Weekend Update

Saturday David and I traveled with Rodgers Namuswa and Fortune Masiya to the village of Kasikili for an area-wide training seminar. Fortune and I taught the women how to teach children's classes using the Beginner's Bible, and David and Rodgers led sessions on the qualities of a Christian leader. We had over fifty women and nineteen men in attendance. It is always refreshing to get out into the villages to teach because the people are hungry to learn and so thankful for our lessons!

The women were quite animated and enthusiastic in the classes. We acted out the storm at sea, played a few games, and had a great time learning together. As we left they lined up in front of the building and sang a farewell song for us.

On Sunday David and I (with Jason along for the day) took the Amazing Brothers singing group on an outreach to the Twin Fountain congregation. These nine high school guys love to sing and love to share the word. They sang from the time they got in the Land Cruiser until we arrived at the church building. The congregation served us lunch after services, and then we loaded up to head home. They sang all the way home and were still singing as they got out of the vehicle at their dorms!

Seven of the guys are under the US sponsorship program, one is sponsored by Zambia Mission Fund Canada, and one is sponsored by another missionary. Without sponsorships, none of them would be able to go to school. What an encouragement to see such fine young men getting an education and learning how to lead.

Feeding the Hungry

It used to be easy to feed the hungry. In America, hungry people were nameless and faceless. They were somewhere else—certainly not in my neighborhood. I could feed them by dropping a can or two into a wooden box in the front hallway of the church. I could even feed the nameless, faceless hungry people in other countries with just the flourish of my signature at the bottom of a check.

Now it’s not easy. Now the hungry people are the faces that I see when I answer the knocks at my door. Now they are the names on my lists of who has come for help and who has been fed. Now they are hollow eyes and apologetic smiles. Now they are babies on the backs of their mothers, or toddlers hanging onto their mother’s skirts. And it’s not easy to feed them.

I confess that sometimes I want to close the door and cover my ears so I don’t hear the knocks, and I want to pretend that there are no hungry people at my door. And sometimes a voice in my head wants to scream, “Go away! I can’t feed every hungry person in Africa!” And when I hear those thoughts, I hear another voice, the voice of Jesus in Matthew 25 as he says, “I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat.”

So I open the door, and I try to see Jesus on each face. I feed the hungry. But it’s not easy any more.

One of the women who comes for food. She is in her seventies and is raising a houseful of orphaned grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Bicycle Outreach

Abishine (left) and Justin are college students. They came by this morning to pick up bicycles so they could ride to the Mawaya congregation to teach and preach. They brought the bikes back this afternoon, along with a report on their time with the congregation. We hope these new Zambikes will get a lot of use by students like Abishine and Justin.

The People at My Door - Benito

This has been a tough week for me. The Zambian educational system requires every student in ninth grade to take an exit exam. Only those who pass the exam can go on to high school in grade ten. There are not many high schools, and students who pass the exam are assigned to a school. High school is not free, and students must come up with the money for tuition and boarding in order to be accepted at their assigned schools.

The results of the grade nine exams came out a week ago. Since then there has been a steady stream of hopeful students at my door asking for sponsorship. I have turned away all but a handful—the fortunate ones who turned in applications last fall and were already selected by the sponsorship committee. The rest will have to seek for help elsewhere. Every one I turn down tugs at my heart, for I know that it may mean the end of the student’s schooling. A friend recently watched me say no to a prospective student. She later told me, “You have the worst job in the world.”

But Benito reminded me to focus on the ones I can help. He arrived on Thursday from Simalundu, a village 60 miles away, deep in a remote part of the Zambian bush. Kelly Hamby once told me, “You can’t get any farther out in the bush than Simalundu.” Benito had been accepted for sponsorship, had his acceptance letter with him, and was now cleared to start classes.

I knew that Benito was an orphan being raised by an elderly grandmother, and I suspected that he didn’t have many possessions. I asked him if he was ready to move into the dormitory. He hesitated a minute and said, “I think I need to go home and get another blanket. I only brought one.”

“How will you get there?” I asked.

“The same way I came. I will walk.”

(Gulp! Sixty miles? In the bush?) “How long did it take you?”

“Two days. I stopped and slept in the bush on the way.”

“Benito, how about if I give you a blanket? Then you won’t have to go all the way home and back, and you can go ahead and start classes.”

“Okay, madam,” he said, obviously relieved.

I went in the house and got him a crocheted afghan my mother had made years ago. I couldn’t help but think how pleased she would be to know her handiwork was keeping Benito warm! I handed him the blanket and continued the questioning. “Benito, what else did you bring with you?”

He looked down and shyly said, “Well, I brought one other pair of trousers. I have this shirt I’m wearing, and I borrowed this sweater from my nephew.”

It took a minute for me to let this sink in. “Okay, Benito. Let me see what I can find.”

I dug through my drawers and boxes of donated items and managed to come up with two brand-new T-shirts, a school uniform, a new pair of socks, and some personal care items: toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, lotion, and laundry detergent. I also found him some notebooks and pens.

Benito’s smile made it all worthwhile. He took his two sacks of new possessions and set off for the dorm.

And I went in the house and thanked God that I have the privilege of helping a few of the Benitos in the world.

The People at My Door - Mary

Mary and her baby knocked at my door one Monday in January. With her were a teenage daughter and the daughter’s friend. They told me they had come from a village some distance away and were looking for piecework in exchange for food. We gave them about two hours’ worth of work in the yard and promised them three small bags of mealie meal.

Two hours later the three ladies had transformed the front yard and accomplished as much as we usually expect from a full day of work. We fed them lunch, gave them their bags of mealie meal, and thanked them for doing a great job.

The next morning they were back. They had found an abandoned house to stay in for a few days. Mary asked to continue working for food, and the girls asked to work to earn money for school fees. We assigned Mary jobs close by in the back yard while the girls took slashers (blades with handles) and began cutting the four-feet tall grass in the empty lot behind our house. By day’s end the two girls had cut more grass than the three college guys who had worked the previous day!

They continued with us for the rest of the week. Mary and the baby stayed in the yard, where Mary weeded and edged every flower bed. Her baby played happily on the driveway or stayed tucked into the chitenge on Mary’s back. I never heard him cry or fuss. The girls slashed grass and did other chores, always working hard and often singing as they labored.

On Friday Mary and the girls were ready to go. School had already started back in their village, and they needed to go home. We paid them generously with bags of mealie meal and cash for school fees. They were delighted as they set off on foot.

