40/40 Gets Started in Lusaka

On April 20, 40/40 began in Lusaka, Zambia. All of us were excited to meet new friends and learn all we could about African culture. Home base for us was the Baptist Seminary in Lusaka. The children did their homeschooling in a little house there. The adults had meetings in the conference room and we all gathered there for all of our meals. Most of the singles and families stayed at the seminary in the dorms. Those of us with larger families stayed at the Baptist Guest House and were shuttled to the seminary in the morning and then back again in the evening.

We began each day with a time of small group Bible study.

We also had a time of praise and worship to start our day!

The main point of our training here in Lusaka was to learn about African culture in an urban context. The women in the group were partnered with Zambian women and the men with Zambian men. Each day were we sent out with an assignment. One day were we to learn everything we could about weddings and funerals. One day we asked people about health issues. We did this type of thing for about 7 days. We went to the same area of town so we were able to become a little familiar with it. 

Here I am with my partner Jane, in the middle, and
 Edna is in the pink. She was our Zambian helper.
Holly is on the far left with her helper.

One day Edna's baby was sick, so Jane and I went with her to the clinic.

One day we stayed in the neighborhood for lunch.
Our "restaurant" is just past the ladies on the right.

Here is the kitchen!

Here is our lunch!
We ate shima (the white stuff that looks like a snowball...it is corn meal and water),
greens, tomatoes, and chicken.

Me coming out of the "restaurant"

This is Lee and his teammate Johnathan with their helper, Alfred, on the right.
The man with the yellow shirt and jacket is Johnny Cash.
No lie....that is his name. Johnny is the mayor of the community.

Lee stopped at a barber shop one day and got an $0.80 haircut

Lee and I back at the seminary resting outside.The schedule was very full and we did a lot of walking. Some days I wished
I could go lay down on my bed....but our beds were across town.

Before we left Lusaka we had lunch with our Zambian helpers in their home.

Lilly.....enjoying holding their little guy

Look closely.....Lilly's chicken leg still has the foot

While the adults were learning the children had their own program. They did their regular homeschool work, plus quite a bit of learning about Africa.

Meghan and some of her friends.

The school-aged kids

Learning to cook an African dish.

One day they went to a market to learn how to bargain for what they want.

They also went to a crocodile farm that had snakes as well.

WOW!

When not in school the girls loved running around the seminary playing.

Near the guest house there was a polo club.
On a free afternoon Lee took Emma and LIlly over the see the horses.

Loving it!

The kids loved eating together in the conference room.

A couple of times we were able to go as a family to a restaurant...yippy!

It was a lot of fun!

Lusaka was fun and we learned quite a bit....but we were ready to move out of town after a week and a half! 


Tracy