Bad Grades and Awesome Fulfillment

My worst grade ever in college was on a paper I did for World Politics...or something like that. The class was required for graduation and obviously did not make a big impact upon me as I can’t even remember the specific name of the class.  My major was Child and Family Studies with an emphasis on Child Development.  I was in my senior year and I could care less about World Politics and World Relations. I had found my beloved, we were already married and I was counting down the days until I finished college and we could start a family. Literally, as I was pregnant (intentionally!) during my last semester in college.  

We were told to pick a topic for this paper, so being the child development focused person I was, I chose to write a paper on UNICEF.  Out of all the branches of the UN, being a white privileged young woman who couldn’t wait to have her own children I thought I could most identify with the ICEF part of the organization. The International Children’s Education Fund.  So in between my practicum for the other classes I was taking, and my real life preparing meals, budgeting as newlyweds and working out interpersonal communication skills, I researched for my paper on UNICEF. 

I read, studied, and most of all thought about the children and families across the world and I wrote the paper.  My self-evaluation, when I turned it in, was, “I did well!” 

 My teacher however did not think the same.   

He was a short older man descendent from some type of Middle Eastern, Indian, or maybe it was Lebanese background. I couldn’t really tell back then, anyone outside America was simply NOT American. He had wild longer gray hair and even wilder eyebrows. --Though I really can’t fault him for the wild eyebrows. I come from a lineage of good, thick, albeit bushy if left to themselves, eyebrows :) 

His evaluation of my paper was that he gave me a D.  

An actual D, in bright red ink and quite large on the top of my paper! 

From what I remember the reasoning was that I made the paper too emotional, too passionate. He wanted a more technical paper that stayed on the intellectual level that could be discussed and debated. Functionality and Policies. 

He didn’t want so much feelings on children that don’t have access to proper schools or even to a decent education. He didn’t actually want me to think about the girls that have to skip school for a week when they have their periods because they don’t have access to proper sanitary products or even bathrooms. He didn’t really want me to think too hard and feel too much about children that have no water at homes. Children that have no toilets. Children that are exposed to Cholera and Malaria. 

I guess in the end, the paper was more of an emotive research paper than a scholarly one and he graded me accordingly.   A big fat D. I was really disappointed. Truth be told, not because I was actually going to do anything after college that was going to need me to have a knowledge of UNICEF, or World Politics, but because my fairly good grades and my image didn’t have room for a D.  Oh well. I ranted about it for a few days, packed my college life up in a small box and started my family life. 

I never thought about that D again. 

Until last week. 

Fast-forward 20 years and I am researching online how to teach children about proper sanitation and using the toilets. I come across an excellent resource - 80 pages that is exactly perfect for teaching children in SubSaharan Africa. Illustrations, visual aids, understanding of the culture and the organization promoting this material ? 

UNICEF

I am still smiling now, a week later at the pure irony of that situation. 

We just completed a sanitation project for a school that was closed due to cholera and not having running water and toilets. Children that never have been able to use a toilet or have running water, or use a shower now have access to those things! That is HUGE. 

I was teaching 13 and 17 year old kids as well as 3 year olds, how to wash their hands with running water and how to use a toilet and flush it. Kids that at home have to carry water from a community pump every single day and sometimes twice a day. Now at school all they have to do is turn on the faucet. When I think of that, I am amazed. 

The following is from the water.org website 

Water connects every aspect of life. Access to safe water and sanitation can quickly turn problems into potential –unlocking education, work opportunities, and improved health for women, children and families across the world. Today, 1 in 9 people lack access to safe water; 1 in 3 people lack access to a toilet. More people have a mobile phone than a toilet. We can change this. Let’s work together to make the power of water available to all.

We did work together to make it available to a small mission school and church in a shanty town in Lusaka. WE, the donors and supporters, helped to give the gift of water and sanitation to people on the other side of the world. 

I am still laughing about the D.  Who ever would have thought? Certainly not me. 

The fact that I could be involved in the very thing that I passionately wrote about and then forgot about all those years ago, is just so awesome and fulfilling. And I don’t use those words lightly or often, but it really is. 

Update, Sugar and A Healthy Focus

Wow, It’s been a whole year since I have posted or updated anything on the blog. 

Sometimes I think about writing but then don’t ever find the time or make the time for it. 

I had hoped this year I would have more time but here we are, already in May! 

I closed my bakery at the end of last year. That was the best move that I stressed over and contemplated for so long. In the end, our products were still loved and successful but I had too many employees and cash flow was a challenge with businesses on payment plans. Which all = too much stress.  In the end my work permit was up and to renew it would have been a difficult thing given that I was owning my own business so I would technically need an investors permit which was the very thing that James was struggling through all of 2017 to get. (Talk about Stress!)  Thankfully he got his permit about a month before my permit, which had him and the kids listed on, expired. So the Lord was working things out!  As I was deciding what to do I realized I wanted my “legacy” to be what I do in the lives of my kids and not being that stressed out mom all the time. That and how I can help others.  

