A Few Things We Forgot to Tell You

Here are a few last things about our experiences and the culture in Zambia as told by pictures:

 This is what Zambians use to make nshima which is their staple food they eat with every meal. It is just ground up corn in powder form (so not super nutritional) but we were told that Zambians think they are starving if they don't eat nshima every day even if they are eating something more nutritious instead :)

Zambians prepare it by adding the powder from above to boiling water to form a pasty substance a little thicker than mashed potatoes. It is pretty tasteless on its own but it takes on the flavor of whatever you eat it with. Dane and I tried it and didn't mind it at all, especially if you add some salt! Zambians eat it by rolling it in their hands and dipping it in "relish" which is usually cabbage mixed with tomatoes (as seen in the picture above) or beans or sometimes meat if they can afford it.

 It was fun to learn how the girls do their hair. They wore it braided like this a lot and it was cool to see all the different designs they would come up with for braids. Lizzy and Abby were very good at doing the girls' hair. 

All the girls had their hair in long braids like this when we first got to New Day (my favorite). It is actually fake hair extensions that they either braid or sew (yes sew!) into the natural hair.

This is Lizzy sewing some curly pony tail extensions into Cynthia's hair, which she braided first.

This is what their hair looks like natural (my second favorite way). I loved when they would leave it natural like this because it's really fun to squish down on their heads hehe :) and I like how crazy it gets!

And this...is what it looks like when we decide to put my blonde hair on them!!!

Teacher Hildah

 Cynthia

Glory

 Dane helping serve the village kids at our last kid's club.

 Pretty much all the little girls definitely had crushes on "teacha Dane"...I can see why ;)

 Some of the New Day kids by the dining hall

Debbie had a baby goat wonder on the property so this is me feeding him. It was so fun to watch him run around and play! And follow Debbie around like a puppy.

Playing with Joseph at kid's club

The women in Zambia wear chitenges pretty much every day, especially in the villages. This is me with the two Zambian teachers, Hildah and Abby

 The boys having fun planting a maize garden outside their house. They are using leaves to hold the seeds they plant and hoes to break up the ground as you can see in the background.

This is what a typical village in our area looked like. It was awesome to get to walk through it and see what their world looks like to live in. Humbling, yet beautiful in its simple way.

Dane and I had the opportunity to learn some Tonga (one of the 7 local languages) while in Zambia thanks to Hildah. Here are a few of the words we learned so you can try them out!

Twalumba (twah-loom-bah) - thank you

Mweenzuma (mwane-zoo-mah) - my friend

Zuza (zoo-zah) - run