Sleeping in the Bush

Students playing games with children in the village

So its hot here... and the general view amongst people who've been here longer than we have is that its gonna get hotter for the next month... which isn't a prospect we're looking forward to. Its not crazy temperatures but this morning it was about 25 degrees at 8 in the morning, it's just going down now having got to over 34 degrees which isn't anything too crazy but its definately hot enough. In the last few weeks its definately warmed up considerably so if it continues as promised we could be very toasty by  the time the rains get here in about a month or so. As you can imagine teaching in the afternoons is a rather warm experience and not pleasant for anyone involved. Handily the houses are designed for it being hot so it not too bad inside, that being said its still a cool 29degrees in the house so, we don't have too many layers on. If you prefer measurements in farenheight then look them up.

Other students playing games with children in the village

Students and Rich after a long morning digging

So apart from being hot whats been going on recently. Back a few weeks ago Rich spent the week with Grade 10 and 11 in Masaiti which is a district where a group FCE (foundation for Cross-cultural education) have a training center. They are rather cut off from everywhere but it was a good experience for all helping them in the school both teaching and working on their playground as well as helping in the farm. Although it wasa good time it was hard work and that came as a shock for most of the students who aren't used to doing hard work themselves! We were all given 5 kwacha and dropped off at the market and told to buy lunch, This wasn't quite the lunch the students were used to and making the money go far wasn't on all of their lists as coke and crisps was on some of their lunch menu. However most of them got together with others and combined their money to make their lunch money go further. A lot of Zambians have only 5kwacha to last the day so 5 kwacha for lunch is still a lot of money but it gave the pupils an insight in to how some zambians live. After the market we went to a local church and helped the FCE workers lead some games with local children. The kids couldn't speak English so, pupils who could speak Bemba we're given a chance to shine.

We also spent a night sleeping in the village, the students were only told about this a few hours before heading off and it was definitely fun to watch their expressions as they were told. Rich slept in what was essentially a lean to and was very fortunate to have a matress, most of the pupils slept straight on the floor although some did manage a proper bed! They definitely found it hard and a very educational experience learning again how other people in their country live when most of our students have a relatively comfortable lifestyle and certainly do while they're at Amano. 

Rich's bed in the village!

Otherwise its been a relatively quiet start to the term, exams proper are starting from around the 7th onwards and next weekend we have 9 students getting baptised, along with that Lucy has her first fixture of the term with a football match on friday afternoon, can't quite imagine what playing football in 35 degree heat will be like but, thats whats been arranged.

Oh also we managed to get our tyre fixed very simply which was very good news so we were really thankful for that, we could do with a few new front tyres as well so we're saving up for them!

Holiday Advenures

Its been a while since our last blog and we've been up to a fair bit. So here is a summary!

So, last blog was about the end of last term which all went off fairly simply. The first day of the holiday Rich spent under our car as he changed the oil and made sure it was likely to get us to Livingstone and back later on in the holiday. Then we got on with project number 2 which was to paint our lounge which we managed simply and it was good. We then tried to wash our hall and decided that washing it wasn't working, so we painted it as well! So now we have a hall and lounge that are clean and don't have scuff marks all about the place and lounge doesn't have what looks like smoke stains at the top of the wall in the corner! Also we got some gloss paint for the "woodwork" bottom of walls is just gloss paint on to the wall (better for mopping) and the door frames are made of metal. So now these are a nice colour rather than the institutional grey that they were before! So we were happy with our few days work painting!

Us at the Victoria falls

We also installed a bird net over our little plot, this seems to have been a success as we now have lettuces that were eaten by birds as soon as they got green before! Other things harvested include lot of onions and a few carrots! Hopefully soon we can start growing more exciting things as rains will soon be here so hopefully the local wildlife will have heaps of food! I dunno if it'll work like that but, we can hope!

We also kept on doing bits and pieces for school to make sure we were planned and ready for the new term.