I have been so thankful to have more time at home to oversee the kids homeschooling and just to be managing the home better once again. It also has freed up time for the orphan work I do with HOPE, which was a very good thing at the beginning of this year as Cholera hit Lusaka hard and schools and businesses closed. The effects were far reaching and the sanitation project has been very time consuming so I have been thankful to have time for that as well.  As I scrolled through old posts just now, I realized we had the first whole year with no problems with our water supply AND the electricity blackouts that were terrible for so long, are now stabilized. SO a lot of good changes have happened in that regard. 

On the home front, Sarah just finished her second year of college and is half way through. Ian is in his last year of high school and looking at colleges to attend in Aug 2019. His school schedule got off track switching between curriculums as well (American Homeschool, Zambian School, International school with British Curriculum, Zambian School, finally back to American Curriculum) so that in theory he would be going this year 2018 and then Emma 2020 and Caleb 2022. See a nice, every 2 years pattern?  Well, Because we learned from the challenges with switching curriculums Emma and Caleb all started into high school back in the American System, Caleb even a bit earlier. Kind of confusing but the point of it all is that now the next 3 kids will be leaving in 2019, 2020 and 2021. Every year! I don’t know how well this momma is going to handle that. The hardest part is living so far away from America when the kids are going back there for school. 

Everything else is going on well. Since closing the cakery, which had unlimited supply of sweets and treats and a net gain of about 20 pounds over the 4 years of its operation, we are getting healthier again and that has been good. Sadly, I am learning its more about the amount of food in your intake then the amount of exercise. As I was exercising consistently for those above mentioned 4 years, but somehow those cinnamon rolls and daily lattes and red velvet cupcakes couldn’t compete with the exercise. :)  I would honestly rather spend 2 - 3 hours in the gym every day and be able to eat (oh and drink!) whatever I wanted then have to put the kabash on some of those things. But the learning experience has been a good one of discipline as well.  And on that note...Ok all these diets and eating plans that are the fads right now??? Keto, Banting, Paleo, THM, Vegan, Gluten-Free, Dairy Free, Whole 30...I mean what and why? 

But we actually did try one. James went back to the States in March with Caleb and so Emma and I did a “30 day reset”. It was No Gluten, No Dairy, No Added Sugar, No Processed Anything and No Alcohol, and oh also No Happiness - Eating Plan.  I learned a few things from it. 

But first, the reasons that I was even willing to try this were: 

-At the end of the Holiday Extravaganza (which for us is the whole month Sarah is home, Middle of Dec and then culminating with our anniversary at the end of January, where we eat and drink and are merry)  I found out I was at my post pregnancy weight with my last baby. As in, he was born and I went home from the hospital and now 12 years later I find myself back at the same place...Not a place I wanted to stay. 

-My daughter wanted me to try it and ended up being a great encourager! 

-My best friend was on a crazy no happiness diet of her own for medical reasons trying to figure out some histamine issues, 

So I guess you can say the stars aligned and the guys were out of town and we tried it. 

We bought super expensive almond milk, gluten free flour, stevia, coconut oil and a few other things that only in the last 2 years are we now able to find in Zambia. We made our own applesauce to use in place of oil as well and utilized our garden and had salads almost every day.  What I learned is this: 

-You can do anything for 30 days especially if you have the support of others

-Dairy is far harder to “live” without than gluten (ok except when it comes to pasta) 

-Sugar and Oil is so unnecessarily used in so many things.  (Like oil on raisins?) 

-We do a fairly decent job on not eating processed foods since I do like to bake and cook and we don’t have all the convenience foods available to us. 

-Hummus!!!   We started making our own hummus and it is so good and all the kids loved it and now we have hummus and grilled veggie wraps as a lunch menu each week. They all agree the best thing to come from it was Hummus! 

My 2 biggest “take homes” 

-Use sugar, but use it purposely! 

Don’t just put it on and in everything. Sugar in juice, sugar in ketchup, sugar in pasta sauce, sugar in bread, sugar in yogurt, etc. It really is too much.  Rather make something really good with sugar, on purpose. Cookies, a Cake.  It’s not evil or of the devil, but if you are going to use it, then USE IT on purpose!  

-For all the gluten free, dairy free, sugar free, alcohol free 

I actually lost the same amount of weight while on that type of diet, as I did the month before and the month after, on eating regular food reasonably and purposefully mindful of eating smaller portions. 

Anyway, I am blessed to have food. To have good food. In a country that has many people going hungry every day, my “extra” weight is actually seen as a sign of good health and wealth even. I currently have no medical condition that warrants me having to abstain from certain foods which again is also a blessing. I know for many people that is not the case. So I will take the lessons learned, try to continue on in a healthy life of balance and enjoying the things we can enjoy and keep it all in perspective. Wether I lose the last 5 pounds or if I keep it, I want my focus and outlook on life to be the healthiest. I think for all the "health crazed" culture, let's not forget to keep a healthy focus of your life.