Yesterday we walked to Adziwa bright and early. Dena, Lynn, Heather and I all knew what we had left to do and we were confidant Hal would handle the stove.  Once Hal arrived with Scott we took a tour of one of the houses that is on the property and part of Adziwa. the care giver who lives in that homes name is Ellen so she had a good laugh when i told her my name :)……. in Malawi mine is Elleny, or at least thats what everyone thinks it is! The volunteers seeing the inside of the house was good because they haven’t had that opportunity since we arrived. Ellen is 24 and has 9 orphans living in her “house”. Her older sister was originally the designated care giver for that home, but after she passed away Ellen was asked to take over. When we stood outside and were told this Ellen dropped her head at the mention of her late sister. I felt a little piece of all of our hearts break when we saw that.  Ellen keeps a very clean house and seemed to like sharing her way of life with the volunteers. After our visit there we got to work.

Heather and I got busy collecting straw and other plant scraps to start compost piles, but before that I helped Lynn for a while with the last of the measuring that needed to be done for the garden beds. Dena was also around helping collect green stuff and picking up trash. The ladies from the village were there flattening the beds. So everyone was busy. Shei decided to spend the day again with Sai at the Kumbali Kindergarden. I am so glad she has been able to spend so much time with the kids!! I can tell it really has made Shai so happy. Since it was Friday the work tapered off early and by lunch time we really had done all we could for the day. We were still waiting on the arrival of the builders from PumpAid….word was they would start Saturday. After we ate Heather, Dena and I took a break in the community center were all the little little kids are during the day. We had so much fun singing and laughing. Dena did some patty cake and then we started to think of songs we knew and could sing to them. The tiny spider song 🙂 I’m a little teapot, hokey pokey, head shoulders knees and toes and a few more. Then a few school age girls came in to listen.  We asked them if they knew any songs and they began singing Jesus Loves Me…Dena’s heart melted and she joined in with them.  Slowly we made our way out of Adziwa and got on the road to home. I had told the group I would take them into Kauma Market so they could experience where the local people shop. We trekked off down the dirt road. Dena had something she knew she wanted to buy there and I happened to have bought the same thing a few days earlier so I knew exactly where to go. (I won’t say what it was because I’m pretty sure it’s a gift.) this is market mostly for food and household items. Lots of veggies, beans, tools, fabric and things like that. The street was and always is very busy in the market. We all walked together and I could see the big eyes of the volunteers as they all of a sudden felt completely out of their element. It can be a bit overwhelming, but I knew they could handle it. We found what we needed and Lynn got some pictures and a bit of video.  As we left the market a man started talking to me and although he wasn’t being “mean” it did make everyone uncomfortable. He was asking for money and asking where we were going and why we were there. I was able to brush him off so to speak and I quickly shuffled the team out 😉 we were fine, but the group had definitely seen enough and was ready to head for home.

We are continuing to love our morning and evening walks. The kids in the village are so sweet and now await our arrival twice a day. We always have a big trail of them beside us and behind us all the way through the village. Each of us with at least one on each side holding our hands ( sometimes more). Lots of laughing and chattering. It’s a great way to start and end everyday! We took group great group photos as we left the nearby village and I’m glad we did. I know we will all treasure those little faces for a long time.

We made our way back to Kumbali to shower since we had been invited to a wedding celebration for Guys oldest son. Guy is the owner of the farm where we stay. Some of his long time employees had been invited to celebrate since the wedding took place last week in England. We were excited to see so many of the people we have met here that work on the property. Guy and Lynn got busy making fresh chips ( French fries) in the outdoor fryer. Lynn seemed to be right at home there 😉 and he enjoyed chatting with Guy and his daughter. We all mingled and congratulated the newly weds.  There was live music, great food and some speeches. It all culminated with traditional dancers. Most of us got right in the mix took our shoes off and danced in the dirt 😉 it was great fun and we all felt so honored to have been included.

A very busy day with so many cool moments!! Ill wrote about today tomorrow while we drive to Zambia!!! Cheers!