The Next Adventure

David and I are setting off on a new adventure on September 3. We are moving to Mt. Vernon, Missouri, to work with the Church of Christ there. Mt. Vernon is a beautiful small town nestled in the rolling foothills of the Ozarks--just an hour away from the more well-known town of Branson.

The Mt. Vernon congregation is active and dynamic, with enthusiastic leaders and willing members. We're looking forward to seeing how God will use us in this new stage of ministry.

Above: View of the downtown from a hill above town. Below: the Ben Franklin store on the square and the county courthouse.

Extreme Team Reunion

Two weeks ago we traveled to Oklahoma City for a reunion with the Extreme Team who worked with us at Namwianga. In Zambia we shared laughter, tears, frustrations, experiences, and much, much more. We had missed them and it was delightful to be reunited and to reminisce with them and hear about their current life experiences.

From left to right: Betsy Watson is now working as a nurse and will be getting married Friday night. Kelsy Kelly is a youth intern at Park Plaza in Tulsa, and Jana Miller is an assistant producer for an OKC TV station. Next to me is Meagan Hawley who is now teaching reading at an Edmond middle school, and on the far right is Courtney Jenson Hawley. In June she married Meagan's brother and is now teaching kindergarten in Putnam City.

Sponsorship Update

When we left Zambia, Rajiv Siamweela, a sponsored student at GBCC, took over the communication and recordkeeping duties for the sponsorship program. Rajiv recently compiled a sponsorship newsletter to be sent out, and I think you'll agree he did an excellent job.

Outreach activities

Outreach activities have been taking place since the inception of the mission. Like in the past terms, sponsored pupils have been very much involved in this term’s outreach activities. On one Sunday I remember seeing almost all the boys leaving the school campus for outreaches to different places.

A New Outreach Wing Emerges

Through his blessings and his spirit, God has brought up another outreach wing called “A Preacher and His Work”. It is basically a group composed of about ten blessed, talented, and energetic men of God who are 1^st year students at the college. These men set off for outreaches every Sunday using the CDP (Church Development Program) vehicles and at times on foot.

“ A Preacher and His Work” has done more than just ministering in churches. This year, the Namwianga community has recorded three deaths within a short period of time. It was a hard time, but through the help of these men and the pupils at the Secondary School, things became much easier. They helped to dig the graves, put up shelters for mourners, gave messages of encouragement, and sang. They worked tirelessly at will and not out of command. They are such a wonderful blessing to the community that has come as a gift from our God.

A Former Sponsored College Student Gives Thanks

Thinking that Mrs. Gregersen was still around, Fay Sianjina, a former sponsored student who graduated from GBCC, traveled all the way from her village to come and express how grateful she is for the sponsorship that helped her go through college education successfully. After finding out that Mrs. Gregersen had left a long time ago, she gave me these words to send to the sponsors:

“What I don’t have are better words to use, but using these that are available,

I want to say thank you very much for helping me go to school by paying

for my school fees. Truly I wouldn’t have made it on my own. I am really

grateful for the good work you have done in my life. May the good Lord

richly bless you all. “

Taking a lead in academics

Each and every brand new year that comes there are quite a number of school activities that are scheduled. Just like in the previous years, this year’s calendar shows various activities like Sports, JETS (Junior Engineers, Technicians, and Scientists), and Debate.

All these activities come in the form of competitions amongst schools within and at times outside the region. On the 4^th of June 2010, a district level JETS fair was held at Namwianga Christian Secondary School. In the fair, sponsored pupils represented the school in the categories of projects, paper presentations, and olympiads.

Patricia Machelele, Eugene Kaango, Sebby Siabaswi and Roy Moono are some of the pupils who participated in the fair, and they made the school proud. To be specific, Eugene, Roy, and Sebby sat for Olympiads in sciences and they topped at the school level. At the District level, Roy is on the second position while Eugene and Sebby are on the fifth position in the entire District. What a wonderful performance.

