Here are a few recent photos that you may want to take a look at….

Two points that will help you understand the photos:

1.  Justin loves sweet corn and we don’t find it very often here. 

2.  The Nguni’s are our neighbors.

Photo Album

   We are nearing the end of dry season.  If I recall correctly, it hasn’t rained since late April so things are getting pretty dry.  Most of the trees have dropped their leaves and everything is looking quite brown.  However, the trees are now starting to sprout new leaves and many of them are also beginning to flower.  It is my understanding that the flowering will become more pronounced as it gets closer to the rains (which might be in the next week).  After such a long brown season it is very nice (but strange) to see fresh green leaves on the trees.  Near our house on campus there is a tree that looks like (and smells like) lilac.  It isn’t a lilac but it must be related. 

  This weekend we had MCC meetings which meant that all of the MCC people in Zambia came to Lusaka and we got to spend lots of time together.  There are three families here in Zambia, one with two boys and the other with two girls.  All of the kids are in the same age range (Justin is the youngest and Jason is the oldest).  We also have four new college graduates.  Two are with the SALT program, which is “Serving and Learning Together”, one is teaching 10th grade at an all girls school and the other is helping the Brethren in Christ churches with development programs.  The other two are part of another MCC program called IVEP (International Volunteer Exchange Program, I think).  One is from Seoul, South Korea (YoungMi) and the other is from Indonesia (Mario and the kids all call him “Super Mario”).  All four arrived fairly recently so they are just getting settled in.  It is a very good group.

    We had dinner together Friday evening and some fun games for all.  Saturday we had meetings all day and the evening together.  Sunday we had our own church service.  Cynthia and I were responsible for something for the kids and one of our advisory committee members (a Zambian) preached.  We sang songs in Zulu, Indonesian, Bemba and English.  After that we headed to “Adventure City” which is a small water park (two mid-size water slides and some small for the kids).  It was fun but it isn’t nearly as safe and organized as something in the US.  Dinner again and we got the exhausted boys home and in bed for a new week of school.  We also celebrated the birthday of a couple of MCC’ers.

   I was able to give my coworkers (those who wanted one) a Windows Mobile phone courtesy of my friends at Microsoft.  I have already given some to my partners.  I was especially happy to give one to Super Mario as he doesn’t have a computer of his own and this will allow him to keep in touch with family and friends much easier.  He is amazing.  He knows very little English and has travelled a long way and is working as an assistant chaplain with people who don’t speak English either.  So he is learning English and Tonga.  He always has a smile on his face.

  Our house has been overrun with mosquitoes as of late.  For a while, we had to retreat to under the mosquito netting each night starting around 7pm.  While we killed hundreds each night, it didn’t seem to be making a dent in the population.  However, we began sealing around our doors and windows more diligently and saw a steady decrease in the population.  Then late last week we received notice that the college was going to have all of the houses sprayed.  We were told to move everything to the middle of the room and get food items out of the house and then vacate the house for two hours while they sprayed.  This was on Thursday afternoon.  By evening Justin was complaining of being itchy but had no bites or rash that we could see.  Jared said his cheecks hurt.  The rest of us were fine.   However, Cynthia and I began to get itchy also and then our eyes started burning but by this time it was getting late at night and we didn’t have anywhere to go without disturbing someone, so we toughed it out.  The next morning we took the kids to school but soon received a call from Justin’s school asking us to pick him us as he was itching uncontrollably. We spent the rest of the day at the Fasts and aired out the house.  We then stayed in the MCC guest house Friday night and we have all been steadily getting better.  We don’t know how long it will take for our house to get livable again but worst of all, we haven’t noticed a significant decrease in the mosquitoes so we are wondering if this was all worth it.  Next time I think we will opt to skip the spraying.  Although it isn’t fun to discover there is a dead mosquito in the cup you have been drinking out of, we are all getting used to them and it no longer bothers us.  NOTE: While malaria is a problem in Zambia, it isn’t problem here in Lusaka (or at least where we live).  The mosquitoes that have overrun our place aren’t the kind that carry malaria, so they are more of nuisance than a danger.

