End of Week 1 - eyes wide open

after taking rest once arriving in lusaka, we got right to work the following day. The men went to the property site to work. A team of 6 zambians have been contracted to build a wall to around the perimeter of the property, lay the footing for the first village house and pour concrete. The wall will require 2 weeks of 8 hour days to complete. They will be paid $150 USD (team total) for their 2 weeks of work. Their bare feet exposed, the zambians pic away the clay ground with limited tools. Our team uses some slashing tools to whack weeds (see right). even with large mule skin gloves, the blisters mount and the rotators ache.

the girls finished a 3 day teacher conference in which they taught local school teachers all around Zambia about the Gospels, reading, math, HIV/AIDS so that they may use these techniques and materials in their classroom. this was met with much joy since most teachers have no more than a chalkboard to teach with. we raffled off masking tape so that the teachers can hang up visual aids. We showed them american sports like ultimate frisbee and hacky sack - with futbol as the universal language, they caught on quick. they were so excited and it was a blessing to see them so excited about materials we take for granted in our schools.

we plan to continue this tradition by establishing this conference as an annual event. Bishop Peter plans to open it to different provinces in Zimbabwe and Congo. i am excited.

In Lusaka

we arrived in Lusaka, Zambia about 11 hrs ago. we were met by Bishop Peter and his wife, Hilda. we received the vip services as soon as we got here, needing not to go through the common customs protocols, invited gladly after 24 continuous hours on an airplane or in an airport...the weather was a bit nippy upon arrival (42 degrees), but settled in at about 68-69 degrees. lots of sunshine though. we will be preparing for a teachers conference tonight - traveling to schools and teaching through games, etc. we are very excited :) all for now.

Made it to the UK

we made it. it was a long flight that i don't remember much about because i slept through most of it. london is cold and gloomy. our connection to lusaka was delayed for 1.5 hrs. i hope to sleep through this flight as well so that i will be refreshed for the work that is before us. we are starting to board - all for now.