We start off with a nice photo from the weekend, since we did not write a blog for Saturday and Sunday. Jen met with the financial team (Theresa, our accountant Martha, and her on-the-ground assistant, Veronica) on Saturday afternoon to go through the mundane yet critical business of tracking the numerous accounts here—monthly food budget, roof loan repayments, microloans, bank reconciles, etc.
Veronica, Theresa, Martha
As per our usual routine now, as soon as we arrived in Kantolomba Phil headed straight for the preschool to prepare for the students. Jen greeted the sea of children about to eat their lunch. The teachers use the process of lining up to wash hands as a chance to learn commands in English.
A few of the preschool students arrived for an on-time 10am start; most did not. It is going to be a training for everyone involved (except Joy and Susan, the two teachers who are ON IT!) that on-time means on-time. But we are committed to it as punctuality and responsibility are a core part of what we want the children to learn.
Phil brought along a ukulele to play for the children. A big hit!
An even bigger hit was the microphone they got to pass around and sing solos! Cute does not even begin to describe it.
Felix’s turn
Theresa was a bit more interested in the photographer.
Soon it was time for a potty break.
Elephant tail line to the restroom
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On the move.
Time for lunch. It’s action packed in the world of preschool.
Natasha enjoys her nchima.
It got very quiet.
From as young as a year old, children in Zambia begin to eat nchima on their own and by 3 they are old pros. It was amazing to watch their dexterity. We said to Theresa, not joking, that they are way better at eating with their hands then we are—we’ve tried it!
The photographer trying to get a video of their hands.
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And we got it!
Time for some outdoor play.
Soon we rejoined the “big kids” side of the property, where dozens of children at any given time are eating their lunch.
Here is a handsome group of boys on the lawn, many of whom were among the first 100 children. They are about 9 now and were the youngest of the crowd when they first joined the program 6 years ago.
Kannan, right and a friend
Always nice to see Little Cheri’s gleaming eyes.
And this smile—wow! Time for the preschoolers to go home.
Shabba, left, and Theresa, being carried, are collected by older siblings. Perhaps you can see the heroic teachers, in the far background, sitting thankfully on the porch. It is a huge job adjusting 15 3-year-olds to being in school for 4 hours a day, especially in Kantolomba. Children here are used to being on their own as soon as they can walk—literally. Every adult is doing something during the day to attempt to put some food on the table, and often that involves leaving their children. The only “child care” is in the form of a slightly older brother or sister.
As soon as the last large group of students has eaten, the cooperative members finally get their food, usually sometime after 2pm. We marvel at how they have the energy to do what they do with so little, in some cases nothing, in their bellies. Breakfast is a nearly unheard of meal in Kantolomba.
Josephine eating her lunch. Once the lunch dishes are done, people disperse to other activities.
Many are hard at work, aiming to complete the lovely mealie meal sack bags for us to take with us when we leave on Saturday.
Others are knitting. We all loved this bumblebee-esque bag that Brenda is working on.
Still others are sewing to fill the order of skirtolombas someone in the Sangha placed.
Even amongst all the activity, we decided to take a break to meditate. Everyone was invited and about 20 folks came. It was a grand pleasure once again—silence always is.
We brought a dictionary to leave in the library, and at the end of the day we found Theresa and Veronica reading Nothing Happens Next, the book Cheri wrote answering questions about meditation. They were reading, identifying words they did not know, and looking them up in the dictionary. When we came upon them they were looking up “egocentricity.” This is a very fun development to the project, indeed!