Day 141 - 142 School Shopping with the Children

Today I had the opportunity to spend the day with Pastor Navice, 16 orphans, and their caregivers shopping for new school uniforms and supplies that Brookside Church is sponsoring. Our group trooped into the market and in a semi orderly fashion to start shopping, but this is not as easy as entering one store to buy everything. Each little shop had a couple shirts or a pair of shoes, so the children had to dig through the piles to find their sizes. Each child received two school uniforms, a sweater, a black pair of shoes, tennis shoes, a P.E. uniform, and 2 pairs of socks. I don't think any of them had ever been given new clothes like this so their excitement was priceless. This actually turned out to be an all day process, so I went back later to purchase the school supplies which we packed at the office that night. We filled a backpack for each child with 10 notebooks, pencils, a ruler, a toothbrush, toothpaste, and a bar of soap. It on cost about $60/child to equip them for school. (l: children with their new shoes, m: girls in their school uniforms, r: children in their PE uniform)

The next morning I met Navice, the children, and the caregivers at school to give them their backpacks and send them off to the first day of school. They all looked wonderful in their new uniforms and what a fun experience to be apart of for them. It is a blessing that they are now receiving an education! (l: Charles with his new backpack, r: all the children ready for school)

Day 141 - Church and Kundalila Falls

This morning we went to a local Baptist church that meets at one of the elementary schools in town. We showed up about 1 1/2 hours late (on purpose), because their services can last up to 3 hours! One thing I noticed in church was that there were not a lot of men in attendance. It was baby dedication (which in America would be a family affair) and I could count the number of men there on two hands (probably about 65 people worshiping). I was very disheartened to see that these father's are not actively apart of the children's spiritual upbringing and really commend these women for faithfully bringing them to church.

NOTE: (this is a side observation)I had to take this picture outside of church this morning, because this little girl had a Minnesota Gopher cheer leading outfit. We see a lot of people wearing clothing apparel from America here, because people will go to the U.S. to bring back containers filled with clothing from the Salvation Army stores and then sell them for a profit at the market (at the market you see piles of clothing and shoes that people dig through). I use to think this is a great way to support other countries, but in all reality this actually killed the clothing/textile industry in many African countries. Back about 10 - 15 years ago, the textile industry had been one of the most profitable local industries in these countries, but with the foreign influence most local shops and companies have closed down, because people were buying the clothing from America instead of supporting the local industry.

This afternoon the 6 of us headed North of Serenje about 80 km to a National Park to visit Kundalila Falls. We had a great afternoon hiking and swimming around the falls, which was much bigger than any one had seen in Thailand. The waters were raging, because it is the end of rainy season, but we were able to swim right up under the falls!

Day 137 - 138 Extreme Makeover Home Edition "Zambia Style"

Well that what I feel like I am on right now, minus the video cameras and Ty Pennington. Working out on the site is kind of like being on Extreme Makeover Home Edition, Zambian Style. There are lots of groups of workers finishing up plastering the buildings, priming the plaster, digging trenches by hand to run pipes through, bricklayers, and human cement mixers (everything is done by hand here) along with many other things. I say it is Extreme Makeover, Zambian Style, because everything here takes about 8 times as long to complete as the US edition. However, the guys have really kept the workers moving (which isn’t always an easy task) and it is great to see much work has been completed in only 5 months.

When the group from America arrived most of the structures were built (the hard work), so the projects that we have working on over the last couple days have really made the place come alive. I have been helping paint the buildings with Brian and Craig from Cornerstone Church. Craig has had his own painting business in Ames for over 30 years, so he is giving us good painting tips. We finished the 2 exterior coats on the bath house and the workshop and the interior of the boy’s side of the bathhouse, before they left to return to the states on Thursday afternoon on Wednesday afternoon. I will be helping head up the painting crew once they leave. We have 3 Zambian workers with us right now Grace, the only other woman on the job site, Blue, Davis. Neglee, and Matthews.

