Tonga Tuesday

Day 15

Tonga Tuesday! Because of our interactions with Webser the previous night we decided that today should be Tonga Tuesday and we would try to use the Tonga words we learned last night. It was fun to use the few words we knew and share them with others.

Today was a good day. I am getting more use to feeding class, and some of our babies are making progress. One of the babies named Heath is a very floppy baby. He doesn’t hold his head up or use his arms or legs. I worked with him today and got him to reach up with both hands for a chew toy. This was great progress for Heath and I hope he continues to improve.

Today for lunch we had a wonderful lunch. It was Dr. Weavers favorite, fried chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, rolls and chocolate cake. It was all very good and we were all very full. Afterwards I was able to fit in a nice 30 min nap before our afternoon sessions started.

On our way to out afternoon session a very strange thing happened as we walked to the Havens. No one talked the entire time! I could not believe that a group of six girls could be so quite as we walked for 30 mins but they were. Amazing. I doubt it will ever happen again.

After our afternoon sessions were over we had dinner, during dinner a group of three girls from Abilene Christian arrived. They are all undergraduates studying in different areas. They are interning here for 7 weeks. I’m not sure exactly what they will be doing while they are here, but they are here. It was nice meeting them.

After dinner we threw the Frisbee around for a while, got eaten by mosquitoes and then decided to head back to clean up. Webster met us again tonight and we practiced singing, and we learned a new song! It was fun working with Webster. After singing practice, I sat down next to him and I asked him different Tonga words, and I spelled them out first in Tonga, and then wrote what it meant and then I wrote it phonetically; which he did not understand at all. It was fun learning new words and learning what sounds they use in Tonga verse America. I can’t wait to learn more words tomorrow.

God is good.

Thank you

Ben

Monsoonia Monday

Day 14

Today was the first day in our new groups. I am now working with Dr. Weaver in the feeding class with Shanna, Jill, and Tessa. Some of the babies have feeding issues because either their cheek muscles are too weak to suck so they spill, or they might be older but don’t have good trunk supports so they don’t eat like they should. In our class we do a lot of stretches on the lips, cheeks, and in the mouth. We also do stretches a lot in the arms and legs to loosen them up. We practice sitting up, and we also have tummy time, where they can practice holding their head up and hopefully learn to roll over. We also have various chew toys, pacifiers, and vibrating toys to stimulate facial muscles. Now you know what feeding class is all about. Our morning starts in Haven 3 where we work with two separate groups of babies, and then we move to Haven 1 where we get to pick up a baby and interact with them before we eat lunch. After we finish lunch we return to Haven 1 and work with younger group of babies (0-4 months ish) During this group today I worked with Tawpangwa. We did just fine through the whole session, and then I was peed on… I smelled like urine. Lucky for me I brought some extra scrub pants to change into. There wasn’t really a place for me to change so Dr. Weaver stood in front of a door way because there was no door. Thanks Dr. Weaver. This being my first peed on experience, it really wasn’t that bad, thankfully.

After working with our afternoon feeding group we get to choose what Haven we want to go to and pick a child we want to interact with for the rest of the afternoon. I choose to go back to Haven 3. I love the kids in Haven 3 the most. They are sick, but they are so entertaining and I love to interact with them. Today I got to work with (the cutest baby) Sydney. She was adorable as always and well behaved. We worked on talking and I tried to teach her my name. She talked but no success on the name, but that’s alright, we have plenty of time left.

After our time is over in Haven 3 we are done for the day. We walked back to the Hamby House and had dinner. After dinner we went and picked up some things from Mrs. Mono’s house. I bought some fabric I liked (in the market) and she made me some scrubs! They are really neat and very African. I like them a lot. One is a little too big, but I think Mom can fix it once I get back to the States. Tessa and I played drums for a while and then I tried to build another card house. We met up with Webster at 7:30 like he planned and we practiced the Tonga song he taught us Saturday night. We are sounding better. He wants us to sing it this coming Sunday! So we are planning on practicing more this week.

