A few more things.....

Here are few other things that have happened during the past couple weeks:

-I ate my first caterpillar (it was cooked and slathered in sauce, no worries)
-I visited Botswana with a few  of my co workers
-I enjoyed visiting some other MCC projects-Here is a picture of one of the schools MCC sponsors.

I also wanted to share these pictures of my favorite place to hike and have a picnic. Rainy season seems to be coming to an end, but we have had so much rain over the past several months that the Dams have been filling up and everything is so GREEN! Here is the change from before rainy season to after rainy season!

Here is also a picture of my dear friend Petronellar and I at the Goshen Butchery that sits at the Morning-side shops right between our homes, which are about a 10 minute walk from each other. We feel that it is fitting that there is a Goshen shop between us as Goshen, Indiana is the place that connects us. Although, I think we would have still met and become great friends even if we would not have had this connection!!

One thing that makes me super happy in Zimbabwe, is Pomegranates!! I love that one of my favorite fruits is grown here and I do not need to feel guilty about it being shipped halfway across the world before I eat it. I am also grateful for coworkers and friends who bring me pomegranates from the trees in their yard! 

Finally for your viewing pleasure a few pictures of one of my favorite little ones:) and myself, just in case you miss my face!

 

Education!

During the past two months, new shoes have been purchased, backpacks and uniforms adorned and the energy of a new school year has been upon us. Now, evenings are spent working on homework and preparing for the next day of school. I continue each day here in Zimbabwe, to become more  interested and passionate about education. I continue to see the way that education empowers young people to make a way for themselves in the future but more importantly develops their character and creativity. 

I have had the joy over the past several months of working with the preschool that exists for the delightful minds of our three and four year olds before they are ready to attend grade zero. Teaching preschool has been a challenge, difficult at times to engage active preschoolers in tight spaces with little resources, but I am quickly learning to be a bit more well planned, laid back and creative.  I have also discovered that even though I do not think I want to be a preschool teacher anytime soon, I love teaching, I love being creative and finding fun ways to teach and I love seeing the children excited about learning! It is so fulfilling to have children run up to me and say "Auntie Lena, look" and they are so excited to show me what they have learned whether it be counting to 20 or  singing head, shoulders, knees and toes! 

I am also going to begin getting more involved with a program at the centre that I am so passionate about.  It is called the Training Centre. The Training Centre began back in August and helps some of our girls who have not done well in school to have a school of their own where they can to learn all kinds of important skills.  The main focus is on agriculture. The girls garden many vegetables and also raise rabbits and chickens. They also learn computer skills, math, English and life skills. The life skills is where I come in, I am working at teaching the girls life skills a couple of days a week. I am still trying to discover what they will learn, but I am hoping to expose them to some creative projects, character building and an active lifestyle. It is a learning process for me but I am grateful that the Centre is giving me this learning opportunity!

On Friday mornings I also have been enjoying working alongside one of my coworkers and going to a local private school to teach grade 7 about character building and anti-bullying. This is also a good new challenge for me. Two afternoons a week I also continue to help another volunteer with literacy groups. 

I currently find myself entrenched in education and I am really enjoying it. I am struggling to figure out what this means for my future. I am still unsure what career to pursue but am so happy for this year of learning and trying new things! SALT, has given me many ways of exploring my interests and developing my gifts!

My lovely preschoolers! If only I could get them to all look at the camera at the same time:)

December Pictures

Saying goodbye to my lovely MCC reps family:(

                                           Camp

December Reflections

I have sat down several times during the month of December to write a blog post, but my desire to be creative and inspiring in my writing has left me with writers block.  I still want to update friends and family on what has been happening in my life, so here is a bit of a mundane but hopefully helpful description of the past month of life in Zimbabwe.  

Goodbyes:

The past month has been a bit of a blur of goodbyes, preparations and Christmas Cheer.  I will begin by sharing about some of the more difficult goodbyes.  Early December I had to say goodbye to my amazing, incredible, wonderful MCC reps; the family that first welcomed us SALTers into the country, provided us with endless hospitality and supported us in our first 3.5 months of living in Zimbabwe.  It has been challenging to say goodbye to such an amazing family, but I do feel blessed to have known them and to have learned so much from them about living in Zimbabwe and working with MCC.  Fortunately, we have new MCC reps coming in early January and I know they will also be amazing people to work alongside in Zim.

Goodbyes will continue to be a common occurrence during my year in Bulawayo as volunteers at the Sandra Jones Centre come and go and work visas are not permitted and people can't stay in the country.  Young adults also continue to leave the country to study and work because the job market in Zimbabwe is not strong.  At the beginning of December I also watched my church community and host family lose a young man about my age, He was newly married and had a young son, he died after breaking his femur.  I had met this young man on a couple of occasions and can't quite believe that he died.

