Hello Hot Season

There’s no doubting it anymore- the hot season has arrived. Though it’s only been in the mid to upper 90’s, the sun burns with exceptional intensity. It’ the kind of heat that will render the inside of your car a blistering, uninhabitable wasteland if you leave it parked in the sun for long. The sun just bakes the asphalt to the point where walking feels more like being roasted from all sides in an oven. Hopefully it will only be a few more weeks before the rains come and cool things down a bit. Although, if I don’t get serious about fixing the A/C in my car, I may not make it that far.

Speaking of cars, keeping my cool has been even trickier thanks to a week of automotive troubles. First, failing brakes and unnatural sounds coming from under the hood forced me to hand my car over to the mechanic (again). The mechanic we use is a great guy, and knowing how much I need a car for my job, he offered to let me use his while he worked on mine. It was a good temporary solution, but his car requires even more loving attention than my own. Heavily tinted windows make driving at night complicated. A lack of wiper blades makes driving in the rain problematic. A broken windshield makes driving in general tricky. Even getting in the car is difficult as there are no handles and only two of the doors unlock. The shifter sticks, the interior lights frequently go off, and this morning I woke up to find one of the tires had deflated. He did warn me the fuel gauge was “deceptive,” but I learned the hard way today just how misleading it could be. Driving down the highway, I found out that a quarter tank actually means completely and utterly empty. Thankfully, there was a filling station nearby which I limped into, literally running on the fumes of fumes.

On a more positive note, there have been some really cool things going on at work lately. First of all, we’ve reached the final stage of our selection process for next year’s scholarship recipients. We spent many hours last week driving all over Lusaka to interview the 15 students who received top marks on the exam we administered last month. Visiting their homes and talking with the students allowed us to make a more detailed assessment of both their vulnerability and their personalities. I think we all came away with a better idea of who will make the best additions to our program. Unfortunately, funding limitations will probably not allow us to take all 15 students, so we will be facing some difficult decisions soon.

There has also been a lot of progress with one of our student community service projects. A group of both KF and non-KF students at Chalo Trust School have been working on a project dealing with the environment; specifically the dangers of plastics and improper waste disposal. In conjunction with students from the International School of Lusaka and various non-profits, we have been looking for ways to take this project to the next level. The idea is to use different mediums (art, literature, music…) to spread messages about dangers to the environment, and also health, to members of the students’ communities. The first steps toward this goal are beginning to be realized; some students have been making art projects out of recycled materials while others have written a simple book which talks about a particular environmental risk in communities. Today I took the story to a primary school to be illustrated by the younger students there.  

(KF, Chalo and ISL students working on artwork made from recycled materials)

Outside of work, the next few weeks are shaping up to be pretty interesting. We’re heading to Livingstone for the upcoming long weekend where we’re planning to whitewater raft and walk along the edge of Victoria Falls. I’m also hoping to be able to cross into Zimbabwe and meet up with the couple whose home I stayed at 3 years ago. The following weekend is Halloween, and after that my housemates’ production company (R&G Events) is throwing another party. They’ve purchased a foam cannon which, we have discovered, can bury a car and half a dozen people in under 5 minutes. 

(The foam machine in action)

Before the festivities at night, there will be a Frisbee tournament involving hopefully a hundred people from all over Zambia. We ordered some custom Frisbees for the occasion that I helped design. They just arrived this week and look pretty great. Expect some good stories and new photos soon!

(Our ZamUltimate Frisbees)