Walkin' in a Water Wonderland!

This past weekend I took all the kids at Chisomo (the centre for street children that I work with) to this water park here in Lusaka called Adventure City for a little Christmas Shindig. And oh, what an adventure we had! We had a blast!!

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Here is part of the gang...there were about 44 youth in total.

They have a couple pretty sweet slides

Masters of Flipping!

This picture cracks me up. There was a football field quite a ways from the slides and pools and these tubes are in high demand so out of nowhere I see Danny and Anna walking across the field in their tubes, sure not to loose these precious gems!

The adventure continued as one of our mini buses blew a tire on the way home and we found this pair of glasses in the mud on the side of the road while we were waiting for the tire to be fixed.

There ain't no party like a Chisomo party cause a Chisomo party don't stop!!

Oh Tannenbaum!

Susan found a spectacular 180cm Christmas tree for cheap...we soon realized why so cheap...Shannon in her newest Christmas Sweater, handcrafted in Zambia

Susan, the tree hunter

And here we discover the problem that both parts of the tree have the same sized "trunk" so it couldn't fit together...

A variety of attempt were made to rectify the situation including whittling a stick. Not sure how we thought that skinny little twig would hold up the tree but desperate times called for desperate whittling.

Somethings not quite right

We found an old piece of pipe in the yard that we molded to fit. Ever since then there has been this water leak in the bathroom, I don't know why...

The finishing touch...

Our star was a bit to much for our little tree

And there you have it. Christmas in Zambia.

CROSS Seminar

Right now we have Randolph and Madelin Melville, the parents of Graham Melville here on our team, visiting from their island nation of England. We were honoured to have them teach at our end of semester CROSS Project seminar. The CROSS Project (Churches Ready to Overcome Silence and Stigma) is our HIV/AIDS ministry that trains and equips churches to address this epidemic by training individuals in counseling skills from a biblical perspective. The Sr. Melvilles did a great job and captivated their audiences with their teaching and storytelling.

Thumbs Up For American Thanksgiving!

"Let's all go around the table and say one thing we are thankful for!"
I managed to fandangle my way into our team Thanksgiving festivities...and they even let me sit at the adult table.

Out and About

Here is the gang at Chisomo Drop in Centre where I do a weekly Bible study. As you can see with the two on either side in the front row...once again I have captivated my audience!

Peter on the ol' banjoThis is Grandson (yes, that is his real name...he also has a little brother named Nephew!). I've been helping him with his math homework. I made him some handy dandy flash cards.

This is one of the widows and her family that I visit with regularly out in Kasupe. The expressions in this shot are priceless. We were definitely in need of some of the ol' portrait studio smiling techniques.

The proud photographers of the previous shot

What Happened to Miss Independent...

On October 24th, 2007, Zambia celebrated 43 years of peaceful independence. I hope to celebrate the next 43 years in this snappy sweater vest! It is the perfect combination of high fashion and practicality as it is now hot season, meaning that the lack of sleeves provides just the breathability one needs while, at the same time, not compromising fashion. Long live Zambia!!!

You may want to keep an eye out as the Christmas season approaches...I may or may not have a little sumpin' sumpin' that was tailor made for the season!

The Cockroach

I find many a cockroach in my kitchen...this is how it usually plays out...

The roach is spotted...

It's over...

Cornucopia 'o' Goodness

Canadian Thanksgiving comes but once a year, and low and behold it showed up again this year...or so I hear...one can never be sure but I assume the holiday went on in my absence. But fear not, lest I forget where I come from I made sure being on a team of American's wouldn't dampen my Thanksgiving spirit. I prepared a makeshift feast fit for low ranking nobility, managing to keep all my digits intact and was honoured to have my friends Susan and Mike from Sinazongwe join me for this rich occasion. I made sure to wear a festive brown harvest sweater even though it was 30 degrees outside, too.I even a made this pumpkin pie from a real pumpkin...and those dark spots are supposed to be there. I like to think of it as one of those "Magic Eyes" where if you stare at it long enough something will pop out at you...or a psychology experiment..."what do you see in this image?"

Susan and Mike and the feast.
Now lets all go around the table and say one thing we're thankful for...

Stitch me up, Buttercup!

This day marked another milestone in my Afrikan Adventure...the world of medical care! I had a small incident with an unfriendly jungle cat, or an unfriendly kitchen knife if you will, and sliced my left opposable thumb open. They say the first cut is the deepest...baby, do I know!Here I am at the clinic...I believe here I had just squirted blood all over Dr. Joseph while he tried to clean it.

Like Beth from Little Women..."I can be brave, too!"

Dr. Joseph working his magic

The opposable thumb, all stitched up with no place to go

Shannon and Dr. Joseph,

Thumbs up for stitches in Africa!

All I can say is at least I didn't fry my foot in a George Foreman grill.