Thursday, June 30th

Today was day 3 at Birdland! It was “civilian day” today, so all the Birdland students wore their nicest clothes instead of their uniforms. We started the day by working with the 6th grade. Each SAAS student worked with a small group of Birdland students to write letters about themselves, which will be sent to the rising SAAS 8th graders. Then a few of us accompanied the 4th and 5th graders on a field trip to the Food Reserve Agency, while the rest stayed behind and distributed stuffed animals to the youngest students at Birdland. On our way to the Food Reserve, we got a real glimpse of Lusaka. We passed through a large open-air market full of fruits and vegetables, and lots of people. The kids sang songs the entire way to the Reserve. At the Reserve, we learned about the preservation of maize. The students all took notes and asked very good questions. Everyone stayed completely focused and attentive throughout the entire tour. I know I wasn’t that patient in 4^th grade! When we returned to Birdland, we said goodbye to the students who had a half day of school, it was hard to say goodbye even though we will see them again tomorrow! Everyone was showered with hugs from almost every student. We were served another traditional Zambian meal for lunch that was generously prepared by Dorine. We got to try caterpillar! Once again, the food was delicious! After lunch, we met in the library to talk about the itinerary for the rest of the week. The meeting turned into a tear fest when we started talking about our experiences so far. Everyone is struggling with how to handle the emotions that this experience has produced. I know my eyes have really been opened by this trip so far and I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to come! After the meeting we returned to Pioneer Camp for dinner. We had a delicious barbeque followed by a special “house party” in Nick and Gabe’s chalet. The gracious hosts provided us with soda, hors d’oeuvres, and chocolate, as well as some John Legend to set the mood. All in all, today was very rewarding and we are all very tired!

Until next time,

Hannah

Birdland Buddies

Well today was day three in Lusaka, and day two at the Bird land School and so far the kids, people, and place has exceeded every initial expectation! Coming to a foreign country and feeling so excepted so fast is beyond anything I could have wanted out of this experience. Yesterday, if you have been reading this blog you know was the first day, where we just met the kids and played with them, but today we actually dove into the class room and started to help!
We started the day with the seventh graders, giving them “how to write a fiction story” hand books made by our eighth grade kids at Seattle Academy. We broke up in groups; each SAAS representative had four to five kids. Each of us gave them their individual, personal book and let them read the directions given by the Seattle eighth graders. Then we proceed to talk about what they knew about writing creative stories, and possible topics for them to start thinking about for their own personal creative story, that we will be reading in a couple weeks!
Personally I met so many new kids, and fell in love with every one. I got three “buddies” or “pin pals” today that I will be keeping in touch with and sending letters and gifts to, so I am so excited!
All of us are very tiered, but ready for tomorrow! There will be more blogging to come, so stay toned!

Courtesy of Sunny Garcia

Day 2 in Zambia!

Today we went to the Birdland School. We came right during break time and all the children were playing outside. Never ever have I had so many kids run up to me and try to hold my hand all at once! The kids are so happy and constantly have a smile on their faces. They laugh and make jokes with us, and seem to feel very comfortable with us after about ten minutes. Every where we go people of all ages wave at us and say hello. People in Zambia are so kind and outgoing it is truly uplifting. It is inspiring to see how smart these children are. Some know their native language, English and are learning French as well. A Zambian meal was cooked for us today for lunch. It consisted of beef, chicken, peanut butter mashed with pumpkin leaves and "nshima." None of the food had seasoning, but everything was so flavorful and delicious! We all had food babies by the end of the meal.We left school at about three o'clock. At this time, hundreds of kids were out on this field just hanging out with their friends. I wish kids in Seattle gathered together after school and enjoyed each others company! Once we got back to Pioneer Camp we relaxed. Some took naps and others showered off the long but wonderful day. Anyways, dinner is in five!

Be back soon!
Embla

mwauka bwonji!(good morning in Nyanja)
we have all arrived at Pioneer Camp in Lusaka safely!! We were happily welcomed by a beautiful African sun rise! We spent most of the day getting situated in our new cottage-like house in Pioneer Camp, a rustic but charming community. All of the girls spent some time at the kids sized pool soaking up the sun. We also were surprised to find in vast undisturbed land of Zambia a super sized mall fully equipped with fast food chains (none of which we had heard of) and many other clothing stores. This was almost like double culture shock because we never expected to find parts of Zambia that were so Americanized and developed. Earlier tonight we began to unpack all thirty bags of luggage, containing laptops, chargers, donated clothes, books, shoes, etc., and sorted them into the younger kids school (Birdland) and the high schoolers. I must wrap this up because it has been a long day and it is time to enjoy Wanda's cooking and get some sleep!

Until next time,

Paulina

And we're off! (almost)

We meet at SAAS this afternoon, to load up the luggage and head to the airport, driven by the ever-wonderful Tomas. Then it's nine hours to London, seven hours in Heathrow, and nine hours to Lusaka. Arriving at 6:30 AM Lusaka time, Monday morning (that's 8:30 PM Sunday, Seattle time). If all goes on schedule, we will be descending into the Lusaka airport synchronized with the Africa-orange sunrise. When those of us who have been there before get off the plane, we'll know we're in Zambia when we hear the Cape doves calling "work harder, work harder."

Packing Day!

Today the Zambia-bound team met at SAAS to check gear and pack donations. Here's the tally, packed into 20 suitcases (in addition to our 10 personal bags):
*22 donated laptops
*More than 200 books for Birdland Library
*20+ science or math textbooks for Munali Schools
*35 "tutorial booklets" on how to write stories, prepared by SAAS 8th graders for Birdland students
*90 pairs of school shoes for children in our "neighborhood" outside Lusaka.
*School supplies
*Gifts and materials for "Birdland Buddies" (including many stuffed animal toys donated by an 8 year old relative of one of our students)
*Letters and cards from SAAS students to "Birdland Buddies"
*And much, much more!