First day on the farm

Another hearty breakfast with the gang was followed by devotions from the group lead by Katherine. Mukwavi also blessed us prior to our departure for the first time to the farm.

The road to the farm is... interesting. Calling it a goat trail would be an understatement. With the combination of rainy seasons compounded by a lack of maintenance and lack of asphalt the road has degraded to something I would have trouble driving a dirt bike down. Sadly this is a road travelled daily by locals and members of the Mercy Touch family.

The initial tour of the farm enlightened us to the progress of the two new houses as well as the continued harvest/progress of the crops on the farm. We tried raw and boiled ground nuts, sweet potatoes, and rape (canola). We toured the fish farms, chicken pen as well as the pig stye.

We were delighted to find the wood we had ordered to build the bunk beds. The initial problem lied with the lack of power and drills. After setting up a plethora of extension cords we could begin sanding and planing the wood to a workable standard. We are pretty lucky in Canada having wood that is not only straight but consistent in dimensions as well as well as quality. The boys and us set up some "scaffolding" to work with. The guys all worked diligently and hard all day today. Austin, Tresford, Elvis, Chims, and many others helped us throughout the day to speed the progress up. Happily after dealing with all the difficulties of with the wood, lack of power, tools, and general provisions we finished our production set up and were able to put together a mock-up of the bed.

A full day of work was completed and a hearty supper prepared by the house mothers was in order. We sat in a large group and exchanged conversation over a lovely dinner.

After a quick meeting and set up we gathered in the living room to share the gifts we brought for the children. Gifts came from all over, friends, sponsors, family, etc. The combination of clothing, trinkets, pictures and random assortment of items left some in tears, others beaming with joy and of course our mission team left delighted on the happiness we have just provided. A magical experience in which I had never felt before took place as children from all over Ndola and Zambia united in thanks for a few small gifts that we had brought them. The pure joy that they felt resonated throughout the room.

After the long ride back to Fatmols we all hit the bed pretty hard, ready to hit the ground running for another hard day!