We finally have a routine—at least as much of a routine as people develop in Africa! The people here are so friendly and relational, but along with that they are very relaxed and never on time, so rarely is anything set in stone!
Our weekdays begin before 6:30am, when our first class – Tonga – begins (Tonga is the native language of Zambia, which we are attempting to learn!). Following Tonga we have Humanities class which covers the history, politics, culture, literature, etc. of Zambia. Both Tonga and Humanities are taught by Zambians! We eat breakfast at 8 and then attend chapel at 9 with the students from George Benson Christian College, a small teachers’ college here on the mission. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, we then have more classes, lunch, and then our serve time in the afternoon. Tuesdays and Thursdays, serve time starts right after chapel and lasts the rest of the day. At 5pm every day another class meets before dinner, after which we are free unless a special event has been planned.
Twice a week we are scheduled for serve time either at the basic (elementary) school, the clinic, or the havens; the other three days we are free to stay here and study, to hang out with each other, to visit the kids at the havens or people on the mission, to walk to town… whatever!
Besides Tonga/Humanities, the classes I’m taking are Missionary Anthropology, Healthcare in Missions, and a field work internship. I am working towards missions/medical missions minors.
The food we eat is very American; our cook, Ba Leno, is incredible and has learned how to make a lot of foods similar to what we eat at home. Today we had meatloaf, mashed potatoes, corn, salad, and chocolate cake! Our big meal takes place at 12:30, and then supper is a much smaller deal. Once a week we eat a traditional Zambian meal; this week we had “shema” (an essentially tasteless but filling corn porridge), cabbage, onion soup, rice, chicken, and a creamy spinach salad type thing called “rape.”
Wednesday is my house’s laundry day. We take our clothes to the wash house, where ladies wash, hang out to dry, and iron every single piece of clothing! Everything must be ironed because of a pleasant little thing called the pootsie fly! These creatures enjoy laying their eggs in wet clothing, so because everything dries on a line, it all must be ironed to ensure that the eggs are taken care of! We get a kick out of seeing all our “unmentionables” out on the line right next to the veranda on which we eat and have class! Haha… We’ll get used to it, I’m sure!
Other random stuff:
We sleep under mosquito nets, wear shoes all the time to avoid hookworm, and regularly are without electricity and/or water.
I have learned how to change “nappies” (cloth diapers) and have fed the kids in the havens countless bowls of shema (I usually end up covered in it)!
Star gazing here is INCREDIBLE; we can see the Milky Way (which is so amazing I can’t even explain it!) and the Southern Cross. Really, the sky at any time of day is magnificent! The sun is just rising when we walk to class in the morning, and it is a spectacular bright neon orange ball!
Please continue to pray for physical and emotional strength for our team... it is very much appreciated! I am one of the lucky few still unaffected by the sickness going around, but very few Americans leave here without experiecing some kind of bug so we'll see how my immune system does! haha
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