10-5-11

We have just experienced the first rainfall for the season yesterday afternoon. It was a real storm with lots of wind and rain. Pam said it rained harder this time than the entire time the 09 team was here. It rained off and on for about 3 hours. Today, the air is clean, but since all the dust is out of the air, it’s hotter today.

Before Dr. Muenda left, he arranged for all of us to go out to a village just to learn about Zambian living. Pastor Dave and wife Kathryn (not Drury!!) are the leaders in this village. They showed us the garden they are growing which is amazing. Kathryn took us through all the rooms in their homes (each a separate structure). Their bedroom is in the building where the living room is located. They have a nice sofa set in the LR to relax in while they watch TV J.  They have a satellite dish. The boys have one bedroom in a separate building and the girls in another building. They have 11 children. They had maize in their mortar & pestle (probably not what they call it) and some of the students got to pound the maize to break up the hard outer shell. They were also able to grind some corn into a fairly fine powder…looks a lot like our corn meal. Some of the little boys dug us small indentations in the soil and found small rocks and played a game like mancala.  The students drew an outline for hop scotch in the ground and taught some of the Zambian kids to play. They also played duck duck goose but used the tonga words for cow and pig since those animals are found as a part of their household. All of them had a lot of fun with that!!

We walked with them to the well where some of the bigger Zambian boys pushed an oxcart with several containers on it to fill with water and take back to the village. That water is used primarily for cooking and baths.

This was a very interesting trip, and it was so good to talk with the folks there.

Monday, we went to Macha where we toured the entire facility. This will provide a great

experience for the students. As usual, the people are so very kind and friendly. The students spent one hour in the afternoon on each of several wards. On the women’s ward, a 20-year old died just before the students arrived. They were able to assist in preparing the body and putting it in the mortuary.  This prompted many questions on death and dying in the Zambian culture.

Yesterday morning, we had Mrs. Pheri speak about the Zambian family life and customs in the Community Health class. She is an outstanding teacher, and the students were totally involved in the session. She had them all sit on the floor as she told them about the customs when a girl goes through puberty, then proceeded on with finding a mate and all the preparations for marriage. She also brought her wedding pictures which all of us thoroughly enjoyed.

We have had problems with getting shocked in the shower; an electrician has been out here about 3 times, and it seems he was finally successful last evening!  We are all happy about that.

Overall, it’s been a good couple of weeks.