Day 9 - Green Eggs, & Ham

It's currently 6:00 pm local time (12:00 pm EST) on Friday, July 18th; however, this post is to share with you about yesterday (Thursday, July 17th). So here goes.

We had power in the morning so we took advantage of that to enjoy a hearty breakfast of eggs, ham, & toast with jam. It was very yummy!!! Then we headed up to the west wing of the dining hall for devotionals. David continued the study of Psalm 66 which was a very good message (as always). Some of the key points I noted include:

• Sometimes we tend to hide in the crowd (or even the church) but our relationship with God must first & foremost be personal & intimate (one-on-one)
• We are the "burnt offering" and must offer all of ourselves (continually) to God as a living sacrifice

Then the ladies headed off to GAMES and the men went off to work with Mike. As usual GAMES started with singing the theme song (His Banner Over Me Is Love) but Nancy also tried a new method to teach the childen the memory verse "I am the vine and you are the branches (John 15:5)" where each child was a different word. After a prayer of thanks to God each group went off to their first activity.

• Susan was with Caroline taking the kids to the library
• I was with Sara teaching the kids a streamer routine to go along with the theme song
• Melissa was with Vicky in the obstacle course

At lunch we sat with the cooks (Kennedy, David, & Clement) and were treated to kabichi (stew of cabbage, onions, & tomatoes) and nshima.

At 1:30pm we headed out to see Mike & Dave for our afternoon assignment. Michael & Todd went off with Mike to do more work on the playground while Melissa, Susan, Sara & I went with David to do some painting around the village. All was going well until I fell but (praise God) I'm all right and just walked away with a scratched leg & jammed finger.

For dinner we had stuffed pancakes (filled with an egg & soy mixture) and relish (which is a mixture of rape, lettuce, & ontions). I sat at Mama Florence's table (with Emmanuel, Mubiana, Ben, Zawady, Lemmy, Jack, & Salvio).

We were back at the guest house by 6pm and started planning for a scavenger hunt to play with the kids tomorrow. Tomorrow will technically be our last day with the kids as we are leaving on Saturday morning for a weekend trip to Livingstone and won't be back until Monday night (and then we are leaving on Tuesday morning to return home).

It's been an amazing two weeks and (God willing) we will return again!

So it's very bittersweet to be leaving but (God willing) we will return again.

The Doctor Makes a House Call

On Tuesday, July 15th, I spent the day with Nancy Writebol. Nancy and her husband, David, are the directors of the Rafiki Village here in Zambia. She and I spent the day doing a number of different things including stopping in Chongwe and Lusaka checking on children who may eventually come to the Rafiki Village.

We started our day in Chongwe, a small town about 10 miles from the Rafiki Village. We stopped by to pick up a local Pastor who accompanied us on our first stop so there was an African individual accompanying us. Nancy told me that there was a woman who was taking care of her twin nephews (age 2) and her niece (age 4) in addition to her own several children.

To get to where this family lives, we had to leave the main road and travel along a very windy dirt road. Then we had to park our car and walk down a hill about 50 yards through a corn field. Their home consisted of a few small buildings without access to water or electricity. Dogs, goats and chickens freely roamed the entire dirt area of their home. They brought a mat, normally used for sleeping on the ground at night, and placed it on the ground so I could examine each of the twins one-by-one.

The aunt had to hold each one for they did not like me examining them at all. Nancy had already given each one a piece of candy as a peace offering. While I sat on the ground in the morning sun examining each child, chickens ran along the ground beside me. To say it was the most unusual setting in which I have ever examined an individual is an understatement! It turns out that the 4-year old girl was at preschool, and we decided to come back later in the afternoon to see her.

Nancy then drove us into Lusaka to make a couple of more stops. Lusaka is the capital of Zambia, and it has about a million people. We stopped at two different “compounds” in Lusaka. A compound is a collection of dwellings of various sizes and shapes. In the states, I believe we would call it a neighborhood of a city. The first one was called the Presidential Compound although Nancy told me that the President of Zambia doesn’t live there. What struck me is that some of the town homes were quite new and even had landscaping. We stopped by to see a young boy about 4 years old who may be coming to Rafiki within the next week. When Nancy got out of the car, he ran and jumped into her arms!

