Our first Zambian Christmas!

We had a great rest of our trip in Zimbabwe. It was sad to say goodbye to Jona's Uncle and Auntie but we were able to be there to celebrate Uncle Des's birthday before we left and we took them out for a nice meal at 'Hillside Dams' restaurant.

From there we travelled to Victoria Falls and had booked in at the 'rest camp', when we arrived they said they had lost the key to the chalet that we were going to stay in :-S BUT instead they could let us stay in a family sized lodge for the same price! We felt very blessed :-) The rest camp was basic but lovely. They had a pool and a restaurant. We had a great 3 days at Victoria Falls looking round the tiny town, chilling and of course seeing the Falls!

Then we decided to make the lonnnng trek back to the school in Chingola. We had decided (if possible) we would try and do it all in one go to save the hassle (and cost) of one more nights accomodation.
Our journey started at 6am crossing the border back into Zambia and the first leg of our journey went relatively smoothly, it took us 7 hrs to travel to Lusaka. But once we got to Lusaka we realised that we had missed the connecting bus so we had to try and search around for another decent coach to take. There were lots of sellers hassling us to get on their coach etc and in the end we got so fed up with all the hassling that we just bought a ticket which 'claimed' to take us all the way to Chingola (another 7ish hrs) and would be leaving very soon. Well...very soon meant another 1.5hrs of sitting on a hot bus with lots of agitated customers! There's a lot more to the story but all in all it was quite a nerve racking, packed full journey. We thought we would arrive in Chingola around 11pm but then realised that the bus didn't even go to Chingola so we had to transfer on to another coach which was full to the brim with luggage and people in the aisles etc. We finally got home at 2am and were sooo relieved and thankful to God to be back and safely!!
When we told our local zambian friends which bus company we had used they laughed and said they would never step foot on those buses! eek. But it was certainly an African experience!

We have had a lovely quiet christmas here at the school. We were lucky that our friend lent us a few decorations and we used our house plant as a christmas tree!! :-)
We thank God that although we missed home and our families we were able to spend the day with friends who also remained on the school site for Christmas. We were also happy to have a traditional turkey lunch and then a less traditional braai in the evening! A bit too much food for one day but a really great day!!

School term doesn't begin until the 10th January so we still have a bit of time to relax and get ready for the new term :-)
Thanks to everyone who has sent cards, parcels and christmas merriment- it is hugely appreciated and so good to hear from those at home. Lots of love. Jona and Kerry x

Christmas Adventures!

We have made the lonnnng journey from Livingstone to Bulawayo. We left ZigZag last Monday morning and safely made it across the Zimbabwean border. It was amazing to walk across the adjoining bridge between Zambia and Zim and see a glimpse of the Falls!

When we got to the other side we had originally planned to take a nice comfortable coach to Bulawayo but we discovered that they only ran on Tuesdays.eek. So instead we had to travel African style in a ‘commuter minibus’ or as the locals say “a chova”. Quite an experience! Never seen so many people crammed in the back of a minibus for nearly 7 hours!! We were a bit nervous as our luggage was thrown in a trailer on the back with a flimsy covering on. Others had warned us to keep an eye on our luggage. When we arrived luggage was all intact but everything soaking wet from the rain!

 When we arrived we were met by Jona’s Uncle Des and Aunt Mercia- they’re such a lovely couple and so welcoming and hospitable! They had set up their spare room for us and we immediately felt at home J

Since being here we have visited Jona’s childhood home (which the family still own but rent out); it was great to hear all of Jona’s memories of growing up there. 

We also visited his secondary school (CBC) and heard more stories. He says that things are much the same but just a lot more run down than they used to be!

We have visited Jona’s school friend; Ben De Klerk who still lives in Bulawayo. He is married now with 2 kids and it was great to stay a night with them and also attend their childrens christenings.

Last night we visited friends that Jona used to go to church with. A lovely family who told us a lot about the struggles they had experienced here in the tough years.

Overall we're having a great time here in Zim. We are travelling back to Victoria Falls this Friday and plan to stay there for 2 nights and then straight back to Zambia for Christmas with friends at Amano.

