Today we took the visiting Americans to worship with the Tumango congregation near Namwianga. I had asked three different people if the road to the church building was passable, and all three assured me it was. Well, passable is a relative term. On our way to the church an energetic lady we picked up volunteered to jump out and lead the way through the eight-feet tall grass that hid the path. The trip back out was even more exciting. We got to try out the four-wheel drive when we made a wrong turn and ended up in a creek bed instead of the road.
The worship service itself was worth the trip, however. David preached and had 15 people who responded after the sermon asking for prayers. Sharon, Valerie, and I taught 67 children in the Sunday School class.
Two college groups also went on outreaches today. Richard, one of the college students, stopped David on campus to tell him about his experience. Richard is a new Christian himself and this was one of his first outreaches. He excitedly reported that he had preached this morning and that there had been two baptisms after his sermon. The other outreach group also had four responses. Invariably, the students end their reports with the question, "Where are we going next week?" Such is the contagious nature of Outreach Fever.
Sunday, February 26, 2006
News and Notes - February 26
We are enjoying a visit by some members of Zambia Mission's American Board this week. Charles and Sharon Small from Abilene and Allan and Valerie England from Oklahoma City have been on campus since last Sunday.
Tuesday evening I invited the secondary school choir to come to the guest house and sing for the visitors. As usual, the choir was fantastic and I had chill bumps and tears in my eyes. I sometimes wonder if I am the only one so touched by such beautiful music. The Smalls and Englands, however, shared my delight. Sharon is a retired music teacher, and her comment to the students was, "I have heard many groups through the years, but none any better than this one."
The students were thrilled to hear such high praise. Just for fun, I asked them for a show of hands to answer two questions: "How many of you have ever had a music or voice lesson?" and "How many of you can read music?" Not a single hand went up in answer to either question.
I did get many more hands when I asked how many of them were sponsored students. The majority of the choir members are at Namwianga because someone in the US or Canada pays for their tuition and fees. I think the sponsors are making a great investment in the future of the church in Zambia.
Tuesday evening I invited the secondary school choir to come to the guest house and sing for the visitors. As usual, the choir was fantastic and I had chill bumps and tears in my eyes. I sometimes wonder if I am the only one so touched by such beautiful music. The Smalls and Englands, however, shared my delight. Sharon is a retired music teacher, and her comment to the students was, "I have heard many groups through the years, but none any better than this one."
The students were thrilled to hear such high praise. Just for fun, I asked them for a show of hands to answer two questions: "How many of you have ever had a music or voice lesson?" and "How many of you can read music?" Not a single hand went up in answer to either question.
I did get many more hands when I asked how many of them were sponsored students. The majority of the choir members are at Namwianga because someone in the US or Canada pays for their tuition and fees. I think the sponsors are making a great investment in the future of the church in Zambia.
Outreach News
I apologize for not getting more written on the blog this week. I tried earlier but couldn't get the internet to cooperate. We have a satellite dish, but in reality our service is barely any better than dial-up in the US. It can take 30 minutes for a blog article to load. Or, as I found yesterday, sometimes we can't get it to load at all.
At any rate, the news from last week's outreaches is worth waiting for. David and I went on the big yellow bus to Zimba. We dropped off a group at Mayoba and another group at the main Zimba congregation. Then we went with about 25 secondary students to the Zimba High School Church. This is another congregation composed entirely of high school students. Our Namwianga students conducted the worship services at all three of these sites.
A smaller bus took another group of secondary students in the opposite direction. They did a double outreach by conducting the worship service in the morning at one congregation and then traveling to a second congregation in the afternoon. This latter group is on a tobacco farm and can't assemble until their work in the fields is done.
Two groups of college students went on walking outreaches last Sunday. Namwianga Christian Basic School also sent a group out on foot, making a total of EIGHT outreaches last Sunday! What a blessing to see so many young people excited about sharing the Word!
At any rate, the news from last week's outreaches is worth waiting for. David and I went on the big yellow bus to Zimba. We dropped off a group at Mayoba and another group at the main Zimba congregation. Then we went with about 25 secondary students to the Zimba High School Church. This is another congregation composed entirely of high school students. Our Namwianga students conducted the worship services at all three of these sites.
