Masala Markets

We stopped at Masala markets on the way home and Ortency took Sue to buy some Chitngas (sarongs) for the Buseko ladies who have been opening an shutting the gate for us every time we come home, even in the rain.

Sam and Phil had a walk around and ended up buying some mangos, peanuts(ground nuts here), avacadoes and some tiny tiny dried fish (kapenta), and some dried catapillars. Apparently you can get the catepillars as they are or soak them for a while and then fry in some oil. Will try before we go. We had some fried termites last week and they were good. Tasted like charcoaled chicken skin, though there seemed to be some residual grit in them.



The markets are huge and you can get everything there from dries catepillars to lounge suites to pumpkin leaves to a hair cut and clothes and pots and pans and live chooks.

Does an orphan have a mother too?

I have started to listen to some of the children read. I have been given a list of a few children who have been identified as having reading problems. Kelvin is a lovely boy from grade five. On our first encounter, I find out that he is reasonably new to Grace and his reading difficulty is that he has very little solid education and is therefore a beginning reader. So I look through a collection of books and find a few beginning reader books for him to choose from during our second session.

While looking for suitable material, I am ensuring that the text is reasonably large, simple and repetitive. And of course that the book is a little interesting for a child in year five. I find an Eric Carle book with all sorts of interesting animals.



Kelvin chooses this book from amongst the few suitable books I could find. His confidence grows as he reads...aided by the repetition "Does a kangaroo have a mother too? Of course..." As Kelvin's confidence grows, mine begins to faulter. I am beginning to realise where the book is heading. And I am thinking,  "That's right, this kid probably doesn't have a mother and so the inevitable comment at the end about having a mother who loves him could be rather upsetting."

A brief cry for help to God and I continue. We get to the final page. Kelvin has read reasonably well and also been introduced to all sorts of wonderful animal mothers and babies along the way....and as he reads about the animals having a loving mother just like me and you...I give him a big hug and exclaim "Just like Kelvin has Mama Susan who loves him very much!" He smiles.

(Susan Chalkias the co-founder of Grace is called Mama Susan by all of the children.)

Grace Academy

These are the ladies - Ortency and Juliet who have been doing all the cooking and cleaning for the team. They have been working hard to keep the Western food up to the hungry workers.

Some of the guys working on Buseko House roof on thursday. They worked from 7am to 7 pm and almost had it finished. Phil and Sam are completing the ridges and barges.

Having lots of trouble getting the internet to work so it is very hard to upload many photos. We are off to Church this morning at Grace. yesterday John and Peter left and after lunch we went out to visit Hudson and Gertude again. They had a Zambian Chitenga (sarong) for Sue and a Zambian Soccer team shirt  for me and another Chitenga for Sam to use as a wall hanging (it has the photo of the Late president Levi Mwanawasa on it - it is an election Chitenga- Must be Zambian way of political avertising - Levi Mwanawasa was brought up by Hudson and Gertrude.)

And then there were Eight and then there was Five and Tomorrow there will be three

Today was a time for farewells as the first mob of Canadians left at 7am, then the next lot left at 11am. It has been a great time working with these guys. Except for Corry they have all been to Grace before, some of them have been four times. They are really committed to the vision of Seeds of Hope. John was saying that when they first started in Ndola and teams would come to build or minister there would often be children who would die. It was a regular occurrence, HIV children just did not live very long, but now they are able to give the kids the   Antiviral drugs there has not been a child die, or a serious illness since 2005.

Seeds of Hope have a huge vision and believe God is going to use these kids and the workers at Grace and Buseko to make an impact on the nation of Zambia. If you could see how far they have come in such a short time it really is evident that God has his hand on this place.

There is still more building to go. Lots more building. The new Buseko house has to be finished, then there are 4 dorms started, another 4 dorms after that, then a huge 2 storey workers accommodation. Then plans include the Coffee plantation  (which could employ 200 people), then a restaurant and souvenir shop up on the main road, then a  whole village for workers. A proper village with proper housing that the locals can own.

So any time you want see some of Africa and meet some fantastic kids and the people who care for them and at the same time help in a practical way consider joining a Seeds of Hope team. I am sure we will be back. There is a regular building team every January so why not plan to be here in 2013.

 I know Mitch is coming – He promised that if we got back alive he would come next time, so only a few more days to survive.

And if you cant come why not consider sponsoring a child or 2.  All of the running cost for the kids – food, clothing, the dorm mums, the cooks the cleaners is all supported by the child sponsorship. There are always new kids coming and they need people to support them, to write to them and pray for them and of course come and visit.

