Zambia Workteam 2015: Friday

Friday - Day 5

Last day at Lifesong. The morning we ran the school assembly, and tried to have photos on the screen using the new projector. Power was off, however, and the generator was giving trouble, so the photos were only on for a short time. It all went well, and the power came at the end so we could show some photos of Canada.

We were able to look at and purchase some of the crafts made by the girls in the boarding house. They had many different things; bags, ornaments, necklaces, book marks and rag-rugs. The money raised is used by the girls to purchase items needed for the house. Last time they bought extra blankets for each bed. While this was going on, Jean had another look at the cut finger from yesterday. It needs stitches, but no one was able to do it as the nurse Crista-Belle is home sick herself. A medical team is arriving at the Friary this weekend to work at Lifesong next week so hopefully they can do something with it.

Work continued in the classrooms today. Nancy had a chance to pray with the school pastor over some of the students. Bill, Ted and Doug worked on screening in the car port against mosquitoes at the girls dorm, and got one wall completed. There was time for good byes to the students in the afternoon. The students understand that they have a good thing here, and are very grateful.

The evening was for a dinner in The Compound, the nearby community where most of the students live. It is a very poor area, with deeply rutted dirt roads that must be a sea of mud during the rainy season. There are children everywhere, playing with sticks, rocks and the odd old tire. No X-box or iPhones here. We were split into two groups and taken to the houses of two of the ladies who work at the farm. They had spent 3 hours preparing a feast for their guests with food paid for by us. There was chicken, mushrooms in a sauce, soup, a type of cake made from ground nuts (peanuts), cabbage, and cooked greens. Also on the menu was caterpillars. I had eaten them in 2011, and they are fine, sort of like well cooked bacon with an oiliness

to them. They are a good source of protein and something the family wouldn't afford normally. And of course there was nshima (en-SHEE-ma), a corn meal boiled to the consistency of mashed potatoes and used to scoop up the food on the plate (no cutlery involved). We all ate our fill and left more than half the food on the table. They will eat well for a couple of days because of it. We walked back to the farm where Shane & Mitzi live in their house (they are the school administrators for Lifesong) and ate brownies, ice cream and strawberries (of course) for dessert. The contrast between their house and the the one we had just left was naturally striking. The similarity, however, was that it was full of children and the love of family.

A good day.