A smaller bus took another group of secondary students in the opposite direction. They did a double outreach by conducting the worship service in the morning at one congregation and then traveling to a second congregation in the afternoon. This latter group is on a tobacco farm and can't assemble until their work in the fields is done.
Two groups of college students went on walking outreaches last Sunday. Namwianga Christian Basic School also sent a group out on foot, making a total of EIGHT outreaches last Sunday! What a blessing to see so many young people excited about sharing the Word!
Saturday, February 18, 2006
News and Notes - February 18
If you're waiting for news on the pumpkin, you'll have to wait a little longer. My plans for a Valentine's Day jack-o-lantern had to be scrapped. I had invited some of the missionary's kids over on Monday night for a carving party. Then their vehicle broke down. We still didn't have a vehicle, either, so we weren't able to get together. I thought I'd carve the pumpkin on my own on Tuesday, but the power went out at 2 p.m. and was off until the next morning. After cooking dinner outside over an open fire, I was too tired to carve a pumpkin by candlelight. I didn't feel well on Wednesday and Thursday, and David was gone to Lusaka, so the pumpkin survived a few more days. Now I'm out of the mood, so I think I'll wait until I can have some of the kids over to enjoy carving with me. Today we harvested eight more pumpkins, so we have quite a display on our veranda.
The good news of the week is that after months of delays we FINALLY have our new vehicle. David went to Lusaka on Wednesday and spent the obligatory hours of waiting in line at government offices for paperwork to be done. The lines and paperwork continued through Thursday, but finally at 6 p.m. Thursday night the license plates were on and he was able to head home. We now have a Toyota quad-cab pickup. Unlike the Land Rover, the pickup's doors will close and stay shut! We may eventually miss the excitement of the Rover's leaky roof and rattling windows, but for now we are reveling in the dry, quiet interior.
Some day when I'm ready to write a very LONG blog article, I'll explain the details about ordering the vehicle on September 4 with a promised delivery date of mid-October. Here's a tease: Every time we asked the Toyota dealership when the vehicle would be in, they told us, "Two weeks!"
We still don't have the camper shell. The dealership sold it to someone else, even though we paid for it in December. They tell us they'll have another one for us in--two weeks!
The good news of the week is that after months of delays we FINALLY have our new vehicle. David went to Lusaka on Wednesday and spent the obligatory hours of waiting in line at government offices for paperwork to be done. The lines and paperwork continued through Thursday, but finally at 6 p.m. Thursday night the license plates were on and he was able to head home. We now have a Toyota quad-cab pickup. Unlike the Land Rover, the pickup's doors will close and stay shut! We may eventually miss the excitement of the Rover's leaky roof and rattling windows, but for now we are reveling in the dry, quiet interior.
Some day when I'm ready to write a very LONG blog article, I'll explain the details about ordering the vehicle on September 4 with a promised delivery date of mid-October. Here's a tease: Every time we asked the Toyota dealership when the vehicle would be in, they told us, "Two weeks!"
We still don't have the camper shell. The dealership sold it to someone else, even though we paid for it in December. They tell us they'll have another one for us in--two weeks!
Outreach Fever Heats Up!
As I write this on Saturday night, there are FIVE outreach groups preparing to leave tomorrow morning. I had to reserve two buses. The large bus will take three groups and drop them off at congregations along the Zimba road. The small bus is taking a group to another congregation in the opposite direction. Two college groups are walking to their destinations.
Another college group did a door-knocking outreach today to encourage Christians in a nearby village.
Students and teachers keep stopping me on the campus and asking how they can get involved in leading or going on outreaches. This fever may become an epidemic! Praise God for servants who are excited about sharing His Word.
Another college group did a door-knocking outreach today to encourage Christians in a nearby village.
Students and teachers keep stopping me on the campus and asking how they can get involved in leading or going on outreaches. This fever may become an epidemic! Praise God for servants who are excited about sharing His Word.
