Nakeempa Basic School and Nahumba Basic School

See - I really do work! :)  (Lots of pictures below if you don't have time to read my written words!) 

Mostly my work has involved going around and visiting the 8 Brethren In Christ Basic (Primary - Grade 1-9) schools.  I've now been to each school at least twice.  Lately I've been setting up meeting times for me to come back and make a school goal.  This came about when talking to one of the head teachers who told me (he speaks very freely to me and I'm very grateful) one thing he liked about a past teacher mentor was that she got the heads together and talked to them about what they wanted her to do.  So I thought about it because I liked that idea.  However, it's the end of the school year (they run January - December) and head teachers are busy!  I decided too that though some needs are similar, every school is different.  I started to set up a time that the head and the teachers could meet with me to discuss how I could help them and their school the best.  So far I've had two "school goal" meetings (which ended up being 2 hours each) and I'm sure are getting a bit better polished as I go!  Both of the two schools set a reading goal to improve reading for next year.  (Not surprising as that was one of the main items in my job description!) So I have a couple more goal meetings before schools close on December 6th.  (2 or 3 schools will have their meeting in January).  Over the break I'm going to be working on a "literacy kit" and the workshop to go with it.  It's my dream to give some extra strategies for teaching reading to the teachers here.  They do really well but have challenges like no resources (books, paper, photocopier, etc.) and large class sizes.   I'm working on an alphabet BINGO game made of large flour sacs (each made 24 boards and cost 1.5 kwacha (it's about 5 Kwacha to the dollar) - so 25 cents.  And I'll provide markers and the TIME to make the boards.  As a teacher, I walk away from workshops with inspiration but never sit down and DO the ideas.  So - I'm going to take time with the teachers to make sure they have a functioning kit that they can start working with right away - the next day!  (Plus - I work in English and they'll have to adapt it to ChiTonga - so bonus if I can get them to do that with me and then I'll have a copy too!) :)

So here's my ideas for my workshop / kit:

-Alphabet BINGO boards (can be used for letter names, sounds, sight words, shapes, colours, any language, they are very adaptable to whatever needs to be taught!

-Morning Message (an easy one to use as the teachers here make good use of a chalkboard)

-Alphabet Jive song (teaching letters and letter sounds)

-word wall (put it in exercise books for dictionary for home as well)

-(sock) puppets to teach beginning and ending sounds (rhymes, syllables, a bunch of things!)

Not sure if I'll do any writing activities - but they are tied so much to reading that if I have time I'll also do:

-writing letters in the air / on partners back / in the dirt with rocks or in sand, making letters with bodies

-teach "house" for printing (tall letters like T take up the whole house.  letters like n are only on the main floor, and a letter like p are basement letters.

-free writing in journal: sounding out words, not doing "book spelling" and using sight words

The two schools I visited to set a time for our goals meeting on Weds. were Nahumba (which is in Choma, the closest BIC school to where we live) and Nakeempa (one of the furthest away.  About 30 minutes down the highway towards Livingstone and then another 30 minutes on a bush road to the South West of the highway.  (If you've managed to read all this you get a bonus: We had to stop for a monitor lizard to cross in front of us on the way home from Nakeempa!  It was at least 3 ft. long!)  I'm kicking myself because I wasn't driving (Kajungu was) and I had my camera in the vehicle and the lizard wasn't super fast and I didn't even THINK to grab my camera and try to get even a poor shot! 

Nahumba Basic School.  The middle is the head office. 

Nahumba Basic School (this is to the left of the above photo)

Nahumba Basic School's Soccer field

Nakeempa Basic School (an hour outside of Choma)

Nakeempa school

Nakeempa school (opposite the photo above)

Nakeempa school (middle block with head teacher's office)

Planning a date to meet to make a school goal for next year, myself and Nakeempa's
head teacher, Chindolo Maxwell.

Students at Nakeempa Basic School

Myself and Michello (who came with us) eating Masuko (fruit) spelling?? and another one I'm holding that I don't remember the name (similar to sour sap though).

Kajungu (middle) eating masuko while two teachers at Nakeempa watch.

Yummy!  Best ones I've had yet!

