Last night was pretty cool. Some of us played ultimate Frisbee with some South African while others from our group made a bonfire. Sitting outside under the stars around a nice big fire keep you warm, was one of the most wonderful and beautiful thing in the world. Many of us slept outside our tents that night, but when the fire went out , I wish I had stayed in my tent. It was really cold and the monkeys kept me up all night. I was scared to even move , it got worst when I had to go to the bathroom. In the morning, some of the people of the group woke up at 7 am and went to go to milk cows. Others , like myself stayed in and sleep for a little while longer. I kind of wanted to stay under my sleeping bag , because it was so cold this morning . Do you know how it feels when you know you have to get up but want to stay in bed because you are so comfortable and warm, that is how I felt this morning. It didn’t get any better when I had to take a cold shower and the power went off. -_-. Around 8:30 am breakfast was served and we had scramble eggs that had tomatoes and onions, burnt toast , and sausages. For drinks we had the usual tea and coffee. After breakfast as we start to get ready to go to the school on the compound, I wrote down my information for this little 6 grade girl name Thresha, whom I came to like these pass 3 days. I am hoping that she and I can keep in touch in the years to come. As we walked on the path to school, I took as many pictures as possible so I can remember the almost 1 mile walk that had a smell so bad that it made you want to throw up as you pass the farm and the sewer. However, the one thing you notice was the most beautiful flowers and you really don’t mind the farm smell or the dirty roads that knocked dirt on the back of your legs as you walked to school. When we got to the school I notice that the half finish fence from yesterday was completely finish, so that kind of mess up my group’s morning activity. We had planned to work on the fence in the morning and then in the after noon teach the 7 grade about computer parts.
When my group got into the classroom, I notice how surprise the students were as we told them that today we will be teaching them about the parts of the computer instead of finishing the fence. We had to go to plan B where we were allowed to use Jeremy’s computer to help teach the lesson and the 6th grade teacher donated worksheets which labeled the part of the computer to help with our new plan. The students understand and adjusted to the new lesson faster than I had expected.
During our first session break, the bus came and we unloaded the donations and at that point, we were told to get on the bus so that the students could prepare for the closing ceremony. When we returned to the campsite, the power was still off and we chilled out until we had to leave for the afternoon sessions. When we got back to the school some of the students in the group, including myself, got letters from the students at the school. I was happy when I had gotten 2 letters from 3 different girls. One letter was from me new friend Thresha and the other letters came from 2 other girls that I had taught in class. As I read the letters, I felt great joy because the letter meant that I made a great impact in these girls lives and that they still wanted to keep in touch with me when I return to the USA.
During the ceremony, the students did many songs for us and speeches where you could hear how thankful they truly were. It was funny when they ask if we can perform something for them, we end up doing to cupid shuffle, which didn’t really go well. After the ceremony we divided into groups of 5s and went to different parents home as guest for lunch. At each guest house, we were taught how to make nshima and a side dish. In my group, we had a side dish with dried up pumpkin leaves, grounded nuts, tomatoes , and onions all mixed to together. At first I thought it was going to taste bad but to my surprised it was so delicious. After eating at our guest homes, we walked back to the campsite and ate diner with the teachers and headmaster from the school where we said our final goodbyes . As I was writing this blog I came to realize that we had only 2 days left. I start to feel sad because either
A) I don’t want to leave the very peaceful country, were there are stars that you can only wish for at home, and the happiness you get to see in the people eyes that you help or
B) Not knowing what happened to the people you help after you leave.
I know for a fact that I have a greater appreciation for everything that I have and one of my action plans is to volunteer and share my experiences with my family, school and community, so that I can keep seeing happiness in people eyes as I help them out. I am truly going to miss Zambia.
Avian R., Centrl High School