# 10 January 31, 2024. Work day

 After breakfast we all went to our work posts. Betty Jane still tuning up the instruments, teaching the teachers and dispensing medical advice. Winnie was with Joyce in the Home Economics room cooking up a tasty pot of casava leaves. These leaves are a staple in the Zambian diet but must be cooked carefully before consumption as they contain small quantities of cyanide. Winnie told us the cooks boil them for 10 hours. The Home Economics room is set up with 10 brazier stands and the students are taught how to light with charcoal and keep the fire going. They place a pot over the coals and cook their meal. John and John are busy replacing broken and cracked windows with their two assistants. They are cemented in with putty that is almost cement. A laborious process. Colleen was busy giving a literature workshop to very eager teachers. The workshop was planned for an hour but students were still in class an hour later. They are keeners. 

We are enjoying the fantastic meals and company of the sisters. They are a lively, happy group running this large complex with confidence and efficiency.   

Music lessons with Betty Jane

Convent security team. Also vocal singers at night. 

Part of a large campus.

Susan, Godfridah, Faustina and Colleen with
Rodgers in the back. 

Joyce the Home Economics teacher and Winnie cooking
 up a batch of casava leaves. They contain cyanide and
 must be cooked for at least 10 hours before eating. 

Joyce and Susan helping load up the charcoal brazier

Betty Jane demonstrating a bandaging technique

John and John with their window repair team. 

A big job replacing all the cracked and broken windows.
They have to remove all the cement hard putty first

Sr Florence is a mango fan.

This fellow must have been 6 inches long.

Our friend Esnart. She does not have any sight
but navigates like a pro

The brazier used to cook our meals.

Sister Florence and friend preparing our evening meal.

Dove cote

Charcoal

Braziers in the Home Economics room.
 Each student learns to light and use it.

Joyce and helper

# 9 January 30, 2024. Hard at work in class, in yard and in kitchen.

This morning we all began our assigned duties. John and John measured the window pane frames and went to bargain for new glass panes to repair the broken panes. Winnie worked with the home Economics teacher concerning food preparation and Charlotte tutored some individual students. Betty Jane took stock of the newly purchased musical instruments and worked with the music teachers and fiddle tunes were soon wafting through the balmy Zambian air. Colleen did literacy workshops with a group of teachers and began gathering stories for our monthly newspaper articles in the Oran and Reporter. After lunch we met with the parents of the Chalice sponsored children. We got to see first-hand the need there is in this area and the genuine gratitude for the help provided by the Chalice sponsors. About 90% of St Mary’s students live in in the circular or rectangular shaped houses with thatched roofs we passed as we drove to Kawambwa by bus. 

We explained to the parents of how our generous supporters are the ones who are providing the funds to support the schools and showed them pictures of our beverage recycling trailer. Thank you all for your support for it is our best fundraiser.   

For supper Winnie and her two sous-chefs Sr Marjory and Charlotte Rankin prepared a wonderful meal. Winnie improvised her recipes for who would have known that butter, milk and cheese are not part of a regular menu in Zambia. To add to her concerns the power went off in the afternoon for at least an hour. But the girls persisted and the power did come back on in time to cook mouth-watering chicken pot pies and mango apple crisp. They were both very delicious.

The sisters' convent.

.

The parents of Chalice sponsored children
meet every month to manage their budgets.

These boys were selling brooms which are made here
 by the students using grasses which grow in the yard.
See below.

Home made whisk brooms

Winnie making pie dough and chatting with Sr Marjory

John hanging out with kitchen staff

100 Zambian Kwatcha

Our weather this week. 

Meeting old friends. John MI, Gift, Betty Jane and Moby

Checking out the fresh out of the oven chicken pie

Joyce writing her life story for future newspaper article.

About 90% of the Chalice sponsored students
at St Mary's Special School 
 live in this type of home. 

#8. January 29, 2024. Visit with education officials, teachers and parents

 

January 29, 2024. 

This morning we met with the staff of the schools. An impressive dedicated group. Some of the teachers have sight, some are partially sighted and some have no vision at all. Charlotte and Colleen will be meeting with the educators all week for workshops, Winnie will be working on food preparation education, Betty Jane will begin her music program and John Gillies and John MacInnis will begin their day measuring the dimensions of all the broken windows so they can order new glass panes to replace damaged ones. 

