Last week pics...

While in Livingstone we visited a small game park... the first time I got to see Giraffe's in the wild!! LOVED THEM!!:):)

Here's a picture of the deep fried termitets... I ate one of those!! It was actually yummy:), with it's crunchy buttery taste. Mind you, they had taken the wings off them... but it still took a while to get all the legs out from between my teeth:):):).

The last sunday I wore a traditional Zambian dress... with head scarf. Here's Lauren posing with me:)...

Here are some of the kids from our last trip out to villages...

It's good to be back in the US safely. I'm at my brother's home right now... enjoyed fixing my own breakfast! Looking forward to going grocery shoping later this morning, and then spending the next couple days with family and friends!! Happy Thanksgiving all!!

Last few days in Zambia!!

Hello! I've tried multiple times to upload photo's, but without success... so I thought I'd write a quick note and promise to upload pics once I'm back in the US next week!

We've had a busy last couple weeks with saying many goodbyes. The students baked various goodies to take with cards to the many places around Choma and Zimba where they had their clinical experiences. We also served a tea to the WHIZ staff and prepared a meal for the team who have been taking care of us at the guest house all these weeks. The many friendships we've developed will be the most valuable thing we take with us from our time here in Zambia!

Since Thursday evening, we've been here in Livingstone. Friday (yesterday) we visited the local game park - saw zebra, giraffe, buffalo, impala, bush buck, crocodile, monkeys, some stranded fish (after flooding the night before) and all kinds of birds! My favorites were the giraffe!!

We also visited Victoria Falls. Stunning!! This was definitely the moment where I missed my time in Zimbabwe the most - the river is much deeper on the Zim side and so in the present dryer season, there is not much water on the Zambia side. Amazing, regardless... and a tad intimidating for those with any fear of heights!!! BUT we didn't get soaked by the mist like we could see happening on the Zim side. It was really neat to be back there again!! God gave us sunshine between the clouds and we got to see the rainbows in the mist at the bottom of the falls!! Cool pics:)!!!

We have a few more things on our schedule with some down time as well. Our flight home will start Monday. I'm looking forward to being with family in Indiana for Thanksgiving!!! Where will you be for Thanksgiving?? Any good traditions you'll be upholding??

Where does YOUR water come from??

This week, we visited a few villagers and were able to see where they get their water from. This first photo is of an open well, with a bucket that can be lowered down to fill with water. This is close to one family's home, but a longer walk for many who live multiple km away!

Alissa took a turn at carrying a bucket full of water. It was a rather long walk, on a sandy road! What a challenge!!

This was one of the local women filling up the bucket... imagine trying to do that when pregnant!! This hole was about a foot deep. They said that it would fill about 3 buckets, then took about an hour to refill!

Carrying water back up the hill from the creek...

Filling our buckets up at the creek!

It was a big reminder of all that we take for granted... clean water in bottles IN THE FRIDGE, or coming out of the tap! Safe "instant" water - a privilege or a right??

It's rained a couple times over the past week. The bugs are out in full force... flying termites, misquitoes, etc. Six of the group have already battled malaria over the past 5 weeks, we are praying that this influx of mosquitoes does not cause any others to fall ill!!

We've started to say our Goodbye's. The tears have begun to flow. It is hard to believe we're leaving Choma this coming Thursday and then starting our flight back to the US the following Monday! The students are working hard to finish all their papers and projects!!

Village life III

Well, we spent the day out in the village today. These photo's are actually from other villages than the ones we were in today, but Internet has not let me upload photo's the multiple times I have tried over the past week. Sadly I got my first real sunburn... it was a cloudy day and I didn't manage to put sunscreen on before we left... and lo and behold, the African sun is not so gentle on my skin!! Hopefully a few coats of aloe will help most of it turn into "tan"...:)

Back to the more important part of the day... we visited families that are caring for orphans, and others where the children would be considered "vulnerable" due to poverty, illness or similar issues. One the one hand, it is exciting to see what communities are doing to support and provide for those in their midst who are in need, and yet the harsh realities of their needs are deeply humbling. God keeps reminding me how deeply blessed I am on so many levels!! I pray I never loose sight of this - but will always remember to pray for children like Yolanda (one of the girls we met today) and for the families who are caring for them! At a couple of the homes, we walked with them to where they get water - one a creek a 3-4 min walk down a hill, and another an open well a 6-8 min walk away. Each time, the students helped fill buckets with water and then took turns carrying the full buckets back to the homes.

The photo below is of a "soccer ball" we found at another home earlier this semester ... it's a bundle of plastic bags. Carla (pictured below) proceeded to kick this same ball around with one of the young boys for a little while.

People's homes in the village are made up of small "compounds" - though they do not have fences around them in rural areas, they are a collection of small buildings. Usually the largest building has a roof and is where people sleep. There is often a cooking hut, storage huts of various kinds as well as toilets off to one side. Today we saw similar storage areas to the one pictured below. We also saw a dish rack similar to ones I saw in Sierra Leone and even a solar panel lying in the sun next to one of the homes.

The chickens have these really cool little huts that are up on stilts, with tall ladders attached.

Like this:
This is another photo of the colorful chetenges we see most women wearing.

The 90 min drive, much of it on washboard dirt roads was a little bit of a challenge, but what a great experience! We have really been blessed with a real diversity of experiences and have been exposed to some of the extremes of culture and lifestyles seen in this part of Zambia!

It is hard to believe that we have only one more week here in Choma and will be back in the US in less than two weeks time!! I am grateful for God's continued faithfulness and blessings. We have seen His hand on our lives in truly remarkable ways!!

Village life II

Hello all! We've just gotten back to Choma from five days in Lusaka, the capital of Zambia. It was a six hour drive north. It was a little of a culture shock for us all... seeing traffic lights for the first time in nearly eight weeks!!:) Also the first set of stairs since we walked off the plane (down those rolling stairs) to the tarmack in Livingstone in early September! I still need to upload the photo's from the last week, but here's a few from earlier visit's to a village.

The women can often be seen carrying a heavy load on their heads as well as a young child on their backs!