Monday June 1, 2015

Victoria Falls and Shopping 

      Woah! Today was a busy day for us girls! We woke up at 5:45 am in our tiny tents of two.  Some girls were lucky enough to wake up and see lion tracks near their camp sites.  Others felt blessed that there were none! Waking up in the pitch black with only a fire going was quite interesting. We ate some breakfast that was either cereal or yogurt with granola around the camp fire until our drivers were ready to get on the road.

     Our adventure back to the border was super fun but very cold. All us girls, Coach, Corie and Elem were separated into four jeeps with no windows.  That just gives you a taste of how cold it was. It was especially cold when our driver got a call on the radio saying there were lions. In order to be able to even get a glimpse of the lion we would travel at 60 mph on windy sand roads! If you were passing by any of our jeeps you would most likely see us with our hoods up with no faces visible.  Since we were on the road very early, we all got to see the beautiful sunrise! 

   When we finally made it back to the border, we had to take a quick boat ride across the border back into Zambia. Following that, we took an hour car ride back to our wonderful hostel- Jolly Boys.  However, we had quite an issue.  The Jolly Boys we were supposed to go back to overbooked so we ended up going to another. As we arrived to the new Jolly Boys, none of the rooms were ready so it was a very interesting morning.  All the water got turned off so you would see many of the girls filling up water bottles from the sinks to shower!  After we got settled in, we had some lunch and then got ready to tour the famous Victoria Falls.

      We took a few vans to the Falls and everyone was excited. The view was absolutely incredible! God is so good! We hiked all the way up to the top and all the way down to the bottom (the boiling pot) . The bottom was probably most of our favorite parts.  We all thought it was a very powerful God moment.  The waterfall was massive and beautiful. Did we get wet? We got DRENCHED!! Crossing the bridge was probably the part when it felt like it was pouring down rain. We took tons of pictures and saw spectacular rainbows.  Think we were tired yet? We couldn't be! We had shopping to get to!

  

      After shopping was finished, we headed to our favorite restaurant Olga's again! Everyone enjoyed wonderful pasta dishes and delicious pizzas. We then headed over to a different place to get gelato and then went back to Jolly Boys for the night. Today was an exhausting day for all of us but was full of once in a lifetime experiences we will never forget. It is crazy to say that we started off our morning seeing lions prowling around in the bush and by mid day we were staring at the breathtaking Victoria  Falls. To see so many of God's wonderful creations in one day was unbelievable.  Many of us are very sad to leave tomorrow but we are so thankful for such an incredible experience. We are sad to leave but excited to see our families!

      After we left the Falls we took vans to the market and tried to bargain our way to get the things we wanted. Some of the deals were rather amusing. Jess was walking along with her high Nike socks on filled with mud- they looked gross.  Next thing you see is that a guy asked for her socks for a large drum!  The people at the market were very intense and it made all of us a little stressed. Every vender would say, "I give you a good price!" and would try to push us into their shops.  Our team went a bit crazy since it was our last day. Let's just say we bought enough stuff for everyone back home.

                                                       Love,

                                                              Bobba and Audra

Sunday May 31, 2015

Sunday morning we were out the door for the safari by seven o’clock. The safari was in Botswana and the border of Zambia and Botswana is a river. So we all got on a boat and said goodbye to Zambia for the day. Once we crossed the river we got into four open-air jeeps (typical safari jeeps) and ate breakfast at the Coffee Buzz. Once we were finished with our breakfast we got on a boat for our river tour/safari. The boat had two levels, so some of us were on top and the other half were on the bottom. We rode around the Chobe River and saw many animals like hippos, water buffalo, crocodiles, elephants and more.  We were able to watch the elephants swim across the river, which was very entertaining. After we were finished on the river we ate lunch back at the Coffee Buzz, then loaded the jeeps again for our land safari.

            We were at Chobe National Park each of the four jeeps went on different trails. For many of us we drove along the river for majority of the afternoon, so we saw a lot of the same animals we did on the river safari. The only difference about seeing the elephants for example was that they were so close we could touch them. But don’t worry we didn’t.  Everyone really was hoping to see a lion or a leopard, so when one of our tour guides heard there was a leopard spotted everyone went looking. Our guides did not waste anytime! They flew over to this open grass field in search of the leopard. Some of the jeeps did some off-roading to try and find it. Unfortunately no leopards were found. Around four o’clock three of the jeeps stopped for a stretch break. Our drivers were eating chips and a monkey that was near by snuck up and stole a chip. After that Kyele tried to feed another chip to the monkey and it lunged at her. The tour guides were not happy with her trying to feed the monkey, but we all of course found it funny. Then when we were driving we were trying to find a lion, so we stayed more toward the main land. Lions did not come out until it got colder out, so once the sun started going down we were on lion watch. There were about four female lions spotted at different times throughout the evening.

