep changing!

This picture is coming from the girl’s wing; the new brick wall on the right is the new closet which is being built around where the stair to the attic is, and the other side of the new pillar. The old guest room just out of sight to the left is full of debris as they have taken out the ceiling and are working on getting the one wall ready to be removed. Again, I think!

Lastly, here is the outside where they are extending the front of the building by a few feet, and working on a new façade so the whole main sitting room area will look nicer. There are some very obvious repairs to the brickwork on the front.

I’m on this weekend, so I’ll be supervising letter writing, taking the kids down to the river, and teaching junior (grades 1-4) Sunday school. Luckily there will be some time to rest in there, as I’ve had a busy week. I can’t believer we’re 4 weeks into the term already!

I just remembered a funny kid story that I meant to share! A few weeks ago I was coming down the hallway of upper school with an armful of handwork stuff, and as usual, the girls were crowding around the library entrance. I told them, "I'm glad you think I'm so skinny, but I can't fit through that gap." One little girl pipped up, "But Miss B-, you ARE skinny." Immediately the other girls all went, "EEEEeeee." Which is a Zambian expression which means basically, "I can't believe you just said that/you liar/Nuh-uh!" Good thing I have no delusions on that score! Gotta love kids and their honesty...

Parting shot: The sunset was AMAZING last night!