Sunday, February 12, 2006
Swinging College Students
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Humphrey (left) and Sam are demonstrating the fine art of lawn mowing in Zambia. Here the job is called "slashing" and each young man is wielding a "slasher." Keeping the grass cut is a constant task here at Namwianga. Each group of students spends one class period per week doing grounds duty: slashing, tending the flower beds, or raking. The school supply list at some of the secondary schools includes pens, notebooks, a ruler, and--a slasher!
Just in Time for Valentine's Day
David picked the first pumpkin from our pumpkin patch yesterday. We displayed it on our veranda, and it has become the talk of Namwianga Mission. The Zambians have never seen a pumpkin like this! Their pumpkins are peach colored and much smaller. Our friends are asking us to save some seeds for them to plant. We have big plans for this pumpkin--watch the blog to see what happens to it.
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
Hanging Out at the High School
Where do 1200 high school students hang their laundry to dry? Anywhere they can find a place! This was one scene at Kalomo High School when we visited last Sunday morning. Every inch of fence surrounding the dorms was covered with laundry.
Monday, February 06, 2006
Nighttime Visitor
These are two shots of our lovely nighttime visitor described in last week's entry called "Things That Go Bump in the Night." This critter is called a dung beetle. It is also nicknamed the SUV bug because of its tendency to roll over easily and get stuck on its back. We find one or two of these on our veranda every morning.
High School Church
We discovered a very unique congregation on Sunday. We took a group of 32 college students into town to meet with the congregation at Kalomo High School. Kalomo High is a government school that serves over 1200 students, and most of them board at the school. The church that meets in the high school is composed ENTIRELY of high school students in grades 10 - 12.
I gathered everyone from the congregation after the service for a photograph (top). Then I asked for a photo of the church leaders. A group of 20 or so quickly posed for me (lower photo). As soon as I took the picture, I asked them, "Are you all students?" They answered, "Yes." I wanted to make sure I understood them. "Do you have ANYONE who works with you who is a teacher or another adult?" "No, we are all students, madam." I was amazed.
The numbers are also amazing. Besides the 32 of us from Namwianga, there were 83 high school students at the morning service. The George Benson college student who organized this outreach proudly told me that he and another student had started this church when they were students at Kalomo High School several years ago.
We talk about young people being the church of tomorrow. At Kalomo High, they are the church—right now.
Friday, February 03, 2006
Things That Go Bump in the Night
Our bike and some garden hoses were stolen during the night a few weeks ago. The bike was chained to a pipe right under our bathroom window, and the hoses were only a few feet away from our open bedroom window. We did hear a little noise at one point, but we thought it was the cat and went back to sleep. We've been more cautious since then and try to check out any unusual sounds we hear during the night.
Last week we both woke up to the sound of footsteps on the rough concrete floor of the carport. We snapped on the lights and looked out the window, expecting to see someone running away. We saw nothing. We turned the lights off and got back in bed.
A few minutes later the footsteps sounded again. This time David yelled, "Go away!" The steps continued at the same slow rate. He yelled again, "What are you doing?" The sound continued. We both looked out the window again, and again we saw nothing. But we could still hear the sound of the slow footsteps on the concrete.
After yelling a few more times with no change in the sounds, David got his robe on and took the big flashlight with him to go outside and have a look. He walked out into the yard--and saw nothing. He shined the flashlight onto the carport--nothing. Both of us could still hear the crunching sound of steps on a rough surface. Then David noticed that there was a huge barrel full of wood shavings near our window. Perhaps some animal had gotten down inside the wood shavings and couldn't get out. We both decided that must be what we were hearing. I had visions of a big snake or rat thrashing around in there. Surely whatever it is will find its way out by morning, we thought, so we climbed back in bed. We set the fan on high to block out the noise and went back to sleep.
The next morning we woke up to the same scratching, crunching sound. David stepped outside to do a daylight investigation, although we had both decided that we would wait for reinforcements before tipping over the barrel. "Linda, come look," he yelled. I wasn't sure I really wanted to look, but I gingerly stepped outside onto the carport. "Here's our intruder," he said as he motioned me over. He pointed down to a cardboard box that was sitting next to the barrel.