We wish you all a MERRY CHRISTMAS :-)

Jona and Kerry xxx 

Christmas Travels

We finished the last day of term at school on Friday with a Christmas concert performed by pupils from all of the grades! It was a brilliant performance and both Jona and I felt really privileged to be a part of Amano School

Straight after the concert on fri morning we caught a lift with a family from the school who were catching a plane in Lusaka and we needed to get to Lusaka so we could then make our journeys towards Zimbabwe for the Christmas hols. It was a 7 hour drive to Lusaka but it was great to get a lift in an air conditioned, comfortable car with good company :-)
We had previously booked a guesthouse in Lusaka so we could stay the night before heading down to Lusaka but were quite gutted when they rang to say that they had given our booking to someone else! We weren't best pleased but the manager said he would book a guesthouse somewhere for us at the same price and would escort us there once we arrived! Long story short but basically even the second guest house had given our booking to someone else. It seems whoever shows the money first gets the room! It was getting pretty late and we were tired but thankfully the manager then phoned and made another reservation at another guesthouse round the corner. We arrived to find a verrry basic guesthouse. Our room didn't even have proper running water, no mosquito net, a towel with blood on it.lol. But it was fine for just one night and was conveniently right next to the bus station for us to catch the bus to Livingstone on Saturday morning.
We had another 7 hour bus journey to Livingstone. We were thankful for air conditioning and lots of wee breaks :-) Finally arrived in  Livingstone yesterday and we're staying at a B&B called 'ZigZag'- it's really lovely with a pool and great food

Today we went into town and visited the David Livingstone Museum which was fun :-) We plan to come back to Livingstone to visit the Falls but tomorrow we will make our way to Bulawayo to visit Jona's Step Uncle and other friends. He hasn't returned to his home town in 10 years so we're really excited!
.         

Last week of term!

I can't believe there is now only 4 working days for us before the Christmas hols. This half term has gone sooo quickly!
Sorry that it has taken us a while to update the blog but we have been having problems with our internet connection- very frustrating. But a kind friend has lent us his laptop for the day :-)
The last week was a great week despite the fact that I have come down with a cold/flu type thing :-(
Last weekend we had a bit of a sad weekend saying goodbye to the grade 12's but we had a great celebration with a dorm party/talent night. Some of the pupils sang/performed for them and even some of the teachers!The primaries and I decorated the hall :-)

On the Sunday we had a leavers service and awards etc and met some of their parents before the left to go home. Was a verrrry emotional evening in the dorm for the rest of the girls who were so sad to say goodbye.

This weekend has also been great. Fridays our are days off and this week we decided to catch a lift with the school trip going to Ndola for a cricket match. We were offered a lift and we could then be dropped off at a shopping mall type thing and then picked up afterward! Ndola is about 2 hours away so it was a long trip there. When we got there we dropped off the cricketers at 'Simba international school' where the matches took place. The headteacher then gave the driver instructions to the shopping mall which was about 5 mins away. BUT...unfortuantely the driver had is own ideas on directions and even though we had actually seen and driven past the mall he still insisted it was in the opposite direction. So we had to sit patiently until he finally admitted after about 20 mins of dirt tracks etc that we were lost. lol.Thankfully Jona had remembered the route back and an hour later (also after a mini break down!!) we found the shopping mall and only had time for a quick trolley dash! Was frustrating at the time but a memory we shall remember with laughter!
And we managed to catch the end of the girls playing cricket which was good :-)

This weekend was the last one before we break up for Christmas so we were getting a bit christmasey in the dorm. I discovered that there was an old christmas tree stashed away in one of the cupboards which had been sent over a few years ago so the girls and I decided to put it up! Quite funny when its baking hot outside!!

So altogether its been a brilliant few weeks! Hope all is well at home!
Jona and Kerry x

Back to health!

I am pleased to say that Jona and I are now both feeling well and healthy :-) Yay!
Last week Jona only taught a few lessons as he was home most of the time trying to rest and recover.
However, we were pleased to both be OK for the weekend as we had been invited out to 'The Grill' in town for a meal. The first portion of chips in 2 months! We went with friends who are both from Zimbabwe so it was great for Jona to be able to share stories with them about Zim.