Our yard looks better than it ever has, thanks to Mary’s work. As I walk through the grass and enjoy the flowers I often wonder about Mary. I hope she has enough to eat and that the girls are doing well in school. I expect them to be back when the school term ends--and there will be another knock at my door.

Our house after Mary's work

Hanging with the Chickens

Jason spent Sunday afternoon with us. Part of our usual routine when he's here is to go visit the chickens. He tucked his little hand in mine and we strolled through the back yard to the pen. We checked their food and water supply and watched them for a minute or two.

Then I caught sight of chicken feet--in the air! One of the hens was swinging from the nesting boxes by her foot! The plastic grain sack that the chickens use for nesting material had frayed into long strings. One of the strings had looped around the hen's leg and caught her when she jumped down from her perch. There she hung, swinging gently back and forth two feet from the ground, eyes wide with terror.

Jason and I bolted for the house yelling for David. I grabbed a pair of scissors and ran back to the pen. David arrived in time to hold Jason while I climbed inside to help the frightened fowl. She didn't fight me too much as I gently lifted her up and snipped the offending string off her leg.

The now freed hen limped around on her weakened leg. I guess she hadn't been hanging too long, because she was walking normally in just a few minutes.

The rest of the chickens in the pen were gathered on the opposite side of the pen, far away from their hung-up friend. These usually busy-body biddies had totally ignored her plight. She would have been dead in a few hours, but they seemed not to notice or care.

Hmm. Made me think about how we ignore our fellow Christians who get hung up in sin. I for one would prefer to move to the other side of the pen and pretend nothing is wrong when I see the danger signals that something is not quite right about a given situation. It's easier to look the other way than to confront the problem and risk the anger of the one we need to help. And the consequences of staying away just might be worse than those that were about to befall my feathered friend.

I've learned another lesson from my chickens. I think I'll remember that swinging hen the next time I'm tempted to ignore someone who's heading into trouble. I hope I'll have the courage to step in and help.

Back on her feet after a close call

Daily Routines

Brian Davis from Mumena Mission in northwestern Zambia shared this story with us and I thought you would enjoy it as well. Just another day in Africa . . .

A couple of weeks ago, a fellow missionary asked me, “So do you have a daily routine?” As I have pondered that question, yesterday seemed to stick out as a good example of my routine:
After sitting down at my desk in the morning to prepare some Bible lessons to be taught in April, my gardener burst into my office all out of breath. He said his mother was giving birth at the local clinic but had run into difficulties. Now they urgently needed transport to the hospital in Solwezi town, 60 kilometers away. I grabbed the keys to my truck and off we sped. After loading his mother into the back of the pick-up, we departed for Solwezi at full speed. Half way to Solwezi, we ran into a torrential downpour; I slipped the Three Tenors into the CD player to steel my nerves. Upon arrival at the hospital, I backed the truck up to the front door of the main building only to find out as we opened the tailgate that the baby was tired of waiting and on its way. The doctor and nurses just jumped into the back of my truck, and moments later, a little baby was born to the moving tones of Pavarotti singing Nessun Dorma.

"…I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing;
with pain you will give birth to children.”
Genesis 3:16 NIV

Being in labor for 45 minutes at 120 kilometers per hour in the back of a Toyota 4x4 brings new meaning to this verse for me. I asked my gardener what they were going to name the child. He replied, “Toyota Rain”.

A daily routine? I don’t think so.
Brian, Sondra, Noah, and Bryson



Pictured: One of the many precious babies born here under difficult circumstances.

The People at My Door - Gilbert

Gilbert knocked at my door recently--to show me his report card! At somewhere on the other side of 40, Gilbert took advantage of a new law in Zambia that removed all age restrictions on school attendance. He is now in the ninth grade at a school in a remote village, making all A's and B's. In fact, his report card noted that he is #1 in his class. You go, Gilbert!

The People at My Door

We have a constant stream of people at our door, so I'm going to feature a few of them in blog entries.

Daniel has been a frequent visitor for the past year. He is partially blind and lives with his mother some distance away. He had been seeking help for his eye condition, and we were working with his local congregation to get the funds for an evaluation. When he finally was seen at a special clinic, the doctor said there was nothing more that could be done for Daniel's sight.

Then Daniel asked for help to go to school. He had stayed home in 2008 because he didn't have the money to continue at the special school for the blind run by the Lions Club in northern Zambia. About that time a family in Austin sent us some funds to be used as needed. I managed to contact the school and arrange for Daniel to re-enroll. He had to have school shoes and funds for the two-day train ride to Ndola in addition to the school fees, so I arranged all that.

The day came for Daniel to leave on the evening train. He would be traveling alone for two days and two nights, so there was obvious danger that his money might get stolen. Some of my Zambian friends gathered on the veranda as we debated the best way to safeguard his funds. One who had survived a robbery on the train thought he should keep the money in his socks. Daniel was afraid it would fall out. The zipper on the back pocket of his jeans didn't work, so that was out. We finally decided that he would keep out only what he needed on the train, and the rest went into an envelope that we safety-pinned into his front jeans pocket.

We said a prayer for Daniel and sent him on his way. If he was fearful, he never showed it as he headed off on foot for the train station in Kalomo. I'll see him again in April when there's another knock at the door.

Pumpkins

I plopped Jason on top of these pumpkins so you could see how huge they are! This pile by our front door is causing quite a stir around the mission. The Zambians have never seen anything like these pumpkins, and certainly have never seen any this huge. We got the seeds from the United States, but the package is long gone so we're not sure what variety they are. They were bright yellow before they began to ripen, and since we picked them they have continued to turn deeper shades of orange. Our Zambian friends say that it's too bad the agricultural show is in August--they are sure these beauties would win first prize in the pumpkin category!

Starting School

Laiford Muleya (left) is the uncle to young Current, seen here in the wheelchair. Way back in 2006, Laiford and Current met up with Sheryl Ramsey on the medical mission. Sheryl wanted to help Current get started in school and enlisted my help after she returned to the US. Thus began a long, complicated journey through the fledgling special education program in Zambia. Laiford, the official guardian for Current, lives hours away from Namwianga in a remote village. He has no cell phone, and even if he did, there is no cell signal in his area. Every time he needed to communicate with me, he had to come to Namwianga on one of the public transport trucks that go to his village only three times a week. He would have to find a place to stay in town and walk the four miles to my house. He did this several times carrying Current before we were able to get the boy a wheelchair.

After investigating several possible schools, we located one in Monze that agreed to take Current in 2007. Laiford and Current arrived, only to find that the headmaster had over-enrolled the class and there was no place for Current. The headmaster guaranteed a spot in January of 2008.

