Homeschooling at 40/40

We had Kristy Burgess, a journey girl from South Africa, and Mr. Jack, a volunteer from the States, and 2 Zambian assistants, Rachel and Mo, help with the homeschooling for the kids while we were out doing our DFA's. The kids completed their work during the morning so they were able to play in the afternoons. Here's some pictures to show how much fun the kids had at 40/40.

Coby being a good student!

Kelsey & Hannah playing!

Kelsey & Peyton being goofy!

Kelsey learning to cook!

Meredith, Peyton, Kelsey & Coby making "No Bake Cookies"!

Coby trying to pull all the kids on the wagon!

Mo pulling the wagon! Welcome to Moe's!!!

Austin FRO Boy!

Kelsey FRO Girl!

Kelsey, Isabel & Abigail - How CUTE!

Amazing Voices

On November 4th, the night before our departure to Petauke, we were blessed to have an accapella musical group from Lusaka entertain us before dinner. One of the members of the group (eleven members total) was one of our Zambian assistants during our DFA's in Lusaka. All of them come from different Christian churches in Lusaka and formed this group in 1999. They are touring in the UK at the present time. They were awesome, and they hope to come to the USA one day and tour.

This is the first song, look on the blog for more to come...

Daily Field Assignments (DFA's)

Each day we were given a daily assignment to go out into the communities and ask questions of the people to understand more about the African culture. Before doing the assignments it was always a feeling of "why?", but after doing these in the urban city of Lusaka, and then in the rural area of Petauke, it was well worth it. We learned so much about the culture that we would not have learned just going into our job first. We are so thankful for a regional leader who truly has a heart and passion for this program. Now, each day was challenging, but we came out with an abundance of knowledge and national friends we hope to have for a lifetime. Ricky & Janet worked with Ivy (middle in the picture) in Lusaka doing their DFA's, and Niki & Michael worked as a team mostly in the community of Baulini. The picture of Niki & Michael is with one of our Zambian friends in Lusaka in the community of Baulini. She attends Baulini Baptist Church. In Petauke, Ricky and Niki worked together as a team with our Zambian assistant, Iwell. He is a pastor, husband, and father of 4 daughters and a baby on the way. He has a radio ministry also. Many of the villages we visited in Petauke were mud huts with thatched roofs. One day Ricky and Niki came upon a group of ladies shelling ground nuts (ie. peanuts) under a tree, so we stopped to talk with them and they asked us to help them. They were impressed with our shelling skills, but they commented that we were slow. Every day we rode into the town (or "boma") on a flat bed truck. It was definitely cooler than on the minibuses in Lusaka. Many people sold coal on the side of the road. This is how they cooked in the villages because most did not have electricity. Sometimes you would see a person on a bicycle carrying 2 or 3 bags of coal - that was a BIG load to carry.

Arrival at Safari Camp

We arrive at camp near dusk and must hurry to unpack and set up our tents. The 40/40 staff has already set up all the tents and provided the necessities for the camping experience. After our orientation with the staff, we eat dinner and then head inside our tents for the hottest night ever.

Top: Kids Tent

Bottom: Parents Tent Our family has not camped in a long time, so it was interesting learning all the things to do to make camp life normal (or what we consider normal). We had women's and men's showers as well as toilets set up within the campsite. It took some practice learning about the showers. We had to first carry our buckets to the well and then haul them to the showers. Once at the shower, you had to pull the bucket down and fill with water (hoping to keep all the water in the bucket and not spill any in the process). Once the water was in the shower bucket, you used a pulley system to hoast it above the shower area so you could actually get under it and shower. We had the option of heating our water on the fire before taking a shower, but I think we only did that once. It was so hot that the cold shower felt really good.

Men's Shower

Women's Shower

Setty-Ony

Squatty-Potty

Bus Ride to Petauke

On Monday, November 5, 2007, we left Lusaka for Petauke in the Eastern District of Zambia. The bus ride was 6 1/2 hours long and we were so thankful to arrive at camp safely. The boys slept most of the ride, but Kelsey was full steam ahead.

Our one and only stop on the way is at the bridge of the Luangwa River where we all go visit the toilet and get a nice cold bottled drink to have with our take away lunch.

School is FUN

Friends at school: Austin & Micah; Coby & Peyton; Kelsey & Delaney

Last week the kids went to Adventure City in Lusaka... Coby enjoyed going down the big slide... This week the kids went to the Croc Farm.
Here's Coby on the trampoline...

Austin & Justin with a big snake...

Kelsey with a little snake...

And the CROCS...

More 40/40

Our time at 40/40 has been fulfilling and very informative. We have gone out into the city of Lusaka almost every day participating in our field assignments. These have included: observation skills, greeting skills, forming relationships, learning what Africans think a missionary is, understanding funerals and death, giving our testimony and gospel witness, learning the aspects of medicine and health, and finally, experiencing a church service in Lusaka. On Monday, Nov. 5 we travel to Petauke (a rural town in the eastern province).



As you can see, the kids are having the best time! They have made many new friends and they have actually enjoyed washing their own dishes. This is what the buckets on the table are used for. We have a rubbish bucket (that's trash for those of you who don't know), a rinse bucket, a cold soapy wash, a hot soapy wash, a cold rinse with potassium permangenate (PP), and a hot rinse with PP. Then we move out to the sunshine and wave our dishes in the air to dry. Yesterday after lunch, the kids found a scorpion about the size of the palm of an adult hand. One of our missionaries caught it and put it in a jar.
**Just a reminder that all of our pictures can be enlarged by double-clicking on them.**