From Kamau...
Recently, I heard that there has been a lot of anxiety and restlessness over the current cost of gas in the U.S. I am told the price has increased to something like $3.50-$4.50 a gallon? Well here in Zambia, we have been squeezed, wrung out and shaken up in all sorts of ways such that nothing shocks us any more. Just last week, the government state radio announced that the price of fuel would increase to 13 percent. What this means, is that the cost of diesel will now be a little over a $11 dollars a gallon, while petrol will be a little over $12 a gallon. Talk about highway robbery!!! I am beginning to have a healthy respect of the Amish way of life; just a buggy, a horse and some grass, which we have in abundance here. I suspect these guys, the Amish, know something about thrifty living, which given the present circumstances, I find quite appealing.
I thought that perhaps, I should write to encourage you and also to let you know that it could be worse. So friends, next time you pull in at the gas pump, think about what I’ve shared and don’t be surprised if you catch yourself singing, “God Bless America.”
From Kimberly...
When you get a moment to stop and observe what is happening around you, does it cause you to reflect on the things that have eternal value? If so, are you cherishing them? I have been finding myself doing this very thing over the past few weeks. Permit me to share some of these observances with you.
- Eager little arms raised and waving in the air, hoping to be called on to answer a question from the Bible lesson.
- Experiencing a little taste of what worship will be like in Heaven as Zambians, Zimbabweans, Americans, adults and children lifted up voices to sing to the Lord.
- Gathering around a campfire listening to the children give thanks to the Lord for bringing them here to the village, for their housemothers and aunties, for food to eat and clothes to wear. The list went on!
- Hearing delighted squeals of laughter as children raced to catch bubbles on a sunshine filled day.
- Receiving hugs from nine or more children all at once!
It has been a very busy time for us during this fall/winter season, which is your spring/summer back home. Since March of this year, we have hosted about five teams and several individuals and families. We have recently said goodbye to the team from Maryland and to Kate Weber, who helped us with various projects including organizing our stores builiding, building a fire pit for campfires, sewing instruction, baking, unloading the container, etc. We miss them and really appreciated their encouragement, willingness to serve and joyful spirits. Currently, we are hosting a team from Wisconsin and a family from Michigan. We are receiving assistance with carpentry projects, sewing curtains, community outreach, art classes, unpacking boxes and sorting through items and planning for the next school term.
As some of you may have learned through emails sent out, the Schwartzes had to leave unexpectedly for South Africa so that Kathleen could undergo surgery for fibroid tumors. The surgery went well and our prayer request is that her recovery time will be quick and that the pain she is in will subside.
We have also just learned today that President Levy Mwanawasa of Zambia has passed away. (He had professed to be a born again believer). In June he had a massive stroke and he did not recover from it. As you can imagine, this is a time of uncertainty for the whole country so please be praying for his family, stability in the country and a godly leader to be raised up.
It is a quiet Saturday afternoon and we are gathered together for Hope Club. The lesson for that day was about the purpose of angels.
Soccer is the favorite game to play among the children. In these two pictures, Isaac and Francis are doing some fancy footwork with the ball. They are very good soccer players and are very competitive with each other.
While Kate Weber was here at the Village of Hope, there was a lot of baking that went on. The children were fascinated by the process and insisted on helping her and Elizabeth and tasting as they did so!
Elizabeth is a graduate student from Minnesota who is studying public health. She has been at the village for seven weeks and has had the opportunity to teach health and nutrition to some of the local teenage girls in the community as well as assist in the baking of cookies and other goodies!
Kimberly recently found herself in the position of substitue teacher for two days. She helped out in the Pre-school and Kindergarten age group. In this picture she is explaining a new math concept but as you can see, the children were more interested in the photographer!
In our science class, magnets were introduced for the first time and they were definitely a success! The children were amazed with them and had a wonderful time discovering what would stick to them and what didn't. There were lots of giggles and little voices saying, "Look Auntie, look!" 
As the boxes were unloaded, they were placed in the community center. We have already begun to upack boxes but we have the huge task ahead of us in organizing everything.
We would like to give a huge "thank you" for everyone who participated in some way in donating items for the container, loading it and enabling it to be shipped to Zambia. After two years some of our belongings that we had packed "to come later" have finally arrived! In the picture above, Kimani is standing next to some of the boxes labeled for the Kamaus and the Schwartzes so that they can be taken to our homes at the village.
(This crocodile was one of the old ones.)Hi. We recently went to a place called the Kalimba Reptile Park. There were lots of snakes and crocodiles. We got to pet a baby crocodile and I even put a python around my neck, how cool is that! The adult crocodiles were huge!! Did you know that they keep their mouth wide open for two reasons, to help them stay cool and also to wait for birds to land on their teeth so that they can quickly snap their mouth shut and eat them. My mom thought that they were sleeping because they did not move for the whole time that we were looking at them. I saw them moving their eyes though. The people who work at the park told us that they could live to be a hundred years old.
(These were the crocodiles that were ten years old)
(Do you see the snakes' faces? There are actually two snakes in the picture!)
(Our trip to the Reptile Park. Do you see the large crocs behind us?)
(How would you like to have to lug him around all the time!)
(It was very exciting when it was my turn with the python around my neck!)Malaika's Corner
Hi. The other day, our cat Orlando got caught in a trap that was around his neck. At first we thought somebody just put it on him but Baba said it was a trap that people use to catch animals in the bush. When Orlando came home he was crying and very scared.
We went to a reptile park and there were snakes and crocodiles. The snakes were very poisonous and the crocodiles were huge. One crocodile was 50 years old.