The "footsteps" we heard were the scratching and clawing motions of a huge dung beetle as it tried to climb up the wall of the box! The box and the carport amplified the sound sufficiently to make us think we had a serious nighttime visitor.
We released the dung beetle from his cardboard prison and had a good laugh at ourselves.
Last week we both woke up to the sound of footsteps on the rough concrete floor of the carport. We snapped on the lights and looked out the window, expecting to see someone running away. We saw nothing. We turned the lights off and got back in bed.
A few minutes later the footsteps sounded again. This time David yelled, "Go away!" The steps continued at the same slow rate. He yelled again, "What are you doing?" The sound continued. We both looked out the window again, and again we saw nothing. But we could still hear the sound of the slow footsteps on the concrete.
After yelling a few more times with no change in the sounds, David got his robe on and took the big flashlight with him to go outside and have a look. He walked out into the yard--and saw nothing. He shined the flashlight onto the carport--nothing. Both of us could still hear the crunching sound of steps on a rough surface. Then David noticed that there was a huge barrel full of wood shavings near our window. Perhaps some animal had gotten down inside the wood shavings and couldn't get out. We both decided that must be what we were hearing. I had visions of a big snake or rat thrashing around in there. Surely whatever it is will find its way out by morning, we thought, so we climbed back in bed. We set the fan on high to block out the noise and went back to sleep.
The next morning we woke up to the same scratching, crunching sound. David stepped outside to do a daylight investigation, although we had both decided that we would wait for reinforcements before tipping over the barrel. "Linda, come look," he yelled. I wasn't sure I really wanted to look, but I gingerly stepped outside onto the carport. "Here's our intruder," he said as he motioned me over. He pointed down to a cardboard box that was sitting next to the barrel.
The "footsteps" we heard were the scratching and clawing motions of a huge dung beetle as it tried to climb up the wall of the box! The box and the carport amplified the sound sufficiently to make us think we had a serious nighttime visitor.
We released the dung beetle from his cardboard prison and had a good laugh at ourselves.
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
Outreach Fever
Our Sunday outreaches have taken a different turn the past two weeks. In the fall our focus was to follow up on the congregations that were planted as a result of the medical mission. Now that the rainy season is upon us, we can’t get to those villages because of the road conditions. Even if the roads were okay, our vehicle isn’t. The Land Rover has shaken and rattled over those washboard roads so much that now it needs expensive repairs. We’re waiting on a new vehicle (another LONG story), and we’re not going to sink any more funds into the Rover just now.
We’ve also shifted our focus for this term and are trying to involve more students in the outreach efforts. So, for the last two Sundays we have been “footing,” as the Zambians say. Two weeks ago we took 11 college students with us and walked about an hour to visit the Tumango congregation. Last Sunday I went on another walking outreach with a group of 22 to Mutala, an even farther distance. At both congregations our students conducted the entire service: preaching, teaching, leading the songs, and teaching the children.
It is a joy to see the willingness, enthusiasm, and abilities of these students. They did an excellent job in both places and were invited to come back any time.
The group that formed to go to Mutala was the result of a single chapel announcement and word of mouth. Now more and more people are spreading the word around campus, and others want to join in the outreach effort. When I got back to Namwianga on Sunday afternoon, several students asked, “How was the outreach? Where are you going next week? Can we go with you?”
I’m calling this a case of “Outreach Fever” and hoping that it spreads to many more.
We’ve also shifted our focus for this term and are trying to involve more students in the outreach efforts. So, for the last two Sundays we have been “footing,” as the Zambians say. Two weeks ago we took 11 college students with us and walked about an hour to visit the Tumango congregation. Last Sunday I went on another walking outreach with a group of 22 to Mutala, an even farther distance. At both congregations our students conducted the entire service: preaching, teaching, leading the songs, and teaching the children.
It is a joy to see the willingness, enthusiasm, and abilities of these students. They did an excellent job in both places and were invited to come back any time.
