Greater Joy ... the greatest joy I have seen

After a fairly epic journey our welcome to Africa was certainly a baptism of fire! The Airports' baggage claim was a far cry from what we are used to! I joked and took mockery pictures of the hole in the wall that the bags were flung into...turns out the joke was on me! While we had made it to Zambia, our luggage had not! "It'll come tomorrow - don't worry about it!" Welcome to Africa...laid back,  it'll happen when it happens and time is flexible. With a quick shift of attitude, all was well...we had arrived and we had work to do! This has been the first valuable lesson of the trip and set the tone perfectly. We have very easily become materially obsessed and the thought of not having out toiletries, umpteen changes of clothes and shoe selection sends us to the brink! As Mrs Bentley immediately pointed out, some of the children that we would be working with, might not have a change of clothes all week. The word perspective is one that will undoubtedly be used throughout our time.
After a fantastic night sleep we were met with a hearty breakfast to fuel us for the day ahead. What was ahead? I wasn't fully sure what to expect! On arrival at the school I immediately felt welcomed; the friendliness, warmth and sense of community was incredible and infectious. After a tour of the school we met with Angelina and her husband, Pastor Ospeck. Her welcome was one of emotion and passion. A truly inspirational woman, who along with her husband founded the school. Her commitment to children and their education is admirable - a truly wonderful woman.
The group were then divided and given their tasks for the day - I'll let you read their blogs to find out all about this.
My first day can be completely summed up by the title of my blog. The children in the Greater Joy School are quite simply the warmest, friendliest, most beautiful young people. They have very little and yet they give so very much. Their smiles, enthusiasm and excitement is like nothing I have ever seen. They don't have fancy facilities - in fact, by our standards they don't have facilities at all and yet the genuine love of learning, playing and being part of this school community is phenomenal.
I have no doubt that my time here is going to be one of the best I have experienced. I'm so very excited for all that is to come.
Miss McEvoy