Welcome Week

“All beginnings are hard,” wrote Chaim Potok. Certainly beginning a college experience can be daunting. Students struggle to make friends, find classes, settle into dorm life, and adjust to cafeteria food. The Welcome Week Committee shown here helps to make the beginning of college a little easier at GBCC. Members of the Welcome Week Committee greet each new student upon arrival. The newcomers are ushered to their dorms, given an informal orientation, and introduced to other students.

Each night during Welcome Week, the committee hosts a special activity. Devotionals, movies, Bible studies, and singing groups keep students busy in the evenings and help them make friends. Students also look forward to twice a day drawings for prizes. Backpacks, Cds, T-shirts, and “surprise bags” are awarded to lucky individuals whose names are drawn. The Welcome Week Committee organizes work projects that not only help improve the campus but also provide opportunities for new students to form bonds with others.

A Special Little Guy

Roy Merritt recently sent out this story about Gwembe, one of the boys that he and Kathi have taken in at the Eric's House orphanage. It touched my heart, and I hope it will touch yours as well.

From Roy Merritt: Gwembe is the little guy on the left.

Gwembe is mentally retarded. Doesn’t talk much. He grins a lot and gives “thumbs up” to everyone he meets. He runs if he is travelling more than 100 yards.

Before he came to us, thugs battered him to mincemeat and a concerned person dragged him to Zimba hospital. When he recovered the hospital wanted to release him to Somebody—anybody! Social services brought him to us. They knew nothing about him, and when anyone asked his name he only replied “Gwembe” – which is a tribal name for our part of Zambezi Valley.

I liked him immediately. People here can be brutal with mentally ill or retarded people. Every town has a few ragged, filthy, shaggy fellows shuffling through trash heaps for a snack. I wasn’t just moved by compassion. I wanted our kids to learn that people like Gwembe are also valuable human beings, made in the image of God.

Gwembe has become popular, and fits in well most of the time. He plays with the two-year-olds, Hides behind the door and shouts “Boo”. He protects them and separates their little fights. He loves gadgets that flash or beep or unfold. Our older kids have learned to like him, return his thumbs up, and protect him from those who would be unkind.

Gwembe has some problems that need surgery. How do we get permission? I tried Social Services, the local court, the Chief medical officer, and just got passed around to the next office. We began to follow hints—where is his family? We finally traced them out—200 miles away at Siameja village deep in Gwembe valley. He had disappeared two years ago, and the family even planned a funeral for him, until they heard rumors he might be somewhere near Kalomo. After we told the family what we needed, Gwembe’s older brother Kingwell, brought us a handwritten letter from Gwembe’s father, with the date stamp of their local headman, giving permission for the surgery. Kingwell is the big guy in the picture. He is 25 years old and in grade 9.

The letter also told us Gwembe’s real name, Kalombe Siakoole. We’ve called him Gwembe for so long, nothing is going to change here!

Welcome Week Fun

The students arrived on campus last week to begin a new year. As part of Welcome Week, the student government organized a chair party. Students collected plastic chairs from all over the campus and brought them to the ad building lawn for a scrub down. Laughter, splashing, and a few water fights mixed in with the work.

Veggie Tale

This eggplant came from our garden complete with a long pointy nose! I found some googly eyes and couldn't resist creating a Veggie Tale wannabe.

It's a Jungle Out There

I took these shots of the college campus last week right before the tractor mower came in to do its job. I thought the HIZ students would especially enjoy a peek at these rainy season scenes.

This is the road to our house from the college.

Looking from the offices toward our house. The roof is all you can see of the Behnke/Estes house.

The library and classrooms are hidden somewhere behind that grass!

Off they go!

A guest post from Roy Merritt.

Northreach/Westreach funds sponsor George Benson Christian College students who agree to be missionaries in far-flung corners of Zambia. They are bonded to “equal time” – three years in college – three years teaching and working with the church out in the boonies where their cell phone can’t find the network.

We have just sent out a bunch of them—the graduating class of December 2009.

They went out in three main groups; Sesheke and Mongu areas in western Province, Mporokoso and Kaputa areas in Northern province.

They travelled and dropped off here and there day and night.

Some roads were good . . .

And some were not so good.

Car troubles happened every day. That’s why each group went with its own mechanic and his toolbox.

Trailer troubles too—one night this axle snapped. One wheel popped off and rolled 100 feet into the jungle.

