Gonzaga University Psychology Program in Africa

Dear all friends, family and generous contributors. It is with the greatest excitement that I can announce Chimfunshi School’s first day of classes was held Thursday June 21, 2007! The school is more than ever envisioned! Just days before my departure to Zambia, I was given a contribution large enough to build a proper, 2 room school building!

Construction has been ongoing for the past 3 weeks. The people from the compound have been helping 2 local builders dig the foundation and pour the slab. I have been learning the ease of building in America compared to the Zambian Bush! After we dug the foundation—all by pick ax and shovel, we began pouring the foundation, which entails mixing each bag of concrete. There are no cement trucks here! Walls will begin going up on the 29th and from there it is up to the people here to get it done in a timely manner, which I know will happen!Classes have begun as well! Using the large tent that was donated, I have had the assistance of Gonzaga students to teach about 30-40 children. It has been an exhilarating experience. I am quickly learning Bemba and can already see the children learning English.Numbers, colors, and days of the week are in English so we have been working on those. Today we sorted different colored beads, wrote the color words with magic markers, played Chutes and Ladders, and practiced addition and subtraction. Some of the children have attended school prior to moving to Chimfunshi and are quite bright and eager to be learning again. Others, although starting from scratch, are excited to have a school and are working hard every day.The children’s enthusiasm will build the school quickly. I have found children at the building site before they come to class, helping fetch water and shovel gravel. The parents have been helping as much as they can when they are done with work, digging, moving blocks, and mixing concrete. It has become quite the community project!A teacher has been lined up to begin in August. Unfortunately, due to maximum employment at Chimfunshi, the accommodation for the teacher isn’t here! The teacher will be living in one of the classrooms and the office of the school until a proper teachers’ block is built. When there is a proper teachers’ block, we will be able to have 2 teachers—2 classes! We are also researching the least expensive way to install pit latrines. For a school to have government support, or even be recognized by the Ministry of Education as a community school, it has to have proper toilets. This will be the next step of the project.As for myself, I am over the moon! The students are so enthusiastic and bright. Every day there is another new face. They all realize that this is the real thing and they come so clean and nicely dressed!Mothers had to walk the younger children to school the first day and now we have to shoo them away until it is time to begin lessons! I am learning their names and we will have a formal “registration” next week. I am now called “Madame Lennae” by the children, unless they forget, then it is just “Teacha’ Teacha’” I look forward to the next few months to see the children’s academic growth, the building be completed, and the success of this project.I want to thank everyone that has supported me in any way. Without your support, this project wouldn’t be happening. You have done something to change the lives forever of all the families of Chimfunshi for many years! Any additional support is still greatly appreciated. Your generosity will go far, as you have already seen. I have attached some small photos of the progress. Hope you enjoy. I love to hear from you. Greatest Thanks,Lennae Jenkins

I hope all is well. We miss you! That’s really all I wanted to share. Emily was in charge of giving you something for the blog. Only thing on my end that would be cool to add is that we have been walking around the enclosures which are beautiful.  Enclosure 2 cuts through grass land and goes down to the Kafue river. Kelly, Kelly, Nicole, Emily, and myself all climbed a tree by the water.  It was awesome. And the other day Amber, Sam, Kelly Ross, and I biked over to the farm to play net ball with the women. They are so aggressive! One woman played with a baby on her back. The game is a mix between basketball and ultimate frizbee.  A few of the women from the compound came with us.  On one bike there were 2 full grown women and their two babies! They are constantly gaining more and more respect from me. They treat us all with so much respect. I wasn’t feeling well and Jen offered for me to ride on her bike.  She has to be a few years younger than me! Anyway, lots of stories for when we get back.

Hello friends and family!Zambia is amazing and everyone is doing really well. We only have a few more days here at Chimfunshi and then we’ll be off to Livingstone!

p1250308.JPG Photo of Dr. Mark Bodamer — field researcher in action.

I’m sorry its taken me a few days to get back to the blog, but I thought I would share a few more reflections and some highlights of the first week.

 The first few days were spent getting oriented, talking about plans, schedules, expectations, and (very importantly) safety. Mornings began with an early group (”dawn patrol”) rising (at about 5:15!) to walk up to the project with Dr. Bodamer. Four students at a time signed-up for dawn patrol. The small group gave Dr. Bodamer a chance to talk individually with each student, and the early hour was a magical time for watching the chimps wake-up as the sun rose. Students not on dawn patrol could walk up as they wanted to (and as they woke-up), as long as they were in pairs, for safety reasons. The second morning, I walked up with the late group (we left camp at the leisurely hour of 9!), and stopped at the first enclosure (about 2 miles from camp) to watch a mother and her baby (mother-baby observations became a favorite for the students). We were allowed to stay up at the project as long as we wished to (although the later we stayed, the warmer it got), as long as we were in pairs. I enjoyed watching all of the activity around feeding time (about noon); some chimps would come into the cage areas to eat while others would stay outside or take their food up into the trees. It was pretty clear who the dominant chimps were — occassionally fights would break out. Chimps were fed a diet of mealy balls (which the students would help prepare) as well as fruits and veggies and a big stein of milk!

