Day 8

Saturday, June 29th

It was the weekend, so after a long week of teaching, we were excited to sleep in a little!  Saturday morning we got to go to Lilayi to do a game drive.  It was so relaxing and so much fun!  Our driver, Andrew, took us around the property, and he was excellent at spotting the animals from far away.

We saw the zebras first. We stopped the jeep and walked up pretty close to them.  Andrew said that since two of the girls were wearing bright yellow shirts, it kind of confused the zebras, so they just stopped and stared for awhile! :)  

 We drove a little ways more and came up on the baby elephants.  We parked the jeep, and they started to cross right in front of us.



One of them even came right up to the jeep and stuck his trunk in!

 We thought we might miss the giraffes, but at the end of our drive, Andrew spotted them and drove us around to get closer.  They were all 5 together.  They were so big!  They all just stopped and stared for awhile, so we were able to get good pictures.

After the tour, we ate lunch there.  It was beautiful!!  They have recently redone the place, and it is so nice.  It has a couple of rooms you can stay in, a pool, and a restaurant.  The decorations looked like they came right out of the Pottery Barn catalog.

 The lunch menu had quite a few things on it we would not eat, but we ordered burgers and fries from the bar menu.  It was very good!  We really enjoyed our time of relaxation together.  

After lunch, we headed to the Garden compound to meet my sponsor child, Queen.  I began sponsoring her in February of 2011, so I could not wait to finally meet her.  We went to the Garden Lifeway Christian Academy, and when we walked in, there was a girl sitting at the front.   There was also a party going on inside for the kids of the school.  Allison talked to one of the Zambians and said it was her, so I went over to her and began hugging her and crying.  I knew she acted a little strange and did not look like the picture I have of her, but the picture was from 2 years ago, and they change a lot.  The little girl was very shy but went along with what I was saying.  Finally, Brenda, one of the discipleship leaders for Famiy Legacy, came out to tell us someone had to go get Queen.  We quickly realized that the girl I had been talking to was not Queen!!  Her name was Martha, and she was just waiting on a friend inside the school!  I was SO embarrassed.  It had actually been my biggest fear...that I would not recognize her!!  Brenda talked to the little girl and explained what happened, and she was just fine.  I felt terrible, though!  The girls who were with me got plenty of pictures of me talking to the girl who was not Queen, but I deleted most of them!!  We laughed about it later and called it the practice round!  

Practice Round :)

Everything turned out okay, though, and we waited a little longer for Queen to arrive.

 While we waited, we talked to some of the children who were waiting outside the gates of the school.  It was Saturday, but they were touching us through the bars and still wanting to come in so badly.  This is typical in the compounds.  Going to school is a treasured opportunity that many children never get to experience.  Seeing their sweet faces just longing to come in was hard.

After a few minutes, Davisson (one of the Zambian discipleship leaders) came riding up on his bike with Queen on the back.  She had her arms wrapped tightly around him.  She walked through the door, and she was very timid.  She smiled, though. :)

 I was not sure if she fully understood what was going on, but she warmed up to me after a little bit.  I asked about her family and school.  I got to give her clothes and a few small gifts, and she was very appreciative and so polite.

I prayed for her and her family, and she was very thankful.

She told me she is in Grade 8 now, so I congratulated her on passing her Grade 7 exams, which is a huge accomplishment in Zambia.  She told me she likes Civics and that her least favorite subject is geography.  She said she wants to be a pilot or a doctor when she grows up.  She wanted me to pray that she makes it to Grade 9 and passes those exams.

After we talked for a little bit, she wanted to show me her home.  We all got in our van, and Davisson directed us to where she lives.  All around her house, it is very dirty and children are running around.  The housing structures are small and many are falling apart.  Queen's house was nicer in comparison to many of them.  We walked up to it, and she invited us in.  Someone in our group said, "This is nice!", and I heard her say softly "yes, but not very nice".



We pulled back the sheet that served as a door, and went into the "living room".  It was a room that was probably 6x6.  It had two chair/couch type seats and a table in between.  When you sat on one of the chairs, your knees touched the table.  There was not room to move around, and the 6 of us all barely fit in the room together.  There was a shelving unit against the wall that was full of random things, including pots and pans.

