It's My Birthday (Well technically it was about twenty minutes ago...)

***This was written on September 17, but I didn’t have internet access last night so it’s technically now 20 minutes past my birthday, but I’m post as is. So read this as if you were reading it on Thursday September 17***

First things first, I’m spending my 24th birthday in AFRICA!!!! While I am missing my family on this first birthday away from home, I cannot help but be excited that I am in Africa! And it has been a wonderful day!!!! (More about that later)

Now that that is out of the way, I sat down to write in my journal a couple days ago and realized it had been since September 7 that I had written anything! So I spent that morning updating because I don’t want to forget how I’m feeling about all that is happening.

Monday September 7 was our first morning of classes. This is our typical schedule for the day: We started with chitonga (the language here) lessons at 6:30. This is followed by our Zambian class of the day (this varies Monday through Thursday and includes African history, African literature, African anthropology, and one other that is escaping me right now). We eat breakfast around eight and have chapel at nine. On Monday Wednesday Friday we come back here for class at 10 (health care missions) and 11 (Gospel of John). We eat lunch at noon and then have class again at 1 (culture of poverty). The students then go to either the havens (orphanage) or the clinic (if they’re on the schedule) or can use that time to study and do homework. On Tuesdays and Thursdays after chapel they have free time to go to the havens, clinic, or homework until dinner. Dinner is always at 5:30 and then on Tuesdays and Thursdays we have class right after. Most nights we are in bed early because our days start at 6:30. (Wow that was a lot of information and if you stuck with that and understood it...kuddos to you!)

I have been spending my afternoons in the clinic on MWF but am really looking forward to changing that next week. I’m going to start spending my time in the orphanages on those afternoons. Tuesdays are a full clinic day for me. Ms. Bingham is a nurse practitioner and she spends her time seeing the patients then I help if they need a wound cleaned or an IV started (which if I’m honest here, I’ve been unsuccessful at and that is REALLY frustrating me!) or whatever it is I need to do (for example, last week I irrigated a man’s ears). The students are always eager to help and learn so this has been interesting (and challenging) transitioning from the student to the teacher because I am still so new at nursing as well! On Thursday in addition to the clinic, some of the nurses go on outreach to surrounding villages for well child weights and immunizations. (Let me add in here, that we were scheduled to leave at 9 and didn’t actually leave until around noon...again speaking to the importance being placed on relationship and not on time) Here in Africa, each child is given a pamphlet shaped card which plots their weights based on age for each month (this growth chart is similar to the one in the US but has been adjusted for African size kiddos). This card goes with them until their fifth birthday. The family keeps it and brings it to doctor’s appointments or to outreaches like this one. So we first weigh the babies and plot that then we check to see what their immunization status is (which is also on the card). If they need any updates or boosters for the immunizations, we give those as well. So Thursday September 10 was my first experience with this. At our first location there were around 60 children. Not all of these needed immunizations, but most of them did. Two of the students also came with me. This was a really neat experience as they gave their first shots ever that day! On this day after the first location we went to, we were served shima (which is kinda doughy and one of their main food dishes...they eat it literally at every meal), chicken in some tomato juice, and cabbage. The shima (pronounced she-ma) you kinda roll into a ball, press your finger into it and make an indentation and then use that as a scoop to dip up the liquid. It was our first experience with traditional African food and I must say I LOVED IT!!! After lunch, we went to our next stop which is another orphanage in this area. There were only around 20 babies at this one (and less than half needed shots).

