Differences

I love the You Might Be a Redneck if... jokes. I thought it would be cool to do a You Might Be in Zambia if... post. These are not really jokes because I promise you that each of these has happened to me..

You Might Be in Zambia if...

you find random bugs like crickets crawling on you while sitting at your desk.

you observe people urinating in your yard about once every two weeks.

you constantly hear the world muzungu (white person) wherever you go.

you saw a five year old girl peeing on the sidewalk in the major downtown area of your town while her parents stood beside her. This girl also tried to talk to me while she was peeing (true story that happened on Saturday).

the one movie rental store only has bootleg copies of the movies.

you have to sprint out of the grocery store to stop a thief from breaking into your car (happened yesterday)

50% of the cars emit visible black smoke from their tailpipes and you swear you are going to get lung cancer every time you breath

Those are just few of the things that you sometimes experience when you live in a place like Zambia. No, I did not catch the thief trying to break into my car, but I did chase him away before he was able to take anything. It was a dramatic experience though as I had to jump over a metal barrier to exit the store. I think the onlookers thought I was crazy. That is a usual occurrence though whether I am in Zambia or the USA.

A Regular

It is good to be known. Growing up in a small town, I enjoyed (and hated) going into a restaurant and being known. When I was young, sometimes my mother did not want to cook; therefore, we always went to Norris’ Fine Foods on those days. I would always order a pizza burger with french fries and a side salad (ranch dressing). It was a great joy one day to have the waitress ask me if I wanted my usual.

This tradition continued when I went to college in Chicago because starting sophomore year I ate at the same restaurant for breakfast twice a week. It was a small, local establishment and soon my friends and I became good friends with one of the waitresses. Her name was Shirley, and she was basically our grandmother in college. She would constantly make fun of us while also making sure that we were being good little boys while away from our families. To top it off Shirley knew my breakfast order by heart. My senior year I figured up that I had spent more time in that restaurant than the Wheaton College library. The total was probably about 350 hours at Egg’lectic (the restaurant) and 10 hours at the library. Needless to say Egg’lectic has a lot of my dad’s money.

Anyway, I now have a restaurant in Ndola that I can call home. It is called Suliwanji. We go there for lunch at least once a week because it is very good and very cheap. A heaping plate of chips (french fries) cost $1.50, and there are enough chips on a plate to feed two people. Ok, it is not healthy and to be honest a bit shady, but it is good. Unfortunately, Suliwanji was burned down in November. Therefore, it has been closed for the past two months, but this week it opened back up. You should have seen the smiles on the waitresses when we walked in today. It was their polite way of saying, “Welcome home.” Needless to say, all is right in the food world.

In the working world this week, we continue to see progress and excitement from the teachers. Yesterday one teacher said to me, “I am actually excited about teaching this year. There are so many things I want to change in my classroom so that I can become a great teacher. My attitudes on education have changed because of your sessions and your help.” I am also happy to report that 75% of the teachers have written long term plans for this first term. I honestly never thought that would happen. The progress and excitement of these teachers keeps me going.

Challenges

Well, we all knew that challenging circumstances would come. This past week we unfortunately had a school drop out of the program. The reasons are vast and complex, but let’s just say I disagreed with the situation and the administrators making the decision. Unfortunately, I don’t make every decision. I mainly feel for the teachers. They were putting the lessons into action and I could see their attitudes about education changing. With this specific group of teachers, we only have two and a half months remaining; therefore, I also question pulling the teachers out in the middle of the program.

In the good news department, one teacher quit her job at one of our schools and took a job at another school. She desperately wanted to continue the sessions though; therefore, I made the decision that she could continue since we are halfway through the program. It is exciting that the teachers still want to come and improve their teaching skills though many decisions are not being made in their or their student’s best interest.

For your information, we just started a new school year in Zambia. Students change grades in January, and the schools run on a three months on/ one month off schedule. Since this is the beginning of a new year, I have already noticed a “pep in the step” of some teachers. We will continue to work hard to keep this attitude, but needless to say I am encouraged to see these teachers excited about teaching.

Since everyone loves pictures, I have included some pictures of the children that Jonathan Hoffner took while in Ndola. Obviously, they are a lot better than my pictures. Again, Jonny and Michele will have pictures of their travels up on their website later this year. I will be sure to inform you when their pictures of Zambia are up. Peace and love.

A Slow Beginning to January

Ok. I admit that I have not blogged in a while. There is one main reason for that. To be honest nothing that interesting is happening. Life has settled into a routine. Since being back from Kenya, I have settled back into visiting schools, writing curriculum, and presenting sessions to teachers. I wish there was more to report, but that is life as I know it.

Culture shock was not as bad as I expected coming back from Kenya even though I think the potholes in Ndola are getting bigger. I met with a few teachers yesterday about writing long-term plans for their school year. They had tried to write their plans but were stuck on a few things. It was exciting because I was once told by another missionary in Ndola that I could never get these teachers to write long-term or daily lesson plans. I am happy to report that my teachers are constantly proving that lady wrong.

