Zambia Cross-Cultural: they're back!

Each red name is a location where one of our students stayed this weekend!

It was so wonderful to see our students returning this afternoon from their various weekend home stays! They looked wonderful as they returned in pairs, thanking their hosts for the weekend. After an afternoon of settling back in, we had another delicious dinner followed by an extended time of sharing about their weekend experiences.

Here are some of the comments/phrases students made:

Key words from the weekend: hospitality, humbling, patience, grace, hard-working, simplicity, strength, family.
Two of the girls were proposed to by the same man! (Fear not, they both respectfully declined!)
Reading a sign that says, “Don’t panic, needs never end.”
Discussing gender roles in Zambia and the clear distinction between “men’s work” (building, plowing, etc.) and “women’s work” (childcare, cooking, housekeeping).
Some of the unique names of people they met: Sunday, Clever, Bright, Gift, Brilliant.
Noticing the differences between how Americans and Zambians observe death – Zambians take a week to intensely (and loudly!) grieve after a loved one passes away, and seem to get it out of their system more quickly than we do in the States.
Realizing they had very little control over what happens next.
Realizing how much they take things for granted.
Feeling guilty for not earning the hospitality they received.
SPIDERS!
Realizing that “a lot of people do a lot of work making my frozen vegetables at home!”
Spending time harvesting sunflowers and groundnuts (aka peanuts).
Very physically challenging – walking A LOT, harvesting, being in the hot sun.
Sleeping in their hosts’ beds while their host families slept on the floor. VERY humbling!
No electricity!
Kids are kids everywhere – laughing, playing, teaching them to play games.
Watching their food die in the form of chickens freshly slaughtered before dinner (an honor to get to eat a prized chicken!).
Getting to carry buckets of water on their heads from the well. (Or, trying to!)
Harvesting, grinding, and pounding flour and peanuts.
Picking sweet potatoes.
Goats, ducks, dogs, and other animals always wandering about the homestead.
Learning to dance Zambian style!
How challenging cross-cultural communication can be.
Women are known by their firstborn’s name – “Mother of Joe” (or "Bina Joe" in Tonga) instead of Janet. They are also often renamed after they get married. (Janet used to be called Mary!)
Many were with polygamist families.
They were all treated like royalty, by people who have little, but gave much.