They didn’t find it until daylight. Strips of inner tube held it together till the next town and a repair shop.

They paid the guy on the right to sleep with the trailer till they returned next morning.

Lukulu, town of plenty.

What it has plenty of is sand!

Western province is covered with deep deep sand.

No stones to throw at somebody if you get mad.

No rocks for little boys’ slingshots.

About half the students are married, and took their families along.
The singles looked like they were homesick about one minute after they unloaded.

Thanks for supporting this work!

God bless you,

Roy and Kathi

Two Worlds

We said goodbye to the people of Mukonda on Saturday afternoon and traveled through breathtaking scenery back to Namwianga. The sapphire sky sparkled over clusters of thatched roofs on verdant rolling hills. Goats and cows meandered across the dirt road. Ten Zambian ladies filled the back of the Land Cruiser, singing in the rich Tonga harmony that I suspect will be the melody of heaven. It was one of the times I tell myself that I am experiencing a National Geographic Moment.

We had been back home a few hours when I got an e-mail from one of Sara's friends. She was with Sara in a Dallas bridal shop, and Sara had narrowed her selection down to two wedding dresses. Sara's friend sent me pictures of the two gowns via her iPhone, and I e-mailed my feedback on which one looked best. I was thrilled to get to be there for one of my daughter's significant moments.

Two incredible experiences in two starkly contrasting worlds.

Translators

Sylvia Mancheesi (left) and Eneless Hankuba traveled with us to Mukonda and translated my classes. Eneless has been my translator for several years on medical mission, and Sylvia has done teacher training with me a few times. Sylvia teaches the children's classes at her congregation and loves helping other women learn how to teach.

After the Seminar

After Saturday's seminar, the ladies shared their favorite beverage. They call it chibwantu and tell us that it is made from maize and "certain roots of the forest." We call it "the brew you chew" because it has chunks of cornmeal in it.

Mukonda Leadership Seminar

While I taught the women on Saturday, David and his translator Rodgers Namuswa taught a seminar on "The Character of a Leader."

Mukonda Teacher Training

On Saturday we did a teacher training/leadership seminar at Mukonda, a village near Kafue Game Park. Women from nine different congregations attended. As in all our seminars, each congregation receives a Beginner's Bible and a packet of materials. In the training sessions we play games, do role plays, and explore ways to give children in our Bible classes something to HEAR, something to SEE, and something to DO. For most of the women this is their first exposure to any teacher training.

Lions

These lions were just a few feet away from our vehicle. Our guide assured us that as long as we stayed in the vehicle, the lions would ignore us. However, he warned us that stepping out of the vehicle instantly transforms a tourist into a tasty lunch.

Elephant

This cheeky elephant showed off his big ears as he charged our vehicle. He stopped a few feet away and walked off in disgust.

Zebra

Every time I see a zebra in the wild, I am reminded that God has a great sense of humor. Interesting fact: When a mother zebra delivers her colt, she keeps the baby away from the others in the herd for several days so that the baby has time to imprint. A zebra's striped pattern is like our fingerprints--every one is different.

Giraffe

I hope you can see that this giraffe has a little bird on his head. The bird perches there and helps keep the bugs off his friend. Pretty amazing.

Safari

Last week we made a quick trip to South Luangwa Game Park with a fantastic group of twenty-somethings: Meagan, Kelsey, Jana, Betsy, and Courtney (the Extreme Team), their three visitors from the US: Thomas, Matt, and Mary, plus our good friend Robby Banda. And we also took along Bright, a three-year-old from the Haven.

We had an incredible day of game viewing, seeing giraffes, zebras, hyenas, lions, and, best of all, a mother leopard with her cubs.

Double Trouble

Harold and Joe came running when they heard there was a snake in the flowerbed. Harold (right) helped find the critter, and Joe finished him off with a shovel. David held up the kill for inspection. That same night, the watchman killed another snake just like this one on the opposite side of the house.

Bananas

David and Dillon posed with this bunch of bananas off our backyard tree. The bananas are small--about four or five inches long--and delicious!

Monkey Stand

As we traveled through the countryside, we saw shelters like this one in many of the fields. Rodgers Namuswa told us that there are monkeys in this area that will steal the maize crops. The shelters are built so that someone, usually the children in the family, can watch the fields and chase away the monkeys.

