Our guard/gardener Charles Mutale celebrated his 30th birthday yesterday. They have a tradition in Zambia for birthdays - a tradition that I have grown to love. In Zambia, if someone celebrates a birthday, it is the responsibility of family and friends to splash the birthday boy/girl with water. Well, yesterday morning was no exception. I filled a 3 gallon bucket of water to the brim and waited just inside the yard out of sight. Caleb had a water gun and hid in the guard shack. And Gracyn hid behind a tree with two water balloons.
When Charles arrived, with Dailes, at 8:00 am he reached through the gate to unlock it. Now, Dailes knew we were planning something. So, she kept her distance. As his hands were through the holes on the gate tinkering with the lock, I snuck up and dumped the bucket of water over the top of the gate right onto Charles. He definitely wasn't expecting it. Then, after getting the gate opened, Caleb and Gracyn chimed in with their water weapons. Kerri stood across the yard and tried to video tape the whole thing, but the batteries on the recorder were dead. Oh well!
After he dried off, we headed out for yet another surprise. While we were in the States, Charles wrecked his bike on the way to work and broke it beyond repair. So, we thought his birthday would be as good a time as any to get him a new one. There is a ministry here called ZamBike which provides discounted mountain bikes for pastors. We were able to find one just his size for a good price. All in all, I think he enjoyed his birthday surprise (at least one of them)!
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