21 days of mourning...

We are in the midst of 21 days of mourning for President Levy Mwanawasa. Every radio station and television station in town has committed to playing Christian music for the entire 21 days. From old hymns to modern day Christian music. It is awesome!! His body is being flown to many different cities throughout Zambia for people to show their respect. He will be buried next week. The Country has declared September 3rd a National Holiday in remembrance of a great leader who made many positive changes in this Country. He was a born-again believer, Praise God, but he has left behind a wife and 6 children. Please join Zambia in praying for that family.

We have been at a loss for Internet service and Coke Light, again. I’m sitting in a coffee shop right now- updating this blog. I couldn’t wait any longer…

Bradley made the swim team, yeah!! I’ve never seen that boy move so fast in my life. He was swimming the breaststroke, which Erik taught him in our pool the day before. I said after he finished, “You just had to show them you could do it”, he said “The pool was freezing, the faster I moved, the sooner I could get out.” Good point!!

Chelsea was moved yesterday from one Year 7 class to the next. It seems there were some “personality” issues in the other class so they switched 2 girls in one class for 2 girls in the other. She was in tears- The positive is that her homeroom teacher is now her Science teacher, who she really likes. He did tell the class yesterday that he would teach them that the world was created from Star Dust- this guy is from Colorado. Please, please pray for her. She is strong in the Bible and her knowledge of Creation. I pray she is prepared for this discussion as the Lord leads her. Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Acts 4:29
We did have Open House last night for the Primary School. It was good- Only 6 parents showed up in Bradley’s class of 26. There are a lot of returning students so maybe they don’t feel the need to come??
Bradley is going camping, yes, overnight camping the first week of October. Yes, of course, Erik will be right along with him. Keep in mind, October is the hottest month in Africa- hope Erik remembers all those Boy Scout skills. Did they teach how to kill a lion? Paw-Paw might need to come on this camping trip!!


I wanted to share some sights around Lusaka:

Parking attendants- These guys are hired by the shopping center, they are in the parking lot and direct traffic. You will be getting in your car and the next thing you know there is a man behind you waving for you to come out…I always fuss and say, “listen buddy, I’ve been driving over 20 years now and know how to back out.” The people in Lusaka have been driving for about 5 years now. The majority of the population does not drive as they cannot afford a car so…it is the Ex-patriots, everyone not Zambian, mostly and a few Zambians who have done well. The other Zambians are walking everywhere. What a sight!!

Street Sweepers- There are women, usually older women, in groups of 4-5 that wear orange overcoats. They are usually working from 9:00 to 2:00. They set up orange cones on the street and sweep the street about 10 feet at a time!! The streets are very skinny 4 lane roads separated by a very slim median. The ladies sweep the curbs??, both sides of the street, everyday. There are many stories that circulate around these woman- they are usually widows that must work to eat for the day.

Full service gas attendants- All gas stations have full service attendants that pump your gas, check your fluids, etc. There is not an option. I guess with gas being at $9/gallon the least they can do is pump the gas for you:) Of course, it is appropriate to tip your attendant when finished.

Car Watchers- Ok, this really aggravated me the other day...we were pulling into a parking space- no help required- when a young boy in regular clothes ran in front of the car as we were halfway in the spot and motioned for us to come forward. I said to Erik, "that ticks me off that now we will have to tip this guy for leading us 2 feet into the spot..." We do our shopping, he sits by the car and waits, when he comes out we tip him 3000Kwacha, $1. After taking a few breathes and hearing a story about our new friend Mary who was at the market getting out of her car, someone opened the door from the back and stole a bag, her "car watcher" ran him down, put the bag back in the car and made the "thief" apologize, I decided $1 would be fine with me for a "car watcher". I need to respect the fact that this boy is not at my car door begging for cash but actually performing some service. (Sorry, no picture)

Talk Time booths- All cell phones are bought as a pre-paid plan. You must buy Talk time cards to replinish your phones as time runs out. You have several options: you can buy talk time at one of these convenient booths located throughout the city, you can buy talk time from a guy in the middle of the street at a robot(a stoplight for you Americans:)), or you can buy talk time at various retail establishments. Remember when cell phones first came out- yeah, same idea!!

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We keep telling ourselves that this is a different culture. 10% of Zambians work in either domestic help or selling things on the street. 1% of this country was fortunate enough to receive some education higher than the 6th grade. Those people are working in stores, banks, insurance companies but they are few and far between. We must respect this culture and their ways and do our best to fit in.

Calling all cooks...

