Irene Jellybean Trampoline

This is Irene Hilty, the two year old daughter of Tim and Andrea Hilty, a couple on our team. She is perhaps the sweetest thing you'll ever meet...comparable to that McDonalds orange syrup that I used to drink as a kid, that was pretty sweet as well. And look at us, we could be sisters, can you see it?! A couple more days in the sun and I'm there!

Livin' La Vida Zambian

The Mini-Bus: the local transportation. The mechanical runnings of these vehicles are often sketchy at best. So what happens is you fill it with people to it’s capacity…and then you put about 4 or 5 more people in. Deodorant is expensive and therefore not often worn. I took the mini bus from town all the way back to the farm the other day. Luckily I had a Zambian with me to show me the ropes.

Nshima: the staple food here in Zambia. The moto here seems to be, “All Carbs, All the Time!”. The nshima is the white lump, made from a fine corn meal. It is often served with a relish of some sort made from such things as onions and tomatoes; cabage; a vegetable called “rape” (could there be a more inappropriately named vegetable?!); and usually either a meat such as chicken, beef, or fish; or beans. Frankly, I love this stuff. You eat it all with your hands.

Kwatcha: the currency here. It is about 4000 Kwatcha for ever $1 USD. So 1,000,000 Kwatcha is about $250 USD. This is probably the only time I will ever be a “millionaire”. There are no coins here just bills. So how do you ever figure out who is going to be the home team at a soccer game? Or make wishes in a fountain? The slang term for a 1000 Kwatcha is “pin”. So I’m thinking cutting a rap album and calling myself “2 Pin”…the Zambian counterpart of “50 Cent”…or as we in the biz say, “Fiddy”.

I Saw the Sign...

This city has some pretty scoucom signs I must say. Here are a couple of my favorite...This is a sign for the "Miss Intellect" Pagaent...or should I say "Scholarship program"...I only hope one day I could be in the running to be crowned Miss Intellect 2008

You don't know how many times I've asked myself: "I wonder where I could find some gud tings that look gud too?"...and then BAM! I find this shop! How creepy is that?!

I'm not exactly sure on which word is the magical word in shopping...but I do know they have "simply the best in meat"

Here is the local car wash and hair salon

Here are a couple of the girls that we give rides to from school down our road. The other day we had about 15 people crammed into the truck while listening to "Bicycle" by Queen.

Take a look...

This is the road we drive to get to the farm. Right now it is pot hole central.

Check out dark clouds looming...

People sell rocks by the bag by the side of the road

These ladies would be killer on the catwalk

This is the football field on farm property. There are community teams that use it and we even have our own Action Zambia team, made up of Zambians not us Mzungu's (white people)!

Contact Info

Have you always dreamed of sending something to Africa? Well now you can! Here is my address:

Action Zambia Ministries
Shannon Storey
P/B 230X Ridgeway
Lusaka, Zambia

It should take about 3-6 weeks to get here and don't bother paying extra to try and get it here faster because it doesn't seem to make a difference.

Or you can bring your letters and packages when you come to visit me.

Also, you can download Skype and talk computer to computer for free. If you have it add me to your contacts. My name is "zamshan". There is usually a couple second delay but it works and it's free!

Or if you want my phone number just give me an electronic mail at shannon.storey@gmail.com

Also if you would like to be put on my mailing list for updates and whatnot email me!

A random observation in Zambia: there seems to be this trend in the city for men to wear there ties really short...it is the funniest thing. I will try to paparazzi a picture soon!