welcome to the dog days of summer!

Hey yall!

I can’t believe it’s August already. It’s AUGUST. Already. I just walked across that stage at graduation…where’d the last 3 months go?! I know many of yall are headed back to college or to grad/med school – YAY and best of luck as yall wrap up the summer and prepare for an awesome new academic year!

Here, schools let out this week for a month-long holiday. It’s getting so darn hot here that schools probably need to give their students a break just so they won’t fall asleep in class every afternoon! We just finished up at Village of Hope orphan school on Wednesday, and the teachers took the rest of this week to scavenge through all the school’s materials to salvage at least a few things that can be used next term. There’s so much sand, dirt, and dust up there at the tent (VOH’s temporary home) that the tent’s turned from a pretty blue entirely to gray, and you start sniffling when you get within a few meters of it. Sand got into everything this term – all the cabinets, books, stuffed animals – and all the plastic that can be washed definitely needed to be! So, we had a scrub party all day today to get everything back to its (semi-) original color. Meanwhile, the two new school buildings with VOH’s four new classrooms are still being built, but construction’s going a bit faster now that there’s a new crew and more interns are available to help out during the day. The goal is to have one done by mid-August and both completely finished by next term (September 7^th). It’ll be a lot of work, but hey, God works miracles!

Thursday was the last day that the Wycliffe translation school at Mutoya met as well, so a few of the other medium-term interns and I took the opportunity to sit in on classes yesterday morning. About 35 Zambians representing five different languages from all over the Western Province and 8 or so trained Bible translators from just about everywhere in the world have been staying at base camp for the past 3 weeks (they leave today and tomorrow). They gathered together daily at VOH school’s old home with the joint goal of translating the book of Luke and the subtitles of the Jesus Movie from the original Greek to the visitors’ native languages. The time frame? Just four years. Four! And they only meet for 3-week intervals three times a year: March, July, and November. Not only that, but all five of these languages hadn’t ever been written down before this past March – not even their alphabet! By this point with only two sessions under their belt, they’ve translated into their own languages two stories from Luke, the one where Jesus stayed in Jerusalem’s temple when he was young and the other the parable of the good Samaritan. 

It’s ridiculous how intelligent the village visitors are and how quickly they’ve picking up on the science of translation, especially given that half of them grew up in villages that didn’t have a high school. The Wycliffe Bible translators are amazing as well. One German couple spent 20-something years in Alaska inside the Arctic Circle helping Native Americans develop a written form of their language, compile a dictionary, and translate the Old and New Testaments into their local dialect. After about ten years in Nigeria doing the same with villagers there, they felt called to work alongside the Zambia Project with the Seed Company (the organization that oversees and coordinates the translators) in Mongu. We talked about all their travels and experiences over tea as if their lives so far were completely ordinary – it was crazy that we were even sitting in the same room! Later on that morning, I talked with another translator from the Sudan who said that many of the men and women he’s worked alongside with Wycliffe had engineering and math degrees (like himself). After just a morning at the school, I can definitely see how translation is a science – their approach and execution is entirely methodical and you really do need to love organization and, well, engineering. And Greek. ;) So many things that I want to do in life, so little time!

For the next three or four weeks at Mutoya, I’ll work alongside Lihana (a medical missionary with the Zambia Project) and Ivy at the Village of Hope Clinic and Save-a-Life Malnutrition Center (check it out at zam.co.za, listed under “Projects”). There’s so much that needs to be done to the two buildings themselves that it’s really tough to admit any patients this winter, but Lihana and the team are accommodating as many children as possible while working their tails off so the centers can operate at full capacity. Everything’s harder in Zambia…just like the construction for the school buildings at the top of the hill, it’s taken months longer than expected to finish the buildings (they were both supposed to be completed this past March…can you imagine?). The windows are just now put in, so we can finally start moving things into the clinic without the fear that they’ll be gone by morning. Tons of baby clothes, bedding, and medical supplies still need to be sorted and organized and the water supply is sketchy at best, but things are coming along!

From what I can tell so far, the Save-a-Life Center hosts a feeding program for malnourished patients on Tuesdays; Ivy and Kate make home visits every day; and Lihana admits children at the clinic throughout the week. Starting next week, I’ll work with Ivy and the malnourished kids in the mornings, and in the afternoons I’ll likely help Lihana organize supplies, sort through donations, set up beds, work on the plumbing, paint…basically anything we can do to get the clinic and center finally finished up. I’m so excited I’ll get to be a part of it! 

I hope yall are doin so wonderfully, and know that yall’re always in my thoughts and prayers! I miss yall and see you soon!

P.S. More things I’ve learned about Africa since June…

28.If you change your accent to match that of the locals, they can actually understand you (sometimes necessary for South Africans and Australians as well!).

29.Say anything to a kid in English and they’ll answer, “fine – and – how – are – you?”

30.Texting is a worldwide obsession.

31.When Shoprite’s bread maker is broken (a biweekly occurrence), all of Mongu suffers.

32.When the electricity goes out, have a dance party with your roommates (using headlamps as your disco balls are an absolute must).

33.Dessert is “pudding,” pudding is “pudding,” Jello is “jelly,” jelly is “jam,” cookies are “biscuits,” biscuits are “biscuits” (we think), fritters are “scones,” crepes are “pancakes,” real pancakes are for dessert (or “pudding,” if you’ve kept up), “just now” means anywhere from “in a few minutes” to “in a few days,” dog as an entrée is “small beef” (ew), and near is “fa.” Who knew?

34.Cold showers are no good no matter what country you’re in.

35.You can actually SEE the Milky Way out here!

36.Sandstone makes a better pumice stone than anything you’ll find in the swankiest salons.

37.When you run out of Band-Aids, super glue does the trick.

38.Interns in Africa turn into professional color printers and copiers at a minute’s notice. We’re capable of creating anything from 80 double-sided invitations for an end-of-school bash to 200 glittered invites for a Women’s Day at Hope Church to 400 invitations for Kids’ Fun Day.

39.Drawing, coloring, and laminating can indeed be mission work.

40.Both morning and afternoon tea are critically necessary.

41.Cream soda in the rest of the world is frightfully green.

42.Making friendship bracelets really does make new friends.

43.12 hours’ notice for an event is completely acceptable.

44.You learn how to convert Celsius to Fahrenheit, centimeters to inches, kilograms to pounds, mL to fl. ounces, and kwatcha to USD like it’s your job. Then you get over it and start wishing the US had adopted the metric system.

45.Trees and mashasha fences may be compromised, but Toyota Highlanders can indeed fit into six-foot wide walking lanes.

46.The best way to transfer a note safely to a child’s parents is to staple it to his shirt.

Love yall!

Stephanie :)