  We have been pretty busy as of late.  We leave the house around 6:45am to drop off the boys at school.  Jason and Jared’s school starts at 7:05 but Justin’s doesn’t begin until 8 but we are able to drop him off early.  If I am lucky, I can make it home around 7:20.  Not only is school new for the kids, it is new for us as well.  I find the mornings very hectic trying to get the kids ready but Cynthia is much better at it than I.  Justin has a school uniform and so I find myself searching for the right stuff.  They all have various schedules that require them to wear (or take) different clothing.  Since the school year has just begun and uniforms must be import, we are waiting for the boys “PE Kit” (gym uniforms) and Justin needs additional clothes when they arrive.  As I have said in the past, they sell all sorts of things on the street, but coffee isn’t one of them.  There aren’t any drive thru’s here and I really wish someone would start up a coffee shack along my route as I normally don’t have time to make coffee before taking them.  Cynthia and I take turns getting the kids to school and thankfully tomorrow is her turn.

  After getting breakfast and showered, we (or I) head out to our partners as we need to get our work in before having to pick up the boys at 1pm.  It is sometimes difficult to schedule times with the partners because none of them have transportation and are therefore reliant on the minibuses.  Cynthia is spending more time with the girls at the shelter and I have been spending more time with the drop-in shelter as of late.  However, MCC recently received a container from Canada and we spent much of last week picking up and delivering various items.  There was a lot of canned meat from MCC (which required our boss to make 7 trips to the health department to get proper approval for importing), old school desks and chairs (old on Canadian standards but very solidly built), school kits (binders, pencils, etc). blankets hand sewn by women in Canada, care kits for those living with HIV/AIDs, medicine and 8 computers for some of my partners and other partners of MCC in Zambia.  It is amazing how much they can fit in a container and all of the items will be put to very good use here.

   I have been busy getting the computers setup and reworking some older ones to see if I can get them to a useful state.  Viruses are a major problem here and since people don’t have computers of their own, they use USB flash drives which spread them.  I am trying to make the computers as protected as possible but I have also setup them up so that they can bring them back to a good working state but putting in a CD I supply.  Hopefully that will ensure that the computers going beyond my reach in Zambia will still be functioning six months from now.  After this, we will be working on putting together some basic computer training to help them make good use of the equipment.

   All in all, things are busy here, but good.  I still don’t accomplish near as much as I would like to each day, but I am learning how to reset my expectations.   

  We recently found out that children over the age of 7 require a student visa to attend school in Zambia.  Don’t ask me why as they are covered under my work visa.  One requirement for the visa is to have a chest x-ray.  Before we came to Zambia, each of us was tested for TB but we now need an x-ray.  Since school has already started and things like this take a while, we thought we should get right on it so we took the boys after picking them up for school directly to a local clinic that could do the x-rays. 

  As I have mentioned before the medical facilities here are generally quite poor on US standards and our experience with the x-rays felt like a step back in time.  I should also note that this wasn’t a government clinic, this was a private clinic in one of the wealthy areas of Lusaka.  Unfortunately, I didn’t come prepared to take pictures, but felt it was necessary to show the equipment so I had to use the camera on my phone.

NOTE: This doesn’t reflect on the quality of the physicians, just what they have to work with.  The doctor at this clinic also helps at the Coptic Hospital where Justin got his stitches and they are very professional and very well trained. 

   We were escorted to a small building behind the clinic (the clinic is located in what was once a house).  There was a fairly large room with the x-ray equipment and a darkroom for developing.  The boys were told to take off their shirts (and glasses for Jason) and put on the gown.  Now, if you look on the wall behind Jared in the photo, you see two vertical bars and this is where the film was placed.  The boys would then stand on the chair to get them up to the height of the film and she adjusted it to ensure they were centered.  There was a "target” projected by the machine that was pointed at their backs and then we all stepped out and she pushed the button.  She would then take the film immediately into the dark room and develop the image.  Once developed, she hung it on a line in the yard between the two buildings.  (The x-ray below is Jason’s). We now have taken care of and need to get a letter from the headmaster of their school tomorrow and we can get the paperwork to immigration. 