After the group finished singing Ian, Tessa and I stayed with Justin and Webster and we talked for hours about the various things. They taught us some Tonga words, and we taught them about the weather in America. They could no believe how cold it gets. And they were amazed that now in America its summer and here in Zambia, its winter. We talked about snakes in American and Africa, and they gave us Tonga names. It was really fun interacting with them. After tonight I consider them friends. They were so nice to us. I asked them how they became watchmen and they described how God provided a way to work where they are now, and they are so thankful, and so am I. Webster is very funny, he made us laugh all night. I look forward to hanging with them tomorrow night and learning more Tonga songs and words.

Thank you all for reading! I appreciate all your prayers and thoughts. If you have any specific questions you would like me to answer you can email me or post a comment!

Thank you.

Ben

Smorgus-Board Sunday

Day 13

Today we arrived to church on time! The church service was much easier to understand today, I think it’s a mix of us getting use to the accent and the speaker today was a much slower speaker. The singing and sermon were great. After church we headed back the Hamby house to make our lunch. Lunch and dinner today were a combination (smorgus-board) of leftovers because Lenard (our cook) is not available.

After lunch a group of us headed over to the Havens to work on their capstone projects. I decided to go along and help since I need the hours, and I enjoy working with the babies. After working on the projects for a while we headed over to Haven 3 just for fun to say hey to all the kids there. Even though they are the sick ones, they are so much fun.

When we finished up with Haven 3 we meet some boys outside of Eric’s house (which is a home for the older orphaned children) They had a soccer ball and so we walked with them back to the soccer field and played soccer for the rest of the afternoon. I also got attacked by 6ish little boys after Bryan jumped on my back and yelled, “Get him” Lucky for me the boys are the perfect size to pick up and twirl around, and they loved the extra attention.

After soccer I cleaned up and then helped make dinner. We again had leftovers, so really I did nothing, but I was there in the kitchen if needed. After dinner we went back to the church and enjoyed more singing and a lesson.

Once church was finished we headed back to our house. Tessa and I decided to build a card house which surprisingly turned out to be successful. I never thought we would finish. There were many pictures taken during the process of building and also during the process of tearing it down. Tearing it down went much faster.

Tonight four planets align in a row, so the group is waking up at 4:30 a.m. to see it happen. Hopefully we can see it and then get some rest before our busy Monday.

Thank you for all of your prayers! Our group has remained in high spirits and in good health. Please continue to pray for us as we continue to serve the people here.

Thank you.

Ben

Super Sweet Saturday

Day 12

Today I woke up bright and early so I could take a much needed shower (Which was freezing!!!) before we headed off to Choma for a morning of shopping. After eating breakfast we piled into Kaki Jackie and started our bumpy, crammed, hour long trip to Choma.

Once we arrived at Choma we first stopped at the post office to the group could mail their post cards to friends and family. Then we headed towards the markets. We were allowed one hour in the market and then we were to meet at a nearby grocery store. My group consisted of Ian, Tessa and Ashley. Since Ian has been here before we followed our little 14 year old adventure guide around the busy markets. Most of our stops were at fabric shops looking for cool patterns and colors. I found some that I like and hope to make them into scrubs. I also found this really ugly crawdad fabric that was perfect for Tessa since she is from Louisiana. It was terribly ugly but she got it anyways as a joke. After shopping in the markets we meet up with our group at the grocery store. There we found interesting types of cookies and we found ICE CREAM. They were nice little individual serving size cups of ice cream that cost about .60 cents American, so we got them. They were pretty good. We decided that banana, which is the flavor I got, was the best.

Afterwards we met up in a park and had lunch. Our supervisors bought us all chicken and fries. It wasn’t very good, but I didn’t mind since I had just finished off some banana ice cream. In the park we found a large talon so some bird. We don’t know where it came from, but no worries, we took pictures of it….and with it.

After finishing lunch we headed into this museum where there was lots of art on display, and then it had a shop where you could buy crafts that had come from villages in Zambia. I bought a few things there for people back home, I would love to list them, but I want to keep it a surprise till I get back to the states. The museum was really fun. They had some very cool art work there and neat gifts you could buy as well.

