Sports Day - UPDATED WITH VIDEO!

This is Curtis,

The kids finally got to have a sports day with another team. We walked to the field which was probably only a half an hour away which is much better than what I have heard about some of their walks to other games (5 or so miles). We started the day with the younger boys playing a soccer game (football as it is called here, I don’t know if I can ever get used to saying that). The girls then went ahead and played Net Ball, which is similar to basketball, just different. This is a picture of the girls (blue is Upeme) just about to score.

The last game played was the big boy’s soccer match. This is a picture of Kelvin (7^th grade) getting ready to take a free kick.

The day was a lot of fun. I have been excited for the soccer season to start. The team is really strong. I couldn’t tell which was more fun, the games, or the songs and dances from the people on the sideline cheering them on. Here is a video of some of the girls cheering the big boys on during their match.

VIDEO WORKED!

Just hanging out!

Well, sometimes exciting things don't happen...just everyday life! Here are some pictures of us just hanging out, the kids just hanging out, etc! This first picture is Ruthie and Rachel cutting a fruit (or maybe vegetable). I was teasing them one time because they were eating them and hadn't offered to share with us and had picked it from right behind our house. Well, the next time they went searching for it they brought us some! They had to show us how to cut it because it is like holding a ball of nails! Tasted exactly like a cucumber.


The girls love having their picture taken - in the orange shirt is Precious, with the bucket on her head in Wendy, being hugged is Irene, hugging Irene is Catherine, and holding the flowers is Rebecca. So cute and so happy!


Me with Rebecca and Wendy...


Us again!


All the younger girls from the first picture with Curtis. They LOVE giving us flowers that they pick from our bush and putting them in our hair - Curtis is a good sport :)

Lion's Club Donation!

In this picture is the Lion’s Club donating a lot of text books, work books, blankets, laundry soap, and salt, to the school and orphanage. The man in the yellow is the President of the Lion’s Club, and the man in the white excepting the donations along with Katie is Mr. Mwanakasale (the Headmaster of the school). It was a very good time; in their appreciation of the donations the kids sang a few songs. The most exciting part was listening to the members of the Lions Club talk about their goals for some future donations to bring here to Upeme. Hopefully we can keep in contact with them and make sure this happens. The donation they brought this time were worth about 3.5 million Kwacha which is around $700.

On an unrelated note, the boys are in big trouble (haha). They had killed a large snake at some point during the day; I saw some carrying it around. While the Lions Club was here I ran back to the house to pick up the camera, and saw a very large snake that looked like it was slithering its way underneath our door, into the house. I quickly remembered seeing the boys with it earlier and went and got them to pick it up and throw it down the latrine. I told them all they were lucky I was the one who found it and not Auntie Katie.

One more thing, we ask everyone to keep Nelson in their prayers as he is going into surgery on Wednesday June 17^th for a Hernia. It shouldn’t be a very big deal, but any surgery has risks involved, and it is always helpful to

have as many prayers as possible. We will keep you posted on his recovery.

Dirty Hair

Part of our jobs is to make sure the kids are all keeping their hair brushed and washed. Sounds kind of silly, but it has been some what of a problem. Since we have been here the girls have been great, and the older ones brush and style the younger ones’ hair. But the boys…at the beginning of the term one of the teachers shaved many of their heads. (I am still angry at him for doing this) He didn’t clean the razor in-between and consequently many of the them got infections. I have been washing those boys’ heads with a special medicated shampoo and putting a special cream on after. I think the boys like the extra attention from me :) I have a system now, and I can wash about 20 boys hair in just over 30 minutes!

Here is a picture of me washing Gadrose’s hair, and Winford watching and waiting for his turn. I wash the hair outside and save all the water for flushing my toilet later. Curtis and I try to only flush with ‘gray’ water, water we used for bathing, washing dishes, and now water I save from washing the boys hair!

Our Big Purchase!

A few weeks ago Curtis and I were at a market looking for some supplies for the kids. While we were there we were also looking in some of the craft booths – just for fun. Tucked in the very back of the market there was a man selling paintings that were very different from all the others – very original, very fun! We gawked at them and told the artist how talented he was, and Curtis found one that he really liked. BUT we weren’t buying any that day, we really were just looking. Since that time Curtis and I had talked about it and were pretty sure we wanted to go back to that artist and buy the painting…well every month there is a special market, people come from all over the country to display their art and crafts – a huge hit for us foreigners! We walked in this market and there was our friend from the other market, he remembered us and told us he had the painting that we liked so much…we bought it! To buy a painting for ourselves is very unlike us – but we have it proudly displayed on our living room wall (the kids love coming in and staring at it).

Here is Curtis with the painting…you can see the flash on the picture, but you get the idea of the picture: A group of Africans playing a marimba.

Africa Freedom Day

Curtis here again...

Monday May 24^th the kids had a day-off of school, so we could celebrate Africa Freedom Day. We started in the morning with a lot of singing and dancing. The kids all had a lot of fun with this. There was also a little poetry, a quiz, and a lot of games. All the kids and all the teachers participated to make the day a lot of fun.

In the picture are (left to right) Mary (2^nd grade), Wendy (1^st grade), Ireen (3^rd grade), Rebecca (1^st grade), and Lydia (2^nd grade). These are “Chitanga” dresses, specially made for the girls for the celebration.

This picture is of (left to right) Ng’andu (6^th grade), Pamela (5^th grade), Abigail (6^th grade), Esther (6^th grade), and Harriet (5^th grade). They read us poetry about what freedom means.

This picture is one of the opening dances, led by Muti, the one who helped us with the ants.

Beating the Maize

This is Curtis,

It is the season for harvesting. Over the last few weeks we have been harvesting all the maize from the field and piling it up in the courtyard. This maize will be ground into a fine powder, so that it can be turned into the staple food here, which is called Nshima. Nshima is maize flour mixed into boiling water until it becomes about the consistency of mashed potatoes. It is always eaten with some kind of “relish”, which is usually either vegetables, tofu, or beans. We knew the same food in Kenya, there it was called Ugali. Some of the teachers taught Katie and I how to prepare Nshima with an eggplant relish, it is quite good. We also eat with the kids a few times a week, and get Nshima then. Eating it is an art that we are still working on. Nshima is eaten with the hands, and can get very sticky.

Saturday, it was time to beat all the kernels off the cobs, which was a good job for the kids. They grabbed some nice beating clubs and went to work.

Here is a picture of Nelson (5^th grade) in action, and also a video of all the kids working in the courtyard right outside of the dormitories.