LearnServe Zambia 2017: Butterfly Tree (7/7)

Yagass, our wonderful leader of the day, woke us up at 6:45am sharp this morning.  As most teenagers do, I responded to her wake up call with a quick moan and then rolled over for five more minutes of sleep. My five more minutes of sleep quickly turned into 15 minutes, then 20 minutes. I woke up and frantically grabbed my clothes for painting, my shoes, brushed my teeth, and gelled my hair. All in time for our 7:15am breakfast call time, a pretty successful morning in my opinion. We were then welcomed to an amazing breakfast provided by the Wasawange Hotel. There was food at breakfast that the group hadn’t seen in days, mainly meat, due to our Greenpop excursion. I sat down and had some eggs with bacon, sausage, and a scone type thing. I finished my bacon and hot chocolate with happiness, another contribution to a successful morning.

After breakfast we loaded onto the bus and headed for Butterfly Tree, our main stop of the day. As we piled into the bus I overheard Ms. Malikkah asking about the soccer balls. I quickly turned to Noah with excitement. Both of us were looking forward to a soccer match with the local boys.

We drove for about ten minutes then stopped to buy all the paint we were going to need for the day. Of course a stop in town by the markets with our fun bunch of kids did not mean we were only going to be entertained with paint. As we waited on the bus for our leaders to purchase the paint, Anisa, whose known for her negotiating skills at the local markets, got the idea to go get a souvenir at one of the shops. She got out of the bus with Chris, our wonderful intern, and walked into a shop with a mission to get her souvenir for the cheapest price possible. Now, watching Anisa do her thing and negotiate was beyond entertaining, especially at 8 in the morning. We all pressed against the bus windows and watched her begin to bargain. She returned to the bus with a success story for all of us, and her souvenir. We then helped load all the paint into the bus and then were off again for Butterfly Tree.

Being greeted by smiling, waving children at Butterfly Tree was the final component to my successful morning. Our time at Butterfly Tree began with some information about the village’s history and the story of their chief. We then unloaded the bus and were shown our canvas for the day. Throughout our trip we had seen some of the most struggling schools and some of the most prosperous schools. This school was very nice and definitely was on the better side of schools we had seen. Our mission of the day was to paint the inside and outside of three classrooms. I looked at these classrooms and was instantly humbled, a common feeling throughout this trip. This school was one of the best we had seen and there was still only one broken chalkboard, partially broken desks, no electricity, no indoor plumbing. It was nothing like our schools in America. The LearnServe team then began painting our assigned classrooms, along with the help of some of the students at the school. We even got help from the chief’s nephew. I spent most of my next two hours painting and chatting with the local students, as did most LearnServe kids. I was even stopped and told that I looked a lot like Justin Beiber and asked if I was related to him. I responded with a smile, a no, and then a poor attempt at signing one of his songs, all ending in a good laugh. Lunchtime then rolled around, we were tired and starving.

Everyday has its highs and it’s lows, Lunch today was the low of the day. We took our lunch into one of the classrooms we were working on, and began to eat. Instantly a swarm of students gathered at the windows to watch us eat. The children then began calling out for food, saying, “Give me food”, “I am hungry”. We were informed not to give any of the kids food because It would start a ripple effect throughout the school. And we did not have enough food to feed the entre school. I quickly lost my appetite due to the children’s begging. So I sat and ate my lunch looking at the floor, not trying to make eye contact with any of the students, sad and angry. The situation quickly took a turn for the better when Anisa got the idea to go out and dance with the kids and play with them after finishing our food. The afternoon was then filled with a lot of dancing and music, provided by DJ Chris, the intern. After our dance party we continued to paint.

While painting I was given the opportunity to reflect on how our trip was making a difference. I began with the question of whether our trip was even making any sort of an impact. I then thought about the debates around service trips in general and how they are sometimes seen as a quick two-week trip that doesn’t benefit anyone except allowing the participants to feel better about themselves. I came to the conclusion that our trip was impacting lives, and for more than just the time we were there for. I figured that since a lot of our work was focused on teaching we were able to actually affect the lives of the people we were working with for years to come. At this point, I was content with our trip. However, we can always do more.

We finished painting at around 3. The school and the principle seemed very pleased with the progress we had made and the quality of the work. It was now time for soccer. We showed up to the field and saw the other team already warming up and running drills. We made our team and then started the game. We had five of the local boys on our team and Mariam joined the opposing team. The first half left the opposing team with a leading score of 2-0. But of course this didn’t stop team LearnServe (our team) from coming back and winning 4-2 (sorry, Mariam!). The game was a success, in both the sense that we won and we had fun with the local boys. We created friendships, laughed, and worked as a team. We ended with a picture of everyone together.

Surprisingly the fun was not over just yet. Our next stop was dinner, after showering and getting ready at the hotel of course. The restaurant we went to was very nice and was quite the experience. The food was delicious; I ate a bacon cheeseburger because they were out of crocodile meat, sadly. The dinner also included live music from a local band and some fun locals who sat around us. The dinner allowed us to eat, chat, sing, and dance. Moments like this, where we are all sitting around singing to “In the Jungle” in the middle of Zambia are what make me realize how blessed I was to be able to go on this trip.

Overall it was a good day, like all the others. Filled with work, constant reflection, new friendships, and just plain old fun.

Stefan P., Rockville High School