Hello 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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Yesterday was our first full day at the poultry farm. We began with a tour of the land and facilities from Ba Charles. The buildings are made of bricks. I have to admit that I still have a hard time comprehending the construction...
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In the last year, Agatha Kapiri joined the staff of Spark’s partner, Hope Ministries in Zambia. She is trained and educated as a social worker and has three main roles:1. Serves as lead House Mother at Hope House (orphanage) 2. Provides oversight and advocacy for...
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Rich and two Lenume videographers, Sam and Zach, at Hope MinistriesA while back, videographer Sam Sanchez of Lenume traveled to Zambia with me and a group of Spark investors. One of the videos that we worked on during that trip was our Partnerships...
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Yesterday’s post was a little intense, so I will lighten it up today.I tried some yogurt at dinner last night that was called “Forbidden Fruit of the Forest”. Sounds tempting, right? I thought so….and it was worth the indulgence. It is made from an African...
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