Death

One of my co-workers lost her mother this past week and I went with the staff to the funeral service. Her mother had been ill for quite some time - in and out of the hospital, and my workmate was the one who had been doing most of the caretaking. Two weeks prior to her mother's death, her brother unexpectedly passed away and she had to travel to another part of the country for his funeral...so within two weeks, she lost both her brother and her mother.

We waited about an hour and a half for the service to start (sitting in the car in the parking lot). I was told that the queue could be quite long to pick up bodies from the morgue, then because the family was doing the work themselves, they had to prepare the body...

As we were waiting there were many mini buses (taxis) dropping people off on an ongoing basis. Cars and trucks with 20 more more people sitting in the back also dropped people off.

I thought they were all there for the mother's service, but then a truck drove up with people crying loudly. The last man to get out of the truck was carrying a small white coffin, that was only about 2 feet long, an infant. Once they arrived, people went to view the body, then they picked up the coffin and went to the burial site.

At about the same time, the family arrived with the mother's coffin. Many people were crying - and some of them fell to the ground (one guy even fell into a mud puddle). We didn't go in to view the body, it seemed like an intimate occasion reserved for family...but just as we were leaving another truckload of people arrived, this time it was another infant coffin that was being carried in.

Within 20 minutes three coffins had arrived, two infants and one old lady - with more people coming in with coffins as we were leaving.

Death. It's happens every day. But since we've been in Zambia, it seems like we see it more. Maybe because the main cemetery is on the road to the kids' school or maybe because there's just more death. Truckloads of people sitting in the back of a truck along with a casket and funeral service cars (for those with more money!) are every day sightings. It's not uncommon to hear from a staff person about the death of a relative.

And, I can only imagine what it must have been like at the height of the AIDS crisis. Death and funerals would have been every day occurrences and often, there would be multiple funerals to attend in a day.

The Zambian people are strong. Life and death are intertwined. It's still painful and heart wrenching.

Peter's Birthday Party

Peter had some of his classmates over for a party and sleepover. Sophie and her two friends, Ava and Tino, helped organize the games - they had a great time!

The great thing about an international school is, of course, the international flavor! The kids are from all over the world, they all have different accents, these kids are incredibly polite (!) and, the universal trait of boys - they love to play!!

Peter's friends include, from left: Rueben - Zambian, Jamie - South African, Johannes - half Norwegian, half Zimbabwean; Jurgen - South African; Kaisei - Japanese.

The classic: Musical Chairs!

Pool Games

Sophie helping Jurgen and Peter with a clue for Scavenger Hunt!

As an aside, Peter is now the class president and Jurgen is his vice-president!

Everyone's a winner!!

Peter looking like a South African

One quirky things about South Africans is they love wearing these little shorty-shorts (even in public!) - and these funky boot-shoes. Peter was given the gift of the shoes (which are really great)from Skip the proprieter at one of the places we stayed in Cape Town. So he added the rest of the stuff (including the big tummy) for this South African look (including the sunglasses on top of the head!).

New Hairdos....

Since we were in "the big city"(Cape Town) Sophie, Peter and I all decided to get our hair cut (since there aren't very many good hair cutting places in Lusaka). Here's an "after" shot...One funny thing is that since Sophie got her hair cut, she's worn it in a pony tail nearly every day!

Christmas on the Donkey Trail - by Sophie

Well, as you probably know we went on a family vacation to Cape Town, South Africa. I learned many things about being in a developed country but first of all, since it was Christmas, let me tell you my story of this Christmas that I had in Cape Town. We went on the Donkey Trail (pictures of the trail here) from the 22st-25th of December. 

I wasn't really that thrilled about missing everything that we usually do for Christmas and Christmas Eve! My mom said we wouldn't be getting very many presents this year, so I wasn't too happy about that either!

It was Christmas Eve now and i was thinking about what we would do if we were home; well, now we would be getting our Christmas pajamas and be setting out the cookies for Santa but here we are now, sitting by the fire.

