Getting Settled

Things at the Namwianga Mission have begun slowing down, only for them to spring up again. The weather is absolutely incredible and we spend much of our time eating, reading, and talking outside in the porch area. Kalomo is much like Searcy in that the students are the life of town. Everything seems dead this week since all of the students are away. All of us begin classes a week from today (Monday) and close to 1000 students will be flooding in. Here at the mission there is a primary school, secondary school, and George Benson college.

This week we have been spending all of our time learning to speak Chitonga, commonly known as Tonga. This will allow us to make our way through the market and make friends with all of the students once they arrive. Making friends is particularly important to me, because we are allowed to stay with friends on the weekends. Some of the students will live within a few hours of walking from the campus and this will be an opportunity to get the full experience. Like I mentioned earlier, according to Zambian standards we are staying in a very nice location. I hope to get a taste of what life is like in the outside villages.

We have befriended many young children who want to play with us at all times. Often times I will have one child on my shoulders and the other two will be holding my hands. I particularly enjoy watching little Jason. At one point yesterday, some of the children were chasing us, but he fell behind and began to cry. Trey and I helped him to get his pink Crocs shoes back on and began to run full speed while holding him in the air. He immediately stopped crying and began to taunt the other children that had fallen behind. From that point on he insisted on holding my hand while running.

There is an older man by the name of Marres that enjoys talking to the Americans very much. He continually speaks of his 1000 acres and wishes to leave his land with a white American. Several times he has offered his land to Trey, but we are not quite sure if he is joking or insane. Either way, we continue to talk with him and have exchanged information. Obviously this could just be a scam, but it would be silly to neglect a man with so much land, especially since it could one day be used to build a hospital and orphanage. We will not make any big decisions or promises that cannot be kept; it is just fun meeting new people and form connections where possible.