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!!