it is the rainy season and we are in the tropics
Dear family and friends,
Our plane circled the Lusaka airport for 45 minutes before the rain eased up so that we could safely land. Fair enough – it is the rainy season and we are in the tropics. The four seasons that we call summer, fall, winter and spring are slotted into two seasons over here: the rainy season, and the dry season. This is the time of year when roads can be washed out….when one has to watch the sky and scurry home before the heavens open up and make ‘going home’ challenging!
We have come to Zambia to visit each project, visit our friends, and hope to return to Canada with our priorities once again adjusted to reflect what is really important in life! Always, we wonder what adventures await us…
This trip we are accompanied by Alex, a young woman from Vancouver, and Mala, a friend from Victoria…and upon arrival we were met by Albert French, another friend from home, and the Mbumwaes. On Thursday we shopped for groceries, visited an ATM, and received a loan of a cell phone for our time here. Friday morning we set off on the long drive to Kalomo. An hour or so out of Lusaka I heard a frog croaking in the vehicle…they are plentiful at this time of the year. I couldn’t see it – but it was nearby….under the seat perhaps?? A few hours after setting off we stopped to stretch our legs and there it was again – Kermit was croaking near my feet! I checked under my seat and beside the door – but no sight of the hitchhiking frog. Albert also had a look to see if he could spot our little green friend… Then, as Alex and I were walking towards the washrooms – the croaking began once more – IN MY PURSE!! “Alex – it’s in my BAG!!!!” Her eyes opened wide and she said “Open it up and let it out!!” My purse, once clutched to my side, was now dangling at arm’s length, and croaking furiously. I wondered how large this frog might be and was just about to walk back to Steve and Albert for back-up when I noticed that each time the frog croaked….there was a slight vibration in my purse. Again…again…again…..”Alex – it is the cell phone!!” I answered ‘hello’ and Ruhtt was on the other end: “you found the frog!” Yes, we found the frog J
Sometimes we experience something so wonderful that we say “the trip was worth coming just for this”. On Saturday we had such an experience at the wedding of Lewis Phiri and his lovely bride Mavis. It can never be said of Zambians that they lack a sense of occasion…. Ruhtt decorated the Johnson auditorium in her typically Peruvian style with streamers, artificial flowers and balloons (being careful to turn the white balloons with “Toyota” written on them so that the letters faced the wall.) Zambian weddings have a ‘matron’ – and her task is to ensure that everyone comes and goes at the proper time – kind of like a choreographer. For this wedding the matron was Tebia Kambulu – decked out in soft blue from her head piece to her toe nails. The wedding began with Lewis at the front of the auditorium, flanked by Roy Merritt who was to officiate. Next, from side doors at the front of the building, came the younger attendants, who tossed glittery bits down the centre aisle to the back door….as they moved along in their rhythmic style to African music booming from the PA system. Following this, the bridesmaids and groomsmen danced in as couples – with mothers and aunties and sisters ululating and jumping out of their seats to dance along with the bridal party. As each couple reached the front of the church they showcased their particular dance steps and we saw hips contort and sway as we never imagined they could!!! The atmosphere was absolute jubilation – with the exception of the bride – who followed the Zambian custom of appearing solemn, grieving the departure from her family. As she walked down the aisle her head was bowed and her eyes were on the floor. As soon as we heard “I now pronounce you husband and wife” the dancing began once more as the bridal party exited the church. Then came the reception – more dancing! Food! And the giving of gifts. Wonderful. Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Phiri.