Patricia’s case is a distinctive one. She was in the projects category in village development section. Her project is an interesting one. She made an effective pesticide that can cost a farmer in the village not even a single coin. She is ranked first position at school level and also at District level, and ranked third position in the entire southern region.

Current Affairs

On the 9^th of July this year, the blessings of the living God fell on Namwianga Christian Secondary School when the Copperbelt Energy Corporation Plc (Private Stakeholder) donated a good number of computers to the school. This company is headed by Mr. Sindowe who is the PTA chairperson of the school. On the same occasion, the company also donated a huge sum of money amounting to ZMK75,000,000.00 which is equivalent to about $15,000.

In her speech on this occasion, Mrs. Ellie Hamby thanked the company for the assistance rendered in providing resources to the school. She also encouraged other private sectors to come on board and help in developing the school in various sections.

The College Kitchen Gets Close to Completion

The college kitchen which has been under construction since some time last year is now close to its last stages of construction. The kitchen is an extension of an already existing building that is going to be modernized by putting in electric cooking pots. Currently the outdoor kitchen cooks meals in iron pots over wood burning fires.

This development has brought joy to the students who have expressed their feelings towards the building in different ways. Student Body President Miller Muwelya says that he can’t wait for the day when the kitchen will be completed and in use. Still other students have said that the building is going to change the face of the college, and that they really want it to be in use before they complete their three years at the college.

Helping Teachers

I found this photo today and decided I'd share it even it is old news. Right before we left Zambia in April, I invited all the sponsored college ladies to come over. I spread out all the crafts and Bible teaching supplies that I had accumulated over the past five years and let them select what they could use.

Photos of Jason and George

Recent photos of Jason and George sent by Roy Merritt. Note that Jason has lost his first tooth!

African Ingenuity

This link tells the story of a Liberian artist who creates curios from bullets leftover from the long civil war. African resourcefulness is amazing.

Final Zambia Medical Mission Report

LaDonna Armstrong provided this report about the 2010 Zambia Medical Mission.

The 2010 Zambia Medical Mission is coming to an end. Tomorrow we will be placing the remainder of the team on their planes to head home. This has been an incredible mission with a great team! We set all-time records this year. We saw the most patients in one day at our last clinic at Mabuyu...3,740. This brought our overall total to 19,560! These patients were treated with kindness, respect and with the love that Jesus showed to all those He came into contact with. Everyone treated knew that we were there because of Jesus and the example He set. Over 80 were baptized; but more will follow after more study with the Church Development Committee.

As I mentioned before, this year we were joined by SightSavers so we were able to send patients with cataracts to our clinic/hospital at Namwianga for surgery. These surgeries were performed by Dr. Moonze from Livingstone. He worked incredible hours to perform 52 cataract surgeries, 10 lid rotations, and he removed a growth from one lady's eye. He was excited to be able to help those from the rural areas. All he requested was a clean environment to perform the surgeries and an operating table. Dr. Allen Neese searched through the hospital container and found an operating table plus a chair. Dr. Moonze was thrilled because he had never used an operating table that could be raised with his foot to a height more comfortable for operating and the chair made it even easier to perform so many surgeries. He said normally his back would begin hurting from having to bend over to perform the surgeries. He is already making plans to join us again next year. What a blessing he was...and is!

The free wheelchair program has made such a difference for so many people. Sheryl (Hamby) Ramsey initiated this program last year. These wheelchairs are made especially for the terrain in rural areas. Almost 60 wheelchairs were given out during the clinics. It was so wonderful to know that when you saw someone being carried or struggling so hard to walk, that you could call Sheryl on the radio and she would be there with a wheelchair for the individual. The burden that is removed from the family is great, and the patient is thrilled to have a little independence to move about on their own. Sheryl will remain in Zambia for another month to take wheelchairs to rural health clinics all over the Southern Providence.

To all of you who have helped financally and with your prayers, this is also YOUR mission! We are all a part of God's family and we all work with the abilities or blessings that He has given us. Not all of us can go; but for those of us who can, we thank you for all your support and love.

