Less then 3 weeks 

What a busy month December was! It’s amazing how fast Christmas comes and goes each year. It was nice to have Tim and Krista here for a couple weeks to bring some “western culture” into the house. Finally, someone laughed when I quoted the office, usually I just get blank stares from the Zambians.

We did two trips last month. One to Botswana and one to Zimbabwe. In Botswana we did 2 land safari’s and a water safari. It was pretty awesome, we saw lions, hippo’s elephants, giraffes, crocodiles, kudu, sabel, cape buffalos, impala, and other animals. We got pretty close to some elephants too, one even did a mock charge at us, which was pretty exciting. Then we took a trip to Zimbabwe to see Victoria Falls from the other side. Krista, Tim and I went white water rafting on the Zambezi river. It was awesome and we were able to see Vic Falls from the bottom. Quite and experience.

A better experience though was one I had on Dec 24th. Timmy Bambeko (one of the sponsored students) and I went to Muyaya compound in the morning. Muyaya would be considered the poorest part of Kalomo. It’s similiar to the Shanty towns we see on TV. We biked to Kalomo with 80 buns in my backpack, ready to give a meal to some people and explain to them what Christmas means to us. Muyaya was dirty, it stunk, there was trash everywhere, and the houses were mostly mud huts.

One house we stopped at had a family of 9. I had actually met one of the kids before, Elvis, as he was collecting bottles in Kalomo. Timmy and I visited with the family for a bit, explaining to them that Christmas is the day we celebrate the Birth of Jesus Christ, and why that’s important. We had a nice conversation with them and then I handed the Mom the buns. They were so thankful for the food. I packed a couple tennis balls in my bag to give to some kids. I handed 2 tennis balls to the Mom and told her to give them to her children Christmas morning for a present. Since the kids were already sitting with us they saw and heard me telling the Mom this. The jumped up and started screaming and came and jumped on me. I don’t think I have ever seen such excitement in kids before… and it was only tennis balls.

Later that day we went to the blind and disabled community of Siamakakata. My family had given me money to spend on people here, to help them out. I decided to take some of that money and use it to buy supplies for the 8 families staying there. Each bag consisted of sugar, soap, vegetable oil, cabbage, lotion, rice, and some mangos. We gathered in the church for some songs and prayer and then I handed the “presents” out. Again, they were so thankful for the gifts they were receiving. Giving truely is better then receiving.

On Christmas Day all of the people from the compound/village gathered at the church. We had a service sang some songs and had some skits. It was fun. Then we all shared in a meal together. They cook a special meal for Christmas… Chicken and rice. There are no presents, no tree’s, no lights, and things like that. For them, it’s celebrating the brith of Jesus, and sharing some time together. We then went to Plateau village and played a couple matches of soccer against the surronding villages. It was a good day.

Seeing how I am getting worse and worse at writing on my blog this will probably be the last post. I want to wish all my friends and family a Merry Christmas and a new year full of blessings!

-Taylor

The much awaited arrival of Tim and Krista happened about a week ago. It has been nice to have some people from my own culture, and my own age here. We have been busy visiting the hospital, fixing things on the farms and visiting some orphanages. We visited one today called the “Haven” There were about 80 kids all together in the 3 houses. Truthfully, it was a pretty frustrating “shaking your head” kind of experience. All three of us got the impression that the aunties thought they didn’t have to do much cause we were there to help. We were constantly telling them to change the babies and feed them properly. Although it must be difficult for them to try to care for the large amounts of orphans.

I don’t have time to write much because I am late for our soccer practice, but since it is the halfway point I figured I would sum up what I have enjoyed most here. The english and Bible teaching I have been doing at Siambalumbe has been great. I have been playing soccer and leading a young adults group from the village which has been a good way to connect with the people from around here. I guess you could say my favourite part has been the people. Of course the orphans here are adorable. Although with the good comes the bad. People aren’t like starving here, but there definitely not overfed. Its sad to see the lack of education, and resources lead to lives being shortened or not even beginning. It has been a challenge to try to give because it creates a sense of dependency and laziest.

I look forward to the second half. We have lots planned including a Safari and hopefully a street service in the poorest part of Kalomo on Dec 24, and a lot more.

-Taylor

James 4:8 “Draw close to God and He will draw close to you”

Timmy from the orphanage!

Dr.Procyshen….. Or at least this past week is as close to being a Doctor as I’ll ever be! 