Yesterday I helped Ruhtt to interview and accept new sponsored students. Most clutched their Grade 9 results and were requesting sponsorship for High School. As well, there was a Grade 8 student named ‘Cloddy’ seeking help to attend Namwianga Basic School. He came with his mother and although he couldn’t speak English very well (perhaps he simply couldn’t understand my English!) he articulated very well in his written request for help. His father is a retired farm worker from the area and it was evident that the family is quite poor. Cloddy is still small in stature, and when I put my hand on his shoulders….oh dear….I felt too many bones. Ruhtt accepted him into the sponsorship program and Steve, Alex & Mala drove him to town to kit him out for school. As well, because he will be in boarding at the Basic School, they bought him a mattress and blanket – and FOOD. At least we can give this young boy a chance… Then, along came little Ndjoni, who is in Grade 1 at Namwianga Basic. Six months ago – along with his younger sister, Precious, he was brought to the mission to live with his aunt Jennifer. Jennifer didn’t know these kids existed….but they are the children of a half-brother (a polygamist family) and therefore related to her. Their mother had passed away and the father had disappeared. For a while a neighbor cared for them, and when she learned that these children had a relative not far away, she brought them to Jennifer. Imagine…..your family grows by two kids in the blink of an eye! Jennifer has children of her own and is employed as a domestic worker – not much income to feed two additional mouths and definitely not enough to educate them. So….Ndonji is also accepted into the sponsorship program. In our suitcases we had brought some clothing that fit him perfectly – including shoes – so off came the rags and flip flops and on went some decent attire – and finally little Ndonji smiled J
Today is Tuesday and finally we are adjusting to the time zone….getting acquainted with the wall spiders…and watching out for the resident lizards in the kitchen. At first we thought we had a bachelor, but yesterday there were two and they romped as they dashed from under the fridge to under the freezer. I’m not sure if it was a playful romp or a serious rumble….but there is sure to be more action in the future! Mildred and Ian are taking good care of us as they always do….chatting with us as they go about their work and helping us to grow in our understanding of, and appreciation of, life in Zambia.
Blessings upon each of you – thank you for your prayers – and stay tuned!
Love, Joan
Dear family and friends,
HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!
We are staying at Namwianga Mission, home of George Benson Christian College and Namwianga Christian Secondary school. On Sunday night we joined 300+ students for the evening song service and worship. No sound equipment can duplicate sitting in the midst of several hundred young voices singing “Wobata”- with Prince as song leader! I think it is as close as we will get to a heavenly chorus this side of heaven….
In preparation for a new farm manager at Seven Fountains, Albert French has been renovating a small cottage on the property. It was originally built as an ostrich house, and then converted into a farm staff house. It is kind of cute, actually, not unlike an oversized doll house. To spruce the place up we painted the bedrooms a lovely shade of paint called “Honeysuckle”. Yesterday, Shepherd picked up an additional can of paint to finish the job and was able to find the same colour. At least, the word “Honeysuckle” was on the can! The paint, however, was several shades lighter than its twin can of paint opened the day before. If you ever visit this house and notice that there is a light strip near the floor where we cut in by brush…..it wasn’t intentional! I should also mention that the bathroom of this cottage has all three components: toilet, sink and shower – squeezed into so small a space that one could conceivably take care of all three tasks at once J We hope the new manager and his family will be comfortable for their first few months here.
We’ve had a few evening power cuts this week – forcing us to have a few corresponding candlelight dinners! On these evenings we head outdoors after dinner to view the starry host above us. The elevation here is about 4,000’, and without any artificial light to diminish the stars – and virtually no air pollution – the heavenly expanse is awesome. Mars has a decidedly red hue….the Milky Way shows its enormous size…..and what might appear to be clouds are, in fact, more clusters of stars. It is something to behold!
Some things I am used to now: the spiders (well, as long as they are not too close!), the roads, the too-skinny dogs, and the knocks at the door. But there is something I will never get used to and it is the stories that young people tell about their lives. Many are heartbreaking and one wonders how these young people gather their feet under them to carry on. They unfold with a soft ‘tap’ at the door – and we find a young man or woman sitting on the bench outside. “Are you here for sponsorship?” “Yes”. “May I see your school results?” And – “Where is your family?” Thus begins the story. A young man from Simalundu came the other day – a village waaaay out in the bush. He said that a neighbor brought him. “Where is your mother?” “Passed away”. “Father?” “Also passed away”. All I can reason is that a survival instinct kicks in……and off the young person sets on foot to this place where they have heard that funds might be available to attend high school. Thankfully this particular young man had passed Grade 9 and been assigned to Zimba High School. We’ll meet him there tomorrow!
