A Game Changer

Our time at The Esther School is coming to an end.  We've become attached to this special place and are thoroughly enjoying all the children and staff at the school.  I'm feeling like we need time to process our thoughts and feelings about how this special place has impacted us.  We always knew we were fortunate to have good health care and education and the conveniences of simple things but Zambia has hit this message home.  Each day I see children lying on the floor in their classrooms sick with Malaria. Malaria is a part of this place yet it's as common place as the flu in our area.
I use to complain about waiting in the cold to get my children off the bus at the end of the drive way yet these children walk up to 7 km to get an education that they feel privileged to get.  They whole heatedly realize that their education is a gift and a game changer for an entire generation.
I've also become more aware of how many unnecessary belongings we cherish and feel we need to better our already amazing quality of life.  Life really is about people,  family, friendships and relationships.  It's about valuing the importance of lifting and helping eachother rather than looking out for number one.  Maybe our number one focus isn't where it should be and if we change it could be our game changer!

A few pictures of us enjoying our final days.

Our Little Buddy John

Since the day we arrived we have all been smitten with a little boy in JK named John.  John is always in high spirits, even when he's not feeling well (which unfortunately has been quite often).  John has four sisters and on Tuesdays his mama comes and helps in the school kitchen.  It's mandatory that moms help at the school if you have a child at the school.  Almost every morning when we open our door John is patiently waiting for us and his smiling face is one of the first things we see each day.  So, when we discussed as a family who we might like to sponsor it was unanimous that John was our guy.  We're so thrilled that we get to help this little man get a christian education.

Safari Fun

Since it's the weekend things are a bit slower around the campus.  So, we decided to try out a safari.  This was so much fun and we're so thankful we got to have this experience.  At the end of the safari we hot to hold and play with 5 month old lion cubs outside.  Definitely an awesome highlight.

God - Family- Work

Yesterday we led the church service (chapel) at The Esther School.  We talked about David And Goliath and how David was big even though he appeared small because he was a part of something bigger.  This week we have felt as though we are truly seeing the results of how something small is making such big changes.
The grade one class had a scavenger hunt today and they all came to school early and in their best clothes because they were so excited.  Oddly enough they didn't really go anywhere for the scavenger hunt it was on and around the school property, yet these kids were so excited.  After the hunt they were treated to ice cream.  For many of the kids it was their first or second time in their life eating ice cream or even something cold.  The children don't have fridges at home so the concept of cold food is so foreign to them.
The Zambian culture is very social.  Everyone greets eachother (even in a business situation) with a friendly greeting and honestly desires to know how the other individual is doing before discussing the topic they gathered to discuss.    These greetings happen every time someone new comes into a room.  At first Joe and I looked at it as a large waste of time.  Did we really need to go through the greeting process over and over ever time someone new walked into a room? Now we see the value in the greeting.  Zambians truly put family and friends first.  It comes before business transactions, the handling of disputes, woman working to prepare meals and all other day to day chores.  There is great value and respect in the greeting and remembering that everything you do each day is for and about the ones you love.
Another concept that is new to us is how pay cheques and finances are handled.  When a Zambian gets paid for a job he brings home his paycheque.  The money is used for the whole family ( brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, grandparents etc.) Everyone benefits from the paycheque.  It truly demonstrates the idea of helping others and putting others needs before your own.  Here's another example: if a Zambian gets paid and his brother has a debt owing his brothers pay cheque will pay for his debt.  Or, if a Zambian can't make it to work one day, it's ok because his uncle or nephew will cover for him till he can return.  In some ways this seems wrong.  How does one ever get ahead?  At The Esther School the staff are teaching the Zambian staff to better manage their money.  They don't discourage helping family but encourage a small percent of each pay cheque to go into a savings account at the school.  This is allowing the staff at the school the opportunity to save and possibly lessen the cycle of poverty happening in almost every family.  Even though this idea is vitally important here I think we've also learned from them that is really is better to give than to receive.