   I have started picking up the occasional newspaper here in Lusaka.  You can buy them without leaving the car and many stoplights (which, incidentally, they call robots here) for 3,000 kwacha(currently 4800 kwacha to the US dollar).  I have only ever looked at ‘The Post’ as it is the only independent newspaper of the three available.  I thought it might be interesting to share some of the things you would typically find in a Zambian newspaper, so here are some photos I took out of Monday’s paper.

  Since this is the independent newspaper and the editor was recently arrested, it is very common for the headline to be against the current government.  Rupiah Banda is the president and Chiluba is an ex-president who was just acquitted of stealing money while in office (many believe him to have been guilty).  Sata is the main opposition candidate.

Then there are other articles of local interest.  This one talks about a parliamentarian whose constituency is complaining of the cost to use a government supplied hearse.  He states that his community is too poor to pay the 300,000 (~$60) to use the vehicle and that the government should lower the cost to 10,000 ($2).  I am continually amazed at how many funerals there are here so I am sure this is an issue.

This was just a photo included in the paper, no story, just the following caption…

“A girl of Chawama compound  in Lusaka being dragged back home after she spent a night out.  The young mother has allegedly been patronising bars, leaving her three-month old baby with her parents.”

I don’t know what to say about this one. 

This article was covering the opening of a new bank in a rural village.  Apparently the teachers had a four day walk (each way) to retrieve their monthly salaries

Classifieds (now it gets interesting)

  There are houses, land, and cars for sale as in every other newspaper, but there are some things wouldn’t expect to find…

  This one caught my eye because it required the driver be “God fearing”.  There are many ads that have restrictions that would not be allowed in the US.  For example, must be under 35.  In fact, the questions they ask at a typical job interview are completely out of bounds in the US.  Age, marital status, number of children, religion, etc.

These ads are very common and they all say about the same thing.  It always involves a “Doctor” (there must not be any obligation to be an actual doctor, “African remedies” and a long list of things they can solve for you and most have nothing to do medical problems.  You must read through the entire list.  I chose this one because they will not only recover your stolen items but also “paralyze the thief”. 

Unfortunately, these types of notices are common also.  I don’t question that “with God all things are possible” but I don’t like about everything else.  Tele-evangelist are VERY, VERY popular here and many are from the US, unfortunately.  They are on TV here very often  and many have a large following.  Zambian’s think that these “evangelists” are popular in the US and can’t believe that we haven’t heard of them.  After all, they are on TV here so they must be popular in the US, right?

As I mentioned, this is the independent newspaper and the letters to the editor reflect this.

   As I mentioned, we went on vacation at Kafue National Park last week.  It took a while to get photos uploaded and to write up a summary, but Cynthia has recently posted the recap.  If you are interested in finding out more, see http://cynthiamoeller.spaces.live.com/.

  I will write a bit more later.

  Tomorrow morning we leave for Kafue National Park and Hippo Lodge.  We are all excited (except Jason who would prefer to not leave the house).  The drive will be interesting, we will only be travelling 160 miles but it will take up 4 to 5 hours because much of the trip isn’t on “normal” roads.  Here are a couple of excerpts from the driving directions we were given…

Follow this good graded gravel road for about 33 km, to where the Lubungu road forks to the left (GPS: 14°45.674'S, 26°54.417'E). Take the left fork and proceed westwards on the
narrower but still good gravel road for about 31 km to Kabulushi Gate (GPS:
14°40.731'S, 26°39.330'E) where you enter Kafue National Park – there are usually no
game scouts here.

From Kabulushi Gate drive for about 20 km and then go left at the next fork (GPS:
14°37.890'S, 26°29.658'E, look out for the Hippo sign) onto a well-used bush track.