Most of the wee orphans in care at Rod and Sue’s are doing well. Micah will soon return home with his grandmother, and other families are making a plan to collect their precious toddlers. Molly has grown yet more adorable and I think she might be a contender for “Miss Zambia” someday! Molly and her twin brother, Timothy, have a mother who is mentally challenged and rummages through the garbage in town to fill her belly. She has already had another baby. Also in care are darling twin boys named Tom and Jerry, and numerous other babies – each with a story and a future. Often, after they return to live with their relatives, they come back to visit to say thank you – and to show Sue how the child has grown. There can be no sweeter reward!
Sunday after church we visited the Kalomo Hospital and distributed some clothing in the children’s ward. Mala has worked as a nurse in remote communities in Canada, but had never seen a situation like this. To call it a hospital is a gross misuse of the term! The place is filthy, lacks proper furnishings and appears to be without a doctor. And to top it off, we found the nurses sitting chatting….quite unconcerned with their patients. If you ever travel in Zambia, it is best to kit yourself out ahead of time with the medicines you might need – anything to avoid going to a government hospital! By contrast, the Namwianga Rural Health Centre, a few kilometers away, is smart and clean and better equipped to handle many situations. However, politics have thus far prevented the clinic to expand its services beyond that of simple interventions. Today there is a meeting in Kalomo to challenge this – and we are praying for reasonable minds to reach just decisions. Stay tuned.
We visited the Namwianga RHC last week and met a lady who had given birth to twin boys the night before. They were a good size at 3.2 kg. and 2.8 kg. Mum was waiting for the father to come and escort her and the new boys – sons # 5 and 6 – back to their village. Tebia Kambulu had given her baby bundles to outfit the little fellows and both were going home in lovely pink onesies, wrapped in pink blankets. Whoever decided that pink was for girls anyways?!! Tebia said she is nearing the end of the bundles, so we will send more in the next container.
Our resident lizards have kept out of sight for the most part – with the exception of an early morning appearance yesterday. Nothing like a cup of coffee and the unexpected sight of a lizard dashing across the floor to get one’s heart pumping in the morning!! In our bathroom there is a resident wall spider – a good sized specimen whose territory is right beside toilet. He doesn’t move much….during the day he sinks down to hide behind the baseboard (he thinks I can’t see him – but I can) and when the sun goes down he relocates about 12 inches higher to feed on unsuspecting mosquitoes lurking in the bathroom. This is a good thing, so I don’t discourage the spider, but I do use the other bathroom at night!!
At night the fruit bats chirp and sing us to sleep and in the morning we awake to the grey loerries telling us to “go away”. We watch for red bishops as we pass the small bridge near the college….and on the overhead wires we are often treated to the glorious sight of lilac breasted rollers. The local birds are amazing and we keep our bird book at easy reach to learn more of their names and habits.
Now it is Tuesday….no rain for the past 8 days. Some afternoons it is so hot we wilt and retreat indoors! Yesterday while in Zimba the heavens opened and provided some relief. Maybe today it will be Kalomo’s turn.
Blessings upon each of you! Joan
Dear family and friends,
We have been imagining you sitting in your family rooms watching the Olympics. A little bit of news has made it to Zambia and, though far away, we are mindful of the events in Canada and look forward to hearing more details when we return home!
When we first arrived we were able to connect to the internet for several days – it was wonderful. I relished each opportunity to download e-mails and communicate with family back home. Alas, it was a brief tease and for the past three weeks we have had our usual challenges connecting with the world! As frustrating as it can be, it is also freeing…..no longer slaves to our computer or television….we visit and read and even played a game of Scrabble the other night J Wonderful.
