It's party time on the farm!!! - hardest day ever.

Linda Farm family with their donated nets and clothing

We braced ourselves for what we knew would be a hard and emotional day today, and set off for Shoprite, feeling more positive and excited about our final day and the planned afternoon party – the first hurdle loomed immediately when we discovered that Zambian rules don't allow the purchase of alcohol until 10am – so armed with fizzy pop, crisps, snacks and paper cups, we decided what will be will be - slapped on the smiles and jumped back in the taxi. The few beers we planned to celebrate with would have to come from elsewhere at some point during the day.

Songiso with the new laptop

Tracey and Judy spent the morning sorting through the donated clothes and mosquito nets to give to the families who live on the farm, and I took Songiso through the various apps we had installed on the donated laptop. Children's puzzles, books and music, as well as some Makaton signing hands singalong DVDs which would help the children to be able to communicate with the deaf residents.
Songiso almost broke down he was so humbled by the generosity of our British colleagues. At the moment, they have no computer at all and so they must walk 45 minutes into town and pay for soft drinks to enable them to use 30 minutes of free cafe wifi to send emails from their phones and communicate with the various farm suppliers and customers. This laptop will make their life so much easier and free up both time and money for the management team, not to mention allow them to produce monthly reports on Excel instead of paper which they can then email directly to the government instead of relying on the postal service.

Elidah and her lunchtime beer break

Donations all handed over and fields fully watered, the residents set up for the party…. Biltong and Songiso wired in some electrics for the speakers and we cleared the classroom of books and moved the desks around the outside to clear a dance-floor area…. Africans do love to dance.

We had a few tops left over which we decided to give to old Bernard, so when we saw him on his way from the farm home for lunch we handed over the bag and said our goodbyes. If we ever come back, he wants a suit so he can go smartly to church... "Mr Bernard they will call me". He wandered down the lane and waited until he reached the gates before opening the bag and finding out what was inside... a man full of respect; he could not see the shirts, nor know what colour or style they were, but he carefully examined each one with his hands - you kill me Bernard - I wish you every health and wealth this beautiful land can provide for you.

Judy and Elidah "twicking" the beer back to the farm

Judy and Elidah took us on a walk at lunchtime back to Mama Joyce's house (their local beer supplier) and after sinking a couple in her garden, the ladies loaded 2 crates full of Castle onto their heads and "twicked" back to the farm. Twicking is not a verb we have in the UK, mainly because no-one carries heavy loads on their heads, yet these women were walking, running and even Judy was dancing, whilst 18 large bottles of beer balanced untouched on a rolled up chitenge on her head. Zambian alcohol purchasing laws turned out to be a blessing in disguise; I wouldn't have missed it for the world... discussing the differences between twicking and twerking, we giggled all the way back as more and more people shouted from their gardens wishing us a great party.

Boodling class of 2017 with all their work

The ladies were all dressed up in their finest outfits, you can get a handmade tailored dress or suit, in a material of your choice, made within a day, for about £15 here and these women clearly love the bright African colours - some had even put on special wigs for the occasion.
As the women arrived with their competition entries, the judging table began to fill, until soon more tables were needed - there were hats, boots, doormats, and hanging baskets, table mats, purses, a pencil case complete with zip, rucksacks and even a water bottle holder. Tracey and I were blown away. We laid everything out and just as the judging was about to start and Tracey and I were thinking how impossible it was going to be, Rachael (from the glass workshop) turned up and agreed to be the one to make an independent final call in each category.
We had prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd for Best Hat, Mat, Bag, Basket and Plastic Item, as well as a prize for most inventive item, fastest learner and perseverance, and of course we did not forget Biltong, without whom we would have not been able to continue teaching this week.
Rabeccah came from the Sunbird to watch the prizes being given and left soon afterwards which is when the celebrations began in the classroom next door...

Nothing like a party in England where the dance-floor remains empty until enough alcohol has been consumed that Dad-dancing becomes a must... oh no, the music started and the feet started at exactly the same time. The admirable thing about Africans is that they have no inhibitions, no sense of self-loathing or negative body-image - they laugh, they smile, they dance and sing and they do it as if it were the last time they would ever get to enjoy it. They don't fret that their precious outfits will get dirty or damaged, they move freely and joyously to every beat and Arina made sure there were lots of beats. Traditional Zambian music rang out from that classroom for a good few hours and soon it was our time to go.

Leaving was hard, seriously hard - tears fell, handshakes turned to hugs and hugs turned to squeezes. Going to miss these people for so many reasons; not only have they inspired us, taught us and humbled us, but they are doing such good work and seem eager to continue. The new boodling club starts on Tuesday and will meet twice a week. Rachel will help them to source supplies at sensible prices and with any luck they will soon be making an income from it. They have picked it up so quickly and I am immensely proud of each and every one of them. If their competition entries are anything to go by, this community and it's new club, will be breaking even by the end of the month.