The Presidential compound was much different than the compound we saw after lunch called Gombe. This compound was extremely crowded, dirty and not maintained in any way. Nancy met with a Pastor and an elder from a church there to check on some children for possible adoption by Rafiki. The most heartbreaking moment of the day came when a man stopped by and basically begged us for 30 minutes to take his son because he was too ill to care for his son. The father said that he had some joint problem and could only do odds jobs. As a result, he was only able to feed his son once a day if that. He also shared with us that his wife died from malaria leaving him alone to care for his child. Nancy explained to the man that the policy at Rafiki is to only take children who have lost both of their parents so as to not separate children from their parents.

While we were still there, an elderly grandmother stopped by to see Nancy hoping that her 5-year old granddaughter could be adopted by Rafiki because she was trying to care for several of her grandchildren without any money or help from other relatives. Nancy said that she would have to check with the Rafiki home office but that it might be possible for Rafiki to adopt the little girl. As they walked away, the little girl began to cry because she could not go home to Rafiki with us that day.

After we left Lusaka, we drove back to Chongwe and picked up the Pastor as we returned to the rural site we’d visited in the morning so I could perform a physical exam on the 4-year old girl who had been at pre-school earlier in the day. Unlike her twin brothers, she was perfectly behaved and never cried as I examined her on the ground with the chickens running around. She was quite a beautiful young lady. The one thing I found, while doing her physical exam that afternoon as the sun was setting, was that she had a number of enlarged lymph nodes in her neck on both sides. Nancy told me that she would return later in the week with a local nurse who would draw their blood in order to complete the medical examination. Nancy decided that it would be best if I did not attempt to draw blood on a potentially malnourished, screaming child (like the twins that morning). I agreed with her that that was a good decision!

Even two days later, I continue to process all the things we saw on Tuesday. The poverty and disease are overwhelming; yet despite this, many of the people we met appeared to be truly happy proving that the owning of “stuff” does not bring happiness to one’s life. In every area, children ran though the streets playing with one another whether it was a real toy or one that they’d created out of the objects in their lives. It was also great spending the day with Nancy. She is amazing! She is part doctor, nurse, social worker and negotiator. Throughout the day, it was obvious that Nancy loves what she does at Rafiki. She took some amazing pictures of me examining the children, and I will post those once I get a copy of them from her.

I continue to feel extraordinarily blessed to be here in Zambia at the Rafiki Village. I have learned so much in just a short time, and I am already looking forward to the next opportunity to return to Zambia to serve again.

Day 8 - Br-r-r-r

This morning was our coldest...isn't that strange..being in Africa in July and being cold! It was 43 when we woke.
We were planning to prepare a big breakfast of bacon, eggs and toast....but the power went out.
So off to our morning Bible study with the staff without coffee and quite cold. This makes us appreciate what we take for granted everyday at home.
Bible study was wonderful....from Psalm 66. David talked about how God uses suffering in our lives for His good purposes.
Off to GAMES. We loved doing relays, singing, stamping and playdough creations. Michael played the guitar for music. The children had never seen a guitar and they loved it. Mirriam prayed at closing thanking God for teacher Mike and his "banjo".
Melissa, Linda, and I sat at the cottages after lunch while the children napped and mamas had training with Nancy.
After dinner we got to read in the cottages. The children love reading! They are so attentive and are interacting more with us now. They're tugging hard at our hearts.
In the front of one of the books, someone had written the verse from Jeremiah..."For I know the plans I have for you", declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
Its exciting to think of the plans God has for these precious children, whom He has called out of dire circumstances to His wonderful provision for them here at Rafiki.
Thanks for remembering us!

With love,
Susan

Meet The Kids

So I've compiled individual pictures of all the kids so you can see for yourself how adorable they are.