I’ll back up now to Wednesday September 9. One of the missionaries here (Mr. Gregorson) needed to take one of our maintenance men (Andrew) into Choma (a town approximately 45 minutes away. Nita and I decided to join. We stopped at the soda shop (Here you have to rent the glass bottles and you bring them back and get new ones. They clean those and then re-use them). We bought several cases of them (and we had rent some of the bottles which cost as much to rent as to re-fill). We also went to the grocery store where we met a family from Wynne, Arkansas here doing some work about two and a half hours from where we are...what a small world! I was able to exchange money at the hardware store because it was one of Mr. Gregorson’s friends. It was neat to see the inside of the hardware store. You just walk in the front lobby (that’s the easiest thing I can think of to compare it to) and tell them what you need and they go get it. After church that night (which was held in the waiting room of the clinic...it’s outside and covered...all of the hallways and waiting areas are actually because they don’t have air conditioning), we went to this remote area of the mission (in our cars) and looked at the stars. We saw part of the southern cross and then a really bright star which we presumed to be Venus. It is so very humbling to think that God created each one of these stars and yet still knows and cares about the desires of my heart!

The weekend here was different than a typical weekend in the states. (Sara, we can’t really count ours as typical weekends since those were the only two days/nights we worked!) Friday night we went to Meg’s and had singing and cookies. The electricity had gone out and so it was by candlelight. A few of the babies from the orphanage were up there and one of the girls sat in my lap and we looked at the pictures of an Eric Carle book. Saturday was filled with classes (this is not the norm, but rather we were making up days for next week when we are going to Victoria Falls!!!). I got to call home which was so nice to talk to mom and dad!

Sunday morning right after breakfast we noticed a lot of Zambians gathering in our side yard. We were told that they were the people from early service who had gathered for a baptism (there is a trough next to our house which collects water and this is used as the baptistry). This was such a beautiful start to our week with the addition of a sister in Christ! We went to church and then the wedding was scheduled to start at noon. (As I type this story including the times, I don’t want to portray that I am annoyed at the times. It is quite the opposite actually as I am realizing I need to become more relational and less time-restrained, but I think there is probably a happy medium somewhere between our two cultures.) We went over to the auditorium around 1 and the wedding started around 2. The ceremony was fairly westernized (he was from town and she from the mission) but there were parts that were not. One of the biggest parts of their culture that stood out was that the bride and groom remain solemn-faced as a symbol of their sadness for leaving their families. The rest of the family and guests though have quite a party! The reception started immediately after the wedding in Kalomo. We stayed until around 6:00. It was really neat to get to be a part of their special day! It was a great time!

Monday and Tuesday have been two fairly typical days of class (except that I got a bit of the stomach virus that was being passed around...I’ve made a full recovery since then!) Tuesday we also celebrated three of the students birthdays (they all share the same birthday of the same year...they all turned 20).

Wednesday we had an herbalist come and speak to us. We went on a tour around the mission and he talked about the different uses of different plants and roots here. It was really educational and really interesting. There are these fruit bats that sleep in this tree (it’s dry season so there are no leaves on this tree so we can see them really well) and tonight at dusk I went out there and as it turned dark the bats all took off flying over my head. It was so neat to see them wake up and start moving and then fly away. Their wing spans make them as big as birds. It really reminded me of Stellaluna for those of you familiar with that children’s book. After church, we went to the Gregorsons and they served Ms. Bingham and me some chocolate covered strawberries from their garden...what a treat! :)

Today I got to go on outreach again! We took three students this time in addition to Ross, myself, and some of the staff from the clinic. We left for the clinic around 8:50 so we’d be there by 9:00 (our tentative departure time). No surprise to us, they weren’t quite ready to leave so we began organizing some of the supplies that are in the clinic (those of you who know me well know that I LOVED this!). We left around 11 from the clinic and headed to Kalomo (the town nearby) to fill up on gas and grab some cold water. We (the students, Ross, Nita, and I) took the HIZ vehicle and the clinic workers took their car because there were so many people that went with us in addition to our supplies. We drove 45 minutes out into the bush! This is the furthest out we have been and it was so wonderful to see God’s creation and made it that much more real that we are in Africa. So at our first stop we saw quite a few children for their immunizations and at the second stop we saw even more (275 children came today...not all of them received immunizations but they were all weighed and they all stayed around the entire time we were there). It was a very busy and productive day and I really don’t think words can do it justice! And what a great way to spend my birthday serving God’s wonderful people! We arrived back to the mission around 7 (that’s a full 8 hour day mind you!) we ate some leftovers (dinner is at 5:30) and then just hung around for a bit because it was birthday cake time at 7:30!!!! The OCU girls and Meg came over as well! They all sang happy birthday to me (Ms. Bingham brought candles so I got to blow them out) and had a couple of cards and one of the girls had made presents (leather bracelets that say HIZ ’09 on them...it’s really cool!). Ross had such kind words to say about me after we had cake. And then we all sang for about thirty minutes. Two of the Zambians had come for fellowship (one of whom is the choral director) and they taught us some chitonga (the language here) songs. I mean, what a GREAT way to spend my birthday...serving God’s people, fellowshipping with such amazing Christian brothers and sisters, and then singing songs of praise to an awesome God! Life is good!