Around six o’clock our jeeps headed toward our campsites for the night. Two jeeps went to one site and two to a different one. The goal was to have Corie at one site and Coach and Elem at the other. Unfortunately the guides did not understand that and all three of them ended up at one site. Don’t worry parents everyone was perfectly safe!  We ate dinner once we got there and sat around the campfire for a couple hours talking. Everyone was a little on edge because the animals were free to roam through out site whenever. Although we heard the animals make noises none of us actually saw them. Overall we all had a great time!

           

                                                                        With Love,

                                                                                          Hoobs and Rae

Saturday May 30, 2015

This morning we bid farewell to the lovely town of Macha and made our way to Livingstone. We were supposed to travel there on a large spacious bus, however, that bus unfortunately collided with a rather large cow. So, instead we piled into a much smaller bus with a trailer attached to the back. The bus had pull out bench seats and we all piled in on top of each other. The ride was supposed to take three hours, but we took our good old time and arrived in Livingston four and half hours after departure.  We were all starving on the bus and coach graciously brought out his secret stash of goodies and we feasted on pretzels, Twizzlers, pop tarts, and Pringles. The only exciting part about the bus ride was when we bottomed out going over a giant ditch, stopping to get gas, and almost lost the trailer. We also saw lemurs hopping along side the road.

            Upon arriving in Livingston, we hurriedly unpacked our bags and grabbed a bite to eat for lunch before heading out to our last game. The game was held on a mostly dirt field but this time we fortunately had lines and three refs.  The atmosphere of the game was very interesting to say the least. Children ran yelling and playing all round us, and a few were rolling a tire back and forth on the side of the field. Audra had a man approach her behind the goal during the game and ask her if she wanted to purchase a rug. Another man wheeled a cart right up to the sideline and tried to sell us ice cream throughout the course of play.  The team was not as skilled as the other teams we played and the end score was 9-1, us. Regardless, it was still fun to play another game, and the other players were great sports. At the end we all gathered together to pray, and Kyele shared part of her testimony and explained how God is even more important to us than soccer.

            When we got back to the hostel, we had some time to jump in the pool and shower, before heading over to an Italian restaurant called Olga’s. We all feasted like kings, and nearly had to be rolled out we were so full. When we returned, we finally had the awesome privilege to hear Elem’s testimony.  He is truly a man of incredible faith and his story was we will all remember and treasure in our hearts.

            Now we are all getting ready for bed as we prepare to embark on our Safari tomorrow! We are staying over night in tents, so don’t worry when you don’t see a blog post tomorrow night. There will be two posts on Monday. Thank you for all your prayers. Peace and blessings.

                                                                        

-Maggie and Maddy

Friday, May 29, 2015

Last Day in Macha!

Today was a good day! We started off getting to sleep in a little longer then usual, breakfast was not until 8:00. After breakfast the plan was to head to the hospital in Macha for a tour. This was a really neat experience and many of the nursing students in our group especially enjoyed the experience. A highlight for many was the maternity ward. We saw multiple mothers holding their new born babies. One of the babies was only one day old and the mother was already walking around, we couldn't believe it. The hospital in Macha has made huge health improvements within a 35 mile radius and one of the main leaders in this improvements is Phil Thuma, Eric Thuma's father. One of the many accomplishments is that they have almost entirely eliminated malaria in Macha.

After the hospital tour, another group of girls were given the opportunity to play with children in the hospital while the rest of us headed off to MICS one last time. Today was game day! It had been hyped up all week that we were going to play the MICS team of students on our last day so you can imagine their celebration when they scored on us in the first 30 seconds of the game (before we even touched the ball). But don't worry..we came back and were able to get the win 2-1. Although everyone on our team is super competitive and we don't like to get scored on, it was awesome to see the joy the early goal brought both the children playing and the children watching the game. After the game, Ally shared a little bit of encouragement and thanked the students and teachers for such a fun week. We sang songs with the kids and danced with the teachers before we said our goodbyes and headed back to the rec center for yet another wonderful lunch made by Corie. Today we had homemade french bread pizza with noodles and fresh veggies. It was amazing.

