The End Has Come!

It is with mixed emotion that I am beginning to write my last posting for this blog. A trip that was a year in the making is now nearing completion.

As I write this I am sitting in the Amsterdam airport at 9:00 am local time which translates to 2:00 am Lloydminster time. For most on my mind is my desire to get home and connect with my family whom I have missed immensely.

A large part of this experience was to try and truly understand how fortunate we really are. After 18 days in a continent half way across the world I can truly say that I am blessed to have a wonderful family whom I love a great deal, a career that is challenging and rewarding, a community that is supportive, safe, and nurturing for our children, and a country that values diversity, standards, and democracy. For these things I am truly grateful!

My time in Africa has challenged me in many ways. Preconceived notions I carried of the continent have been shattered. My views on; the provision of aid within Africa, poverty, AIDS and the health crisis, and African education, have all shifted significantly based on what I have seen and heard.

Keeping the blog has been a challenge at times due to sketchy Internet service and pure exhaustion, but the comments back from readers have been very encouraging!

I have much to share with you once we arrive home. I have taken nearly 1000 pictures and videos, and my head is full of facts, figures, and stories that I know you will enjoy.

This trip has challenged all aspects of my being, and I truly feel that it has helped me mature and become more aware of the benefits and challenges of cross cultural interactions. I certainly have a greater appreciation for our immigrant families who are new to Lloydminster, trying to carve out a new life in a strange land.

In closing I would like to thank my support network back home that made this trip possible:
Brenda and the girls and their daily text messages which were very encouraging and motivating. The LPSD Board of Education and Admin team for allowing me to attend and covering off during my absence. And last but no least, the many friends and community members within LPSD and FBC that have been encouraging myself and my family during these last three weeks.

To all of you Thank-You for your role in this once in a lifetime experience!!

I have attached a few of my favorite pictures for you to enjoy!

Our Partner School In Mngwere

Tuesday morning was a morning we all were looking forward to! We had arranged to meet Ivy (a hands at work staff member), and two volunteers Meriah (Canadian), and Melissa (Australian), to take us out to the village in Mngwere, where we would be met by Francis a local organizer and care worker.

Francis was a delightful, soft spoken Malawian man who retired from a career in Agriculture, and now is deeply invested as a volunteer supporting the widows and orphans in his community.

The first stop on our visit was to tour the first of two local primary schools. We were introduced to the Principal and some of the staff before Francis arranged to have all the orphan children come out to meet us. In this school there were about 500 students of which 120 were orphans. The orphan children were distinguished by a green dress for the girls, and green shirt for the boys. All the boys and girls also wore a red sweater with an embroidered crest.

The second stop on our tour was the second primary school in the area. This school served approximately 400 students from grades 1-9, of which about 200 were orphan children. Unfortunately for us many of the orphan children were away on Tuesday due to a severe Malaria outbreak within the school. In this school, the children wore the same red sweater but a blue dress or shirt.

The third stop on our tour was the "Hands At Work" Care Center. This is a two building complex within the village that orphan students attend after school (approximately 12:00) to receive a nutritional meal, play games with staff, or get support with their homework. Upon our arrival we were greeted by the entire community team of approximately 30 men and woman who actively volunteer their time and services. Over the next hour Francis walked us through their model for supporting the orphans and widows and provided us with an opportunity to ask questions. Out of the questions it became clear that there are many more orphan children within the villages than the organization can possibly support! A fact that presents a strong case for more support!

We finished off our time in Mngwere by having the children view the video that was produced by Skye about life at LCHS. This was a neat moment in our day as kids were riveted to the I Pad and the images. I could not help but be reminded while playing the video of how different the two worlds inhabited by these groups of students really is! In a lot of ways the images on the video were irrelevant to the students in Mngwere, just as a video of an orphan students life would be irrelevant to the students at LCHS. Simply stated these life realities are simply worlds apart!

Our day ended with an opportunity to take pictures with the care workers and to get a personal picture with Francis as we passed over the money and friendship bracelets that were sent by the wonderful "Hands At Work" Team at LCHS!

