"Ohh soddy!" (sorry)

The rains have returned and strangely enough we have really missed them!  The past two days have been pretty overcast, humid, and rainy.  The women rejoice because their gardens are always in need of the rain.  The rains even provided me with an extra “trip”, or shall we say slip… Yesterday on the way to morning chapel, the combination of rain, mud, and undulating land caused me to find myself gracefully *cough* flailing to the ground.  I mostly caught myself before putting on an entire jumpsuit of mud and Mel comforted me saying, “It’s not even that bad!”

Carry on friends, nothing to see here. 

I had to share why my dress was all muddy with the women.  I told the story quickly and with the hope that they wouldn’t catch on to everything I was saying.  They all laughed hysterically but a few even added in, “Ohh soddy! (sorry)  I think we underestimate what they all know…

Mel and I continue to encourage the women to use the English that they do know outside of class.  Generally most of them can write a decently worded sentence, fill in vocabulary words to complete a sentence, or even sound out and read English sentences.  Speaking the language is what makes them a little more uncomfortable but that is why Mel and I are so thankful for the relationships we continue to develop with the women… We have really noticed the women being willing to participate more, help correct and teach one another, and most importantly have fun with learning this new language.  Mel and I are incorporating more and more opportunities for them to be conversing with one another and learn from one another. 

Mel has been an amazing grammar guru, helping the women in areas they misspeak or incorrectly speak.  This week we have been drilling present continuous verbs.

          Example:  I am working in the garden. We are going to the store. 

          What we might commonly see/hear: I working in the garden. We is going to the store. 

Today we gave them a speaking opportunity in which they were to answer a series of questions using a slip of paper with three words, putting them into the present continuous tense.  It’s amazing how much they can do when given the freedom to be creative on their own.  They had so much fun helping one another speak properly and we even learned some things from them in the process. 

I will continue to say this but Mel and I definitely have smiles on for miles because of the awesome people we get to see and work with every day.  Thanking God for the relationships he continues to bring to us on this trip and for the relationships we have with our readers! 

Have a wonderful Tuesday everyone!

Kelsi and Mel     

Happy Palm Sunday!

I apologize for the lack of updates recently! I caught some kind of flu bug, and I didn’t think that you would care to hear too many details. :) From Thursday to Saturday night, my activities alternated between sleeping and making Kelsi wait on me (thanks Kels!), so unfortunately, I don't have too many interesting tidbits to share. Kelsi and Sharon were wonderful, though, and they quickly nursed me back to health with juice, crackers, and lots of love.

We could hardly believe that it was Palm Sunday today! We chuckled as we walked in to church and saw Phil and Sue plucking palm branches from a tree outside. One of the many benefits of living in a tropical location: free altar decorations!

After church we went out to lunch with Dan, Lisa, Sharon, and John. On Tuesday, Lisa is leaving to visit a friend for three weeks, and Sharon and John are leaving on furlough for two months. We were happy to spend some extra time with them this afternoon; we will miss them very much!

We are both looking forward to Easter next week. It has always been one of my favorite holidays, and Kelsi and I feel very blessed to have the opportunity to celebrate in Africa this year! We are interested to compare the service to the twenty-some Easter services we have attended in America throughout our lives. We do know that at least one thing will be the same: Easter breakfast! Although we were warned that it will not be quite like any Easter breakfast we have had, we are eager as always for the new experience!

Feeling quite miserable this weekend gave me a renewed appreciation for the gift of health that I take for granted all too often. God is the Giver of all gifts, and what an amazing gift health is! We all know people who are sick and suffering, and I want to encourage us all to keep them in our prayers today and always.

God's blessings and good night!

P.S. How jealous are you that I get to spend my days with this crazy lady?? Thanks for taking care of me this weekend, Kels! 

Interview with the Kids

          Just to confirm as Mel stated yesterday, the children once again were on the path running towards us to give giant hugs this morning.  As they made their way from one end of the campus into our arms, we had to thank God for allowing us to work with some phenomenal children.  The children even offered to carry our backpacks, waters, and tangerines for us.  They made it about two steps each and then realized that our backpacks were too heavy.  We all agreed that a good job would be carrying our waters and tangerines.  Just as Mel and I were telling one another, “What sweeties! They are so kind.”  we glanced back only to see they were trailing behind us eating our tangerines!  We just began to chuckle - no worries there are plenty more where that came from.  I guess they were just trying to help us out, you know, making our load a little lighter.