The Two Year Olds:

Agrippa

Loveness

The Three Year Olds:

Ben

Chanda

Emmanuel

Joseph

Mubiana

Salvio


The Four Year Olds:

Gladys

Grace

Happy

Lemmy

Lisa

Luka

Purity

Richard


The 4 & 5 Year Olds:

Bupe

Edda

Eva

Jack

Jeff

Lackson

Mirriam

Shadrack

Zawady

There are currently 27 children at the village here in Zambia but it has the capacity for 320 (once it is fully built & staffed).

day 7... end of week 1

michael and i with the masks we bought at the market... bargaining was so much fun! (and i really didn't think i would like it!)
the girls last night... pajama party
a flower outside of linda's house

after we got off the airplane from south africa... welcome to zambia!!!

salvio showing off his painting today :)
one of the kids paintings... i absolutely adore all of them!
salvio... again. (i might be a little biased)
team africa outside of the rafiki village! this was right before our amazing walk a few days ago :)

i can't believe our first week is over... it's gone by so fast! it's been REALLY great.. and i sort of don't want to go home (at least not yet). (although i do miss all of you :P)

today was a lot of fun! especially since i spent the entirety of yesterday in bed... really - i slept like 18 hours. but, i'm feeling so much better today... jesus is taking care of me :) todd thinks i probably just caught something from being in the market the day before. but, anyway! i feel better and it really helped me to appreciate today since i wasn't in bed for all of it. so woke up this morning around 6.30, still felt a little sick - but just being out and about really helped... but we did bible study - today is was about psalm 66. david always does a really good job of explaining things. today one of his examples was if an ant were to say to us that he was going to tear down our building all by himself... we would laugh at him. (and i'm sure everyone sees the parallel to christianity). anyway, i just really liked that part.

on a personal note (i feel like everyone has been posting something personal) i have kind of a weird analogy, also, this is the kind of thing that goes on in my head... most of the time. so, let's just say our hearts are nets (like fishermans big nets) and i feel like when i first got here satan was only letting bad fish in my net and i just couldn't shake them out... and jesus would put a few more good fish in my net, but the bad fish were just too overwhelming. and then just as the week has gone on jesus has overflowed my net with good (really good) fish! and has completely reliquinshed the bad fish. (i most always have a lot of imagery in my head, and this is how i make sense of some things)

but moving on to whats happened today... after bible study.

sara and i did painting with the kids... it was so neat! just being about to see the lord's creativity through these kids was really incredible! i put up a few pictures at the top of this, but they are from today. we took pictures of all of the paintings the kids painted... and are even taking some back home with us :) the kids here are so sweet... it's unbelievable!

after painting we just came back to the house and then we helped mike spackle the ceiling in the dining room (we'll paint it tomorrow).

susan and linda finished up the cooking for when the home office comes and michael helped mike work on the playground some more. i think it's a bigger task than they had orignally planned. but, they are doing a really great job with everything! and michael is realizing he actually is pretty handy :)

and todd had the most exciting day out of all of us! he got to go into chongwe (the nearby village) to examine some kids with nancy. except i won't explain it because that is going to have to be his job :) but it was sooo neat hearing about his day tonight!

we're just been sitting around the house tonight, we made popcorn and i think we're going to catch up on crossroads sermons online after i finish this... and then we'll probably sing. we always find something to entertain ourselves with at night.

i hope you liked the pictures! i only put up a few random ones, but i hope they make you smile :)

as always, thank you so much for praying for us... and i love you!

m.

Day 6 - Pick up stix... and build a playground with them!

Monday night has wrapped up and there is so much to talk about! But I swear to you, tonight I keep it short.

The power was out nearly all day. It came back on just in time for lunch (around 11:45am), but by the evening we were reading, conversing, and showering by candlelight.

The morning began as any other thus far, with groggy eyes heading toward the kitchen to pour a cup of coffee, eat a cup of yogurt, etc. By 7:30am we were in the west room of the dining hall singing and listening to David's message on Psalm 66. Just a brief sidenote: during the school year the ROS, local employees, and children all study a book of the Bible based on their Rafiki Bible study, but while school is out they go through the Psalms.

GAMES was a lot of fun. The kids made paper mosaics, played with bean bags, and did "table games" (matching games, card games). The girls are really starting to find a groove with the kids, and they love being able to spend time and teach them!