  I have a phone with GPS, so at least we will know by the coordinates that we are on the right track.  About the only thing that could go wrong is a breakdown.  A good portion of the drive is through the National Park so we would just have to wait for someone to come along.  I am bringing lots of water, just in case.  I don’t mean to be paranoid but I am taking precautions just to be sure.

   We expect to see lots of different types of antelope, elephants, crocs, hippos, lions, wild dogs, water buffalo, etc.  From what I have read, there is about everything there except rhinos and giraffes.  It is the best place in Zambia to see wild dogs, cheetah, and leopards.

   We will return Thursday night and hope to post photos as soon as possible.

   Zambia has been in the news lately and even made CNN (http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/08/05/zambia.porn.trial/index.html?iref=hpmostpop).  Unfortunately it is for a bad reason.  The president doesn’t seem to be doing a very good job and there have been lots of strikes by various groups in protest of some of the bone-headed decisions he has made.  In Lusaka, there are three newspapers, of which, two are owned by the government.  The independent newspaper’s editor has a long standing feud with the president that has come to the fore front in this news.  When the nurses were on strike a woman in labor was turned away from a couple of clinics and wound up at the largest hospital in the country, the University Teaching Hospital (UTH).  This is the same hospital I mentioned earlier and by American standards this is a really bad hospital.  The woman was turned away and ended up giving birth on the sidewalk of the hospital.  The editor of the independent newspaper got photos of the event.  She didn’t publish them, but mailed them to several senior officials and influential people to highlight the need to resolve the strike.  The president has taken this opportunity to charge the editor with distributing pornography and the trial has begun.  It is a joke and yet another bad decision by the president.  I am gathering that there are few people who approve of the president.  While Zambia isn’t terribly tribal they do tend to support their own.  However in my discussions with Zambians, he has little support.  It seems that even the animals don’t think much of him as he was recently urinated on by a monkey while making a speech bashing his opponents (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8117649.stm).   

  Early this morning I went to the girls shelter to try to finish a funding proposal with the director and then picked up some medication for MCC’s work with AIDS.  This afternoon we made an another attempt to get legal in terms of our drivers licenses.  We spent a lot of time standing in line while the boys sat patiently (for the most part) on the floor.  We were able to renew Cynthia’s Provisional License and I got my Provisional License.  However, that is basically the equivalent of a permit in the US.  The next step is a driving test but we have a letter from our organization stating we have been driving for 20 years in the US and requesting that we can skip this test.  In order to get the exemption, we needed to go to yet another location.  We went there today, but no one was in so we will have to try again…  I think we are close.  After getting this exemption and paying some more fees, we should have it. 

   Our saga continues…  Cynthia had a piece of paper which we believed was a temporary licenses until we could pick up the actual license.  This paper expired today so we went to the Zambian equivalent of the BMV to pick up her license.  Before that, I went to a clinic this morning and got the physical that they demanded I have even though they didn’t require it of Cynthia.  So equipped with everything we needed and with the kids in tow, we went to the BMV.  Cynthia went to the “information desk” to find out where she was to go (there are all sorts of different lines and it isn’t clear which one does what).  She was told that she picks up her license at another location.  Meanwhile, I got in my own line.  This time, no questions were asked about the health form they previously demanded but they wanted a copy of my US drivers license.  Last time they wanted a copy of my passport, which I had.  So I had to go next door to get a copy of my drivers license made.  The line was short so I got right back in to the see the gentleman who had asked for the copy.  He quickly gave me the form I need which they had previously refused to give without the physical.  (He didn’t ask for it and so even though I had it, I kept hold of it to see if anyone would ask…. they never did).  I was directed to line 9.  Then to door 3.  Door three was to get my photo taken and my signature and my thumbprint.  Done.  Next was the cashier but since it was getting late in the day and the line wasn’t moving, we opted to go and get Cynthia’s license before it expired (they don’t like it when you let things expire).  After a drive through downtown traffic which was very heavy, we arrived at the main location.  From there we were directed to the “container” in the back.  It isn’t uncommon, especially for government offices, to be in actual shipping containers.  They cut doors and windows into them and just set them where ever there is space.  At the container, the lady explained that Cynthia didn’t have a temporary license, she had a provisional license.  We needed to go back to the place we came from.  So we did, only to find that it had closed for the day.  So after spending the entire afternoon, we didn’t accomplish our goal but did make a bit of progress.