  The children are really opening up, taking risks at saying something in English even if they aren’t quite sure - even if it means covering their mouth with their hand as they say it, whispering it, and then adding a little chortle after.    

            During tutoring this afternoon, Mel and I thought it would be fun to interview the boys.  The boys were so excited to be “famous” in America and they can’t wait to hear back from our viewers!  First, let’s introduce the young men we interviewed…

Introducing the interviewees from left to right. 

Edward: Very kind-hearted, smiley and sweet.  He always gives 110% and is not afraid to take a risk.  He also has a really good “I have no idea what you are talking about look.”

Amos: Also extremely kind-hearted and just a great kid.  He often whispers answers he thinks are right because he likes to be right.  He is very sweet and has a little competitive side to him. 

Noal: Amos’ older brother.  Noal always shows up in these massive puddle boots which Mel and I have to just smile at.  Noal loves to participate and is more competitive than his brother.  Today we learned a number roll for multiples of 2 and he was singing that chant as long as we could hear.  He loves to joke around and is also a very hard worker.

Shedrick:  His English is very good so normally Mel and I will ask him to translate.  (He helped out a lot with the interview!)  Shedrick always has a smile on his face and giggles about everything.  Mel and I definitely love being able to joke around with him.  Mistake on my part - I taught him how to make a pencil look like it is bendy and now he never stops… I definitely learned my lesson.  If anything, I taught him a lesson on perseverance because he could not get it for the longest time.  I am sure his teachers hate me as well…

1.      What is your favorite part of living in Africa?

a.     Yes, it is beautiful

b.    Lots of kids to play with

2.     What is your favorite thing to do?

a.     Cooking n’shima

b.    Playing football

c.     Playing with other kids

3.     What do you want to be when you grow up?

a.     Doctor, to help patients

b.    Teacher, to teach children

c.     Pilot, no reason

4.    If you could say/ask anything to our friends and family in America what would you say?  Participation is requested!  If you want to comment below we can relay the message to the kiddos.

a.     Greetings!

b.    How are you?  We are fine. (Side note: When you say “Hello!” here people often answer with “Fine.” Because they assume you were going to ask them how they were.)

c.     What do you wear?

d.    What do you like to eat?

e.    What do you like about America?

          In closing, these kids are so precious.  I definitely had one of those “I want to remember this moment forever” moments at church tonight.  One of the boys and a couple of the girls we tutor sat next to me at church.  I was able to share my hymnal with the kids.  I know they don’t know what they were singing, nor did they even come close to saying the words correctly.   As I reached the hymnal out as far as I could so they could see, they all leaned in intently to follow along.  Their voices were so beautiful even though they only caught one or two words here and there.  What a friend we all have in Jesus!

Thanks for reading and we look forward to sharing any responses with the kids!

Sending hugs,

Kelsi and Mel

Milestones

Besides our one-month anniversary, a couple of milestones have been achieved in the past few days.

Milestone 1: Kelsi and I completed our first successful bike trip to the store.

John was kind enough to fix Kelsi’s wheel, so we strapped on our helmets yesterday and set off on a mission across town. (And by across town, I mean that we biked to the store that is one mile away. Although this hardly seems to qualify for a mission, the potholes and rocky terrain amp up the intensity quite a bit.) We disagreed on which way would be fastest to get to the store, so we set off in two different directions, agreeing to meet in front of Shoprite. About ten minutes after Kelsi arrived at Shoprite, I pulled in. Guess I lost that bet….

We don’t have bike locks, so Kelsi volunteered to watch the bikes while I ran in to pick up our groceries. During the ten minutes I was inside, Kelsi counted a total of fourteen people who approached her, either asking for her bike or wondering why she was sitting in the sun. All in all, it was a successful outing. Kelsi and I felt like true locals as we bumped home with cabbages dangling from our handle bars.

Milestone 2: We were greeted with loving hugs from our children yesterday morning.

After chapel yesterday morning, we saw some children running down the path we were walking on. We realized that the children were running towards us! The girls grabbed our legs as they reached us, and we kneeled down to scoop them up in a hug.

