Reviving the blog

I know I haven't written anything in a while, but I want to start it up again. Still formulating my gameplan...

Stay tuned!

Keep on Smiling

This week's post and photo come courtesy of Brother Tony. He sends a monthly email newsletter that gives updates on his travels, projects and what's been happening at the school over the previous month.

Big news this month! He and his team have been working for the past several years toward transitioning the school to a solely secondary educational institution and they continue to make great strides toward this goal. They have begun the placement of the younger students in other local primary schools in order to provide a secondary school that will have the ability to educate all of the secondary students in the area. 

St. Francis Secondary School will soon reach this goal, with incoming classes of students grades 8 to 12 beginning in January 2011. Congrats Brother Tony!

This month's letter ended with the following P.S.

"When in the States I shopped around for a dust-mop (not found in Zambia) and came with this Walmart yellow mop in my case. When Grade 8 Susan came to my room to return borrowed books, I put the mop on her head. She looked so well I asked her if I could take the photo and send it out on the email. I hesitate now to use the mop on the floor. The girls love to model it."

Modeling photo #2

Eunice

Snapshots

These are just a few of the many photos I took of random details from our trip.

The Zambia sky is radiant and expansive. I can still see it in my mind's eye. We traveled across many miles of flat land and in most places you could actually see to a horizon line--no skyscrapers, no jets, none of the usual distractions. And no smog to dull the colors of crisp ivory clouds painted on a vibrant indigo sky.  

These pigs live at the Franciscan mission where Bro Tony lives and I visited them every day while we stayed there. They were an entertaining bunch for sure. They would noisily greet me as I walked up, putting their snouts in the air and tripping over each other to get to the gate. They quickly lost interest in me, however, when they realized I wasn't there to feed them. So cute.

I was intrigued by the variety and colors and textures of the vegetation in Zambia. This is actually a banana plant, which I had never seen before. They are gorgeous.

Pure Magic

It's nearly impossible to describe the experience of being on safari. All of your senses are engaged and heightened, because you are seeing so many amazing and unusual animals in their natural surroundings; feeling the cool stillness of the air at dawn; hearing all of the sounds of the outdoors: insects, exotic birds and countless animals I couldn't possibly name; and seeing up-close the fine details of the trees, vegetation, water, flowers of such a vast and unique landscape.


We would be driving along and suddenly someone would point and say "Look! Over there!" The truck would stop and a hush would fall over the group. And in pure silence, we would sit in awe of whatever majestic creature we were fortunate enough to have cross our path. 







Sometimes the animals would acknowledge us and sometimes they wouldn't, but they rarely approached or ran away.

Every part of being on safari was so full of anticipation and possibility. That has to be one of my favorite parts of that experience. The way it made us all little kids again - reveling in the pure magic and wonder of it all.

Here they come...run!

We were getting ready to leave St. Francis as the morning classes were finishing up. A few of us were still holding bowls with just a few M&Ms left in them when the students came rushing out of their classrooms. Anticipating the wild reaction we'd get, we tried to keep the candy out of sight and quietly put it into the van before the kids realized there was any left.

Father Wayne didn't stash his bowl fast enough, however, and was quickly swarmed by this huge crowd of children. As he held the bowl high into the air, amongst all of the kids' jumping and shouting and laughing as they tried to reach the M&Ms, I couldn't help but notice the big smile on his face. I can close my eyes and still see it. And I laugh every time I look at this photo.

I wanted to include the two below photos because they capture the spirit of these little boys so well, and their calm and shy demeanor was in such contrast to all of the excitement. Despite their perch on the sidelines, they were open to letting us give them some attention and generously smiled when we greeted them and took their pictures. We were grateful.

The gang

I think a more formal introduction of the group we traveled with is in order.  So here goes...

Me, Jerry, Kathryn, Dan, Jane, Brian, Brother Tony, Father Wayne

This photo was taken while we were on safari, probably at about 8:00 in the morning. This group spent literally all hours of the day and night together: traveling, drinking wine, laughing, shopping, cooking, driving, reflecting, eating, chatting and visiting. There is no doubt that each one of them enriched my experience in Zambia, in some big ways; in many smaller, quieter moments; and in ways they will surely never realize.

Through their example I have witnessed: kindness, grace, patience, generosity, strength, compassion, wisdom, humility and the list goes on. I cherish, appreciate and admire each of them and know without even one of them, this experience would not have been the same.

When it came time to say goodbye to Zambia, leaving the people we met was by far the most difficult part. As I continue to reflect on and remember them and all of our incredible experiences, I will always think of this very unique and special group of people and all of the things I learned from them.