The new students are now tucked into their schools and adjusting to their routines and classmates. There are always a few glitches…this one needs shoes but cannot afford them….another needs a mattress… One day the deputy head called Ruhtt and summoned her to a 4 o’clock meeting. The reason? One of the new pupils in sponsorship didn’t have the correct type of shoes and it was considered a serious enough issue to call Ruhtt to town for a meeting. Imagine! Ruhtt advocates well for the poor, and she is not afraid of the gruff administrator at Kalomo High School. In the end he agreed to soften the policy about regulation shoes because, after all, learning takes place in the mind – not the feet! I think that every time a village child graduates from high school a miracle has taken place. Seriously.
Our first visit to ‘Katungu’ Community School was in 2003. I’ll never forget what we found that day. Brick walls with a rough brick floor – no roof – and a clutch of pupils huddled against one wall and the only corner offering a little shade from the sun. Nearby was another crude building with a grass roof – so dark inside we could hardly see. Two teachers were trying to present lessons to students who looked sadly undernourished. I can still remember the snotty noses and dull eyes. This was Katungu School. Today we visited Katungu again and I could not help but thank God for the changes. There are smart school buildings and houses for teachers – and inside the classrooms are students with bright eyes and hope. We observed a Grade 5 math lesson and as the teacher asked questions many hands shot up with answers. The children have blossomed! There are classes for Pre-School to Grade 9 and I believe many of the Grade 9’s will pass their exams at the end of the year. Not far away another duplex for teachers is under construction and parents are volunteering their time to make it happen. Six villages feed Katungu Christian Community School, and each day the parents from one of the six villages come to volunteer their labour. When it is completed, their own sweat will have made it possible, and it will be their school. Funds from Canada have purchased the unaffordable materials such as cement and roofing sheets – but the rest has come from their own hands. Thank you to everyone in Canada who has contributed to the development of Katungu, Siabalubui and Mutala Christian Community Schools. I wish you could have been with us today!
Some lovely rains have fallen at night….and we are grateful for them. The roads, however, are impacted in an opposing way and we are once again fording streams to get from here to Seven Fountains Farm. Being rather weak in nature, I often close my eyes and pray while driving through small ponds! Today we took the ‘shortcut’ from the farm to Namwianga and it ended up being a ‘longcut’. The mud was too much even for the 4 X 4 and soon we were stuck. Three of us hopped out and tried to muscle the truck free. Ruhtt stayed at the wheel and all of a sudden – with us behind the truck – she gunned it and managed to get to solid ground. We followed on foot and with images from childhood jungle movies of quicksand demises….carefully navigated the muck. I misjudged one step (that was all it took!) and almost lost my left flip-flop. Finally we reached the truck, now safely on terra firma, and tried to clean up before entering the vehicle. We joked that my left foot had been treated to a mud mask spa treatment!
The wall spider in the bathroom is nothing if not consistent. I can almost set my watch by his (her?) positions on the wall. Out of sight? Must be daytime. Eight inches above the floor [right beside the toilet]? – must be nighttime. I have named him “Hunter” and we’ve become more or less comfortable with one another. He eats mosquitoes and for this I agree to share the space! We’ve had many little frogs hopping about in the house, and usually sweep them outside where they are much happier and where we are not startled by their sudden leaps.
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Our days in Zambia have nearly reached their end. They have gone all too quickly, as they always do…. We will miss this place and her people. People often say ‘there is something about Africa’ – and there is. The people are warm and respectful; the children are endearingly shy and engaging with their beautiful smiles and giggles – and despite living conditions we would consider deplorable – we hear much laughter. We often hear ‘thank you for helping’ …. ‘we really appreciate’ ….and ‘when are you coming back?’. How we wish you could hear these words and meet the people you are helping!
We are thankful for the wonderful people here in Zambia who manage programs day in and day out. Shepherd and Ruhtt Mbumwae, Rod and Sue Calder, Wilson and Nancy Siazilo, Roy and Kathi Merritt – to name a few. Richard and Sue Krogsgaard have arrived and will spend six months here alongside them. Dear Lord, bless these people and protect them.
Blessings upon each of you,
Joan