Contact  sponsor@seedsofhopecm.com  if you are interested. One of our friends has already decided to sponsor one of the new girls. There are plenty more that need support. In Zambia there are an estimated 800,000 orphans – can you get your head around that. 1 in 6 adults has HIV. If all that seems like an over whelming picture, it is so good to know that God is most definitely concerned about the individual.

Sam and Phil have only a bit more work to finish the roof and a few small jobs to tidy up. Sue is still sorting through supplies for the teachers and books for the library as well as the clothes and toys that came in the container.

We plan to go and see Hudson tomorrow and take some of the glass and things we have got for his house. He wants us to meet the Pastors that are coming for a weekend of prayer as well.

The tin has arrived! That is roofing iron in Australian.

Well the Canadians had ordered the roofing iron, or 'tin' as they call it, a couple of weeks ago and we have been waiting for it to arrive. There have been a number of phone calls made and promises broken by the supplier and D day was looming. The Canadians are due to leave tomorrow - Friday and yes the tin finally arrived Wednesday afternoon while we were at Nsobe.

So with one day to go, it was all hands on deck. The guys put in a mammoth effort and the tin is on! Phil and Sam, along with some very able bodied Zambian workers, will need to put in another day to finish things off.

There was the obligatory Christian builders celebration of coke and mars bars all round. We also had a special lunch with Zambian construction workers and will say our final farewells to most of the team early tomorrow morning.

Pictures tomorrow I hope...internet failing and battery almost done...no adaptor at the moment.

Nsobe Game Park

Photos to follow when the internet speeds up

We headed off to Nsobe Game Park around 9am. 13 kids and 16 adults. John did a lot of head counting during the day to make sure we didn’t lose any. It is a big day of excitement for the kids and us as well. John has been taking the kids and teams there for 10 years and over that time the owners (white couple) have become Christians- as demonstrated by the sign at the entry gate.

We had a safari ride on the back of a truck and saw giraffes, monkeys, bush bucks, antelopes and even a goanna. From there we had a walk to see the snake exhibit. They had spitting cobras and even a Black Mumba (you have 20 minutes to live if one bites you and there is no antivenom in Zambia) Then there was a small bird and Rabbit enclosure.

By then we were all very hungry. The staff had made us up tables down by the lake and the kids a chicken nuggets and chips with a bottle of “pop”. The restaurant had a good selection and the adults had some good food, including some “Game Casserole”. The staff had put out some rolls with butter and tomato sauce and some green chillies cut up. Phil had a spoonful and found out it was very very hot. A mouth full of butter calmed it down a bit. The kids started putting it onto their plates when they were finished – looking for more to eat. We were trying to communicate that it would not be a good idea, but little George shoved in a big mouthful before we could stop him. It was quite a sight. I don’t think he had ever experienced anything like that before. The rest of the kids thought it was hilarious, and we had to get the rest of the butter into his mouth to give him some relief.

The biggest excitement of the day was the swimming pool. Now none – I mean none of these kids can swim. There were life jackets tied as best we could around them, but it was a massive effort to keep them afloat. Just as we started one of the new girls “Loveness” snuck through the gate and jumped straight in the deep end. The lady owner of the park was there with her small kids and a few local kids doing some swimming and she was the first to see Loveness sink to the bottom, so she jumped in clothes and all and grabbed her. Loveness was wearing Sue’s swim top and had assured Sue that she had pants on, but in the rescue effort it became obvious that no, she did not have any pants on. The first taste of swimming did not put her off and she had lots of “swimming” – jumping at someone then being held up and sort of breathstroking.

It was a very tired bunch of campers that got back to Grace at 6pm. And the very good news was that the roof tin and valley gutters was delivered today. So we have tomorrow morning to get it on and sorted as the Canadians fly out of Friday morning and tomorrow afternoon is the Team Soccer match against the Zambian workers. Apparently the Canadians have never won.

Who can come to Nsobe?

Tomorrow - wednesday we are going to the Nsobe wildlife park. It it a thing they do with every team that comes. As well as the visits into the compounds and the hospital it is a way to see more of Zambia outside the walls of Grace Academy.

Every  team member that sponsors a child gets to take that child out for the day, so we will have Marron and Patrick with us. It gives us a chance to get to know them better and for them to get to know us. Marron is already quite comfortable and affectionate with us and enjoys a hug and just to hold hands.

A few other children are selected to go as well. There is a big list of who has been and who hasn't and fortunately John and Kerry sort that out. This does not stop the kids from lobbying for the spare places. It is really tough when you would love all them to go and they come up to you quietly and ask " who are you taking to Nsobe? Can you take me". They are so much better off than the thousands and thousands of other orphans but they still miss out on so much. Just to get away from the school and their dorms and have a swim and an icecream and see some animals.

