a day at the House of Martha

Our morning was a little slow, which was okay b/c the kids got to play with each other for a bit. Then we headed to Kwabata village, which is really just a neighborhood in downtown Lusaka where they sell many of the same goods you would see at the Sunday market at Arcades. Moya took us down there b/c Uncle G had recommended it as a good place for shopping. We loved the look of the huts which served as either stalls for shopping or as homes. We found a couple of cool necklaces for our girls which are known at the HOM as “Zambeedzis” (spelling?). Basically they are made with a paper mache type approach to look like regular necklaces and earrings. The HOM is working on making them to sell in the states as a fundraiser.

We then went to the House of Martha (ages 6-14 and a mile or two from the HOM) to play. We got there just before their lunch so we made our PB-H sandwiches and also enjoyed some terrific chicken and rice. The Zambian kids ate outside at picnic tables 2-3 to a large bowl. It was VERY good (I would say 2 of our best meals were eaten in these transit homes), and there seemed to be enough, although a couple of the tables finished quicker than others. Then Zeke got out one of the Chinese jump-ropes that Jamie’s sister made for our trip – it’s a cross between line dancing, jumping rope & hurdle drills – and it became 4 hours of playtime. We had about 8 of the ropes and they quickly spread across the yard. It appeared a few of the kids had seen them before b/c they instantly went to the next level of tricks. Others were new to it, and Zeke, Rayna & even Addie took turns showing them how. Rayna then got out some playdough and a few cookie cutters and that picnic table filled quick as well. The kids were AMAZING in what they created (we are posting one shot of a boy who made an ox to pull a cart w/ two farmers to drive, we also have a cool photo of a gal who made a cell-phone, using a piece of paper as the screen). They carried their share of the playdough with them the rest of the day. We also had a regular jumprope which Mandi took one end of for about 1 ½ hours. The kids were eager to jump rope and use playdough, etc., but for most of the day we saw them take turns & share everything…it was special.

Jamie played “paper, rock, scissors” & the stand-up version called “ninja, gorilla, cowboy” for a bit, as well as the hand slap game (does it have a name? I just know it as the game where my brother Greg used to turn the back of my hands purple). Zeke had a crew of kids digging in the huge dirt piles they have (they are working on another building to be used partly as a boys’ dorm & partly as a technical education building). Mandi soon saw him up on top of a storage trailer jumping off into the piles of dirt with the other boys. It just had the feel of something they would not normally have done, but since Zeke was doing it, they were all in. Rayna spent a lot of time taking the camera around. This was actually a tough job as each kid not only wanted to have their picture taken & then be able to see it, but they also wanted to take a turn as cameraman. Rayna was very patient with all of this, and has some good shots to prove it. At one point Addie was standing in a group of about 10 kids & a couple of the caregivers sharing stories and building princess castles. She always seems to pique people’s interest in what she is doing. Jeb was pretty cool with the whole day. He spent a lot of it being hoisted around by a few of the kids, even snagging a bed for his nap (his 23 second nap).

We loved seeing the schoolhouse building with its two rooms side by side. The open air classroom was set-up for multiple grades, so it had a slight home school feel to it. Zambia is a Christian nation (they play Michael W. Smith videos on the state run TV channel - I saw it in Juls lounge) so the curriculum is Biblically based. Christianity here is similar to the US in that many people identify themselves as a Christian based on tradition or family, but the nation’s moral compass seems to be more conservative than our country’s. For example our guide at Victoria Falls identified himself as a Christian, but then also asked us if we had a Bible he could have (we bought one to mail to him today). Also abortion is illegal here in Zambia. People just seem more open and willing to talk about spirituality.