Chickens etc.

Oct. 20

This term, one kid came back from his holidays with the chicken pox. Guess what happened. Yeah. Then there was 3, then 6.....now about 22 kids have the chicken pox. And wow, I have never seen so many chicken pox dots on people. And they look sooo painful. I feel very bad for everyone who has the chicken pox here. They are itching an crying all the time. They also use a LOT of calamine lotion. They basically paint their entire faces with it, and arms....and the rest is covered in clothes, but I assume it's all over. I think they should make a calamine lotion that is a dark brown colour, because they are all dark-skinned and have light pink lotion all over. Anyways. Just an idea for someone who want to visit the Dragon's Den I guess.

On another note, about chickens. Here at Sakeji, we raise our own chickens. I guess it saves money in the long run. Yesterday was killing time. So Friday afternoon, instead of playing games, the senior students have to help out with that. Here's some pictures that I took. I didn't get a finger dirty. I'm not there yet. I think they kill chickens once a term. So I have another chance next term. Maybe I'll just take more pictures though. It looked really really gross.

Oh, and after the chicken killing, a jackal came around. They are not common to see as they are very shy dogs. Somebody told me they only come around where people are when they are rabid. So everyone was a little worried. I think it smelled the chicken stew we were making. They haven't caught it, and I think it's gone now. They did leave out some meat with poison (rat poison maybe??) But I haven't been updated with the story. Time for my rabies shot I think though.

Well this is my weekend off. I'm going to have a work out, probably read a book and have a nice afternoon.

Have a nice weekend everybody.

Weekend fun

Oct. 13^th

This weekend we went over to a neighbour's place. They are very nice people and they own a wildlife reserve. We've seen many animals there, including zebras, sable, buffalo, etc. The first time we went over we went on a drive to see the animals. It was really fun, but it came to a quick stop when it started to pour. So we took a break in a chota, then went it was time to head back home for dinner anyways. The second time, which was this weekend, we planned on having a target shooting competition, girls against boys. I've never shot a gun before, so that was cool. Girls won. Then we went back to their place to have a quick swim and play volleyball. Then we had birthday cake and tea on the porch while we watched another storm. It's been storming a little more often now.

It's always fun to go visit them. They are a lot of fun and it's always nice to get off the school grounds and just hang out with people closer to your own age.

Here's a few pictures.

Electrical Storms

October 15, 2012

We just finished our mid-term weekend. It was pretty fun. The kids went tubing down the river, lots of swimming and playing in the playground, games, and sweets. Sleeping in was also very nice.

For the adults, they had a zip line set up over the pool. So you climb this big ant hill, then get a hold of the zip line thing and hang on and then let go over the pool. It was cool. It was a really hot day so it was really nice and refreshing.

It's really starting to rain more. The storms here are quite violent. The other day we had hail with the storm. I managed to take a few pictures.

I'm told that the Discovery Chanel was here two years ago filming an electrical storm (One of the crew actually got struck by lightning!) They are one of the worst in the world, as we are so close to the Congo Basin. I have never heard thunder so loud. And the lightning strikes are almost frightening. But I do enjoy them. It's pretty much impossible to sleep through though, so if it storms at night, everyone is cranky the next morning!

Also, the ground here is very red. I think it's very rich in iron or another metal, I forget. But it makes it very difficult to ground electricity. So when there's a storm, if it's really bad, sometimes you see you plug-ins spark. So you can't have anything plugged in during a storm. Many people have fried lap tops and other things because of this. It's pretty crazy.

Well I will keep this short for now. I need to get back to work.   

Students at Sakeji

Here's a few pictures of some students at Sakeji. Mylon and I spend a lot of time with the Juniors (Grade 1-4) So most of these pictures are the younger kids.  There are about 75 kids who go to this school.  

News from October 8, 2012

October 8, 2012

Hi Everyone,

We haven't had internet in over a week now. So if you haven't heard from us, that is why. First we were told something went down in Kenya, and that was why it was down. But days later we found out that our provider actually went bankrupt. So we had to get hooked up with another company and things don't happen that quickly here in Zambia.

So we've had a lot of time to read in the evening, which is nice.

We were hoping to plan our Christmas vacation last weekend, but now we have to wait. We were debating whether we should climb Mount Kilimanjaro, or visit South Africa. So I think we've made our decision. We're leaning more towards the South African choice. I think it will be a little cheaper and longer and we will do a lot of different thing. I will let you know our Christmas plans when I actually have things booked. But we plan on spending time in Jo-burg, the Kruger National Park and Cape Town. I'm super excited :)

Here at Sakeji, we've been keeping busy, as usual. We had a term birthday party last Wednesday. The term birthday party is a party once per semester and it celebrates everyone's birthday that falls in that term. So this was for September to December birthdays. The theme was Wonders of the World.