Camp:

I did something in December that I do not usually do because normally I am living in cold climates. I went with 16 of our high school girls from the Centre to a week long adventure camp. Logistically it was a bit of a challenge preparing 16 of our girls for camp because there were lots of things the girls needed for camp. I was one of the camp leaders but I spent much of the time getting to know our girls a lot better. It was a fun experience to be at a camp out in the bush. We climbed mountains, abseiled (also known as repelling), swam, paint balled, played games and worked at discipleship of 60 teenagers.  It was fun, challenging and beautiful to spend a week in nature. I was exhausted at the end of the week but grateful for the opportunity to spend this week getting to know our high school girls better.

Christmas Preparations:

December has also been full of preparations.  Christmas at a Children's Centre is extremely hectic, as all the children are on holiday from school which means they are at the Centre all day long.  All month the Centre has been getting ready for an event called Carols by Candlelight. On the 20th and 21st of December we held an event where the community could come and participate in variety of activities such as meeting many characters from the Bible, weaving, pottery, bread baking, dancing, face painting, a jumping castle, petting zoo and various other Christmas treats. It ended with a live nativity play and singing many Christmas carols all of course by candlelight! The event all went very smoothly and was a blast.  Most Zimbabweans do not do a lot to celebrate Christmas so this event was a fun way to get in a festive mood.
It has been a good and challenging month and the days have just flown bye! We also spent several days, along with the world, celebrating the life of Nelson Mandela. Watching endless news coverage and being thankful for his impact on healthier race relations and social justice in South Africa.  I am looking forward to a couple of days off of work and am grateful for the many friends I have here in Zimbabwe to celebrate Christmas.

May your Christmas be full of much love, joy and peace!
-Elena

Thankful

I am thankful for so many things today.  Every year on thanksgiving I like to compile an alphabetical list of what I am thankful for. This year I did this with some of the girls at the Centre. I thought I would also put a list together for all of you to read.

A-adventure
B-books and babies
C-cool nights
D-dreams and discernment
E-education
F-family and friends
G-God and gardens
H-home (thankful that I have many places and people to call home)
I-Internet (more so this year, because it keeps me connected to family and friends on other continents)
J-jogging
K-kindness
L-laughter and learning
M-mangoes
N-nature and new sights
O-opportunities
P-peace and papayas
Q-questions
R-rain
S-singing, sunsets and the Sandra Jones Centre
T-trees and tea
U-understanding
V-vegetables
W-water
X-eXercise
Y-You
Z-zebras

We have much to be thankful for in this life. I am continually thankful for your support and prayers during my year in Zimbabwe. Your thoughts and love mean the world to me!! Happy Thanksgiving.

Address!

For those of you who enjoy writing letters, here is my mailing address;)

Elena Nussbaum
MCC Zimbabwe
PO Box AC 680
Ascot
Bulawayo, Zimbabwe

Thanks!!

The Joys of Jogging

The Joys of Jogging

I love being active and am so thankful for the many opportunities I have had to jog and walk during my time in Zimbabwe, so far.  The area around the Sandra Jones Centre has two roads that are perfect for early morning jogs.  One of the roads that I jog on at 6am is also the same road that many of our children and many other children walk on to get to school.  Many mornings I go running by myself but people join me on my run.  Sometimes the children from the Centre want to run with me and other mornings children join me that I have never met before.  It is quite impressive how far some of the children can run especially in their dressy school shoes.  The other route that I have started running on I can go further and this is a more major road with nice big sidewalks.  I often find other runners on these paths, which is exciting to find some jogging camaraderie.

One week it was really cold (which occasionally happens here) and so I did not get up early to run I waited until the afternoon when it was a bit warmer.  The older girls were home from school by the time I went jogging.  That cold week the girls started to ask if they could come with me.  Ever since that week, each day I have girls asking me if they can go running with me.  When the girls come along we never run the whole time, we run a little bit then walk a little bit then we run again.  It has been a great way to help the girls at the Centre get exercise but even more important it has been a great time to build relationships.  While we walk we often talk, laugh and relax together.  It is also a good opportunity for the girls to get away from the Centre and the stresses of school work.  I am so thankful for their excitement and enthusiasm for being active.  I hope it continues during my time here.  

During the weekends with my host family, I have enjoyed finding places to safely walk.   It takes me about an hour to walk into town which I enjoy doing when I am meeting up with friends.  My host mom has also began jogging with my around the neighborhood once a weekend.  One of my friends and I also often try to meet up on Sunday's to go for walks because we live close to each other on the weekends. 

I am SO grateful for all the people who have joined me in being active in Zimbabwe!   

-Elena