Saturday evening we had the Grade 9, 10 and 11 girls over for a meal in our flat with our friend Jarrett too! It was a great evening with lots of silly games too!

Sunday morning we held our first Primary Sunday School on the school site. Previously the children attend Bethel Chapel along with their parents and other children. However, this service is usually very long and not really aimed at younger children. So myself and Rachel (another volunteer from Ireland) decided that we would hold a Sunday School twice a month for Primary Children.
It went well :-) A bit of a trial and error but I think as it progresses it will really be of benifit to the Primaries!

We are now into a new week and I can't believe that there are now only 2 1/2 weeks until the Christmas holidays!!! The Grade 12's will be finishing their IGCSE's at the end of this week followed by a dorm party and then a leavers service and then they will be going home on Sunday. It will be a very sad day, especially in the dorm as some of these girls have been living in the dorm for years!

Some good news too is that I passed my Zambian Driving Theory Test yesterday! Quite funny as we were told to pick up our results at 3pm yesterday! But when we arrived they hadn't started marking the tests! So we had a long wait before we got out results. Because I passed I then had another long wait (amongst LOTS of others) to get the paper work sorted out. But I was sooo pleased not to have to do it all over again! Unfortunately Jona hadn't been well enough to take the test so he will have to reschedule!

A bit of a week!!! :-S

Unfortunately last week and this week so far have been a bit tough :-(
Last week I fell quite ill and in the end it was felt maybe I had an infection so I was given some antibiotics. It was quite a hard time of just staying in the flat mainly in bed. But thankfully I recovered well and am now feeling a lot better. However, today Jona seems to have come down with the same thing :-( And so he is now tucked up in bed! It is quite tough when you are missing people and the comforts of home. But I thank God that we have each other!
In the midst of all this I felt well enough to be on duty at the weekend in the dorm and thank God that it was another brilliant weekend! Saturday morning the primary children in the dorms played a friendly football match with a team which was put together by friends who work at a local home for street children.
Everyone seemed to enjoy it! The sun was shining and it was a great time to chat with people involved with a different type of project.
Saturday afternoon, Tanja (one of the German volunteers) and I prepared a craft for the secondary girls and we enjoyed decorating photoframes (which I had bought with me from UK) :-)

 Tanja! We are on duty together :-)

Sunday was another crazy storm! There was a Family Fellowship Service at the school in the new building. But the rain was so heavy on the tin roofing that the sermon had to stop because no one could hear the preacher! And later we discovered that the tin roofing on the carpentry workshop had been ripped off! I've never seen rain/thunder/lightning so intense! On Sunday afternoon Jona went to help repair the roof with some others.
Last night we had a lovely time with some other teachers and we really feel we are making some good friends here :-)
We hope everyone at home is well and we are always grateful to hear your news too :-)

Jona and Kerry x

A good weekend!

I am pleased to say that Jona taught lessons last week at the school and all went well :-) He is enjoying it :-)
I am getting back into the swing of dorm life and am enjoying getting to know some of the girls better.

This weekend has been great! There was an inter schools table tennis and chess tournament hosted here yesterday. There were 2 other schools coming but unfortunately one school pulled out so it was turned into a friendly. It was good fun but also quite competitive (I never table tennis could be so serious!).

The table tennis was one of the first sporting events to take place in 'The Barn'; a big building which once completed (I think it has been in process for about 3 years or so) will double up to be a sports hall and a school canteen. The school can't currently take any more pupils because there isn't the facilities to cook/cater for them  so hopefully when this building is complete the amount of pupils might also enlarge. I think the work is slow progress because of man power and resources but once it is completed I think it will make a big difference to school life.