(TL: Pastor Jeff working with the men, TR: working in the outdoor kitchen area)

(ML: Justin working on the roof at the guesthouse, MR: the painters Davis, Matthews, Blue, and Neglee)

Day 135 - Boma Elementary School

(Pastor Navice with the children outside the school)

Today I was able to go to one of the elementary schools in Serenje with two of the men from Brookside, John Alford, the executive pastor and Chris Clihle. Their church is sponsoring 16 of the orphans to attend school. Currently, the Hope Center is supporting 50 children, so it is a good start to getting everyone into school. We met with the Deputy Headmaster and the Headmaster, who were both willing and very supportive about letting the children into the Boma Elementary School.

Boma was selected by Navice as the best school in town for the orphans to attend, because he feels the level of education is superior (most of his children have also attended school here) and it is only a two minute walk for the orphans to receive their lunch at the Hope Center.

Most of the children will be starting in Grade 1 regardless of their age, because that is the level they tested into upon their application process. It is not uncommon to have 10 – 12 year olds in Grade 1, because they were not able to attend school at an earlier age. We asked the Headmaster how older children in Grade 1 interact with younger children and he said that it works, because they follow strict rules and guidelines. Children here are held accountable for their actions and respect the rules of the school.

I was impressed by the school today, because I think the students receiving a good education. Most of their subjects are being taught in English and they have a large staff to support the number of children in the school (70 teachers and 1,500 students). It costs about $38,000 Kwatcha ($8 and does not include supplies or uniforms) for a student to attend the school for a term, which doesn’t sound like a huge expense for us, but for a family with multiple kids in school and limited income it is huge expenditure. It was a great morning at the school and the children seemed really excited to start soon!

Day 134 - Kamena

This morning was our first trip out to the “Bush Country” of Zambia to attend church and do another food distribution for over 100 families who are caring for orphans. We headed to a small village called Kamena, which is where Ketty and Navice raised their family. The group caravanned out to the village on the 40 km trek through the pot holed filled gravel road in 2 big trucks and the minivan. Honestly it was so worth every bump in the road, because the Zambian countryside is beautiful. I sat in the back of the truck trying to take in the splendid country I am now living in.... The children in the villages we passed would run alongside the vehicle as far as they could go in their bare feet waving and yelling Muzanga, Muzanga (white person, white person).

When we arrived at the church and our ears were filled with the glorious sounds of the Zambian people singing worship praises. I just had goose bumps, because it was some of the most beautiful music I had ever heard. They don’t practice like a choir, they just sing what melody is in their heart and the acapella harmonies that their voices produce are simply amazing. (I have video I will post sometime when I can a faster connection). The church service was great! Jeff Dodge from Iowa gave the message and afterwards Pastor Navice organized the children and their caregivers outside to deliver the food. It was good for us to greet some of the people (most did not speak English) and it is really neat to see how far a handshake, a hello, and smile go…

I think one of the things that really stuck me about today was the women and how tough they really are out here. These women would receive a 50kg bag of corn, which they would split into two bags. One bag would go on their head and the other bag would go on their back (half of them were also carrying a child or a baby). Now we had some pretty tough guys in our group lifting those bags from the truck, but they were pretty tired at the end of the distribution. These women would then walk the rest of the afternoon to their homes (probably about 20 km) and they were thrilled to be receiving that kind of supplement. I guess it really makes you realize how easy our lives our in the states.

Next we headed up to the Kamena school to meet with the headmaster, Mr. Morgan. The building had 5 classrooms and an office. There were 4 teachers including Mr. Morgan to teach over 300 kids (approximately 80 kids/class). The school is able to fund 3 of the teachers but the 4th teacher’s wages are paid by the other 3 teachers, because they were in need of the help. The school had received supplies from a group a few years ago, including a couple packs of color crayons and they were still using those same crayons today. Unreal… most kids in the states would go through a pack in half a semester. It was also fun to learn that Mr. Morgan was actually the person who came up with the name of the Hope Children’s Center. He had told Navice why don’t you call it Hope, because that is what is providing for these children. A future, where they can receive the food they need to grow strong and an education to expand their minds. All in all, this was an awesome day for me, probably one of the best ever. It was a very humbling experience to meet the people and see the needs of others around the world.