Todd and I had an interesting experience today. We worked on the playground some more: finished the ladder and started the deck by nailing in the support boards for the deck. Tomorrow the deck should follow, considering we have electricity to power the saw. On another, more troublesome note (those with weak stomachs, please skip this part!) we went with Mike and Dave to check the sewer system the was laid out in the village. Apparently the construction workers who put it in were less than careful to keep a downward slope on the pipes, so things weren't... well... flowing. When they lifted up the lid on one of the sewers the smell was pleasant (just kidding, no it wasn't). Inside were lots of little things, including the surprising (here it comes)... worms. The ones they warn you about in biology class and in the med center when you're getting your shots. A quick disclosure, we are not in any danger! They were there from long ago, staying in the sewers, and the ROS are NOT worried about them. However, I'd never seen them before and I recommend you never try to see one (or drink water that would grant you the pleasure of living with one). They're the most horrible things I've ever seen!

Melissa had an interesting day. She woke up not feeling too good, and after the good doctor (Todd) had a look at her decided that she should stay in bed while we went about our morning activities. Her throat was sore and her head was hurting. She slept nine hours today in addition to the nine hours she got last night! I'm happy to report that tonight she is feeling much better, and the benedryl she took will guarantee that tonight's sleep goes unbothered ;-P

On a personal note, I wish we had more time. The second week has proven to make me feel at home here. I like the cleaner smell of the air, the beautiful blue sky, and the unadulterated silence that surrounds the village. Most importantly, the people here are so friendly, and the kids are very special. Tonight we read to them-each of us in a seperate cottage-and I read to Mama Florence and Mama Rachel's kids. They had a wonderful time, and were probably more interested in naming the animals in the book than the story itself. That's alright with me.

But now it's bedtime in this sleepy African village just south of Lusaka, Zambia. I'm going to bed so that tomorrow can be another productive (and always educational) day.

(The sun setting over Zambia a couple nights ago)

Day 5 - Sunday Blessings

I wanted to share with you what I did yesterday (Sunday). Most of the Rafiki Village staff and the rest from Crossroads went into Lusaka for church services. Lusaka is about an hour away from the Rafiki Village.

Instead of going with them, I decided to stay here and attend a local village church which is located just off the Rakifi property. (A photo of us in front of this church is on the blog under Day 4. We'd visited it on Saturday during a walk off the property.) This particular church has no windows or doors, and you sit on concrete benches without backs. The men sit on the right side as you enter the church and the women sit on the left.

Vicky Koch, one of the Rafiki staff members, went with me. She had warned me that it was very likely that the local town people would ask me to deliver the message; and sure enough, they did ask me to deliver the message to the congregation. All 27 Rafiki children and their Mamas (women who function as their Mama once they come to Rafiki orphanage) were there plus about 30 people from the nearby village.

Luckily for me, we had begun a study of Romans, Chapter 8, at Crossroads Church before leaving Lexington; and the 4 others from CCC and I have been discussing it this past week at the guest house in the evenings.

My message came from that study (thanks Griff!) and focused on reading from the Bible to the congregation plus sharing my own thoughts and some of the discussions we'd had this week about the book of Romans. Mama Mwanza from the Rafiki Vaillage translated my talk for the congregation. Although English is the official language of Zambia, there are many native languages here, too. The people from the nearby village speak Nyanja and some English.

We sang songs from their Baptist hymnal in the language of Nyanja. The good thing is that the language is very phonetic so that, if I could understand what song number to look up, I could actually sing along with everyone at church. I didn't recognize the songs until the offering when I knew we were singing "Brining in the Sheaves." The harmonies of the voices were amazing as everyone sang.

The 27 children from Rafiki also sang a couple of songs that they had learned at school including "Great is Thy Faithfulness." Although the service was just under 2 hours, the time just flew by. What a blessing it was to worship God here in Zambia!

Fun & Games - Day 4

It's currently 11:45pm local time (5:45 pm EST) on Saturday, July 12th. Our previous posts have all been posted the day after primarily because (for the first few days) by the time we got back to the guest house at the end of the day we were all so tired we pretty much went straight to bed. My body must finally be adjusting to the timezone because I'm back to my "night owl" routine and can't seem to go to sleep early. So I figured I would take this time to post our "day 4" blog and catch us up.

So here goes:

I was able to sleep in today (waking up at 7am instead of the ususal 6-6:30am) which was nice since I stayed up late last night but also very sad because we didn't have group devotionals this morning (which is the reason we were able to sleep in). As disappointed as I was, I also realized that I need to learn how to continue this spiritual discipline when I get back home and I'm on my own again!