Half way through the holiday we took a flatbed truck over to Musenga mission (4km on dirt) to pick up a heap of boxes including the new school PA system that Rich helped order back in April. we brought that back and then went through and ticked off everything and it had all got itself over from the UK! Then spent abit of time putting it together and my fears that it wasn't loud enough were unfounded which was good. There is lots of kit, we now just need to get it so it can be stored properly on hooks and shelves. But so far its all worked coming all the way from the UK (well i guess china to the UK) via dar es salam and then on the back of a lorry from there, its quite a journey!

Gramps speaking at Bethel Chapel

Later on in the 3rd week of the holiday we headed down to Lusaka ready to pick up Rich's Grandad and Uncle. We picked them up at 6:30 or something on the Saturday morning and then spent the day at the flight house enjoying watching tv (well we did as we don't have tv, they'd come from the UK so weren't bothered) We went out at lunch and then had a meal out for Lucy's birthday. Sunday morning we were up again early to head off to Livingstone, which was about 8 hours due to about 10-15km having to drive on dirt roads while they fixed the tar one. We spend the monday walking round seeing the falls which was very impressive, it didn't have much water but was nice to be able to see how far down the falls go! in the evening we went on a sunset cruise on the zambezi and saw crocodile's hippos, some monkeys and some kinda on antelope (Lucy made friends with a 2 year old called Luke so missed them, and as our resident safari guide meant we weren't able to tell exactly what type of antelope they were).

Lucy and Gramps on our Zambezi sunset river cruise

The plan from there was to drive back up the next morning, but Rich was up most of the night being sick (which was the first time he's been ill since we were here) and was hot so, we went to a clinic in the morning o check that it wasn't malaria. Which is wasn't however that wasn't the end of the story.  Rich went in and they did a malaria test and took his temperature before seeing the doctor. taking temp involved putting a thermometer under his arm, it read 35.7 degrees and well, it was wrong, but no matter it wasn't high. We then went and saw the doctor who did her best to diagnose rich with all sorts of things (rich dared to cough and was immediately questioned at length), and decided that they should keep me in for a bit to check up on me. As we'd found out that He didn't have malaria Rich wasn't quite sure that this was worthwhile, they gave him an injection to help keep food down but when they tried to put him on an IV fluid drip he wasn't convinced and just asked for water (which is the same stuff ay) then by this time was getting rather bored so text lucy to pick him up and when Lucy (with gramps and andy) arrived told them he was leaving, and just had to pay £50 for the privilege. The NHS does get a bad press but, please, before you complain about it come and visit a clinic in zambia and pay for the privilege of treatment especially when you need it, if you still feel you can complain then go ahead. After the Doctor had seen Rich she kept Lucy (who was tired and a little upset being 1000km from home with an ill Rich) She decided to give lucy some marriage advise which wasn't appreciated but Lucy did well to display Christian love and didn't get up and punch her in the face.

Victoria falls, looking across into Zimbabwe

We went back and he guesthouse owner (who drove us around to find a clinic) found us a few extra rooms to stay in for the day and rich slept and dozed most of the day while others read and generally enjoyed doing not that much! We got up the next morning and drove back for Lusaka. However Andy wasn't well so rich and Andy were in the back of the car asleep for the first 4 hours of the journey while Lucy enjoyed the open roads and got us 350km in 4 hours. Rich felt better so drove the rest of the way but due to pot holes and diversions the last 150km took us about 3.5 hours! We got andy to a bed and left him there til the morning when he was feeling a heap better and then we got back to chingola which took us a long time. The excitement for that day was that Rich got caught speeding and got a K100 fine (£12) for doing 111km/h in a 100km/h zone.

We got back (1996km since we left) to find a bulge in our rear tyre so had to replace that, and just found the tyre we got to replace it which is a brand new goodyear tyre also has a bulge on it before its even been fitted to the car.  We barely had enough money for 1 tyre so please pray they realise its a manufacturing fault and replace it free of charge. You'd not think it a big deal back home as they'd replace it no problems but, this is zambia so you're never quite sure.

Roadworks in Chingola, this is exciting for us!

Any way we've now been back at school a week and its much school and work is throughout the world it seems. A lot worse to think about but when you get back to it you realise why you do it. This term isnt as busy as some in terms of sports fixtures as there are iGCSE exams and all the leavers things at the end of term so, we'll not be bored looking for things to do!