Welcome to Choma!

Hi everyone! So I finally made it here after 3 full days of travel. It took 3 flights and a 4 hour bus ride. Thank God that everyone including myself had all of their luggage arrive safe and sound. The 15 hour flight was great for me. I slept 10 hrs and watched 2 movies so I only had about an hour of down time which was spent eating dinner and waiting in line for the bathroom. Definitely can’t complain =) The bus ride however was a little well lets just say bumpy. We were on a nice road and then our Zambian leader Maureen said, “OK we are heading into the real Zambia.” This is the moment I truly realized I was in Africa. I began to see the huts made out of straw and the children running up and down the street and putting huge smiles on their face because we are white. Everyone here is so grateful that we are here in their country. The people keep saying, “out of all the places in the world, you chose to come to Zambia.” These people hardly have anything but they serve us with such passion. I feel bad because after a meal to tell them you enjoyed it you are supposed to leave food on your plate. The people barely have enough to eat but I am wasting food to say thank you. Their faces light up every time they collect the plates though.

The guest house that we are staying in is absolutely gorgeous. I mean yes it is Africa so there are a good amount of very very big bugs =) I showered for the first time with a spider but at night my mosquito net is keeping all of them out. I actually like sleeping in a mosquito net it makes it very dark and just feels like I am protected more. Even though it is just a net it feels like my own little room. I am in the super dorm so there are ten girls in my room. We each have a set of bunk buds so we are sleeping on the top with the mosquito net draped from the ceiling and then all of our clothes are on the bottom bunk.

When we arrived the World Hope Staff had made us an authentic Zambian meal. It was amazing chicken, green beans, and their staple food nshima. The best way to describe nshima is play-dough consistency made out of corn meal that does not have a taste. We use it to roll it into balls and then that is our silverware – I finding it really fun to eat with my hands =) After dinner we unpacked, showered, and went to bed. I slept so amazing. I didn’t wake up once – I actually haven’t slept that good in a while so I have adjusted to the time difference quite well but they say it might hit me tomorrow since I have had no complaints.

Finally this morning I went to church. In my group there is a total of 18 students. We were divided into 3 groups to attend one of the three churches here in Choma that we will attend the whole time so that we can become connected and serve in the church. Mine is called Shampande and it is in a compound. The building is pretty nice but the people are amazing. People in Zambia know how to do a couple things very well. The first one is singing. The singing in church this morning was absolutely beautiful and powerful all at the same time. I swear every person in church had an amazing voice. To hear it fill the church was an incredible sound. The second thing they know how to do is pray. Finally, they definitely know how to make you feel welcome. We had to go in front of the church and introduce our names and how excited we were to be there. There is definitely no blending in here =) They welcomed us and then at the end of the service every single person got in a line to greet us and welcome us. I am struggling with the greeting a little bit because I can’t look at men and older women in the eyes and then I have to do this curtsey thing while doing a fancy handshake and speaking in Tonga (native language, English is the main language though). They found it funny but they loved that I had no problem laughing at myself with them. So I’ll get it down eventually. Church though did last from 9 AM until 2 PM so lets just say I am glad I go to a church with backs to their pews.

Well that’s my update. I hope you are doing well. The plan is to start classes on Tuesday because on Monday we have more orientation with World Hope as well as going into town. The experience here has already been phenomenal and it has only been a day. Can’t wait to keep the updates coming =)

Love
janna