So the day before the party, the ladies who were available and some came over from Kalene (a village less than 1 hour away) got together to decorate cakes. I decorated a cake with Northern lights (it did not look like Northern Lights lol) and there was about a dozen other cakes decorated by others, all Wonders of the World. We also decorated the eating hall and assembly hall with balloons and crafts the kids made in art class.

The party starts at supper, where we had a delicious meal of fried chicken, potato wedges and other vegetables. Then we have home-made ice cream and cake for dessert. The kids all get a gift bag with a small toy and a few sweets. Once everyone is beyond satisfied, we head into the assembly hall. Mylon and I were the M.C.'s. (Everyone has to do some M.C.'ing at some point, so we figured this was better than the term-end party and it would be pretty easy anyways.) We didn't have a lot of work to do as we mostly just announce which group of kids is coming up to perform. We had skits, guitar, choir, poems and songs. In addition, all the adults have to dress up as a Wonder of the World. Mylon and I were a Great Pyramid (we each were half). It was an easy costume that didn't require a lot of materials.

All in all it was a great night and everyone was happy. I think Thursday morning was a little rough for the kids though. Too much sugar the night before!

This coming weekend will be Mid-term. Basically the kids don't have class Friday and it's all fun and games starting Thursday evening through to Sunday. All the kids look forward to it. Breakfast is also a little later, so everyone can sleep in a bit.

Well I better go before I bore everyone. Sorry if anyone has e-mailed us and we haven’t' replied. I'm not sure how fast catching up will be as many people will need the internet here when it is back up and it might just be running too slow.

Thanks to all of those who are keeping us in your prayers. So far the time has gone by extremely fast, which I think is a good sigh. We are enjoying ourselves and we have met some great friends that make us feel at home when we need that.

I hope everyone back home had a Happy Thanksgiving. I am really missing pumpkin pie today. I might attempt a squash pie someday.

Until next time!

Ikelenge Market

September 24, 2012

Hello Blog-followers,

This past weekend was our first weekend off. I think it was probably more exhausting than having to be on-duty. But it was definitely fun anyways.

For most people, when they are off, they will stay home and cook their own meals and kind of stay away from all the children and activities at the school. But, since Mylon and I don't really have food in our cupboards that we could make a meal with, we just show up and eat our meals with all the kids in the dinning hall. We don't mind anyways, and the food is prepared for us and it's always delicious.

On Saturday, we are technically only free after lunch. Mylon has a gym class at 9:30am and I assist with the grade 2/3 spelling class. And at 10:30 we both do crafts with the grade 3/4 boys. So After lunch, that's when we're free.

We've been here for about two weeks now and I really felt like going to a village of something and go explore a little off campus. So we got directions to the nearest village with a market and decided to go for a bike ride. It was about a 25 minute ride on the dirt roads. It was a beautiful day, I could feel the sun burning the skin on my arms.

We biked by a pineapple field which was pretty neat to see. There are also a lot of massive ant hills along the side of the road. Finally we started seeing huts and local villagers until finally we heard the music coming from the market and saw where many people of the village were. This market was sort of what I expected (as I had seen pictures of similar markets in Zambia), but also not what I expected. I think what I expected was more food. But I also think most of the produce isn't in season just yet. Most vendors have tiny little shops and they just sell very random stuff. From chiteŋges (African-type wrap around skirts) to second hand shoes, to drinks and odd-looking non-perishable food items. I got myself a chiteŋge and we each got a bottle of something cold to drink (Mylon got AppleMax which is carbonated apple juice with extra sugar, really delicious, and I got some weird Milky Orange Fizzy drink -gross.)

Then we went to the produce part of the market. A few ladies there were selling tomatoes. Some had a head of lettuce or kale, or cabbage they were trying to sell. And some other ladies were trying to sell dried little fish. Some looked like minnows, and some were a little bigger. I didn't buy any of that. It smelled like a pet store.

So when we realized that was all there was to see, we decided to start our bike ride back home. I took out my camera and snapped a few pictures on my way out.

It was a fun afternoon. I have to say I love being in Zambia. It's awesome going everywhere on bikes, saying hello to everyone you bike past. Everyone is very kind. The children all love us. It's very fun and feels adventurous.

I hope everyone back home is doing well.

Take care. Goodbye.