Work in Progress

The week flew by and I am back in Choma once again! Tonight I am staying at the home of a missionary family from Florida that is living here in town. We are going to a Christian fellowship thing they have once a month. I'm really looking forward to being around "family".

The past week has been really awesome in the village. I came back and found that my roof had been re-thatched and just in time as we have started to get more rain lately. Sunday morning Cholwe came to my house to tell me that Omsely (a guy from our village) was started a youth program. She also told me I was co-founder. This was the first I heard of it, but Omsely stopped by later that day and we had a really good discussion on this "youth group". We will focus on youth in our community that are not attending school. I am really excited, now that I know about the program. It will be an opportunity to connect with youth that I would have not contact with through the school. We are going to do sports leagues, community projects, and also have a lot of practical education courses.

On Monday I was supposed to have a meeting with the PTA at school, but there was a funeral so I ended up just meeting with the headmaster, having lunch and teaching him how to use Excel. Don't get any crazy ideas, the computer is run off solar panels attached to his roof and I'm pretty sure they no longer have that version of Excel, but at least it will help with some of the school information.

Tuesday morning I organized for a meeting with all of the local church leaders. Twelve churches were represented and it was the first time any of the leaders had met together. We prayed, talked about the issues in the area, and discussed how the local church can be part of the solution. It was a chance for me to really express my heart for the people and also my belief that the local church is essential in caring for people. We are going to meet once a quarter and I know this will be really key in my work over the next two years.

Wednesday my director from Peace Corps Lusaka came to my sight and it was good to talk with her and just fill her in on all that is going on in my village. Also she is working to get some added "security" on my house in an effort to keep as many snakes out as possible. Amen to that! That night I went to one of the teacher's homes to have dinner. I was able to convince her that we need to have more parties in Chifusa and so on Monday night we are having an "Independence Eve" party at the headmaster's house. We're cutting the heads off chickens and drinking Fanta and calling it a night. I think I'm going to try and get some "Celebrity" going on too...we'll see how that goes. If everyone puts 50 cent and Madonna it may be a short game. Next Tuesday is Independence Day so we have a big festival at the school. They've convinced me that I need to show an "American" dance, so I'm trying to remember how to do the Electric Slide.

Thursday afternoon I had the opportunity to talk to all the students at Chifusa Basic School. I had "2 truths and 1 lie" to start off by introducing myself and then multiple choice questions on Peace Corps and ended with a true/false deal on HIV. The whole school got into it and was really interactive throughout the presentation. After the assembly we broke into our "clubs" and I was able to meet with the anti-AIDS club. They shared songs and poetry that they had been practicing for the Independence Day festival. I'm really excited to spend more time with this group of students and just see how we can work together to combat HIV in our area.

Today is Friday and now you are fully caught up on my life! Hope your week has been awesome and I'll check my email again tomorrow so send me your updates too!