Year complete!

So, we've finished our first year teaching here at Amano. We've been here for just under a year which seems weird that we've not been home for that long we're due to come back to the UK in August which will be after 20months in Zambia. Its still hard to get used to the weather, Rich had his birthday and for the first time ever it was hot on his birthday and didn't feel like his birthday at all its always cold on his birthday! Then its coming up to Christmas and its definitely not Christmas weather. We've got Rich's parents coming out for a few weeks over Christmas which is very exciting but, is weird that we'll spend christmas together in the heat! No Roast Turkey here!

Teary goodbyes (and taking the opportunity for a little hug!) 

Us and the 6th form students!

So whats been going on, well mainly things have been involving saying good bye to people in the last few weeks. We've had leavers service, good bye party type thing in the dorm and leavers meal which is another story. As well as a staff farewell and a Christmas concert and carols by candle light! So its been a very hectic few weeks and we're certainly glad to have got to the end of term so we can have a break. As we're a boarding school then there are things going on all the time and it can be hard to get away from things and have some time off especially when you live next to one of the Dorms. So its nice to have nice long holidays away from pupils to be able to catch up with things and properly recharge the batteries! We'll need to be fresh ready for next year as with several staff leaving and none to replace them as yet we'll all be doing more making up for staff that aren't around anymore.

Traffic jam in Zambia!

We went with the 3 6th form students to have dinner in Garneton which is about 40mins drive away from Amano, we left at 18:00 and arrived about 22:30! as you may be able to figure out we were stuck in traffic for quite a while. In Zambia when the traffic in front of you goes slowly you don't  figure there is a problem ahead and just stay in a queue. You drive on the left and right of the road and get as far forward as you can. Unfortunately in this situation traffic from both sides was blocking traffic from the other side from getting through.  So although the main issue of an accident of break down (we never found out) would have caused a bit of a blockage the Zambian driving technique meant we were stuck for ages! However we still had fun as the general thing in Zambia when stuck in a traffic jam is to get out and have a chat with people who are about, and everyone is fairly relaxed and chilled out about the hold up. Which makes it weirder that they're in such a hurry to get places that they cause such a long hold up in the first place.

So for the next 5 weeks we're house sitting for the Cracknells in musenga, they have a bigger house than we do with a nice garden which is nice! Also they have a swimming pool which is definately nice when its so hot! It'll be nice to have somewhere Rich's parents can stay with us rather than being somewhere else! Also we're Cat sitting for well someone we don't know but they're cat is only 12 weeks old so is still very cute apart from when she decides to try to scratch and bite we're looking after her for another few days!

Sheeba!

Change

Suddenly everything's changed, its even going a tiny bit green and we can again buy many mangos or possibly many mangoes, I'm not sure what the plural or Mango is if you're not sure what is going on. So it rained!!!! about 2 weeks ago it rained a bit and then this week it rained like it was out of fashion... which it kinda is seeing as its only about the 3rd rain since sometime in April! Suddenly its getting humid round here.... not very humid but there is when you've been used to no humidity its noticeable. Although I have to point out that it's not got that hot it's not been above 35 degrees and certainly hasn't been as hot as we were both expecting which it turns out is very welcome!

Cholwe Giving his testimony

So whats been going on round here? Since last blog, the main thing thats happened is the baptism which happened a few weeks ago. There were 9 students getting baptised which is very cool. There were quite a lot of people about so it was good. It was very cool to hear the testimonies and hear how their lives have been changed. As i think i said in the last blog many of they are orphans and are supported to be at Amano which does help understand why we're here for free as otherwise they couldn't afford to be here.

We travelled down to Lusaka for a weekend of training. Rich went to Lusaka International community school for iGCSE maths training course ran by Cambridge international examinations which was really useful expecially as he's never taught maths before he came to Zambia it gave him a better idea of what is expected. Lucy went to a ISAZ teacher training day thats held every year which was at the American international school which was also very useful. It was as well it was all useful as it was a long weekend we left school at 1:30 in the friday afternoon and rich drove  to lusaka after dropping people off it was 21:30 so a long drive and too much of it in the dark. Then on the Sunday after a morning at his course rich drove us all the way back only doing the last hour in the dark this time and managing to do the journey in under 7 hours which is decent these days!