The group that formed to go to Mutala was the result of a single chapel announcement and word of mouth. Now more and more people are spreading the word around campus, and others want to join in the outreach effort. When I got back to Namwianga on Sunday afternoon, several students asked, “How was the outreach? Where are you going next week? Can we go with you?”
I’m calling this a case of “Outreach Fever” and hoping that it spreads to many more.
Saturday, January 28, 2006
Teaching Again
Classes started this week at George Benson Christian College. My class load has doubled this term. I have two basic English courses for the first year teacher training students and an English for office skills class for the business course students. I am teaching material I have never taught before to students who speak English as a second language, so class preparation is a challenge. I have books spread out all over the living room, dining table, and bedroom as I comb through the pages for ideas. I’m exhausted at the end of every day, but I do enjoy my classes. The students are polite, respectful, and appreciative. They struggle to understand my American accent and I struggle to understand their Zambian English, but they are very patient with me as we learn together.
I have found that the students are quite shy about telling me when they do not understand what I am teaching. Now I have taught them to use signals to let me know how well they are grasping the subject/concept that I am presenting. I have them put “thumbs up” if they are understanding the material, “thumbs down” if they are totally lost, and “thumbs together” if they understand some of it but still have questions. The system has worked well to give me a quick idea of whether I need to go back and review or press on.
This week we worked on learning how to use textbooks and resource books. Some of my students have come from village schools where textbooks were not available or where many students had to share a few available textbooks. I found that some have never used an index or table of contents. Some have never had access to dictionaries or encyclopedias. I’m really starting with the basics! The good news is that they are very motivated to learn and will gladly accept extra work in order to grasp the material.
I remind them often that improving their reading, thinking, and communication skills will make them better church leaders, and that’s what George Benson Christian College is all about.
I have found that the students are quite shy about telling me when they do not understand what I am teaching. Now I have taught them to use signals to let me know how well they are grasping the subject/concept that I am presenting. I have them put “thumbs up” if they are understanding the material, “thumbs down” if they are totally lost, and “thumbs together” if they understand some of it but still have questions. The system has worked well to give me a quick idea of whether I need to go back and review or press on.
This week we worked on learning how to use textbooks and resource books. Some of my students have come from village schools where textbooks were not available or where many students had to share a few available textbooks. I found that some have never used an index or table of contents. Some have never had access to dictionaries or encyclopedias. I’m really starting with the basics! The good news is that they are very motivated to learn and will gladly accept extra work in order to grasp the material.
I remind them often that improving their reading, thinking, and communication skills will make them better church leaders, and that’s what George Benson Christian College is all about.
Victor and Obrien
Victor and Obrien ("Our Starfish") sent us letters from boarding school at Kabanga this week. They report that they are doing fine. Obrien says he is studying extra hard because "they don't teach as you teach." He has found a Grade 11 boy to help him with his schoolwork. Both Victor and Obrien have joined the choir and are looking forward to going on outreaches.
Obrien's letter included this: "I am okay and I am doing wonderful here. I haven't faced any problems here."
We rejoice as we understand a little of what the apostle Paul must have felt when he received good reports about his children in the faith.
Obrien's letter included this: "I am okay and I am doing wonderful here. I haven't faced any problems here."
We rejoice as we understand a little of what the apostle Paul must have felt when he received good reports about his children in the faith.
A Package Deal
We had gotten a few messages from friends and relatives telling us that they had sent packages. It has been several weeks since we received anything other than letters, so we were beginning to wonder what had happened.
Yesterday we received notices that SIX packages were waiting for us in the Kalomo Post Office. We hurried into town to collect them. It was Christmas again at our house, as we opened up Cds, a book, Newsweek magazines, crossword puzzles, and seasoning mixes.
The postmarks spanned from December 5 – January 15. One had a stamped message saying “Missent to Jakarta, Indonesia.”
I was sharing this story with long-time missionary Roy Merritt last night. He reported that during the holiday rush, the packages just stack up in the post offices until the workers can get around to them. Then they start at the top of the pile and work their way down. Often the packages mailed last will arrive before packages mailed earlier. He assured me there is still hope for the book my sister mailed me in November—it may just be sitting at the bottom of the pile somewhere.