Sam has been a bit sick the last 2 days. Malaria is always suspected when someone is not well and has a fever. If he's not better tomorrow he will be off to the clinic for a blood slide. There has been a few of the Canadians who have been crook as well, but so far no Malaria.

Work continues to progress with only a few days till the Canadians go home.

The roof for the new Buseko house was due last wednesday, , then thursday, then friday, then monday, then definately 11:00 -12:00 today, but now it is 9:00 tomorrow. Seems that is how things go here.

We went to one of the hardware shops today to get the glass ordered to fix hudson litanias windows. Quite an experience. Seems all of the hardware shops here are owned by Indians who have a very complicated way of doing transactions. After finding a man to help, he then went to another man who worked out how much glass we needed, then an invoive was written, then another man checked it, then the big indian lady checked it, then we paid the cashier 1,601,000 kwacha, then the indian boss checked the receipt and gave us the small items we had on the list, then it was out the back shed to another indian man to confirm that we would pick up the cut glass on thursday. Hopefully when we go back on thursday it will be ready - here's hoping.
As we were leaving that store a Zambian man approached us and asked if we needed someone to install glass - either he saw us with the 20kg of putty or he had some inside help, anyway we took his number and I think we will take him out with us when we do it. He told us he was a "professional" and was very courtious.

Then we went looking for a few solid doors for the Litanias as well. Having given the indians anough fo one day we saw some handmade panel doors leaning up on the side of the road. After a few attempts to find out who was really selling them we fould an older Zambian who explained in broken english that he made them and they were Rosewood and 350,000kwacha each. He took us into the building, we went through a heap of empty rooms, out the back veranda where the chickens were roaming, past his dried fish lunch, back inside another door, through a metal grill door (like on a jail) then through a few more rooms and finally arriving at a desk.

Afternoon with Bill and Marcie and Aiden

After the 2 services we went around to Bill and Marcie's house (they were the ones who helped us find Hudson Litania). We all had a relaxing afternoon. The younger guys played many games of crocket on the lawn with their son Aiden.

Bill and Marcie are full of stories and have been in Zambia for 10 years. They both know alot about the culture of Zambians and how the continued extramatital relationships continue to spread HIV. They have library in a small room that school kids and others come to use reference books for exam time. They also run 24 hour "drop in centre for their Nephews - ( boys and yuong men who are on the streets)

This is a link to a video they took of an elephant during a drive to Johannesburg - you have to watch to the end
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=la1gVH5Dwv8

Marcie also told us of the reason why we have to use a dryer or iron all of the washing. There is an insect that lives near mango trees and it lays its eggs on the washing on the line. If you dont iron or use the dryer, the eggs will hatch and yuo will get a bite like a mosquito, but 24 hours latter it will feel like you are being stabbed, then yuo have to sweeze the bite an the lavae or maggot as Marcie described it will come out - very painfully.

Superspiritual - Two church services in one morning

8:00 am
We started the morning with breakfast cooked by Andrew and Alex - Eggs Benedict! Alex makes the hollandaise from scratch and boy did we need a decent breakfast as we had a big day ahead of us.


9:00 am
Grace Academy church service. Once again the singing was wonderful. There was a touching moment when John took a photo of twelve children had their photos taken while holding bibles that a six year old Canadian boy had bought with his savings for them. Oh and we all laughed when the girl leading asked for people to come up and give their testimonies and Shane who is hard of hearing was heading towards the front. He was actually trying to find a seat up the front so he could hear better. We all burst out laughing.


10:00 am
After leaving Grace Academy service halfway through the sermon, we head to Elim Pentecostal. Sixteen men and me crowded into a mini bus. This is a church on the outskirts of a compound called which the Christians call Mapalo meaning ‘blessed’. The actual name of the compound means ‘cursed place’ because there was a mass murder in the compound somewhere a few years back. Phil and I were ushered up to the front pew where during the service we were almost accosted by Pastor Reno. He pointed at me and came really close glaring at me asking “Do you believe in Jesus Christ and that He has saved you?” That was no hassle for me to answer “Yes” I replied. Later in the sermon, the pastor was making a point that even though Jesus had never met Zacchaeus he knew his name. The pastor came and glared at Phil “Do you know my name?” He repeated it several times to a bewildered Phil who finally answered “Pastor”. Of course we hadn’t been introduced and there was no way of knowing his name was Reno.
 

We were on much friendlier terms later on in the service when we were all invited to the front along with any other newcomers. The whole congregation including children then proceeded to file past and shake all of our hands and greeting us. And that isn’t where the handshaking stopped…at the end of church you walk outside the building and proceed to shake hands with the line of people already outside. You then stand at the end of that line and shake hands with everyone else when they exit the building.

Once again a big morning with beautiful singing….Zambian style.