We began our day walking to the orphanage – Child Care & Adoption Transit Home, down the road from our lodge. There were 13 children ranging from the ages of five months to ten years. We played with them in the backyard and they enjoyed taking photos on our cameras. It was challenging to hear some of the stories of the children in the orphanage and how important the orphanage was to them. When we left, we all generously donated money to the struggling orphanage which created a total of t2100.00 Kwacha!
After lunch we headed to the Light Up Ahead School for the feeding program. When we arrived we were like celebrities, the children were screaming and shouting. We began playing with them and then while some made balloons others lined up the children at the food station. There were over 400 children. Some attended the school and others were from the village. We began serving them. The kids were trying to push to the front. It was a struggle to control the children. It was a challenge to serve the kids such little food knowing that it was their only meal for the day or even for the week. It was confronting knowing how much we complain about what we get on our plates.
We made up over 400 animal balloons and as the kids waited for them it became like a riot. We ended up having to pass balloons out of the classroom window to create some order. It was crazy how much they appreciated a simple balloon. We ended the day with a beautiful home cooked meal of Zambian food at Veronica’s home.
Elle Callo & Erin Schmidt