January of 2008 came and went, and there was no word from Laiford. I had no way of contacting him and had no idea what had happened. In September, he came again. He had been sick in January, he said. He brought with him some phone numbers for officials in Lusaka who had agreed to help Current. To help ease the communication difficulties, I gave him money to buy phone time and sent word to a mutual friend in Nyawa, a town closer to Laiford's village. I asked the friend to let Laiford use his phone as needed to keep in touch with me.

I made calls to Lusaka and got no response. I called every special education contact I had and found no program for Current. Laiford came again, and I sent him to check at another special education school in Choma. That school referred him to Maamba, a mining town about four hours away. Laiford and Current made the trip to Maamba and Current was accepted to start school in January.

Last weekend Laiford and Current came by to see us on their way to school. Current is now 12 years old and beginning first grade. He will be in a boarding facility and will have a personal caregiver to help him bathe, dress, and eat.

In some ways, the saga of Current has ended now that he is in school. In another way, it is just beginning. Laiford worries because Current has never been away from him before. He will have no way to communicate with him until the term ends in April. The story will go on, and we pray for a happy ending.

Welcome Week

The school year starts in January here, and the college opened this week. Last weekend the Welcome Week committee arrived on campus to prepare for the new students. I hosted a dinner for the 25 student committee members last Saturday night. It was another near disaster because, once again, the power was out for most of the afternoon as I was trying to prepare the meal. This time, however, the problem was only at our house. I took the rice over to Sheri Sears’s house for her to cook there, and David grilled the chicken outdoors, so we weren’t in too much trouble.

We did have to call in the electricians to fix the problem, though. The two guys arrived just before 6:00 and announced that they needed a ladder, and the ladder was missing from the maintenance department. David was busy cooking the chicken, so I loaded the electricians in our vehicle and we went on a ladder hunt. We traced it to the compound at Wasawange, about a mile from our house. There is no official road into the part of Wasawange where they thought the ladder was, so I carefully threaded the truck through the 4-foot tall grass on a foot path to get as close as I could. The electricians walked the rest of the way.

They came carrying a 20-foot ladder and we headed back to our house with the ladder sticking out the back of the pickup. It was now almost 6:30—the time the dinner was supposed to start—and the sky was turning black with storm clouds. I hurried around finishing up the meal as the electricians climbed the electric pole near the house. Most of the students had arrived when the storm hit. The thunder rolled, lightning flashed, and torrents of rain hit the veranda as we served the meal. The electricians managed to avoid the lightning, and before we finished eating, the power was back on.

Welcome Week turned out to be a success. The committee members formed teams and met the new students as they arrived to show them to their dorms. The teams worked on campus projects with the new students and offered informal orientation to campus life. We had special evening activities, including devotionals, Bible study, two movie nights, and a showcase for singing groups. One of the highlights for the students was the prize giveaway. I had collected an assortment of T-shirts, ball caps, stationery, chewing gum, and other assorted goodies to give away. We held drawings every morning after chapel and every evening at the group activity to give the items away. The students loved this and begged for more!

The photo above shows the Welcome Week Committee at their dinner last week. They loved having blue caps so that they could be easily identified as committee members.

Update - 25 January, 2009

I apologize for not posting lately. We've been incredibly busy!

We had a visit from American superintendent Richard Prather and Zambian board member James Crowder January 15 - 22. They may have set a record for the number of meetings conducted in one week, but we enjoyed spending time with them in between meetings.

The secondary school opened on January 12. We've been welcoming back our sponsored high school students and helping them get settled back into school routines. Every time I ask, "What did you do during the holidays?" I get the same reply: "Plowing!" December is the time for plowing and planting the maize crops. Even city dwellers get in on this activity as they are sent to the rural areas to work on the farms for their aunts, uncles, grandparents, and cousins.

The college opened on January 19--a week later than the originally scheduled date. The new women's dormitory wasn't quite ready, and there was no place to put the women, so at the last minute the decision was made to push opening back a week. A few students didn't get the message in time and arrived a week early. They didn't seem to mind having a few days of relief from plowing!

The opening of school means that many families are scrambling for money to pay school fees and buy uniforms. We've had a constant stream of knocks on the door from people wanting to do piecework. We have employed all we can manage, and as a result our lawn looks the best it ever has! We've also used workers to slash the tall grass in areas around our house and the dorms to get the campus looking nice for the start of school.

I was glad when we finally started having classes this week. I'm teaching educational psychology this term in addition to my English classes--a welcome challenge and change for me.

I'll post some other news in separate blog entries.

It Makes Perfect Sense--In Africa

Just had to share this story from our fellow missionary Brian Davis who works in northwestern Zambia:

On New Year’s day, our team planned to go to a local hotel and share a meal together while the kids swam. Dropping by the bank to get some cash for the restaurant, I was rudely confronted with a slip from the teller machine telling me that our account was K25,054,847 in debt. Having a negative balance of that size was shock enough, but what of all of the ministry and personal funds that were now missing?
After an un-enjoyable meal and a sleepless night, Sondra and I arrived at the bank at the opening hour. After seeing the negative balance on the slip, the bank manager smiled and said, “Yes, Mr. Davis. It seems that your card has expired. A balance reading of – K25,054,847 is our little code that lets us know that you need a new card….” WELL SURE; WHY DIDN’T I THINK OF THAT? After a couple of minutes, we left the bank with our new card and our old balance. No problem.

“…Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?”
Luke 12:25b-26 NIV

Good Question. I found out that by worrying, I can deduct an hour or two from my life!
Brian, Sondra, Noah, and Bryson


Pictured: Our communications satellite dish… that the company disconnected for the past week… because we OVERPAID our bill.

Moses

This handsome little guy is Moses Siangandu. When we first visited Namwianga in 1999, Moses had just arrived at the Merritts as a very sickly orphaned baby. His health was so precarious that he almost died several times. Eventually he grew healthy enough to be placed for adoption. Hunter Siangandu, a teacher at Simpweze Basic School, and his wife decided to add Moses to their already large family. Hunter arrived on his bicycle to get baby Moses. He tied the baby onto his back with a chitenge (2 meter strip of brightly colored fabric), and off they went for the 30 kilometer trip to their home in the bush.

Now a charming ten-year-old, Moses is much loved by his older sister Loreen. Loreen recently graduated from GBCC and was given a teaching job in Western Province. She didn't want to go alone, so she took Moses along to live with her and keep her company.

The Siangandus won't be lonely back at home. Hunter and his wife have five birth children and have adopted several more--including two boys named Moses. They are also guardians for some of their nieces and nephews whose parents have died. Their two-bedroom house is often bursting at the seams with the 17 family members!