Once we were finished at the museum, we raced back to Namwingia so we could attend the Zambian wedding that was taking place! All the girls were extremely excited compared to me, but I was interested to see what a Zambian wedding is like. It was a very exciting time.  Lots of music and lots of dancing. The wedding party dances down the aisle and then when they are finished the audience has the opportunity to dance as well. Some of our group got up to dance a little bit. I, did not. It was fun to watch and see all the excitement. Everyone parties, but here the groom is suppose to be very serious during the whole wedding, and the bride is suppose to look down and shy during the wedding. It was interesting and it was funny to see the audience dance around then to try to make them laugh or smile.

After the wedding we went back to our place and had dinner. After dinner we went and played more ultimate Frisbee, but this time some of the girls from the college came and joined us. They laughed as they tried to learn the new game. It was fun to teach them something new, I pretty sure they had a good time.

The sun set and it was getting dark so we ended the game and headed back to the house. Tessa and I played her new drum that she got today and then Kara and Kari came and joined us and we tried to freestyle rap. It was terrible, but very funny. Thanks to Kara for documenting. Since we were making all this noise eventually the night watchmen Justin and Webster came over. Webster played the drum for a while. He was pretty good, and he laughed at Tessa’s attempts to play the drum well. We talked to them both about their manes and what they mean, and Anna and Ashley came over. Shortly after we asked if he would teach us a song in Tonga (the native language here).  He was so happy to teach us. He taught us all the parts, Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass. He was so patient with us, but after he was finished he was so excited that we sang with him. He told us that we needed to sing to the church someday. We told him that we needed to practice more and get our whole group involved. Webster is planning on teaching and working with us more on Monday night. We are all very excited.

The people here are so nice and open. They love to interact with us and they love to share their lives with us. I have truly enjoyed getting to know them, and I can’t wait to continue to making relationships.

Thank you

Ben

Freestyle Friday

Day 11

Today was Freestyle Friday. Freestyle Friday includes rapping as we walk to and from the Havens. Unfortunately, none of us are good are good at rapping so it was about as successful as all the other days. This morning was by far the coldest day. I wore a long sleeve shirt and my jacket as we walked to the Havens this morning. Its finally starting to cool down here, which is kinda nice. Less bugs, less sweating, but it does make taking a shower quite cold!

Today the toddlers did a little better in therapy. We had more words said, and more imitated motions as we sang and danced. Working with the smaller babies today was also fun. I worked with Miller again today and another baby named Megan. Megan is a very big baby, and she likes to “beach” herself on our laps. “Beaching is a term I use to describe her as she crawls up into a person’s lap and then turns over so she can lay on flat on her back or stomach in a beached position (like a whale or seal) This is humorous because she really is a noticeably bigger baby and she is lazy. She is old enough to walk and stand on her own but she doesn’t, so today we worked on standing and walking. I walked her around the room as her little fingers held tightly to my fingers, and when she would start to whine and want to sit, I would pull a little harder and keep walking her. She was pretty entertaining today. Miller continues to make more and more sounds which is great. I’m glad he is catching on.

For lunch we had really good chicken and rice. After lunch I went to take a 30 min nap, then woke up 15 mins into my nap thinking that I was going to be later for therapy! In my mind I was so upset with my class mates for leaving me behind and not waking me up in time. As I got out the door, I slowly remembered the correct time for therapy to start. Disappointed, I went to the front porch and waited for the correct time to leave.

For the first time today in Haven 3 I worked with Mary. Mary only has one expression on her face at all times. It is a very serious look that never changes, and she never says anything. Today it was my turn to work with her. I had no luck. We did color together on my note pad, as I made sounds and talked to her. I tried to feed her, her snack but she wouldn’t eat it until I wasn’t looking. Many of the clinicians are starting to think that she is just really stubborn. But at the end of our time there, I saw her walk to the window so she could watch me leave. She is so frustrating! I hope someone gets her to talk or show any expression.

Dinner was great tonight; we had chicken and beef pie, along with potato salad and carrots. It was all very good. After dinner the group went to play soccer but found out that our soccer ball has a hole in it and it is too flat to use, luckily I brought a Frisbee, so the group played ultimate Frisbee on the soccer field. On the way back we ran into Jonathan, who is a student here. He talked to us about what he does and his family and what he wants to do with his life. After he graduates from bible school he wants to go preach out in the untouched places of Africa. He asked us to keep him in our prayers. It was hard to understand him at times, but I appreciated his openness and wiliness to talk with us.

