farm country

Today I visited Baluba, a farming village about 45 minutes from Ndola on the way to Kitwe.  Pastor John works with the community in Baluba, specifically a community school for 200 children in grades 1 through 7, and members of the church in the area.  A piece of land has been rented to grow some crops with the plan to use some of the land to grow produce for the feeding program.

Roads in Zambia are not always paved roads.  Actually more often than not a road is a narrow bumpy dirt path full of giant holes and crevasses and you hope that you do not meet a car driving in the opposite direction as that generally leads to all sorts of fun as you try to pass the other car on a "road" that is barely big enough for one car.

Just to give you an idea of what I mean, this is a picture of one of the "roads" I was driving on today.  Yes, it looks like it it just a small walking path (because really that is all it is), but it was one of the roads we took to our destination.

The group of people who will be responsible for the farming project (in front of sugar cane):

The people in Zambia have made hospitality an art form and as I had brought them seeds, they wanted to share some of their produce with me, so I took home some fresh sugar cane, cassava, ground nuts and sweet potatoes.

Digging the cassava:

Fresh ground nuts - my first time eating them right from the ground:
 

Sweet potatoes:

A sweet mom and her baby:

And speaking of sweets, the monkey loves them!