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!