Day 133 - The Site

This morning the group got up early to get out to the building site to see the progress of the project and start our work on the buildings. The orphanage is about a mile from the Hope Ministries Studio/office so the walk takes you through the main street of Serenje and the market where the locals are selling clothing and food items. You can look out into the distance in any direction to see mountains and watch the clouds roll in the sky for miles. (well they are much smaller than the Rockies, but bigger than Minnesota ski hills). The walk down the gravel road to the site it is really surreal. (pictures below from December that show the site before the buildings were constructed)

The orphanage is on a gorgeous piece of property that the church acquired from the city (Note: All property here is owned by the government, but the Zambians can get a 99 year lease on the property. One stipulation is that they have to start building on it within 18 months of acquired the land or it turns back over to the government. There are many partially finished buildings around the town, because no one has the money to complete a whole building but they do not want to lose the land.) There are 5 buildings on the site right now with plans in the future to add more. The multi – purpose building is the main building has 2 classrooms for teaching, an office, and an indoor and outdoor cooking area, that surround a large open air room in the middle where they can feed up to 200 children and provide a space to hold activities when they are not in school. There is also a bathhouse, a large workshop, a small tool shed (where 5 or 6 of the workers sleep on empty cement bags during the week, because they have to travel so far from the bush to work during the week), and a guesthouse complete with a small living room/kitchen, two bedrooms, and two bathrooms. On the outskirts of the buildings are a small field of maze and a vegetable garden. The goal is to have a self sustaining farm to feed the children, so they have hired a full time farmer to care for the crops. (Note: The Serenje City Counsel has not been completely supportive of this projective. I think they get a lot of NGO’s coming into town to do “goodwill” projects, so when they were approached by the church it was just another group trying to make a difference. However, the counsel members came out to tour the site on Thursday and they were so impressed by the craftsmanship and the success of the project that they gave the church 7 more acres of land to the Southwest to expand the crops.)
I just stood in awww when I arrived, because I have been following the project since it was just a piece of land with tall grass and now they are the nicest buildings in town. It is neat to see how much has been accomplished in the past 4 months here, especially with all the difficulties finding good workers, training them, and getting supplies to complete the project (they have to do weekly runs to Lusaka to get all the supplies). (tl: guesthouse, tr: workshop/garage, bl: bath house, br: multi purpose building, bottom a panaramic view of the buildings. The bath house is not visable, but is right behind the multi purpose building)

This morning we also got to meet Pastor Navice, his wife, Ketty, and youngest son Kaleb (one of their 10 children) for the first time, and hear their testimony about faith and the project. 10 years ago Navice started praying that he would one day be able to open an orphanage in Serenje, so to meet Mark, Jeff, and Zack was truly a miracle to him. He moved his whole family from their small bush community about 40km outside of Serenje to help with the project. He is so humbled and thankful for the work and the impact this will have on their church and the community. This man is truly a man of God and it just brought tears to my eyes to meet him. He has tried to do so much for his community where death and poverty are a daily occurrence.
We began work right away after we spoke with Navice. There was a group of guys who started building a roof on the guesthouse and a couple of us who started putting up ceiling boards in the bathhouse. We worked until mid afternoon and then headed to Navice’s church in Serenje where we helped with the monthly food distribution to the 40 orphans that the church supports. The children came with their caregivers to pick up a 50 kg bag of corn and small bag of dried fish. Some of the children could speak a little English, but most of the younger children had not attended enough schooling to communicate. We did find that they LOVED having their pictures taken and seeing images of themselves. It was a lot of fun to meet them and see how excited they were to receive the food. Most of these caregivers have 4 – 10 children of their own that they are also supporting, so it is a relief to have some food on the table for these children.

Day 132 - Serenje, Zambia

This morning the big group met for breakfast with pastors and families that the church sponsors and we finished up the last few errands before heading to Lusaka about 2 pm. The drive to Serenje was beautiful… We did not pass many vehicles on the way up, but there were many people riding a bike or walking along the road. Here are some quick facts about Serenje…

• Population: 6,000 in the town and about 20,000 with the surrounding countryside


• Bemba is the offical language here. When you greet someone you say "Muli Shani." Most people who have attended school know English, because the country was colonized by the British.
  
