Tuna Yoyo

"We are well". The official language of Zambia is English, but most people here speak either Luvale or Lunda. Really, only the educated speak English. We know we can't get fluent before we return, but we're trying to learn a little bit of Luvale...and how to not be rude Americans.

We've gotten to see a lot of new things. Friday, we mostly just recuperated from the trip and time change. Saturday, we went out to girls' camp. There we got to meet many more of the missionaries from the area. It was 8-9th grade girls week and we arrived at tea break. Then we listened to the message (about modest dress..in a lot of ways, it was very like an American camp, but in a lot of ways, not at all) It was in Luvale, but some of the missionaries gave us the general gist. They also wrote Bible references in English on the blackboard, which made it easier to follow. We also had our first meal of Shima. It was a very bland, thick dish...Ali says like grits without enough water. They made it from mostly cornmeal instead of mostly cassava, so it didn't taste too strange to us. It was served with smoked/dried fish (not our favorite) and something like collard greens. We got a tour and took lots of pictures!

Sunday we attended meeting (church) for the first time. We had to talk to the elders, and then sit through a Luvale service. We borrowed hymn books from Marian...they were all to American tunes, and Marian taught us the vowel sounds so we could sing along, even though we didn't understand. Tomorrow, she's taking us to buy our own Luvale hymnals and Bibles :) We only attended one service since it was our first time (my back is grateful...hard seats!), but services last from about 0830ish to 1330ish if you attend the whole thing.

Today was our first day at hospital. We came in the morning at about 0700ish and followed the doctor (a ver nice believer from Congo) on his rounds. He explained lots to us, and so far we've seen cancer, malaria, HIV, measles, sickle cell, possible leperosy, malnutrition, sepsis, hemorrhage, stroke, Perthes' disease (new to us), kidney failure, trauma, and more. There was a 1000 tea break and we got to do a tube feeding for the stroke pt. We left around 1300ish. The nurses mostly have 2 year diplomas, and some of them are employed by the government, which means they can get posted here.

This afternoon, Marian took us to market and we bought our first chitengis. They are like sarongs, and worn as skirts, or as baby slings. WE practiced tying the skirts and then Peter, who helps around the house, showed us how to tie babies on our backs. He seemed rather amused. We tried it with dolls...and we're still practicing. We visited an old woman who sang us a welcome song while we sat in her little mud-brick house after Marian had brought her food.

And, for those who've asked, we do in fact sleep under mosquito nets :) And. A scorpion joined Carolyn during her bath a few nights ago.

Love,
Carolyn and Ali