Later in the evening I found that there are bats in the tree behind my room. It was neat to follow them with my light and see their eyes glow in the dark. God is the master creator, God is good.

Thank you

Ben

Thumbs Up Thusday

Day 10

It’s Thumbs Up Thursday! This is a very exciting day that involves always having your thumbs up in all pictures taken throughout the day, and also trying to get the toddlers at the Havens to participate in thumbs up Thursday. This day was somewhat successful compared to walking Wednesday. Today we found out that walking from where we stay to the Havens is 1.55 miles. That means we are walking around 6 miles a day if  you don’t ride in Kaki Jackie. Pretty exciting.

I thought therapy today went much better than yesterday. For the toddler session in the morning we had chairs for them to sit in which made it much easier to control them and it provided them with more structure, something they are not use to, and we also worked with the children as they played on the playground there at the Haven. After working with the toddlers we went to Haven 1. I continued to work with Miller. He is a little boy that I have been working with the past few days and hadn’t said much at all but today we made huge progress. He started talking and babbling all sorts of stuff. It was very rewarding.  So he received the “Most 

improved award”

Which reminds me, Kara brought up that I like making up awards for the children, and this is true. Today Miller received the “Most improved award” Lee received the “Cutest Sweater Award” (It had a t-rex on it) This one child won the “Wet pants Award” (She peed three times during our first morning session) and Sydney won the “Cutest Baby Award” She so far has one every day since I met her, because she is the cutest thing in her oversized sweatshirt one-zee. She has not been beat. That is all for today, I will try to think of different awards as I go along.

Today for lunch we had a traditional African meal. We had Shema (not sure on spelling) It is a very popular traditional meal here in Zambia. It is very bland and tasteless. I was told about it before the trip and had very low expectations for it, but it ended up not tasting as bad as I would have imagined from what I had heard from other people. And we put this delicious tomato sauce with onions over the top of it and white rice. It wasn’t too bad at all. Chicken and rolls and cabbage where also served with the meal. I personally am a fan. I thought it was a great meal, but not everyone agreed and had my enthusiasm.

The last part of our afternoon was spend working in Haven 3 again. I found out that 3 babies for sure in that haven cry or get fussy when they see me, Bennet, Leo, and Matt. Matt is the worst of all and will start to cry when he sees me. I have never felt so rejected in my life! Haha just kidding. The girls tell me it’s because they never see men in the Haven, but I think they just tell me that so I’ll feel better. : )  

After therapy some of us walked back and then we all had dinner. Today was much cooler out than the other days. I think it’s finally going to start their Zambian winter. Tonight the power went off so it was a perfect time to go stargazing. The stats here are truly amazing, I love seeing the Milkyway, and shooting stars. I spend a majority of my evening gazing at the sky. God is good.

Thank you

Ben

Walking Wednesday

Day 9

Today was the first official day of therapy. It was also Walking Wednesday! Which means you must walk everywhere. Unfortunately only three people knew that it was walking Wednesday and only few were informed later throughout the day. So over all, waking Wednesday, not a success, but for me and Tessa, success!

Once we all arrived at the Havens we split up into our groups, for the first session my group also worked with a second group at the Toddler house working on language simulation. We first worked on teaching the kids basic body parts, by pointing to pictures in books and singing songs like Head shoulders knees and toes. We also watch them to see if they imitate our motions and sounds. We sing these songs in English because first off, we don’t know the Tonga language and second in Zambia they learn English as well.  After our session was finished we moved onto Haven 1 and worked with smaller babies, trying to get them to babble. Often these babies in Haven 1 and 2 just sit and stare and make few responses to us, so it is quite a challenge sometimes. During our Haven 1 session I learned that I can be very stern when I need to be, which has been a struggle for me as a growing clinician in previous settings.

Next it was lunch time, but after walking all the way back because of Walking Wednesday! When lunch was finished I decided to take a short 30 minute nap, which was much needed. Apparently Walking Wednesday and working with babies all morning can wear you out. After walking back to the Havens my group worked in the 3^rd Haven. We drew faces for the kids and worked on learning parts of the face. Some of them really enjoyed the coloring and others wanted to eat the colors. After the group session was over we had the opportunity to pick one child and work with them one on one for the remaining time. I chose Thomas. He has not made a vocalization except for crying since I’ve been here, but he can point and wave by after someone models it for him. We worked and I talked and played. No sounds. But he did wave bye at the end. I guess I’ll have to wait till tomorrow.