• Serenje lies in the valley of a mountainous region with a river that runs through the town.


• There is one main street that runs through town, with a couple general stores, a bank, and a hospital. The town has one market area where people sell their goods and food. There is also 7 schools in the town including one small college.

Day 131 - Lusaka, Zambia

I arrived safely in Lusaka, Zambia, this morning and Zack picked me up the airport. It was good to finally get to Africa! Today was “shopping day,” so I was excited to get to see the town. The orphanage is located in Serenje, Zambia, (approximately 30 minutes from the Congo border) about 5 hours north of Lusaka and the building supplies are very limited in the town, so the guys have to make a weekly run to Lusaka. This task would be easy for them if there was a Lowe’s and Fleet Farm in the town, but there is not and they usually find themselves running around the entire city looking for one or two parts. The trip turns into an adventure with a the bargaining and hasseling they have to do to get the prices they want for things. Most of the hardware stores are set up like general stores, so you just go in and ask for the screws or parts you want. The employees dig through their shelves to see if they have it and if they don't they may phone a neighbor store to see if that place has it so they can buy it from them and sell it to us. It is a trip that should take them a day, but usually takes two days by the time they get most everything they need. We also did a bunch of grocery shopping, because later that night 12 men from Cornerstone and Brookside were arrived to help with the project and hold administrative meetings for the Center. Here are some quick facts about Zambia:

• Lusaka, is the capital of Zambia, and has a little over 1 million people living in the area out of the 11 million people in the country


• $1 = $5,600 Kwatcha. Food prices are very comparable to the U.S.


• Winter is just beginning in Zambia, as the rainy season ends. If the sun is out the temperature is in the mid 80's and it cools off to the low 70's at night (a much needed relief from the 95 - 100 degree, 70% humidity days in Thailand the last couple months)! Perfect weather for sitting out on the porch at night (and no big MN mosquitoes).
• There over 70 indiginous languages spoken in Zambian.
• Copper is the country's leading industry, but still the economic development of the country is very low.

Day 131 - Background of the Hope Children's Center in Serenje, Zambia

I just wanted to give a little background about the Hope Children’s Center. Cornerstone Church is a non denominational church in Ames, IA, with about 1800 members, but the church partners with the Baptist Church for their overseas missions. Through an organization called Gospel Link they send people all over the world to do missions. In 2006, a group of people from the church came to Zambia on a two week mission trip and one guy was my friend, Zack. He felt like there was opportunity to do more so he came back over with Gospel Link to help with a build a seminary in Kazemba for 8 months in 2007. Another man from the trip, Mark Meyer, was also very impacted by the conditions of the Zambian Church and thought there was a further calling to help the ministry here. In 2007, Pastor Jeff Dodge at Cornerstone and Mark came over to evaluate the need of the church and through interviewing numerous pastors sponsored through Gospel Link they met a man named Pastor Navice Kalunga. Pastor Navice had planted over 200 churches throughout the Serenje area and he thought the two biggest needs of the church in his area were providing the ample training for the pastors in these congregations and helping the church support the orphans, because the needs of these children were draining the church finances.
So to make a very long story a little short, Cornerstone decided to partner with Pastor Navice and the Baptist church to build an orphanage to support the children and send leaders over a few times a year to help train the pastors more on the word of the Bible. The orphanage is not a place for children to stay, because the Zambian government believes in the foster care system, so it is a building where the children will be feed one meal a day and a place for them to come during the day if they are not in school.
Cornerstone also has a sister church in Omaha, Nebraska, called Brookside, that together has to raised about $300,000 to support this project that was started last spring. They call the project the Hope Children’s Center. The church realized that they really needed someone over here full time to manage the project and since Zack is a contractor at home and had been dissolved in the Zambian culture before he would be a good person to oversee the building. Another man, Randy, who owns his own construction company from the church had also volunteered to spend about 4 months help. Also, there have been numerous people who have been helping for a couple week stints including an agricultural professor from Iowa State, a group of doctors from Omaha, and a couple college kids.

