Three Themes

As Rich and I made our long journey home from Ndola after a very productive, often hilarious and occasionally heartbreaking trip, three themes about life in Ndola kept coming to mind.

Death and Loss
It did not take long to recognize the far reach of death in the lives of the children at Hope House and Hope Community School. As we listened to children tell their stories, stories of abandonment, parents' deaths and lost childhoods, it was hard to hold back tears. It felt somehow disrespectful, though, to cry in front of a 14-year-old boy whose parents' deaths have left him to take care of five younger siblings and who does so with strength well beyond his years. We saw the same strength and stoicism in a man who was carefully cleaning the grave of a boy, born in 2001 and died in 2009, and who stared with apparent pain at a makeshift headstone, a black metal sign with white painted words, while surrounded by similar headstones for hundreds of other children.

Compassion and Community
The pain of death in Ndola is matched only by the strength of the community. We heard countless stories of distant relatives and even complete strangers taking in children orphaned by AIDS and poverty. The staff of Hope in particular exemplifies how the community steps in to fill the immeasurable void left by so much loss. Teacher Ng'oma, the headteacher of Hope Community School, works out of what was intended to be the storage closet of the new school, having given up his more spacious office so that the Grade 1 students can have their own classroom, happily sacrificing his own comfort to serve the community.

Resilience and Hope
The ability of the children and the community to adapt to what many would consider impossible circumstances was truly remarkable. Margaret, the wife of the executive director and a major presence in Hope Ministries, visited the electricity company every day for weeks to insist that they turn on the electricity to the orphanage. The children at the school have endured more than we would think imaginable, yet they speak with excitement and hope when talking about wanting to be doctors, teachers, nurses and policemen.

This trip has not only showed the incredible progress that has been made already but also the limitless potential of our continued partnership. Thank you for following our journey, my first to Zambia, and for your support as we help to inspire even more hope in these children. 

Do Dreams Become Reality?

Friday night before Joann and I left we had one fantastic last dinner at Hope House with the children and staff. It was the first time I had “village rice”--which I loved, but anyone who knows me won’t be surprised at that. When I asked about the rice and told them how good it was, Margaret did her “laugh of approval” and Charles said that this officially made me a Zambian. After dinner, with the children sitting on the floor in the family room and the staff squeezing onto sofas behind them, Margaret delivered a great speech. She spoke directly to the children but we were all listening intently:

“Three years ago Charles, Rich and Mr. Mwale stood right here on this land and it was bush—nothing but weeds and dirt, no people, no houses, no buildings. But as they stood on this land, they dreamed this would be the perfect place for an orphanage and school, a place where children would run and play and learn. Look where we are today—we are here in a new home, the school is opened, we are feeding and educating hundreds of children including all of you here in this home. This dream became a reality. And that is why it is important for you to dream. Because when you dream, you open the opportunity for it to become a reality.”

It was a strong reminder to me of why we do what we do. We build partnerships that help vulnerable children achieve their potential. And the Spark-Hope partnership is doing just that. Our dreams for the children of Ndola, Zambia are becoming a reality…thanks to so many people who have believed in this dream with us and trusted and invested in Spark Ventures.

Story of Hope

I met twin boys named Moses and Joseph today who are now attending Hope School. Their parents died about 2 years ago and not even their relatives would take them in. An incredibly gracious woman in their village found them out by the side of the road and took them to the police station, where they turned around and gave her official guardianship of the boys. This woman, Bernadetta found out that the boys had tried to get their extended family to receive them after their parents died, but no one felt as though they could take them in. Bernadetta had 4 great/grand children of her own she was already caring for but she decided to care for Moses and Joseph as well. Bernadetta invited me to her home where she explained that she has no job and they live off of the vegetables in her yard--including maize (corn) which they dry and ground up for cornmeal as a staple carbohydrate. The boys are now enrolled in Hope Community School and receive meals and a good education there. I took some pictures and promised to share her inspiring story and explained that the Spark-Hope partnership will continue to support the boys as they attend Hope School. - Rich