May 9, 2016
We've had a great few days.  Yesterday was Sunday and we got to experience church in the village.  We attended Living Hope Church which was a very small but vibrant collection of individuals in a small concrete hut on a back dirt road in the bush.  The church service was a little over two hours long and you stood for the majority of the service.  When you did get the chance to sit it was on a small wooden rickety bench.  The singing was amazing and the people at church were excited to be there.  Approx. 35-40 people attended and the total in the collection plate was 23 kwachas (equivalent to $2.30).
After church Wayne Costley, the Head Master of The Esther School took us on a back road (very bumpy) tour of some of the homes the children at the school live in.  The roads are so bad that they almost shouldn't be considered roads.  The sanitation conditions of the homes we saw were hard to see.  Families of 6 (sometimes more) children are living in straw huts with virtually nothing.  Families are struggling, to feed their children and many have suffered the loss of a child to malaria(from unclean water).
Most of the children that attend the school are walking between 2-8 km one way to attend the school each day.  We're having a difficult time with knowing that these children walk themselves to school and home each day.  One family has a child in JK and Grade one and they walk by themselves to and from school each day - 8km/one way!  At home I find it difficult to get our kids on the bus each day at 7:45 am.  Most of the kids that attend the school are at school between 7-7:30 a.m. and they have already walked many miles before they arrived.  What's even more stunning is that they all arrive happy!!!
Today was the first day of school and during breakfast the children were already peeking through our windows to see the new 'white people'.  Joe is busy laying tile in a new building that is being completed to house work teams that come.  I helped in some classrooms and our children got to attend some classes.  We got to eat with the children at lunch time and try sheema.  Sheema is a filler food, it looks like potatoes but tastes rather bland and tasteless.  It's milled corn and you roll it in your hands (which are always dirty) and eat it without a fork.  It may take us a bit to get use to it.  Our Sam thought it was great and he can't wait to have more tomorrow.  The teachers work hard.  They don't have a photocopier so every paper they want to give the kids they have to write out.  Today I got to help write out 25 science tests that were each 2 pages long.  That's 50 pages of writing just to administer one science quiz. This evening we had dinner with the teachers and got to connect with them a bit more.
Looking forward to tomorrow!

Hardships and Flickers of Hope

Over the last few days we have seen first hand the hardships that are present in Zambia.  The hardships vary in degree but none the less they are not uncommon. Joe's been working with a gentleman for the last few days who walks a long distance to get to work each day.  What makes him unique is that he walks to work with only one shoe on because it's all he has.  He works all day on a construction site with one shoe and than walks home.
Today the staff were discussing two children that attend the school and their mother had been killed less than a year ago.  Both these children are under grade 1 and were there when their mother was struck and killed by a car while crossing the road.  One of the girls was holding their mothers hand and the other was on her mothers back in a sling when the accident occurred and neither girl was harmed.  Many of the children that attend the school have fathers that are alcoholics and very unsupportive and mothers who have died from HIV/ aids, sickness, accidents etc.
It seems that every day at school they are administering several malaria tests to different children.  You get malaria from infected mosquitos and it is very prevalent here.  Today I was told that they have had over 40 positive malaria tests since February at the school. Each day their has been a child lying in a corner on a floor of a classroom with a headache and shivering  with this illness. Thankfully, the children that attend the school are treated with medication but their siblings and friends that don't attend the school can become fatal with the illness.  Yesterday, our Cecilia wasn't feeling great and we administered a malaria test on her.  Her first test came back positive (which is odd because she's taking anti malaria meds)so we were preparing to take her to visit a North American dr in the next town over.  We decided to do another test to make sure and it came back negative.  We decided three was a charm and we administered a third test on her and it also came back negative.  It's an unsettling feeling when your child isn't well and the resources available are slim.  We gave Cecilia some med's to treat her fever and she drank some electrolyte juice and today she is looking much better.  It appears she was severely dehydrated. We're so thankful she is doing well today and looked like her old self again.
The stories of sadness, family hardships, personal turmoil, poverty and grief are very real here.  The Esther School is changing the lives of families and is giving a flicker of hope in a situation that otherwise seems hopeless. Please keep the school, the children that attend The Esther School and their families in your prayers!

Pictures

Zambian Ways!

May 9, 2016
We've had a great few days.  Yesterday was Sunday and we got to experience church in the village.  We attended Living Hope Church which was a very small but vibrant collection of individuals in a small concrete hut on a back dirt road in the bush.  The church service was a little over two hours long and you stood for the majority of the service.  When you did get the chance to sit it was on a small wooden rickety bench.  The singing was amazing and the people at church were excited to be there.  Approx. 35-40 people attended and the total in the collection plate was 23 kwachas (equivalent to $2.30).
After church Wayne Costley, the Head Master of The Esther School took us on a back road (very bumpy) tour of some of the homes the children at the school live in.  The roads are so bad that they almost shouldn't be considered roads.  The sanitation conditions of the homes we saw were hard to see.  Families of 6 (sometimes more) children are living in straw huts with virtually nothing.  Families are struggling to feed their children and many have suffered the loss of a child to malaria(from unclean water).
Most of the children that attend the school are walking between 2-8 km one way to attend the school each day.  We're having a difficult time with knowing that these children walk themselves to school and home each day.  One family has a child in JK and Grade one and they walk by themselves to and from school each day - 8km/one way!  At home I find it difficult to get our kids on the bus each day at 7:45 am.  Most of the kids that attend the school are at school between 7-7:30 a.m. and they have already walked many miles before they arrived.  What's even more stunning is that they all arrive happy!!!
Today was the first day of school and during breakfast the children were already peeking through our windows to see the new 'white people'.  Joe is busy laying tile in a new building that is being completed to house work teams that come.  I helped in some classrooms and our children got to attend some classes.  We got to eat with the children at lunch time and try sheema.  Sheema is a filler food, it looks like potatoes but tastes rather bland and tasteless.  It's milled corn and you roll it in your hands (which are always dirty) and eat it without a fork.  It may take us a bit to get use to it.  Our Sam thought it was great and he can't wait to have more tomorrow.  The teachers work hard.  They don't have a photocopier so every paper they want to give the kids they have to write out.  Today I got to help write out 25 science tests that were each 2 pages long.  That's 50 pages of writing just to administer one science quiz. This evening we had dinner with the teachers and got to connect with them a bit more.
Looking forward to tomorrow!