Day 130 - The Next Step

It has been over 4 months since I arrived in Thailand. As I said earlier I can't believe how time flies, because tonight I leave for Africa. The past months have been a wonderful experience for me all around. I have gotten to travel, try my hand at teaching, meet some wonderful people, and just experience a whole new culture. I have been truly blessed to be here and no word or pictures will ever tell the whole story. They are memories I take with me forever!
Now I leave for a whole new journey. Tomorrow I arrive in Lusaka, Zambia, to meet my friend Zack, who has been the main contractor on an orphanage building project, that his church in Iowa is supporting through funds they raised. He has been there along with two other men (and a couple others who have been there for short periods) since November (he left two days before me). I am thrilled to have an opportunity to spend the next 5 - 6 weeks helping with the project that is located a small town called Serenje. I will post more about the project and the journey once I arrive. Here is a link to a video that Pastor Jeff Dodge at Cornerstone produced last spring about the project. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0gLKQWxWWU Thanks for all the prayers and support I have received thus far!!

Day 119 - 129 Koh Tao

After packing my apartment and all my belongs on Sunday morning I made my way into Bangkok to catch an overnight bus down to Koh Tao, an island that is a 7 -8 hour bus ride Southwest of Bangkok on the gulf side and a 2 hour ferry ride (about 2 hour ferry ride North of Koh Samui) to spend 8 days getting my scuba diving certification. Koh Tao is the third best and most busy place in the world to get certified, because the conditions are great for open water divers! My Glesne cousins have been urging my sister, my brother and I to get certified for some time and we have been a little slow. It seemed to me getting certified on a beautiful island was much better than a quarry in Chicago or a lake in Minnesota.

Well I fell in love... with the sport. On Monday we just got to relax around the resort and dive center, then Tuesday morning the 7 people in my open water group, started our classroom work and were in the pool with full equipment in the afternoon. Wednesday afternoon we were on the boat and in the water doing some of the exercises that you have to complete to become certified, and I dove for the first time on Thursday afternoon. By Friday afternoon I had completed 4 dives and had my open water certification where the deepest depth you go is 18m. I had intended to spend the next three days relaxing and enjoying the island before heading back to Bangkok, but I liked diving so much I decided to get my advanced certification as well. This consisted of 5 more dives over the next three days, including one night dive (I think my favorite dive of all of them) and one dive down to 30 m. We saw tons of fish including barracudas, sting rays, eels, little Nemos, and so many more. A couple of the sites we dove at had spotted whale sharks and turtles a couple days before we were there, but unfortunately I did not see them. It was just a great experience for me and I understand how a lot of backpackers get stuck there for a couple months to complete their diver master program. It is a beautiful setting with a lot of great people from all around the world. Unfortunately again you don't really feel like you are in Thailand because there are mostly foreigners around.

When we were not diving we were enjoying the beaches, snorkeling with the sharks (literally swimming 3 m below me), and hanging out around the resort. I can see why all my cousins have tried to get us certified for so long. Now we have to plan a family vacation to all go together. They have also started a scuba apparel business in CA that you can check out at http://www.neutraldivegear.blogspot.com/. Check it out :)

Day 117 - 118 Last Day of School and Goodbye..

WOW!! It is hard to believe that Friday was my last day of school at Nantawan. The last couple months have flown by and I am sad to be leaving the kids. This last week of school the kids have had finals each day and then we got to celebrate on Friday afternoon with lots of good food and games outside! I have enjoyed the people and teaching at the school for the past couple months. It was a great experience!! The students now have two weeks off before summer camps begins (if they choose to attend) and then they get three more weeks off before the new school year begins in May!




After we finished school on Friday afternoon I went up to Bangkok to meet one of my sorority sisters from college, Cindy, who was traveling here on business. We went to the Baiyoke Center, which is Bangkok's tallest hotel and ate dinner on the 78th floor. Then we went up to the 84th floor, which rotated around the building so you could see every view of Bangkok. It was wonderful to see Cindy and catch up with her! Amazing where you meet your sisters...


On Saturday night the teachers (both foreigners and Thai) at the school threw a little going away party for me, which was nice! It was good to see everyone for the last time before leaving... I will miss them all very much!!