I'm struggling with making good meals for my family at an affordable price. I'm going to the grocery store every other day spending over 400,000 Kwacha, that is around $120.
Here is what I need- Please send your favorite meal/meals that can be cooked with few ingredients and keep in mind that we have just the basics here. I did find cream of mushroom soup but no Spaghetti sauce, expensive cream cheese(it was 35,000 kwacha for a small Philly cream cheese, over $10), no sour cream.
We have eaten roasted chicken and veggies- the veggies are great at the farmer's market- spaghetti(making my own sauce with diced tomatoes, garlic), chili, pizza(sausage, salami and mushrooms, mozz. cheese), fried tilapia with coleslaw, pot roast, chicken and rice. We have all meats at our disposable, except pepperoni and hot dogs- is that meat??
I'm not looking for anything fancy just good and COST-EFFECTIVE.
I made homemade banana pudding the other day from flour, salt, sugar, butter, vanilla and bananas. No vanilla wafers but we did substitute shortbread cookies- Yum, yum!!
Thanks for all your help!!

It is PE Friday...

As I promised, please see the picture of Bradley in his PE uniform. I gave him two options, the uniform shorts or some longer blue shorts. He opted for the uniform. I grabbed his sister by the shoulders and said, "If you say one word...". She is so much like her mother, she walked right back in the room and in the nicest voice she could conjour up, said "Nice shorts Brad".

Thank goodness he didn't see the smirk.

My boy has a mind of his own that goes right along with his fashion sense:)

The first week is over- Chelsea was actually smiling when I picked her up yesterday. She had color back in her cheeks and was feeling 100 times better. Thank you Lord!!

We had a wonderful dinner last night with Bob and Mary Sendgikoski- Baptist missionary builders from the States. They had raised four kids and were nearing retirement. They were considering moving to the beaches in Honduras to enjoy their passion of scuba diving but the Lord has other plans for them. The moved to Lusaka in 2005 and began the construction team for Every Orphan's Hope building orphanages called My Father's House. They connect with a local church and pastor in the "Compounds" and now in the "Bush". The pastor finds a widow that would be suitable to care for 8 orphans. There are about 2 million reported orphans in Zambia. Thanks to Bob and Mary answering God's call and allowing Him to work through them, there are 40 less in the compounds. Bob was a wealth of information on the Zambian way, connections in construction, and advice on how we can help this Country. What a wealth of information. I have met 3 people in Lusaka that told me that I had to meet Bob when they heard what our mission was. 3 people in 2 weeks- Thank you God!! Calling that coincidence would be an insult to the God of the Universe who works everything together for His good!!

Bob said that last year they had Christmas for 180 orphans in Lusaka- you better believe that I asked him to put our family on that invite list this year. My mind is going crazy thinking, how can we help?? Raise money for gifts for the kids?? I will continue to pray about this.

Fangmans- you know what that means, get ready!!

The website is http://www.everyorphan.org/. Check it out!!

This is for my mom- who is beginning to doubt that I am really here with my family and that some other very clever woman is writing this blog, ha!ha!

Second day of School

We were on time this morning!! The kids shuffled off to class and I was off to buy their PE unifoms. They must wear the school t-shirt and a navy blue pair of shorts- remember in the 80s when your dad, or at least my dad, wore those really short Ocean Pacific shorts:) Yeah, well...it is okay for Chelsea to wear but Brad may have to opt for some of his own navy shorts. I'll make sure to take a picture Friday, PE day. The primary school(elementary) has PE two days a week and the kids just wear their PE uniforms to school all day!! We will see how long I can keep that shirt white!
I was called by the school nurse at 11:30- Chelsea couldn't stop coughing. I picked her up and brought her home for a nap.
When I picked Brad up he told me he wanted to sign up for the Spelling Bee. He had to run over to the French room to sign the paper. The Spelling Bee will be in French. What is he thinking?? I didn't want to discourage so look for the You-tube of Brad in his first French Spelling Bee- should be interesting. He also told me today that he wants to join the school's swimming team. Okay!!
At dinner, after many hours of thought, he asked me if I thought they would have to wear those really small bathing suits. It's funny what goes through his mind.
I had coffee with Alix, Nubia and a French lady named Caroline. It was great camarderie and we plan on meeting in the morning to walk. Thursday we are going to the Farmer's market. It is nice to find other people from other places but taking a similar journey.
It is always fun to make new friends.

Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa died

The country of Zambia is in mourning after the loss of their President. He suffered a stroke at a Summit in Egypt in June and has been in a hospital in Paris.
"It's a great loss for the African continent as a whole, which appreciated his political courage," French President Sarkozy's statement said. "It's a big loss for democracy, for which he was an ardent defender his whole life.
The country will now begin the election process to vote for a new President. Please be in prayer over the leadership of this country as well as the United States.

First day of school!!

We woke up bright and early at 6:00am to prepare for the first day of school!! The kids were not excited at all about the early school time. School starts at 7:05 for Chelsea...we pulled out of the driveway at 7:00, oops!! Erik drove like a "Zambian" and we arrived in the parking lot at 7:06.

