children of zion village

Finally got the pictures and most of the videos I wanted off of the cd's- enjoy!

For more pics and videos please check back later...

I am having some trouble getting pictures and videos off of cd's that I put them on (I think they are too scratched!) But I will have them up as soon as possible!!

It took a boat, a car, then two planes, but I made it home!

Yes, David got the boat working on Sunday night, just in time to take the staff home. I left the children's home at 6:30am Monday morning by boat (see picture on right), made it to the car at 7:00am and then to Livinstone at 9:30am. Before we got to Livingstone I FINALLY got to see some giraffes! We got out of the car, crossed the street and stood about 15 feet away from them while snapping pictures. They didn't stay around very long, so we continued on to Livingstone. Once there, Becca and I spent some time in the markets, bargining with people until we got the Zambian rate on souveniers, then headed for some lunch. I very surprised to see that they had a Subway there! Mcdonald's, I would've expected, but Subway?! We ended up splitting a footlong since it cost 12,500...Kwacha that is :) With our thousand dollar sub, a coke and a water, we only spent just under 5 American dollars!

The flight from Jo'burg to Dulles was a bumpy one and I only slept about four hours, which was no good. Since I was in a fog still yesterday, I waited until today let everyone know that I returned safely and post some pictures on previous posts- so check them out!

Saying goodbye to the children was hard, although not as hard as last time. Maybe it's because I still plan on seeing these kids again- I'm not sure when, but I will! :)

Quick Updates

Well, my time is up. I leave tomorrow morning at 6:00am, provided that I have transportation, that is. Our boat decided that it doesn't want to run any more, but there are some people next to us who have a boat and we're hoping that they can take me to where our cars are parked tomorrow morning so I can make it to the airport!

Since I've written last, the water has gone down a significant amount! Every morning we are surprised that we can now walk on places that were covered in water the previous day. Some of the children are sad that we won't be moving- that they will miss out on an adventure like the one last year to Hippo Lodge, but as for the staff and volunteers, we couldn't be happier!

I also wanted to share with you all that two of our children, one boy and one girl, qualified to go and compete in Windhoek (the capital of Namibia) for running that they did the weekend before I arrived here. They left by bus on Thursday and will return tomorrow (Monday). We heard yesterday that the boy received third place in one of his races already, but we haven't heard anything about the girl yet. Everyone here is very excited and proud of them. There are also two boys, who play soccer for a team in town, who will be going to Windhoek next week to compete in the Coca-Cola Cup, which will be televised! I am definitely very excited for these two- they have worked really hard for this.

I'll definitely have to put pictures and videos up when I get back because words don't do justice to the treatments Margaret and I receive when we go to read to the little girls at night. We get massages, globs and globs of lotion rubbed on our legs and arms, and our hair brushed and braided (or knotted!). Friday night I brought over some nail polish, and we all took turns painting each others nails. The little four year old who painted my toenails also suceeded in painting half of my toes! Once they little girls were finished, I gave the nail polish to the older girls to keep- I knew it would be in safer hands there.
(The top picture is Marsela rubbing lotion on my leg, left picture is Maria with her pretty nails, and the last picture is Efa, Esther, Hilda and Maria. I had a really cute video, but for some reason it's not working)

Yesterday they had Independence Day celebrations in town since the previous weekend all of the Officials celebrated in Windhoek. A small group of us only went for the afternoon so we could watch the two boys who are on the soccer team in town play their game against Zambia. The boys were actually starting players and stayed in the whole game (even though the team is made up of 20-30 something year olds and our boys are teenagers!) The boys team ended up winning the game, which made the Independence celebration that much sweeter! My favorite part of the day had to be when Becca and I went looking for some really nice Independence Day t-shirts that we saw on people who had performed or on people who were working there, and were refused and then sent to look somewhere else by a man with a big box full of them (we think he sent us on a wild goose chase for them!) but when we came back to confront him, another man told him to give us a shirt. They also gave us a visor with the same print as the t-shirt on it! We definitely wore those proudly for the rest of the day, and then decided to have the children sign them this morning after Church.