Ally entertaining MIC students during the halftime of our game

Dancing and singing before saying goodbye

After lunch, we had a few hours for free time which was for the most part used for napping. We all ended up hanging out at the rec center with some children before we left to either watch the sunset on top of a water tower or watch a local soccer game. I (Lydia) chose to do the sunset on the water tower. Chris, the administrator of the Malaria Research Organization took us there, which was about a 10 minute walk from Eric and Corie's house. The tower was about 100 feet tall and for all the moms reading this I want to start off saying that everyone made it up and down safe and sound. However, I think we all can agree that the climb was one of the most nerve wracking things we have ever done. The tower previously housed over 3 huge bee hives making the rungs of the narrow ladder sticky with honey. Even though the bees had been cleared out the honey, combined with the sweat on our hands made the journey up the dark inside of the water tower pretty scary. We were all shaking, out of breath, and pretty fatigued by the time we got to the top. We arrived at the top of the tower in plenty of time to see the sun set but were more than ready to take a breath, regroup, and enjoy the view. You could see for miles and miles. We got to see the beauty of the land and enjoy each other while watching the sun melt into the horizon. The trek down was much easier and quicker than the climb up (for all of us except Reese who may or may not of shed a tear or two once she made it to the bottom). After the water tower experience, we headed back to the dorm for showers before we met everyone for dinner at the rec center.

Proof of Reese's tears after the water tower climb

And I (Nikki) chose to go to the local soccer game with the rest of the bunch and Eric. A few highlights of the game were that we went to the local market and got some lollipops to have while we watched and we befriended a lizard that we named Lizzy. As for highlights of the actual soccer part of the game one team won 6-0, and we saw some exciting goals. Some girls only stayed until half time causing them to miss 5 of the 6 goals. It was an eventful second half. The field was backdropped by an amazing sunset towards the end of the second half. It was also cool to see a few young boys on the sideline who had made a soccer ball out of tied up grocery bags, playing a pickup game. It is great to see the game we all love being played and enjoyed so simply. You do not need fancy equipment to play the beautiful game just a ball and some friends. After the game was dinner and we got to eat with Eric's parents and learn more about the hospital and malaria research. Then following dinner local young adults came to the rec center for friday night game night. And during this time some us us ventured to Vera's house to pick up our costume made pants. She finished about 25 pairs in only a few days on top of full time nursing/teaching job at the hospital. What a woman, we are thankful and all love our new pants.

You can tell, I am sure, that it was a another great day in Macha and a great way to wrap up our time here as we will be heading to Livingston in the morning. We were sad to say bye to all of the friends we have made here but are thankful for the time we were given to be apart of the community this week. It is truly a welcoming and loving community of people. They always made us feel "most welcome" wherever we found ourselves. We just want to give Eric and Corie Thuma a shoutout because it was their five year anniversary today and they chose to spend it hosting all of us. They are seriously the best, we mean it! But no word we could write would accurately express all they have done for us and all the time they have sacrificed to let us experience Zambia with them.

Love,
MWS (Big Lyd and Nikki)

Thursday May 28, 2015

            This morning we woke up again at 6:00 for 6:30 breakfast. We walked to MICS (Macha International Christian School) and attended their morning chapel time. Kate shared bible verses about their “virtue of the week”, perseverance. We also sang them the song “Ain’t no Rock” as a team. We then did morning clinics with the different grades. A highlight from the morning would be when Coach Frey led the hokey pokey by himself with much enthusiasm…not only once, but 3 times. We have enjoyed building friendships with the students from the school who we have seen each day. They love to play soccer as well as tag and dancing games – we love to see them happy. We especially enjoyed the fresh-fried fritters that Corie brought to us during our break. We then walked back to our dorms and freshened up for lunch.

            Before and after lunch, 2 men came to sell different crafts to us. One man sold beautiful paintings of nature that represented Zambian culture – we all found something we liked! The other man had wood carvings, including wood boxes, spoons, coasters, and figurines. After lunch we were glad to have some down time before the 2^nd annual Macha 5k race. The race started around 4:30 and everyone on the team ran it who could. There were 130 runners who registered for the race, not counting the all of the children who joined for parts and were there to cheer us on (last year only 30 people ran the race). The registration fee was 20 kwacha (around 3 dollars) and all the proceeds from the race went to a local church.

            We aren’t sure if we will be able to fully capture the race in all of its glory, but we will try. The race started from the Rec Center and went on a 5k loop around Macha, ending where it started. Running the course was challenging because parts of the course were sandy, had sharp stones sticking out, had large holes and we would say the most unique part of the course was the herd of cows (around 20 of them, with LARGE horns) were making their way slowly across the running path, causing runners to weave their way in between safely. Although it was a hard run, the course was fun for us and we loved to be a part of the community here in Macha. It was so cool to see the people coming together to cheer one another on and participate in this as one.

            You’re probably wondering the fastest times, right? The fastest man, Lemmy, finished in 17:42. Not only that, he ran barefoot (remember that part about sharp stones?) and was the winner of the race last year as well. For the women, our very own Alicia Kyele Bridel finished first in 21:11….we were all SHOCKED that she won (not really). Some notable runners were the 50 year old man who ran it in 20 minutes, the woman running in a business skirt, Elem (one of our Push the Rock leaders) who came in 2^nd, and the little 5 year old boy who walked the entire race beside one of the participants without saying a word. The winners of each age group received a prize of Messiah gear and random prize winners were chosen as well.