We had the primary dorm girls round to make some cup cakes, they had made a scarecrow to keep the birds and monkeys off our small plot so we thought we ought to invite them over to say thanks. It was good fun, but we have been finding hand prints on our walls since but no matter it was all good fun!

Girls in our kitchen making cookies (in Zambia its not swearing honest)

This week was half term which was supposed to be a rest but has turned out to be a slightly less hectic school week, with practical exams to set up for A'level physics and invigilating of other exams. We were supposed to go to Lusaka on Wednesday but Rich wasn't well so we didn't go, which was a good job as when we would have been flying back was the huge rain storm, not being a small aircraft pilot i'm not sure but i don't think small 8 seat planes are designed to fly through storms. So we would have either not been able to fly or had a rather bumpy flight! Hopefully we can go next week instead!

 Yesterday we were invited to Musenga youth group, which was very cool we played games with the guys who turned up and Rich once again showed that being tall doesn't mean being good at basket ball, and Lucy once again showed that being small doesn't mean you're bad at Basketball! we went on a scavenger hunt as well which proved to us that the plot that Lucy used to live on was big. At the end Rich spoke, which seemed to go down well. Well at least they were all awake at the end! When we finished we got talking to a few of the youth who remembered Mr Clive and even some who remembered Matt and Luke! It was good fun and good to get out and see people close by who are outside of Amano!

Rich speaking at Musenga youth

Our next half term is only 5 weeks which is nice as the last one was 7! which means we're very nearly finished our first year. We've spoken to different people and have decided to stay here at Amano until December next year so we finish off the next academic year, but we're still planning on being back in August.

Also its Rich's birthday a week on Monday which is very important.

Students who were baptised
(with Youth workers Jarrett and Kerry)

Baptism service

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!

2 terms in!

Hello

Secondary Students waiting at the finishing line.

So, We're now almost 2 terms in, we've just one week to go until we're done, so, we're getting a little tired! We had sports day today which was hectic but a really great day, it was held on a saturday to help more parents to come and there were quite a few about which was really good. It is still amazing to see how talented the Amano students are and there were 2 scouts from the local athletics club who were very impressed with what they saw which was good. Its not exactly ideal to work the last saturday before a break as everyone is tired but, its a really good witness to see how well the pupils behave and get to events and to see how well the event is run, its good to be able to put on events in the school and do them to the best of our ability all for the glory of God! (which it says in the bible somewhere - although i don't think they were talking specifically about doing sports days!)

Primary variety race

Rich was in charge of high jump which seems to be his athletics event after doing the same event at the ISAZ primary 10steps event last month. And Lucy was in charge of putting on the whole primary event so was kept rather busy. Sports day was ran as a house event and Luano (our house) won, which was obviously very good for us!

Primary results

Other things that have gone on, we now have our permanent zambian driving licence, which is card type thing that looks much the same as the UK one, but its green as this is Zambia! So we don't need to go and get a stamp on our temporary one anymore which is good news, and its handy as it fits in wallet/purse rather than just being a crumpled up bit of paper.

A few weeks ago we had Amano's first careers week which seemed to go very well, we had a careers fair on the tuesday afternoon where students could talk to representatives from different careers to find out what does on. And then on Thursday afternoon the grade 11's (year 10) went and did work experience at various places in town. A few were more like being given a tour of a place where people worked but it was a good experience anyway, and Rich took a few to the Protea hotel and had to stay there for the afternoon while they were busy. It just so happened that the cricket was on so, he sat in the bar and watched day 1 of the Lords test on the TV while drinking a coffee i should add!

Students at the protea (after their work experience visit was officially over)

We've only 1 week to go until the holidays, we've got a few things planned and have Rich's Grandad and Uncle coming out onthe 24th of August so, we'll be taking them about the place at the end of the holidays which we're both looking forward to. 

Hope that everything is going well with everyone who is reading this! and the weather is still good with you!