Yesterday evening we also had our first 'cross cultural training' session with Mr Pflaum; a missionary who has been working in Zambia for over 30 years. It was great to reflect upon the cultural differences and history of Zambia. Also helped us to learn how to try and be sensitive to Zambian culture. We really enjoyed the evening and it was made even better by Hotdogs and Cake :-)

Today Jona has attended a local Bemba church in Chingola and I was delighted to hear that he had had to go up to the front of the church with some of the German volunteers and sing to the congregation in German!! He wasn't expecting this surprise! hehe. But he said it was great to hear people singing in Bemba and dancing :-)
I attended our regular church (Bethel Chapel) and was glad I did as the sermon was brilliant and really spoke to me. Mr Grove spoke about trusting in God despite your circustatnces.
After church, I went to Marina and Roberta's house (there is a picture of these ladies in a previous blog). I was invited for lunch and really enjoyed the more traditional Zambian dining complete with Nshima (local Maize dish). We also enjoyed some dancing and was sooo lovely to relax in the sunshine and watch the amazing views.

So overall, it's been a great week here in Zambia!

Back into routine!

Wow- we have now been living in Zambia for a month! It has gone so quick!
We have had a LOVELY half term and we are both really thankful for the break and time to settle in more.
Most of the time was spent relaxing, playing card games with other members of staff, practising table tennis (as Jona got utterly thrashed by the 12th grade boys!!) and preparing for next term.

One of the days we were offered to go on a trip to 'Mindola Dam' which is about an hour away from the school. There were quite a lot of members of staff who also went. It was great! One of the teachers has a small boat and took people out on it (However, we declined after learning about the resident crocodile -eek!). There was a small swimming pool (with a resident frog!) and an african braai (bbq). Was a brilliant day of getting to know people and enjoying a day outside of the school walls!

To be honest, the journey on route to the dam was quite eye opening. Seeing the living conditions of the majority of local zambian people is pretty tough. Living conditions are basic and a world away from our English housing. In some ways we feel so helpless...but we have also felt really challenged by the joy and welcome many Zambians have shown us even though they seem to have very little materially they are so joyful, cheery and their contented outlook is something that money cant buy ...

Yesterday was Zambian Independence day so it was great to meet with others and pray for Zambia; for leaders, government, young people, education etc. Followed by food and board games (with Jona losing again! hehe).

Jona is now busy preparing for his classes which start tomorrow and I am awaiting the arrival of the rest of the borders this afternoon. The 12th graders returned yesterday as many of them are sitting their igcse's at the moment.

Thanks to everyone who has been in touch and for following our blog- it is a great encouragement to know that people are thinking of us :-)

Jona and Kerry xxx

Half Term!

It is now VERY quiet here in the dorm as it is half term and all of the borders have gone home. Jona has been busy marking lots of exam papers and is quite shocked at how good their grades are! Not quite the same as his school in the U.K!
We have been enjoying the weather (well from inside) because the temperature is about 34-36 degrees. It is really too hot to leave the house before 3pm and we are getting into the routine of having a siesta.

Last weekend we had a local family over for lunch which was great, Marina (The lady in the middle) works in the kitchen at Amano and has already named me her 'White Daughter' so it was lovely to meet the rest of her family.

I think they were curious about the 'Muzungu' (white persons) food that I had cooked (lasagne) and also the fact that I laid the table with knives and forks as they would normally use their hands, but it was an interesting experience for them....

We have decided that we are going to have Bemba lessons (Bemba being the local language) once a week. Although most people here speak English we feel it is respectful to learn the language and show that we have a real interest in the culture. This will also help our experiences in town and travelling about, if we can speak Bemba people will realise that we're not just tourists!

Today we are off into town to try and acquire some forms for driving licenses to get the process in motion. Apparently it can be a verrry slow process so we'll see... Apparently no one passes first time as it helps to generate government revenue! hmmm..

Settling in :-)

Really cannot believe that we have now been here for 2 weeks. However, in many ways it actually feels as though we have been here longer.
We are now really settling into our new routines and getting more used to Zambian life (although I'm not too sure I will ever get quite used to the early mornings!)
Although Jona doesn't start a full timetable until after half term he has been covering peoples lessons and invigilating exams. Most of the older secondaries have exams at the moment and the 12th graders are sitting their IGCSE's before leaving in November. I am so surprised to see how much studying is going on. One of the girls even asked to be woken at 4am to study!! eek!

