Walking A Mile in Someone's Shoes

This past weekend was the most amazing time of my life. I was able to experience so many different aspects of the Zambian culture. So here it is, my life in Zambia for the weekend. On Saturday morning we woke up to have breakfast at 8:30. Then it was time to pile into Khaki Jacki and head an hour away to Choma for the market. We were piled in the back of our car like sardines but it really was not that bad, like a little party. Upon arrival in Choma we went to the post office to send out postcards and then were able to go to the market. I teamed up with my trusty market sidekicks Ian and Ben since we had such success in Kalomo. We added Ashley to the mix of our group as well and off we went to find chitanges.  We wandered around the market to see all of the different things. It is so different being there. The Zambian people do not really care about trash everywhere so it looks more like a 3^rd world country. The craziest thing is to see what everyone is selling just to get by and be able to pay for daily living. I might have gone a little crazy on the buying chitanges when we were at this market. We wandered around and found some really awesome patterns and stuff. I am pretty sure I bought like 8 different fabrics. The best buy of the day was the gold mine that Ben found in the fabric store. It is a cream colored fabric that has huge crawfish on it and is then outlined in little crawfish. It is absolutely hideous but amazing. Thanks to Ashley telling me it was only 3 dollars and Ben saying I needed it since I was from Louisiana, the crawfish chitange was bought. So yes. Be prepared. It is amazing! After our time at the market, we were late for meeting up at the Spar (grocery story). Luckily everyone was still there so we ran inside to find some awesome stuff. Good news. I found ice cream. That is all I wanted in the world. All of us got chocolate except Ben who got banana. It was decided by all that banana was better. But I was so happy that I finally had some ice cream. Our entire group had a picnic in a park thanks to our wonderful leaders. Unfortunately the combination of ice cream and finding a random birds talon next to our picnic made for a lack of appetite but it was still fun. No worries everyone, many pictures were taken on these adventures. It was then time to go into the craft fair. There were so many cute and awesome things. Good news, I bought a drum. It is amazing. I am only allowed to play it at certain times and in certain places. We rushed back to Namwainga to go to a Zambian wedding!

The Zambian wedding. So we arrived to the wedding and all sat on the front row. They were having it in the auditorium and it was all decorated and changed for us to celebrate. Whenever the flower girls and then the rest of the wedding party entered they danced down the aisle. It was amazing! I wish I could dance like them. One day. The bride then came in; her dress matched the groom’s shirt. It was a floral print with purples and greens. The bride and groom were not allowed to smile throughout the wedding and the bride looked down the entire time. It was such a different atmosphere for them than in American weddings. Everyone else was celebrating but they had to act somber. Once the ceremony was over the party went to take pictures so the people in the audience started dancing in the aisle. No worries, I eventually joined once other people in the group did. It was so much fun. They are amazing dancer. I have no idea how they move. The party came back in and had solo dances; everyone except the bride and groom of course. The ceremony was quite long but I did not mind. I thought it was so interesting. Unfortunately we had to leave for dinner.

After dinner we had a drum party time. It also included creating an amazing rap….and by amazing I mean not. But it was fun. This then brought the night watchmen over to us. From the night watchmen Justin and Webster a group of us (Cari, Ashley, Anna, Kara, Ben, and me) taught us a Tonga song. In English it talks about walking with Jesus, sleeping with Jesus, praying with Jesus, and sitting with Jesus. Webster taught us the 4 different parts of the song. It sounded so beautiful. We stayed out there for about 2 hours learning the parts. It was a wonderful end to our evening.

On Sunday we again went to church in Namwainga. During the service I held Katy; it was precious. She fell asleep in my arms and I sat there with her the entire time. She did end up drooling all over my shirt but it was precious. She is a sweet little girl, even if she will not talk to me. That afternoon it was time to start my capstone project. A group of us headed to the Haven to work with the babies. I found some of the babies that were in my age groups, which was good. I have a lot more work ahead of me but it will be worth it. After working with the babies, and yet again playing with Wesley J it was soccer time!!! A group of us played soccer, which is always a good time. I love playing with the Zambian people. One girl that has played with us before named Grace came again. She is really sweet and funny. It was a good time. That evening we went again to church and sang with the students. It is always awesome to listen to them sing. For the rest of the evening, Ben and I decided to make a house of cards. Really exciting I know. After way too many hours put into building our 3-story card house, it was finished and we were proud. Many pictures were taken and then it was time to destroy it. All in all I would say we had a pretty exciting weekend! I will update again soon….hopefully! Keep all of us in your prayers!