Feeding program/Friday

The morning’s plans are rushed with a quick devotion led by a close friend of Katherine. Lucky is a local Zambian woman with a heart of gold. We quickly packed up our bags and rushed to the farm to prepare.

Jason surprised everyone with custom mercy touch shirts for us to flaunt when partaking in the activities for today. When we arrived we were pleased to see some of the children already there waiting for us. A collection of mothers, babies, and young children has filled the space around the school house at the farm. Our initial estimates are around 200 + people. Firstly the smallest children are weighed and tracked by the community leaders followed progressively by the older children. The weight tracking program allows the community leaders to analyze and adjust the feeding program as necessary to ensure its success and monitor its progress. During the feeding program a group of mothers partake in preparation of sheema, rape (canola), ground nuts and assortment of vegetables. The children are then sent home with a week’s worth of soy meal. This three time a month program is solely supported by mercy touch and its sponsors, and organized and run by community leaders. Following the feeding program we collect the children in a massive circle adjoined by hands. We prepare to hand out an enormous collection of gifts; these bags were prepared by some of our team and a massive effort by Jason and his sea cadets. The bags contain a selection of sweets, accessories, and toys. The look of sheer gratitude and enjoyment flashes across every child's face, while surprisingly they are all content with waiting for everyone to receive the bags prior to opening them. Finally the moment came and everyone of them tore into them like a child on Christmas. The feeling of thanks, happiness, and overwhelming joy resonated everywhere.

A quick lunch and short wait for Andrew (the contractor responsible for the new houses) we received the carriage bolts required for us to finish the final mock-up of a single bed. Andrew will use this as a working model when the house is completed. We leaped at the opportunity and assembled the bed in a matter of minutes, laid the final touches and marveled at our success. The Mercy Touch children ogled over the new beds and we all eagerly tested the structural integrity of the bed. We were all satisfied to find it to a standard that should leave the kids with a place to lay their heads for many years. A collective group photo was taken and we rushed the bed off to storage before night fall.


**corrected**
The final night at the farm was met with anticipation, relief and sadness. Realizing that this was our last night here hit home pretty hard. The children and the team gathered around shared some stories and exchanged hugs and admiration prior to leaving for the night. We had to leave the children that evening as everyone was headed in groups to a local African household for dinner. An event organized by Sandra exposed everyone personally to a local in close communication with mercy touch. I cannot speak personally for the experiences of others but from what I have gathered it was an enormous success and quite enjoyable evening. Being one on one with families in their homes and delving into their personality left me with a deeper understanding of Zambia and its people. The stories and laughs shared when everyone returned to the hotel left us bursting at the seams, our groups genuinely had an amazing night with these people and we were thoroughly grateful for their hospitality.
Once again after a late night, and a long day everyone retired to bed. The next days activities should leave everyone exhausted by the end so a good rest is in order.

Thirsty Thursday

A wonderful devotion led by Shelly has started the morning off with an optimistic beginning to the day. The sun is shining bright today and a serious amount of sun screen is in order for everyone.

There was a request to visit the school where some of the children go. Grace Academy is an operation run and created by a woman from Abbotsford BC. The school supports well over one hundred children whom are mostly HIV positive and staffs 72 adults to maintain the facility. It is a shining example of another operation in Ndola saving orphaned children. I personally believe that Mercy Touch is well on its way to becoming as successful as Grace Academy, if not more.

There was no messing around this morning after arrival to the farm. It has dawned upon us that tomorrow our time will be limited due to the feeding program taking place. Varnishing, staining, planing, assembly and cutting are all happening at the same time, and an illusion of efficiency has been established. A big shout out to everyone that helped keep the working crews fed and watered this week as they worked just as tirelessly as everyone else. The lunches, drinks, snacks and suppers were amazing and so well done.

Colleen, Andrea, Sandra, Regina, and I went on a walk about this morning also to personally visit some of the villagers. Seeing their farms, children and families was heartwarming. We toured their farm and witnessed their irrigation operations. A pump system has been set up that operates by oscillating your feet up and down on a planked pump system that feeds a hose held by a person in the field. Two hours a day is spent operating this pump to provide adequate water to the crops during the dry season; talk about a work out!

The completion of 15 beds became our final milestone today. Our planers are destroyed and/or broken (4 in total) and time has run out. We will not be assembling the beds as the roof is not complete and they will have to be installed after the new house is finished. Unfortunately today the carriage bolts required for final assembly of the beds, so it looks like the final picture will have to take place tomorrow. A mock-up will be assembled for the contractors to work with as an example so they can ensure assembly is as per our initial design.