The children proceeded to follow us down the path to the classroom. (We have an extra fifteen minutes in between chapel and tutoring, so we usually go to the classroom to make last-minute preparations or talk about the upcoming day.) As we wrote a few worksheets, they sat at the desks and stared at us. Kelsi and I exchanged smiles and then stole glances at the children, eliciting an eruption of giggles. When we went to tutoring (under a canopy outside), the children there also ran over to give us hugs. I wish that this was a typical morning, but unfortunately they are usually shy with their hugs. Kels and I are hoping that the morning hug becomes a routine!

Milestone 3: We had a full day of power today. (Although I'm speaking too soon...the day isn’t quite over yet!)

Zesco is the energy company in Lusaka, and for some reason, they have really been struggling for the past few days. Since arriving in Zambia, we typically lose power for a couple hours once a week. However, I believe every day this past week we have had a power outage. Usually the outages only lasted a few hours, but some days they were much longer. Kelsi and I have taken to yelling “Zesco!” in mock anger when the power goes out; we are sure that the energy company is timing the outages to spite us (ie. as we start cooking cabbage. And no, half-cooked cabbage is not as good as it sounds.) However, we are learning to roll with the punches, and we are always very grateful when the power flicks back on!  

I know what you’re thinking. Hugs and power outages count as “milestones?” Perhaps I was a bit generous with the label...could you let it slide this time?

We had a great day today. We were blessed with classes and volleyball games filled with laughter. Kelsi and I love that even though we don’t speak the same language as our students, our smiles and jokes don’t seem to need any translation.

After volleyball, we met John and Sharon. John and Sharon are leaving on furlough next week, and they won’t be back again before we leave. They have been incredibly helpful and kind, and we are very sad that they are leaving so soon! As we walked and watched the sun set, John and Sharon regaled us with stories of Africa. Our jaws dropped more than once as they told us about the years they lived in the bush. Afterwards, we stood in their yard and chatted while fruit bats flew over our heads and the stars twinkled brightly above. It was a great conclusion to another wonderful day.

God is so good! God’s blessings on your day and night!

The Joys of Teaching!

After last weekend, Melanie and I decided to keep our adventuring to a minimum this weekend.  We spent the weekend preparing for the week, cleaning/watching “The Sandlot” 1 and 2, grabbing a few groceries, taking walks with our neighbor Sharon, and going to church with several of the other missionaries.  We also actually got to go swimming with Susan and Pastor Birner today which was pretty exciting!   

I have finally figured out how to get videos (of extremely poor quality) to upload to our blog!! Although it is quite pixelated, we wanted to share with you the joy these kiddos bring to us.  Mel and I still watch and listen to this video repeatedly because this is becoming increasingly normal for our tutoring sessions.  They love coming to work with us and we love seeing them grow little by little. 

Trust, the boy full of giggles and laughs in this video, never ceases to have a smile on his face.  Mel and I have to laugh because him and his sister are so much like their mother-always smiling, sometimes looking confused, but extremely extremely smart.   Trust last week mastered double-digit addition with regrouping!  To see the look on his face when he was running the show himself is what makes the struggles all worthwhile.  Can’t wait to see what leaps Trust and the others will make in these next two months.  We are so proud of them!! 

Anytime you need a smile just find this video - it will never fail.  God is good!  Have a wonderful night!

Kelsi and Mel  

A Peek at the Falls

Hello all! As promised, here are some pictures from our recent getaway. (Photo cred: Kelsi Daffner)

 

Unbelievably, a teeny tiny percentage of the whole thing.

The Zambezi River, as seen from the cafe at the Royal Livingstone. 

Two of the many baboons we saw. Don't worry - we held tightly to our

 backpacks so they wouldn't steal our food! 

Double rainbow! This was the view looking down from the bridge.

Aww.

Stanley took a quick photo of us on our way to the Zimbabwe side.

Zebras!

The view from the boiling pot.

The hike down to the boiling pot. 

Mini falls by the boiling pot.

A beautiful African sunset on the Zambezi to wrap up our day.

I hope that you enjoy these few snapshots of our past weekend, and we look forward to sharing the rest of the pictures with you in a couple months!