Tomorrow I am going with two of the students to Zimba (an eye clinic which has some American doctors at it right now for a short-term trip) to take two of the babies from the orphanage. I’ll let you know more about that in my next update.

As always, thanks for the prayers. It is because of Him that all this is possible!

Mrs. Carol, the weather is the same :) If there are there any specific questions you or your students have I'd love for you to e-mail them to me and I can check into them!!!

We Made It!!!!

Let me first start by saying I am so sorry I am just now able to post this! I know I originally said it would probably be once or twice a week and that some of you were worried about us, but do not fear....we are here!!!! This is going to be long. The flights were so very long. We flew from Memphis to Boston and then overnighted from Boston to Amsterdam. I did this all with no sleep. On the flight to Amsterdam I sat next to a guy that was about my age and he was headed to Edinborough for a semester abroad (brought back fond memories of my semester in Italy). Anyway in Amsterdam we got on a plane to Nairobi, Kenya. I slept for about three hours on that eight hour ride. Finally, we flew to Lusaka, Zambia. We arrived at 11:15pm Zambia time (seven hours ahead of Arkansas) on September 3 after leaving Memphis at 2:15pm on September 2. What a trip! We then took a school bus on September 4 for 7 hours to Namwianga!

We had a welcome reception a couple of nights ago (my days are all running together) with the people here at the Mission. They are such a loving and gentle people. We also toured the mission (it's 7000 acres!) including all three Havens (orphanages), the clinic, and saw the schools from afar. The third Haven is not quite ready for babies yet but hopefully will be in a month.

On Saturday we went to market right after breakfast and I bought three chitange materials. Chitanges (pronounced just like it is spelled but with a long e sound at the end so ch-tang-ees) are huge pieces of fabric that the women wear here as skirts. They are very informal and they often wrap them around their nicer clothes so they can take them off and sit on the them without getting themselves dirty) There is a lady (Ms. Mono) that lives here whose son goes to college and she uses the money she makes from sewing this material into chitanges with strings to tie or even into purses or bags or dresses or skirts or whatever really to put her son through college. So I think I might wear them until I am about to come home and then change them right before leaving. Market was fun. We did some bargaining. The currency here is called kwacha and is also pronounced as spelled. The exchange rate is 1 US dollar for 4540 kwacha. So I spent 320,000 kwacha or roughly 8 dollars. Sad isn't it? But not as bad as Zimbabwe who has a 10 trillion dollar bill! Unbelievable what their president has done to their economy.

That afternoon we went to a funeral of one of the boys here at the mission. He was in a car accident. The entire community came out and it's actually this boy's aunt who is a nurse at the clinic. But his entire family is well loved and highly regarded here in Namwianga. We just went to the burial where we actually saw them lower the casket into the ground, make the concrete to make the crypt and then cover it with dirt. Then people came up in groups (his mom, his dad, one of the boys that survived, the church choir, the elders and deacons of the church, his classmates, etc) and placed flowers into the mound of dirt. They do something very interesting here also. They put his plate and cup on the mound of dirt and then smack it with one of the trowels to break it. We are not sure but are assuming as a sign that he is no longer coming home. We are going to ask our language teacher Monday morning. The women and men separate. The women all sat down and the men stood up. Together we formed a giant circle around the grave. Africans do their grieving out loud. Lots of them wail and fall out. But I think that's healthier. It doesn't build up. Though they did almost all of this at the church at the funeral so we didn't witness it. It was very sad and my heart aches for this family.

