Zambia Part One

Finally a chance to sit down and try and write a proper blog post... now to try and remember the last few days enough to (briefly) summarise them! :)
Wednesday
The flight here was a long and tiring one- none of us got much sleep on the plane, and the film selection wasn't too brilliant- I ended up watching Despicable Me 2! Finally we arrived at Nairobi airport, to find the next plane was delayed! We sat in a hot stuffy room for a few hours waiting for the next flight. I ended up chatting to Tanya, Farayi's niece- he was dropping her off in Kitwe so she can go and live with his sister now. She is a lovely little girl and I enjoyed hearing her tales of Zambia (she grew up here).
We eventually boarded the next plane and arrived in Kitwe a couple of hours later. The second half of the flight felt longer than the first! We were relieved to get off the plane, as the air conditioning had broken, so it was very hot and stuffy! However, when we got off the plane it wasn't much cooler! We waited to get our visas sorted and finally we felt we were on our way! :)
As soon as we got out of the airport some guys came up to us and ushered us into their cars- we were later to discover who they were! Pastor George was one of the drivers and he's done a wonderful job of looking after us and driving us about :)
The drive to town was an interesting one... so many sights to see and things to take in. People were selling goods they had crafted on the roadside, loads of people were walking everywhere- but still a number of cars about too, there wasn't a buggy in site!
I felt fairly self concious as everyone was staring at us through the car window and I felt very aware of this! A group of lads went by in their truck and spat at us! At this point I was pretty worried about my stay here and thinking it would be like this the whole time.
We went into the bank and changed some dollars, and into some shops etc. Then on to have a meal- KFC! Lots to take in and we were exhausted. We came out of the cafe and a little boy came up to us with his mother who is blind, and began begging us for change. Farayi explained to the boy that we had just arrived and didn't have anything to give.
Immediately you are struck by the poverty here.
Finally- we arrived at George and Yvonne's house and were introduced to the family...George, Yvonne, Sanchie, Rachel and Agape. Sanchie is George's sister and Rachel her baby.
Our bags were swiftly taken off of us and we were shown to our room. Then we sat down for what must've been our fourth or fifth meal of the day!
Shortly after this we decided for an early night as the travelling had left us exhausted!
Thursday
The next day, we were served a delicious breakfast of porridge and fried eggs! More English than we expected and Alison and I were relieved!
We then headed off to the conference. We didn't actually spend much time in the conference, instead we were shown around the Centre. The Centre consists of a school, orphanage and care centre. We were shown into all the bedrooms and classrooms. I felt incredibly humbled... possessions are minimum.
The children were very shy when we met them the first time- but one class started to sing to us 'The love of Jesus is so wonderful' when we first entered the classroom.

It was a mad experience to meet these children, so many of them orphans too. We all came out feeling a bit overwhelmed... and then Ali and I had to try and put into words what we were feeling on camera...that was a difficult task!
When we later arrived home, we enjoyed another lovely meal with the family. They have a tradition in Zambia where they wash your hands for you before the meal... so they washed our hands and we tucked in. After dinner, Ali and myself tried to help clear the table... we were quickly told "no you are our guests- you are not allowed!".
Sanchie was keen to get us into our bedroom after this- and picking up our bags she showed us to our room again. We were soon to discover why she wanted us to go to the room- they had brought us some curtains and a bedspread... and also tidied our room and unpacked some of our stuff! (we'd just slumped into bed the previous night). We were blown away by this action- they really want to bless us and be the best hosts they can be... they have so little, yet they insist on giving so much.
Friday
We met some of the children on Friday, and for a large portion of the day we were playing with the children- skipping with a long piece of elastic, racing and singing Zambian songs. Ian and Len were still in the conference at this point.
The children became a lot more confident and really enjoyed having some new people to play with :) They began to call us Auntie Hannah and Auntie Ali- apparently it's a sign of respect here.
These children have already got a big place in my heart - such a range of characters and personalities- and they all just love us to play with them. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting them all!
Following this, we had some lunch together- there was an option to have some Kapenta, but I gave it a miss! Len bravely ate some though, and reported that it is actually quite nice... hmmmm!
After this, some of the girls- Taonga, Mulama, Christine, Suzen and Catherine took Ali and myself for a walk.