Last weekend was my first weekend on duty (I'm on every other weekend) and it was really full on! Up at 6.30am and entertaining primary girls for most of the day. But it was lots of fun- we made pancakes, cookies, played volleyball and did crafts.The girls are allowed to watch a movie on Saturday evenings and took great delight giggling at 'Mrs Kerry' who was nodding off during the movie! haha.
Me and 2 of the primary girls :-)

Jona and I are realising that it can be quite isolated because we are pretty much always onsite unless someone offers to take us into town. We are praying about the possibilty of going halves on a vehicle with a guy called Jarrett- a youth worker from America. This would really help us to be more independant and get off site every now and again. However, on Monday we took a walk on site at Amano towards a farmhouse where some staff live (the site is 500 acres so plenty of space for walking)  and we were so happy to see some monkeys in the trees eating the fruits!! We tried to get some pictures but they didn't seem to happy about this and we didn't want to get attacked! lol. Apparently they will happily steal food out of your hands if you have any.

Yesterday I went to town again to do some food shopping and am still shocked at the price of food here. Most food is either the same price as England or higher and yet Zambian salaries are so much lower! Our local supermarket!

Next week is half term so we are both looking forward to not having to get up so early! We are also hoping to do a bit more exploring of the local area. Thank you to everyone who continues to support us and make this all possible and it's really been great hearing from friends and family at home
xx

First Week!

Cannot believe we have now been here a week. It actually feels like we have been here a lot longer.
We have been shocked that the rainy season has already begun, the locals say that it normally begins in November. On Monday night there was a big thunder and lightning storm. Jona sat on the veranda videoing some of the lightning. I have had to take a picture of the still pic which is why my reflection is in the pic but it gives an idea of how bad the lightning is. And we have been told that this storm was very mild! eek.

However the temperature is still very hot (around 30 degrees) so hot rain! lol.

The first week here has been great and we feeling we are now beginning to settle in very well and get to know people. However, it has also been a bit of a roller coaster ride. There is a lot to get used to; We are having to get used to all the many different cultures- there are many nationalities amongst the pupils and volunteers all with different ways of doing things. We are also having to get used to our timetables and what our roles entail which has at times been confusing. We are slowly getting to know the pupils but I sense it might take a while.There are obviously a lot of volunteers coming and going and I sense that the pupils have experienced getting close to volunteers who then leave 6-12 months later. I think they are weary of getting close to new people. But over time this will come...

We have now had the opportunity to visit Chingola, we have discovered we will only be able to go as and when people offer to take us because it is too far and dangerous to walk!
The good news is that we are millionaires in Kwacha! £1.00=7,500 Kwacha. It's quite funny when you draw out say £100 from the cashpoint because the wad of money is humungous and they have no coins at all here!

We now have Zambian mobile numbers if anyone would like to stay in touch via text

Jona- 0961175770
Kerry-0961060891

Thanks to everyone who has been in touch- it is great to hear news from home.

We are here!! woop

Hello All!
Sorry it has taken a while to get on to update the blog but the internet at the school is verrrrry slow and a lot of sites are blocked from the students so we have decided to invest in a USB stick for the internet and 1GB of use.

The journey here on Tues/Wed was nearly 24hrs in total and we are still recovering really. But it was a good journey and we arrived safely and miraculously with all of our luggage (we were a little worried as there were 2 stops). We arrived in Lusaka and were then flown to Chingola in a VERY tiny aircraft. It could only fit 4 people in and we had to leave some of our luggage behind in the guest house.

 These are the pilots sat directly in front of us!! argh

Thank you to those who were praying abut my fear of flying- despite some bumpy bits it was all ok.

We finally arrived at the school and it looks fantastic! The people who set it up have obviously really thought it through. There is 500 acres of land owned by the school (land is cheap here!) but obviously the school is only on one small part of that. They hope to use the land to bring in revenue at some point.
The flat that we have been given is at the end of the girls of the girls dormitory and is really lovely. We already feel at home here.

 Kitchen!