And I also had to say goodbye to my neighbors at the Casistas who have been so nice to me for the duration of my stay. Claas and Joyce Linder lived right next to me and their door was always open to me and my door was always open to their 7 year old son, Tim. I also became good friends with a group of Thai ladies in my building. They always invited me to dinner and were just so kind to me (as all Thai people are) if I needed anything. A couple of them spoke very good English and a couple did not. My friend, Kathleen, from the Philippines who I met at the TESOL course in Chiang Mai has also been staying with me the past two weeks, because she was looking to teach at Nantawan starting for Term 1 next year.

Day 117 - Food

When I get emails from people, everyone asks about the food in Thailand so I thought I would do a quick blog about that subject before I leave. I am definitely not starving here, in fact I LOVE Thai food (maybe a little too much :)). I had liked it before I left, because my friends in Chicago and I would frequent a couple Thai restaurants, but I have learned there are many other authentic dishes here.

All Thai dishes have fresh vegetables and herbs that you can get at the local markets, along with the main types of meat, chicken, beef, and pork. It is nice to just walk down on the street to pick up food here. They also have a lot of seafood dishes here. I don't usually like to get fish right off the street, because some local people fish in the polluted canals, but when I am near the beach I always have HUGE fresh prawns (the size of small lobsters), tuna, barracuda, oysters, and many different types of fresh white fish. There are three main kinds of curry here red, green, and yellow that they mix with different vegetables and dishes like cashew chicken, pad Thai, and pad see uwe (same as pad Thai with bigger noodles), etc. I also have found a nice spicy salad called som tom (bean sprouts, noodles, peanuts, chilies, green beans, and a nice vinegar sauce) and a soup called tom yum (chicken and seafood with morning glory and other herbs). Everything here has chili added to it, which I have really learned to enjoy.

Thai desserts leave a lot to be desired... I have not found any dessert I really like here. They use a lot of sugar and butter to make their cakes and goodies. SO for dessert and breakfast (and a snack) I usually have fruit, which is one of my favorite things about Thailand. The fruit here is amazing!! I can get sweet yellow mangoes, watermelon, leeches, papaya, tangerines, dragon fruit, and others on the street everywhere I go. I have been spoiled with the fruit and will miss it a lot when I leave.

I also have had the opportunity to take some Thai cooking lessons from two of the teachers at my school. Noel (an Australian art teacher) and Chanapa (a Thai nursery teacher) have been kind enough to invite me over for dinner about once a week (sometimes more) to learn to cook and of course eat different Thai dishes. It was a great company and a good experience to spend time with them! Chanapa grew up in the mountainous region north of Chiang Rai and her family grows coffee beans. Noel and Chanapa are building a coffee shop outside of our condo complex where she will brew fresh "Chanapa coffee" and he will offer art lessons. It has been fun to watch the progress of their shop over the past couple months. I missed it opening by just a couple weeks!

One of my favorite types of Thai restaurants to go to in Thailand is "clay pot" restaurants. Here each table is given a clay pot filled with water and coals burning underneath and each person can go to a buffet filled with meats, vegetables, noodles, and other things to put in the pot and cook. Everyone just uses their chopsticks to eat from the pot once the food is cooked. It is a fun way to cook!

Day 113 - 115 Koh Samet

This weekend I spent on an island called Koh Samet, located about 3 hours Southeast of Bangkok and a 20 minutes ferry ride to the island. I actually had to take 6 modes of transportation to get to the island on Friday night... a motorbike taxi, a taxi car, the sky train, a minibus, a ferry, and a songtauw, which tells you how easy (or not) it is to get around Thailand. But it was a worth it to get to the island that is a national park so it does not have any big "resorts" along the beach. There are still plenty of little places to stay and lots of great food to enjoy, but not as touristy. The beaches were beautiful and we rented a sea kayak to go around part of the island Saturday afternoon. Sunday morning we got a nice rainstorm on the island. I haven't seen rain or precipitation in Thailand since we were in Chiang Mai the first week, so it was refreshing. Another great weekend in Thailand!!