October Heat

The windy month of September has left us, and the hot, heavy heat of October has come. It sure has been a busy hot season so far. It would seem during the blazing hot days there would be little happening, but in fact it is just the opposite. In just the past week, we have added 7 baby goats, 24 chicks and 3 kittens to the family compound. It was quite amazing waking up each day knowing new life was beginning. During the same week, while Joey was brushing his teeth before bed I head, “Insoka ikulu, insoka ikulu! Big snake, big snake!” I ran out to watch the last tip of a snake tail disappear into the ant hill next to our pit latrine. A 7 foot black mamba had paid us a visit. Luckily, it did not seem to mind Joey’s presence and our host family quickly came and helped scare the snake away. We haven’t seen the snake since, but we don’t leave the hut without our headlamps. We also celebrated Joey’s birthday and teacher appreciation in the same week. Joey celebrated with oreos for breakfast and the movie “The Life Aquatic” after dinner for his birthday. The following day, for teacher appreciation, some of the teachers and Joey and I drove over 2 hours on a bumpy dirt road on the back of a canter trunk to Nsobe Game Park. Upon arriving, we observed ostrich, impala, zebra, and even giraffe, within the 1500 hectare park. It was a nice chance to bond with the teachers from school, and to see more of our surrounding area. This month has also had its share of conclusions. After weeks of hard labor, Joey finished his conservation farming demonstration plot. The field looks great, and after the planting rains, he will begin planting soya beans, maize, some cool agro-forestry trees and some improved fallow crops. Also, our community (primarily our host family) finally finished our 2nd structure! We plan to move in next week. What a nice treat it will be to have a place to prepare food and store extra luggage. The structure looks great and we are very grateful to our dear host family for helping us through each step of the process. This month also brought us a visitor from America! Our friend Jessica was working/visiting Cape Town, South Africa, and decided to make a trip to Zambia to see us before heading back to the States. She has been here almost a week, and it is hard to believe that we have to take her to the airport and send her back on her way tomorrow. It has been wonderful having her fun-loving attitude with us in the village. Her background is in health education, and so we invited her to share a talk with us at the school on HIV/AIDS. The school really appreciated it, and it was a great experience for both parties involved. October has been a great month, but we sure have a lot to look forward to in November!

As part of the local celebration of the 46th year of Zambian Independence, Joey was invited to play futbol with the school's futbol team. They played a local team and tied 1-1. Joey played very well.

Every Tuesday from 2:30-4:00 pm, Joy teaches a group of 6-10 adults basic English. Last week we learned about parts of the body.

As planting season quickly approaches, Joey prepared his field as a demonstration filed to teach the local farmers more about conservation farming. Here, he is placing lime in each one of the 2,000+ basins he dug.

*A special thank you to all of those who have sent books for my Read 100 to Find 100 program. It has been so successful, I will be able to start the Read 100 to Find 100 program at all six of the schools in my zone. Thank you!