Namwianga Mission

5/20/2010
Yesterday we woke up in Lusaka, the capital of Zambia. Getting adjusted to the time change has not been as difficult as I thought. We were so tired from the trip that we could go to sleep at any time and it would be okay. We are 6 hours ahead of North Carolina in time.

Food
When we woke up yesterday, we took our bags downstairs and went to eat breakfast. I had porridge (like out of Hansel and Gretel). It was really thick and wasn’t half bad. A little sugar and cinnamon would have set it off just right. I ate it all because I wanted to make sure I had something heavy on my stomach for breakfast. From what Ive learned eating will not be a problem because bread is served in abundance with everything. Even if you have difficulty eating the meal, you can just eat the bread and soak up everything. However, the food has been really good. 5/18/2010 dinner we ate at a restaurant called Rapsody and I had Sole (a kind of fish) smothered in some kind of alfredo with rice and fresh steamed vegetables. It was really fresh and yummy. Yesterday afternoon on the way to Kolomo we stopped at a little place on the side of the road. I ordered Somorra and chips. Somorra tastes like a little egg roll and chips are french fries. They have a lot of the drinks you find in the US. Yesterday I had Sprite with my meal. There is a man named Leonard who fixes our food for us while we are at the mission. Leonard can throw down. Last night Leonard made fried chicken, mashed potato with gravy, cole slaw with apples and green beans. Ohh yeah, he also made rolls that sit up at least 3-4 inches in the air. Everything tastes really fresh. We also had chocolate cake and some sort of punch with dinner.

Travel
Kolomo is at about a 5 hour drive from Lusaka. We ride around in a travel van (12 of us total I think) where the driver has to sit on the right side instead of the left. We also drive on the left side of the road instead of the right. The roads are paved so it is not that bad at all. I was told that this has been a recent change (within the last year). While we ride in a van, the people mostly walk and ride bikes. It is nothing to see people walking/running along the roads. The government here has tried to limit how far children walk to school to 3 miles; however, most children walk/run up to 7 miles to school. Instead of seeing cats or dogs as road kill you are most likely to see goat road kill.

Living Environment
We stay in a one story house with 6-7 rooms. Each room has 2-3 beds in it. There are locks on the doors, locks on the closets and bars on the windows. We have a lovely living area and kitchen. Our rooms have a fan and desk light that sits next to the bed. Over the bed is a mosquito net. We have weaved trash cans and hampers in the closet. Sheets that have been made into drapery hang from the windows. Outside we have a fence made out of wood and straw. Some of the houses, fences look like one of the pig’s houses from the 3 little pigs. We have a night watchman who guards the house. It is still not quite clear to me what he is guarding the house from (animals, snakes, people I guess).

People
Everyone is really nice and friendly. Yesterday we met a missionary named Meagan. Meagan showed us around the Haven. The haven is the place where the sick babies and children stay. I have taken to a little girl named Mary (Mimi). She is very cute but hasn’t smiled at me once. She did come to me one time on her own. There is another little baby here who needs a lot of love and care. He shares the same name as one of my students (one who I always tell to use his "tunnel vision"):)

Overall, I really love it here. I look outside and think how wonderful it is to be in Africa. We start working on Monday:)