Tomorrow is Thumbs Up Thursday! You will have to wait to read what that means tomorrow!

Thanks for reading!

Ben 

Mango, Mango Tree!

Day 8    

This morning we had biscuits and gravy. We went to chapel at the George Benson College here in Africa. It was very similar to the chapel we have at Harding University. There was a few songs, and short devotional and announcements. The announcements were basically us though. We all had to stand up and say our name. I’m sure we sounded funny again just like Sunday morning, but that’s all right.

After chapel we headed over to the Havens where we started working with the toddlers in Haven 2. We all sat on the porch and read books for a while trying to get the children engaged and point and teach some basic words. After while, one of the nannies taught us a song. I guess it’s called Mango Tree. It goes kinda like this

Mango, mango tree

Yes, mango tree

(repeat)

I sleep under the mango tree

I jump under the mango tree

I dance under the mango tree

I eat under the mango tree

I walk under the mango tree

I sit under the mango tree

(the order of those lines changed every time so you kinda just watch the nanny)

After singing it was time for the toddlers to eat, so we headed over to Haven 1 with the smaller babies. We worked with them till lunch time. For lunch we had meatloaf, coleslaw, roles and cake. It was all very good. After lunch we talked about the different children we were working with and where their skills are at. After a small break we headed back to the Havens and spent the rest of the time at Haven 3 with the sick children. I spent most of my time with Leo. We worked all afternoon on making some kind of vocalizations. My voice was so tired after saying “mama” “dada” etc for an hour ish, but by the end he was talking to me. I enjoyed working with him even though I was exhausted by the end of the day.

Haven 3 is pretty entertaining. There are a group of boys that are older and can run around. After their bath then all ran naked out into the play area and tried to hug all the girls out working with other children. It was pretty funny.

After finishing up at Haven 3 we walked back to our place. On the way the college soccer team was playing so me and Tessa stopped and watched them as they played soccer. They are really fun to watch.

Dinner was good, we had macaroni and cheese. After dinner a group of us headed over to watch the end of the college soccer practice. There were a lot of students watching, so I decided to be brave and introduce myself to all of them. It was fun as I went down the long line telling them my name and then trying to pronounce their name after they had told me. It wasn’t so bad and they seemed to enjoy me stumbling over their names.

After the team finished practicing, our group wanted to play soccer, but it was time for dinner for the students. We went ahead and played soccer and some of the younger kids in the area that aren’t in school joined us. It was really fun as usual.

After soccer we all hung out in the Man house. There was one group playing Phase 10 and another group playing trivial pursuit. I played Phase 10 and lost again to Shanna. Grr. After phase 10 Tessa tried to teach me to play Skip Bo, but we were so tired that we quit half way through and went to bed.

Today we were assigned our groups that we will do therapy with in the Havens. The groups will rotate around to the different Havens throughout the day and participate in different types of therapy. My group consists of Cari, Anna, Liz, and Me and we are all supervised my Kara. Sounds like a good group to me. I look forward to working and learning with them.

Ben

Malaria Monday!