Most of us would head back to camp for lunch, enjoy some “down-time” sunning and reading in the beautiful 70 degree weather before heading out to the danbo to play with the children. Very quickly the children and their families embraced us and invited the girls over to have their hair braided (Brittni, Jessica, and Katrina were the first to get their hair done!). Even without speaking much Bemba, we communicated very well. (In particular, I understood very quickly that my hair was way too short to be braided — this was accompanied by much laughter on the part of the young girls who were playing with it!.

Evenings were spent with several students cooking (we organized five cook teams to rotate the cooking) and enjoying the meal and each other’s company (dining took place in an open air, but covered area in the center of camp). Most evenings ended (for me anyway) with a meeting to discuss plans and to engage in reflection. One of the first reflections was on the lows and highs of the trip so far (just two days in); most students spoke about the poverty they had seen and their understanding about how many families and children had been touched by HIV/AIDS; conversely they also spoke about how much joy the children expressed and how open they were to us. In that reflection, I was moved (again) to tears by our students — I told them how proud I was of them for embracing the opportunities we had been given and how glad I was that we were all opening our hearts up to the experience.

I’ll post more later and will add a photo gallery soon (that will illustrate much of what I am writing).

 Here we are, on the first morning (Friday, June 15) — don’t we look good for all of the travel we did? Most of us had a good night’s sleep and all were eager for the first hike up to “the project” (chimp enclosures).

I am so glad to be able to post again so that I can begin to share some of the details of our adventures with you all. As you know, I am back home. It was truly a whirlwind experience for me .. I will start at the beginning and write more later.

We arrived at Chimfunshi on Thursday evening, June 14, in the dark, after a very long journey (two overnight plane trips for most of us, followed by an 8-hour bus ride!). The bus took us through a section of Lusaka near the University, where we saw a neighborhood clearly inhabited by the privileged — larger homes hidden behind walls and gates. Once we were traveling out of Lusaka, I was moved to tears by a group of three boys (who seemed to fit the description of the “street children” whom we read about). They came up to the windows of the bus while we were at an intersection. Their faces were both sad and hopeful. Outside of Lusaka, we passed rows of houses (if they can be called that), clearly inhabited by the impoverished — tiny mud and straw huts. What was most striking to me were the number of people walking along the road — women with children on their backs (and often times with big loads on their heads), children (small children) walking, men carrying loads or riding bikes with big loads. We passed many road-side markets.

Chimfunshi, itself, is located about 1.5 hr. from Chingola (where we go to shop), near a village called Muchinchi. The longest part of the trip between Chingola and Chimfunshi happens when one turns off the tarmac –  18K of dirt road (with many potholes) — quite an experience when riding in the back of the cantor (more on that later). So, we arrived at the education center (where we were staying) just after dark, but with a campfire and hot meal ready for us. After dinner, Kristin and I hiked out to the danbo (flood plane) with one of Mark’s experienced students leading the way. We tried the satellite phone (it did not work) but were able to get through on the student’s cell phone (quite amazing when you think about it). We took a moment to enjoy the stars, which were incredible.

We woke up (most of us grateful for a horizontal night’s sleep) eager for the walk up to “the project” — the chimp enclosures. The first group of chimps were very rowdy — one even threw stuff at the group — a good reminder about chimp safety and etiquette that Mark taught us. We spent the morning getting oriented to the project site and saw many wonderful chimps (I especially liked watching the moms and babies!). Once back at camp, most of us went out to the danbo where we were joined by many children from the compund nearest the education center. Brittni brought soccer balls and jump-ropes, which were a hugh hit. We spent a couple of hours playing with the kids.

Tomorrow I will share more but that gives you a sense of the first 24 hours! I hope to post pictures tomorrow as well.

I am now on my way home (glad to be returning to my family but was sad to leave — there are still many great things in store!). The students have really bonded with one another — it is a great group! They are in good hands with Prof. Mark Bodamer and his wife, Amber. On-site, are also five students for whom this is a second or even third trip, including our Chelsey — the students have been generous and helpful. Everyone has settled in nicely and are eager for more adventures to come, especially the bush walks with the baby chimpanzees and the upcoming visits from the local village school children. Other than a few minor colds/allergies, everyone is healthy. Today the whole group will go to the nearby village of Muchinchi to join the women at the Fubanzi Women’s Center for a greeting, a meal, and singing and dancing! I will put up a longer post (with pictures!) once I am home. Posting from Zambia proved impossible, but I have asked Chelsey to email me with updates that I can post from home. The students send their love!