At 8:00 am we went to Linda Petty's for breakfast. The meal was delicious - french toast with cinamon & lemon butter. Without a doubt the best french toast I've ever had! We stayed until just after 9am and then went back to the cottage to go through the "game-plan" for our time with the kids.

At 10am we went up to the gazebo to pick-up the children...



And for the next 2 hours we had a fabulous time playing all sorts of games:

• Melissa & Todd kicked things off with some outdoor games of "Horse Horse How Did You Get There" and "Red Light/Green Light"
• Then we brought the kids inside where I had planned a coloring activity
• After that the kids were brought together in a circle where Michael led them in one of their favorite activities - singing - but this time he had a surprise. He recorded them singing and replayed it back to them. You should have seen there faces!
• Next Susan & Sarah led the kids in several other games such as "Bear Hunt" and "The Wheels On The Bus"
• Then boys & girls separated - Todd & Michael took the boys to the sand-box to play with the trucks while Susan, Melissa, Sarah, & myself kept the girls and we played tea-party but first we painted their nails (which they absolutely got a kick out of)

At 12:15 pm (on the dot) we had lunch. We sat with David & Kennedy (the cooks) and enjoyed a meal of tomato soup (which was really just rice in some sort of a tomato sauce), peanut butter sandwhich, and popcorn. I know a strange combination!!

Some other strange food facts that I've encountered thus far include:

• Eggs are left on the counter (and do not have to be refrigerated)
• The milk doesn't have to go in the refrigerator either (until it's been opened)
• They don't eat jelly with peanut butter sandwiches (they've even tried it with the kids...but they just don't like it)

After lunch we helped paint two walls in the dining hall and for all our hard work we were pleasantly rewarded with a delicious "fritter" snack I can't remember the name for it but it was so yummy!

At 3:30pm we took our first excursion outside the walls of the Rafiki Village (since we arrived on Tuesday night). First we walked down to the church where the Mama's and children attend.

From left to Right: Todd, Sarah, Michael, Melissa, & Susan

There we met some local woman (one of them being "Mama Florence" from the Rafiki village) who greeted us warmly and even treated us to a few songs - one was in a local language so we didn't understand but it was beautiful and the other was in English.

Then we started walking the other way where David had said that we would find a local village about a mile and a half down the road. On the way we encountered several locals who were all friendly and the children would call out & wave as we passed. In particular there were two girls - who were probably sisters but they did not speak much English so I was only able to understand there ages (9 & 7) and that one of their names was Miriam - who actually followed us for quite some time. Walking along I saw the "real" conditions Zambians face and it just re-inforced how much of an impact a Rafiki village could have (not only for the orphans they care for) but the surrounding community when it's fully staffed and functional (e.g., the village here does not yet have a doctor or nurse ROS to host medical clinics, etc). So my prayer is that God would continue to provide resources (funds & people) for all Rafiki villages so they may grow & multiply.

We made it back to the guest house around 5;45 pm, just in time to relax for a bit before we headed over to join the other ROS at the Koch's house for dinner & a movie. It was a great evening of fellowship after such a long day.

God bless you all and thank you for your continued prayers. We definitely need them. I know we are each facing different struggles. I myself have felt that "evil dog" (as we have learned from our Romans Study) start "barking" several times since I have been year. Please pray that Satan would not steal our joy in serving and that we would continue to have open hearts & embrace each & every moment here in Zambia. It really has been such a blessing. The kids are absolutely adorable. You can't help but love them!

Stay tuned for more updates....

Susan, Melissa, Michael, & myself are headed into Lusaka tomorrow to attend church with the ROS and check-out the local markets while Todd is going to stay and attend the local church with the Mama's & children (who knows...he could even end up giving the sermon...or so we've been told).

Blog Comments Not Working

It was just brought to our attention that visitors are unable to post comments to our team blog. Unfortunately the administrator for our blog, John Kelly, left for Bolivia today (on another mission trip) so not sure how soon we'll be able to get the permissions fixed.

We hope that you enjoy reading our blogs (as we enjoy posting them) and would just ask that you offer your prayers of encouragement to God and we know they'll be sure to be delivered.

Love,
Linda

P.S. We'll add another post once it's been resolved

God is good!!!! - Day 3

Hi it's Susan.

