E-I-E-I-O

African Pig

African Cow

We visited a farm on Sunday.  Oliver is on daily forced marches to build up the muscles in his legs, so the animals were a great distraction.  He can sign all the names of the animals on the farm.  Cow.  Horses. Chickens.  Ducks.  Pigs.  We are still working on animal sounds, as he tends to growl for all critters.

As for my older kids...there's nothing like a farm to spark conversation about the "birds and the bees."

Things that Make Me Sad...

Jailed.

"To the wrongs that need resistance, To the right that needs assistance, To the future in the distance, Give yourselves." --Carrie Chapman Catt

Few things shock my anymore, but something floored me yesterday:  this report of Zambian prison conditions by Human Rights Watch.  

I'm helping Mary from Chikumbuso put together a grant proposal for her sanitary napkin project.  The local Rotary club recently gave them $7000 worth of materials for these kits.  Mary needs an additional $7000 to train and pay single mothers to sew the reusable pads and distribute 1,000 kits to school girls and women in prison.  Mary is passionate about this project.  She tells me that menstruation forces girls (especially in rural Zambia) to skip school, and inmates to dig a hole in the ground and squat for days.  

I wanted to see if this is true, so I started researching.  I found the report about the prison conditions, and my heart sank.

I'll cut to the chase:  there are children in Zambian prisons.  Babies.  If a single mother is arrested and her kids have nowhere to go, they go to jail with her.  

Wait.  It gets worse.  They must share the meager food ration assigned to their mother.  

The worst part is that the justice system is so painfully slow that people (children, too!) can languish in jail for years before they get a hearing.  As a result the facilities are busting at the seams.  Lusaka Central's Prison was designed for 200.  They have 1145 inmates.  People sleep sitting up and in shifts.  TB and other infectious diseases rage through the population, because they lack adequate medical care and sanitary supplies. 

It's tough to imagine children "living" in such horrid conditions, and I wish had a magic wand to fix this atrocity.  But oddly enough, I have hope this situation can and will be changed.  Not sure how, quite yet, but I'll keep you posted.

Z.ambia I.s T.his

Get In Line...

"You know what [the Department of Motor Vehicles] should do? When you walk in the door, they should have somebody hiding just punch you in the face. 'Cause at least after, you can be like, 'Ah! Alright, well, waiting in line's not so bad after the punch in the face!'" --Dane Cook

Public Service Announcement:

In order to drive across the border into Botswana you must have a clearance report from the Interpol.  This document confirms that your vehicle isn’t stolen.  It is for your protection, so we appreciate your taking the time to secure the correct documents. The following is the process for obtaining this document.

 1. Go to the station.  If you don’t know where that is, well, that’s strange.  Everybody knows where it is.

  2. At the station obtain FORM A.  You will see several people in our office.  We are happy to assist you as soon as we finish painting our nails and texting our girlfriends.  Just wait patiently.

 3. Oh, wait.  Today is “Game Day” so unfortunately you’ll have to come back another time to get FORM A.  You didn't know it was “Game Day”?  That’s strange. Everybody knows this.

4. After you’ve completed FORM A please come back so we can have an officer verify your information.  Come early, because there will be a long line.  We will open 1 hour late, so make yourself comfortable.  You will need to wait in your car for a couple hours while we attend to the 50 cars ahead of you.

5. When you are at the front of the line, please show your form to the officer.  He will scribble a few notes on a pad and tell you to get FORM B on Musgukslhagew Road.  You don’t know where that is?  That’s strange.  Everybody knows where that is, so we don’t have any directions for you.

6. Once you’ve found Musguksihagew Road, please come in.  You will need to stand in line for about an hour, so someone can issue a receipt for your $4 fee.   With this receipt, you then must go to Room 14, where the attendant will look up your number. 

7.  Go to Room 14.  Please wait.  The attendant will be with you as soon as he is finished with his break. Once you have this number, you need to return to the police station to fill out FORM C.

8.  The Police Station staff would love to help you, but you came during our lunch break.  You didn’t know that lunch is from 12:30 to 2:30? That’s strange.  Everyone knows this is a policy.  No we will not make an exception.  Please come back after 2:30.