   I have to mention something about our boys… They have become trash collectors here in Zambia.  Not in the good sense or picking it up and putting it where it belongs but in the “dumpster diving” sense.  On the campus, they get chased away from various places on campus where trash is dumped.  They are looking for things they can play with. Things that can be turned into weapons or sold at their “shop”.  The kids have come up with a great form of money in their pretend economy.  Everyone here in Zambia uses prepaid cellular, so they purchase minutes in quantities of 2,000, 5,000, 10,000, 20,000, and 50,000 in the form of cards which you scratch off the back and enter that number in your phone to “refuel”.  These cards are then discarded on the ground.  Unfortunately trash is a real problem in Lusaka and it is everywhere and everyone just dumps their trash.  But as they say… “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.”  Our boys pick up the discarded cards and use them as currency.  It is a bit embarrassing to have our kids picking up trash  but I normally allow it.  Cynthia isn’t too thrilled but she let them today and the kids picked up dozens each.  (Oh, they love bottle caps also which are equally plentiful, and have invented a game to play with them that is somewhat like checkers).

   This was a long weekend here in Zambia as today is a national holiday “Farmer’s Day”.  We aren’t quite sure what that means, but we do enjoy all of the holidays we have here.  We spent the majority of the weekend at the house doing little.  Today we visited our Country Reps (Eric and Kathy Fast) which is always enjoyable.  Kathy is an amazing cook and today she made donuts!  While she seems too young to be a grandmother, she definitely has the grandmotherly tendency to spoil our kids.  I told them that they were each allowed 2 donuts (they had chocolate chip cookies after lunch about an hour before) but Kathy thought I was too mean and “rewarded” them with extras for doing some small job.  Cynthia made a great dinner and is now roasting “ground nuts” on the stove.  It is much cheaper to buy them and roast them yourself and they are great freshly roasted. 

   I did do a bit of work this weekend on a proposal for Thalumi (the girls shelter) as it needs to be completed ASAP but it was nice to work at a leisurely pace.  This week will be busy as a shipment has arrived from the US with a few computers that I need to work on and to wrap up as much as possible before we leave for our short vacation to Kafue.  Work is challenging but slow progress is being made. 

  Last week I was in Cape Town for a training with an organization called CDRA.  I arrived on Saturday, the 18th.  On Sunday morning while at breakfast at the guest house I met a women from Sweden who was also attending the class which started on Monday.  Both of us wanted to hike Table Mountain, so we got a taxi and started out.  It was a beautiful day (remember it is winter here and Cape Town gets pretty cold for Africa).  The hike up was pretty steep and my legs got sore from using muscles that haven’t been used in a long, long time.  I didn’t get tired, but I had to stop and rest fairly often.  About half way up the woman asked if I minded if she just met me at the top.  She was in good shape and was getting a bit impatient waiting for me.  The trail was to take 2.5 hours and she did it in 1.5 and I did it in 2.  There were great views of the city from the top and after coffee, we hiked back down (much, much easier).  At the bottom we met a man and his boy who were climbing.  His four year old son made it up and down in not much more time than it took me!

   The rest of the week was busy with the class.  On Friday, my neighbor (Wynand Retief) here in Zambia picked me up from the training and took me for a tour of the city.  While he now lives in Zambia, he is from Cape Town and still has a house here where his two sons live.  He had to be in Cape Town for a conference the following week, so I was able to spend the weekend with him.  It has got to be one of the most scenic cities in the world.  Unfortunately, there is a lot of crime so you do have to watch out.  I hope to bring the family at some point over the next couple of years.