We went out into the bush for church this morning. Not far out in the bush, but out in it none the less. I imagined the building to be like the church at Poteau in Haiti. We drove down (maybe I should specify here that we are all in three SUVs...the kind that has seats along the side windows in the back so we can fit 12 students and three faculty in one vehicle comfortably) sandy dirt roads. As we have been driving, I've wondered how they give directions. Anyway, we got to the church which is made of concrete bricks with a tin roof. There were windows on each side which provided a wonderful breeze. The church was called Tumango church of Christ. The name is pronounced two-mango and is so named because of the numerous mango trees. Services in this church were fairly westernized. A few songs, a prayer, a couple more songs, a sermon, a song, communion, a song and a prayer. After the closing prayer, a group of four teenagers stood up and sang a couple of songs and then they invited our group to do the same. This is pretty typical and we expected it. We sang two songs. During We Shall Assemble, I got a little choked up. Singing in churches where they speak another language, whether I am in Haiti or here, always gives me chills. I always feel like it is the closest thing to singing with the angels in heaven when we will all get there. I mean how cool that it is because of Christ that we are in this place together despite our language and cultural differences we share the most important thing of all! After the two songs we sang, we returned to our seat where they did announcements of sorts. After that one of the men started a final song about perseverance in spreading the Good News. The women walked out first and as we left the church building they began forming a circle in the outside courtyard. This is a little confusing to write and try to explain, so sorry! :) But as I walked out the door of the church I turned to the left and immediately began shaking the hands of the women who had gone out before me until I got to the end of the line and then I took my spot. This continued until all the members of the church were in the circle. The song kept repeating until we ended as well. It was really neat to feel the sense of community and love these people have.

We went to the Johnson auditorium tonight (the auditorium of the students here at the mission...similar to the Benson at Harding) for worship. It too was very westernized, but the sermon was wonderful and the people so loving. We sang Because He Lives tonight and it brought tears to my eyes during the chorus (because He lives I can face tomorrow, because He lives all fear is gone. Because I know He holds the future and life is worth the living just because He lives)... (I don't know why I'm so emotional haha) because it was if God was speaking right to me to not worry about back home and that He is in control through all the beautiful voices of His children.

Classes start tomorrow...at 6:30 in the morning! We start with language lessons and then another class (I don't really remember what it is) but it's with a Zambian teacher as well. They come and teach us before they teach their classes on the mission (I can't remember if they are high school or college professors but we have heard so many wonderful things about them). We then eat breakfast. And then chapel and two more classes (this time taught by Ross and Ms. Bingham). Then lunch then the students go to either the Havens (the orphanages) or the clinic. I think I'll be spending my time this week at the clinic. We are going to see how that goes. Then dinner and a couple of evening classes. The schedule is different on Tuesday (less class).

I'll leave you with a quote I heard from an African at the bank while exchanging money today. We were talking to him and he asked us how long we were going to be here...1 year or 2? And we told him only until November. He looked at us and said three months? Just three months? Oh, you'll be back...Africa is contagious :)

I hope to eventually figure out how to post pictures on my Mac. I don't know how to shrink them down and must do that in order to keep with the guidelines here.

Please keep us all in your prayers! Thank you for keeping up with me...it truly is an honor!

For those of you reading, you may wonder what this bottom section is about. A dear friend of mine teaches seventh grade science and weather is part of that so the bottom of the blog is the weather update :)

Mrs. Carol, I think I'll put the weather updates at the bottom and in a different color :) The weather has surprised me! It is the end of their winter. It is a very dry heat during the day (which I expected), but at night it is a little chilly! I haven't found a temperature gauge to know the exact numbers. They have not had rainfall since April. So everything is dusty and not in bloom. Except for the Jackaranda tree (I have no idea if that's how you spell it but it's how it is pronounced) :) It blooms towards the end of winter these beautiful purple flowers. I hope your school year is starting out well! Love you!

