When we arrived in Kasama, Zambia around 2:30am after a 12 hour bus ride, I was really looking forward to sleep and a day off to get settled in. As I was carrying my larger than life backpack in to the house we are staying in this month with our host family, I heard our host, Lawrence saying words I did not want to hear, “Ok so you all can sleep for four hours and then we will get started with our work.” Of course I tried to have a positive attitude as I thought, “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.”
That morning after our four hours of sleep, we sat down with Lawrence as a team to have a morning devotional that we now do together every morning and is a great way for us to bond and spend time together. It’s so funny how every time I whine about not getting enough sleep, I am actually completely fine the next day. After the devotional we went to the nearby school to meet the teachers and spend time with the children we are working with this month. The walk to the school is a dirt road that goes through the “ghetto” as Lawrence calls it. The homes are mostly one room and there are tons of children outside who were VERY surprised and excited to see white people, possibly for the first time ever. By the time we reached the school we literally had a mob of children following behind us.
When we got to the school I learned I would be helping teach Pre-school and first grade (“pre-school” here starts around age 6 and is the grade before first grade). Then…something happened that would have made most people very uncomfortable. I was told to go outside to play with the kids for recess and when I got out there I was the only one from my team and I was surrounded by a huge crowd of over 50 children who don’t speak English, all eagerly looking at me to play with them. I think the normal person would have been quite intimidated but lucky for me, this situation already happened to me once before in Uganda, so I was prepared! I have practiced the wonderful art of zumba for a reason and I knew that this was my moment to shine. Children from all cultures and backgrounds can recognize awesome dance moves when they see them and I used this to my advantage as I got the whole crowd to follow me around and dance to the beat we created by clapping our hands and slapping our thighs. It was great!
In the days since our initial zumba lesson, things have only gotten better during recess and now we play this really fun game where everyone just tries to throw me a ball while I run around. It’s a great work out. Other than that, teaching is going great as well. The teacher, Sydney, is a wonderful teacher and the kids are incredibly well-behaved. We taught a music lesson last week that the kids really enjoyed and this week I will be sharing with them about God and how to have a relationship with him. I was soooo surprised and excited to find colored paper and glitter at the store so we are going to make love notes to God.
Also, I got to speak at a leadership event last sunday and practice public speaking which I used to hate, but isn’t that bad anymore. I shared about Jesus and how He was a servant leader and how he washed his apostles feet even though he knew Judas would betray Him. The internet this month is terrible but I will update in more depth soon!
I still have not reached my fundraising goal so please consider making a donation!