The school house is packed tight with beds, ladders, legs and miscellaneous parts for the beds to be assembled following the completion of the first house. We have all gleamed with pride of our work for a job well done.

Prior to a very late supper, the mission team set out to personally visit the houses of some of the farm workers; Samuel Dominque and Joseph. Both these men have children and wives in which they support through working the farm together. The housing is provided by Mercy Touch, and their food is subsidized as well. We brought an entire duffle bag full of clothing for both families and small gifts for the wives. The gratitude and thanks shown from these families is as heartwarming and genuine as everyone else we have helped thus far.

Following another night on the farm with a wonderful supper, dancing and singing from the children, and the exchange of stories, we ventured off for the 45 minute ride home. Our final day on the farm will be upon us quicker than imagined.

Mid Week!

A deadly morning has settled upon us all as fatigue from the previous days work is beginning to show. After a quick breakfast Mukwavi lead us in devotion with assistance from Shelly and Katherine.

The time crunch for getting the work complete is also looming around us production is in full swing however it's becoming an increasingly daunting task to finish. The boys are still on the planers full swing and staining has really gone full tilt. Varnishing is being completed by Shelly and little Patricia. We are planning on pushing hard for the next two and a half days to meet the timeline we have established.

A few of the girls went on a little shopping spree today to get chitenge's and a few more supplies. They will be looking forward to getting them back after they are completed. Following their shopping experience they departed on a walk about through some of the villages to visit the homes of select locals. The locals were overjoyed to receive the candy and gifts that we had brought. They too experienced the irrigation systems used people in Zambia. I will go into detail on this later.

Following the work day we were invited to Mercy Touch's drivers' house for a visit. William is an extremely special person who takes care of his mother, sister, nieces and nephews. Currently he is under taking continued construction of his new house to expand it to a home that can accommodate everyone. The conditions in which they live are rather unfavorable but William is optimistic of the future of his family. A massive donation from Susan Balcaseras and her kind and generous friends will speed up this process in time for the looking rainy season coming in November.

Departure from Williams' house was an adventure in itself. The two vans were nearly swarmed by children trying to play on the van. Driving down the road was another interesting occurrence. Traveling down the already sub-par roads, coupled with ridiculous amounts of pedestrians on the shoulders and the increasingly darkening night sky made for a stressful ride for both passengers and drivers. One intersection in particular had us in a traffic jam in which both Jason and I had to get aggressive to get through. Other drivers were honking and yelling at us. Some tears were momentarily shed and In Shandi's words the experience was "life threatening".

After the eye opening ride from Williams’ house we gathered up most of the adults from the mercy touch team together for a dinner out together. Déjà vu is a wonderful restaurant located in the heart of Ndola near the business district. The delights offered come from cuisines all over the world, however they did not compare to the wonderful meals prepared from the ladies at the farm. A wonderful meal was shared by everyone; we swapped stories, laughed, joked, and developed our friendship.

After all that excitement the long day had come to an end with everyone pouring into their beds to prepare for the days work tomorrow.

Day two!

Everyone woke up a bit sore and groggy this morning but everyone seemed to be in high spirits and ready to go. Devotions were led by Sandra today and shortly after we were on our way to the farm. A short stop at the hardware store to pick up two more planers (we burnt through two the day before) and a few screws we are ready to hit the production floor again. A massive operation has developed and we are making wonderful progress. Andrea and Colleen are staining the completed bed frames, Jason is on the skill saw, Brian and a few of the boys are planing and preparing wood for Jason and I who are assembling all of it. It has been quite productive thus far as we're done the assembly of half the beds as of the end of the day.

Another massive supper was in order as Bernard has decided to treat us to some steaks! Followed up with rice, cabbage and an assortment of vegetables, it was super filling. We chatted with the kids, watched then play guitar, listen to them sing and watched them dance. Both the boys and the girls have dancing and singing skills that would put everyone back home to shame.

I would have to say that meeting, interacting and overall getting to know these children has been a blessing that I will never forget. Each individual personality aligned with their own individuality shines through so bright. Regardless of their background story whether it is a story of hardships or a terrible situation they all are undoubtedly grateful for what Mercy Touch and its members have provided for them. It's rather powerful hearing the ambition harnessed inside each child whom have goals to become great. I have listened to most of the children's desired career paths and find it enlightening to hear about the up and coming doctors, lawyers, teachers, business men and woman etc. the next generation coming through Zambia is likely to inspire change.

Not entirely looking forward to the 7 AM wake-up call as I am finishing this at 2 AM. :)