9. At 2:30 we are happy to help you, but we can't.  We don’t have a receipt book, and the person who does the report is not here.  He left at 2:30. You must return on Monday. 

10.   You can't come on Monday, because you have a business trip next week?  That’s strange. Why would you schedule something if you knew that you needed to get this clearance report?

Once again we are here to serve you and value your opinion.  If you have any comments or suggestions, please follow the following procedure:

1.  Obtain a FORM X from Mugufilingishi road…

Thanks, I'll Just Hold it...

This summer winter the kids and I are spending our mornings at Mercy Ministries.  Isaac is playing soccer football with the boys, and Alex is helping kids learn to read.  Today I tutored six children (ages 7-13) who can't read.

Mercy Ministries attracts 350 kids from the area.  The children are dirt poor and can't afford the government run schools.  Thanks to the generous support of many donors from around the world, Mercy Ministries is developing into a quality educational facility.  They have a great library with a nice selection of books.

Today I chose "If You Give a Pig a Party" by Laura Numeroff to read to some children.  I'm afraid that the story didn't translate very well to my students. In one scene the pig (wearing a colorful dress) goes to the fair and drives bumper cars with her animal friends.  I tried to explain this insane activity to these kids.  They nodded their heads.  I wonder if they think we dress our pigs in outfits too.

In addition to the library, private donations are doing other great things.

Take the toilets for example:

Toilets for 350 children.  Right one for guests.

Not to gross you out...but here is what 350 kids use everyday.

The toilet

Recently some Americans decided that this was unacceptable and raised money to build proper toilets.  The construction has already begun, but these mountains of stone slowed down the progress.  Tomorrow a team will come in and blast out these rocks.

Site for New Toilets 

There were also guys weaving a thatch roof on the new kitchen.

 Mercy Ministries makes sure that each child gets a hot lunch on school days.  

Lunch

I'm adorable.

So am I.

Teeter Totter.

Trouble #1, #2, and #3

Chikumbuso

Crocheted handbag out of plastic sacks

"Remember where we came from, remember those who died, remember to do for others." --Chikumbuso's Motto


A widow slices a plastic grocery sack into strips. She links the strips together.  Then she crochets the strips into intricate handbags.  These bags are sold in the shop and markets.  50% of the revenue goes to the handbag maker.  25% is saved at the bank.  25% is deposited in a profit sharing bank.  


Formerly a tavern and brothel, Chikumbuso is now a community filled with classrooms of children, a feeding station, and a safe house for at risk kids.  It is quite a magical place.


They are doing many other entrepreneurial things:  making soy milk, baking bagels for the Blue Moon Cafe in Lusaka, sewing aprons and beading bracelets.


But there is one thing that caught my attention:   Sanitary napkins.


Disposable pads are available, but outrageously expensive.  If you a menstruating girl living in rural Zambia, you'd use (and reuse) a shabby piece of fabric.  That's fine and dandy unless you are in school, and there are no restrooms or a discreet place to clean yourself.  Many girls just stay home during their time of the month.   


But the women at Chikumbuso have a solution:  A kit containing a leakproof bag filled with six reusable sanitary pads (with wings!). 


Mary runs the sewing studio at Chikumbuso.  She teaches single mothers and young men how to sew these pads.  For $6 a kit, she can purchase the fabric, pay her employees, and distribute the products to girls all around Zambia.  They can make 1,000 of these kits a month.  They just need some financial partners.


This is a project that I'd like to get funded, so I'm gathering representatives from Chikumbuso, Special Hope Network, and Mercy Ministries to do a grant writing workshop.   I'm impressed with the transformational work that is already being done in these organizations, and I'd love to see it expand.


By the way, thank you for sending boxes and boxes of Legos and other educational materials.  I was touched by the response I got from so many people.  When they arrive in Zambia (in a couple of months) I'll be sure to post photos.


I recommend you checking out Chikumbuso's Facebook page here.  If you browse through their photos, you may see a bag that catches your eye.  My folks are coming to Zambia July 30th, and I can send home a bag back with them for you.  There are wine bottle bags, sturdy shopping bags, and handbags.  You need to contact me soon, so I can put in the order.  Bags start around $15 each.  Add on about $5 for shipping and you got yourself a deal!