I think I saw two things that will stick with me forever. One was the beginning of life and the other was the ending of one… Sue took me to the Kalomo Hospital last week to follow around some of the doctors and see what goes on there. The hospital is nothing like one we are used too, infact, many houses at home are bigger then the hospital here. There are essentially four rooms. Maternity ward, mens and womens wards and a childrens ward. There aren’t many beds in each room so often times they put mattresses on the floor for patients to stay in the ward.  

I spent more time in the childrens ward where most of the babies/children were in there because of malnutrition. One of the babies was suffering from something the doctors didn’t have an answer for. The baby was a yellowish colour (so something in the liver) and was coughing up black stuff (I’m assuming old blood). At the time I was in there the baby started seizuring. The Mom could do nothing but hold her until the epidermal came. I looked at the mother as she was quietly sobbing holding her child, my heart broke as there was nothing I could do for her except put my hand on her shoulder and whisper to her I would pray for her family. Because of the lack of Doctors and technology here this child really didn’t have a chance, and sure enough a couple days later she died.  I don’t think I’ll ever forget the look on the mothers face as she held her siezuring daughter with tears in her eyes.

Yesterday I was at the Namwaingan clinic, where I followed around the clinical officer (basically your acting doctor) There were only three people on staff.. two nurses and him. It was a Tuesday so that meant it was HIV day. Almost every patient we saw was HIV positive. This also meant that 1 of the nurses was busy handing out the medication and doing check ups for these people. So there were really only 2 people that could do anything… And sure enough a lady who was about to give birth walked into the clinic and Mr.Sekaletee (the guy I was with) had to deliver the baby.. and I went with.

I don’t think I quite have the stomach to be a Doctor so I wasn’t sure I wanted to be there, but if he needed help with something, I really was the only available person. So I went with. I stood off to the ladies side so I wouldn’t get in the way, but close enough to get the effect of it. She was pushing for a little while and then out came the baby and I was amazed. It was hard for me to comprehend that this being had been inside this ladies stomach. And in 9 months it literally went from being nothing into a person. It’s like nothing I have ever witnessed.

Mr.Sekaletee picked up the baby cut the chord weighed it then wrapped it up. He set it down on one of the beds and went back to finish up with the lady. I went over to the bed and just looked at the baby and a sense of awe just kinda fell over me. I have heard people say the greatest moment of their life was seeing there child being born, and I never could understand that.. until now. I had no attachment to this boy but I was just amazed by it. I just sat there in silence as I watched him move his arms arounds ever so slowly. It truely is a Miracle.

The Adventure continues…

-Taylor

Victoria Falls….

We headed to Livingstone and Victoria falls this past week for a two day “get away”. It was just Rich, Sue and I. We headed there early Wednesday morning. Livingstone is a very touristy place because of Victoria Falls, Safaria’s and other things they offer. Vic Falls is only about 10 km outside of Livingstone.

We stopped in at one of the hotels, it is probably the most expensive one in all of Zambia, costing over 700 American dollars a night. They had an outdoor restraunt/sitting area where we went and had a drink. You could see from our spot the mist coming up from the Falls. We also caught a glimpse of some Hippos! After our stop there we went to Victoria Falls Park.

By this time last year this area had 6x’s as much rain as we have had now. Some are saying it might be a drought this year. Because of this, the Falls weren’t as “spectacular” as they are during the rainy season. I was still pretty amazed by them. Infact, it was kinda nice that is was the dry season because we were able to walk on the rocks where the water is usually pouring over. And of course, I had to get as close to the edge as possible and dangle my feet over the 300 foot drop into the river below.. Rich and Sue weren’t quite as daring…. or impressed haha. In a way, I was really happy we went during the dry season because we got to venture the side that is usually closed off because of the rushing water. We will head back again during the rainy season to see Vic falls as it is advertised.

After walking the edge for sometime we found a nice swimming area where we eagerly plunged into the waters. It was very refreshing after walking around in +45 heat. After we looked around a bit more we decided to head back to our camp spot. On the way back he saw some elephants walking by the road. Much to my surpise they really aren’t as big as I thought they were. I think they are a different breed then what we see on t.v. back home.

We camped the night and then headed home the next day. During the night I awoke the sound of a Baboon screaming. It was honestly the loudest scream I had ever heard. It was a good thing I brought my pocket knife into the tent to protect us…

The rest of the week was pretty slow. Everyone kinda came down with a stomach virus that made it hard for us to really do anything. But everyone seems to be over it now. I think I managed to add a picture to this blog. If it’s the right one it is a picture of me and Timmy, one of the orphan kids. It easy to see why they are so lovable!