Here are some photos… http://picasaweb.google.com/jonathanjaymoeller/TourWithWynand

   I know that I haven’t posted much recently so I thought I should at least provide a short update.  Our access to electricity has been worse lately.  It now tends to go off around 6pm and lately has also been going off at 6am.  I am not sure of the cause, but it is annoying.  However, my neighbor purchased a generator and offered to hook us up also, so we are able to power one room.  We have also been having issues with our internet connection but it seems to be working now.

   I have been busy with my partners and slow progress is being made.  Next week I will be travelling to Cape Town, South Africa for a training on capacity building which I am looking forward to.  The rest of the family is creating a list of everything I need to bring back with me.  There is much more available in SA and it is a more reasonable price.  I will see how many LEGOs I can fit in my suitcase.

   We are also planning a trip to Kafue National Park to see some wildlife.  It is about a 4 hour drive from Lusaka and we have been able to get a very good deal.  Most of the operators are priced for people flying in from the US or Europe and have very high prices, but I contacted a few and asked for the resident rate and several came back with reasonable prices.

   I seem to be keeping the Zambian police in the black as I got another speeding ticket this past week.  So far, I have gotten 3 tickets in just 5 months.  What I am coming to understand is that people who have cars (especially whites) have money and are therefore targets for the police.  They just setup in a place and pull over everyone who comes by.  There doesn’t seem to be much an individual can do to fight it.  I still don’t have my Zambian drivers license but will try to get it before our trip next month.

We have been in Zambia for over four months but haven’t been out of the city to see more of Zambia. On Saturday, that changed. Our neighbors, the Retief's, were going to Siavonga with their son who was visiting and invited us to go also. We were happy to have the opportunity to see more of Zambia and also liked the idea of taking our first trip with someone else. Siavonga is a town on the shore of Lake Kariba. Lake Kariba is the largest manmade lake in the world and was formed when Zambia and Zimbabwe jointly constructed a dam on the Zambezi River about 50 years ago. We left late in the morning on Saturday and had a fairly leisurely drive which took 3 to 4 hours including our stop for tea as the Retief's called it, lunch for us. The drive was beautiful and very exciting for us as we hadn't seen anything but city to date. The kids really enjoyed the scenery as well. We had brought an audio book but didn't need it. The road was amazingly good on Zambian standards. There were sections of which that would have thought you were in a developed country. There were a few bad spots but we had no problems even with the car. Lusaka is at around 4000 ft above sea level so we had to drop a bit to reach the lake. It was much more mountainous than we expected and we were able to see many villages with thatched roofs on the drive. As well as many people selling things alongside the road. Jared spotted the first baobab tree of which there were many as the drive continued.

We checked into the Lake Safari Lodge and arranged for a sunset ride on the lake. We rented a pontoon boat and we all fit very comfortably. There are several islands in the lake that had, of course, been mountain tops. We were told that there were elephants living on some but we did not see any on our trip. We did see some baboons on the islands. Upon return to the lodge, I took the boys swimming because they had their heart set on it. It was quite cold and the pool wasn't heated so the swim didn't last long but the kids were happy to have been in the pool. Mr. Retief got the braai started (braai is the South African equivalent to BBQ) and we had a great dinner despite being interrupted by some staff who informed us that there is no self catering allowed but since the meat was already on the braai, they let us continue. It was a nice night and there were no mosquitoes or other bugs to bother us.

Sunday morning we ate our included English breakfast. Ever since our trip to England I have been a fan a English Breakfasts because to me that means great bacon and lots of it. I wasn't disappointed. The kids were anxious to get to the pool even though it still was quite cool in my opinion. They played in and around the pool most of the morning and everyone relaxed. We then drove a short distance to the Dam that separates Zambia and Zimbabwe. The customs/immigration building is before the dam but they were happy to let us go down for a picnic at the dam with very few questions and no money required. I don't believe I have been to Hoover dam (at least I wasn't old enough to remember it, if I was) but I would think this would rival the Hoover dam. The kids enjoyed it and the picnic. We left from the dam to return to Lusaka as we had a meeting Monday morning. The Retiefs stayed for another night in Siavonga. The drive home was slower as we didn't have to keep up with the Retiefs and we were able to stop and take a few pictures. We all enjoyed getting a chance to see more of Zambia.

