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It's hard to believe that we are down to our last couple days here. Over the last couple days the progress continued happening on the washrooms and on the painting in the existing building. The work here is a slow process because things seem to take way longer than they need to and we are often waiting on materials so the work can continue.

We continue getting to know the children and spending time with them and playing with them during our down times through the day. I find this to be the highlight of my days here. It's a blessing to see their smiling faces each day as they run to greet us each morning and the mob that waves and even chases after us each day when we leave. One of the things I noticed most is the respect the kids show by shaking your hand when they meet you each day, but they are in need of guidelines and parameters as there seems to be few adults that interact with them during the day. From what I've heard, they really don't get this much attention on a regular basis.

Besides painting, shoveling, mixing mortar etc. I've also spent time singing songs with the kids and teaching them some more English through these songs, both action songs and some Bible songs too. I also enjoy teaching them games even with just a basic ball that the kids actually make from materials they find. This is something else I've noticed, they are very crafty with what they find...what we would find to be garbage they treat as treasures.

It's also been great to connect with some of the teachers and to learn about their ways here. I hope to stay in touch with them and do what I can to supply them with some of the needs they have at Harmony Christian School. As of now some of their needs are: -childrens books to create a library (they have no books in their school), teaching resources (teacher guides, classroom manipulatives for young children, teaching posters). My church is planning on shipping a container to Zambia some time in the fall and my hope is to collect as many items as I can to include in this shipment to supply this school with some of these resources, especially children's books as so many students say they like reading but they don't have access to books.

Today a small group of us went with Victor and Kenneth (2 of the workers from Christ's Hope Mission) to one of the support groups called "Care and Compassion". These support groups are for those affected by HIV or AIDS, or those who have lost family members to this disease. I was so thankful to see this group of different ages from young children to those in their late 50's and meet these amazing people who are there for each other as they go through life with a terrible disease. Each person contributes in different ways to the group both financially, emotionally and spiritually. They pool their money together and give to those who are in need of food, medications, clothing etc. The government in Zambia does provide the medication but the difficult part is that for the medication to work effectively you need to have a balanced diet and for most Zambians this can be a huge challenge. This was a very tight group of people and it's so nice to see how they support each other. Victor goes to visit them weekly and prays with them and gives them encouragement. Another challenge for these people is that there is still a stigma against those who have HIV/AIDS, even in a country where it is so prevalent.

Christ's Hope has 3 main initiatives-the school, care and compassion and a teaching component within the high schools to teach the importance of "Choosing to Wait" with the hopes to educating young people to the choice they have in preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS and keeping themselves for the one they will one day marry.

Out of all my mission trips, this has been the one that has been the most eye opening as the poverty here is great and the need is so huge. It has really made me appreciate all that I have, but also how unnecessary so much of what we have really is to life, especially when they seem so happy.

On Saturday morning we will be heading out pretty early on a bus trip to Lusaka where we have a chartered plane that will take us into a reserve where we will be staying for 2 nights on a safari. We are quite excited about this. We will return on Monday night and then on Tuesday morning we will head to the airport in Ndola for our return to Canada.

I hope to do one more entry before we head home, but if not, I will add some more pictures from home!

Hope you enjoy the pictures from the last few days.

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