Lounge

 Veranda outside our flat

Jona has already started teaching at the school including covering English Literature! haha. I have found that my role will be doing more pastoral care in the girls dorm but to start with I will be on a rota of waking at 5.45am to wake the girls and taking care of them when they are not at school.

I will write more when I can. Please stay in touch as it is lovely to hear news from home.

Tomorrow!

Can't believe we actually leave tomorrow! Woop!
Both feeling bit nervous but reallly excited too. Done the last bits of packing so pretty much good to go now.
Our flight is at 8pm tomorrow so please do pray for us. We arrive in Lusaka Zambia at 11.45am on Wed 28th. Hopefully a taxi will meet us and take us to a nearby guest house where we can have lunch and have a freshen up before getting picked up and flown (in a private light aircraft-eek) to Chingola, which takes another 1.5 hrs.
So it's going to be quite a trek but really looking forward to getting there now and getting stuck in!

We've had a good few days of visiting more people and saying our goodbyes. We had a lovely bbq on Saturday with a few friends as a little farewell. Jona's parents prepared a feast!

 Des (Jona's Dad) Chief BBQ'er

and Helen (Chief eater!) haha.

 But of course the hardest goodbye of all is our dog Barney!

Next time we blog we will hopefully be in Zambia! Woop!

6 days to go!

Can't believe how incredibly quick the time has flown by since I last blogged and now there is only 6 days until we fly!
Both feeling absolutely exhausted today as we have spent lots of time rushing around doing last minute bits and bobs and visiting lots of wonderful family and friends! We were really blessed by our church cell group on Saturday with a 4 course meal as a goodbye. We have been fattening up before we go by eating out pretty much every night!
This is a picture of us having a meal with some great friends from Uganda; great to hear stories about what we might expect from African culture. Gordon even showed us some 'bum shaking' African dance moves! Lots of laughs :-)

So today we both did a bit of a trolley dash in Southampton and managed to get some last minute clothes, a solar powered desk light for the power cuts we've been told to expect and other bits and bobs.

Just got home this evening and had some great news! We had an email from a Charitable Trust to say that they are going to give us some money towards our medical and travel insurance which is brill as it was pretty expensive! Feel so blessed by peoples generosity and kindness and Gods incredible faithfulness to us.

The other good news is that Number One Suitcase is fully packed and ready to go! (Mainly thanks to a husband with excellent packing skills unlike me who just chucks it in!) Woop!

The packing has begun!

We have had a great few weeks continuing to visit family and friends!
We had a BRILLIANT time in Cornwall visiting my Mum and Dad in Bude and then my brother and his girlfriend near Falmouth- lots of long walks, yummy food and good company :-) We also saw lots of other friends at church and Scott and Cally (my old youth workers) in Truro and an old friend has been staying with us for a few days. Quite sad to say goodbyes but we know it won't be too long before we say hello again.

So now that all the visiting is over reality is kicking in. And today is our first day of packing!

Jona in the loft!

Me packing boxes!

So we are currently surrounded by hecticness and mess! But it feels good to be working towards getting ready to go and packing our suitcases!

September!

Returned home from Northern Ireland yesterday, had a brilliant rest of our stay, saw LOADS of Jona's family- so much fun and laughter. feel so blessed to have had time with them all :-)                                 Thought I'd post a few pics of our time there!

This is us with quite a lot of Jona's cousins and Aunty and Uncle.

 Jona's cousin Conrad!

Having a bbq with family!

 When we returned from Ireland we had a quick stop in Oxford to say goodbye to Ruth, John and David. Jona and I both felt very sad saying goodbye to them, it's not forever but we know it'll be a while before we see them again.

Lots of washing to do back in Southampton before we head off to Cornwall tomorrow to see my side of the family.

 Managed to pick up our anti malarials- thanks to the cheeriest pharmacist we've ever met- Martin- thank you! Also received a few more generous gifts towards our trip- we are getting there now with out fundraising! Thanks to everyone who has given!

