The phone / internet was finally working tonight, but then the power went out before the team had a chance to send any updates. TIA, right? When I called they were eating PB&Js in the dark and discussing tomorrow program.
On the traveling side, the portion of the team coming up from SA had some action, but managed to come out unscathed. They avioded an elephant on the road in Botswana, dealt with the Zambia border patrol wanting to compound their trailer full of supplies, and skidded to a halt in time to miss a herd of 20 cows in the middle of the night in Zambia. They heard some rattling noises just before picking up Duane Crumb, Adam and Beth at the Lusaka airport...it turned out to be due to lots of missing or stripped lug nuts leaving rear wheels that were about to fall off. A borrowed lug wrench and some slow driving got them and the newcomers the rest of the way to the house in Mufulira by 5 am on Monday.
On their way to Muflira they stopped at an orphanage called Villages of Hope for about 6 hours. On the agriculture side, Jim V gave out pods with Moringa tree sprouts, explained about this "Miracle Tree", and distributed information. The people were very welcoming and seemed very excited about the tree and its amazing health benefits. The team members who were there also attended an evening concert run by Villages of Hope.
While part of the team was traveling up to Mufulira by road, the majority of the team had flown into Ndola, Zambia (the same province as Mufulira). Friends picked them up and took them to the house, so I think they had a little time to rest and re-group before the programs started bright and early Monday morning.
All of the programs appear to be running smoothly. Henry (our STS-Zambia Coordinator) has done a great job with the prep work in Zambia for the HIV Ed teams - both for the programs in the high schools as well as the logistics for training for the teachers and church planting students. There are two HIV Ed teams running programs simultaneously this year for these first two weeks. One team is focusing on one-week teaching/training programs and the other is primarily running 2-week programs at nearby high schools where there are STS clubs in operation year-round. This week, the teaching/training program is at Dr Thinus' Church Planting School in the morning (which everyone is attending) and at the Teacher's Training Institute in the afternoon. The other team is at Pamodzi high school in the afternoon, a school that we have worked with for the past 3 years. This week at Pamodzi is focusing on working with a small number of students who are more active in the club, and next week will be the main program with the entire high school.
Hopefully the power will turn back on soon and the team members will be able to update you first-hand, but until then I'll do my best to keep everyone in the loop.
Tannen
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