Charlotte & Nan's Day 2

June 20, 2009

Today we planned to leave the hotel at 10am. But due to Zambian time (Island Time) we left at 10:30am. We drove for about 30 minutes to the Chalo Trust School. We arrived and met the Chileshe’s, the heads of school. After a short meeting we headed to our dorms, called hostels, to unpack. Due to a fire last year, the girls dorm that was on the center of campus, burnt down. This resulted in a change of housing for the students. The boys hostel is down the street, a 2-3 minute walk. The new hostel for the girls is down the street as well, a 5 minute walk. The girls hostel is very nice because it is the Chileshe’s old house.
At the hostels we began to unpack and set up our beds. We were provided sheets, blankets, pillows, and mosquito nets. After we were settled, we headed to back to the main campus for the Cultural Ceremony. We first were served lunch, today the meal was traditional. One of the big hits were the caterpillars! Rahul, Alex Bolhack, Lancy, Mrs. Flemma, Charlotte, Nan all ate full Caterpillars! After lunch and a small amount of socializing, the Cultural Ceremony began. The Chalo Trust School chorus sang the American National Anthem, the Zambian National Anthem and the Chalo School song. There was also traditional dancing by the students. There was a skit by two boys from Chalo. There were also speeches by representatives from the 3 schools and from the KF Foundation. Afterword, we preformed Fair Hotchkiss. Our singing did not match the skill of the fabulous singers from the other schools. The Cultural Ceremony was great!
Afterword the boys returned to their hostel. The girls went on the bus to go to the grocery store, students from the Leopards Hill School joined us on the bus. It was great to spend time talking to them. At the grocery store we bought water, toilet paper, and snacks. We headed back to the school for dinner. When we arrived we learned that we had missed dinner.
The cook at the Chalo School nicely made us dinner. Afterword we headed back to our hostels. We enjoyed talking to the girls that night before bed. It was a great first day at the school.