That's My Picture

The calendars featuring the children from the orphanages at Namwianga are gorgeous! Jason was with us for the day recently and found ours sitting on an end table. He recognized himself (he's in four of the photos) and his buddies, and he had a great time looking at the pictures and jabbering to me about them.

Off to Teach!

Communication and transportation are the two constant challenges we face in our work here.

Today was the day a group of just graduated George Benson College students were scheduled to head off to eastern Zambia for new teaching assignments. Shadreck Sibwaalu was in charge of getting them there, and he had reserved two of the Mission’s Land Cruisers for the journey. I took my camera and went to see them off early this morning.

Loreen was there waiting to leave. She didn’t want to be posted in strange territory alone, so she was taking along her nine-year old brother, one of her sisters, and the sister’s baby. Getrude, a single mother, had her two children plus a nephew with her.

Sam was there, Nicholas was waiting just up the road, Fikoloma would jump on in Livingstone, and Auditor was meeting the group in Zimba--with a wife and two kids. The passenger count was at 15, plus two drivers. The Land Cruisers will seat a total of 22, but that’s without any baggage. All these passengers were staying for three months, and their luggage included everything from mattresses to sacks of mealie meal to bags of charcoal--even a hobbled chicken was waiting to be loaded! There was no way it was all going to fit.

I ran home and got David to come offer his advice. We called Shadreck, who by now was headed north with another group. Shadreck suggested that they ditch one Land Cruiser and take the Coaster bus instead. One of the drivers agreed that might work, but informed us that the Coaster couldn’t get to a couple of the schools that were off the beaten path—four-wheel drive would be needed to reach those sites, and the Coaster would get stuck too easily.

David decided that the best solution would be for him to drive our vehicle which will comfortably hold five passengers in the front and lots of baggage in the back. He went home to pack his bag for the overnight trip while the drivers loaded up everyone else’s things inside and on top of the Land Cruisers. An hour or so later the group was ready to leave.


David called me later to tell me about another surprise. It seems Shadreck had agreed that another teacher could have a ride from the clinic, and of course the teacher had his wife and two kids along. As it turns out, Auditor’s wife and kids stayed at home, so there was room for the extras.

David had his group of teachers, relatives, and baggage delivered to their posts by early evening and made it back to Livingstone to spend the night.

Communication and transportation—always the challenges of living where we live and doing what we do!

Kasaka Outreach- January 4, 2009

Sunday was a day of surprises and encouragement! We weren’t scheduled for an outreach, so when our friend Andrew Sibwaalu called at 8:00 and asked us for a ride to the Kasaka village congregation, we were glad to go.

We had been at Kasaka in April of 2007 when the congregation was meeting under the trees and using logs for benches. Today we drove up and found a spacious, new brick building with a metal roof and brick benches (still not comfortable, but better than logs). There were less than 30 people in attendance when we gathered in 2007; today there were 79. We enjoyed our worship time with the group and then stayed around for some fellowship and snacks. Andrew and his family had worked all week to gather enough mangoes to share with the entire congregation.

The next surprise was finding five sponsored students in the congregation. Three of them are shown above. Fleming Kaango (left) graduated from GBCC in 2006 and is now part of the Westreach evangelism effort. He and two other GBCC grads teach at Sesheke High School and work with a new church that they planted in the town. Fleming reports that the new congregation in Sesheke has 30 members now. Wisborn Siatubebe (center) just graduated from Namwianga High School. He was the song leader for today’s worship service and did an outstanding job. Riffar Kaango is Fleming’s sister and a 2007 graduate of Namwianga High. Riffar recently attended one of the Sunday School training classes, and today she used her Beginner’s Bible to teach the 23 children in Bible class.

What an encouragement to see these Christian young people at work for the Lord, and to see a new congregation growing strong!

What's for Dinner?

Take a look at what's growing in our garden right now: zucchini, green peppers, onions, tomatoes, yellow squash, eggplant, and carrots. Not shown are the purple hull peas, pumpkins, and watermelons, plus 70 ears of corn already in the freezer. And we have a 10-foot sunflower plant towering over it all!

We have so much zucchini that I've had to get creative finding ways to cook it. For New Year's Eve we invited friends over for dinner and I made a zucchini pie that tastes just like an apple pie.

We are blessed with this bounty.

End of Year Newsletter

Here is our end-of-year newsletter that goes out to anyone interested. Regular readers have seen it all before. If you'd like to be on our e-mail list to receive periodic newsletters, send us a message at dlgregersen@mac.com.


Namwianga News
David and Linda Gregersen


Blessings and Challenges

As 2008 draws to a close, we reflect on a year of blessings and challenges. We were blessed by the addition of a wonderful daughter-in-law when our son John married Leah Vickers in June. We faced the challenge of my diagnosis of breast cancer in May and then were blessed abundantly during our extended stay in the U.S. as we had opportunities to enjoy time with friends, family, and our sponsoring congregation at Brentwood Oaks. I was again blessed with no side effects from the radiation treatments (in spite of the dire predictions of my oncologist).

In August just as I was finishing my six-weeks of radiation, David’s father was diagnosed with acute leukemia. We were blessed to be able to spend a few days in Arkansas with David’s parents before heading back to Africa on September 2. When Mr. Gregersen passed away on September 21, we were blessed to be able to return to Searcy and join family and loved ones in remembering a life well lived. It is a tribute to Mr. Gregersen’s legacy of faith that his sons, grandsons, and sons-in-law conducted the funeral service.

There were many challenges and blessings when we returned to Namwianga after five months away. Our friends and co-workers gave us a warm welcome, and then we set to work catching up on all the projects and activities that needed our attention.

Student Teachers

The college students who had been doing their teaching practice during the second term (May – August) returned to campus about the same time as we did. We gathered them together to hear about the blessings and challenges they had faced. Sponsored students are expected to do more than develop their teaching skills during their practice teaching; they are also expected to be active in planting a new congregation or encouraging an existing one. Some were sent to northern Zambia where their first challenge was to learn the Bemba language so that they could communicate with the local people. Other student teachers faced opposition from community members who thought they were Satanists. Most had to overcome logistical problems with housing and transportation. In spite of the difficulties, much good was accomplished. Three new churches were planted, and many more congregations and individuals were strengthened.

One effort involved a coordination of the sponsorship program and the Church Development Program (CDP). The head teacher of the school at Kasukwe is a graduate of George Benson Christian College. She contacted the Church Development Program and asked the leaders to send some teachers to plant a congregation at Kasukwe.