 Because Queen is the first born, she helps take care of her sisters and brother.  They were all hanging around outside.  Their names are Martha, Karen, Charity, and Junior.  They speak Bemba, so they did not understand me much, but said hello.  Her parents were not there, but she said said they both work.  When I asked what they did, she said she didn't know.  Davisson said they do piece work, meaning they just go out each day and see what they can find to do to make ends meet.

 

It was so wonderful to meet her, and so surreal.  I love that through Family Legacy, you can actually go and meet your child and see how your donation each month is helping them.  It was a beautiful thing to be able to hold her hands, to love on her, and to pray for her and her family.  I hope I will be able to return and see her again one day. 

What a blessed day!  My heart was FULL!

Day 7

Friday, June 28th 

We were only at school until 10:00 this day, so I did a read aloud with the kids and helped the teachers when needed.  The kids LOVED for me to read picture books aloud.  They just stare at you so engaged, laugh, and clap when the book is finished.  :)  I could tell that the teachers were starting to implement some of the strategies I had been using, especially with the phonics lessons, so that was great to see.  

After we left the school, we headed to the top of the hill to the Legacy Center to see Friday afternoon of Camp LIFE.  Since I have never participated in Camp LIFE before, this was great to see.  It helped put the pieces of the ministry together for me.  

When we got there, the kids were going into the center to participate in the Lord's Supper.  This was such a special time!  Each group of 10 kids sat in a circle.  They prayed for each other, and the kids even prayed for their American mentor.  Greer, the founder of Family Legacy, led a time of reflection and prayer, and "Uncle Teddy" translated.  He is a Zambian who works with Family Legacy to translate everything Greer says at camp into Nyanja, and he is phenomenal!!  He does the same exact hand motions, animation, and voice inflection as Greer does.  It is really cool to see and hear.  

Uncle Greer and Uncle Teddy leading the kids in a time of worship and prayer 

After the Lord's Supper, we went outside and were immediately bombarded by a group of girls that did not have an American leading their group.  Most groups have 1 American and 1 Zambian.  These girls were ones who are already sponsored, and there were so many children that a couple of the groups had to be without an American all week.  Needless to say, they were SO excited to see us and to know we were not already with another group, and they begged for us to sit with them.  

They latched on quickly!!  They wanted to touch our skin, climb all over us, use my camera, braid our hair, etc.  It was so sweet!

When we went inside, the kids sang all of their camp songs, prayed, and then it was time for "blessings".  Each child was going to get a few gifts to go home with.  Greer and Teddy had a huge trunk on stage, and they would open it and pull out each gift one-by-one.  The reactions were priceless.  The kids would yell and scream for a "sweet" (piece of candy) or a "bangle" (bracelet).  

This was after they were told they were all getting blankets.  Have you ever heard or seen a reaction like this for something we take for granted every day?  It really puts things into perspective!  

After this, it was time for the Americans to take their kiddos back to the buses to say goodbye to them for the last time.  

It was heartbreaking watch how sad the kids were to leave.  Many of them are going back to horrible home lives and situations, but hopefully many of them will soon be sponsored.  They will then have the opportunity to go to school, and some may even be new residents of the Tree of Life. There is hope for these little ones! 

When all of the children were gone, we went on a tour of "the future of Camp LIFE".  Greer led us around the property, and I learned so much about the ministry.  Hearing his story of being a very wealthy businessman, to nearly losing everything, then still having the faith God would provide for Family Legacy was amazing.  All of the staff that work for Family Legacy raise their own salaries. They must truly rely on God and fully trust him to bring in enough for their families to live.  

Family Legacy is currently building and raising money for the Legacy Lodge.  This will be a hotel type accommodation on property that will be used for Cam Life and then rented out during the year to earn revenue for the ministry.  When I first heard that it was for Camp Life, it was hard to understand why they were spending so much money to build nice facilities just for the Americans to come over and stay in while at camp, especially knowing where the children come from.  However, as I listened to the heart of it more, I quickly realized that it is a well thought out business plan to create more revenue that will be directly used to further the ministry.  The property is 10 minutes from the airport, and there is a need for a hotel/meeting room facility, and it has the potential to bring in a lot of money that can be used for the kids and schools.  

