Kerber Games, Fr. Nick's Visit and Carrying Objects on Head

When at my Frisbee study group on Monday I found out that the school term is coming to a close much sooner than I thought. Well, it still ends the first week of December; however they spend two weeks on final testing. In America we spend one. You probably are wondering why I didn’t know this and that is because they made the final/closing schedule this week.

I spoke with the head teacher about this and he told me to just push everything up a week. I hadn’t finished teaching all of my lessons on the nervous system so I had to cut out this unit’s test. My students didn’t seem to mind. With the unit test gone I was able to spend this week teaching the last of the material. I then moved my review week to next week.

This coming week should be fun because I have created what I call the ‘Kerber Games’, great name, right? Okay, so, it’s just jeopardy, but these kids don’t know what that is so in Zambia it will be known by a much cooler name. I have purchased bars of soap and toothbrushes as well as still have some pencils and pens my parents sent. I will be handing the pens and pencils out to the students who can answer the questions and the members of the winning team for Kerber Games will receive the bars of soap. Everyone will receive a new toothbrush. The prizes are supposed to remind them the importance of what I have taught them this term. I think they will like them.

Matamule and me. She has a long walk
home from school so we usually
walk together. (Mot-a-moo-lay)

Fr. Joseph, a priest who lives at the monastery but is not a monk, will be traveling into Mpika on Monday. I asked if I could catch a ride with him so I could see if the post office has received any more packages (with supplies I could use and give to some of the kids) and to go to the bank and exchange my kwacha. It will be painful exchanging kwacha for dollars because kwacha is much less valuable than dollars and therefore I will receive less. However, it doesn’t matter too much because I receive a lot more when withdrawing it. Also, it will be nice to have currency I will be able to use back home.

I will be exchanging my kwacha because I will be moving to Tanzania fairly soon. Tanzania uses the schilling as currency and I won’t need the kwacha for anything else so I might as well get back some U.S. dollars.

Fr. Nick Kleespie, OSB and Fr. Will Skudlarek, OSB will be traveling to meet me in Katibunga, Zambia on Monday, December 28^th. I am sure they will arrive on the 29^th, though. We then will stay in Zambia until the 4^th of January when we will board a bus and head to Tanzania. They will drop me at Hanga Abbey in Hanga, Tanzania where I will continue my service. Both Fr. Nick and Fr. Will will leave Tanzania on the 11^th of January and head back to the U.S.

Fr. Nick is now in his 30’s, however when he was my age he also volunteered in Hanga, Tanzania. Fr. Will is the Secretary General of the Monastic Interreligious Dialogue which means he is best friends with Pope Francis. No, seriously. He met with Pope Francis last week for a meeting and does so often. Pretty cool! I am looking forward to seeing them both.

At dinner the other night we had a new fruit brought to us – infungo. Infungo looks like a cross between a grape and a cherry. It’s purple/red and is a little bigger than a cherry. The infungo is quite good. It is very sweet. You are able to suck on them, but you cannot eat them because the pit (seed) in the middle is very large. Children aren’t supposed to eat them because if they swallow them they could choke.

Two women carrying buckets on their heads.

Every morning for breakfast we get hot milk. The milk is brought in from milking the cows. Fresh cow’s milk is actually very good, but we must heat it to a very hot temperature to make sure it is clean. We know when it is ready when the milk begins to turn a brownish color.

While out in the village it is very common to see women carrying buckets of food and water on their heads. This is true throughout all of Africa. They begin at a very young age. I am always so impressed when I see it. They become so good at carrying things on their head that they usually don’t even use any hands to hold it there. I have been hoping to try myself so one of these days some of my students will help me do so. I bet my head is too pointy, but I think it would be fun to try. The women can walk for miles with these buckets on their head and it allows their hands to remain open in case there are other things to be carried. Also, I think it is better for their backs (I could be wrong), but rather than always being pulled down by the heavy buckets they maintain a straight back to carry it on their head.

Lately, as you know, many migrants have been fleeing Africa and the Middle East because of the recent attacks in the area. The migrant crisis has become overwhelming for Europe and they are beginning to worry that they won’t be able to contain all of the refugees. They have begun to discuss this problem with African leaders and have offered them millions in aid if they are able to isolate the situation and keep as many people in their countries’ as possible.

Hopefully the wars end or something works out.

We were without electricity for about 24 hours yesterday and today, but it has just come back on. The rain has ceased for this week which has allowed the temperature to skyrocket again. It is now back into the 90’s and I am back to constantly sweating. Some rain is supposed to come this week so hopefully it will bring the temperature down with it. Usually during the rainy season it continuously rains however there has been a drought for the past couple of years which has stifled some of the rainfall. This is also why Zambia is in an electricity crisis. They receive most of their electricity from hydro pumps. So, let’s hope the rain begins to fall.

* I have just learned of the terrorist attacks committed in Paris, France. It is hard to believe that some can carry out such horrific acts, especially in the name of religion. God bless and be with France! 

Thanks for reading!