Welcome to Zambia

Saturday May 7, 2016
We've arrived in Zambia yesterday afternoon. Airport security and the process to get into Zambia turned out to be very simple.  The security guards didn't bother
checking our bags because we had too many and the process seemed overwhelming to them so they just let us through.
 Once we arrived at the school we were greeted by a multitude of children that were as excited as we were to arrive.  The children all wanted to know our names, hold our hands and hug us.  They were excited to give us a tour of their classrooms and where they get to go to school.  It couldn't have been a better welcoming committee.
Today, it's quiet at the school.  We've walked to the local market (5-6 stores in huts), saw the school grounds and areas of future expansion at the school.  Two families are currently living here and have been great at making us feel welcome.  Last night they prepared an amazing welcoming dinner for us.  Between the two families they have 6 children and the kids are all getting along really well.
After organizing ourselves a bit today we feel very settled in our one room living accommodations.  We're excited to attend church tomorrow in the village and begin classes with the school on Monday.  Joe will spend the majority of this week working on tiling floors and doing general maintenance tasks in one of the buildings that their building now.

Internet access is limited.

We're Off Again!

Grace woke us up early this morning dancing in our room and singing 'We're off to The Esther School'.
We've had a great time in Amsterdam.  We've been busy sight seeing and trying to explore the country that my dad and Joe's parents immigrated from.  We've come across many other groups that have also come to Amsterdam to get use to the time change and adapt before heading to Africa.  It's neat to hear other travellers stories.
Yesterday we got to tour a bit of the country side and see some smaller villages.  Definitely a different experience from the hustle and bustle of Amsterdam.  Sometimes we felt like we were in an old game of Frogger when trying to cross a city street.  We've learned a very important piece of information from here......when you here a bell, run!
Today, we're packing up and we're on our way again.  Today we're just packing up our belongings, taking a walk in the local park, and saying good bye to Hoopje, our resident bunny before we go.  We're all very excited to finally reach our destination, The Esther School.
Here we go!

Amsterdam's Unexpected Surprise

We had a great first day in Amsterdam.  It was quite the adventure yesterday getting the four kids and fourteen suitcases to the house were staying at.  The house were staying in left instructions for us on how to take care of their pets (didn't know we were doing that but the kids are loving it).  Sam and Gabe are in love with the new temporary family pet, Hoppje the bunny!
Today we spent the day at Kukenhof.  An absolutely huge tulip festival.  The flowers were stunning and to see tulip fields was a great experience.  We were introduced to rainbow tulips, playgrounds amongst tulips and small Dutch pancakes.
We're trying to figure out the cities Tram system, how to grocery shop in a Dutch supermarket and do laundry with an odd looking washing machine that only has Dutch instructions.  Where are our parents when we need them!!!
We finished the day at a small restaurant.  While eating dinner we overheard the table next to us tell their waitress that they were from Canada.  After the waitress left we inquired where they were from.  It ended up that they were from Port Hope and we're doing a three day layover(the same as us) before heading to South Africa.  Once we explained to them what we were doing in Africa they took up a small collection for the Esther School in the restaurant.  They were so interested in this organization that was encouraging girls  from North America to help girls abroad.
  Even though we saw such beautiful things such as tulip fields throughout the day I think our God Sighting was in that small restaurant on a little back street in Amsterdam!






*were having troubles loading pictures up but we're working on it.  Sorry!

Let the Travels Begin!!!

Well, we're done the first flight.  Sitting in the Paris airport and we just finished a breakfast of champions......croissants!  We just had to do it.  We hit a lot of traffic in Toronto but made our flight (barely).  We're all looking really tired (it's 4 am our time) but were so excited :0)