Beautiful views. Amazing people.

So its officially been a week plus some since we have arrived in Zambia but it feels like weve been apart of this project for years. It is so easy to fit into the peoples lives and feel immediately like a family here. Monday we went to the harbour and went on a boat ride up one of the estuarys of the Zambezi with Linda, Ivan, the 4 person team from Capetown and guided by Pastor Teddy from a nearby village. We always feel like celebrities when we go anywhere, but especially riding up the middle of the river the people would all wave and the children would chase the boat from shore shouting 'Mukua! Mukua!' (which is a nice term for 'white'). We drove to the palace where the king of the Lozi people resides during the dry season. We walked through the museum which explained a little of the Lozi culture and the parade that takes place during the transfer of the king in which the people have to turn their back when he passes by. There is also a rumor we heard that the king holds a donkeys tail at all times and whoever is the holder of the tail is the king.

Tuesday we went to the orphan school from 8 in the morning until 13 hours (1 o'clock) then Lubasi took us into the town in Mongu to meet with Vivian who helps lead the youth group at Hope Church. We visited her in her office in the NAPSA building and threw ideas around about what to do with the youth. We decided that each month there will be a party with cake and drinks for those whose birhtday it was, and we actually just finished making a chocolate sponge cake for this afternoon; and we will be creating a dance to the 'Everyday' praise song to perform on a Sunday. Then Lubasi took us roaming around the town and we had cold drinks for an hour talking about his future plans at Cyclone, which is something people do a lot for hang out time. We walked a while down some street to meet Pastor Alex who had influenced him a lot and then down another street to see his church and meet his daughter. We called our regular taxi driver and when we arrived back at Mutoya the electricity had gone out again all over the base so we were invited to join for a dinner over the fire at the bottom with the Capetown team. Oom Pete and his wife made us borovorst which means 'farmers sausage' in Africaans (one the langauges in South Africa). I was a bit afraid at first but it was so delicious I went back for seconds on a roll with chutney. It was so much fun to just hang out with some of the missionaries who live here and share stories.

Wednesday we went to the orphan school again and were on our own for 2 hours while the regular teachers attended a meeting and my kindergarden Kudus made shakers out of leftover bubble bottles and rocks. Then after our usual lunch of Provita crackers, honey, peanut butter and jam and half an apple we helped Jess hammer nails into pipes that were going to be filled with rice and made into rain sticks for the art projects that Clarissa's grade 1 swallows create the next day. We attended the leadership meeting at communuity hall in town which had about 30 members from the church. Paul taught on the cycle that friends and church members go through when building relationships and ownership. This was the first night we had to make dinner on our own. We through some pasta and herbs together and heated up some tomato paste for Clarissa, Ivan and myself while we watched the Passion movie they played for the pastor training center students. Then we came up to Marinettes and met the new Tableview Capetown team of Allister and his wife Jill and made invitations for a party we were throwing for one of the girls at school. After a while of laughing and chatting, Chris from Arkansas finally arrived. He is a junior at UCA, which just so happens to be the same school that Ivan is a senior at. Small world!

Thursday we woke up again to the sound of the pastors harmonizing 'Kemulana' and went to the orphan school and my group made drums out of the used tin cans and plastic bags (notice that this weeks theme is sound?), then had our usual lunch without the boys because they went to weld and fix cars and other such man stuff. We caught a ride into town with Allister and Dave who were going to get the wood for the new jungle gym they are building for the school children! We met up with Josephine who we met the previous week at prayer meeting. After chatting a while and eating African poloni we walked and rode back to her home which consisted of some connecting cement rooms with a tin roof full of doves. She bought us cold drinks and left and we chatted with her 18 year old son Steve about his life. Then he escorted us on our second ever minibus ride to the corner before Shoprite. Then we walked down to shoprite where he had gone to. He felt bad because he misunderstood where we wanted to go so he escorted us around the store, pushed our cart, unloaded our bags and then carried them. We bought him a soda and he arranged our minibus ride back to Mutoya and even protected us from the crazy guy who hangs around Shoprite. We met up with Lihanna, put our bags away then headed out early with her to do her nurse duties with someone in town who has had a swollen leg coming and going for 13 years now. None of his previous attempts for help worked so now he doesnt even clean and protect it, so she dressed the swollen but deteriorated leg and gave him deworming medicine because it was too expensive for him to buy. The we gave him a ride to where we have church at the community lodge. We attended the prayer meeting and prayed for all of the churches in the provinces in Western Zambia of which there are quite a few but some are weak and still need lots of help which is why the people here do so many week long outreaches to the different villages. The four of us Americans with Lubasi joining ate at Lihanna's a delicious Africaans dish that started with a 'b'. We chatted over coffee-hotchocolate mix and watched a tiny bit of the Bourne identity but everyone was falling asleep so we retired to our tents for the night. Chris and Ivan already work so well with eachother and are full of jokes (my favorite is the one about throwing lizzards on people) and laughter.

Friday we almost didnt have the party because birthday girl, Queen, has been sick for 3 days, but she showed up a little after school started so Marinette quickly baked a cake while we hurried to wrap her present and decorate the tent school with balloons and signs. The kids played musical chairs and limbo before we sat them down and the pink marshmello coconut cake arrived just in time. Queen had obviously never opened a present before, even turning 5, because she had no idea what to do so we and one fo the girl missionary children, Juliet, helped her and then put the new necklace and rings on her. Friday is sports day so we had some competing loudness songs like 'This is the Day' and 'We love Jesus, yes we do, we love Jesus, how 'bout you' which was so amazing to hear shouted over the surrounding villages, then they just played around the rest of the day. We chatted with the new couple, then journaled and emailed, then Melonie (who cooks all of the pastors meals) taught me how to make shima which Clarissa and I ate with some leftover soup. I finally took a shower after a few days of being tackled into the sand by the kids. Later we figured out how to make crape-like pancakes and tomato paste mince because the boys decided to ditch the idea of cooking hamburgers over the fire. They had got smores makings earlier so they made a fire while we cooked in the allpurpose kitchen. We sat by the fire with Lubasi joining later and eat mince pancakes, cinnoman sugar pancakes, and then a butt load of smores. We worshiped a bit and then had prayer for us as a team. It was so lovely speaking out and praising God overtop of the villagers next door who were making a racket as well like usual. I think we all want to start doing this every night. We all chatted for a bit afterwards and the boys ended up moving cots in together because their tents were so big alone. Oh boys and their slumber parties. :)

Saturday is a lot of needed rest day. Slept in till 8:30 then ate breakfast together and after some preparation finally started baking the cake for the youth today which smells wonderful and now were going to get some leftover mince and pasta lunch!
Pictures possibly coming soon.

The community here is just outstanding. Wow again to you God!

Carlie and Clarissa