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Published: June 19th 2009
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Monica and MaryEllen hauling demolition material from Hidden Voice School18 June
As the group began to recover from jet lag, we visited Hidden Valley School - for special needs students - in one of the local compounds (ghetto). We were there to deliver books and school supplies as well as to interact with the youth. Upon meeting with Sister Maura, we quickly began work on the buiding. We filled cracks in walls, tore down walls, removed a bathtub from a concrete block, took out a door frame, painted inside and out, and built stairs and wheelchair ramps, all with only one shovel, two pieces of piping, an old broken wooden trowel, and sacks to carry our debris. On rest breaks, we interacted with the children and jumped on the mini-trampoline (exercise room size). Overall, a long, dirty, and dusty day that we wouldn´t have traded for anything. We particularly enjoyed having the friars helping throughout the day, and they got a lot of it as well.
19 June
Now that yesterday's hard work was over - for now - we jumped into today thinking that it was to be a day of rest and relaxation, a fun day of play with the students of St. Patrick'school for girls...the resuts
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Anna and Sarah painting a room at Hidden Voice School were more than we expected. We spent the majority of the day visiting with the hundreds of students at the all-girl primary school (grades K-9)...which was excellet for Stephen-the new Zac Ephram of Lusaka. In small groups, we took the time to visit most of the classrooms which was welcomed with abundant songs and dancing. Pictures, games, pictures, autographs, pictures, hacky-sacking, pictures, and more pictures...Sarah, Monica, and Anna were favourites among the schoolgirls. The adults also had a field day bartering at the local market (Grace: Dave has no money left...send more please!). As opposed to the fish heads and tails enjoyed the night prior for dinner; the cooking staff had the mistaken idea that they had the night off, and we improvised with grilled cheese, wine, popcorn, cake, ice-cream, and champagne. With this banquet, we helped celebrate Matt´s 50th Birthday. To the man of the hour: "Mwabombeni!".
A note to the Murray´s- Monica is having a great time, not homesick in the least, and thinking it will be very hard to leave here in 2 weeks! Well this is all for now, we will see who survives the crocodile farm tomorrow!!!!!!!
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Chris Evenson
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Happy Days!
Happy Birthday, Matt! What a memorable one for you! And for all of you....what a blessing to find such joy in such work!