Micah 6:8 “Seek justice, love mercy, walk humbly with our God”

-Taylor 

From Snakes to Chameleon’s to meeting with some of the Orphans Families and African Dancing parties this week seemed to have it all! I’ll try to keep it brief and include only the important things.

We started the week off by visiting Timmy and Molly’s parents (3 yr old twins that live here) This was the first time I had been really upset over what I saw. The Mom and Dad were not there but there 3 kids were (the mom is pregnant with the umpteenth child) The children were dressed in rags, and dirty. The house was a thatch house with not much to it. When talking to the children (Edwin, Junior and Godfrey) they seemed so sad. There eyes were down and there voice’s were soft. My heart broke as I left these kids, and also angry that the parents seem to be so irresponsible. How blessed I am for the family I have.

We also paid a visit to the clinic in Namwagian with the babies to get some check ups done, and then to the World Vision office, where I will be spending a couple days with them sometime in the future visiting villages and seeing what there all about. I am really looking forward to that.

On Friday Rich and I were judges at the school reading contests. We had Pre schoolers- Grade 6 at the competition. They were from the surrounding schools of Siabalumbee (The school we teach) Good Hope, Mutala, and Nalablumba. We had them read a couple verses from the bible and then had a whole grading scheme. The thing about Zambia is that nothing ever goes according to plan. or on time. It’s just the way things are here. It can be very frustrating coming from place where time is very important to a place where things start and get done when they start and get done.

Saturday was quite the day! I saw and killed my first snake! I was so excited. Our gardener (Mr.Biswell) saw the snake slither right infront of him, so he grabbed a brick and threw it at the snake. It basically cut the snake in half, but it was still hanging together by a thread. All I have talked about is wanting to kill just one snake. That was one of my only goals here.

So they ran inside and started yelling at me to come outside. I figured it had to be a snake with the urgency in there voices. So I sprinted to the door and to where they pointed too. And sure enough was a green snake about 1.5 feet long, and pretty skinny. We think it was a Green Momba, but we aren’t sure. We will go with Green Momba cause it makes me sound more heroic. It was still kinda slithering around but was badly injuried. I grabbed a stick from one of the rooms and picked it up. The front half was still moving pretty good and I couldn’t really control it on the stick. So I repeatedly gave it blows to the head to 1) Make sure that it was actually dead and 2) To make sure I would get credit for the Kill. I then picked it up (with the stick) and threw it into the outdoor furnance. Am I am hero? I can’t really say.. but yes.. I am

It’s hard to top the day when you start out by stroking something off the bucket list, but I was invited to play in a volleyball tourney, which actually turned out to be nothing like I expected. I thought I was going to Choma to play in a fairly comepetitive event.  I couldn’t have been more wrong. Turns out the English celebrate this event where a man (some 200 years ago) tried to burn down the paraliment building. I know.. strange. So we went to this place where it was all White Zambians (which also surprised me) and had some sort of celebration/party. This is where the “volleyball” tournament happened. To be honest I was pretty dissapointed with how the day went cause I was expecting to get involved in some intense competition… And then the music started.

Some people reading this know that I think I am a pretty good dancer (which im not). So the night was winding down and then they turned on the music and said a dance was starting. Sure enough a couple people started trickiling to the dance floor and it begun. Some of the people I came up with started dancing. I stayed out of it for about 30 minutes and then decided to join them. It was either dance with a whole bunch of people I didn’t know, or sit and watch a whole bunch of people I don’t know dance.

I started slow but by the end of the night I was using my patent moves. It doesn’t hurt when they play Cotton Eyed Joe either. But they also played some African songs, and I had some of the locals teach me to dance like them. I had a blast, I even got the limbo started! The group I was with must have danced for a solid 2 hours!

Each week seems to get better and I am looking forward to Victoria falls this coming week!

-Taylor

What a week it has been. Seems like it just flew by. I have been in Zambia for almost two weeks now. On one hand it seems like it has gone by so fast, on the other hand, I am feeling comfortable enough with the surroundings and people that it seems like I have been here for months. We got the first bits of rain this week, it was a nice change for the sorching heat that has been relentless the past week. A new season is on the horizon.