Sponsorship Program Talks

We had a meeting today with all of the teachers at Hope Community School and some of the administrative staff. Joann led a seminar on how our Child Sponsorship program works (from the Spark side) and they shared how it was working here in Zambia. We spent a lot of time talking about how to improve the program--for the children, the sponsors and ultimately both organizations. At one point it started to rain and we are in a school building with a tin roof and it was so loud you could barely hear anything. To my amazement, Joann sat up and increased the volume of her voice exponentially to continue presenting to them above the noise of the rain. Who knew she had those kind of lungs. I also learned that Joann is really great with kids on this trip. Every morning and evening she spends time with Nkongono and Somba--the two children who live in the home where we are staying. I hear that she is dissing my music preferences on this blog. The worst thing I've found out about her is that she used to eat Twinkie's for breakfast. - Rich

Laugh of Approval

We've had another fantastic and seemingly unpredictable day here in Zambia. Last night, after our unforgettable chicken and children photo shoot, we went home to rest up for dinner with Charles (the executive director of Hope Ministries) and his wife Margaret. We started dinner off with what has proven to be fairly typical experience here: a blackout. This one was particularly treacherous though, as it had stolen our dessert because the power was off for too long for Margaret to complete the final course. :) We were stuffed to the brim as it was, though, with rice, chicken, nshima, fish, pumpkin leaves, pumpkin and maize. Dinner ended up being a hilarious lesson about Zambian dowries or, as Charles calls them, "tokens of appreciation" that suitors pay a woman's family for her hand in marriage. They're pretty big tokens at thousands of dollars per daughter, though! When it was time to head home, we caught our wonderful driver, Gift, watching Hannah Montana in Charles' family's shop, which turned out to be only half as funny as Rich's subsequent confession that he has Miley Cyrus on his iTunes.

After a good laugh and another restful night (with quite a rainstorm), we headed off to church this morning, which was moved into one of the classrooms at the new Shelby Goldstein schoolhouse because the church's floors were flooded from the evening's rain. Rich gave a great speech that included the proverb, "If you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go together," which Rich delivered in what Margaret was not afraid to call distinctly western-sounding Bemba. Rich's Bemba elicited a roar of laughter from the congregation. Charles and Margaret explained that it was clearly a "laugh of approval," but I'm fairly certain they were just trying to make us feel better because I'm pretty sure I got the same kind of laughter when Margaret had me get up and dance to the music in front of the rest of the congregation. Either way, we had a fantastic time and took lots of pictures that we'll share as soon as we can!

Rich & Joann - Day 1

After three flights, 23 hours and not a lot of sleep, we finally arrived in Ndola yesterday morning! We started off the day on a really great note, hearing that the kids had finally moved into Hope House after a little luck from David and Nancy, who helped the electricians finally come to turn the power on. We had a great dinner at the new house with all the kids and staff, and I got my first taste of nshima, though I ate it with a spoon like a true westerner while the children ate with chopsticks that David and Nancy brought. It was quite a sight to see, a room full of kids stabbing their nshima and eating their rice one grain at a time!

We ended the night fairly early to get some rest after our long trip, and we woke up early this morning to have breakfast with David and Nancy and see them off. Before they left we had what was quite possibly the most hilarious hour and a half of my life in which we took photos of some mildly frightened kids with a very frightened chicken. The chicken, initially fairly cooperative, took a turn for the worse around the 100th photograph, so we switched to a chick, who as it turned out was not that much more cooperative. (In all fairness, I think our request for a docile chicken that wouldn't try to run away was a bit of a stretch.) The photos turned out great, though, and the kids seemed to have a good time egging each other on. We're off to get
started on the rest of our very busy week, so we'll be back in the next couple days for another update!

We Have The Power

Today we spent another day at the school reading and playing with the kids while the staff got organized for us to visit the second village. This time we set out in a car and had to drive over to our destination. The roads in Ndola are some of the worst we have ever seen, but these roads had the deepest potholes and rough surfaces that you can only imagine. We have sworn never to complain about Chicago roads. This village is in a valley and last year during the rainy season the wind become so strong it took almost all the roofs off of the houses. Once we arrived we were surrounded by children who followed us from house to house. We found the homes as good/bad as the first village and the people were very sweet and appreciative. Ten nets, ten pictures, ten homes and two hours later we were on our way back to shower and change to meet Rich and Joann from Spark. They arrived at 3:00 today.