Two weeks before the term began, five of the evangelists who usually go out on bicycles were recruited to go to the village of Kasukwe. For the next two weeks these men went door-to-door making contacts and holding Bible studies. They also invited people to attend an evangelistic meeting. From their efforts, a new congregation began meeting in early May. As planned, the evangelists left just as three student teachers from George Benson Christian College arrived. The students spent the next three months at Kasukwe helping the new church to grow and become firmly established as they also did their student teaching practice. The head teacher of the school had nothing but praise for the student teachers. She reported that they performed well in the classroom, were models in their behavior and lifestyle, and were effective leaders in the congregation.

Graduations

The school year in Zambia runs from January through early December, and the tradition is to hold graduation ceremonies in November. As in past years, I volunteered to be “Mom for the Day” for any secondary student who had no family members in attendance. This year my “son for the day” made me especially proud when he was given the Bible award in recognition of spiritual leadership. His gift was a bicycle, and he was encouraged to use it in spreading the gospel to surrounding villages. Many other sponsored students received awards for academics, leadership, and athletics.

The college graduation recognizes the students who finished their courses in 2007. The system requires a “gap year” in which the final diploma exams are graded. We were thrilled to see many of our students return to the campus with stories of their teaching experiences and evangelistic work.

Outreaches

Sunday outreaches continue to be a big part of both the secondary and college campus experience. Buses, trucks, and Land Cruisers full of enthusiastic students head off to surrounding villages every Sunday morning. The students preach, teach, and lead singing at the congregations they visit, giving the students valuable experience and giving local congregations fellowship and encouragement.

GBCC students continued the prison ministry that began in January. Regular visits by our students have resulted in over 20 prisoners accepting the Lord in baptism.

The bicycle evangelists keep the good news spreading into the far reaches of the bush. They gathered in September for a three-day training seminar conducted by the Church Development Team. We recently discovered ZamBikes, an aid organization that provides sturdy bicycles at a very reasonable cost. We have purchased several of these so that we can send out some new evangelists and also replace the bicycles that our current bicycle evangelists have worn out as they travel on the rough bush roads to teach and preach.

The Welcome Mat Is Always Out!

Phil Gardner from Peoria, Illinois, came to Zambia in August to help fill in for Don Oldenburg and for us while we were in the United States. He stayed on after we got back in September, and we enjoyed our time with him very much.

Brian and Sondra Davis and their sons Noah and Bryson visited us in September, along with Bart Bruington. The Davises and Bruingtons work with Mumena Mission in Solwezi. Besides having a great time with these good folks, they also did some work here. Brian and Sondra talked to the HIZ students about the life of a missionary family, and Bart offered advice on upcoming construction projects. As always, their visit was too short!

We had an enjoyable week in October with Dr. Dick Bedell of Project C.U.R.E. He stayed with us as he evaluated the needs of the clinic and arranged for a shipment of medical supplies.

We hosted seven Peace Corps Volunteers for Thanksgiving. These young women are near and dear to our hearts, and we loved pampering them during their stay. It doesn’t take much; we just gave them lots of home-cooked American food and access to soft beds, hot baths, and Internet.

Our holidays were brightened with a visit from new friends Jerry and Claudia Templer. The Templers moved to Lusaka in October. Jerry is a retired physician who is helping to train doctors at the University Teaching Hospital. Claudia, the daughter of long-time missionaries J.C. and Joyce Shewmaker, grew up at Namwianga and has connections to many of the families here.


Harding In Zambia

The second Harding In Zambia (HIZ) group arrived on campus September 4. The 21 Harding University students immediately became part of all facets of campus life. They joined sports teams, sang with the GBCC choirs, taught secondary and elementary school classes, worked at the Namwianga clinic, and took care of babies at the orphanage. On Sundays they were often out in the villages for outreaches. David and HIZ leader Shawn Daggett took a group for a weekend outreach in September, and another HIZ group was part of a church planting effort in October.

The HIZ students and their teachers were a great blessing to Namwianga and to us personally. We were sad to see them leave in November, but we are confident that many of them will be back, and all of them will have unforgettable memories of their time in Africa.

We look forward to another year of blessings and challenges in 2009.

The Lord is the strength of his people, a fortress of salvation for his anointed one. Ps. 28:8

Christmas 2008

There were 48 of us who gathered for Christmas dinner on the veranda at the Calder's house. Rod and Sue Calder operate an orphanage on a farm adjoining Namwianga. We feasted on turkey, grilled chicken, fried chicken, lamb curry, and lots and lots of side dishes. Our multinational group included people from Canada, USA, Zambia, and South Africa.

Teacher Training

Last Saturday David and I did a leadership workshop at Mutala. Five congregations were represented. David taught classes on servant leadership and conflict resolution to the men, and I did teacher training for the women (shown above).

Iris Elder, daughter of early missionary Dow Merritt, grew up in Zambia and returned with her husband to work here for most of her adult life. Iris and Ken are now living in the US, but Iris still has a heart for the Zambian work. She translated my teacher training materials into Tonga, so now each congregation gets a complete set of instructions they can read and understand in their native language. I know Iris would love to see how excited the women are to see their Tonga materials!

I couldn't help but think about the timing of this event. In the United States, the Saturday before Christmas would not be considered an appropriate date for a workshop, but our Zambian friends were delighted to attend. Most of them walked long distances to get there, and several of the women carried babies on their backs. When the workshop ended, there was no rush to get home. The women stayed an extra 45 minutes for singing and fellowship. It was much more enjoyable than fighting the crowds at the mall . . .

Eggs Anyone?

The tiny one-inch egg came from our chicken pen. The first explanation we got from our Zambian friends was that a young rooster laid it! They told us that a young rooster will lay one egg as he arrives at maturity and then never lays another one. We were a bit incredulous, but we asked several other Zambians and they all agreed it was possible. We finally consulted an expert, our neighbor Mr. Moono who raises chickens and teaches agricultural science. He assured us that it is not possible for a rooster to lay an egg. The tiny egg is the product of one of our adolescent hens instead.

Mystery solved. Now I'm just debating boiled or fried.

Holiday Spirit

I'll admit it has been hard to work up much holiday cheer here in the bush. No crisp, frosty air to fill our lungs. No lawn displays of holiday lights, no evergreen trees, no Santas. Instead, we're having spring--muggy, warm days with rain showers almost every afternoon. We're slipping and sliding on mud, not ice. The zinnias, day lilies, and vincas are in full bloom, and it's the smell of orange blossoms instead of pine wafting through the open windows. Instead of Christmas baking, we've been freezing fresh vegetables from the garden.

