Shaking It Sunday

Shhh. Do not tell Harding, but today I danced in public. But I will return to that thought later.

Today was one of the best days I have experienced in Zambia as of yet. For our Sunday morning service we attended Ba Leonard’s church out in his village called the Kasibi Church of Christ. The adventure began as soon as we piled into our different vehicles and started down the road. It began as the normal dirt road we always journey on but it quickly became a dirt road that did not look like a road at all. We were all moving around and falling on top of each other as we continued down our road for about 30 minutes. I have to say, I was slightly carsick whenever we ended the journey. The village is honestly not significantly far away but not one of those people own a car. It would take a few hours to walk to any sort of help whenever someone was sick. This blows my mind. The best part of the entire time was how joyful all of the people in the village were through everything we did. The church service was at an outdoor pavilion that was added on to the little buildings so everyone could fit. The service was done in both Tonga and English with translators; it was such a wonderful experience. Dr. Hopper and Mr. Ragsdale, two of the teachers who joined us last week, were asked to give some thoughts and then Dr. Tullos did the Lord’s Supper. Afterwards we were able to hear a quartet sing some songs in Tonga; they were absolutely hilarious. I wish I would have known everything they were saying the entire time because all of the Zambian people were laughing. We were then asked to sing a few songs so we sang “I love you with the love of the Lord” and then the two Tonga songs Webster has taught us. I am so glad we learned those two songs in Tonga because we could tell that the people really appreciated us singing songs in their native language. After us singing we then shook everyone in the church’s hand in a line. All of us have learned the Zambian handshake so we were able to practice our new learned skill. Then we headed to the village for lunch and the other festivities.

My life was made today. I was able to dance with Zambian children. Our amazing lunch made by Leonard consisted of traditional food including shema, relish, and a secret sauce. Then the dancing began thanks to the wonderful people that played instruments. These instruments were so legit, made of wood and animal skin. I believe there were a banjo, bass, guitar, drum, and cymbals. As soon as the music started, the children were out to dance and I of course joined them. I was not the first, Dr. Weaver and Dr. Hopper began the party but I quickly joined. They are the most legit dancers I have ever seen in my life. The little 3 year olds put me to shame, hard to imagine, I know. I have never seen people’s hips and legs move quite like that; I wish with all my heart I could move like that. After dancing the entire time music was playing, I finally persuaded, with the help of Dr. Weaver, Ian Tullos and Ben to join the party. I seriously could have stayed there forever. I loved everything about that village; they were all so joyful. Sadly, the adventure in Kasibi had to end and we headed back to the house. Yet again it was an adventure riding back to Namwianga.

In the afternoon I headed to the Havens to work on my capstone project. Did that happen, no? Instead I played outside with the beautiful children from Haven 3, aka the sick house. I absolutely love all of those children and if I could, I would bring them home in a heartbeat. Someone might need to check my suitcase to make sure I do not have Bennett or Sydney in there. We talked inside for a while and then took them outside to play since that does not happen very often. I took Bennett and we went to swing on the swing set. He is the smartest child I have ever seen in my life; he mimics everything said to him, including songs, phrases, and facial expression. Sadly, I had to leave the Haven after two hours to head for dinner. Good news, dinner was awesome because we had pancakes and bacon. Wooo.

We went to church that evening and there ended up being 3 people baptized tonight. So everyone headed to our backyard for the baptism. The power went out on our walk over so it was an in the dark baptism. Good news, the moon is super bright right now, so we could see everything. After they were baptized, singing and rejoicing happened. Now I am sitting plotting ways to be super awkward towards the camera guys that arrived a few days ago. No worries I have already succeeded on multiple occasions. I am not worried though because secret sources have told me they think I’m funny; that means game one. In this moment, I have Mark as my desktop background. It can only get better; I just hope they join in on this fun and try to make me feel awkward too. Bring it on boys; I am ready.