From there we went to town to meet with the provincial minister of Education Ms. Grace and the district education officer Stephen, similar to our superintendent. They were very gracious and praised the work done at the schools run by the Sisters of the Child Jesus.  

Before returning to school, we took turns at the bank machine to withdraw Zambian funds to pay for our transportation, accommodations and meals as well as a bit of spending money. We could withdraw only 2000 Zambian Kwacha each turn at the ATM, which equals $100 Canadian. Afterward we strolled around the main street market place looking for ingredients for Winnie’s cooking demonstration. Recipes must be picked with care as their cooking tools, methods and ingredients are much different than ours.

After lunch we met with the parents group. Their children are sponsored by Chalice and they were meeting to discuss their budgets for the money they receive quarterly for each child. Chalice donors, these ladies were so very grateful for your generosity and they told us this repeatedly.

As we ate supper tonight, our extra baggage and musical instruments arrived from Lusaka with Lacky our driver in Lusaka. We were quite excited as some of our luggage was included and the rest was gifts from Canada for the St Mary’s Special school and the St Odilia School. We spread out all the items and they filled the long table. They were sorted and left to the sisters to divide between the two schools.

Thank you to our generous donors for your generosity

We are so impressed with the hospitality shown by the sisters and the overall people of Zambia. We feel safe and enjoy driving with safe and careful drivers. 

Minister's assistant, Stephen the district minister, John Gillies,
Grace,Minister of Education, Betty Jane, Winnie, Charlotte and
John MacInnis, Colleen Macleod, Sister Agnes..

Outside at the District Office.

Parent's group.

Sorting the gifts from Canada

Maize

Eating supper with our hosts in Kawambwa and sisters from Lusaka. 

Still sorting. Thank you everyone for your donations.

Street next to market

Busy market street.

#7 Sunday January 27, 2024, Orphanage Visit

This morning had an early start with the English mass at 6:30. It was the parish priest’s last mass before he moved on to a parish in Lusaka. Many words were said on the occasion of his departure and the youth choir was in top form. We left church at 8:45 for a delicious breakfast at the convent.  

The sisters of the Child Jesus have four projects they administer in Kawambwa, the St Mary’s Special School, the Skills Training Centre, the St Mary’s Secondary School for Girls, and the Kachema (Good Shepard) Orphanage. Inverness County Cares works with Chalice to provide for just the two schools, the St Mary’s Special School in Kawambwa and the St Odilia School in Mporokosa. 

After a later lunch we climbed aboard the Chalice/ICC bus and drove to the Kawambwa Kachema orphanage. We don’t financially support this project but still feel for the needs of the darling students at the orphanage.  There are 48 children at the orphanage age 2-18. Many of these children were abandoned in horrific ways. There is a set of twins, triplets and twins who were conjoined at birth, but surgically separated later. The younger students go to school on site and the post-secondary students attend technical or trade programs and return ‘Home” to the orphanage for holidays.

The orphanage is situated on a sprawling piece of land with huge gardens which the children help care for and run free as they play with goats, chickens, ducks, guinea fowl, rabbits and guinea pigs…all a source of food. Two dogs are on site as guard dogs. They have maize, sweet potatoes, beans, groundnuts, casava, squash, canola, orange trees, mango, banana, avocado trees and more. The children are taught how to care for a garden and are proficient in naming many plants and discerning the difference between a weed and a vegetable. They are involved in cooking their meals, cleaning their living space and in general are very self-sufficient. 

They are one big family. We asked a girl if she had any brothers and she gestured to the other children and remarked, “They are all my brothers.” They care for each other and provide love and support. The sisters working there and other caregivers are amazing and are able to provide for the children the best semblance of a happy supportive family possible in their situation. The atmosphere of the complex is of happiness and security. 

We six ICC members were impacted tremendously by these children and their cheerfulness and courage in their situation. The Sisters of the Child Jesus must be commended on their incredible work with these children. The impact of this visit will be long lasting. We need to take stock of our comfortable way of life and appreciate the homes we have, where our children are loved and cared for. 

No more words needed. These are the beautiful children who live permanently at the orphanage.