We started our day going to a welcoming and ground breaking ceremony not expecting it to turn out the way it did. The weather reminded us of a hot summer day at home with the wind just a blowing. As a surprise to us, we met the chief of the Magodi chiefdom.
There is 235 chiefdoms in Zambia. He was very happy to have us here and already has his mind set on a new project after our secondary school, he wants a university! One of the things we witnessed during this ceremony was the chief asking 2 of the villages close to the school grounds to move, giving them a year to get moved. It was very interesting to watch the goings on while he was speaking. Before the ceremony began we also got invited to see some of the traditions surrounding the chief, including sitting around on the floor to listen to him speak and the gifting of chickens, a goat(both live), as well as other items. Some members did get to see the slaughter of the goat, which sounded quite different from how we do it in Canada.We also got to witness 3 choirs singing, although we did not understand their language, it was amazing to watch them singing and dancing and happy about everything.
After all of that we also adventured out to Mwase to see the school that last years group helped to work on. It looks amazing, and will be finished in the next month so the kids are able to use it starting the next semester in January. While we were out there we got to interact with some kids who were both intriged with our visiting and nervous to come around, although they do like cookies! Today was a great adventure, can't wait to see what tomorrow has in store for us with working on the school.
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