Pushing Through Term 2

Hi friends,

We are now in the middle of Term 2...half-term break is coming in a week and a half, and we are a bit tired, especially since the two guys who help Jason in the dorm left for 10 days on a trip to help another Liebenzell missionary put a roof on their house, leaving Jason alone in the dorm with the 25 boys. We are surviving but really needing dorm parents to come quickly who will stay long-term and really establish relationships with the boys that don't end after one year or two years since that's the way it has gone in the past for them, and it's difficult for normal children to respect their own parents, let alone kids who have new 'parents' every year...you can imagine.

Anyway, we are still enjoying ourselves and are learning and growing every day....sorry it has been many weeks since we've posted, so we'll try to recap with a few pictures and let you know what's been happening:

Some of the workers have been planting grass outside Kelly's classroom...might not sound so interesting if you are thinking in terms of grass seed...but these guys are planting blades by hand...it's difficult to see but is not typical grass, I think more like crab grass that we try to avoid at home, but it is better for dry season when there is little rain, and it grows quickly...one of the workers is in the background doing this hand-planting, and if you look closely, you can see the little sprouts they are inserting one by one neatly into the soil.


It has gotten colder in the evenings and is quite cold at night now, so we have begun to collect and store firewood...this is Mwansa and Musonda getting a ride to go collect the wood...they are good helpers and are always full of energy around the dorm :-)


Below is a shot from the Agriculture and Commerce Show we went to in the fairgrounds in Kitwe. The whole primary school went, and Kelly and I each chaperoned a group...two of Kelly's students won prizes for their artwork, and below is the kids from the school sitting with children of other schools hearing the winners announced from the art show, which was just one part of the fair, along with acrobats, plants, poisonous snake exhibit, etc. They had a nice time and don't get away from school often, so the kids enjoyed it.


Here is a shot of our front porch after stacking our own firewood on it. We have a little open fireplace in the flat which doesn't send too much smoke into the living room

We hope you are all well at home, and we will try to keep this updated a bit better (we've said that before). Blessings to you...