Another laughter-filled, netball-playing, cockroach-sighting, sun-shining, praise-giving week has gone by. Kelsi and I are eager to see you, our friends and family, but there is a part of us that doesn't want to think about leaving this place that's slowly becoming home. As one of the missionaries said the other day, "Once Africa gets in your bones, it never leaves." Our prayer continues to be that God blesses our experience in Zambia and enables us to use the dwindling time to glorify Him and do His will.

God's blessings and good night!

Road Kill Delight!

Mel and I celebrated our one month anniversary tonight, that is our anniversary of safely arriving in Africa.  After Lenten service, Lisa, Dan, Sharon, John, Mel and I all went to a German restaurant only a minute or two drive from church.  We had a toast to our one month and all agreed we could not believe we have been here for that long already.   Time has just been flying by but not without many experiences to remember and memories being made.

Speaking of experiences to remember, there is never a dull moment when listening to the missionaries tell stories about their experiences.  One of tonight’s topics for a tickle was “interesting foods”.  Both Dan and John shared stories of the interesting foods congregations in the bush shared with them after they preached or observed at the church.  The two exchanged stories of being served kapenta (looks like dried sardines), pigeons, goat, and the seemingly normal chicken dinner.  We just had to chuckle at their stories of “acting natural” like they knew what they were supposed to be doing.  Try being handed a ribcage of a bird and being told it was your meal - what’s the right thing to do in that situation?!

Another interesting fact Mel and I learned is that road kill is a delicacy.  Instead of swerving to avoid the little critters, often times the missionaries would be asked by the locals to swerve and hit those who were scurrying for their lives. I guess instead of feeling sorry for the little guys, it would turn hitting an animal into a great feat!

To help you get a better idea of what they (or eventually we) might be eating, here are some pictures.  Sorry, viewer discretion is advised.  On the left is kapenta (dried sardines) and on the right are dried caterpillars.  Secret confession: I think the kapenta looks quite appetizing!  I will have to let you know by the end of our stay!!

 

The missionaries here have been so great and Melanie and I love spending time with them.    We are so thankful for so many experiences that would not be possible without them.  We are even more appreciative of the work they are doing and the capacity in which they are serving the people here.  It is so comforting having many supportive people both here and back home.  We are thanking God daily for all of you!  As God reminds us through Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,” (2 Cor. 1:3)  God brings just the right people into all our lives at the right times. 

To God be the glory!

Kelsi and Melanie  

Friday at the Falls

Kelsi did a wonderful job of describing our day in Livingston last Saturday, but I am going to backtrack a bit and describe Thursday and Friday.

The bus took about seven hours to get from Lusaka to Livingstone, so we were quite relieved when we finally arrived. (If only we had known our bus was going to break down on our return trip. That 10 hour day made the first journey look like a piece of cake!) We were enveloped by taxi drivers asking us where we were going as we exited the bus, but Kelsi and I firmly pushed our way through the crowd. (We are getting better at dealing with the headache-inducing bus stations. They are nothing like any bus station we have ever seen before!) Livingston is typically warmer than Lusaka, and Thursday was no exception. Beads of sweat quickly gathered on our foreheads as we hiked to our hostel.

Thankfully our hostel was only a ten-minute walk from the station, and we loved it from the start! We stayed in an eight-bed dorm, which was really just a cabin by the campground. There was a bar and dining area outside next to a pool and outdoor lounge. It was a cool setup for a cheap price.

We relaxed for the rest of the evening with a swim and some dinner. We met several new people, including a few Americans who noticed Kelsi's Green Bay shirt - one of the guys was a Bears fan. I can't escape the football talk even in Africa! :) Kelsi and I had a great time that night and throughout our trip getting to know other travelers.

On Friday morning we had breakfast at the hostel before hitching a ride on the free shuttle to the Falls. As we were eating our omelettes, a man named Stanley asked if he could join us. A fellow American, he was also going to hike the Falls that day. 

When we first arrived at the Falls, we hiked over the bridge to the Zimbabwean side. Victoria Falls straddles the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia and is easily accessible from both countries. Many people say that the Zimbabwe side offers the best view; however, although the overall view is better, you are farther away. On the Zambian side, we could almost stand on top of the Falls, although our perspective was narrowed. We snapped a few pictures from the Zimbabwean side, but unfortunately we couldn’t go too far without paying for a visa.