But all that changed this week. We took a three-day jaunt to the capital city of Lusaka to get some work done on one of the Mission's vehicles. And as always on our trips to Lusaka, we hung out at the shopping centers Manda Hill and Arcades. There we had our fill of lights, decorations, Santas, nativity scenes, Christmas music, crowds, and horrendous traffic! In fact, after three days I was ready to leave the holiday hype and get back to the calmer, quieter life of the country.

We do have a few decorations up, as you can see in the photos above. And we're looking forward to a big Christmas dinner with friends. Happy Holidays!

The Grinch

You may remember that we have special friends at Mumena Mission in northwestern Zambia. Bryson and Noah Davis, the young sons of Brian and Sondra, have a special place in our hearts because of their great personalities and sweet dispositions. Brian sent this account of their recent Christmas challenge:

Last Sunday we had a break-in and several things stolen in our storage area. Of all things, our Christmas tree lights were taken. Noah, who gets particularly excited about decorating for Christmas, proclaimed that it would be a good Christmas anyway. Last night as we sat looking at the dark tree, Noah and Bryson began coming up with ideas. A power strip with 5 lights, a transformer with a light, two gift sacks with little blinking LED lights, a radio with 2 lights, a miniature fiber optic Christmas tree left with us by Troy McNatt, a former apprentice, and several glow in the dark stars tied to the tree, and voila… we had Christmas tree lights. Noah and Bryson sat with smiles of satisfaction while listening to Christmas carols with a twinkling glow in their eyes! Not bad for the bush… Jesus had to go all the way outside to see the Christmas lights…

Sunday Outreach - December 15

The roads dried up enough this week that we were able to head out for Njabalombe on Sunday morning. The students have all gone home for the holidays, so we took some of our local Zambian friends along with us. We dropped two at each of three congregations along the Kabanga Road: Lubombo, Katungu, and Shangu. Then Rodwell Sianzoolo went on with us to Njabalombe.

We had a wonderful surprise when we stopped to drop off the Lubombo pair. We found Chrispine Moono and his cousin on bikes just about to head north on the road. Chrispine is one of the sponsored students who recently graduated from Namwianga Christian Secondary School. On his own initiative, he and his cousin were on their way to do an outreach at Katakula.

David had asked me if I was going to teach the children at Njabalombe. I told him that I wouldn’t need to, because I had just done a teacher training session there a few weeks ago. Sure enough, when the time came for Sunday School, a young man carrying the Beginner’s Bible I had given the congregation took all the children outside. At the end of the service, he had his class stand up in front of the congregation and recite memory verses for us.

Sometimes we wonder if our efforts are making a difference. Chrispine and the young man who taught the Sunday School class give us encouragement to keep on trying.

New Dorm

The new women's dorm at the college is quickly nearing completion. The construction crew is working from dawn until dusk six days a week to make sure that the dorm will be ready when the college opens again on January 12. Forty-four women will be housed here. Many of them spent this past year living in a converted classroom.

Sunday at Kasibi

On Sunday we were supposed to head up the Kabanga Road to Njabalombe. Saturday night Thomas Siafwiyo came by to warn us that three vehicles had turned over on the Kabanga Road on Saturday due to the muddy surface and construction debris. We changed our plans and headed for nearby Kasibi instead. Kasibi is one of our favorite places (reminds us of scenes from "The Lion King"), and we took along some of our favorite students--four of the guys who had just finished at George Benson Christian College.

I hadn't taught a Sunday School class for six months--the longest I've gone in 24 years! I'm working myself out of a job by teaching women in the village congregations how to teach and by providing the college women with training and supplies so they can teach on outreaches. But on Sunday Humphrey (above) and I gathered 47 excited kids and did the story of the lost sheep.

The girl on the right is showing off her sheep and shepherd stick puppets made with craft materials left over from Zambia Medical Mission.

The Dinner Party That Almost Wasn't

I should have known that I was pushing my luck to schedule another dinner party. I have hosted many large dinners on our veranda, always managing to have electricity at the right times to get everything cooked. There have been a few close calls, like last month when the power failed just as we finished cooking, so I guess I should have known that eventually my luck would run out.

Thursday night we had invited all of the graduating college students for a final farewell dinner. With administrators and wives, the expected guest list swelled to forty. I had hired help: Harold, the assistant cook for Harding In Zambia, and Obrien, who was home from boarding school. They had started early in the day making cole slaw, cutting up eight chickens, and setting up tables.

The power often goes out around 5:00, so Harold and I planned to get the chicken in the oven at 2:30 so it would be done early just in case. Harold had rolled the chicken pieces in butter and cornflake crumbs and put the first two trays in around 2:40. About that time the sky darkened and a distant roll of thunder sounded. David, ever the pessimist, warned, “You’d better get the brick oven going in case the power goes out in the storm.” I ignored him—we had no time for building fires right now. The second set of pans went into the oven at the Hamby guesthouse at 3:00. At 3:20 I put the last two trays into the oven at the Mann guesthouse and headed back to my own kitchen just as the first raindrops fell.

I made it to my house without getting too wet, hoping against hope that for once we could have a rain shower without losing electricity. I should have known better. At 3:30 the fans stopped, the lights blinked off, and my dinner party took a decided turn toward disaster. Sometimes the power comes back on quickly, so we waited and hoped. The rain lasted only about 10 minutes, and as the skies cleared I stared at the ceiling fan, as if I could will the blades to start spinning again.

At 3:55 it was time for Plan B. Harold and I headed for the backyard of the Hamby guesthouse where there is a homemade brick oven. It hadn’t been used for several weeks, so the first step was to pull out a rake, several huge logs, an axe, and some bags of food and trash stashed there by a temporary worker. Then we had to cart a bag of charcoal from my house and get the fire going. By 4:30 the fire was just getting started and I was approaching panic.


Harold(shown here on the left) is the epitome of calm. I needed someone to share my sense of impending doom, so I tried to explain the finer points of food poisoning to him and Obrien. The chicken in the oven, I told them, was just warm enough for germs to start multiplying. We must, I warned, get the chicken cooking as soon as possible or risk all of our guests getting sick from eating tainted food.

Harold gave me the look he often gives me, the “I feel sorry for this poor, crazy American woman who doesn’t understand Zambians” look. He sighed, saying, “Madam, we Zambians will not die from food poisoning. We could leave our chicken out all night and not get sick. It will be okay.” I resigned myself to panicking alone.


It was approaching 5:00 and the dinner party was supposed to start at 6:00. We still had rice and a tomato/onion sauce to cook. Obrien went to work starting a fire in the outdoor grill for those pots, and I went to my house and brought all the ingredients down to the Hamby backyard so all the cooking would be happening in the same place.



