On Sunday, Rebecca wanted to go to church with Theresa, but acquiring transport proved to be too great a challenge. However, Eunice offered to drive Rebecca to a nearby cathedral where they offer mass in English and Bemba. They mistook the mass times, so she attended the last half of the English mass and the first half of the following Bemba mass. It turned out to be a nice mistake because she got to experience the lively Bemba music - always a treat!
After church, Jen, Rebecca, Eunice and Eunice’s daughter Verocia went to the new supermarket in town and then to the Trade Fair. The supermarket was impressive in its size and variety of items stocked. It would rival any large grocery store in the states! We were surprised to see a cheap California brand of clothing sold there, and quite expensive by Zambian standards. A sweater cost 200,000 kwachas, which is about $40. Zambia is a landlocked country so everything has to be trucked in. Imported items, like clothing from the U.S., have a high mark-up.
Rebecca, Eunice, and Verocia at the shopping center where the new supermarket was built.
We had a nice lunch at a new restaurant in the same shopping center, and then we were off to the Trade Fair. We hoped to find some chitenge and possibly find a local supplier from whom we could buy directly at a cost savings. The trade fair was disappointing in that the chitenge was 50% more expensive than we pay in the local stores. After just 30 minutes of having our senses bombarded with the sound of loud music and advertisements, and aisle after aisle of vendors, we were ready to go back to the peace and quiet of Castle Lodge.
Driving out to the Trade Fair. It’s a big deal here!
Verocia went with us to the fair reluctantly, with the persuasion of her mother, but ended up having a great time!
Well, relative peace and quiet, that is. A wedding reception was being held on the Castle Lodge grounds that evening. The decorations were beautiful, and we were privy to the music and toasts well into the evening.
The outdoor pavilion at Castle Lodge was transformed into a Reception Hall!
The wedding cake looks delicious.
The master of ceremonies keeps the crowd entertained while waiting for the bride and groom to arrive.
This is Agrippa. He is the manager at Castle Lodge. Hands down the friendliest, hardest-working lodge manager in Ndola.
Monday and Tuesday are national holidays, similar to our Veteran’s Day, so the team had the days off. Theresa and Muyunda, however, agreed to come out to Castle Lodge for lunch and an afternoon of meetings with Jen and Rebecca. After lunch, Jen met with Theresa to go over the health of each area of the projects, while Rebecca met with Muyunda to discuss the blog and how to structure his day to make the most of the two days a week that he works at the property. The two had an interesting discussion about how to use his pictures and words to really convey to the folks in the United States (and beyond) what life is like in Kantolomba. Muyunda is a very smart, sensitive person with a very kind heart. He was eager to hear how his blog touches so many people and how to make it even better.
Theresa and Jen - conspiring for the good of the Africa Vulnerable Children Project!
Muyunda is a bright fellow who reads everything he can get his hands on. If you want to know about anything happening in Zambia, ask Muyunda!
Since Sunday and Monday were “days off” and not much was happening, we have the opportunity to share a few photos of the property that didn’t make it into earlier blogs.
These huge bags of charcoal are sold beside the road. The charcoal is hand made by wrapping wood in mud, burning it, and then removing the mud casing. It’s a hard, dirty business.
There are many beautiful and fruitful trees on the Living Compassion property. It was a high priority that no trees would be cut down to build the classrooms and other buildings. This value may not have been widely understood by the cooperative at first, but now, a few years later, we project they understand our commitment not to harm living things.
An avocado tree that yields fruit.
A mango tree on the property that also yields fruit.
Here is a peach tree with little peaches on it. You have to look closely to see them.
Theresa says that the children eat the mulberries from this tree.
This poinsettia tree is at least 20 feet tall!
Tomorrow (Tuesday) is a holiday as well, but we’ve told the team that we will be out there cleaning and painting. We invited anyone who would like to join us. We’ll see who shows up!