We only went over the road to the playing field, but even that was a little daunting. It was the first time Ali and I had gone off unsupervised- as normally we should always go somewhere with another adult from here. Needless to say - it felt more like the girls were looking after us than the other way round! They grabbed our bags, water, notepads, cameras and insisted on carrying it all for us. One of the girls said "when you come back again, bring me a bag" to me. That's another culture difference that has really stood out in our time here- where English people are very polite and would think it rude to ask straight out for things, everyone here is the opposite and quite happily ask for what they need or would like. It highlights the fact that they are just so desperate for anything, as they have so little. Heart breaking.
When at the field, they showed us the boys playing football and then took us for a little walk around the market which was on the same premises. I think they were hoping we would buy them something, but we had no money at this moment in time!
Again, we headed home to enjoy another delicious meal and spend some quality time with our hosts. Agape, the little boy age 7, really came out of himself as he was quite shy to begin with. He now comes running to greet us with a huge hug, bless him. Rachel, the little baby seemed quite shy to begin with and a little scared of us, but now she's all smiles! :)
Saturday
We decided to come and meet the orphans on Saturday- as they were in school on Thursday and Friday. Sharon, the leader of the orphanage rounded up the children, and we were then to present them with their gifts. We handed out the TShirts first- a white TShirt each with Jesus Army and a red cross on them- they love them! Followed by several footballs and skipping ropes. The children came up one by one to receive their gifts and as they did so they took a bow... so sweet. We then watched the place turn into total chaos as the footballs started flying! Great fun.
Ali and myself had also bought some hair accessories for the girls, and sweets for the boys earlier that day. They were ecstatic to receive these!
We then headed over to the field again and the lads played some football, while we played some team sport games.

 This was my highlight so far... seeing the girls really come to life, and also chatting to some of the older girls about home life and showing them my photo album of pictures from home, and pictures of the fundraising activities to raise money for this project. They were blown away... one boy later said, "wow, these people in the UK have really sacrificed for us!".
We were happy to chill out Saturday evening, as it had been such a hot and tiring, but amazing day. I bought some of my chocolate bars and hot chocolate out to share with the family... they were very happy :)
Sunday
We were told we would leave for church at 8am, as it begins at 7am... we actually ended up arriving at 8.30am haha! True African style!
I loved the service. It was so lively and I really felt the presence of God in this place. Then Pastor Nathan preached about unity- very similar to the teaching we have at home, so it was lovely. Felt like we are definitely one heart and soul with these people. When we started to sing 'Let there be love shared among us' with joined hands around the room, this was confirmed!
I forgot to say, previous to this, Ali, James and myself had to introduce ourselves and say a little about ourselves to the church. I usually hate public speaking, but this time it was different. I was just so aware that everyone here is so free and not self-conscious at all, that it made me feel the same. I felt, and feel, so at home with these people. It also helped me to have to speak slowly as I had someone interpreting me! Ali shared a bit of her testimony which was brilliant, and very powerful.
After this we had a Hungry Lion take away- chicken and chips, yum.

 The food is actually quite similar to ours in a lot of ways... apart from Nshima which is their traditional food- I really like it which is a relief :)
Sunday afternoon we played with the church youth over the playing field again. Another lovely time of meeting new people and really getting to know some of the previous children. I spoke to Sharon a little bit, who was telling me how she was bought up by Pastor Steven and Gladys, as her parents had died of malaria. Malaria is so common here, and so many people seem to have lost relatives because of it. Just the other day, another lady named Sharon was sharing her experience with me of loosing her husband due to it and she welled up whilst telling me, bless her.
In the evening we went back home and George and Yvonne's neighbours came to meet us, so we chatted with them for a while. We then attempted for an early night... it soon became late though when we decided to start rigging up our mosquito nets!
Monday
Today, we got up at 7am and left the house early to come to school. School starts at 7 here, and finishes at 1.30pm.
I helped James in the I.T. class- doing some filming and also helping the adult students to follow his instructions. They didn't know the basics such as logging on, so it seems a really amazing thing to be teaching them these skills. It's great to see the laptops all in place and being used too!
We've done a fair bit of sitting around and catching up since then.. Ali is currently teaching her literacy class, until 4pm (our time), James is outside kicking a football around and I am here, blogging- it's taking ages to try and summarise so much, I'm sure I've missed out loads!! At 4pm, so in 20 minutes, I will be going to be with the children in the orphanage for some time... looking forward to that.

To summarise- we are being very well looked after by our hosts- above and beyond the call of duty! We are all enjoying our time here very much, this Centre and the staff are amazing. I feel very at home here, and am very much enjoying getting to know the children and adults :)