More photos from our trip can be found at http://picasaweb.google.com/jonathanjaymoeller/SiavongaTrip609?feat=directlink.

   Last week a student stopped by our house (not all that uncommon now that they know I can help them with their computer problems).  As is often the case, he knew our kids but didn’t know us and he was in charge of dividing the teams for the coming weekend’s Sports Festival.  We didn’t know anything about it and he didn’t share much but we soon found out that this is an annual event here at the college.

   Upon checking the bulletin board later in the week we found out that Cynthia, Justin, and I were on one team and Jared and Jason were on the other.  There were two teams, the conquerors and the champions and I don’t recall which team I was on.  It was a very laid back and fun time.  It began at 9am on Saturday morning with a few races.  The first race was all of the lecturers (professors) at the college, followed by a race of all the pastors (some lecturers and some students) and then they had different age groups.  Jared was the only one of our family to participate and did very well (he came in second but only because he wasn’t paying attention when they started the race). 

  If I recall correctly, the list of “events” was as follows:

• Races
• Volleyball  (I played and our team won)
• Netball (for the women)
• Football (Soccer)
• Scrabble (I like Scrabble but I wouldn’t exactly classify it as a sport)
• Table Tennis (I would have like to have played but we couldn’t stay all day)
• Chess

   We had a good time and got to know many more students.  We are looking forward to next year.

   I took out the camera and got a few pictures, especially of the kids around campus.  They can be viewed at http://picasaweb.google.com/jonathanjaymoeller/CampusSportsFestival?feat=directlink

   I came across another big cultural difference the other day talking with Issa.  Issa leads one of the organizations (Peace Clubs) that I work with and he lives near our house and visits often.  He was been a great source of knowledge about the local culture and practices.  In addition, Issa is just a very kind and considerate man and he speaks very diplomatically.  That is why it was such a surprise to hear him say, when describing a coworker, that she was fat.  I think he could tell by the expression on Cynthia’s and my face that something he said was out of the ordinary and he quickly determined it was him saying that she was fat.  He then explained that in Zambia it is a complement to be fat or to be told that one is getting fat.  Putting on weight is a sign of having plenty to eat and being generally healthy.  In contrast, to tell someone that they are losing weight would be unkind.  Weight loss is primarily associated with either HIV/AIDs or lack of food.  We told him that for us, it is the exact opposite.  A coworker had told me that I looked like I had lost weight and I was very happy as I could lose a bit.  In contrast he said that his coworker was very pleased that he told her she was getting fat.

   On a completely unrelated note, I saw a can of Campbell's Chicken Soup (small, normal can) on the shelf at a grocery here, which I had never seen before.  The price was the equivalent of over $6 USD!  Cynthia has been making chicken soup fairly regularly here and it is far superior to that and all the ingredients (including a whole chicken) would be less than $6 (probably much less if you bought and slaughtered your own chicken which I don’t foresee Cynthia doing).

  As I mentioned there are two schools with very similar names.  I had the names right, but posted the web site for the wrong school.  This is the school the older two will be attending… http://www.isl.sch.zm/

  As I mentioned, it looks like all of the kids will be in school starting in August.  Jared and Jason will be attending the International School of Lusaka (not to be confused with the Lusaka International School).  Justin will be attending a school entitled British Independent Primary School (BIPS) due to the long wait at ISL for him.  Both of these schools use the British curriculum.  There is an American school but it is far too expensive and a long distance from us.  When I say expensive I mean that you can get a state college education in the US for the fees they charge for elementary school! Unfortunately the public schools here are just too poor in education quality to send the kids.  The standards here are very low and since most kids don’t speak English at home they have a hard time doing well in school. 

  If you are interested in seeing a bit more about the school, the web site is http://www.lics.sch.zm.