VIM to ZIM

In my message on Sunday I should have said that others *may* be able to write something soon. As it turns out, although Africa University does have wireless connections throughout the campus, and although the library does have several up-to-date computers, Internet bandwidth is extremely slow, making it very difficult to read or interact with anything that uses a web interface (such as this site).

So I’ll do my best here to provide short summaries of what’s going on, but photos and more in-depth discussions will probably have to wait until we’ve returned.
Yesterday the entire group went on a tour first of Africa University (AU), and then of the various facilities at the Hartzell Mission — a primary school, high school, orphanage, and clinic — across the way from AU.

We were all impressed with AU’s beautiful campus and buildings (many of them made
possible by donations from Methodist groups around the world), as well as by the enthusiasm and dedication of the various staff members we met and talked with in the administration office, the library, the health sciences school (”faculty”), and the agriculture school.

At Hartzell we visited the clinic and left for them the various medicines several team members had brought. And then we walked by the (newly built) cottages of the orphanage, stopping to talk with all the friendly and curious kids, and their house mothers, who came out to greet us.

Later we were taken on a quick tour of the Hartzell Primary School, where we were treated to a dance performed by some students and to a couple songs by the choir. We also had a wonderful and lively tea with the school’s headmaster and his teaching staff — probably the highlight of the day for many of us.
Today everyone split up to go to their individual assignments, either working at Africa University in some way or at Hartzell Primary. I’m sure we’ll hear all about these experiences later this evening.
As I said, this is just a very short, quick posting of the latest news. All of us are having experiences that I know we’ll want to share with our friends, family, and others much more in-depth than is possible right now in this medium. -Mark