Zambian kids at play

Our children like to play with the children of the caretaker at the new college building. They play football (soccer) with a ball made of plastic string from mealie meal bags. Here are some of the Zambian kids playing before our kids arrived. Joshua and Caleb joined in the game upon arrival.

Tires are another fun toy. Joshua and Caleb are still trying to master the art of rolling a tire around without it falling over every few seconds. They have fun watching the other children and trying to get the tires rolling themselves.











We let Becky give one of the little girls a dress that she had outgrown. Shortly after giving her the dress, we walked to a store a short distance away from the college to get some bread and water that we needed. (Our menu does include more than this.) When we were returning on the road, I saw the little girl wearing the "new" dress. But when the Zambian children saw us coming back, the little girl ran into the house and changed back into her old dress. I thought this was interesting. Zambian culture treats gifts in a unique way, putting an emphasis on the giver instead of the actual gift. If you give someone a wrapped gift, they will probably not open it in your presence, but will simply say thank you. It does not matter what the gift is - they are thankful that you gave them a gift. I tried to talk with the older girl about why the younger one changed back into her other dress, but she doesn't speak much English so either didn't understand or couldn't respond.