A masuko tree (on our way home).  We were hoping they could sell us more, but they were all out!  (The orange ones are not ripe)

We found some ladies selling some when we got to the "tarmac" - the paved highway near the turn off for Nakeempa 

We aways have a good time when we go to Nakeempa.  I'll be back there on December 6th for my meeting.  I hope to get more masuko.  The season for them is ending - I don't see nearly as many on the trees as I did before.  But mango season is starting to take off! :)

Travelling Mercies and Macha Central Basic School

I went to Macha Central Basic School (Primary) yesterday.  It's about an hour drive north of Choma.  I've been a few times so I'm starting to know the roads better.  I am so grateful for all of my friends and family who are praying for travelling mercies for us.  Yesterday God sent me a guardian angel in the form of a mini-bus driver!   

(I cheated an took some photos on the way home so you could picture it better - since the story formed after I was in Macha thinking more about it).

I was driving down the road (on the left side!) and the road curved left - but there were all these grasses really thick along the side (which are new from previous drives as the rains are making the "bush" take off!)  

So - as you can imagine, you can't see very far around the corner!   I was only going about 90km/h (which happens to be the posted speed limit).  A mini-bus from the other direction started flashing his hazard lights as he saw me.  I realized there must be something ahead of me - so I slowed way down as I went around the corner.  (Zambians put their hazard lights on frequently - and usually for a good reason!  I'm starting to do it too!)

As I rounded the corner my lane was full of COWS!  

So - it wasn't a "close" call.  I didn't have to slam on my breaks or swerve into the other lane.  I had been warned.  It was about 15 minutes of driving later that I realized God's protection over me.  Before I got to Macha I had to full on stop for the cows, some goats, and some pigs.  I also had to slow down for a mongoose that ran across the road in front of me. 

Oh the way back I almost (but did not not have to completely) stop for: guinea fowl, humans, a dog, a bird, and a small turtle.  And I had to stop for more goats.  These ones….

I am so grateful for your prayers for traveling mercies!  It reminds me of Ezra (which I've been studying via Facetime with my Bible study ladies in Abbotsford) who says, "for the gracious hand of his God was upon him." (Ezra 7:9) about his trip from Babylon to Jerusalem.  Yesterday I felt the gracious hand of God upon me from my trip to Choma to Macha and back again.

Here's the Macha Central Basic School.  We made a school goal of reading though that morning they were dealing with the loss of the roof on one of the classroom buildings.  

Macha Central Basic school.  Termites ate the beams and weakened the roof I was told.

Thanks to God that there was a teacher in the building (who did not get hurt) and was able to save the computer, printer, and many books from the office (in between classrooms) from the rain.  

Here are some other photos of the school as there are many buildings.

My favourite!  The primary wing taken through the archway where the head teacher's office is.

The head teacher's office is in the blue part (middle).  There's a computer lab on the far left!

Primary building (again)

Cool tree I saw while walking around. :)

  

General Update (in small snippets)

There has been so many times when I want to update my facebook status but either the power was off, I couldn't be bothered to sign in with all the random letter and numbers to connect to the internet for just a facebook update (example of a used up one: login: iSp_m7crauw  password: vndysr), or it's been too hot to move!  LOL!

So - here's some updates from life in November, facebook style....

*Had my first "workshop" at a school - working together with the head teacher (principal) to set a school goal.  The goal was to have students reading!  (20% was the guess they had for number of Grade 3 students that could read at the Grade 3 level - independently).

*Our "wild" dog, Cookie, hurt her paw.  Andrew thinks she broke her foot.  Our gardener, Lwiindi, thinks she was outside our gate and someone threw rocks at her.  (Which is what people do when there is a wild dog and they are scared).  She hasn't eaten for days.  Today is the first day I've seen her since it happened (on Monday). 

*Cobras are starting to come out.  A couple friends have seen them.  The rains have come.  Which has brought the frogs out.  And I guess the snakes follow the frogs.  Luckily I have yet to see any kind of snake.  I'm sure it's a matter of time.  Praying my kids never see a live one! They'd have no idea what to do!

*Andrew built a one rope "swing."  Did you see the photos of our gardener Lwiindi in the tree helping put it up?   If not, here's the picture.  Kate's been enjoying the swing a bit, especially the first few days.

Lwiindi

Lwiindi up our tall tall tree! 

*We hired house help finally.  Her name is Memory.  I always want to break out into the Cats Broadway song when I see her around.  I have refrained so far.   It is a bit awkward having someone else do my housework and laundry.  I think I'm going to get used to it though! 