In other news though I encourage you to look and think about this story. It concerns a law in Uganda that will kill and imprison homosexuals. The law has been making headlines in the United States press for the past couple of months; therefore, you may have heard about the controversy. Even though the sponsors of the law are Christians, I personally deem the law un-Christian and am saddened by its existence. Presently, Lawrence Temfwe and I are writing a short response to the African church regarding this law. I will be sure to post it when we are done.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/01/08/world/AP-AF-Uganda-Gay-Death-Penalty.html

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/01/07/world/AP-AF-Uganda-Gay-Death-Penalty.html

Masai Mara Safari III

Final Day on the Safari

This morning we woke up early for a sunrise morning game drive. I hate to use the word amazing so much, but that is an apt description for this whole experience. The animals were not out as much early in the morning, but we were in for a surprise. Our guide spotted a jackal being chased by an antelope. We just stopped to watch the chase. It was not very intense but just interesting. Eventually, the chase stopped and the jackal came close to the Land Rover to sniff a rock. We were passively paying attention to it when, in an instant, the jackal had a very small antelope in his mouth. Evidently, the mother had hidden the baby, and the jackal had found it. This was totally unexpected. The jackal did not get a kill though because the mother antelope quickly charged the jackal to save its young. The most exciting part was just that the whole experience was unexpected.

While this morning was an exciting end to our safari, last night still provided a spark as a lion roamed around our tents and chased water buffalo through the camp. One would think that you can’t sleep during events such as these, but safaris are very tiring. Once ten o’clock comes, it is hard to stay awake. Even though the lion was around our tent, we did not wake up all night.

I fly back to Lusaka early tomorrow morning, and there will definitely be culture shock. Nairobi is very developed compared to Zambia and the safari was very posh; therefore, going back to the slums will be a shock. It will definitely take some time to get used to, but it is all apart of life in Africa.

Masai Mara Safari II

8 P.M. on Second Day of Safari

Best Two Days Ever? YES!! YES!! and YES!! Yesterday, we went on a three hour safari ride, and we hit the jackpot. Before the safari even started, there was excitement in the camp because a lion was spotted by one of the tents. Once on the safari, we saw the lions, zebras, and antelopes, but as dusk was approached, life got interesting. The lions decided it was feeding time. The adventure began with one female lion trotting toward a pack of topi (small antelope). At first she did not look very intent on killing the topi, but then she started to pick up speed when the herd of topi ran away. Finally, she ran full speed and picked off a baby. We were speeding behind it with seven other Land Rovers in tail. The lion played with the baby because it was trying to allow its youngsters to learn how to kill it. We have film of the whole episode, but unfortunately it is too large to upload. During this episode, I am constantly yelling, “KILL IT!”. I know this is gruesome, but I have always wanted to see a kill. One guide did not want to see the baby killed though; therefore, when the topi was trying to escape he drove in between the two animals. At that moment, the only thing between the lion and his dinner was our Land Rover. The lion stared at us, decided that the topi was a better dinner, and eventually pinned the topi down again.

Michele Hoffner was terrified of the whole experience. When the baby escaped with the help of the other Land Rover, Michele yelled, “We saved it!” At which time, I responded, “We don’t want to save it!” After we drove to safety, the guide who intentionally tried to save the baby was then surrounded and harassed by the other guides. The policy is that you don’t interfere with nature’s course. You are supposed to leave as little a “footprint” as possible. That is why there are no fences around our camp and why we stay in tents instead of permanent structures.

Well, a kill on New Year’s Eve is one thing, but the evening was capped off with a magnificent sunset over the plains. It was absolutely amazing! Not only was the sunset amazing, but on the opposite horizon, a full moon appeared over the mountains immediately after the setting of the sun. There was also a demonstration by the Masai tribesman which was really incredible. Click on the link to read more about them. One could not have written a more perfect script. I don’t know if a New Years celebration like this can be topped.

Today, we went down to the main part of the Masai Mara National Park. The highlights for today were seeing two baby lions with their mother and a baby cheetah with his mother. The baby cheetah was possibly the cutest thing I have ever seen. It was only three months old and was covered in fuzz (see the picture). It was incredible to watch the mother cheetah scan the horizon for enemies and food. One could tell that it was soon going on a hunt, but unfortunately we were not around to watch its endeavor. Throughout the course of the day, we also saw zebra, elephants, giraffes, hyenas, jackals, hippos, crocs, mongooses, wildebeest, water buffalo, storks, vultures, warthogs, and many different kinds of antelope.

Last night no animals came into camp. It was a little of a let down, but on our way back from the safari drive today we saw a lion about half a mile from camp. Presently the lion is walking around the outside of the camp stalking water buffalo, zebra, and wildebeest in the plains. The lion is approximately a hundred and fifty yards from our tent trying to find a meal. Don’t worry. Again, I tell you that we have to walk around camp every night with an escort. Our escort is a Masai who carries a spear and a flashlight, and I have full faith in him. Tomorrow, we wake up at 6:00 a.m. to see the sunrise and find a leopard before flying out later in the morning.