The retreat we began the day we arrived back at the Monastery finished today. We are aware of being blessed with the varied opportunities life provides. We turn our attention back to telling the tale of the end of our trip.
In looking over the photos from our last work day in Kantolomba, we realize that we inadvertently captured perfectly “A Day in the Life of Living Compassion in Kantolomba.” How fun.
Enjoy:
Last day: We bought the sewing machines (!) and headed out to Kantolomba. We knew there was excitement about the machines but were unprepared for the very moving regalia of song and dance as we arrived with the new purchases.
The singing and dancing continued as the boxes were brought inside the sewing room. We only wish our generous grant-writer, who secured the money for the machines, could have been there to witness this!
A technician from the shop where we bought the machines accompanied us to the property. He wasted no time getting to the job of setting them up, and Muyunda jumped right in to assist.
Meanwhile, much of the team was busy with their daily task of feeding 400 children
Being a part of the Sangha and knowing what it is like to follow the project from afar, Tracey had been looking for an opportunity to get more photos of the children eating—a very moving part of the project for donors to see where their funds are making such a difference. She and Theresa look into one of the lunch rooms.
Washing hands before heading into the meal.
The cooks waiting for the plates to arrive to serve.
The youngest students (“the baby class”) wait patiently. We are always amazed at the lack of chaos as they wait.
Food at last. Impressive how much nchima (the ground maize that is the staple of the Zambian diet) they can eat!
The students who attend local government schools, and who are graduates of our pre-school and continue to come to us for lunch each day, begin to arrive.
After lunch Tracey takes the opportunity to get some portraits of our young friends. Remember Twaibu? He’s been in the program since he was itty bitty.
Twaibu and friend.
Mercy (our 6th grade genius)
Like most of his peers, this little guy has the leftovers from his lunch packed up to take home to share with relatives. This helps to explain how they can disappear that much nchima.
AND, while all this feeding is in process, there are other happenings all over the property. Here Jen is meeting with the financial team: Jen, Martha, Veronica
Muyunda went to collect a banner painted by Beatrice’s (a member of the cooperative) husband. The banner was commissioned by John, a man in the Sangha who is climbing a mountain in Alaska to raise money for the project. He will display this banner (pictured here with the artist, Duncan, holding it) when he reaches the top. AND, very fun, we decided when John is finished with it he will sign it, date it, say where it has been, and then send it back to us so we can pass it along to the next person who will take it on a fundraising adventure. Let us know if you would like to sign it out.
Meanwhile, back in the sewing room the technician has gotten the first machine up and running. Here he gives Georgina and Nelly a demonstration.
Everyone MUST have a try. First Georgina.
Then Nelly.
Ethel.
Tracey arrives in time to have a turn.
Finally it is time for the adults to eat lunch. After lunch we had a VERY fun plan. In fact, we can’t believe it has never occurred to us before. We had a family gathering. Every member of the cooperative asked their families to come to the property. That’s a LOT of people!
But wait, just as family members began gathering, Wezzy, the iConnect internet engineer who was supposed to be there at 10am, showed up. He and Muyunda climbed a tree to get up onto the roof of the main building to assess whether we can get past the surrounding hills and trees in order to connect with the signal from iConnect’s antenna on the top of Ndola Central Hospital in town. Jokingly, we asked Wezzy how many installation jobs he had to climb trees for. Without hesitation he responded, “Only about 2 in 10.” Oh right, we’re in Zambia—getting creative to make things work, saying yes to life, comes very easily. While it does look like the internet could work, there is quite a bit of legwork needed and we have tabled that for the August trip.
As the families arrive, Muyunda, back from picking up the banner, has the brilliant idea to take portraits of each family group. See, we told you we are optimistic about our new reporter. You can see here, he is particular about arranging the photo just so. For those who would like you can view all the portraits at the end of the blog.
Regina and a granddaughter wait their turn.