Its another good day. Once again we had a great Bible study of Psalm 65 led by David. What a great way to start our day...in God's Word.

The children marched into GAMES singing "Trust and Obey" with gusto. No half-hearted singing here!

Nancy and Vicky always start the children in GAMES. We sing "His Banner Over Me Is Love". Nancy helps the children understand the meaning of the words. Its a sweet start to the morning.

Then each of us went to our posts....I worked with national teacher, Caroline, doing relays. It was so much fun. We did egg relays, running relays, and water relays. The other teams did fun activities too. But you'll just hear about mine today. :)

Team Africa had a planning lunch. We're in charge of the children from 10-12 tomorrow morning. We put our heads together and came up with a plan for the two hours, which we'll run by Nancy. We think its going to be a fun time...our first time for all of us to be with all the children and in charge.

After lunch, Melissa, Linda, and I sat in the cottages while the children napped. The moms had Bible study with Nancy. The children were "little angels" and we mini missionaries all got very sleepy while on duty.

Typical of Africa, we were without power for 3 1/2 hours around dinner time. Dinner in the dark was special! Back to the guest house and we had Bible study (Romans 8 from church) in the dark. Stimulating discussion with "Team Africa". We sang and off to bed for a good night's rest.

We thank God for this incredible opportunity He has given us!

Love,

Susan

Great Is Thy Faithfulness

At the start of devotions on Wednesday morning we sang "Great Is Thy Faithfulness":

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father;
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;
As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be.

Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!
Summer and winter and springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!

And as I go to bed each night here in Zambia I can't help but be reminded how abundantly faithful God has been and all that we have to be thankful for:

• Thankful for being able to come to Zambia
• Thankful for safe travels
• Thankful for safe drinking water
• Thankful for no mosquitoes (and therefore nil-none risk of malaria)
• Thankful for our time with the children (they are so precious)
• Thankful for each & every opportunity to serve
• And most of all thankful for God's unconditional love & mercy

So thank you for your prayers and would you please continue to pray for "team africa" and all the staff serving here in Zambia as well as all the children (currently there are 27) but many more are waiting to come.

Love,
Linda

Meet The Staff

In Zambia we serve as short-term mini-missionaries to basically assist the Rafiki Overseas Staff (ROS) in anyway we can. So I thought it might be nice to introduce some of the names that you'll see mentioned in our blogs:

• David Writebol: ROS - Village Director (responsible for overall running of the village and self-proclaimed "milk-man" which basically means he has to do any tasks that don't get done)
• Nancy Writebol: ROS - Child Care Director (and also the volunteer coordinator who we take daily direction from and who leads GAMES)
• Mike Koch: ROS - Plant Manager (basically the handy-man extraordinare who Michael thinks looks & talks like Clint Eastwood)
• Rose Alinder: ROS - Education Program Director (currently on furlough so we haven't met but we've been working in her kitchen....hehe)
• Linda Petty: ROS - Assistant Child Care Director (also responsible for the direction of the kitchen and makes delicious brownies...mmm..mmm..good)
• Vicky Koch: ROS - Teacher (who has also been involved in GAMES)
• Sarah Jennings - Another mini-missionary serving here in Zambia for 3 month's this summer (she's already been here 2 months)

chinai (or, thursday)

so things here have been going really well. i'm not sure if anyone has explained our living situation, so i'll go ahead and do that (because it's really, REALLY nice). We each are sharing a room with just one other person and each room has its own bathroom! we also have a kitchen and a living room and a dining room... all decorated very african-esque. It's really pretty neat, i think we've all taken pictures, maybe we'll post some up sometime.