*I visited the last two schools that I'll be working with.  I have finally been to all of the schools at least once.  The last two took some good bush driving. :)  I even saw a motorcycle with a sidecar attached AND it ended up being an ambulance!

*I saw the Choma fire truck (Tuesday)!

*I am getting much more comfortable pulling out of the downtown parking area.  (If you didn't know - it's also the Lusaka - Livingstone highway).  Sort of nerve wracking backing out in front of transport semis (or lorries as they are called here!)

*We'll be going up to Lusaka after Christmas - to do some work (mostly MCC meetings with the country reps) and for a little R&R at an MCC retreat.  Looking forward to it - it will be at http://www.nsobegamecamp.com/   Look it up if you want.  I haven't yet - but it sounds great from what I've heard

*Memory lifted up a CD case today to clean and a lizard scared us both!  (A large skink).  She managed to sweep it out of the house with the broom.

*I haven't carried anymore watermelons back from town lately. :)

*We have cucumber plants and watermelon plants coming up in our garden.  Thanks to Lwiindi.  (The kids and I helped plant... he was gracious and patient enough to let us help with that!)  

*I enjoy tea on the porch almost every morning at 10am (not Sunday mornings or when I'm out working).  It's a good tradition.  Even when it's almost 30C outside!  I have been sampling the variety of biscuits (cookies) that can be found in the grocery store.  There are some good ones and some not very good ones.  Bread is usually served as well.

*The power has been rather unreliable since the rains have started.  In Nigeria the power company was called NEPA and we pretended it was short for "Never Expect Power Again."  We're trying to figure out something witty for the power company here: ZESCO.  Let me know any ideas!  (The best I've come up with is:  Zilch Electrical Supply Continually On).

*People come to our gate asking for help (or more usually a job) all the time.  Today I determined that I'd try to help as much as I can (I have no jobs available though).  This came about because a man came and asked about getting fare back to Monze (a town less than 2 hours from here).  Then he asked for 2 kwacha (about 50cents) to buy "relish" (sauce) to go with his mealie meal (that he held up to me - uncooked).  I told him I (actually Memory really) was making beans and to come back at 13 hrs if he wanted some.  I thought I'd not see him again unless he was truly hungry.  He was back at 13 on the dot (very unusual for African time!)  I was very African because I had to tell him the beans were not ready and to come back at 14 hours.  (They still were not ready!)  However, Andrew is home between 13 and 14 hours (1:00 - 2:00 pm) for lunch.  We ended up getting him and the gardener, Lwiindi, to walk the man to the bus station and pay the driver for his seat.  (I sent along cold left overs since the beans still were not done!)  $6 for a bus ticket.  I keep remember to "store up my treasures in heaven."  I feel like I don't have much.  We are volunteers.  We don't make money.  Etc. But the reality is that what I get for my PDA (personal drawing account) is more than people who work full time here get.  A lot more actually.  And my needs - housing, food, etc. are taken care of.  PDA is purely just extra spending money really.

*Memory looked at a photo album today and saw a picture of me as a bridesmaid (Stacey and Jeff's wedding).  She pointed to my sleeveless arms and said "Oh - you were very fat!"   LOL!  A huge complement here in Zambia.  Though I did lose weight just for that wedding!  Makes me think....  Zambian people think fat is beautiful - because most of them are skinny.  Westerners think skinny is beautiful... because most of us are fat?  And I guess neither of us appreciates the beauty of the reality.  I figure I'm going to work on getting fat here.  And when I get back to Canada I can work at getting thin again - maybe after a couple years of enjoying the things that can easily make me fat in Canada that I miss here.  ;) 

*I'm a bit nervous as there is a new Zambian Syllabi (Curriculum) coming out for next year.  I hear that instead of just Grade 1 in ChiTonga - it's going to be up to Grade 4.  That will make my job a bit more challenging!  (And more motivating to learn ChiTonga!)

*Kate changed her mind about wanting to go to school today.  Home-schooling is hard enough and I told her real school was harder!  (She didn't want to do the two simple tasks I wanted her to do today). I've ruled out the one school but then discovered another private school across town.  I don't really want to get up early though.... schools here start around 7:30am.

*I still remember how to make white glue out of flour and water.  Only one of Kate's beans fell off her bean art.  (We're eating beans for supper tonight!)

