Five, four, three, two...

Sounds like a New Year's Eve countdown!  But at the Kirkpatrick household we're counting days before 'liftoff' to Zambia.  The Sife students arrive tomorrow, final preparations are made, packing is completed, and we fly on Monday.  We're so excited!  In our trunk will be detailed course outlines (in Bemba no less) for the Child Support Specialist classes.  We will leave resources for the volunteers to organize support groups for the children.  Many of the ideas we've found for grieving children call for the collecting of memorabilia of their loved one.  That most likely won't work in Africa since children have so few possessions and likely will not have pictures or tangible memories of their parents. One cool idea that Michelle, Kelsey, and Cherry came up with is to have the orphans make paper bead bracelets or necklaces in memory of the parent(s) they lost.  After they cut the paper strip but before they wind it into a bead they will write or draw something in memory of their parent.  They can then wear their memories close to their hearts.  This is such a great idea!  Watch for our next blog about the other super cool activity we'll be introducing!