Until next year...

More ZMM News

You can follow Zambia Medical Mission and get more details here.

Zambia Medical Mission Report

Following is a report from Ellie Hamby on this year's medical mission.

We just returned from a very successful 3 days of clinics to Simalundu and Kapaulu. The crowds were overwhelming as we saw over 9000 patients in just 3 days of clinics. Many people had walked for over 3 days just to get medical care. To get to Simalundu, it took 6 hours just to cover about 70 miles as the road is very bad and in some places it was more like a path.

We have a great team and everyone rose to the occasion and all the patients either saw a medical person or were given some type of medicine. It was warm during the day but at night everyone was happy to have a warm sleeping bag.

We had 2 babies born during the clinic. The first mother came in and was having a difficult time as it was a compound breech birth. Some of our team members (both American and Zambian) assisted with the birth. The second lady was brought in by ox cart as she was giving birth to twins. She had given birth to a child at 10:00 pm the day before and the second baby was now blocked from coming out. After sometime the baby was delivered under very difficult conditions. The mother had serious bleeding but they were able to get it stopped. Everyone there said the mother and both twins would have died if we had not been there. You never know what situations the Lord will bring across your path.

The community was extremely thankful for the care the medical team showed to the community.

It was wonderful to see the water well pumping water 24/7. I can tell you the people were overjoyed with such a plentiful supply of clean water. It is said that the child mortality rate will drop by 20% with clean water available.

Tomorrow we head to Nazibbula where we will conduct 3 more days of clinics. The team is tired, but are enjoying a day of rest before the next set of clinics.

Please continue to pray for the continued success of our mission.

Zambian Brass Band

BRING ON THE BRASS BAND!

A few times when we were in Livingstone we saw a brass band marching down the street, and we always wondered about that unusual sight. Richard Chanter of Chanters Lodge posted an article explaining the origin of the band. Joanne Noble who blogs from Sun International wrote the original piece.

"I am sure that when you think of African music, you will think of the African drum and possibly the marimba, like a xylophone. It may surprise you then to know that one of the favorite bands in Livingstone is a brass band. When Zambia was Northern Rhodesia they did not have an army; they had a police force. It was known as the Barotse Native Police. The rank and file of the police were men from the Lozi tribe and the officers were expatriates who had come to Zambia to work.

As soon as the police force was formed the officers thought that it would be a great idea to have a brass band; they decided to find out if their men could learn to play. So they brought in trumpets and tubas, drums and trombones and they gave them to their men. The constables could neither read nor write and certainly did not have a clue about crochets and quavers. This did not matter, though. Within a short time they learned to play their strange instruments and the Barotse Police Band was formed. Every Thursday evening the band played in the center of town in Barotse Gardens for the entertainment of the townsfolk. It was thought to be one of the best bands in the whole of southern Africa.

The other day as I was going through town I found the army brass band marching towards the Barotse Gardens, now known as Mukuni Park. The members of the Catholic Church were holding a fete in Mukuni Park and the army band had come to join in the fun and to make it more festive. The people in town all stood to watch as the band marched past and the children jumped up and down, they were so excited.

As I watched them go by I thought of those days now a hundred years ago. Things were so different then, so much has changed. Northern Rhodesia is now Zambia; the bandsmen wear long trousers and a cap instead of shorts and a fez. But some things have not changed. We still have a brilliant brass band in Livingstone and they continue to play for the enjoyment of us all."

Dancing in the Minefields

This is a great reminder of what Christian marriage is all about. I'm thankful for my wonderful husband who has danced through the minefields with me.

Poverty in South Africa

Faces of poverty in post-apartheid South Africa--a perspective not usually seen . . .