4 WEEKS!!

Wow! Really can't believe it is now only 4 weeks until we fly out to Zambia.
We are having a lovely time of respite and relaxing in Ireland at the moment with Jona's African side of the family. It's great but also dawning on us both that we will soon have to say our goodbyes and won't see them again for quite some time.... We met some of their family friends last week called Marius and Megan who are travelling the world, they were a very inspiring couple and they told us stories about their travels in Africa and how beautiful Zambia is. Got us excited about the journey ahead :-)

We return from Ireland on Thurs and are then off to Cornwall to visit my family for a week or so and say goodbye to family and friends down South.AND THEN...we will pack! lol. Not looking forward to fitting all the stuff we need into a couple of suitcases!

Please continue to pray for us as we say goodbye to friends and family and prepare ourselves for all that is to come.

Amano School Picture Intro

Thought we would upload some pictures and more info about Amano School where we will be moving to in 5 weeks!!!!

Jona and I just been on a short break away and now we will spend about 3 weeks visiting as many friends and family as we can :-)

Please keep praying for us as we start to think about packing to go and packing up things into boxes here too!   Pray also for our trust in God as we start to get butterflies. 

Thanks to everyone who has given financially, we wouldn't be able to volunteer at the school without your support . We are slowly creeping up to our target but still a little way to go. 

Kerry and Jona x

It's August Already!

Can't believe we are already in August, time is flying sooo fast!

Jona and I were looking at our diaries yesterday and realising how the time prior to us leaving is going to fly by! We have crammed our diaries filled with visiting lovely family and friends, so many people to see and so little time before we go!

I only have 3 days before I leave my job now too, it's slightly nerve racking not only saying goodbye to my amazing work colleagues and elderly tenants but also to a stable salary :-S eek. But Jona and I have felt sooo blessed by others and are sure that this step of faith is the right move. Thank you to everyone who has been supporting and donating financially but also thank you to those who have been so encouraging with their words. 

Yesterday we invested in a 'Kindle', (a technical device type thingy which you can downloads lots of books on to), we thought it'd be good to download lots of resouces and books on to for Zambia and resources for the school rather than filling our cases with heavy books. (So I can fit more Haribo into my case too! haha)

We have been communicating with the school and there is a strong possibility that I will be teaching PSHE and I was wandering if any youth workers reading this had any PSHE type resources that might be handy whilst out there?

Thanks x

2 months to go!

Jona finished his job at Henry Cort school yesterday! It's all starting to feel more real now. I only have 2 weeks left at my job too and then we have lots of family and friends visits to make!
Jona has nearly finished all his vaccinations and we have FINALLY (after a lot of hassle) sent off the documents for our visa's. Now we're praying it is all processed smoothly.
Although we are feeling a bit jittery about it all, we have had a lot of encouragement from friends and wise words from wise people. lol. Although it's scary we know we are doing the right thing :-)

Flights!

We have now booked our flights! No changing our minds now. lol.
We will be flying from Heathrow to Lusaka (zambia) on Tues 27th September. Woop!

Fundraising is well on its way now but we still need to raise quite a bit (haven't been able to talk Jona into a half marathon yet!).

Meeting Hilary!

We went to a church in Poole this morning where the headmistress of the primary school (Hilary) in Zambia was doing a talk about Amano Christian School and an update on their work!
It was amazing to see pictures and hear more about what the school is doing and how it is developing.
We met with Hilary for lunch and had the opportunity to ask lots more questions about what we will be doing etc. We were also able to ask about accomodation. It seems that we will hopefully be able to live in a flat which is either attached to the boys dorm or the girls dorm. It would be a self contained flat so we can have our own space. It seems a lot more tricky to get a car/driving license then we realised but she said after a while we could possibly put our bicycles on a container from the UK to Zambia.
We're both feeling very excited about it all :-)

The Adventure Begins!

Crazy hecticness of moving countries finally begins!

I told the residents at my work today that I will be leaving in August :-( Pretty tough!

Jona started his course of Heb A&B today and we need to get some quotes on anti malarials! Any tips anyone for which anti malarials to go for?

We also got some generous donations in the last few days from lovely lovely people! Thank you :-)

We are going to meet Hilary, the head mistress of the primary school in Zambia on Sunday (she is visitng the UK at the mo). Be good to ask more questions about the school and accomodation etc. 

Exciting times :-)