Our Partnership Trip started yesterday, and all of our trip participants arrived safe and sound! For the most part, everyone's flights seemed to have been on time and smooth, though after traveling for a day and a half, the group was still a bit worn...
Read MoreMama Lillian tells great stories. With every story she tells, you can see the various emotions and thoughts from the event rising back up, and she tells her stories like she's reliving them. One of her recent stories was about a woman she met when...
Read MoreTo give you an idea of what a ridiculous and wonderful day I’ve had today, I’ll tell you how it started. While eating porridge with Mama Lillian and Nkhongono, I see Mama Lillian stand up and start yelling out the window at Uncle Jay. I...
Read MoreHi all! It’s been another productive day as we managed to get updates and letters for more of the students who had missed class on previous days this week. Shortly after finishing our work on updates and letters, we had a quick lunch and started...
Read MoreHello again! After I left you yesterday, I hurried home to have a delicious meal of nshima, fish, chicken, cabbage, gravy and mashed potatoes with my host family. It was such a wonderful and satisfying meal, and having nshima after six months away...
Read MoreAfter a harrowing and highly unusual journey, I arrived in Ndola on Saturday feeling fairly rested and ready to get to work. I managed to squeeze in a meeting with the translators, mostly Hope staff and supporters, who would be helping me with sponsorship updates...
Read MoreWell, I am in Ndola. Between my last blog post and now, I have lived a comedy of travel errors, so saying that I’m in Ndola feels much more like an accomplishment than I would normally think. The following (very long) post will read a...
Read MoreHello again, all! After a slight delay in Chicago, I've made it safely to London and am now faced with the terrible decision of what brand (or if we're being honest, brands) of delicious European chocolate to indulge in. :)The flight to London, the first...
Read MoreHello friends!For those of you who are new to Spark or to our blog, I'm Joann Chen, Spark's Program Director. I'm excited to kick off the blogging for my upcoming trip to Zambia, for which I leave on Wednesday. I'll be with our partner organization,...
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If you’ve traveled to Zambia, you know that time orientation in this country is quite different than our Western view. This being my 10th visit to Spark’s partners here, I have a much greater appreciation and understanding of these differences than on my first trip...
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