*Time is flying.  I can't believe it's November 21st already!  It's been so hot it hasn't felt like the fall season - or almost Christmas!  I guess I can put up our tree soon (December 1st is the soonest Andrew will let me!)  We got a small fake tree in Lusaka - complements of other MCCers who are heading back to the USA.  

*Today I was cold.  There was a good rain today.  I *almost* put on a light sweater.  I think it just feels cold because it's been so hot (best guess low 30s C). I think I'm going to freeze during cold season here!  (May / June I believe - it gets down to 5C at night I hear... but warmer during the day at least!)  No heat in the house!

*Somebody came to tell Andrew his work visa was ready to be picked up at immigration (mine too maybe?)  I think they are getting better as some previous 3 year MCCers never even got theirs before they left!  Our original receipt is in Lusaka - so it will have to wait for a bit!

*I've started to meet with a friend, Dorothy, from Ft. St. John, B.C. on Friday mornings at Wonderbake for coffee (and whatever baked goodie is freshest).  Almost feels like "home."  It sure is nice to chat with her.  She's married to a Zambian and has lived here for 12 years. (??)  She has a 1 year old son.  They are supposed to go on home leave to Canada before Christmas for 6 months.  I'll miss her!  (But my friend Julie will be back so hopefully the coffee dates can continue!)

*Kate said today, "Mommy, you're the best spider snapper ever!"  (As I killed yet another spider with the fly swatter).

*I think that's enough "updates" for now!  Please do feel free to "like" them and comment (below or through e-mail)!   :)

Snail Mail Address

A few people have e-mailed for our snail mail address.  I'm glad to say we have it sorted out (at least for a time). This box belongs to a friend of mine.  She kindly said we can use it.  She'll be in Zambia another year at least.

Feel free to send mail to:

Michelle Potts (or Andrew Potts)

P.O. Box 630083

Choma, Zambia

If you are sending mail to our kids it would be good to put our names on it anyways (as many times you have to show ID and pick it up in person!)  

We do have to pay a (small) fee to pick up packages but I don't think it's anything too crazy ($1) - so if you feel the desire, please send away! :)

The Tale of Two Dogs

This lovely house that we have in Choma (remember I cried when we moved in!) came with 2 stray dogs.  Yep.  The last people to rent the house had left them.  The guy (Caleb) that rents that small house in the back yard, this small white house pictured below, fed them when he had a bit extra; which by the looks of them wasn't very often.  

When we arrived at our new house there was a dead dog carcass just outside our gate and they had been eating it.  EWWW.  Yeah.  Gross.  The landlord told us he'd get rid of them (I didn't ask what that meant.  I didn't want to know nor did I care).  The kids were scared of them and wouldn't go outside.  The dogs didn't bother us much as they were pretty scared of humans and you could say "boo" at them and they'd run away.  (I'm guessing people probably threw rocks at them when they were out scavenging).  

We slowly learned a bit more from the Caleb, the guy that lives behind us.  We could tell that one was the mom dog and the other her puppy.  I assumed all the other pups had died of hunger.  I found out there were 4 that were given away by Caleb to homes, but this last pup he could never catch.  So it stayed.  The puppy was sort of cute (once you got past the fact of what it had been eating to stay alive).

Now, I'm not a dog person (as my friends know) but still it was hard to see these (more than) half starved dogs around our place!  It was also a pain since my kids finally had this huge yard and they were scared to go out by themselves!  After a month we realized that the landlord probably wasn't going to get rid of them.  Then one day a new dog came into the back yard from the street (our gate is just cast iron bars that they could get in and out of easily).  We figured that this dog was probably the father of the puppy (now when I say puppy- it's an older puppet, but it's still in the puppy stage - but probably just barely).  Andrew was out with the kids when this strange dog came by.  The strange dog was not quite as fearful of us and was more bold and aggressive.  (Nothing happened - but Andrew had to scare it away and bring the kids inside).  So we decided we HAD to put chicken wire up on the gate to keep something like that from happening again.  But then "our" two dogs couldn't scavenge.  We found out MCC's policy is that we could keep one dog.  ONE dog as a guard dog.  We were encouraged to put up the chicken wire anyways and feed the dogs a bit until we could figure it out.  We waited a few days as we didn't want to feed them and have them get too attached to being fed!  I talked to our gardener to see if he knew anyone that wanted a (wild) dog. I was joking.  Who wants a wild dog?! He said he'd take one of them. I knew he had a few dogs already, wants to be a vet, and lived on a farm, and actually fed his dogs real dog food.  Not a bad home for a wild dog so, I asked him which one he wanted… and he said either.  So we decided to try to keep the puppy and sent him with the momma dog.  (I was still picturing her eating that dead dog… and I figured good for her for keeping them alive but I put the scavenging blame on her!)  