We eat breakfast here together everyday and then we've been going to a bible study that meets at 7.30. we've been looking at psalm 65 it's been a perfect way to start the day here. it just reiterates the fact that we should be concentrating on jesus always... which is always a great thing to hear but for me it always sticks better in the morning, so that has been pretty perfect.

after bible study we started setting up for games. i helped sara with musical chairs and duck duck goose. we tried to play soccer with the older kids but they got kind of bored with it so we played a game called moon man. the kids really love duck duck goose! when we played musical chairs the kids kept singing along to the songs, and when we stopped the music the just kept singing and walking around the chairs! it was adorable and precious! the kids are really great - they're so sweet and beautiful and just really amazing.

after games sara and i went to start cooking meals for when the home office visits in a few weeks (they're going to freeze all the meals) we made breakfast casserole, just like my mom makes back home. :) i cooked the sausage (it was not much fun, but i did it so i may have been a little proud of myself!)

so after we finished the casseroles and had them in the freezer and we came back to the guest house and started getting ready for dinner. dinner is everyday at 5.30, they're kind of sticklers with time here. (i thought it was pretty weird, just cause i've heard so much about african time being really relaxed, it is definitely not like that here... if you're 5 minutes late you feel horrible because the mothers are so polite, they won't start eating without you!) anyway, for dinner we had scrambled eggs, greens, and N'shima. it was actually really good! the eggs were great, the greens were good, and the N'shima was hard to eat as always. I think michael explained it a little bit... i'll explain it a little more :P it's SO hard to eat... and it's SO filling. but the kids eat huge amounts of it so fast! i don't know how they do it... i've tried, and i just can't. it's kind of like the rice in sushi, except all gelled together and really thick. it doesn't really taste like anything though. anyway, so that's my take on dinner :)

after dinner was a lot of fun, we came back here to the house and played boggle. none of us were too good at it, but i love games so i loved it!

so that was our day yesterday :)

oh, and a quick update on the boys work... Todd and Michael worked on the playground the whole day again yesterday :) it's now anchored down to the ground and they have a ladder! they're such manly men :)


love you all!

Somewhere in Africa - Day 1

July 09, 2008 - I realize that I'm calling July 09 our first day in Zambia, but for us, Tuesday never happened. We got on the plane at 11:50 am on Monday and arrived at 9:15 pm on Tuesday. Therefore, when we awoke at 6:30 am Zambia time on Wednesday morning to begin our God-guided African adventure, we were slightly disoriented. That said, the jet lag was minimal. We were in bed and asleep by midnight, and ready to go the next morning!

At 7:30 am we all met in the "West Wing" (the room in the village furthest west) for songs and a message from David Writebol about Psalm 65. Afterwards, boys and girls were seperated to do their tasks. The girls were immediately thrown in Rafiki's GAMES (games, art, music, enrichment, sports) to get to know the kids. Todd and I went to David and Mike to help them build - yep - a playground! Armed with our handy tools, we went to work... cutting and measuring. Mike sure is good at both. My skills in carpentry were feeling rather worthless at this point, but Mike kept us busy while David made a trip to Lusaka to retrieve milk for the next week (about 60 liters of it!).

Lunch was (and always is) at 12:15, and we had Nshima - a white, thick cornmeal that is a staple food for Zambians - and relish - a combination of cooked rape, carrots, and onions. I can eat anything, so I imagined the Nshima to be something else, and it was great. I'll let everyone else tell you what they thought :-P I got to sit with Mama Margaret and her adopted children [Immanuel] Chanda, Shadrack, Luka, Richard, and Lackson. All of the children were very polite, very cute, and very, very quiet. Lackson was the oldest at 6 years old.

After lunch, the kids stayed with their families for activities while the girls went to Nancy's house to prepare meals to be frozen for the future. Todd and I had to leave the playground as a pile of now freshly measured and cut piles of wood to be drilled and screwed together tomorrow. For now, we let it lie.

David and Nancy invited us to their house for dinner. We ate spaghetti, a salad, and rolls, and all of it was delicious! Definitely a departure from lunch. Afterwords we all sat in the living room and shared stories, talked about Rafiki and the children in the village, and our travel stories. They are all wonderful people - David, Nancy, Mike, Vicki, and Linda. I am looking forward to spending the ensuing days with them!

I'm so thankful and amazed to be in Zambia! I knew that God wanted us here to help these people, and upon leaving it was so difficult to imagine how God could use someone like me to be anything to anyone, let alone a servant. I met Everisto Moyo (moyo means both 'life' and 'heart' in Nyanja), a local who has been working at Rafiki since January 2007. He works hard, attends worship every morning... and he doesn't even live in the village. He's dedicated where he doesn't have to be, which says to me that God has given him a humble heart.