Taking a tour of a model room at the Legacy Lodge

We toured a model room, and it was beautiful.  The views are breathtaking.  It was very cool to hear see and hear the story of how everything came about and how God has orchestrated it all from the beginning.  

We ate dinner with all of the Americans there for Camp Life, and it was their last night, so it was a celebration of what God had done all week.  At the end of the night, the lights turned out, and we thought it was a time of prayer.  Music started playing, and I saw people coming out from behind the curtains on stage.   For some reason, I thought it was the house mommies.  When I realized it was our Tree of Life children, I immediately started crying and could not stop.  The children were all dressed up in traditional African clothing in bright colors, and they had candles and were dancing to "Glory, Glory, Hallelujah".  

They looked so sweet and full of JOY!  When you look at them, it is sometimes hard to remember they they have had such hard little lives.  They still have emotional, and sometimes even physical, scars, but they have been renewed and transformed!  They have the joy of the Lord now!  

On the bus ride home, one lady told us the story of a little girl Faith.  She is in Allison's Grade 1 class.  Last year, after camp, she went home to the house where she was being beaten.  When she got there, her mom said they didn't want her to live there anymore and that she needed to go back to the camp she came from.  She had memorized the path of the bus, and she turned around and walked 6 miles back!  They found her on the side of the road, rescued her, and now she is thriving at the Tree of Life.  

There are so many stories like hers, and to see the children now, you can't help but know that God is doing great things!  

What a blessing the first week was!  

Days 5 and 6

June 26th and 27th

Wednesday:

I taught math and reading to both Grade 4 and Grade 5, and I was excited to teach math and make it more hand-on!  The lesson was on finding area in Grade 4.  They had been using the formula and working problems on the board.  I could tell they did not understand the concept, only the calculation.  So, the night before, I had spent time cutting out sets of rectangles out of construction paper for them to measure.  I had them work with a partner to measure the length and width with a ruler.  They use rulers a lot in class....to make straight lines!  :)  They are very concerned with neatness.  They had not used the rulers, however, to actually measure!  

They were engaged in the lesson the whole time, and they loved it!  Teacher Mwangala wrote me a very sweet note about how she had learned things from me to keep it more exciting and that she wished I could stay there all year.  That made it all worth it!  

Thursday:

I taught reading and math for Grade 4 and Grade 5 today, and then we dismissed the kids early so they could get ready for the presentation they were doing for the Americans who were here for Camp LIFE.  

We met the kids at Tree of Life, along with the others here for camp.
The kids sang their Tree of Life song to welcome us. 

 Afterwards, they all ran to grab us to show us their homes and school.    

There were about 20 kids who live at the Tree of Life who have had their sponsors drop them recently for one reason or another.  They are still staying at Tree of Life, but they are in need of sponsors now!  Those kids had on green bandannas.  The kids know that they have been dropped, and a lot of them feel like it is because their sponsors do not love them or care about them anymore.  It was so sad!  It sounds like a terrible thing to have them singled out.  The reason they want them to wear the bandannas, however, is so that they can hopefully be sponsored by some of the Americans who are here throughout the summer for camp.  Once people make a connection, relationships are developed, and many of the children actually did get picked up with new sponsors!  

 Kenley decided that she was going to sponsor one who was dropped.  His name is James, and he was in her class all week.  He is such a sweet boy, but very shy!  One of his legs kind of turns out, and he limps.  He has sickle-cell anemia, and he was in a wheelchair and could not walk last year.  He and his brother, Luka, both live at Tree of Life.  Kenley had the joy of getting to go over to James and take off his green bandanna.  She told him she would be his new sponsor!  She said that his heart was beating so fast, and she asked him why.  He said, "I am just so happy!"  It was so sweet!!  She got to then shower him with love and gifts the rest of the week.  

Kenley telling James she is his new sponsor!

Sweet James!

After touring their homes and classrooms, we came back to the cafeteria at the school that is being built.  The kids did a skit, sang a song and played drums, and did a dance.  It was fun to see the kids we had taught all week in the performances.  :)

 I had a really fun time watching the little cutie dance while the older kids were performing!  I missed the part he was really into, but I managed to capture a little on video!