Nachowe Communion Tray

The Namachowe congregation has the most unique communion tray I have ever seen! It is a cardboard box covered with potato chip bags. The lid has holes cut out for individual communion cups. The top is edged with a ruffle made of candy wrappers. Practical and decorative--now that's what I call Zam-genuity!

Christmas Dinner

David cooked our Christmas chicken outside in a Dutch oven. Delicious! We also had corn, black-eyed peas, and strawberries, all from our garden. And the electricity stayed on all day so we were able to talk to our kids in the US.

Namwianga Christmas Day

I thought I'd post some scenes of our Christmas Day.

Backyard Greenery - Mango and banana trees


David on Christmas Morning



Copper Bushes in front of the house


The garden

Namwianga Christmas Eve

David and I just came in from a moonlit stroll around the campus. The stars are incredible, and lightning provided a spectacular display far off in the distance. We couldn't be much farther away from a white Christmas--ours would have to be called a green Christmas. The rains have come at just the right times to make the landscape lush and verdant. Flowers are blooming everywhere, and our garden is approaching jungle status.

The campus is eerily quiet with very few people around. The students are long gone, and many of the teachers have gone to their farms to work or are traveling to visit relatives. We have been busy this week entertaining friends and enjoying a change from our usual schedules. We're planning a restful Christmas day with a few friends. If my Christmas wish comes true, we'll have electricity all day so we can contact our family members and cook dinner. If not, we'll be satisfied with the really important things: Peace on earth, good will to men.

Road to Namachowe

Sunday's outreach took us up the newly graded road north of Kalomo. The road work ended just 7 kilometers from our destination at Namachowe. The last part of the journey was on this rugged narrow lane through the hills.

Day Lily

This gorgeous day lily was blooming in our garden this morning.

Going Postal

Zambia consistently has double digit inflation, so we have gotten used to steep price increases. But we were not prepared for the recent postage hike. For quite a while we had used the stamp on the right which sold for 1,500 kwacha, or about 35 cents, for mailing letters to places within Zambia. Starting this week we have to add another stamp (left) worth 1,000 kwacha to all our intra-Zambia letters, and now it costs 56 cents to mail a letter. To put that in another perspective, a day laborer in Kalomo makes around 7500 kwacha, or $1.66, per day. Yikes!

Update - 19 December, 2009

We have had electricity most of the time this week, with just a few outages that lasted less than three or four hours each. Kind of took some of the excitement out of cooking. I had grown used to having menus for Plan A if the power stayed on, Plan B if I had to cook outside and Plan C if the food started out on the electric stove and ended up on the propane burner when the power went off.

Last Sunday we went on an outreach with Rodgers Namuswa and six guys from the community. We dropped the guys off in pairs at three different congregations along the Kabanga Road, and then Rodgers went on with us to Kanchele. The main road was in great shape, but the side road to Kanchele had some huge waterholes to cross. We were again very thankful for 4-wheel drive in the Land Cruiser.

Tomorrow we’re doing the same type of outreach, taking local evangelists with us to drop off at congregations along the way, but this time we will be heading north of Kalomo and ending up at a village near the entrance Kafue Game Park, one of the largest game parks in Africa.

Power to the People?

What a power-challenged week this has been! The electricity has been off more than on. Seems that a transformer in Choma was struck by lightning. The new one has to come from far northern Zambia and won't be installed until next Tuesday or Wednesday. Until then, we are "load sharing" with Livingstone and all the communities in between. The past three days we have had power from midnight to 8 a.m. and then a couple of hours in the afternoon. I'm hoping my freezer full of food survives the off/on cycles and that I can get my Christmas music fix before the holidays are over. At least the students have all gone home for the holidays, so the lack of electricity isn't affecting their studies.

Read All About It

I found this chaotic scene in the college library last Monday. Our librarian's usually neat desk area looked like the aftermath of a tornado. The cause of this mess? A cobra! Someone spied the snake slithering into the reserve section behind the desk. The librarian and students pitched in to pull the shelves out and dispose of the unwelcome intruder. All in a day's work for a Zambian librarian.