The school visits have been a lot of fun, I am really enjoying my time with the kids teaching them english. When we visited Nalabumba the Grade 7’s were writing exams. Exams are very important in Zambia. If you get caught cheating on an exam in highschool, you face the possibility of being thrown in jail for 5 years!!! If that was true I would have 100’s of years of jail time banked up. I visited one classroom that didn’t have a teacher with them. So it only made sense for me to teach them the Hokey Pokey. The kids here really seem to think I am fun, I think it’s mostly because I am a Mukowa (white person) and I look so strange.

I got my first up close experience with some of the critters here. There are these small lizards all around the house. They aren’t very big and are harmless, but I really wanted to catch one. The other day I managed to corner one. I was ready to pick it up when I got scared. I mean, it is a lizard and all. But I decided to go for it. I grabbed it in my hand and it tried to escape. They are fast little buggers so I was juggaling it around. I also was screaming a bit, much to the delight of the people I was working with. The interesting things about these lizards is that a defense mechanism it uses is it loses its tail. And sure enough, it lost its tail…. but I gained a tale to tell. The next animal I plan to capture is a monkey

The power goes out everyday here. The last couple of days it has been really bad though. It was out for 24 hours one day, and we started loosing water because there was a crack in the container. So we had to be very cautious about our water consumption, as we were close to having none.

Yesterday was one of the more memorable days so far. I have been given the oppurtunity to lead the teenagers in the village in a small group/bible study. On Sundays we do the bible study and on Saturdays we just get together to hang out. Yesterday we had our “first” hang out. It was fun, we played soccer. I decided to be goalie because they are much better then me at the sport. But I was able to observe some interesting things. The field we played on was literally a field. We had one net made of metal and no actual mesh. The other net was two sticks. Most of them played bare foot on a field full of thistles and thorns. And the soccer ball has had much use. But with all the things they didn’t have, they sure did enjoy playing. I’ll try to give a visual for those at home. It would be like playing street hockey on a road with pot holes, broken pavent, gravel and sharp stones laying around, running in our bare feet. The nets are clumps of rocks, and the ball we use is a old tennis ball mostly used for fetch. The sticks we use are more like branches cut to resemble sticks. I don’t think the “metaphor” does it justice, but you get my point.

I’ll try to post pictures one day, but I am afraid I’ll crash the internet… not just for our house but all of Zambia.

-Taylor

Today is Zambia’s Independence Day. 46 years of independence. So to commorate the day, the school’s have the kids put on skits or plays or things like that. We went to Ciablalumbe school. It is the school we go to on Tuesdays and Thursdays to teach the kids english. They had dances and competitions  (I won the weight lifting one, I lifted a crank shaft over my head 51 times to secure the win) and all sorts of things. I decided to dance for the kids during intermission, they were a hard crowd to please, but I won them over with the worm.

Then after we finished there, I rode my bike down to the Namwangian Mission campus. I joined in a game of volleyball. I don’t know if they actually wanted me to play and very well could have been bad mouthing me in Tongian. On my way back my bike broke down, I had a flat tire and my back spokes broke. I had to walk the rest of the way dragging my bike.

It will be a busy week coming up. We go to the Nalabumba school tomorrow, and then Wednesday we are handing out shoes to kids. I am excited for that day. I am starting to find my niche here. Other then it being +44 the last two days. I am very grateful I get to shower each day.

One last thought- I was working with the gardener a couple days ago, Biswell is his name, and we got to having a nice conversation. He said something that has stuck with me. He told me that there family prays for electricity every night…. What a thing to pray for. The only thing I have done with electricity is curse it when it goes out during Monday Night Football…. How fortunate we are

-Taylor

I arrived in Livingston yesterday. Other than stepping in a pile of throw up from a kid, the travelling went pretty smooth. It’s pretty hot here.. not like melting hot, but still hot enough (I think its 34C right now) Rich and Sue’s farm house is really nice, it really is luxury compared to everywhere else. I’m fortunate

My culture has been shocked.  I can’t even really explain, it’s just something you need to see. For example I saw 20 times as many people walking on the highway from Livingston to Kalomo then cars. There are huts everywhere, and it just seems like people are everywhere too, in the most desolate places.

The orphans are great. There are 12 babies, and then two younger ones: Timmy and Molly who are 3. Timmy is sitting on my lap right now, he is quickly becoming my favourite. Also jack, Twombo, Aggie and Theodora live here, they are older, highschool age.

I have seen a handful of spiders and lizards, none in my room yet but its only a matter of time…

-Taylor

Heading to Zambia Africa in 5 days