A small update:

Last weekend I went on my first Zambian road trip. We went in the Ubumi van to visit the twins who are away at separate boarding schools in Ndola, about 70 k away from Kitwe. These trips are not easy because petrol is roughly ten dollars a gallon (and I thought anything above 3 dollars was thievery).

The first school was called Mupapa Academy. It’s a private, Christian school and I was surprised at it’s condition. The buildings were haphazardly laid out and constructed and the living quarters were a bit dingy for 1.2 million Kwachas per term. To their credit, new living facilities are being built so maybe there will be improvements. Harriet seems to like the school okay but she was very upset to see us go, I wanted to take her with us.

We went to Novice’s school next. It’s a government school called Chiwala. This place was considerably nicer and I find this a bit ironic… An interesting fact- the late President Mwanawasa of Zambia went to this school.

It was nice to see a bit of the Zambian countryside driving to and from Ndola. The jakaranda trees are always beautiful no matter how many times I look at them. If you’ve never seen them, google it.

We’ve gotten a new girl at Ubumi this past week. Her name is also Memory so we call her Memo or use their last names. Unfortunately, Memo is not new to Ubumi. The orphanage tries very hard to integrate the children back into their communities and, if they can, with relatives. Sometimes it doesn’t work out and they have to come back. But I can’t say we’re sad to have another playmate.

On the jumping castle front- the one in Pennsylvania didn’t work out. BUT- we’ve found a manufacturer in South Africa that is in our price range thanks to the lovely people of the Hudson foundation- Children of Ubumi.

This weekend we may visit the largest chimpanzee sanctuary in the world- Chimfunshi, I’m excited about this.

Until next time,
Peace.