Monday was a great day. I slept so well that I pushed snooze and slept for an extra twenty minutes. Sleep for a lot of our group is hard to get because of the drugs we are taking and the noises in the night. I would ask that you pray for some of our group that really need some sleep! We had a pancake breakfast and then we packed Kaki Jakie with all the baby clothes donated (thank you) and then walked to the Havens. Ian showed us a short cut to the Havens rather that walking on the main roads. This short cut involves lifting part of a barbed wire fence if you are not small enough to fit through the little gap in the fence, and who better to lift that barbed wire fence than me? So I got to touch the awesome rusty barbed wire fence, and then Kara got a picture of me holding it and it looks like I’m striking a pose. Perfect. This “short cut” also involves us walking through the bush, which is exciting and a little frightening all at the same time. Lucky for us we make it to the Havens just fine. We first got out all the clothes and separated them in to piles of the same age group. Something new I learned today, baby clothes have sizes based on months and years. Who knew? I just thought baby clothes were baby clothes. After sorting we presented the clothes and tools to the works there at the Haven. They were so excited and thankful. They also got new scrub tops to wear.  Once everything was in its place we started working with the babies there at the Haven 1. (The healthy babies) We all grabbed a baby and starting working with them seeing what they can and can’t do and telling Dr. Weaver if they are fitting into their developmental mile stones. Since I have had less experience with babies, and fewer classes than my peers in graduate school it is a challenge to keep up, but I’m am learning quick, and I’m very thankful for the help and knowledge I am learning from them. After working with the babies we walked back for lunch, this time we stuck to the main roads. Lunch was great! Lenard made fried chicken and rolls. It was very good and much needed after all that walking back and forth and energy spent with the babies there. After lunch we had a short break and then headed back to the Havens to work in Haven 3 (Sick babies). At first I was a little nervous working with babies that had TB and HIV, but then once we all saw them and started working with them, most of the group forgot about it and worked great with the kids there. In the morning and afternoon we assessed the babies by seeing if they could crawl, walk, sit, hold their head up, babble, say one word or two word utterances, and some swallowing observations. Working with the babies was very fun and it was extremely rewarding to get them to babble and smile at us. I look forward to tomorrow working with in Haven 2 (toddlers). After working with the babies we walked back and most of us took cold showers and prepared for dinner. After I was finished with my shower there was a group of African girls and some of our group playing soccer, so I joined that group and had fun learning their names and interacting with the girls. We had dinner and then the group hung out and slowly split of into smaller groups, I watched the stars for a long time on top of Kaki Jackie. I can’t get over how beautiful the stars are here. God really has created a wonderful word full of many beautiful things. Babies and stars are what I enjoy most right now. I guess that’s all for now.

Thank you for all your prayers. We have had few illnesses so far and no injuries. Continue to pray for our health, sleep and our ministry to the people here.

Thank you.

Ben

First Sunday

Sunday morning we arrived an hour late to church. There was a miscommunication and we thought church started an hour later. Still the worship service was very enjoyable. The singing was great and we were able to sing alone to the ones in English and hum to the ones in Tonga. The sermon was hard to understand because of the thick African accent, but what I heard was very good. At the end of  the sermon we were told to introduce ourselves. We each went around and said are names and what we were studying. Meanwhile a lot of the church was giggling. After we handed back the microphone, the speaker said that he was very grateful we were here and that everyone should come meets us because all the heard over the microphone was shshshshshsh. Everyone laughed. I guess they can’t understand our English accent either.

After church we were in charge of making lunch. We kept it simple by making spaghetti and garlic toast. After lunch we unloaded the storage bin and got out all the CSD tools and books. It was like Christmas. We are all excited to take this over to the havens tomorrow so we can begin therapy. After our meeting we decided to go attempt to play soccer with the students. It started off with just Americans but more and more students came and joined us, and I’m sure some were just content with watching and laughing. Soccer was one of the most fun interactive activity I have had with the students thus far on the trip. I look forward to meeting more of them and creating relationships with the students here. After soccer, many of us cleaned up and prepared for dinner. I had my first shave in Zambia….it was cold.

After dinner we headed over to church where we had another service. It was great. The singing was even better and we could understand the speaker as well. After the service the whole church came over to where we live and they had 7 young people baptized. It was really neat to see it all and experience that with me. The singing was so enjoyable and just a great experience. After the baptisms our group still needed to take communion since we missed it in the morning, so we took communion together and then went to bed exhausted.

Tomorrow we are all really excited to start working. Continue to pray for our work here.

Thank you.

Ben

I held a baby and the stars were amazing; a great day.

