Sports day!

Hi all,

I hope you are all well?

I’m quite proud of myself so far, in that I have managed to blog every Monday since arriving back to Zambia.  Mondays are also a day that I have started to cycle to work.  It takes me about 40 minutes.  Sam does the same journey on a Tuesday and claims it takes him 30 minutes.    Or at least that is what he says!!  Its great getting on a bike in the morning.  The temperature is cooler and cycling through the gridlock traffic in the city gives me immense satisfaction!  I love the smells as I cycle along and have got used to the amusement that I seem to cause.  Not sure if the smiles are due to seeing a muzungu (white person) cycling or whether its the novelty of my bike helmet!

The girls have also been getting into their sport!  This last week they both participated in their school sports day.  As you may be aware, the current  situation at school is a little unsettled.  So, Sam and I were a bit concerned that the girls may not want to take part.  However, this was not the case. Amba ran every race with her tongue sticking out and the following morning, asked if she could do it all again!  Meanwhile, Isla who had been reluctant to get involved in practicing for the event, also fully participated.  We are both so proud of them and so pleased that despite some tough moments in the last month, they both loved taking part and had a great day.

We would really value your prayers and thoughts as we continue to seek wisdom in the situation at school.  Things are not straightforward at the moment, but it is encouraging us to trust God even more.  To know that He will answer and help us.  To  know that despite feeling fear we can move on regardless.

Will be in touch soon….

Love Hannah and the gang x

Settling in…..

Hi all
its  been an interesting week! If I am totally honest, it has not been easy. The girls are taking time to settle at their school and its thrown up different emotions in us.

Yet in the midst of this time we have had some special moments. Times that remind us why we are here and that God knows best. Moments when i look at my girls and see how much they are growing in so many ways that matter.

This picture is of some children who we have committed to spend time with every thursday afternoon. They are all orphaned in some way and live in the village near us.

I felt a bit grumpy on thursday this week, a little preoccupied with my life and feeling a bit sorry for myself. I didnt really want to go. I wanted to get my situation sorted first. To make some decisions and feel everything was fixed. But it was the best thing for us to just hang out and enjoy spending time with these special people: singing, laughing, colouring.

It reminded me to stop thinking just about me and to remember the joy of giving to others. To hand over my concerns and allow God to deal with them while I get on doing what I need to do.

A lesson learned for me this week!

Love to you all
Han and Family x

Back to Zambia….

Hi all

Well it has been a while since we last blogged!  For the last 7 weeks we have been back to the UK and it has been so lovely to catch up with all our friends and family (or at least as many of you as we could!!).  Travelling 3000 miles around the country was tiring but we so appreciate the welcome and love that was shown to us and the hospitality of many.  The photo as you can probably see is in Pizza Hut in Bracknell, a big favourite for the girls in England.  Pizza’s in Zambia just don’t taste the same, although I think Sam would eat pizza anywhere!

Now we are back in Lusaka.  We have now been here for a week and are beginning to feel more settled.  Our flight back was a success in that the girls and I slept for the best part of the night.  Unfortunately Sam only got a couple of hours sleep, but I think that was because he was watching films!

Initially it felt odd being back.  Strange and a little unsettling, moving between such vastly different cultures is a shock and manifests itself in so many ways.  The pangs of embarrassment as I see a man going through my bins in the morning after noticing that I had sorted out and thrown away items that he clearly treasured and were not rubbish at all.  The walk to school with Isla and Amba past so many children walking the other way with no shoes on and carrying sugar cane on their heads.  The guilt that this stirs in me, as I wrestle with the fact that my children are able to go to school whilst so many others are not.  The guilt at buying new clothes and other items in the UK.  Did I really need them?  So many thoughts that I guess are there in the UK but that I never have to face on a daily basis.  Finding a peace amongst this inequality is hard at times.  Living in almost a contradiction – loving my life here, yet at times so hard and challenging.  Yet my focus and vision never changes.  I am thankful to God for placing the children of this nation in our hearts. A passion to see an end to the abuse of children and a system in this country whereby they can be protected from harm.

Zambia is so beautiful and coming back just reminds me of this.  I love the people, who always have the time to stop, smile and greet us.  I love the way men carry lawn mowers on the back of their bikes and anything else that sort of fits.  I love eating fritters made in the morning on the side of the road.  I love the weather and the joy of seeing my girls running wild outside enjoying nature and their friends.  I love the smells of the market and the simplicity of life.  And the welcome we have received since coming back has been beautiful.  The teachers at the school embraced the girls and had clearly missed them.  Our colleagues at EFZ warmly greeted us and treated us like family.  So special to feel loved.  We are fired up with vision and have a plan of activities for the next year, including various training around child protection in Zambia.

