Number 2

Well since the team arrived on Saturday afternoon we would have to wait until Monday to meet all of the kids. So Saturday I think we got a little tour of the school and then headed to the New Life Center where we would be staying. If any of the team took better notes on what we did and would like to correct any errors I make please feel free.

Sunday morning we went to to the United Church of Zambia for service, which was both Bemba and English. It was a very enjoyable experience. The singing was lovely, and I really enjoyed the kind spirit of the people there.

In the afternoon we went to the curio market so the team could pick up some gifts. If one white person would drive up the prices, just imagine when 13 of us walk in. I think everyone did all right. No one got scammed to badly, and most enjoyed the experience though one or two came away just a little frazzled.

For supper we stopped at a restaurant on the way back and discovered that Zambian hamburger is just a little different then it's American counterpart. I guess thats what you get for trying to go the safe route. On the other hand David went with the Nshima and I think he was only mildly impressed, so props to those who chose the middle ground. It was at that meal that I discovered that Heather (or thither as called by the kids) has a Gluten sensitivity, which I think means that the Vitamin D found in meat and dairy products causes her to vomit. That might not be exactly it, but I think I'm close.

In the evenings most of the week we spent time at the girls guest house. It was a little roomier and a little nicer. By a little I mean a lot. So Sunday night we went over the schedule for the next day and then relaxed and played some games.

On to the actual VBS. Some how we over shot the age range of the kids by a little bit on the planning, so there was a fair amount of replanning and tweaking of the program. I wish I could show you a bunch of pictures, but the internet here at the school is a little limited and when I tried to do it at the new life center their internet was down. I'm sure Taryn will post hers on facebook, and maybe somewhere else. Speaking of which, this was the first trip I've been on that had a dedicated photographer, and it turned out really well. It was great being able to interact with the kids without needing to worry about taking time to get pictures all the time. Plus she let me mess around with her equipment a little too, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

The theme for the week was “Running the Race” which was broken down into four days.

I feel like I'm writing really sporadically right now. Maybe I should have some people guest blog for me.

Lets give it a shot. Anyone from the team who wants to blog their day drop me an email and let me know. If not I'll carry on later.

In current news, I was informed this morning by Lucy (one of the teachers that I go to church with) that I would be sharing at Bible Study this week. I asked if I could go to one and observe before I shared but she informed me that whatever I had was fine and that I should start preparing. She also told me that God wanted me to be busy so thats why she was getting me involved.

Part one of...

Oh hey guys. So my first post from Africa, pretty exciting. I think I'm going to tell this story in installments since it's a lot to write/read, and I want to do the week justice. (at least I think it's long, I haven't actually written it yet)

So the trip all begins with a drive up to Detroit and lunch with Johnny and Amy. Good to see you guys, hope everything's going well. Then we headed to Detroit Metro and promptly found out that my flight to Washington was delayed which would cause me to miss my connection to Africa. So I took their offer to transfer to a Northwest flight and made my connection to Johannesburg in plenty of time. Unfortunately my bag did not. So I thought “No big deal, it's coming in on the next days flight, I'll just have the team who was also coming in the next day pick it up for me and bring it to Ndola.” A miscommunication and an unexpected day off for the baggage enquiry office later, and the team arrived in Ndola without my bag. Hence a joke that I (and I think only I) found rather entertaining was born. Basically whenever someone needed something I would say “Oh I have one of those but... it's in my bag.” My apologies to the rest of the team. Thanks for putting up with me.

So I arrived in Ndola on Friday afternoon and was met by Dru Smith, who is just a great person and we headed to Kitwe. She showed me around the school and I got to meet a few of the boys who were hanging around. I really like these kids and I'm looking forward to getting to know them even more as time goes on.

While the team was here we all stayed at the United Methodist New Life Center, which is a couple km away from the school, so Dru dropped me off there and I spent a fairly jet-lag free night. The next morning I was able to go the the market with a couple of the Lifesong staff to get some clothes as payment for a few boys who had done some painting at the school. Definitely an interesting experience. At one point I was asked to stay around the corner because they could get better prices without a white person standing around.

After the market we headed to the airport to pick up the rest of the team. Which I think is where I'll leave to for now. I was pretty sure this would be long.

So far this trip has been different from any other I've been on. It's had some similarities to other mission trips but knowing that I'll be here for two months just makes things different. It's not quite like like NZ either though. Partly, I think, because the culture is far more different from ours then NZ was, but partly because I need to fit into an already existing organization and try and be of some service. In NZ I could pretty much do what ever looked good at the time. Here I have to somehow build relationships and maybe give advice in situation I'm just getting to know. The fact that I can work in an existing Christian organization is awesome, but it comes with challenges I haven't dealt with before. So I'd appreciate your prayers, and I'd love to hear from you. Maybe I'll post again tomorrow. Or tonight if I find I have nothing else to do.

Zambia

Well kids, it's that time of year again. The time of year when Tyler flies south to places he's never been for the sole purpose of worrying his mother.

On January 20th I'll be flying out of Detroit airport on my way to Zambia Africa to work at Lifesong school. I'm not sure exactly what my responsibilities will be (which is par for the course) but I do have a couple of ideas. The first week I'm there I will be part of a team (mostly from the central IL area) doing a VBS. The remainder of my time will be spent helping in whatever area I'm needed. Lifesong does have a significant vegetable garden and recently purchased a new piece of property, so if I can get a little agriculture in I'd be thrilled.

A little bit about Zambia:

Population: 12,935,000

Languages: English is the official language used in trade and school instruction, but there are many local languages spoken throughout Zambia. I think the most common are Bemba and Nyanja.

Poverty is extremely high and HIV/AIDS is a huge problem.

I took the pictures in the slide show from Andy Lehman's blog lifesong.squarespace.com which is a great place to learn more about Lifesong along with their website lifesongfororphans.org

I'd love for you all to follow me on this trip. Feel free to comment or email and keep me posted about your life as well.