It took us about 15 minutes to find Chelsea's class. All the kids were still standing in the courtyard waiting for the teacher- Whew!! She found out that her friend, Lenni, was in her class. Lenni introduced her to some other friends and she was off. She was not crazy about me taking her picture:)

We then walked Bradley to class. He was the 25th kid in Mrs. Lucas's class- she is from England. Bradley walked right in and was ready for his picture.

They both had good days- Chelsea was coughing all day in class and had a slight fever when I picked her up- that kind of tainted her day. As we were leaving, several girls were calling out, "goodbye, Chelsea". That made my heart feel good. Chelsea did mention that many kids asked her if she had ever been to Disney World.

Bradley was happy- His first story was of his new buddy Steven who said he would teach him French. They had their first French class, he learned "hello, what is your name and my name is.." Chelsea will also take French class. The second story was each kid had to sing one line from a song- Bradley chose "She's a heartbreaker, dream taker, love maker, don't you mess around with me" Thanks Guitar Hero!!! Chelsea asked him if any kids in his class knew she was his sister. The third story was about the chocolate cake that they all had- his favorite part of the day!!

No orientation, no new parent's reception, no Tuesday folders, no back to school breakfast hosted by the PTP, so I introduced myself to two new mothers who both moved to Lusaka last week. Alex is from Belgium, my first thought was "Chocolate connection", and Nubi is from Virginia, originally Nicaragua. Her husband works for World Bank. We are having "coffee" (diet coke, for me) tomorrow morning after drop off. It is good when God puts you in the right place at the right time. I feel like I've been around awhile and could show them the town.

The kid's schedule is pretty neat- They go to school at 7:05, they get a break at 10:00 where they can bring their own snack or buy from the snack bar. They get out of school at 13:00(1:00pm). They have one hour to eat lunch and play then they have after-school activities that are free to students and include sports as well as non-sporting activities such as drama, art, etc. They run on 10 week schedules so they get to move around throughout the year. The school has a swim team and the PE coaches really push all kids to participate. Good exercise!!

Since information from the school is so limited that is all I have for now. I will update you as I learn.

The Lord is trying to tell you something...

I was sitting in church this morning with all these people who were singing their hearts out to Jesus and I had a vision...Remember in The Color Purple, one of my very favorite movies, when Sug Avery is at the Honky Tonk singing and her daddy's church choir is just down the road singing praises to God? Sug starts walking down the street, tears streaming down her facing singing, "The Lord is trying to tell you something...right here, right now". Her daddy held out his arms and loved his daughter as he had not done in years. God is so good!! He made us to love.

Yes, I actually took a picture in church- well, I talked Erik into taking it but I wanted you to see what I was feeling. Awesome worship. Pastor Walker came out and continued to preach on the Holy Spirit- he is a gifted teacher. He was reading from Ephesians still about the Holy Spirit coming to live inside us when we accept Christ and He is with us FOREVER!! When we sin, which I do often, I can't put the Holy Spirit in my room- gossip about others- then when I am finished with my sin, pick Him back up again. He is always with us. Guiding us, counseling us, trying so hard to keep us in His will. Thank you Lord for sending your Son Jesus Christ to die for our sins then for Jesus to recognize we need a helper here on Earth and providing One in the Holy Spirit.

I love Sundays!! Erik took us out to Lilaya Lodge to have lunch and see if we could spot some wild life. We did see a Bongo- we think- it was far away but to make the story exciting, it was a Bongo. We also saw a few zebras and one deer hiding in the brush next to a pond. I kept waiting for a croc to come out and eat him- too much animal planet for us. They did offer safari rides but we didn't have time today.

I wanted to show you the "taxis". They are crammed with about 30 people sometimes. They are pretty cheap transportation for the locals and you see them everywhere. I wonder if they still cram so many in when it is African hot.

The kids start school tomorrow!! The both did well on their assessment tests and will be in their appropriate grades at ISL- International School of Lusaka. The tests did ask a lot of tricky questions relating to money in terms of pounds and penses as well as measurements in meters and kilometers. The school is a UK curriculum. My kids will have a little adjustment with the measurements and listening well to their teachers as they have British accents. They are troopers and ready to tackle this school year. They are both feeling much better from the last minute colds they caught.

Erik has been working lots of hours and has put bids in all over town to do projects. Just as in the personal business over here- no hurries, no worries- the same goes for business- "Yes, we need that building built last week, we will call you soon"- We need the Zambian dictionary to look up "soon"!! As you get frustrated for their value of time...you realize that it is we who must change...we are the stressed out ones...As my wise uncle once said, "We complain and gripe over the luxuries in the US- never over the needs." These people are just working each day to meet their needs. What a lesson they can teach us. I came here with 8 crates of stuff and still have soooo much more than the majority of the population in Zambia.

Check out our website http://www.kasperzambia.com/ under contacts for our PO Box and cell phone numbers, just in case. OK Dianne, send 2 bags of Hersey's semi-sweet chocolate chips and we will see if they melt:) Thanks!!