            The race went longer than expected, so we rushed back to the dorms to change into skirts for dinner at MICS with their boarding students. To get to MICS, some rode in a car, some walked, and some almost died riding bicycles in the dark on the sand path. We arrived at MICS and were greeted by the students and teachers. We paired up with one or two students to eat with and talk to. We had beans and sausage, cabbage, rolls, and nshima for dinner and ate around a bonfire outside. We are getting better at eating the nshima correctly, using our hands to mold it into a ball and eat with the other food. It was really cool to get to know the boarding students (there are around 40 of them) who we had interacted with in the mornings but wanted to learn more about. Some of the boys from MICS have a soccer team and will be playing us tomorrow morning, so we exchanged our fair share of smack talk with one another. After dinner, they sang us 2 songs and requested that we teach them “Ain’t no Rock” because they liked it so much in the morning. Then, we said our goodbyes and 18 of us packed into Gil’s (the principal of MICS’s husband) car and drove back. To say we were squished would be an understatement, but we definitely got closer during the ride through ditches and with some funny stories from our driver.

            This day was full of laughs and sweat and sunshine and more laughs. Even though we are tired, we have loved each day here. Zambia is a beautiful place and we can’t believe our time here in Macha is almost done! We will probably be going to bed at 9:30 (as we have for the past couple nights) and will be asleep as soon as our heads hit the pillow – a sign of a good day. One prayer request is that a stomach bug has been traveling through our team – for people to be back to full health ASAP! Thank you for all the support and love.

Love, MWS (Riss & Kayla)

Wednesday May 27, 2015

5/17/15

Today was relatively similar to the previous day. We woke up, ate breakfast, and headed to MICS to run the kids through another day of clinics. However, before the clinics began, a few of the girls added a little variety to the school's morning chapel. This variety came in the form of a song that was taught to a few of the kids yesterday during our evening games. The song was a nuanced version of Jesus Loves Me, which is often sung by the team in the locker room before games. It was really great to see a song we love and enjoy singing being shared with our new friends in Zambia. Now, while we're worshipping The Lord with that song, we can always think about these moments in Zambia and how they are possibly still singing it here as well.

After chapel ended, we went to the soccer field to coach the clinics. Here, we played a number of fun soccer games and let the kids showcase their talents. They seemed to really love the drills we ran, and their excitement helped energize the team. Some of us also got the opportunity to spend some time with these two boys who were not physically able to participate in the clinics. Their names were Brian and Prince, and they helped give us an insight as to what the school was like and what their favorite things to do were. The boys were very sweet and were really easy to talk to. Even though I know they would love to be out running around with their friends, their cheerful attitudes were really something to admire.

Running through drills with the kids...Skylar is the sight supervisor.

Some of the girls spending time with Prince. 

After the clinic sessions ended, we headed back to the dorm area. From here, we got lunch, had a quick workout session with Reg as our instructor, and relaxed for a short while. When it was time for our evening session to begin, a few groups formed and went their separate ways. One group went to the hospital, one helped coach the local girls team, another stayed at the rec center, and my group went and played basketball with the local girls team. It was a really neat experience to meet them all because last summer, these girls were all girls were all coached by our good friend from Messiah, Emily Martz. This was unique because we were able to connect with these girls in a way that didn't involve soccer. It also helped reveal how much tougher those 15 and 16 year olds were than us. It is safe to say they could out-rebound us in their sleep, and did I mention most were wearing dresses? Fortunately for us, shooting was their downfall. It was funny for us because every missed shot was followed by the word "sheet," which is closely related to a certain American word we all know...Apparently, the Zambian version of this word means "shoot" though:) There were two subs on our team, so when we weren't playing we were able to chat with the girls. This was a lot of fun because we were able to learn that we had a lot in common with them. They liked Beyonce, cartoons, and all had boyfriends. The only thing we didn't have in common were the boyfriends. Playing basketball and hanging out with these girls was definitely one of the best experiences I've had on this trip so far.

Coach Frey leading the girls through a practice. 

Kate reading to some of the kids at the rec center. 

Once the basketball game and the other activities ended, we were able to head back to the dorms to get cleaned up for another amazing dinner. This was followed by a team discussion about a book we had all just finished reading called To Chase A Dream. This book is about a former Indiana University soccer player who recounts his collegiate soccer experience. It is always interesting to hear about the different take-aways everyone has from this book because I know it resonated with all of us. Summerly mentioned a quote from the book that really encapsulates the message behind the story. This quote is: "A dream chased vigorously is a success, no matter the outcome." I'm not sure if those are the exact words from the book, but it gives everyone the general idea and certainly something to think about when we think about the dream or dreams we're chasing in life.

Love, 

MWS (Kyele)