I feel very blessed to have been able to play a small part in the exchange of cultural information that took place in Mngwere. For many of the village children I was the first Mzungu (white) man they had ever seen!

I am very proud of our students and staff for all the work they do in supporting these vulnerable children. I can say with great conviction that the work you are doing is making a difference, and is greatly appreciated! It is with great pride that I close this posting by saying....WELL DONE LCHS!!

Malawi...Small but Beautiful

We arrived at our destination in Malawi at 2:30 Saturday afternoon after a 9.5 hour drive. The last two hours we paralleled Lake Malawi which is approximately 750 Km's long and 125 Km's wide. We were staying on the west side of the lake (Florence Bay) which is surrounded by a mountain range which makes for beautiful scenery, but slow driving!

Malawi is about a third of Zambia's size but has twice the population (14,000,000), making for a very congested country! Malawi according to GDP is considered the second poorest country in the world. The people of northern Malawi speak Timbuktu. One of our group members, pastor Ta's full first name is Taunga which ironically means "Thank-you"in Timbuktu...talk about a "natural in" with the people!

The mission base we spent two nights at is just getting established and therefore had no accommodations other than large tents on the beach of the lake which set up some beautiful views (pictures are attached below).

While we were in Malawi we attended a traditional African church which had mostly women and children in attendance. The music was fantastic! Pastor Ta was asked to speak at the service through an interpreter and did a great job! After the service we walked through the village, met the headman, and got to see how the village processed fish that were caught.

It was very windy both days we were in Malawi so we did not get to witness the men coming in from fishing, which apparently is quite a site. The men use hollowed out tree trunks for canoes and generally set their nets in groups of three each night. Two canoes are used to secure each end of the net while the third canoe uses a lantern to spot and attract fish. Once spotted the two net canoes cast the net and drag it through the fish. When the men have a great catch they return to shore, often in the dark of the early morning, and bang their paddles on the canoes to signal the woman of the village to come down and retrieve the fish.

Malawi is known as "The warm heart of Africa" and certainly our experience with the people in the north of the country would seem to support that claim!

On Monday morning we will be leaving the lake at 6:00 and starting our 12 hour journey to southern Malawi, and the town of Dedza. Tuesday we will be visiting the people from"Hands At Work", who the students at LCHS have partnered with.

A Crazy Drive to Malawi!

Saturday morning was not like a typical weekend sleep in as we were up and on the road to Malawi at 5:00.

The road to Malawi is quite different than the road to Kalungu but certainly as memorable! In Africa they use the term road very loosely, and road can often mean trail, or in this case mud bog!

The journey to Malawi spans approximately 600 km's of which the first 93 took us 3.25 hours to travel! The night before we left the area received heavy rains and the road was very muddy and washed out in places. This is not the type of road you want to get stuck on as it is scarcely travelled and their is no town or major community within a 60 km radius. There were many times during our morning drive that I was sure we were going to get stuck and not make it to Malawi but some great driving and a little bit of divine intervention got us to the other side without any issues!

The road passes through countless small villages which are occupied with people who live on small farms and have a daily income of approximately $2.00 per day. These villages have not been touched by modern day influences such as television, or the internet and in many cases their residences have little to no contact with the outside world other than by cell phones which are every where, and work every where, within Africa.

I have posted a few pictures of the road we travelled just to give you a taste of our adventure!

Kalungu

Friday was spent at the Kalungu rest camp observing the work they are doing in the local village. The Kalungu center was very similar to the center we visited earlier in the week except they did not have their own school.

In Kalungu the training center partners with the local government school which serves students in grades 1-9. We did have an opportunity to visit the school while we were there and were given a tour by the assistant principal. Students were not present as they had just been released for a one month holiday.

The Kalungu school serves just over 900 students and each class has from 50 to 100 students! Students attend school either in the morning or afternoon in order to accommodate lower class sizes. The school building is quite run down and most classrooms are slightly smaller than classrooms in Canada.

Teachers in Zambia are dispatched to a school when they complete their training and must complete at least three years in their initial posting prior to applying for a transfer. This system of teacher deployment leads to a number of teacher changes each and every year in small rural schools like Kalungu!