We have kept this a secret in order to surprise Rich and Joann. The power to the orphanage is now on. The electric line was attached late Tuesday and the inspector approved and turned on the power late Wednesday. Knowing this, it was decided to move the children in time to surprise Rich and Joann and have our farewell/welcome dinner at the new orphanage. David had been helping clean out the new building on Wednesday and help with the move on Thursday. It just took three truck loads, you will enjoy seeing the pictures to follow. The house mother and the kids, with our help, arranged the house, set up the beds, installed mosquito nets all in 24 hours. IT WAS SO AMAZING SO SEE IT COME TOGETHER! Charles attributed this good fortune to David. He referred to it as the power of the Israelite. In Africa there is a saying that an Israelite will bring an African good luck. Charles kept thanking David saying that they have been waiting for months and once David arrived they had power within 48 hours.

By Friday, the orphanage was ready for the children and its guests. Rich and Joann were picked up for dinner and were told by Charles that they were going by the new school, which is directly across from the new orphanage. As they arrived, Charles was so excited that he blurted out the truth to them. Dinner was served in the children’s new home.  Nancy brought chopsticks for the kids to eat with as well as some of the adults. We then spent some time teaching the children how to use them. It was quite fun and we got a lot of laughs from the group.

Our farewell dinner was attended by all of the children, school and office staff.  We each received a present and the children sang their goodbyes to us. Our trip was really just about over. We have tried to enrich the children's lives this week. We know that our lives have been enriched even more. Tomorrow we will make a quick visit to the orphanage and then off to Cape Town.

This is the end. More pictures will follow. We thank you for reading this and hope you have enjoyed it as much as we have. Please remember that Spark is having its second annual wine tasting on February 18, 2010. We hope see you there.

P.S. We are now almost landing in Johannesburg. As our new Cape Town friends have explained, we are now entering civilization. We are seeing beautiful homes, trees and swimming polls. We are getting excited to see Cape Town. 

Day Three of the Mosquito Net Project

Our days follow a certain routine which begins with having breakfast while we print the pictures from the day before and discuss the previous day’s events. We must have printed over forty pictures before 8:30 a.m.! Then it's off to the school for reading with the younger kids and Nancy spent some time sewing buttons on the children’s uniforms. David spent some more time preparing the orphanage for the eventual move while Nancy served lunch to all of the kids. Today it was porridge but we were not sure what that is. At 3:00 p.m., after what seems like an interminable delay, we set to the village with some of the teachers and staff, carrying ten mosquito nets.  Two hours later we returned. While it was hot and humid, we enjoyed spending the time with the families. David took the photos while Nancy and Gift (a staff person), who is quite tall, installed the nets. They had to be sure to instruct each family on the proper use and care of the net. Of course, Nancy had candy for the families which made all the kids really smile. Once the first “sweet” came out we were followed by a large group of children hoping for more.  One of the major problems we had today was most of the children’s beds/mats were outside drying. The reason for this is the roofs have small holes in them to let the light in. Good idea in the dry season, bad idea in the rainy season.

On the way back, one girl, who we would guess to be about 2 years old, spied us walking and began to scream uncontrollably. We were told that she had probably never seen a white person. This of course made David want to talk to her even more.

Off to a quick dinner at Margaret and Charles and then to bed early. We have learned that we will be distributing more nets tomorrow to another village. This village is even poorer than the one we have been spending time in. Tomorrow is also our last full day here and we are beginning to feel sad about leaving. While the events of each day are overwhelming, the children, teachers and staff are so warm and loving that we will miss them all.

Tomorrow we have a surprise for you. Stay tuned.

Day Two Of Mosquito Net Project

It was off to the school yesterday after a brief visit to the office and orphanage. We both spent time reading with the younger children and David taught some of the children to tell time. David thought this went quite well until Nancy reminded him that there are no clocks or watches in any of the children’s homes. While Nancy served lunch (as David is now barred from lunch duty), David assisted some of the older boys in helping to clean out the new orphanage. Hope is waiting for the new electric line to be dropped before the children can be moved into the new orphanage.

Then, assisted by the staff from the office and school, we marched into the streets of Twapia to begin the mosquito net distribution.  We went into eight homes, installed the nets and gave instructions to the families of the proper care and use of the nets. At the same time, David took and printed out a photograph of the family for them to keep. All of the families were so happy to have the mosquito nets and the bonus of a family picture. It was so hot and humid and as we walked through town all we could do remember how cold and snowy Chicago is right now.