As we went to our house for the night and said goodnight to to our friends the Huddles, I looked up and saw the stars. Now I don't really think about them very often i just think that they are very pretty. But they were more than that as I looked at them tonight, they were the stars that led the three wisemen to baby Jesus' manger!

It was late and it was time to go to bed. I lay awake wondering about everything. It seemed like this place we were staying was how I mangined where Jesus was really born. It felt like I was there and we had gone back in time! I gave up on thinking about all the presents and realizing that hey, it isn't about us, it is about him and his birthday tomarrow! We are just celebrating his birthday with him.

That Christmas day was extrodinary! Wow is all I can say! It didn't seem like Christmas at all! We didn't go to California like we always did and visit our relatives, that night, after getting off the Donkey Trail, we just had a dinner at a resturant and then that was it, we just went to bed.

I got over the fact that we didn't really get anything for Christmas but right now we were in Cape Town and I was with my family and that was all that mattered! I was safe and my family was too.

I think we all learned something, well, at least my brother and I did. I'm so lucky that I have experianced this Christmas. I think it will be the most memorable Christmas in my life! Now I know how the Grinch felt! It didn't matter about the presents or the food, the stockings or the pajamas; being with my family was the greatest gift that Jesus has given me!

Well, as you probably know we went on a family vacation to Cape Town, South
Africa. I learned many things about being in a developed country but first
of all, since it was Christmas, let me tell you my story of this Christmas
that I had in Cape Town. We went on the Donkey Trail (pictures of the trail
here) from the 22st-25th of December. I wasn't really that
thrilled about missing everything that we usually do for Christmas and
Christmas Eve! My mom said we wouldn't be getting very much presents and
this year, so I wasn't to happy about that either! It was Christmas Eve now
and i was thinking about what we would do if we were home; well, now we would
be getting our Christmas pajamas and be setting out the cookies for Santa but
here we are now, sitting by the fire. As we went to our house for the night
and said goodnight to to our friends the Huddles, I looked up and saw the
stars. Now I don't really think about them very often i just think that
they are very pretty. But they were more than that as I looked at them tonight, they were the stars that
led the three wisemen to baby Jesus' manger! It was late and it was time to
go to bed. I lay awake wondering about everything. It seemed like this
place we were staying was how I imangined where Jesus was really born. It felt like I was there and we had gone
back in time! I gave up on thinking about all the presents and realizing that
hey, it isn't about us it is about him and his birthday tomarrow! we are just celebrating
his birthday with him. That Christmas day was extrodinary! Wow is all i can
say! It didn't seem like Christmas at all! We didn't go to California like
we always did and visit our relatives, we just had a dinner at a resturant
and then that was it, we just went to bed. I got over the fact that we
didn't really get anything for Christmas but right now we were in Cape Town and I was with
my family and that was all that mattered! I was safe andy family was too. I think we all learned something, well, at least my brother and I but i'm so
lucky that I have experianced this Christmas. I think it will be the most
memerable Christmas in my life! Now I know how the Grinch felt! It didn't
matter about the presents or the food, the stockings or the pajamas; being
with my family was the greatest gift that Jesus has given me!

Cape Town - Dec 14 -30, 2009

As part of our “more experiences, less stuff” movement, we spent Christmas in and around Cape Town for 16 days. The experience was fantastic! We had a great mix of sight seeing, shopping, hiking, beach combing and swimming.

Here are some of our adventures:

A trip to Robben Island where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 18 years. I just finished reading “Playing the Enemy” (the book about how Mandela used rugby to help unite a racially divided country), then was fortunate to go to Robben Island, and that night we saw “Invictus” the movie made from Playing the Enemy.

Nelson Mandela's cell B - the cell was tiny, about 7' x 7'. How he remained sane - and forgiving is truely amazing.

Colorful houses in the Bo Kaap area where the Muslim population settled.

We met our good friends fromLusaka, the Huddles to go to the Cape of Good Hope. Here we are at Hout Bay on the way over Chapman's Peak.

On the Cape of Good Hope...felt like the end of the world!

