Old MacDonald Had a Tiger...

Wednesday night was my night to make dinner for the team.  While I was chopping veggies and browning the mince (ground beef) I had a little troupe of entertainers invade the flat.  Five of the missionary children had come in looking for something to do, and they found a willing audience!  Their mothers were part of the women’s ministry group who were working on their sewing projects that afternoon, so the kids had free roam of the missionary base.  

Since boiling water and baking take forever in Zambia, I had plenty of time to enjoy playing with the kids.  They were singing every song they knew, and I taught them a few English songs too.  We sang “Old MacDonald” and practiced our animal sounds.  I asked them to give me the names of animals that live on a farm.  Joseph blurted out, “Tiger!!” Then Jethro suggested elephants and Banda wanted to sing about zebras.  It seemed really funny at the time, but then I realized that, of course, these are the animals they know living in Africa!  (By the way, it's really hard to imitate the sound a zebra makes.  Go ahead, try it.)

Once they had exhausted their animal sounds and dance moves, the kids moved on to singing worship songs in Bemba.  I’m still learning the words myself, so they were able to teach me some.  I wish I had them singing on video, because it was just too cute for words.