We went to Mwase this morning to have our Farewell Ceremony. We arrived in celebrity fashion a half hour late due to waiting for our driver. But, that is fine in Zambia since they weren’t ready either, and a half hour later, we were ready to begin. You couldn’t even begin to imagine how they celebrated our being at Mwase. It was an honour and a privilege to be a part of the ceremony. We also participated with singing our Canadian National anthem. Then we did a skit of all the different things we learned on the job site including everything spoken in Tumbuka. It was a lot of fun! Then we finished off with a Bemba song called “Taqwawa uwawa ga Yesu” (There’s no one like Jesus) with the whole school joining us.
After a 2 hour program, we said to good-bye to all our new friends from Mwase, from the parents, to students, to the construction workers, the teachers, we will have memories that we will cherish for a long time. From the faces of the children when they were so happy to see us or touch us, and some that were scared of seeing white people. Memories of working and praying with people that didn’t understand us, and we didn’t understand them, and still being able to build a building. The students that were so excited to see the bricks finally being used to see more classrooms that they will be able to use for this generation and the next! The teachers were so excited that they will be able to have meetings in their “staff room” instead of a small office. There was also much appreciation to our family, friends and church families in Canada for their financial and prayer support for making this trip possible to all of us that were here.
-Valerie
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