Some photos :)

At the border of Zambia & Malawi, just after we "officially" entered Zambia.

We went to the building site that day, and were all surprised by a big welcoming ceremony organized by the school & community. These were some of the children who were part of it.

We saw many, MANY young girls constantly taking care of their younger brothers & sisters. This girl is one example. We saw a lot of even younger girls than this one, carrying babies on their back, almost as big as themselves!

Crystabell & I. This is how they wash their clothes. I asked to help, and they let me this time, but not again. They said they don't want me to waste my energy on washing clothes... :P They were such hard workers, this is just one example of all the effort they put into making our stay an enjoyable one :)

We saw so many texts above stores & on walls giving the glory to God. So different from our society, where you have to be careful where you look in the shops because of dodgy pictures, etc...

A beautiful little girl we met & fell in love with :)

Philemon wanted to make a ceremony type thing to give the soccer balls to the head master of Kabinda (Mphamba) Day High School. You can see how excited everyone is, even the adults :) Just shows how huge it is to have real soccer balls there.

During a work day, taking some time to hang out with the kids... Here I'm teaching them how to play X's & O's. They are such quick learners, sooner than later they all memorized a technique to beat me everytime! We used broken brick for the X's and pink quartz for the O's.

Home already!

Hi everyone! Sorry about the lack of updating!! As I've mentioned, the internet in Lundazi was dial-up so it took forever to even load the blog page, and then it was in a different language. I got one update in, but that's all. So anyways, I'll try to fill you in on everything :)
I'll start from the end, the trip home went very smoothly as compared to the way to Lundazi :P We took a bus this time, and didn't lose any wheel this time (yay! :) ) Philemon & Rev. Peter and Issaac (the busdriver) saw us off all the way until our plane took off :) We miss everyone there so much already, but it is so nice to be home with family.
We really realize how well off we are. I would use the word blessed, but even without all the riches we have here, the people of Lundazi are much better off. They rely on God for everything, and they are so spiritual. With all the luxuries we have, we are so quick to feel as if we rely on ourselves, rather than our Saviour. This is one thing we were very impacted by.
We were given a huge farewell by all the people of Lundazi on Saturday. It was also culture day, where the people had organized songs and traditional dances. It was so neat to experience! The people are SO talented! They are blessed with so many gifts.
We got quite a lot done on the classroom. We got most of the bricking done, despite the loss of days at the beginning of the trip. The community will continue to work on it until it is done and has a roof over it :)
Speaking of the community, the people of Lundazi were so involved in the whole process. The team we went with has a lot of experience with African mission trips, and they all said this trip had the most community involvement. These people did all they could to help, and it was very much appreciated.
We were treated like royalty in our time there. We were so well taken care of, the people did everything they could to make our living comfortable, even with their lack of resources.

We miss them all so much already, Liam & I are already looking forward to going back to visit :)
I will be posting photos today, so stay tuned! :)

xx Kailee & Liam

So far....

So, we are here :) We have been for a few days now, since late Friday night. And the flight delay wasn't even the worst f our troubles in getting here. We finally reached the airport in Lilongwe, Malawi and met Philemon, Moffat, & Rev. Chipeta (Peter) who loaded all our bags on the two Pajeros. We were expecting about a four hour drive to the border, and from there only ten minutes to the village we would be staying... But God had other plans for us apparently. We ended up blowing a head gasket about an hour into the trip. We were on the side of the road, and while Liam, Philip & I played some soccer with the kids who came out of nowhere and swarmed around us, the other guys, and a few men from the village nearby made a "towbar" out of a thick branch and some string. They seemed pretty confident about it, so we kept going, one car towing the other. We stopped for drinks after about another hour, and this is when that tow bar snapped. So we bought a metal one from some guys who were driving past, at a ridiculous price. We towed for a bit longer like that, when one of the wheels from the broken car went flying into the ditch, and nearly rolled it. Then we were really stuck lol. So all but 3 of us squished into the one good car and drove the rest of the way. We had to sneak around the border, because it closed at 6pm and by then it was at least 9. But that came with consequences, because that bak road was THE bumpiest road on earth, and we were all squished, hungry, and having to pee. Later, the rest came in another car, some others had gone to pick them up. And so here we are :) Finally. We've had two days of work already, and have made alot of progress. The weather is awesome here, and we're all loving it. The people are so good to us and never fail to tell us how grateful they are that we didn't only provide funds, but also came to work side by side with them. I've had alot of comments from people asking why we have to travel all the way here, and why we cant just give the money. But Philemon, Moffat, and Rev. Chipeta had told us countless times how  much more it means to them that we actually came to work with these people and get to know them. It makes them feel so special and it is also so good for us. I could go on and on, but I'm scared the power will go out and I'll lose this entire, ridiculously long post. So for now, ciauo :)

Cheers,
Kailee

Wednesday

We've all had brekky at Bob Evans, and are all packed up to go :) We are going to kill some time at an Aircraft Museum, and after that off to the airport to fly out!! After the flight we will be spending a night in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, courtesy of Ethiopian Airlines :) Looking forward to getting to our final destination FINALLY... :)

xx Kailee

Washington D.C.

Today turned out really well, despite the disappointment from yesterday the rain today! We took a taxi to the subway and took the subway into the center of Washington D.C. The first thing we did was go visit the Holocaust Museum, which was amazing. Very eye-opening, despite how much we think we already know about the World Wars. After that we got some lunch and a hot drink and walked to the White House. We got close enough to take some cool photos and see Barack & Michelle on the balcony (not) and then kept walking. We visited the Lincoln Memorial which was also very neat. By then we were already losing light, so we headed back to the subway, back to the hotel. We are all beat and ready for another good night's sleep so we're all set to fly out tomorrow night! Can't wait :)

xx Kailee

Tuesday

After showers and a great night's sleep, we all feel great and just enjoyed a complimentary continental breakfast :) After meeting at 9 in Henry's room we will hopefully have a plan for the day. It is wet & rainy, but I'm sure we will find something to do... Any ideas? :P

xx Kailee