When we all met in the living room we noticed that almost everyone happened to be wearing their tie-dyed tshirts. Great minds think alike! We had a tie-dye party up at the clinic before we left so we were all excited to get to sport them with our skirts on the first day.
At the beginning of the day, we were split into three groups to work on swallowing, language, and tutoring. Some girls collected data on the at risk medically fragile babies that might have further feeding issues. The others looked at the developmental levels of the babies and assisted in tutoring school aged children. Meghann and I were assigned to the tutoring for the morning. During our tutoring session, we worked on articulation and language. The kids were very eager to learn and seemed to enjoy having us. After lunch, we joined the rest of the group at Haven 1 for language enrichment. We sang songs and imitated sounds of jungle animals. The babies responded really well to us and were sooo stinkin cute!
On either side of the entrance to the tutoring building were HUGE piles of corn. I had never seen so much corn in my life!
All the kiddos are obsessed with cameras in Africa and always want their picture taken. This is the product of a sweet little girl named Sandra's photography. She was so excited and nervous to be holding a camera :) Minus the nasty hair and no makeup it turned out good!
This is one of the little boys in tutoring...sharpening pencils with a razor blade. Makes you think about all the things we take for granted in America like pencil sharpeners!
Last night we had a "welcoming party" hosted by Mr. Perry and the Namwianga Mission. Before the party we all got to take showers! Kaylee, Marja, Meghann, and I walked down to another house and got to take HOT showers. So glad! They were a little bit scarier than our showers in our house but they got the job done. Kaylee and I decided to get authentic handmade African dresses made from Ms. Mono to wear to the welcoming party.
Do we look authentic? ha
The welcoming party was a very moving experience and Mr. Perry expressed his sincere gratitude for our work at the Namwianga Mission as well as taking time out of our lives to come to Zambia. His speech made me cry! You could tell he meant everything he said from the bottom of his heart. (For a better, more detailed story of the welcoming party you can visit Rachel's blog! There is a link on the side titled "Zambian Summer")
They prepared a FEAST of their traditional meal (chicken, rice, and red sauce. . . and of course cake) and the boys choir sang a couple of songs for us and then asked us to sing one as well. (we did our best!! haha) They were all so welcoming and glad to have us!
I wasn't exaggerating when i said FEAST. This is Ian with the huge bucket of rice they prepared.
Today we continued gathering data and establishing rapport with the babies and aunties. Kaylee, Marja, Catherine, and I were in charge of language enrichment at Haven 2 this morning. We sang songs and taught a short lesson on jungle animals. We got a lot more approximations and talking today and we think by the end of the week we will be hearing even more. After lunch, Meghann, Dr. Tullos, Dr. Weaver, and I worked at Haven 1. There were no "situations" today and overall it was a good day.
Tomorrow we will only be working half a day because we are going to Livingstone to see a Moon Bow. Everyone is sooo excited! This phenomenon only happens in a few places in the entire WORLD and since we are only two hours away from it we decided it was A MUST to go! We are all excited about getting to stay at the Protea Hotel there and getting HOT SHOWERSSS!! woo hoo!! If i get any pictures of the Moon Bow I will be sure to post them tomorrow! But we think its going to be nearly impossible to get good pictures. might have to video it! Pray that we have a safe trip to Livingstone tomorrow and continue to see improvements at the Haven.
PS. Today I woke up with a sore throat and it has gotten worse as the day has gone on. My ears are now stopped up too. But, I have still tried to be as active as possible. So please pray that it is not contagious and that I get to feeling better ASAP! :(
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2 comments:
Dear Lacey, My prayers are prayers of healing for you and for protection from bacteria or viruses that may be floating around. Protection for a safe journey to see the wonders of God's marvelous creation of a Moonbow and a safe return.
Hope you get to feeling better we will say a prayer for you. I love reading your blog....i get on here everyday, it is just wonderful, so glad your having such a wonderful experience and getting to help those precious kids.
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