Zambia Trip- Part 2

Here are some more parts of our Zambia trip. We had a great time seeing some of the country and neighboring towns and meeting a lot of people. 

• One day, me, Jon, and Mekonen took a 3 mile walk outside the grounds one day, and wow! We were really in the "country."  There were miles and miles of dirt road hidden beneath bushes and bushes of green. It's not farmland like we have here in Indiana. Zambia farmland is like rainforest/tropical looking. It's very peaceful and very quiet. Not a lot of people around. Much different than Addis in Ethiopia. We went by a few pockets of homes and people and a few market stands, but not many.
• Here is Mekonen asleep in the pack n' play equipped with a mosquito net because of malaria.It was hilarious because every morning when he woke up, he would stand up and his little head would be popping up under the net. We would watch him from our bed as he frantically tried getting it off. We had to get to him quick and get it off before he started to cry. hehe. 

• Here is Mekonen enjoying the grass at a little restaurant we went to. It's way back in the "country" and was so beautiful. The grass hut to the right is the restaurant (we ate outside), and the other huts were rooms you could rent for parties and such. Mekonen LOVED just sitting in the grass. He stayed in the same spot almost the entire time we were eating, just flapping his arms and touching the grass. It was adorable. I have NEVER seen him sit so long before! 

• This is Mekonen and Pastor Kilembo who heads up a lot of what goes on at Kafakumba. He and his family live in a house on the Kafakumba grounds and we ate dinner with them one night. It was a lot of fun getting to know them and their story. Mekonen loved him. Everytime he started to talk, Mekonen would just stare at him. 

• One of the major farms the head guy's family just bought is about 2,000 acres. They are building their house on it, and their two sons are building as well. Their farmland currently houses several of the fish ponds and bananas. Their farm is just past a very poor village of people, sobering sites, lots of people, lots of poverty. However, many of these people are being employed by John Enright and their futures will now be much brighter: better food, education for their children, the ability to buy/build a house, etc. Their land is beautiful. Here are a couple pictures of one of the son's houses (he is building a new one). 

Mekonen getting ready to go out for the day in the nice, warm sun. Hat and all! What a cutie! 

Our last Saturday in Zambia we went to another very large farm the missionaries recently bought, about 4,000 acres. It is currently 4,000 acres of nothing but their cabin and a few mud huts of workers who work for them. It is incredibly quiet, serene, and peaceful. There is an amazing lake and the fishing is great! Most Zambians can only fish by way of very simple equipment, such as a big pole made from a tree branch. We went out on a boat with fishing rods, lures, etc., and look what we caught! Some really big tilapia!!! I LOVED the fishing. It was so much fun! This one of mine was the biggest of the day for awhile. Then later, after lunch we went back to fish again and Jon caught the biggest one. 

This picture of Jon was not of his biggest fish. We didn't get that one. Bummer.

Me and John Enright (the missionary who runs all this stuff), and all the fish we caught. Yummy dinner!

• We met a family who runs the business of a game reserve. It's kind of like a wild animal zoo/park and it is very out in the country. There are cabins to stay in, a little restaurant, etc. they live there on the grounds and manage it. They introduced us to about 10 of the most poisonous snakes in Zambia and have some of them caged for display as well. 
• This family also had a pet mongoose that bit mekonen's big toe. he did not appreciate it. It didn't break the skin or anything. it was just a baby. but mekonen kind of gave this little whimper and was about to cry and we look over and the mongoose had a hold of his toe!!! After that, he stayed clear away from it, although the mongoose kept trying to grab his toys. It was hilarious. A pet mongoose! Who would've thought! :) (Here's a picture of a mongoose because we didn't get one when we were there. Haha). 

• After walking around the grounds for the first time, we found out that the question going around among the Zambians was, "How can a white couple have a black baby?" (thinking Mekonen was our biological son). The director's son later told them, "He's a reverse albino." They seemed very confused and were not sure whether to believe him or not. So apparently around there, I was the white girl who gave birth to a black baby with a white husband. Haha. adoption wasn't even the thought of a possibility. haha. (Adoption is not common here in Zambia). 
• We visited a few different projects going on in Zambia as well such as a school, a sponsorship program for underprivileged kids to get an education, and an HIV program. We also were able to go with a social worker on his visitation rounds to the different sponsored families. It was a really neat experience. Most of them were incredibly poor, living in mud huts with little to nothing, but they were doing everything possible to give the children in their care what they needed (many of the families were caring for children that were not their biological children).