Ederzambia

Tuesday June 12, 2012
Hello, praying everyone is doing good this evening, we had a beautiful day today with the children in the school , thanks be to God.  I have invited Ben and Kyndall to write the blog for today and have them share their feelings.

Hello from Kyndall and Ben! Today was a blessing, as they have all been since we have been here in Zambia! After breakfast, we went to the school to pass out Crocs and Soles for Souls shoes that were donated to us. We organized it by class, starting with the first grade. Cindy had a great idea yesterday to use her nice camera to take individual shots of the students after they got their shoes (I guess her school yearbook background was showing through). We plan on printing them for the school and tomorrow, getting each classroom to do a group shot. The children love getting their pictures taken, so they REALLY enjoyed having individual portraits. It was amazing how our team came together to work so efficiently! We had 3-4 people as the "shoe fitters" and the children came at 4-5 at a time, we had about 3 people to hand the "shoe fitters" what shoes they needed for each child, and 1 person to regulate the rest of the class that was waiting to be fitted (many of the classes would sing songs about Jesus and his love while waiting). When they first were sat on the bench to be fitted, many were embarrassed by the looks of their shoes and feet. They would take their socks off and dirt would fall out, soles of shoes had holes all the way through, and many girls had flats that had been cut on the sides because they had been grown out of. When we asked if a particular shoe fit, they would always say "yes", because they were scared we would take them away. We learned to say, "If it doesn't fit, we will get you a better fitting pair." After they realized that the shoes were theirs to keep, smiles spread across their faces and they literally jumped, skipped and hopped for joy! Towards the end, we started to wonder if we would have enough shoes or if they would be fitting for the older children. We all kept saying, "God will provide" and of course, he did! We had enough for all the students, teachers, guards, and their children AND were able to give the remaining to the ZVG guys for their families and community. GOD IS GREAT. This whole process took until lunchtime. We came back to the Kalundu Study Center for a quick lunch, and returned to the academy ready to work on the school! Most of the guys dug holes outside to mark the property for footings, and the girls came into the schoolhouse and began cleaning. We swept (with a broom made of straw, with no handle and no dustpan), wiped down desks that appeared to never have been cleaned before, and reorganized the rooms to have more space. When we all met back together, ideas started coming together. We plan on getting all new chalkboards, painting the rooms, getting actual brooms, mops, rags and really freshening up the academy! We are all excited to see what the Lord has in store for us tomorrow. Have a blessed night and we will be in touch tomorrow!