Me giving a nutrition lesson

Milex kids at going away party

One of my Nutrition Clubs dancing at going away party

THANK YOU for your SUPPORT!!

Our new Milex classroom!!

Foundation for new classroom. PTA and community

built structure and molded ALL the bricks.

Mwabombeni Mukwai!! (You are working well!!-general greeting in Icibemba)

I am home....in Utah. I've been lucky enough to call several different places home, and I am sure I will continue to do so. I was able to do some traveling after I ended my service in Zambia and am now settling down in Kaysville...but only until September. Linsey and I are moving to Seattle in the fall and hope we can start saving some money for a change. It was difficult to leave my village in Zambia. I developed such an incredible love for my collegues and friends there, but It was time. My area threw me a wonderful going away party and each group I worked with prepared a traditional song and dance in my honor. I was given gifts, notes, and well wishes that made my heart swell. It was overwhelming to see everyone I had worked with during my 2 years in the same place. The nursery school kids were all there, each with a white dot on their foreheads to stick out. Actually...I had given Teacher Mirriam some hole reinforcers for her notebook paper and she didn't know what to do with them, so she put them on the kid's foreheads for the celebration. It was priceless. I guess I shoul've been more clear about their purpose :). Upon leaving my village and Zambia I am left with only gratitude. The opportunity to work in such a foreign and unique environment and really emerge in the Zambian culture is one I will never have again. It was difficult at times, but it was worth every minute.

I am keeping in touch with people from my village via mail and e-mail. I wanted to give you an update on the nursery school. AGAIN>>>IT WOULDn'T HAVE HAPPENED WITHOUT ALL YOUR SUPPORT!!! All those who sent materials, donations, and well wishes should feel really good in knowing you were a part of this incredible chance for early education in Mwamba. The school was able to build a new classroom to accommodate the 100 pupils who come each day. There are 4 employees...2 teachers, a custodian, and a mill worker. To sustain the school we applied to a new NGO started by a former Peace Corps Volunteer called COLOR ME IN to get funding for a community grinding machine. The traditional food (Nshima) is made from ground maize. People from my area have to walk or bike over 12 k with huge bags of maze to the nearest mill. Not only will the mill benefit the school but also the thousands of people who make the trek to town to grind maize. The mill was successfully purchased in March and it has started working. It has so far been successful and the school is thriving.

I hope to be able to visit Zambia again, but until then it will never leave my heart.

All my love
lisa

This is it. I leave Zambia in less than 24 hours but a part of me will remain. Mostly I will carry Zambia with me, the things I've seen, learned, and the people I've loved. The beauty of trial and triumph, of tears and laughter will forever rest in my soul. I was given remembrances from the groups and people I've worked with in the form of song, craft, words, and embrace. I left Mwamba to songs from the MILEX Nursery School kids as all their faces crowded into the doorway and their little hands waving their last goodbyes. The last drive down that red dirt road was tough. I will never live like I lived in Mwamba. The walk across my village to sounds of little voices greeting me, pumping water from the well, carrying my laundry on my head from the river, cycling to afternoon meetings, and falling asleep to the village drums. I am so thankful for this opportunity. I have been immeasurably changed by this place and these people. It is bitter sweet, agonizing bliss to leave and yet reunite with my world and family in the states. I can't wait to see everyone I left, but of course we never leave people and places because they remain inside. Again I want to thank everyone who came with me on this journey and will continue to accompany me. I am full of love and hope for what tomorrow will bring. I will leave with a poem one of my fellow volunteers and dearest friends wrote...

And here I am
Preparing my goodbyes
Preparing my hellos
Trying to remember what I didn’t know
What I couldn’t know
Until I knew
Until I met you
The you that’s now me
Deep inside
Penetrating my life
And now I understand
You were where I was always coming
But I was always leaving
The unintentional suicide
Of a child who couldn’t see
That child was me
I chose to believe
In what the world could be
It’s in the way the seasons change
A shedding of skin
To greet the new
To part with the old
One day it’s hot
The next day it’s cold
I found myself washed
In the baptismal rains
With their consistent inconsistencies
Giving steps to the lame
I knew it wouldn’t last
I knew I’d have to go
You’re not my world
But you’re in my soul
A dreamer from the beginning
A dreamer till the end
And here you are
A beautiful friend
But it’s time for me to go
It’s time for me to leave
It’s time for me to see
That it’s time for me to breathe
The inhale means nothing
If the exhale’s not there
You were my intake
But the letting go I can bear
So now I’m going home
To write letters I’ll probably never send
Whispering words into the wind
This is my goodbye
This is my hello
And I finally remember what I didn’t know
What I couldn’t know
Until I knew
Until I met you.

-Lyndsey MacMahan CAHP 07