Preparations for Zambia Medical Mission

The annual Zambia Medical Mission begins next week. Director Ellie Hamby supplied the following information about getting ready for this huge event:

For those of you who are interested here is a sample list of what it takes to take care of the ZMM team for 2 weeks (about 100 workers from the states and 135 Zambian medical, spiritual, and general workers)

KITCHEN ITEMS
8000 bottles of water
7120 plates
7920 buns
82 large cans of chicken
286 lbs. of ground beef
110 chickens-slaughtered and cut up
168 boxes of macaroni and cheese
40 #10 cans Ranch Beans (a #10 can is about 100 oz.)
30 #10 cans corn
25 #10 cans tomatoes
16 #10 cans Pickles
810 breakfast bars
1430 packages chips
264 lbs. corn meal
99 lbs. rice
75 heads of cabbage
88 lbs. tomatoes
53 lbs. carrots
88 lbs. onions
25 cases fruit
100 lbs. coffee
400 lbs. sugar
100 liters cooking oil

These ingredients will be turned into scrumptious dishes like Sloppy Joes, Chicken Stew, Fried Chicken, Nshima, Cabbage Salad, Fried Cabbage, etc.

Other items that we have to purchase are as follows:
1000 rolls toilet paper
20 x 60 lb bags charcoal
2,500 lbs of ground corn for patients coming to clinic
5000 liters of Diesel
20 bottles disinfectant
80 rolls of duct tape
1200 large trash bags

Things to rent or lease:
9 lorries (trucks) to haul all our stuff
6 buses to haul the team
4 smaller vehicles (landrover, pickup, etc)

Items we need to have each year but are kept in storage:
70 +Tents
300 sleeping bags for American and Zambian team members
200 mats for American and Zambian team members
Many cooking pots including a 75 gallon black cast iron cooking pot
12 large Canopies
15 Tarps
200 folding chairs
30 long folding tables

This all deals with just the physical side of ZMM (getting us there and back and sleeping and eating) while out. It does not include all the medicine and other supplies to actually run the clinics.

As you can see from the above we are very busy getting all this arranged. We have people shopping, meeting with lorry drivers, putting zippers in tents, etc. so there is lots of action around here right now.

Can't wait for everyone to get here.

Ellie

You Won't See This in Zambia

Dogs in Zambia are common, skinny, and un-pampered. Their purpose in life is to notify their owners when strangers or snakes approach. It's safe to say that Zambian dogs are tolerated, not adored. We used to joke that all the dogs look alike--light brown, short-haired, medium-sized, usually descendants from some strain of Rhodesian Ridgeback.

So I suppress a smile when I see these Mutt Mitt stations on the jogging trails around Austin. I wouldn't know how to begin to explain these to our Zambian friends!

Wedding Photos

I've received some e-mails from readers who were not able to view Sara's wedding slide show from the link on my post. It works fine from my computer, so I don't know what is causing the problem. Try copying and pasting this web address into your browser and see what happens: http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creativeapps/photoPicker/albums.jsp

Foreign Influence in Africa

During our five years at Namwianga, we witnessed a growing Chinese presence in the area. China Geo Company built (very slowly) the road from Zimba to Livingstone, and a Chinese company repaired the road from Kalomo to the mission. Cheap Chinese goods flooded into Zambian stores. It became very common to see Chinese engineers on rural roadsides supervising construction crews. This article presents an interesting analysis of China's new involvement in Africa.

Another Perspective on Re-entry

Kelsey Kelly was a member of the Extreme Team that blessed our lives so much while we were in Zambia. For the last few months of her time at Namwianga, Kelsey lived at Haven 3, the orphanage for babies who have health issues like HIV and TB.

We love Kelsey like our own miss her terribly, as we do all of the wonderful co-workers who shared our Namwianga experience. Like us, Kelsey returned to the US in April. She recently blogged about her re-entry experience and the differences in her life here versus life at Namwianga. I thought you might appreciate her twenty-something perspective.

1. (In the US I have) an endless supply of electricity. After living with Zambian outages every few days, the idea that I can charge my computer whenever I want, instead of making sure it’s at full capacity at all times just in case a 3 days black out hits you. So when the lights go out the usual plan of attack is that you scuffle to find your head lamp and save the babies on the other side of the room (that are usually screaming)

2. People (here in the US) keep freaking out about bugs. I'm used to living by the motto, if there isn't a bug in my food, it's just not a meal.

