Mosquito Nets, School and Village Visits

Today's post courtesy of Corey Stamen

The day started in Chapel followed by a great breakfast prepared by our chef Paul (not Gunther). Visiting the village was our first priority but we couldn't just load up and head out without a drive downtown to pick up more mosquito nets and some gifts (food items) for the village widows.

We purchased 20 nets a few days after we arrived but the village chief said they still needed an additional 68. We went back to the People's Kwikmart, a small grocery/convenience store, to get more nets. We bought every one they had unfortunately it was not enough. We still needed 20 more which meant another stop but as it turned out Kim spotted some on the shelf at the grocery store where they purchased the widow's food items. We were lucky enough to get the rest there.

One final stop a short distance away at a not so friendly looking market to pick up a large bag of Maize and we were finally on our way.

We really wanted to see the school where the children attended so we headed there first. We were greeted by over 800 curious but smiling children ranging in ages from 5 to 16 years old. A tour of the campus revealed 8 classrooms (only one had desks) and 7 teachers for all those kids! We took lots of pictures, asked lots of questions, and donated paper and pencils.

From there one car headed to the village to drop of the remaining mosquito nets and the other headed back to campus to drop off Charles our translator.

We had a traditional nsima (pronounced nn-see-mah) lunch with the ABC students - we ate it without any silverware! You know the old cliché "when in Rome..."

After washing our hands we piled into two vehicles along with our 4 ABC translators to head back to the village.

Once there Paul went with the village chief to tour the village boundaries and do a video interview. The rest of the team split up to meet and visit all of the widows. It took nearly 30 minutes to walk to her hut. She was so happy to recieve her gifts.

Finally before leaving we sang songs with the children and handed out suckers which they loved. Wow! What a day. The things we saw and experienced today will no doubt last a lifetime. These people are incredible and have so much to share. Their smiles are unforgettable, we can't wait to share our pictures with you.

Good night and God bless.