Yesterday we received notices that SIX packages were waiting for us in the Kalomo Post Office. We hurried into town to collect them. It was Christmas again at our house, as we opened up Cds, a book, Newsweek magazines, crossword puzzles, and seasoning mixes.
The postmarks spanned from December 5 – January 15. One had a stamped message saying “Missent to Jakarta, Indonesia.”
I was sharing this story with long-time missionary Roy Merritt last night. He reported that during the holiday rush, the packages just stack up in the post offices until the workers can get around to them. Then they start at the top of the pile and work their way down. Often the packages mailed last will arrive before packages mailed earlier. He assured me there is still hope for the book my sister mailed me in November—it may just be sitting at the bottom of the pile somewhere.
Saturday, January 21, 2006
Rescue
The Zambians are such gracious, helpful people! Our Land Rover is in the shop for repairs, so we are borrowing a small minivan. We took some young men home this afternoon and got stuck in a mudhole on our way out of their compound. Within minutes a crowd of helpful men and women gathered. The pulled and pushed for some time with no luck. Two of the women brought large stones to put under the sunken tire. Still stuck. Finally the men decided to just lift the rear of the van. They grabbed hold of the back bumper, lifted it up, and moved it to dry ground. We thanked them profusely and went on our way.
Sad Times
Death is a constant presence in this community. There is seldom a week that goes by without a funeral. Joe, the carpenter who is making our window screens, asked if he could use our carport to build this coffin for his cousin. Since this is the rainy season, he needed a covered area to do his work.
Joe's cousin was a 30-year-old woman who left two young children behind. Although we didn’t know her personally, we do know two of her brothers.
The gospel message has an urgent appeal in a culture that faces death so often. Perhaps that is why so many are willing to listen and respond.
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Victor
We never know who will show up on our veranda. We found Victor there one Friday afternoon when we returned from a trip to Choma. He had been waiting for four hours. Victor had been given a sponsorship to Kabanga Christian School, and earlier we had agreed to give him a ride to Kabanga with Obrien on Sunday. We just weren’t expecting him to arrive two days early. We asked enough questions to find out that he had left his village that morning on foot at 12:30 a.m. and had arrived eleven hours later. He came with a letter from his father explaining that they weren’t able to get him all the things he needed for school and asking for our help.
Victor’s father is a great evangelist who has planted at least five new congregations since the medical mission last summer. We think highly of him and were glad to help his son. We fed him a meal—his first all day—and asked if he had a place to stay. He told us that he had friends in a nearby village that he could stay with until Sunday. We told him he was welcome to rest on the veranda until he was ready to go there, and then we went back to our business inside the house. An hour or so later I noticed Victor still sitting quietly, so I went out to speak to him. He admitted that he was very tired. I asked him if he would like to stay with us that night, and with a look of great relief he said yes. It was only about 6:00 in the evening, but Victor crawled into bed and went right to sleep.
The next day I saw what Victor had brought in his small duffel bag: one pair of pants, two shirts, and a sweater. All were ragged and worn. The only shoes he had were the plastic flipflops he was wearing. Since Obrien (see “Our Starfish”) was also headed for Kabanga on Sunday, we enlisted his help in getting Victor ready for school. David drove the two of them into Kalomo and let them off at the market so they could buy a uniform for Victor and the other items they would need for boarding school. They came home later in the day with the uniform and a solid friendship. We invited Obrien to spend the night with us, and the two young men spent the evening packing, planning, and laughing together.
Victor had obviously not been out of the village very often in his 18 years. I noticed that he had some difficulty figuring out how to use a fork to eat his pancakes on Saturday morning. (Zambians use their fingers for eating.) He watched Obrien carefully for clues about what to do at dinner on Saturday night. On Sunday morning Obrien left very early to go back to his house and retrieve the rest of his things, so Victor was by himself. He came shyly into the kitchen where I was working and said, “Madam, I need to bath.” I realized that he had never used a bathtub before, so I took him into the bathroom and showed him how to put the plug in the drain and turn on the water. I gave him a towel and soap and hoped he could figure out what to do.
