We are situated 45 or so minutes outside of Livingstone, Zambia, quite literally in the bush surrounded only by a few villages. Life here is very simple but so good and full. We live a pretty care free life in many ways, when it rains, the villagers drop everything to engage in a friendly game of soccer and on our breaks we do things like hold toads and chameleons, pretty chill if you ask me. Everyday here is a new crazy adventure in its own unique way, it never gets old and I can’t say that I’m upset about it.
I wake up in the morning, unzip my tent and see the sun rise over the Zambezi River; the same river where crocs and hippos roam freely. At night I return to my tent that lies under a blanket of breathtaking stars.
We spend our days tutoring children in math, reading and writing in attempts to bring them up the standard. Sadly, because of the education system here, it is very hard to obtain without external support, I am very thankful for the extra help that is being provided for our kids.
We have spent time mudding for a new library and also a house for a family who was forced to leave their village and relocate, during rainy season which is hard as is but they also recently miscarried their first born child. Pain and heartache there, but so is hope, it’s been such a blessing to be able to help this family.
Mudding literally involves going to the well, carrying back water, (sometimes on our heads if we are feeling adventurous) mixing mud to perfection and building it into “bricks” and then eventually smoothing it out with … you guessed it, more mud! The work is sometimes hard but really fun and even more rewarding when we get to cool off in the river afterwards.
We have also been given the opportunity to build relationships with the villagers around us. This culture is very relational, even simply sitting with people and engaging in a conversation goes a long way. One day this happened to involve meeting Mama Ruth and watching her weave baskets which take her all day, she sells them for $2. Learning that she walks three hours to gather supplies to weave her baskets gave us even more respect for her, she’s not young. Her strength and drive is very impressive. We also got to help her daughter break up the garden (we removed the grass type stuff to have only dirt?) , and drew water from the river.
I love that we get to do life here with these people, get to know them and hear their stories. This month has been such a blessing so far and it has only been a week!