Day five started with a wonderful breakfast and promises to finally tour the mission and meet and greet with the children at the orphanage. We were all very excited. I started reading the book Transforming Discipleship. I just read the beginning but it really stresses that ministry is most effective by forming relationships. This gave me a clear mind set on my purpose here. I am supposed to make relationships that hopefully turn into spiritual growth.  Meeting with the babies was very enjoyable and I discovered that I do have some skills in holding and entertaining babies. This was comforting to me since we will spend a lot of time hold, caring and loving on them. After playing with the babies for two hours we walked back to where we were staying and had lunch. After lunch we went into town and visited the market and bought various items. Since it was Saturday many of the shops were closed, but we will have plenty of time to shop during our trip. After shopping I took my first solar shower. It was surprisingly warn after being heated by the sun all day. It was quite nice. After showering we had time to hang out for a while. On the men’s house there is a nice porch, so we sat on the porch together and I got to know the Pharmacy guys better, which is always enjoyable. Dinner tonight was great. We had spaghetti and garlic bread, and for desert we had banana pudding, which was delicious. The food is great here, we are very blessed to have such a great African cook here. Tomorrow we are responsible for making lunch as a group, so I am looking forward to that experience. After dinner the power went out. We all played Nerts with our head lamps on till we got tired of that, and then we went out to view the starts. The stars were amazing. I was able to lay on top of Kaki Jakie (Landrover type vehicle) and gaze at the stars. After we got tired of viewing the stars the group split up. My group played Phase 10. I was destroyed and Ashley won; apparently for the first time in her life. Great. It was intense game with many tears, knives, and dirty looks, but we are still all friends. Tomorrow is our first Sunday experience. I am very much looking forward to it. I’m not quite sure what to expect but I’m sure its going to be great!

Ben

Day 4

We finally made it to Namwinga! After eating a very nice breakfast we left our very nice hotel and started our six hour bus ride to the mission. For lunch we stopped at a place called Tooters. There for the first time many of us practiced using Zambian money. Charissa and I ate lunch for 49,000 Kwacha! Which is about 10 ish dollars in American money. We both ended up getting some chicken and chips (French fries) and a drink. It was pretty good food. Then we went back to get on the bus and found out it wasn’t going to start by itself So we had to push it out away from the wall where it was parked so it could coast a bit and then start. I’m not sure how exactly that works, but after doing so the bus started. Success! We traveled the rest of the way and reached the mission! We were all very excited! We greeted the people there. Got our room assignments and then moved in. Most of us moved in very quickly so we could go exploring as much as possible before dinner. We walked down to the college there and watched the students play soccer. Tessa, our GPS/ Tom Tom/ British Pirate/ tour guide navigated us successfully; however she was not successful in acting like a British Pirate GPS. Apparently there is more to come. After that we had dinner where we enjoyed some grilled cheese sandwiches, carrots, tomatoes, and some wonderful chocolate cake all cooked by Leonard who is our awesome cook while we are staying here.

After dinner, we played games and then spent two hours coming up with rapper names for everyone on the trip. There were multiple names that I was given, but I believe the official name is BenE G. which is appropriate. After naming everyone we split up and went back to our housing. I saw and killed my first Malaria mosquito. Its raining tonight…during dry season. We were told to be extra careful the next few days that way we don’t end of with Malaria. I’m glad I did a project on Malaria last fall in my Health Care Missions class. I know what kind of mosquito to be weary of and what the symptoms are.  Hopefully none of us get it. We all have mosquito nets in our rooms so hopefully we will be fine. That’s all for today. Can’t wait for tomorrow. We get to meet more people and we get an official tour!

Thank you for all your prayers!

Ben                                                                                                                          

Second/Third Day?

The second day started with my alarm going off and Ina standing over me. As I turned off my alarm he asked, “Are you awake yet?” I thought to myself. Yes. I both got ready and then went down stairs to enjoy a wonderful buffet breakfast. On the way Ian and I met others who were also going to Africa. It was during this conversation that Ian declared that he wished he was my brother. We are off to a great start. Breakfast was very good. Then we waited forever for transpiration to the airport. Dr. Tullos had to sit in the back of the van with many suit cases surrounding him and one on his lap. Once we arrived at the airport we went through security with no problems and boarded the flight to Africa!

This flight was intense. It was a 13 hour flight. Luckily I was sitting by Jill Taylor. We shared common interests about the Northern states and had watched “The Dilemma” together. After two and a half hours in we were officially bored. We enjoyed our airline meals for the first time and tried to take naps, which were not successful. On my other side sat tinny little Ethiopian lady. She did not speak any English, but that’s ok because when I helped her turn off her screen when she was trying to sleep, all that was needed was a smile.  The highlight of this flight was me deciding not to use the restroom for the full 13 hours flight, which I succeeded. However, after getting off the flight there was not a restroom till we got on the next plane. Nice. This next four hours flight was not enjoyable, We didn’t have tv’s and I sat by a strange, restless, large, smelly, man. This was not enjoyable. Once we landed in Lusaka we were so ready to be done with planes and it was nice to walk and then sit on a bus and look out big windows at the African landscape as we drove to our hotel. The hotel we are staying is very nice, I have a room to myself which is a plus. I hope to have a restful night before we drive to the mission.