The mom dog

Our gardener, Lwiindi, came back on a Saturday morning with a friend to get the dog.  They ran ALL over our yard (front to back mostly) trying to catch her.  For at least 30 minutes (do I have to mention it was hot even at 7am?!) It wasn't a pretty sight and luckily the kids didn't really look until after the dog was caught.  Andrew drove them all back to Lwiindi's in the car as we knew they'd never get that dog way out to that farm on the bike they brought!   I asked Lwiindi what he named the dog a few days later and he said "Cookie."  :)  I'll have to ask him again to see if it's changed.

The day the mom dog left us happened to be the Saturday that we went up to Livingstone (Victoria Falls) for our 10th anniversary.  We felt bad leaving the other dog by herself right away after taking the mom dog away, but we got the neighbour kids to give her some food.  (We're pretty sure it's a her). 

So, now we have this dog, Cookie. (Named by Kate).

Our dog, Cookie, on the back step.

She's kind of cute but she's still untamed.  We figure that she's NEVER been touched by a human.  I thought the following Monday after we got back from our trip that we'd load her up, take her to the vet, get her vaccinations, get rid of the fleas that I'm sure she has, and the worms too?  And that would be that.  I realized really quickly that wasn't going to happen.  There's no way we could catch her to take her to the vet!  So now we're on project "Chan the dog" (Kate wrote it on paper and it's on our wall - Train the dog).  We bought dog treats and we're slowly getting her to come closer and closer to us (Andrew or I).  I was making progress - I had her getting it from about 6 inches away from me.  But then she started barking at me like crazy (she wanted another) and I didn't like it.  Andrew took over.  (I think I lasted like 3 times!)  He's slowly been working with her.  And now Cookie follows Andrew around like a puppy dog…. LOL!  He got her to lick the treat in his hand just before we came up to Lusaka.  She didn't actually take it out of his hand though so he eventually had to put it down on the ground for her again.  She still barks at the kids when she thinks she might get food.  Malachi doesn't seem to care as much but it really scares Kate.  I'm not so fond of it either.  It sounds really scary (she growls too).  Though I finally taught Kate to say "STOP" firmly and WALK away when she's scared.  (She used to run - so you can all guess what the dog did right?! At least, right now, the dog is to chicken to get close enough to touch anyone)!  However, the other day Kate was calling the dog to follow her (though she wasn't so sure when Cookie actually was following her!)    Cookie's started to sit at Andrew and my feet (a couple feet away, with an eye open) when we're on the porch.  Though Cookie was actually almost sleeping near us the other day (without that eye on us).  So it seems like there has been progress.  I told Andrew he has until the end of December to train the dog.  (AKA: get her tame enough to go to the vet!)  In some ways it would be easier to get rid of this dog (easier said than done) and find a new puppy to grow up alongside the kids (and bonus if it's one that was handled as a pup)!

So, Andrew's been reading some tips online about how to train a dog.  They all assume that the dog has been touched by human hands before though!  LOL!  We should be looking up "how to tame a wild dog!"  We figured feeding it is the first step!  When we get back to Choma I'm going to buy some de-worming treatment to put in the dog food.  The dog doesn't seem to be gaining weight even though we've been feeding it for almost a month now.  Though she is getting pickier about her food! :)  She gets dog food for breakfast but because it's expensive she gets Nshima - the cornmeal ball that the Zambians eat - but cooked with chicken broth, and some chicken for supper. 

I also noticed the day before we left that she has what looks to be tics on her back.  It was a good reminder to keep my kids out of the longer grass!

So - prayer request this time is for our dog, Cookie.  That she could become a pet AND get to a vet! And I'm always afraid she's going to get comfortable around us AND still be wild and perhaps bite?  (I told you I'm not a dog person right?!)

You can also continue to pray for our time in Lusaka and our drive back home next Saturday (Your Friday night).

We'd still like a cat.  (Kate seems to be more of a cat person too).  There is a wild one up for grabs... LOL!  But I think we'll try for a nice kitten that we can take to the vet right away!