0615 – Oops, we slept in! Usually we're up and almost out the door for our morning walk/run by now, but we are out the door by 0630 accompanied by our two dogs—Tripod and Tarra. Most times they don't come with us—we think they are still out with their girlfriends.
0630 – The secondary kids are just getting out of chapel and are on their way to breakfast on their last day of school! They are excited because this is their last day!
0730 – We are home—the mornings are so lovely and cool. About two weeks ago the mornings, even this time of day, was quite hot!
0900 – Breakfast is done! I made a gineau-fowl-egg omelet with green peppers, tomatoes and cheese. Orleen is doing laundry. Winnie is catching us up on news about the mission and Mashel is washing the truck.
0930 – The filing and sorting of jobs to do is done and we head to Kalomo. Oops, the bank machine is not working; we get the mail and we head to Choma. We pick up Edgar (Good Hope teacher) and Lucia (HIV patient) at the Twin Fountains/Kabanga intersection.
1030 – We do some banking—the bank machine works in Choma! I buy a crochet hook for Winnie and I'm bombarded by the fruit and veggies street sellers. I now know who to buy from and I get a really great watermelon for K10,000 instead of the K20,000 that the guy initially asks. I also buy apples, bananas, tomatoes and carrots the same way. I usually tell them now that if they give me a good deal today, I'll come and find them next time! It works quite well. I find these veggies a better price than at the SPAR, the supermarket.
1100 – We drop by St. Malumba school to pick up Camody, a deaf boy who lives at Mawaya compound in Kalomo. He is such a fine looking boy with the loveliest smile you'll ever see! He signs his greeting to me and of course he has to teach me how to greet properly. We tell the Aunty who looks after him that we want him to be ready to go in one hour. Next, we take Lucia to Chodort trade school for an interview for a tailoring course.
1130 – I do my grocery shopping at SPAR. We buy about K340,000 of kapenta that we'll use for sponsored kids and for grannies. Kapenta is like dried sardines and have plenty of nutrition in the form of calcium, oil and protein. I buy our groceries, too, and a treat for all of us for the road home (a bun and a drink).
1230 – We pick up Lucia; she's passed the interview. She's glad! This is our third patient to be accepted here—two for tailoring and one for carpentry. They are one-year courses towards a government certificate. We need to find housing for these three, but Chodort says they'll help. Lucia is a sister of Mashel who works with us. Her husband, Kelvin, is also HIV positive; we are trying to find a hospice for him.
1300 – We pick up young Camody so he can return home; school is over for the year!
1315 – We fuel up in Choma because Kalomo is out of fuel. We've heard that the gas station is shutting down. Not nice!
1330 – We stop at Martin's hospice to check it out for Kelvin, one of our HIV positive patients from Kalowa. Martin's is a Catholic run hospice mainly for HIV positive patients. It's the cleanest health care facility I've seen in Zambia. I was here about ten days ago and some have remembered me and now know me by name. I'm waiting for Sister Bertha to return so we can get Kelvin in here. Apparently they offer physiotherapy three times a week; that could be so helpful to Kelvin! One young gal (seventeen years old) is like a corpse. There is nothing left of her—skin on bones, mouth gaping for air, eyes bulging out, only minutes left in her—a very sad situation. Her twenty year-old sister was with her, the parents both died many years ago. This girl is a mother-to-child transmission case. I could hardly get any words out to comfort the sister, but I squeeked out, "I'll pray for you, young lady—this is very difficult". The sister nodded and looked quite afraid. She is the only living relative for the young girl and had to quit her second year at UNZA (economics student) to attend to her dying sister. Such are the cases for many people in Zambia. The irony of this is that Lucia is sitting in the vehicle quite well, because she was able to receive care early, thanks to the sponsors—the Chijides in Canada.
1500 – Back in Kalomo, we pay our Zamtel bill and then swing by the new Barclays bank to see if the automated teller is working. We're just curious—it's not working! We take Camody home, but since we've never been to his house, he has to direct us. It's amusing taking directions in general from a Zambian, and this is more fun because he has no speech! When we arrive at his hut, his granny is so excited, she is just dancing! And out comes a wee brother—about four years; he grabs his big brother and hugs! It's so cute!