Thank you for all your prayers and support as we continue to travel.

Thanks

Ben

First Day

The first day started with waking up and finishing some last minute packing and then going to breakfast with Garrett at McDonalds. Then I met up at the Reynolds and started packing the vans to go to the airport. The trip to the airport was nice. I went with the Pharm. Students and got to know them a little better. We arrived at the airport around lunch time. I didn’t have anything to eat but a bag full of delicious bread provided by Mrs. Lowery. It was really good and served as a good lunch as I slowly finished off what bread was left in the bag. Thank you Mrs. Lowery!  We met a couple there who was waiting with us to get their luggage checked. It was fun interacting with them and sharing information about our upcoming trips. As we boarded the flight to Chicago there were some problems. They accidently checked Dr. Weaver off the plane and gave her spot someone else. This had to be corrected before we could leave, and resulted in a twenty minute delay. The trip to Chicago was fun. I sat with Ian, and Tessa, behind me sat Anna, and Kari. We had fun as we looked through the Air Magazine and made fun of all the strange products that were for sale and also found a questionable brochure that will not be discussed. After landing in Chicago we had thirty minutes to grab something to eat and then board the next plane. Since we were in Chicago we had to get the deep dish pizza served at the airport. I completely realize that it was not the real Chicago deep dish pizza, but it still felt good. After eating we boarded the plane, and then we sat, and sat. There was a sensory weather piece on the plane that was not operating correctly and had to be removed and replaced. This resulted in an hour delay on our flight to Washington. Luckily I was sitting next to Ian and on the other side of me sat Jill, and Dr. Weaver.  On this flight they had tv, and music play lists to listen to and watch. I ended up watching The big band Theory, and The Defenders. After landing in Washington we went and got our bags and then received directions from a man that had to teeth and a very large tongue to the bus loading area where we waited forever, played eye spy, name that song, and uno. We finally arrived at the Shearton, which is a very nice hotel. I am rooming with Ian. Here at the Sheraton you have to pay for internet, so I am not surfing the web. I hope to be able to sometime soon. That’s all for now, ready for Zambia! 

Update!

We just had our last meeting before we leave for Zambia, I received my itinerary and so I have some updates/corrections.

We will meet up in Searcy Tuesday morning and take a van up to Memphis where our flight departs at 2:30 to Chicago. Then our flight at Chicago leaves at 6:00 flying to Washington and arriving at 8:50. There we will spend the night and depart the next day (Wednesday) at 12:00 pm arriving at Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Thursday morning at 7:45 am! Thats a distance of 7187 miles! a 12 hour and 45 minute flight!We depart Ethiopia that morning at 9:30 am and arrive at Harare, Zimbabwe at 12:45pm. From there we fly in to Lusaka, Zambia and then take a bus to Namwinga. That is the full travel schedule and times so you can be praying for us as we travel.

Time to start packing!

God Provides

I am so thankful for all the ways I have been blessed this semester. Thank you all for your prayers and support! I I'm overwhelmed with all the donations I have received from you all. Thank you so much!

Change in plans. Our flight plans have changed recently, instead of leaving on Monday, the 15th we are leaving on Tuesday the 16th. Please continue to keep my group in your prayers as we travel. We will leave early Tuesday morning and fly to Memphis, and then from Memphis to Washington. In Washington we will spend the night and then fly to Rome only to stop in the airport (bummer) and then into Africa. I am so excited! I've been slowly gathering things for the trip this semester and getting my shots and now its finally time to start packing it all. We have our last Zambia meeting before we leave Tuesday (tomorrow) to go over the plan one more time!

This week I am very busy keeping up with finals, packing to leave school and packing for Zambia. Also, as many of you know I am graduating this weekend too on the 14th! So I am very busy but I know God will provide me with peace.

Again thank you for all your prayers and support!