The fire in the brick oven was finally ready at 5:00, so I retrieved all six pans of chicken from the three different ovens/houses and we got them all into the oven at once. The rice and sauce were soon bubbling on the grill fire. Obrien set off on his bike to pick up the rolls from Mrs. Phiri’s house across campus, and I got everything set up to serve the meal on the veranda.

The chicken wasn’t ready by 6:00, but then none of our guests arrived at 6:00 either. They began trickling in by 6:15, and by 6:45 we had a critical mass. The chicken still wasn’t quite ready, so I made opening remarks about how special this group was to me, how much we would miss them, and how much we expected of them. And, as we often do in Zambia, we sang.

Meanwhile, David drove our truck to the Hamby house and loaded up the trays of now-cooked (I hoped) chicken and the huge pot of rice. Harold hand-delivered the sauce. Meagan arrived to help, and we served dinner at 7:00 by the light of lanterns and flashlights.

Everyone declared the food delicious, there were no leftovers to worry about, and I crashed into bed at 8:45 wondering if I’d ever have the desire to entertain again. And for those of you who are wondering, Harold was right—no one got sick!

Oldenburg Update

You may remember that our coworker Don Oldenburg had battled cancer for several months in the US. He and I were going through radiation at the same time in July and August. Don finished his treatments and follow-up tests in September, and he and Laura returned to Namwianga in October.

Last week Don and Laura flew to Johannesburg, South Africa, for a routine PET scan as part of additional required follow-up. The scan showed a suspicious area at the base of his tongue, and the doctor in South Africa recommended a biopsy. Don and Laura decided to go back to the United States to have this done. Yesterday David and I took them to Livingstone to catch a flight back to Texas.

Please keep them in your prayers. We need them here with us, and they hope they can return quickly.

The Heavens Declare the Glory of God

This was the scene from our front yard on Tuesday night as the moon passed between Venus and Mars. It was an incredible sight!

Namwianga Calendar

Henry and Mary Ann Melton were our guests at Namwianga in September, 2007. Mary Ann spent several days with the toddlers at Eric's House and took some great photos of them. She has put together a calendar for 2009 featuring the children of Namwianga. You can purchase it online for $15.00 by clicking on the title above. This calendar will make a wonderful Christmas gift for anyone whose heart has been touched by "the least of these."

College Reunion

We were delighted to have three alumni of Oklahoma Christian College/University at our Thanksgiving meal. David graduated from OCC in 1975. Brittany (center) graduated in December of 2007 from OCU and is now a Peace Corps volunteer working in a village not far from us. Meagan Hawley, our co-worker here at Namwianga, is a graduate from the class of 2003. So what are the chances of three alumni of a small college in Oklahoma having Thanksgiving dinner together in the African bush?

Thanksgiving 2008

Our Thanksgiving table was surrounded by a wonderful mix of people. Six Peace Corps volunteers from all over the United States joined us, plus Canadian and American missionaries and a Zambian co-worker. After last year's Christmas turkey adventure, we settled for mesquite marinaded grilled chicken. We managed to have lots of Thanksgiving traditional side dishes, including cranberry sauce, green bean casserole (with homemade onion rings!), fruit salad, and lots of pies.

The electric company cooperated and we even had power all day--a rare blessing that we greatly appreciate. Thursday evening David pulled out the multimedia projector and screen and we watched a movie on DVD.

As always, we love visits from the Peace Corps Volunteers. The stories of their adventures living in the bush leave us laughing and full of admiration for the work they do. And I could not ask for a more appreciative group to cook for!

Update - November 23

Another busy week has flown by! We enjoyed a visit from Dr. Dick Bedell, a representative of Project CURE, who was here for several days evaluating the clinic's needs. He managed to time his visit just right to be here for invasion of the flying termites, so I'm sure he had stories to tell when he returned home.

The rains have made the days here nearly perfect. The mornings are cool and the daytimes just right. It's a welcome relief from the heat of October.

Almost overnight the dry, brown bush has transformed into lush, verdant green. We have beautiful day lilies blooming in our back yard and several other kinds of flowers blooming in the front.

The rains bring cooler temperatures, but they also bring out the bugs. Besides the flying ants, we're battling huge crickets, beetles, spiders, and centipedes. And of course the mosquitoes are always an issue. Yesterday the drain outside the kitchen overflowed--it was completely clogged with wings and bodies of the dead flying termites.

Classes are over for the term, and now we are giving final exams. Our veranda is a favorite study spot, and we have anywhere from one to ten students buried in books there any time of the day.

Sunday we are off to Livingstone to take Louisa and the Oldenburgs to the airport. Louisa is flying home for the holidays, and the Oldenburgs are headed to Johannesburg for Don's PET scan and checkup. We're praying for a good report on Don.

On Tuesday we'll welcome five Peace Corps volunteers who will be here for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Jason Update

Sunday we took Jason and Kathi with us on an outreach to Tara. Tara is where Bernard now lives with his father and stepmother, so we were hoping to see Bernard and let him have some time with his buddies from the Haven. We did get to see Bernard's father, but Bernard was spending the weekend in Choma with his aunt.

We still had a great time with Jason and Kathi. These two love to talk, and they chattered non-stop--in Tonga of course. I managed to communicate with them because they understand English even if they don't choose to speak it.

Termites, Anyone?

Tonight was the invasion of the flying termites! We had our first big rain last night, so we were expecting the hordes of winged critters, and they came just as we expected. The brown swarms are drawn to the light, so our electrified verandas were full of them. There were so many that we could hear a buzz from the beating of their wings!

The Zambians love to eat these "nswa", so we soon had guys outside the house gathering up buckets and tubs of the delicacies to cook tomorrow. They fry the bodies--which resemble brown jelly beans--in a skillet. The insects make their own oil, or so I've heard. These students promised to bring me some tomorrow. Yum! Yum!

Mavis

We had another graduation on Friday. The George Benson Christian College students who finished in December of 2007 had to wait until 2008 to find out whether or not they had passed all their coursework. It was a pleasure to see so many of them back on campus after almost a year away. Shown here is Mavis, a young woman who is on my most-admired list. Mavis lost her mother in 2005 during her first year of college. Then the next year her father became ill. When Mavis was ready to do her student teaching last year, she found that her father had lost the family's house because he could not work and had no income. Mavis's four younger brothers had been sent to live with friends and relatives, and Mavis had no house to go home to. A friend of Mavis's mother invited Mavis to live with her in return for helping with child care, and Mavis did that in order to complete her student teaching.