1530 – While in Kalomo, we spot Brivery! He's one of the Kalomo High School sponsored students—one of the brightest! He's a double orphan and the choirmaster for the KHS church choir. He is so talented and has such a charming smile! A grade 12 student stole his suitcase last week, so I had brought a hockey bag in the truck, in case we had time to go to KHS. But, even better, Brivery is in town; he is surprised and delighted at the gift!
1540 – Along with Brivery are another bunch of our KHS boys. They show me the next term's fees and say goodbye to us until January!
1600 – Home again, Winnie and Mashel are ready to leave as we unload groceries. Kabulo shows up—he's a sponsored college student. We've been working on making a profile for him. He's a national volleyball champ and wants to send his 'resume/profile' to some American colleges to see if he might be eligible for a scholarship. Derrick comes by—he's a boy who sold goats to pay for his education. Derrick is a very shy boy from a village very far away, Simalundu. He makes a deal with Richard to get three goats and will have his two young brothers care for them out at the village. The income from these goats won't come until about a year and a half. He intends to use the goat money so that he can pay for his brother's education because they are soon reaching grade 8 where fees must be paid. Derrick is only in grade 11.
1730 – Fighton Munduli, a secondary sponsored student, is at the door. School has ended and we had agreed to drive Fighton, Mvulu, Timmy and Royda to their villages. Their villages are close by, but they have all their world belongings in a trunk and it's just too heavy to carry the dozen or more kilometres to the village.
1930 – We arrive home and there is about 20% power for a wee while, Then, no power. But… with the wee bit of power we heated up a can of mushroom soup and we have buns and cheese and apples.
2030 – We are both in bed after doing a bit more filing and entering of data. Richard is trying to see if winding up the flashlight 120 revolutions per minute will make the light stay on for thirty minutes. Actually, he's trying to see if that noise will drive me crazy—it does!
Power is still off. Yesterday it was off about twenty-three hours!
What do you do when the power is off and the battery on the laptop dies?
You go to sleep! We do!
0630 – The secondary kids are just getting out of chapel and are on their way to breakfast on their last day of school! They are excited because this is their last day!
0730 – We are home—the mornings are so lovely and cool. About two weeks ago the mornings, even this time of day, was quite hot!
0900 – Breakfast is done! I made a gineau-fowl-egg omelet with green peppers, tomatoes and cheese. Orleen is doing laundry. Winnie is catching us up on news about the mission and Mashel is washing the truck.
0930 – The filing and sorting of jobs to do is done and we head to Kalomo. Oops, the bank machine is not working; we get the mail and we head to Choma. We pick up Edgar (Good Hope teacher) and Lucia (HIV patient) at the Twin Fountains/Kabanga intersection.
1030 – We do some banking—the bank machine works in Choma! I buy a crochet hook for Winnie and I'm bombarded by the fruit and veggies street sellers. I now know who to buy from and I get a really great watermelon for K10,000 instead of the K20,000 that the guy initially asks. I also buy apples, bananas, tomatoes and carrots the same way. I usually tell them now that if they give me a good deal today, I'll come and find them next time! It works quite well. I find these veggies a better price than at the SPAR, the supermarket.
1100 – We drop by St. Malumba school to pick up Camody, a deaf boy who lives at Mawaya compound in Kalomo. He is such a fine looking boy with the loveliest smile you'll ever see! He signs his greeting to me and of course he has to teach me how to greet properly. We tell the Aunty who looks after him that we want him to be ready to go in one hour. Next, we take Lucia to Chodort trade school for an interview for a tailoring course.
1130 – I do my grocery shopping at SPAR. We buy about K340,000 of kapenta that we'll use for sponsored kids and for grannies. Kapenta is like dried sardines and have plenty of nutrition in the form of calcium, oil and protein. I buy our groceries, too, and a treat for all of us for the road home (a bun and a drink).
1230 – We pick up Lucia; she's passed the interview. She's glad! This is our third patient to be accepted here—two for tailoring and one for carpentry. They are one-year courses towards a government certificate. We need to find housing for these three, but Chodort says they'll help. Lucia is a sister of Mashel who works with us. Her husband, Kelvin, is also HIV positive; we are trying to find a hospice for him.