Light house at the end of the point of Good Hope.

The next day we went to Simonstown - and saw penguins...on the beach in Africa!!!

The penguin on the right was molting...

We saw some amazing beaches with beautiful blue, green seas... living in a land-locked country, we found these sights so refreshing!

The Donkey Trail (Dec 22 - 25) was one of our favorite activities, hiking over the Swartberg Pass into the Die Hel in Gamkaskloof. The hike was 26 kms (16 miles), we hiked for 7.5 hours the first day and 7 hours on the second day, the third day was a three hour drive back to the farm where we started.

On the first day, the donkeys led the way carrying our food and supplies on the mostly all uphill trail.

Arriving into camp on our first day. There was a beautiful waterfall to welcome us, with cold beers and cokes sitting in the water. Our tents are in the upper left hand corner, eating tent without side panels is in the center. The kids did great hiking - there were times when it was tough going, but they didn't complain at all! What troopers!

One of the joys at the end of our first day of hiking, was this swimming (and bathing) hole. Because we're in the Cape Nature preserve everything is very ecological - including the biodegradable soap and shampoo they gave us.

Protea flowers growing in the wild - and all along our trail!

After our hike, we headed back to Cape Town for our last three days. We spent one day with the Huddles in Betty's Bay playing on some amazingly white sand dunes.

The kids found pieces of linoleum (left behind by other would be boarders) - and tried rather unsuccessfully to sled down the sand.

Peter making a "snow angel"

One day we hiked up Lion's Head which is the small pointy mountain in front of Table Mountain (on the far right below).

One part of the hike up Lions Head had us climbing up chains and metal ladders... no public safety issues here!

View from the top down looking down to Camps Bay.

On the top of Lions Head with Table Mountain behind us.

Looking out over the city

We won't forget our trip to Cape Town - and spending Christmas on a hike, out in the middle of nowhere, away from the usual commercialism...

The shock for us was the amount of choices there were: food, restaurants, shops, items for sale, choice, choice, choice! We felt like real country bumkins coming to the big city - even the Joburg airport was totally fascinating!!

However, talking with the few South Africans we met, there is still a lot of racial tension - and it's a very complicated country with a complicated past - the race issue/apartheid is difficult and it won't be fixed in one generation. There was some frustration mentioned about the racial quotas that are in place - when less competent blacks get jobs over better qualified whites (this was told to me by a white, so its a bit biased).

One woman we met (a retired physician) said that she hoped her children and grandchildren moved out of South Africa because it was too unsafe and she preferred them to live in another country...even though she would stay put since she's retired.

In spite of the beautiful buildings, landscaping, and cleanliness - we were shocked when we drove by the shanty towns! The blacks were all moved to these controlled compounds where there was mile after mile of tiny shacks made up of corrugated roofing or pieces of wood...

We could tell when we were coming up on a shanty town because slowly we would see blacks/coloreds walking on the street!

People hitch hiking: we saw lots of people hitching for a ride (mostly black), but the most unique part was when they also held out dollar bills in their hands!

Passing on the road: they have a wonderful system on two lane roads - if you're coming up on someone, the car in front will pull over onto the (very nice) shoulders - and allow us to pass in the lane. Once you're past, you push your emergency flashers as a way to say thank you!

Cape coloreds: The people were really interesting looking. I felt like I was in LA or NYC. There was a mixture of so many races/colors - black, white, Asian, middle eastern...beautiful people.

Coming back to Zambia: the kids were really excited when we were about to land in Lusaka. They said "we're going home!" I love that they consider Lusaka home... and not just a temporary stop.

And, once we were here, it felt like we were newcomers. Everything seemed new again. We were shocked at the number of people walking in the streets, ladies with baskets of food balanced on their heads with chitenge fabric wrapped around their skirts, the smell of exhaust, babies strapped to women's backs... we experienced a brief moment of culture shock... but in just a few minutes, it felt like home again. We feel blessed to be here - and to be able to have experiences that will change our lives forever.