Starting out Zambia was not what I expected. Actually Africa in general, for the most part, has not been what my first world mind made it to be. When we first found out The Fellowship would be working with Kids Alive Zambia most of us were quite excited to work with children. Honestly I had really missed being around children and playing with and teaching them. When we arrived in Mongue, Western Province, Zambia we soon discovered that we would actually be renovating a guest house. While a little disheartened The Fellowship soon rallied together and tore out a concrete porch corner, ripped down ceilings, painted, cleaned and exterminated cockroaches. After about a week and a half of that we were told that we’d begin teaching the children soon. Excitement all around!
So what did a week look like in Zambia for me? Well from renovating to teaching it was pretty much the same thing each day, but here is a little snippet-
Sunday: Church. We went to a different one each week because we went with a different person from within the ministry. I loved each of them, and the fact that they were all different denominations was beautiful. Often there was an evening activity including Bible quizzing, Bible boxing and Bible racing, plus futball and volleyball.
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday: We either renovated- tore out bad ceiling, painted, poured concrete, filled holes in the roof, etc.- or taught. Teaching was great. It was like a one room schoolhouse set up. I kept my three students at one table while the others took their grades to different parts of the room. I had grade three.
Our roles were a mix of of tutoring and teaching, because the children did go to school in the afternoons. After teaching we accompanied the children to school and then the bus driver took us home for lunch. Afterwards we were supposed to teach the morning school children, but that typically ended up being a time to hang out with the older kids that didn’t disappear into town or the younger ones that had no work.
Wednesday: This was our off day. There was nothing really to do in our area unless one of the contacts drove us. We typically used this day to grocery shop and just rest.
Friday: Usually a typical day. The first week we taught we held a VBS of sorts. We played games, did skits, taught the Gospel, and had the children come up with skits of their own.
Saturday: Every one was different. Once we went to the “river” with the youth, which it turned out to be a creek. We had a lot of fun playing games and swimming with them. Another day we couldn’t go to ministry because the water was not working so we stayed home and worked on written feedback for each other. Our last one there we had a bonfire with all the children of KidsAlive. We spoke and played games and sang worship.
Zambia was a lot of fun, and being there reminded me of how much I miss working with children. KidsAlive is a wonderful ministry, and I absolutely love each of the people involved.