1300 – We pick up young Camody so he can return home; school is over for the year!
1315 – We fuel up in Choma because Kalomo is out of fuel. We've heard that the gas station is shutting down. Not nice!
1330 – We stop at Martin's hospice to check it out for Kelvin, one of our HIV positive patients from Kalowa. Martin's is a Catholic run hospice mainly for HIV positive patients. It's the cleanest health care facility I've seen in Zambia. I was here about ten days ago and some have remembered me and now know me by name. I'm waiting for Sister Bertha to return so we can get Kelvin in here. Apparently they offer physiotherapy three times a week; that could be so helpful to Kelvin! One young gal (seventeen years old) is like a corpse. There is nothing left of her—skin on bones, mouth gaping for air, eyes bulging out, only minutes left in her—a very sad situation. Her twenty year-old sister was with her, the parents both died many years ago. This girl is a mother-to-child transmission case. I could hardly get any words out to comfort the sister, but I squeeked out, "I'll pray for you, young lady—this is very difficult". The sister nodded and looked quite afraid. She is the only living relative for the young girl and had to quit her second year at UNZA (economics student) to attend to her dying sister. Such are the cases for many people in Zambia. The irony of this is that Lucia is sitting in the vehicle quite well, because she was able to receive care early, thanks to the sponsors—the Chijides in Canada.
1500 – Back in Kalomo, we pay our Zamtel bill and then swing by the new Barclays bank to see if the automated teller is working. We're just curious—it's not working! We take Camody home, but since we've never been to his house, he has to direct us. It's amusing taking directions in general from a Zambian, and this is more fun because he has no speech! When we arrive at his hut, his granny is so excited, she is just dancing! And out comes a wee brother—about four years; he grabs his big brother and hugs! It's so cute!
1530 – While in Kalomo, we spot Brivery! He's one of the Kalomo High School sponsored students—one of the brightest! He's a double orphan and the choirmaster for the KHS church choir. He is so talented and has such a charming smile! A grade 12 student stole his suitcase last week, so I had brought a hockey bag in the truck, in case we had time to go to KHS. But, even better, Brivery is in town; he is surprised and delighted at the gift!
1540 – Along with Brivery are another bunch of our KHS boys. They show me the next term's fees and say goodbye to us until January!
1600 – Home again, Winnie and Mashel are ready to leave as we unload groceries. Kabulo shows up—he's a sponsored college student. We've been working on making a profile for him. He's a national volleyball champ and wants to send his 'resume/profile' to some American colleges to see if he might be eligible for a scholarship. Derrick comes by—he's a boy who sold goats to pay for his education. Derrick is a very shy boy from a village very far away, Simalundu. He makes a deal with Richard to get three goats and will have his two young brothers care for them out at the village. The income from these goats won't come until about a year and a half. He intends to use the goat money so that he can pay for his brother's education because they are soon reaching grade 8 where fees must be paid. Derrick is only in grade 11.
1730 – Fighton Munduli, a secondary sponsored student, is at the door. School has ended and we had agreed to drive Fighton, Mvulu, Timmy and Royda to their villages. Their villages are close by, but they have all their world belongings in a trunk and it's just too heavy to carry the dozen or more kilometres to the village.
1930 – We arrive home and there is about 20% power for a wee while, Then, no power. But… with the wee bit of power we heated up a can of mushroom soup and we have buns and cheese and apples.
2030 – We are both in bed after doing a bit more filing and entering of data. Richard is trying to see if winding up the flashlight 120 revolutions per minute will make the light stay on for thirty minutes. Actually, he's trying to see if that noise will drive me crazy—it does!
Power is still off. Yesterday it was off about twenty-three hours!
What do you do when the power is off and the battery on the laptop dies?
You go to sleep! We do!
1 comment:
thanks for giving us a glimpse into your daily life! it brings back fond memories of this past summer, and makes me long to be back there right now!
so nice to hear of brivery! i was so glad to be able to meet him this past summer, and thought he was just such a nice boy.
i love hearing about your stories and days. keep up the good work!
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