When we came back to the Zambian side, a large baboon greeted us. We soon discovered that baboons are all around the falls. In addition to targeting women, they recognize grocery store bags. If they see a Spar or Shoprite bag, they will grab it out of a person's hands - even if the bag is holding a wallet and passport instead of food.

On the lookout for baboons, we headed to the bridge, stopping for photos in the increasingly heavy mist. By the time we got to the bridge, we were thanking God for our ponchos and feeling like we had stepped inside a shower with several nozzles. It was unbelievable to be so close that we were getting soaked by the spray.

After attempting to take pictures without ruining our cameras (I unfortunately didn’t succeed) and getting thoroughly soaked, we decided to hike along the scenic route. The scenic route offered beautiful and dry views of the falls, and we (and by that, I mean Kelsi, the chief photographer of the trip!) got lots of great photos. John and Sharon told us that when they used to go to the Falls, there were no guard rails. There were a few fences along our walk, and we couldn’t believe people could safely hike without their protection in the past.

Next we headed down to the boiling pot - a permanent whirlpool at the bottom of the Falls. The hike down was beautiful, and I felt like we were in the middle of a rain forest. The hike only took fifteen minutes, and the view from the bottom of the Falls was one of my favorites of the day. We rested on some huge rocks and stared up at the bridge and cliffs overlooking us before making the return journey. The sun was out on our hike up, and most of us were drenched in sweat by the end.

After our hike, Stanley suggested we go to a cafe at the Royal Livingstone - a ritzy hotel on the Zambezi. This hotel was definitely top of the line; it’s apparently the most expensive in all of Zambia. We felt a bit out of place walking in with our shorts, T-shirts, and sweaty complexions, but we got over it quickly as we settled into the cushioned seats on the deck. We enjoyed some cold water and soda and talked about the day.

As we were leaving, Stanley told us to look to our left, and we saw two zebras! My jaw dropped, and then he pointed to the pool. At least six zebras were standing by the pool while people nonchalantly splashed and treaded water. We also saw impala hiding in the trees, and apparently it is not uncommon for giraffes and cheetahs to make their way onto the grounds as well. I guess we chose the wrong place to stay....

We went out to dinner with Stanley at a restaurant on the waterfront that evening. I had some Zambezi bream (fish), and we enjoyed our time watching the sun set on the deck overlooking the river. Several people from the hostel were there as well, and we spent a couple of hours with them before heading back to get ready for Saturday. You already read Kelsi’s description of that day...we needed a good night’s sleep! :)

We will hold the memories of the past weekend near and dear for years to come. We had such a great time, and we are very thankful for the experiences we had. We wish we could have brought all of you along with us to see the sights, but pictures (coming soon!) will have to suffice!

Good night and God's blessings!

Jolly Old Saturday in Livingston!

Melanie and I were completely spent after a full day in Livingston on Saturday. 

The emotional and physical toll of the day’s excitement left us ready for bed around 7:30pm.  But just to give you slightest feel of why we were so tired here is a run through of our day - pictures added to help the viewer capture a WEE bit of the experience we had.

8:30am… Hop on the bus with several other enthusiastic backpackers, anticipating a day filled with fear, nerves, and excitement for what lies ahead.

Approximately 9:30am… Melanie and I find ourselves with our heels hanging over the edge of the gorge below, holding on to one another for dear life, and a man telling us to bend our knees, stick out our bums, tuck our chins and count “THREE, TWO, ONE!”   With no time to think or even catch a big enough breath, Melanie and I found ourselves free-falling for about 200 feet before realizing that the big sturdy rope the man strapped to us actually WAS going to catch before we became tomorrow’s pancake breakfast.  The fall was so long that neither one of us could scream the entire way down!  Thankfully we had enough time to catch our breaths, realize we were alive and still be swinging in the middle of an absolutely beautiful scene!

