To my Favourite

Today is your first day of Grade One.
I've been praying for you all day.

New school year
New classroom
New friends
New play ground for recess - You've graduated into the 'big kids' section of the school
And a new language- So proud of you for doing school in a second language. It will be good for you!



Today is the first day of term 3 for many kids here too! Although, the recognized first day was yesterday, many students didn't start until today.


The days leading up to the first day back to school aren't too different here than they are where you are. Gathering supplies: pens, pencils, notebooks, calculators, protractors, rubbers, etc. Getting uniforms sorted: shoes, trousers, shirts, sweaters- all in the school colours of light blue and black. You don't have a uniform but you know about getting new outfits for school. Some kids will be excited, others dreading. Some kids will have the supplies they need, others will not.

There aren't any shops around here tho. Certainly not any Wal-Marts touting 'back to school' sales on backpacks and pencils and pens and crayons and paper and notepads and miscellaneous supplies and clothes and recess treats and tupperware and toys and whatever other sales they might happen to have around this time. Instead, many kids just make do. Or they might find a couple notebooks up at the market. Some parents will go into Zambezi to get some of the supplies they need. And ALL of the kids know how to share. No matter how many kids use the same pen, they all know who it belongs to.

I've had a few visits myself this past week from some of my young school age friends asking for supplies and, thanks to a teacher friend from Toronto, I've been able to give freely.

I don't want to make it sound overboard here. The students here will mostly have all the supplies they need. I do want you to understand my dear, how different and yet how similar it is here. People are people wherever you go; all with the same needs and wants and desires and hopes and dreams. Don't ever forget that! We may look different and we may have different backgrounds and experiences and aspirations in life, but at the core of every human beats the same heart.



I thought of you this evening when three adorable boys showed up at my door with their 'father' ... in our culture he was an uncle, the younger brother to their father. Chilemu was 10, Luka 6, and the baby, Philip, was 2. They wanted to buy new clothes. Their currency: a live chicken.


I wanted to thank you for the clothes you let your mom send in the last container. A shirt and trousers of yours - even tho they said 4T, were a perfect fit for Luka. And shorts and a tee- shirt from your younger brother provided an outfit for wee Philip. I had two shirts from a container box, a bit big, but, as uncle pointed out, Chilemu is growing. I had to smile at that, how often has your mother picked out clothes for you and your brother on the assumption that you would 'grow into it.'

You sent a box full of matchbox trucks and cars. Well... maybe you didn't realize they were being sent... ??? This is one BIG difference that I can write about freely, without fearing that I am being judgmental or uninformed. Most kids here- the majority of kids here- do not have a 'toy' to play with. The average girl in this area where I am living have no dolls as we know them- they play with babies or make dolls from roots, or sugar cane stalks or corn husks. The average boy will have no motorcars unless, somehow he gets his hands on an empty and unclaimed jug and then he or an older brother or uncle or father will cut holes and use sticks for the axle, and rounded pieces of wood for the wheels and that will be his motorcar attached to a long stick that he can use to push this motorcar along as he walks.

The kids here are genius a 'using their imagination'. Sticks and stones make great toys. Plastic bags and rubber bands make footballs. Trees are for climbing- as high as one can go!

Very different from the plethora of dolls my sisters and I had growing up and the mountains of motorcars that you and your brother have!

Many days in hospital, children or parents will come asking for a kadolly or a motorcar, or 'chuma chahemesha': a thing to play with. Sometimes we are able to give. Sometimes we are not. For many different reasons...

But I wanted to thank you for sharing your toys. I wanted to remind you that God loves a cheerful giver. I wanted to tell you that the toys you shared are finding their ways to homes of little boys and girls who are thrilled to have them.

The wee boys at my door this evening were glad of the new clothes. But all three lit up when they saw the toy trucks. And on my part, its nice to be able to give something that is not necessary to doing life, but is a very real 'want' around here.



I hope you have had a great day at school. I hope the new language isn't too difficult. I hope you find your friends again and make new ones. I hope the toys in your class room and the arts and crafts projects are all fun. I hope today and every day you are reminded of the blessings God is pouring out on us. On you! He daily loads us with blessings! Even you, at your wee age He is loading with blessings! Thanks very much for sharing some of His blessings with us here!

love you lots!
Aunt Tia



ps... any ideas of what to do with this chicken locked in my porch????