Day 3, A trip to the country side

Greetings after day 3. Today we traveled to the country side to visit Amy Spaulding in Mumbwa. Amy is working in Mumbwa with MCC as a SALTer (Serving and Learning together). She works with the CHD (community for human development). The purpose of our trip was to deliver school books to some village community schools. The books were donated by North American schools and were bound for the shredder before being intercepted (brand-new school books).

Our trip started off eventfully, as half way to the town of Mumbwa, the truck overheated. Luckily there were some boys with bikes were we stopped who were able to bike to the next village and bring us back a large container of water. After waiting for the rad to cool slightly John opened it up to a small volcano of muddy water. We put the new water in, and were on our way. No further issues with the truck so we never quite figured out what went wrong.

doing a bit of knitting by the school yard

Once we got to Mumbwa, we sorted out the books and headed off for the first school. The main highway was a dirt road, and when we switched on to the "main road" we found a rutted mud path (sometimes half a truck wide, sometimes for a full vehicle). We made our way along until we came to the first large structure which was the community school.

The outside of the school

Inside the school with the students

The children at these schools are so beautiful, and eager to learn. The community representative was there, but we don't know where the teacher was. There were lots of students. The school was also located next the community pump/well. People from around the area would come with buckets/containers to use this well. Everyone walks, and walking a few kilometres for you water is not unusual.

Heidi with student showing off the MCC school bag

The second school we visited was a bit larger and more advanced. The were building new school rooms with bricks donated by another NGO. They had also built a chicken barn. The chickens raised were being sold (about $6 for a chicken) and also used for the school lunch program. Again the kids and the teachers were very appreciative of the visit and the books. At both schools we saw kids with MCC school kits. We have learned that in Zambia while the bags are treasured, the contents of the kits are not always suitable compared to the locally available supplies. Material aid is always a tricky thing to get right.

The schools chicken barn

John trying to do some teaching

After the school visit we got to meet Amy's first sponsor parents (she has sinced moved into the town) who live on a farm property. They have a compound with a single building where the parents live. Over time they have built additional structures for kitchen, (just finishing) , bedrooms, chicken coops etc.

This is the room that Amy lived in for 2 months

This is the kitchen, the shelving unit was just completed by the daughter. She made it from mud.

When we were done we went for lunch at a restaurant were we were able to try the traditional nshima with relish (fried greens or vegetables) and roast chicken. I pronounced it "not bad". The way to eat nshima is to take a clump (it has the consistency of dough, but is a very thick corn meal based porridge), smush it back and forth in your hand until it is a ball (and cooled slightly). You then form a small indent in the middle and scoop up some relish. By the end of the meal your hand is very sticky and full of nshima.

All Zambian children are beautful

Thankfully we made it home with no further truck troubles.