Calendars for 2010

Once again my friend Mary Ann Melton has created a calendar featuring Zambia's children. The calendars are great gifts for anyone who has a love for Africa. All proceeds will go to the orphanages here at Namwianga. The cost is $20 for the calendar and $1.73 per calendar for mailing. You can order through PayPal online or by e-mailing Mary Ann from her web site. Here is the link to the blog post where you can see the calendar photos and place an order: http://maryannmelton.blogspot.com/2009/12/zambias-village-children-calendar-2020.html

Beautiful Sight

This worn out, falling apart Beginner’s Bible is a beautiful sight to me. I found it in the hands of a Bible teacher at Nazilongo last Sunday when we went there for an outreach. Nazilongo was one of the first congregations to receive a Beginner’s Bible at a training session way back in 2006. The women of Nazilongo immediately began using the book to teach their children in Sunday School classes, and they have worn out their copy. It’s not stained, torn, or water-damaged—it’s just falling apart from good use. I sent a brand new copy to Nazilongo this week, because I want to keep this one. Beautiful, isn’t it?

A Happy Current Event

I was in a classroom giving an exam on Thursday when a messenger came to the door. “Someone is here to see you, Madam.” I stepped outside onto the veranda and saw a 12-year-old boy standing there on crutches. But this wasn’t just any 12-year-old; this was Current Hangoma--who was sitting in a wheelchair when I last saw him in January. This was Current who couldn’t walk when he was sent off to school. This was Current who was carried on his Uncle Laiford’s back or in his uncle’s arms for the first ten years of his life before we found him a wheelchair two years ago. And now Current stood there proudly outside my classroom, his uncle beaming by his side. I fought back tears, not quite believing the sight in front of me.

Laiford and I started searching for a school for Current way back in 2006. Last December we finally found a school, and I located a sponsor for him in the US. Now after a year at the special boarding school for children with disabilities, Current no longer needs the wheelchair and is able to get around on crutches. Laiford showed me that Current can even stand alone without the crutches for a few minutes.

Current’s report card reflects great progress in his verbal ability as well. He had a vocabulary of only a few words when he went off to school in January. Now he’s ready with a quick “Fine!” when you ask, “How are you?” He and Laiford can communicate with each other in Tonga, and Current’s English is also expanding. His big smile and Laiford’s obvious pride are pure joy to watch.

When I wrote about Current in January, I said I hoped for a happy ending. In a way, this is a happier ending than either Laiford or I had dared hope for. And yet, once again, this not just an ending; it is another beginning, the beginning of a life of new freedom for both Current and his uncle. A happy ending and a new beginning—I’m very grateful to be part of this story.

Peace Corps Volunteers

Kapree, Christa, and Brittany are three of the Peace Corps Volunteers who joined us for Thanksgiving dinner and stayed on through the weekend. We love hearing their stories of life in the villages, and they love my cooking. It is great fun to have them visit us.

Farewell Tea

Sheri Sears and I hosted a farewell tea for the graduating college ladies on Monday. We enjoyed hearing about their plans for the holidays and for next year. Several are part of the Westreach effort and will be heading to schools in remote areas of Western Province where they will work with newly planted congregations. At least three of the 26 ladies are planning weddings in the near future. Several who are married and have children are looking forward to being home again after three years of being apart from their families.

As always, the end of the school year is a bittersweet time for teachers. We are happy for these fine young women, but we will miss them.

Dedication of New Women's Dorm

Last week we held a dedication ceremony to officially open the new college women's dorm. The dorm was funded by Ross and Leota Davis of Austin, Texas, in memory of Joann Merriman Davis and Leon Clendenen. During the ceremony David shared the history of the Davis and Clendenen families and their desire to honor their loved ones by providing the dorm. The Zambian Board President Goliath Sikute and Mission Superintendent George Phiri expressed their appreciation to the donors. Shown above are the residents of the dorm in front of the decorated entrance. This blessing was given at the close of the dedication: May this building always be a place where students prepare to serve the Lord as teachers and Christians. May the conversations that take place in these rooms build up the women who live here and glorify the Lord. May the friendships that are formed here become bonds that will last through eternity. And may the memory of JoAnn Davis and Leon Clendenen live on in the service that spreads forth from this place.

Oklahoma Christian Alumni

At our Thanksgiving meal David had five fellow Oklahoma Christian University alumni. Kellsey Kelly works with high school girls at Namwianga Secondary, Betsy Watson is a nurse who takes care of the Haven babies, Meagan Hawley coordinates orphan care, Brittany Freitas is a Peace Corps volunteer, Jana Miller is a tutor for elementary children.