So here we are, entering year two.  We want to thank everyone for all the support that has been given to us in year one.  Your faith in us as a family has encouraged and overwhelmed us at times and your generosity has been hugely appreciated.  We thank you for joining us in the vision.  We also thank all those who have offered to support us during the next year.  We will continue to update you on our lives out here but for now take care.

Hannah, Sam and the girls x

Six special children

hi all i was reminded once again on Sunday about the barriers stopping children going to school. Lucy, Steve, Dan, cocoi, boyd and tutu are orphaned children and come to our church. it has been great getting to know them over the last year and seeing them develop relationships and confidence. However at times it has been difficult knowing the best way to support them. On Sunday Lucy came over to me upset because she has no bag for school or shoes. So today we bought them a bag each and the church bought them some shoes. just a small act which we hope means they can go to school. Meanwhile we are coming home. it has been an incredible year and in two more sleeps we Will hit the UK soil and Will be feeling the cold i am sure. we so look forward to catching up with friends and family. love Han and family

Six special children

hi all i was reminded once again on Sunday about the barriers stopping children going to school. Lucy, Steve, Dan, cocoi, boyd and tutu are orphaned children and come to our church. it has been great getting to know them over the last year and seeing them develop relationships and confidence. However at times it has been difficult knowing the best way to support them. On Sunday Lucy came over to me upset because she has no bag for school or shoes. So today we bought them a bag each and the church bought them some shoes. just a small act which we hope means they can go to school. Meanwhile we are coming home. it has been an incredible year and in two more sleeps we Will hit the UK soil and Will be feeling the cold i am sure. we so look forward to catching up with friends and family. love Han and family

Animals

Morning all
Just wanted to continue with our daily life blogs and share with you bits of our life here in Zambia.

Animals have become a big part of the children’s lives here. Our neighbour has recently acquired some parrots, puppies and the rabbits you see on these pictures. The Zambian girl you see on the photo is Bernise , one of our neighbours. Had a bit of a drama the other day when one of the parrots escaped!

On another note it is getting exciting here thinking about coming back in march. The count down has begun …..!

Anyway have a great day

Love Hannah and the family x

Church

Hi all
Another big part of our lives is Grace City Church. This is a new church with about 60 people, really diverse coming from a range of different backgrounds. We have totally stepped out of our comfort zones whilst being here with sam occasionally preaching and me involved in worship team! Even amba has taken to playing the African drum!

The children’s church is also a big part of our lives, often the highlight of our girls week!

So looking forward to seeing you all on march.
Han and family

Lunchtimes….

Hi all

Moving onto our activities at lunch time….After picking the girls up from school and nursery at 12.30 we do various different things.  Often we drive to the Swedish School for a swim (trying to get fit!) and we eat a packed lunch there before driving home.  But other times, we take the girls to meet people who we know are involved in local projects.

The above photo is at Pachachele Primary school, which is a community school set up by an amazing Zambian lady called Angela Maleck.  She has become a good friend of our family and we try to support her when we can.  When our girls first started at the British International School, we realised that the school were not currently supporting any local community schools.  We suggested to the headmaster that if they would like to engage with a local project, Angela Maleck would be a good contact.  Therefore, at the Christmas nativity play all the proceeds and donations were collected for this project along with mealie meal and various other food stuffs.  It was an exciting thing to be a part of and connect the two schools!

In this photo, Isla, Amba and I had dropped in to say hello to Angela and have lunch with the children.  I am so proud of the way they get stuck in and adapt to situations.

But for now, I hope you are having a great week….

Love Han, Sam, Isla and Amba x

Breakfast and snails…

Hi all
Another little insight into our early starts. Sam and I get up at 5 most mornings and then get girls up before 6 to leave house at 6.45! But as you can imagine most mornings don’t quite pan out like that and breakfast has to be eaten in the car on the way to school and nursery. Oh and we often have a little snail to accompany us on our way….

Love to you all
Han, Sam and the girls x

Journey to school…

Just thought over the next few days we would show you little snippets of our daily life here in Lusaka. Today’s photo is of our short walk to school. This is the most relaxing part of the morning as just preceding this stroll is a manic 45 minute drive through some crazy city traffic. Even our sneaky back road route has become an obstacle course with newly created potholes from the rains here. I thought the M3 was bad!
Hope you are having a good week.
Love from the FB’s
X