MZUNGU

I decided to not go today so that tomorrow for our BIG ASSEMBLY I will be able to attend everything - from start to finish.

We have two neighboring village coming to play the Nawantale women's soccer team. So, we've decided to have the two guest teams play one another and the winner will play our Nawantale women's team. The winner will go home with a traveling trophy. Our day will start at 9 am and the game will begin around 2 pm. We will have lots of food and a lot of attendees. We haven't invited the neighboring villagers, instead, we are focusing on the inner circle of Nawantale - and helping the immediate residents.
MZUNGU - (pronounced: ma-zoon-goo) is heard everywhere. Today at the "athletics" event Kay and I tried our hardest to "fit right in" but it wouldn't happen. There was no way the kids were going to let us NOT stand out! :) We even stopped at the gas station to fill up the soccer balls with air and a young boy - probably around 7 saw me in the car and yelled...MZUNGU and sported a BIG smile on his face and waved with enthusiasm. Of course, all his school friends joined in the stares and waving. I felt like Madonna!

Athletics was interesting - we went to Balawoli high school and watched the school kids compete for a very large district competition later in the year. They did a 10,000 M run, a 5,000 M run, high jump, long jump, etc. All of this in whatever clothes they had - torn, unwashed, unmatched, etc and barefooted. I didn't see any competitors participating in an athletic shoe - or any shoe to be exact. Some of the students were wearing shoes but not all. They wear them if they have them and obviously don't if they don't. That simple.

Tonight Kay and I sat outside our rooms in the courtyard and talked about life, work, the African project and more connections back home that need to be made. Good stuff happening that we're both just so jazzed about! As I turned to walk into my room, I realized that a very large praying mantis had also joined us at some point in our conversation. Nobody kills anything that they're not going to eat here - so I simply got Martha (Sammy's assistant and our cook for the week) to sweep it away further into the courtyard and further away from my room.

Pineapple - yummy goodness!! It is better than any pineapple you've ever had - including Hawaiian pineapple. We had plenty of that today and I had my fair share to help with my immune system.

More pictures and text to come...the computer I'm working on is very slow...