The work is done. We’ve told you the stories. All that’s left is to enjoy our last day together. Final day in photos…
Little Theresa
Little Cheri
Just before lunch
Jen shares story time with the preschoolers. Good Night Moon.
Queen
Embroidering bags
Susan and friends counting to 5
Joy and Winter
Lingson and Charles working on cages for mealie meal
Brenda cleans one of the giant pots.
Some friend-time on the lawn
Mirriam
Mirriam with her 3-year old sister and 2-year old brother. She’s the babysitter.
Show me your 3!
Three girls in Rose’s club read through beautiful Bemba/English picture dictionaries handmade by someone in the Sangha.
Monica (Brenda’s daughter) studies the English in one of the dictionaries, as we look over her shoulder and study the Bemba. We help them with their pronunciation, they with ours.
Proudly wearing his new bracelet
Another Monica, this one Beauty’s daughter
Pascal squaring the cage
The afternoon wears on, and it’s all hands on deck to get the bags done.
Teaming up to finish a strap
Completed, just washed bags drying in the sun
[swf file="http://www.thezencenter.org/video/blog-video-july-27-2012_24.flv" params="width=526&&height=290"]
Estella having fun practicing the English words in the dictionaries
As the sun makes its way lower in the sky, we begin to gather. It is time, the bittersweet moment to celebrate our days together and to say goodbye.
Gathering
We sit on the lawn and the singing begins. At first there are quiet, simple songs of farewell. In time the energy builds. We all donned skirtolombas. Yes, all!
Charles
Lingson
And we danced.
[swf file="http://www.thezencenter.org/video/blog-video-july-27-2012_28.flv" params="width=526&&height=290"]
We apologize for the sub-par reporting. We could have gotten wonderful video and audio, but the truth is we were busy participating. Sometimes the cameras get set aside and you just live. For a beautiful recording of the team in Kantolomba singing, purchase Kantolomba Sings on Sangha Market.
Phil takes a turn.
Singing and watching the dancing
And when the dancing is done and the dust settled we had:
37 crocheted bags
30 skirtolombas
15 preschoolers on their way to fluent English
1 new teacher (Joy with her mentor Phil and assistant Susan)
1 new doctor friend (sorry, we don’t have a photo of Mandy)
2 rat-proof cages
815 children eating every day
A community full of hope and love
and one fresh egg…
Just another trip to Zambia…
Isn’t it grand that we don’t have to wait for the next trip to get regular news from our loved ones in Kantolomba! Visit the team’s blog for updates each week.
Who knows, maybe we will be hearing audio news as well…
Thank you, as always, for your part in making this happen. We invite you to stay with us throughout the Bridge Walk season as we gather support for another year of transformation in Kantolomba.
Until next time,
Gassho
(my heart and your heart are one—so true.)