I have posted some pictures of the school below...

Animal Sightings in Kalungu...

We saw a spitting Cobra which is able to spit it's venom 6 feet very accurately. The snake aims for the victims eyes and causes the victim to experience significant pain but not death.

We observed soldier ants which eat termites! These ants march in single file lines to a food source, devour it, and then return to their home. You do not want to end up on their path or they will bite which is very painful.

Kalungu...What A Drive!

Today (Thursday) we woke at 3:30 in the morning and departed for Kalungu at 4:00. The road to Kalungu is paved for the entire 900 km journey, however the potholes are unbelievable! During the trip we were given a real introduction to driving in Africa! At times during the drive it was impossible to tell what side of the road we were suppose to be driving on as people simply pushed their way around potholes, and children who would be in the middle of the road trying to sell Maize, Chickens, Fruit, or Charcoal. At one point during our journey a young child actually turned from a vehicle he was pressuring for a sale and ended up running into the side of our truck!

The road we travelled was filled with semi-trucks who were hauling fuel from Tanzania to the Copper belt in Zambia. Conservatively I would say we either passed or met one thousand big trucks during the day. The heavy traffic and thin pavement lead to major potholes! The potholes lead to many accidents and roll overs as the road is littered with trucks, sea cans, and fuel trailers left to remind people to slow down. This is a road you never want to travel at night as a vehicle simply could not sustain the impact of hitting many of these potholes.

We arrived safely in Kalungu at 5:00...this was one drive I will never forget!

A Day in the Village!

We just arrived back from a day in a traditional African village. What an experience!

The day started with us being introduced to a community worker who is supported by the mission base in establishing agricultural and educational practice within the villages. Our workers name was Felix. We spent the first hour and a half working with groups of about 25 children singing songs, playing games, and just encouraging the children to be active. We then left and were taken to the hut of the village Headman who controls the coming and going within the village. The language they speak here is Lumba and most of the conversations today were in Lumba, and then translated for us. The headman blessed our presence in the village and then sent his nephew to tour us around and meet the various families. At about 11:00 we left our first village and walked about a kilometre to the next village where we were greeted by a family who was hosting us for a traditional Lumba lunch. From 11:30 until 1:30 we sat on chairs outside under the shade of a Mango tree and just visited. Relationship building is a huge part of the Lumba culture and time is almost irrelevant. This pause in our day was a challenge for all of us, as we are not use to just sitting in one spot and simply "being there".

At 1:30 we were invited into their house for lunch. In the Lumba culture, the sharing of food is very important and symbolic of a relationship being developed. To not accept what is placed before you, or to not try something, would be considered a huge insult. The lunch was composed of a number of local vegetable dishes (including cabbage), Shumi, and Kepunta. To start the meal the female of the house brings around a basin of water and has each person wash their hands. She then begins bringing the food around one dish at a time and dishing it for the guests. The Shumi, which is Maize, looks like a mashed potato pattie and had very little taste, the vegetable dishes were nothing like our dishes at home and had a very distinctive taste to them. The Kepunta is a mash of tiny minnow sized fish that includes their heads and bodies...yes that is right, eye balls and all. The Kepunta was quite foul tasting and it was all I could do to eat it and keep it down.

We then sat in the house for another hour and just relaxed. At times we visited and at other times we just sat in silence. Again this is quite counter cultural for us Canadians and all of us were feeling a little uncomfortable with this different perspective on how to use your day.

At 2:30 we did a tour of the second village and met a number of other families. Once again all of the people were very welcoming and made us feel quite at home.

Today was a really good day to reflect and evaluate on our "task focused" nature and the importance of relationships. I think there is some learning that we can take from the Lumba culture specifically; the need to slow down, invest time in those that are near to you, and to not get so busy focusing on a destination that you forget the journey.

All in all...today was a great experience!

Tomorrow morning we are driving further north into Zambia and I will have no internet access until at least Monday night. I will ensure I write a post on Monday about our time in Northern Zambia and Malawi which we will visit on Sunday.

The picture below is from our time yesterday working with the children of a local trading centre.