Well I am going to go and enjoy the last of the short hours that I have left. Thanks to everyone who has supported me throughout this whole process- I am SO THANKFUL that I was able to return and spend more time with these lovely 57 children!

Just when you think the water won't stop rising....

it does. Praise God that it hasn't risen much, if at all, in that past couple of days! Friday night we had it all worked out that we would be moving (or shifting as they say here) Sunday, or Monday at the latest, until further notice. Luckily, since the water hasn't risen, we have been able to postpone the move- hopefully for good! I don't think that I have ever mentioned the poles that David put in the ground when it was dry and way before I even arrived, but they are 2 meters high (you'd think by now I'd know how to convert all of this stuff, but I don't. All I know is that 2 meters is pretty high!) When I came in the beginning of March, the water was to the 0.5 mark. It is now over 2 meters; the poles are completely covered! All of the volunteers here can't believe that the water has come that high, but since between this year and last I've only known the water to be high, I can't believe that David could once stand where he did to put the poles in! The picture here is courtesy of the Curry's while on a boat ride...to the far left you can see the poles that we used to measure the water and where the water stood at the beginning of this month!

Saturday I spent some a couple of hours in the boat fishing with David, Margaret and two teenage boys. It was a nice sunny afternoon and the weather was wonderful- so nice that I got to work on my tan :) Unfortunately, we didn't catch anything but grass, as we were fishing in a spot that is a dry road during the dry season. One of the boys got a huge tiger fish hooked, and reeled all the way to the boat, but the hook was too small, so right as he was about to pull in the fish it got away. Either way, we all had fun!

Today (Monday) the kids didn't have school, because of Independence Day, so this morning I spent some time playing soccer with a few of the older girls and the little kids- who never really get a chance to go to the field and play. It was the four older girls vs. the little kids and I was surprised at how good these kids were! Some of them were really fast, and others could dribble the ball much better than any other little kids that I've seen! Then there were the two 4 year old boys, who just spent the whole time picking the flowers from the side of the field, running onto the field, handing them to me and saying, "Here you go Auntie!" and then running to get more. I think they all had fun on the big kid field today!

Happy Independence Day, Namibia!

Known as "West South Africa" in the past, this country suffered through years of fighting and the apartheid, but this Sunday will mark 20 years since Namibia became an independent country. Today, the children had an assembly full of dancing, singing, and speeches about what their country went through in the past. Full of pride for their country, the assembly ended with (most of) the children standing up straight and proudly singing their national anthem. It was great to be here again to celebrate their independence day with them- and to see all of the talent!

There isn't much new with the flood situation...the water is still coming, slowly, but surely. We now have to walk through an ankle deep puddle of water to get from the mission home to the children's home- but that's the worst of it (except right outside of the front gate, but since we are going by boat, that doesn't really matter anymore). Yesterday I spent half the day in town with Becca, running errands and getting food to last us until Tuesday (since everything will be closed on Monday). The boat ride back was a slow one with all of the groceries and five people sqeezed into it! I was happy, though, that the big gray clouds above us didn't lead to rain until after we had gotten back. Being caught in a thunderstorm while in a boat is bad enough, but being caught in a thunderstorm in an all metal boat (ours) would be worse....

A hard days work

Yesterday, we spent a good portion of the day filling and placing sandbags around the doors of Becca's/my house and the children's home. Even though the water is just now coming on to land, we want to be prepared! After expecting to wake up and see water out of my front door this morning, I have to say that I was a little disappointed that it looked like it hadn't moved much- only because I wanted all of our hard work yesterday to be worth while! We are hoping that this means it is slowing down and will stop rising within the next couple of days, but we aren't holding our breath for that! (Pictured are the sandbags outside of my door..)

It doesn't seem like we need to be too concerned about moving, for now at least. We met with someone yesterday who basically told us not to worry until the water is everywhere and we have to get from the main house to the children's home by boat. So it seems like we might have a week or so before we have to move if the water keeps rising....