Mavis finished her courses successfully and left GBCC last December. She accepted a teaching position in Lusaka and found a place to live for herself and her two youngest brothers, both of whom have health problems. She got them started in school again and got them the medical treatment they need. Sadly, her father died earlier this year, and two brothers are still separated from the family.

Mavis proudly told me all of this when she came last week for graduation, adding that as soon as she can afford larger living quarters, she will bring the other two brothers to live with her and get them back in school. What an amazing 22-year old woman!

Miller

Miller is another outstanding NCSS graduate. Three years ago Miller received his acceptance letter for sponsorship and RAN the 10 miles or so from his village to my house to thank me. He is a multi-talented young man who was the head boy (top leadership role) for the school this year in addition to leading one of the choirs AND making excellent grades.

Prize

This is Prize, one of the students who graduated from high school on Saturday. He is an orphan and had no family to attend the ceremony, so he asked me to be his "mum" for the day. I was honored to do so, especially when Prize was announced as the recipient of the Bible award for outstanding spiritual leadership.

I was glad that I could be there for Prize on his special day, but I grieve for the mother who didn't live to share this with him.

Graduation Day

Although there are still several weeks left in this school term, the graduation ceremony for Namwianga Christian Secondary School was held on Saturday. Shown above are the 23 sponsored students in this year's class. I feel especially close to this group because they were the first high school group selected for sponsorship after I became sponsorship coordinator. I remember poring over their applications and praying about the decisions of the selection committee, and I remember meeting each one of them at the beginning of grade 10 in 2006. They have been a delightful and talented group, and I hate to see them leave.

Goodbye

Tuesday morning we said goodbye to the HIZ group. Shown in the top picture are Janice Bingham and Donna and Shawn Daggett. Shawn teaches missions at Harding and was the fearless and capable leader this term. His wife Donna was a tremendous help to all of the activities and was especially appreciated for her skills as a cook. She made many wonderful meals on Chef Leonard's days off. Janice Bingham spent ten years working as a nurse in a hospital in Tanzania and has a true heart for training those who are interested in medical missions.

The lower photo shows the HIZ students gathered with some of their Zambian friends for a final photo before taking off. There were many tearful goodbyes as the yellow bus drove away for Livingstone. The HIZzers are now spending a couple of weeks visiting mission points in Uganda and Rwanda before returning to the United States on November 21.

The campus is quiet and empty without them. They left with an Africa-shaped hole in their hearts, and we have a HIZ shaped hole in ours.

HIZ Update - November 2

The Harding students are winding up their stay at Namwianga and will leave early on Tuesday morning. On Saturday the HIZ group hosted a lunch for all the workers and those of us who have helped them during their stay. Last night there was a farewell party for the Heavenly Echoes choir which included six of the HIZ students. Today Shawn Daggett took 10 of the students on an outreach with a group from Namwianga Christian Basic School.

In the midst of saying goodbyes and packing to leave, the students are also studying for finals and finishing research papers and projects.

We have grown to love them dearly and can already tell that we will have an empty place in our hearts when they leave.

New Zambian President Sworn In

Rupiah Banda ended up with 40% of the vote to Michael Sata's 38%. Banda was sworn in as president Sunday afternoon. Sata insists that the vote was rigged and his Patriotic Front party is demanding a recount. There has been some rioting in Lusaka neighborhoods where Sata was popular. Our area of the country was not in support of Sata, so we don't expect any trouble. Click on the title to get the full story.

Zambia Elections Information

The election results are still too close to call. Michael Sata has a slight lead so far, but Rupiah Banda's campaign manager is predicting a win by 62,000 votes. You can click on the title to visit an unofficial web site that is tracking the vote counts as they come in. The candidates and party affiliations are:
PF (Patriotic Front) - Michael Sata
MMD (Movement for Multiparty Democracy) - Rupiah Banda (currently the acting president)
UPND - (United Party for National Development) - H. Hachilema

IT'S HOT

In Zambia October is called the Suicide Month because of the intense heat. How hot is it? It’s so hot I had to get out the thesaurus just to describe it. It’s not just hot-- it’s searing, scorching, broiling, blistering, roasting, and baking!

Air conditioning is a distant memory from another lifetime in a galaxy far, far away.

Classrooms are stifling and oppressive, stuffed with wall-to-wall bodies folded into chair desks. It’s an endurance test to make it through an hour-long session.

So the other day I offered my students the option of meeting for class on the open verandah at our house, and they jumped at the opportunity. The occasional breezes brought some welcome relief.

Election Fever

Election Fever rages in Zambia. There is talk of little else. Posters plaster billboards and outside walls. I haven’t seen campaign T-shirts, but there are colorful chitenges (2-meter lengths of cloth worn as skirts) printed with the smiling images of presidential candidates.

On Thursday Zambians will choose the successor to President Levy Mwanawasa who died in August. The acting president Rupia Banda is faced off against Hakainde Hichilema and Michael Sata.

Banda served as vice president under Mwanawasa and is a member of the party currently in control of Parliament. His campaign stresses stability and unity. Hachilema, or “HH” as he is called, is from the Southern Province where we live. He is independently wealthy and promises to encourage economic growth. Michael Sata came in second to Mwanawasa in the 2006 election. He rails against foreign influence in Zambia, especially the Chinese. During the 2006 campaign he voiced his admiration for Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe.

Sata made a campaign appearance in Kalomo on Sunday, arriving in a black helicopter. Hachilema gathered a Kalomo crowd on Tuesday, including many of our students who cut classes to hear him speak. A couple of the HIZ students managed make it to the event as well.

Yesterday there were reports of riots in Livingstone over suspected ballot rigging. Late yesterday we received a warning from the American Embassy, advising Americans to stay clear of all campaign gatherings, polling places, and election events for the next few days.

Zambians have no option except to vote in their home districts, so students who live far away are excused from classes the rest of this week so that they have time to travel home for voting. Election Day on Thursday is a school holiday everywhere in Zambia.

We mailed in our absentee ballots for the US elections. Now we watch and wait and pray for elections on two continents.

David found a thought-provoking article by John Piper that provides a faith perspective on the election process. You might want to take a look at it.

HIZ Photo

Here's a shot of our wonderful Harding In Zambia group.

It's been great to have them back on campus this week. We missed them during their travels.

Yesterday was Independence Day as Zambia celebrated the end of British colonial rule in 1964. There were no classes, so students took advantage of local gatherings in Kalomo and at Namwianga Basic School. There were some sports match-ups here on campus as well.