10:30am… Catch our breath in just enough time to find ourselves repelling down the side of a 200ft rock wall.  Melanie and I both agree that abseiling was by far not as scary as the gorge swing.  Both Mel and I did come across a problem though as we were repelling down --the rope was so hot that we could barely stand it and we thought that the rope was going to catch on fire.  Edward our friend who was at the bottom to catch us just giggled and said in a slightly shocked tone, “Oh, yes that hot!”   As we walked back up to the top, Mel and I both agreed that we would rather not do that again…

11:30am… For all of you who are a little apprehensive about doing these activities, this next one is for you.  The flying fox was next on the list… Picture this as going on a zip line superman style.  This was great for taking a moment to enjoy the beautiful scene around us.  Great for all ages and did not require us to hike all the way back up the cliff --winning!

12:10pm… Selfies with the locals.  As we walked back with our guide there were several gentlemen about our age standing by a souvenir shop waiting for us.  One of the men kindly asked if we would take a picture with us.  Next thing we knew we were being yanked left and right to be in many other pictures.  Mel and I were just laughing the whole time because we felt like celebrities!  I guess getting pictures with “pretty mzungus” was high on their bucket list.  So glad we could make their day. :D

12:15pm… Johnny, one of our guides, asked us if we would like to try rap sailing next.  He described it as reverse abseiling where we would be facing the ground as we repelled down the rock wall.  Mel and I gave each other a stare of terror as we did not want to catch our hands on fire again.  But… Johnny was very good at being “encouraging” and assured us it would be fun.  As we walked back to the location, Mel was brave enough to ask, “So… is it supposed to feel like the rope is going to catch on fire as we go down?”  (Thanks for asking Mel, I was just going to try to be a tough nut and not say anything)  Johnny chuckled and said, “You need not hold on so tight!”  We had to laugh… You know you would be holding on for dear life if you were dropping 200+ feet too!!   

Wowzas… it is much scary as you look down and do it!

1:00pm… We have finally emotionally and physically recovered enough to attempt the gorge swing again!  This time going solo… Mel and I each have a video proving we did it now!!  As soon as internet is strong enough we will have to share!  The screams are so priceless…

1:30pm… Lunch was provided in our day so we sat down enjoyed some chicken, “chips” aka fries, and salad.  After lunch Melanie was super brave and did the gorge swing jumping off facing out, which is so crazy!!  Don’t worry I captured it all on video as well!  

2:30pm… We had one last opportunity to do the flying fox and then it was time for us to hitch a ride back to the hostile.

3:30pm… Purchase bus tickets to head back to Lusaka in the early AM.  

4:00pm… Depart for the sunset cruise near Victoria Falls.   The cruise was absolutely beautiful and Melanie and I had many opportunities to talk to the people on the cruise with us.  We enjoyed appetizers and supper on the ship.  The highlight of the cruise for me, other the phenomenal view of the sunset, was seeing HIPPOS!  I got a few snapshots of their beady little eyes sticking out of the water.  There were a few moments when the hippos were sticking their heads out of the water with their mouths open wide…  What an amazing sight to see. 

7:30pm… Return back to the hostile, chat with a few people there, and turn in pretty early.  We were not excited for the 8 hour bus ride that awaited us in the morning but we definitely were grateful for our experience in Livingston!   

This blog post doesn’t nearly capture the entire experience, nor does it even begin to describe the experience in full details.  We are so completely blessed!

Sending hugs,

Kelsi and Melanie 

Livingston Bound!

This will be a short blog tonight; I still have to pack for our adventure to Victoria Falls tomorrow! Don't worry, though. Kelsi and I have the important things: bus tickets, passports, permits, and snacks...what else do we really need? 

The past few days have been especially enjoyable. Volleyball with the women and games with the children added extra joy and lots of laughter. 

So that you forgive me for this brief post, here are a few pictures of our adorable children. Enjoy! :) 

Faith: Sweet with a little bit of sass

Claterus: He has the cutest dimples, but he wouldn't take his hand off of his face!

Tama: Such a sweetheart!

Paul (or "Po," as he says): Usually very reserved, but he looks a bit mischievous in this picture. :)

We have so much fun with these kiddos every day!

We come back from Victoria Falls on Sunday, so we will write a long post then to fill you in on our experiences. We are so excited and amazingly blessed for the opportunity that this weekend holds!

Have a wonderful rest of your week! 

God's blessings,

Melanie and Kelsi