Then back to the school for distribution of 80 more mosquito nets, Nancy was assisted by the Hope staff while David (now the official photographer of Zambia) took photographs of all the families. This time, the mothers decided that they wanted the mosquito nets with them while they were photographed. After Nancy finished distributing the nets she helped David and by 4:30 or so we were all done with the net distribution and the pictures. Off to an hour visit at the orphanage for reading and learning how to tell time. David has it in his head he is going to teach everyone in Zambia how to tell time as if by knowing how that they will be on time.

We were exhausted, hot and filthy when we arrived back at the hotel. This was a night where we were to have dinner by ourselves and then we had to print out the photographs. We ended up meeting gentlemen from Cape Town who joined us for dinner. Finally, we were both so tired, we ended collapsed in our beds. Another day was waiting for us.


Here are some more pictures we were finally able to upload:

Day One Of Mosquito Net Project

Our morning was pretty much a repeat of yesterday and we expect that is how the rest of the week will be. Each day, as we pass each other outside of the school, we stop and make a few comments about how we are overwhelmed by the amount of children! We just cannot believe how many children are in a classroom, with 2 or 3 children sharing a desk plus some children sitting on mats on the floor. The teachers are doing a great job with hardly any resources. The kid’s pencils are stubs and writing paper is at a shortage, but they all have smiles on their faces and are very happy to be at school with their friends. You would not believe how quickly you can get 300 children, without saying a word, to come over to you. Just bring out your camera or some candy.

Today was David’s turn to help with lunch! Unfortunately he got fired from his volunteer job so I will be back on lunch duty tomorrow. He gave too much food at first then there was not enough in the end.

After some reading with the children, we took pictures of all of the parents and children who showed up to pick up the mosquito nets. We were able to print a good deal of the pictures on the spot and distribute them out almost immediately. The smiles on the parents' faces made it all worthwhile. Next there was a demonstration of the proper use of the nets which involved a net, a child and a floor mat. That was quite the scene. We wanted to make sure the parents understood how to use them and made sure we got all their questions answered. We distributed 47 nets today with 253 to go! Tomorrow we will be back at the school for a second round of distribution and then walking to various homes for a personal delivery of some of the nets.

We are tired but happy.

Thing One and Thing Two eat Caterpillar for dinner

The day started out as a typical hot day where we made a quick trip to the Hope Office and then off to spend the day at the Hope Community School. There was a welcome program which made us feel so glad to have made a second trip to Ndola. You gain a lot of credibility here when you have returned to Zambia for a second time. We got a tour of the new orphanage, which on our last visit had been a shell without a roof on it. Unfortunately, the final step to occupancy is bringing in the electric line to the building and this has been delayed by the government bureaucracy.  The good news is that the school is up and running already. There are now 300 children attending the school and they are already tight for space despite now having seven classrooms instead of three. One can only wonder where these children have been for the last two years.

Nancy and I were on lunch duty but I managed to escape the serving of the food and Nancy worked up quite a sweat serving the children. This involved feeding three hundred children plus staff and we were done in an hour and half, using only 50 plates commonly referred to as Frisbees.

We did get a chance to read with kids and play some games including the Hokey-Pokey and London Bridge without it falling down. Next it was the Hopefully Protected project. Spark was awarded grant money to purchase mosquito nets for each child attending the school. We meet some of the mothers and their children at the school. Charles gave them an overview of the project and explained that Hope Ministries would be checking their home to ensure the nets were being used properly and had not been sold. To encourage participation, Nancy and I are taking family photos and printing them out on the printer we brought from home. So far we have 25 done and 275 to go!

Then off to the orphanage where we had a lovely candlelight (read no power) dinner. It was so dark that Nancy almost sat on someone’s lap.  Dinner was quite good except for a small fried item. When asked what we were eating we were told it was in fact caterpillar. Nancy was quick to ask could this result in a butterfly flying out of her mouth. Everyone laughed so hard except for us. We suggest those en route to Zambia to skip this delicacy.

Tomorrow it is off to the school to begin distribution of the nets and picture taking. Our goal is to finish this project in two days.

Picture are coming but the internet service here is very slow.