Am I Really Leaving for this Adventure TOMORROW?!?!

Wow! I have very mixed emotions right now. Here's where I am at...I just got my debit card in the mail, I am not packed (I started, but got kinda overwhelmed), I still have a few errands to run, and I leave TOMORROW!!! That's right folks! My sweet mom is taking off work tomorrow afternoon and then we are picking my dad up at 4 and they are driving me out to HUT where I will meet up with the rest of the group. We will spend the next several days in fellowship and orientation. The Harding bus takes us to Memphis on Tuesday where we will begin our 33 hour flight process to Zambia. I don't think reality has set in that I am actually going. This has been so theoretical for so long it just has not become reality to me. I remember very similar feelings before leaving for Italy. One of the most frequently asked questions right now is "are you nervous?". I was asked this the other day by one of my mom's close friends. When I said yes, she took it a step further and asked me what specifically I was nervous about. I think I shocked her with my answer. This may sound morbid but the thing that makes me most nervous is that something will happen to someone in my family back here and I won't be here. Now long before this ever became reality, I got my entire family's blessing to go, but it still scares me. My family means more to me than anything else and I just can't imagine it. But at the same time, I CANNOT WAIT to get over there!!! I really am so excited to see what good the Lord is going to do through us, His servants. I am truly blessed that this is an opportunity for me and am so thankful! I want you all to know on the front end how much it means to me that you're reading this and would like to ask for your prayers for our group. That this trip will be a success through Him and because of Him.

On a completely different note, I went to my grandparents house the other night for what I thought was a going away dinner, but they surprised me with a birthday party since I won't be here for mine this year (that's weird to me because it will be the first one ever...I mean I even scheduled myself to go to Italy in the spring so I wouldn't miss it...you see birthdays are holidays in my family) But how cool that I'll get to spend it in Africa! I also went and ate with my grandma before leaving. They had the most awesome cake made for me! Here it is. Pay special attention to the "S". It's supposed to be a black mamba. The same friend of my mom's that I was talking about earlier, watched a documentary on them and was sweet enough to tell my mom about them...I haven't stopped hearing about them since haha. :) I really do adore this friend of hers! Here's the cake:

All of that to say, here are a few pictures for those of you who don't know this supportive, loving, selfless, precious family that I was so blessed to be born into!!!

Natalie, Dad, Me, and Mom

Papa Sherrill, Me, Grandma Marcille

(my mom's parents)

Grandma Jimmie (dad's mom)

My mom's side of the family

Part of dad's side at my sister's graduation party

Some may not consider pets to be part of the family, but this is Abner and he'll be 13 in September and is a huge part of our family! :)

And this sweet face is Claude. He stays in trouble but those big eyes keep him nice and spoiled! :) I'll miss all of the funny Claude stories that happen while I'm gone, though I'm sure I'll get e-mails about them.

Wow, this post was long! Thank you so much for following my journey. I have so many emotions right now but am very excited. I better get some sleep so I can finish packing! :)

Because of Him,

Sara Kathryn

It's Official!!!

So it's official. In exactly 67 days from tomorrow I will be on my way to Zambia. For those of you who don't know...I am going as an adjunct professor to Harding's newest international program: Harding in Zambia or HIZ. My role is a new one so I am not sure of what I will be doing exactly. Though I will be helping Ross and Nita Cochran as well as one of my nursing professors, Janice Bingham. There are about 20 students going as well. I hope to spend most of my time in the orphanages. Many of you know that one of the reasons I am going is to see if long term mission work really is for me. I would like to ask for you to remember me in your prayers as I prepare to leave and especially while I am there. I will be there definitely until November 30. Upon my return, I will decide (let me rephrase that...) I plan on doing a lot of listening to see what God has in store for me next. It's a bit surreal but I have a strange sense of peace about whatever is next. For those of you know me well, you know I am a big planner. God clearly laughs at my plans because never in my wildest dreams would I imagine God would want to use me in Africa.

Sara Kathryn
Micah 6:8