Toilets, Crickets and Sieves!

Today was an intresting and eye opening day, where we were given the opportunity to experience many new activities. The day started with us observing and assisting a Zambian sewing lesson which was very intersting as you can imagine as sewing just isn't our forte (other than Will). We then had the chance to observe lessons that were taught by the teachers from Roding Valley, these included making friendship bracelets with Mr Baidoo and collages with Mrs Hodges, this really gave the children an opportunity for their creative sides and personalities to flourish- for example their cheekiness of hiding the beads in their shirt pockets which Mr Baidoo was not very happy about! However there was one member of our team missing which was Kalum who got himself into a right pickle after locking himself in the toilet for about half an hour, don't worry a teacher let him out after quite a long challenge of shouting. Kalum wasn't the only one who got themselves into a pickle when Chloe F found herself running away from the biggest cricket she had ever seen. Also, we had the opportunity to feel like children again helping to make the classroom a mess during collage making, he he. Next we got to see what the kitchen was like in the school and got to stir the nshima which was much harder than it looked, caused a sense of weakness after realising our struggle was not a struggle for children half our age. We then were split into our groups and Mrs Hodges' group went on home visits which included carrying out a typical Zambian cleaning routine- which none of us were used to! Whilst we were doing this, Mr Baidoo's group went to a local seamstress' house and learnt how to make mats and stitch with a machine, it was very suprising to see how naturally it came to them being able to do it so quickly without having to think about it. Whilst Mr Baidoo's group was doing the home visits, which was very eventful for Libby as she found herself running away from two chickens! Our group went on work experience at a local carpenters, where we were able to make our very own sieves (don't worry Mum I'll bring it home). Overall we found today very rewarding and enjoyable but equally as tiring, but we are very excited for the rest of our trip.

Hannah C, Tasha and Chloe F xx