We packed their belongings in the Land Rover for the trip to Kabanga: one plastic trunk that the two of them would share, Victor’s tattered duffel bag, Obrien’s plastic pail, and one cardboard box. I couldn’t help contrasting this meager collection with the boxes and boxes of items that my own two children had packed when they left for college. Victor and Obrien were quite happy with what they had, though, and I knew that most of their fellow students at Kabanga would have no more.
As we left Victor at school, I realized that his parents had no way of knowing that he had made it to Namwianga, or that he had gotten a uniform, or that he was now safely established at Kabanga. I marveled anew at the sacrifices and struggles the Zambians make to get an education.
A week later, though, I got a chance to tell Victor’s mother about his safe arrival at Kabanga. She came to our veranda, bringing her seven-year-old son and a letter from Victor’s father. The letter explained that they had no food in their village and asked if his wife could work for us a few days in exchange for food and blankets. (We assumed that the father was not in good enough health to work just then.) Mother and son had taken two days to get here, stopping to sleep somewhere in the bush the previous night. I fed them a meal and told them about Victor and Kabanga while David set out to get some help and advice from church leaders who knew the family. Victor’s mother told me that she had five children still living, and that two had already died. She was happy to hear that Victor was settled at Kabanga, and she thanked me repeatedly for the meal.
David returned later with a stack of blankets for our visitors. He took Victor’s mother and the boy to their relative’s home nearby, and then came back to tell me what he had learned. Last year the family had been without food and had gone out to forage in the bush. Two of the children had eaten poisonous mushrooms and died.
We didn’t ask Victor’s mother to work for us. We helped her start home the next day with food from our garden, mealie meal, the blankets, and some cash.
And we wonder who will be on our veranda tomorrow.
Nine Lives Minus One
We have a cat. That is not remarkable unless you know that I have a longstanding dislike of cats in general. I warmed up to the idea of having a cat only when I heard that they would keep mice, rats, and snakes at bay. The Merritt’s cat had a litter of kittens when we arrived in June, so we agreed that we would take one of the kittens when we had our own house.
It only took a few days for our kitten to convince me that I had been wrong about feline pets. Indeed, Makua has entertained us on many occasions with his playful antics. He’s proven to be a great mouser, although it is a bit disconcerting when he brings his prey indoors for the kill. On one occasion he proudly arrived with a 12-inch snake in his mouth and was very unhappy that we disposed of the snake before he could do the final execution himself.
We have joked that Makua must be a teenager in cat years. He likes to stay out all night and sleep all day. He runs to the refrigerator and stands there any time the door is opened. He wants to eat constantly. But worst of all, he’s obsessed with car engines.
That was almost his undoing last Tuesday. David didn’t know that Makua had climbed up into the engine when he started up the Land Rover. He could tell that something was wrong, and when he turned off the engine we could hear Makua’s pitiful wailing. I was sure he was cut into pieces and went into the house so I wouldn’t have to see his mangled body. A carpenter who was working at our house opened the hood and managed to extract Makua all in one relatively unharmed piece. Apparently there was a space between the fan belt and the radiator, and Makua managed to be in that space. His only major injury was a gash on his upper leg.
We placed the rather shaken up cat in a box and drove to town to find the vet. The vet wasn’t sure he had the right anesthetic, but he found something and stitched up the leg. He told us that Makua would be “out” for about an hour. We suspect Makua got a little more anesthetic than he needed, because he was out for most of the next 10 hours. When he did come around, he was one drunk, miserable kitty. He couldn’t walk without falling over, and he had a glazed look in his eyes.
For the rest of the week Makua spent most of his time sleeping in the back of the guest room closet. He ate only tiny bits of food and had no interest in playing or going outside. We were afraid that our playful Makua had lost his sparkle.
Yesterday, though, we caught him trying to climb up on the dining table. Later he jumped around a little, pawing the air with his previous friskiness, and he began standing expectantly over his dish meowing for more food. We’re glad to have our entertainer and exterminator back in service.
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