If I've learned nothing else in one day, it's this: I have way more objects, have learned, have experienced, and am more knowledgable of world affairs simply from living in one place in Kentucky, yet I will have an impossible time ever appreciating a meal, a safe and restful night's sleep, or friendly word. I hope that I will appreciate those things with time.

Still lots of time to go, and many blogs ahead... stay tuned!

Greetings from Zambia!

I don't have access to the blog, so Linda was kind enough to let me blog via her login. We wanted everyone to know that we made it safely to Zambia last night after almost 30 hours of travel. The longest part was the 19-hour flight from Atlanta to South Africa. The staff from the Rafiki met us at the airport in Lusaka, Zambia, and then we drove for about an hour to the Rafiki Village.

We made it here about 11 PM local timeTuesday night (it's 6 hours ahead of EST there in Lexington). I will share with you that the stars in the sky were amazing last night! I don't think I've ever seen so many stars. Just another awesome tribute to God's creation. We were all asleep shortly after our arrival to Zambia. Thanks to everyone for their continued prayers and support. God is so awesome and we are looking forward to our time here in Africa!

Blessings,
Todd

It's Time To Fly

Team Africa leaves for Zambia today!!!

Standing (from left to right): Susan Brammel, Melissa Beach, Michael Rossine, Todd Cheever; Sitting: Linda Curd

Our first flight takes off at 11:50 AM EST on Monday, July 7th and we should arrive at the village between 10-11pm Local Time (which is EST+6) on Tuesday, July 8th. In total the travel time will be around 26 hours (see below for detailed itinerary)

First Flight: Lexington To Atlanta (duration 1hr 23mins)
· Depart: 11:50 AM Monday, July 7th
· Arrive: 1:13pm Monday, July 7th
Second Flight: Atlanta to Johannesburg, South Africa (duration 18 hrs 50 mins)
· Depart: 3:45pm Monday, July 7th
· Arrival: 4:35pm Tuesday, July 8th
Third Flight: Johannesburg to Lusaka, Zambia (duration 2 hrs)
· Depart: 6:50 pm Tuesday, July 8th
· Arrive: 8:50 pm Tuesday, July 8th
Final Leg: 60 mile drive to the Rafiki Village

It’s hard to express in words the feelings I have as we take “flight” but thankfully that’s why God has gifted the world with music. So I’ve borrowed some lyrics from a song that I learned for a music concert in high school. I don’t remember the song title or the complete lyrics (and believe it or not I couldn’t find it on the www) but here are the verses & chorus that keeps repeating in my mind

Facing the unknown,

I realize how much my dreams have grown.

Since the first time,

I turned my face to heaven.

I won’t be afraid to carry out the plans that You have made.

Cause you’ll go with me.

I’ll think of you on the journey.

As we travel where we’ve never been before.

It’s time…

Now I know it’s time to fly

To spread our wings and sail across the sky.

We’re headed towards tomorrow with yesterday as our guide.

Counting down...

Just realized this hasn't been updated in quite awhile, so I thought I'd catch everyone up. So... we're leaving in 5 days! I can't believe how well this trip has come together. We have an amazing team, it's been so wonderful getting to know them all better! They all have such beautiful hearts and I'm really blessed to be going on this trip with them.

Jesus has been so faithful (and also very creative!) with raising funds for my part of this trip... Every time I would get discouraged he just amazed me with little surprises that couldn't have been more unexpected. It really was a blessing getting to see him work in that way and just also to feel his love with all the little things that happened. So, this is a definite praise and thanks to everyone who is supporting us on this trip! (both prayerfully and otherwise!)

We had a cookout the other night at Susan's and we got our packing list and passports and visas and such. I finished packing today! It's exciting but also sort of nerve racking because I really don't know what to expect once we get there! I know it will be an amazing trip though. :) Rafiki sent us boxes of things to bring with us for the kids... My box was full of all of these really adorable little kid clothes and it only made me more excited to get to get there and to meet these kids!!


Also, another fun update... we found out we're going to get to see Victoria Falls the last weekend we're there! I'm so excited about this trip... Everyone I've talked to who has been before say that it's really amazing! And we're going to get to go on a safari! I think it'll be a perfect end to our trip.

Please keep us in your prayers as we continue preparing for this trip! We're all so excited... I really can't wait to see how God will use each of us there :)