Tracey comes over, recognizing Regina from our summer trip 2007, the last time Tracey was here and the year we met Regina. At the time Regina had a gruesome sore on her left ankle that had gotten so infected and deep it had become life threatening. Living Compassion intervened with the funds and education needed to take care of the infection. Tracey was amazed to see how it had healed completely.
Tracey remembered that the clinic where we took Regina for the sore had told Regina she would need to come every day for 30 days to have it cleaned out. Regina told Tracey, as they looked at it today, that in fact it was 90 days! We were there to witness the unspeakable pain each time the sore was cleaned out so the word heroic really does not even adequately describe Regina’s recovery. Now, a little drum roll for this next photo is in order… After all the family portraits were taken, we got the WHOLE group to gather on the lawn. And there it was, the entire group of folks who are directly benefitting from this extraordinary endeavor. We ask you to stop to take that in. These are the lives that are being transformed through your participation, through their hard work, through our global community.
And this does not even include the 400 children in the food program. Imagine the ripple effect from this group of people being able to financially sustain themselves!
With the photos complete we had a little celebration with salty snacks we brought along. Very popluar. Here is Nelly with her stash to pass out to her family.
Little Jen snacking, much happier now that posing for photos was over.
Just as we were finishing up our celebration our new community nurse, Rose, arrived.
We gathered the whole team so we could formally introduce Rose. She talked a bit about what services she can offer the community and each member of the coop introduced themselves to her. After that we all went about finishing up the business of the day.
Foster and Beauty went back to knitting, working to finish up the hats and booties we will deliver to Jasmine back in Canada as samples for her business plan.
Some of the team get back to a fence mending project they had been working on.
While others finish up the day’s dishes.
The sewers do as the knitters and race to put finishing touches on the baby blankets.
And Jen meets with Duncan, Beatrice’s eldest child. He is 20 years old and very bright. He is now in grade 12, delayed due to lack of funds barring him from enrolling in several of the last years of school. As of January he is the recipient of a scholarship through the new Living Compassion scholarship program. He and Jen spoke of his ambition to become President of Zambia. He has had this vision since he was in grade 4. He showed us his campaign poster for 2031. The poster reads: Moto: Lifting Zambia to higher levels. Fighting: Poverty, corruption, HIV/Aids, lack of employment. Mission: Excellence is the heart of an excelling nation. We decided we have very similar visions. He invited Jen to come stay at the Presidential State House for 6 months in 2032. We fully intend to take him up on this offer!
Meanwhile the kids have all gone home and changed out of their uniforms into “street clothes” and are back to stay in on the action at the property.
Our old friend Agness.
Playing on the lawn.
Just outside the property a funeral truck goes by—a very common scene here. The cemetery next door sees the burial of at least 3 people every day. It is a grim reminder that the age expectancy in Zambia hovers around 33.
The day is coming to a close. Foster delivers the hats and booties.
Tracey, Nelly and Georgina proudly pose with the first official sewing cooperative order form. It is something they created together so local customers can come and get quotations for a job, a date for completion and a receipt. We ordered some bags to put up on the Sangha Market site and have our official receipt to prove it. In fact, we are using this order to test the cost and time it will take to ship from Zambia to the U.S.
Jen, Anna and Veronica winding down for the day. Note Veronica is holding her Grade 12 lesson books. She is another of the Living Compassion scholarship recipients and will sit for grade 12 exams (they follow the British system of education) in the fall. We looked at her books and are deeply grateful we do not have to do the work—can’t even remember what many of the math symbols mean!
And Violet. Who could forget Violet? Blog veterans know she had one tooth when we first met her. She now wears shiny white dentures, completely unheard of in Kantolomba, as a result of the work of the projects.
And 50 photos later our day and another wonderful trip are complete. We sit quietly and enjoy one another’s company, mostly not talking. We simply share the joy of participating in transformation. (Pretty soon we are going to start giving you quizzes to see if you can name the faces in the photos) Bernadette, Beatrice, Angela, Agness, Martha Eugenia, Mabel, Lucy, Beauty, Suzen, who is that Musungu??, Foster
We look forward to gathering again in blog format in August. Stay well, all those on both sides of the Atlantic.