3. Doorknobs here are lower and much easier to open. And we locked every door in our (Zambian) house. Big time hassle.

4. Here in the US we are constantly connected with every kind of great food. I would have given my left arm to eat a Reeses this time last month. Now I could care less.

5. I’m used to going to sleep (in Zambia) smelling like Kapenta (fish), dirty, and smelly. Now I have to actually bathe.

6. It doesn’t matter what you wear in Zambia. You put on a t-shirt and skirt. Make up on Sundays (sometimes).

7. You don't throw anything away. EVER. You have a plastic sack, you give it to someone and they kiss your face because it's like handing them a 10 dollar bill.

8.You say hi to everyone. You see them on the path, you say hello. You don't know them, you still say hello.

9. (In the US) You are connected to everyone through email, text message, or phone call here. There, I would open my email every three days (sometimes more, sometimes less!) and I’d have a great emails for reading later that night. Also, looking at twitter and facebook regularly? Still not used to it. These days I’d rather not.

10. More time for the simple things. Cleaning my room, reading a book, watching a movie, holding a baby, listening to music, talking a walk. I don’t really have time for uninterrupted quiet time nowadays..

Photo of Simalundu Well

Lives are changed when a new well opens in a village.

Water for Simalundu

I wrote about Simalundu after our visit in February. Kelly Hamby once told me that Simalundu is as far back in the bush as you get get in Zambia. The following is from Ellie Hamby, director of Zambia Medical Mission. She writes about new water for Simalundu. From Ellie:

. . . (W)ater is a major problem in Simalundu. They do have a borehole, but there is very little water. I have literally seen people from that area dig a hole 8 feet deep in a dry river bed just to get a small bucket of water. Last year, ZMM team member Tony Cloud determined he was going to do something about the situation. He went back to the states and to try to raise $6000 to pay for the drilling of 1 well. The Lord blessed Tony’s efforts and he was able to raise more than double the amount. Shadrack Sibwaalu, the Director of Water Well Drilling at Namwianga, set about contacting the company that we generally contract with to drill wells. We had to wait until the rains were over and the land was dry before the wells could be drilled.

When Shadrack contacted the drilling company about drilling two wells with the over $13,000 that Tony had raised they said with the current $ to Kwacha exchange rate they could drill 3 wells. The first well was drilled at Simalundu over 2 weeks ago and they were very successful and found water. They did have to go deeper than scheduled but praise God there was water. They now have good, clean water with a hand pump. Shadrack stayed in the village during the drilling of the well and conducted Bible Studies every evening. Shadrack reported the people were so overcome with joy that they danced and sang for hours in thankfulness for the water. They did not know until a few days before the drilling company arrived that they were going to have water.

Shadrack also selected the village of Simusunge (which is in the general area of Simalundu) to get the second well and then the village of Mulamfu/Kasuku got the third well. All the wells have been drilled and they are in the process of installing the hand pumps. All three of the villages have strong churches.

Tony deserves a huge “thank you” for his dedication to get potable water for the people in the Simalundu area. It was told to me by a Zambian official with the Water Development Department that when you drill a well you lift the burden of the women and children as they are the ones who generally look for water and carry it, often several miles, on their head.

Praise God for servants like Tony and I think it should only be fitting that we have a blessing around the water well when we arrive at Simalundu.

The Wedding

I received a gentle reminder from dear friends today that I have not posted anything about Sara's wedding yet. Sorry! We moved (for the fourth time in two months) right after the wedding, and then we left three days later for Blue Haven in New Mexico.

The wedding on June 19th was beautiful, touching, and joyful. We feel very blessed that Sara married a wonderful Christian man from a great family. Many friends and family came to the wedding, and we found all kinds of connections between the Gregersens and the Andersons.

To view a slide show in a Kodak gallery, click on the title above.