Harding Academy, Day 2

The Harding Academy students have had a busy and exciting day. We had originally scheduled them to be at secondary chapel this morning at 6:30, but after seeing how bleary-eyed they were last night, we let them sleep in a little longer. After an 8:00 breakfast, they loaded onto a flatbed truck for a tour of Namwianga. They saw the clinic, the schools, the college, and then they spent some time with the orphans.

This afternoon Louisa had arranged for them to visit Kalomo Hospital. For this trip we had reserved the school's blue lorry (truck). They grabbed the chairs from our front veranda and put them on the flatbed so they could travel in style and comfort.

The students visited two wards in the hospital and sang for the patients who were there. Then they went to the Family Shelter and sang. Next it was off to the market for an introduction to shopping and bargaining Kalomo style.

So far everyone is still healthy--an unusual occurrence for a group of this size. Tomorrow they will spend the morning working with the babies and toddlers at the orphanage. In the afternoon they will visit Wasawange village to get a glimpse of village life.

Harding Academy Arrives!

A group of high school seniors and chaperones arrived today from Harding Academy in Searcy. We are thrilled to have them here, especially since David's nephew Wil is one of them. They had a relatively uneventful flight and--miraculously--arrived with all of their personal luggage! The only bag missing is one that was full of goodies for Louisa and Meagan. We'll share some of the good stuff we received until it gets here.

Tomorrow morning they'll be going on a tour of Namwianga and get a look at the places where they'll be working during the week they are here. Then tomorrow afternoon we've planned a trip to the market in Kalomo and a visit to Kalomo Hospital where they'll sing for the patients.

One of their ministries will be to play with and love on the babies and toddlers at the orphanage. Meagan has assigned each Harding student two infants and two toddlers to give special attention to. I made sure Wil has my little Jason as one of his!

I will try to post a little bit every day to keep the Harding parents informed about their kids.

Sunday Morning Outreaches

On Sunday mornings the vehicles start up and the students climb in to head for village churches and other ministry points. Here are some of the groups.

This singing group went with David to Sinazongwe. David reported that they sang all the way there and all the way back. He loved it.

The Helping Hands Club has a secondary group and a college group. Both groups went out on the yellow bus to encourage two different congregations in the Kalomo area. The driver of the bus is shown here--he preached for one of the services.


The newest outreach group is the prison ministry. Kenneth Siaziyu (third from left) is a teacher at the college. He recruited several of the college men to go with him to the Kalomo prison and minister to the inmates. There have already been 14 baptisms. Kenneth also challenged the entire student body to donate soap and clothing for the prisoners, and the students responded generously

Bananas

David is showing off our first crop of bananas. We planted the banana trees right after we moved into our house in September of 2005. These are the typical Zambian bananas--tiny but very tasty.

Surprises

Sunday's outreach brought some pleasant surprises. Don and Laura Oldenburg and I took a group of high school boys on an outreach to the Tara congregation about an hour away. (David ended up having to drive on another outreach at the last minute.)

We arrived a few minutes before the worship service began. Laura and I sat down on the women's side of the building and were greeted by two ladies in the row ahead of us. One lady had a four-year-old son who couldn't seem to keep his eyes off of us. He looked like a healthy, happy child, and we enjoyed watching him as much as he enjoyed watching us. The mother sang with obvious enthusiasm during the worship and gave me the overall impression that she was a committed member of the congregation. Later one of the students we had brought with us introduced me to the woman, and I found out that she is my special little Bernard's new stepmother! (Bernard's biological mother died in childbirth; Bernard's father has since remarried.) Bernard's father was in Choma on Sunday, so I didn't get to meet him, but I did assure the stepmother that Bernard is old enough now for them to come get him from the orphanage and take him to live with them. I was thrilled to meet her and find out that Bernard will be going to a home with Christian parents and a sweet big brother. I'm also thankful that Bernard will be living close enough that I can visit him every now and then to see how he's doing.

When the sermon started, the thirty or so children in the congregation got up and went outside for Sunday School. The other lady who was sitting in front of us left with them to be their teacher. After the service ended, she led the children back in and took them up to the front of the building where they sang a song and acted out the story of Naaman. The teacher carried with her one of the Beginner's Bibles that I had given out during teacher training classes in 2006! It was a joy for me to see that teachers are continuing to use the Bibles and doing the activities that I taught them.

Once again I am reminded of the Zambian saying: God is good all the time. All the time God is good.

Kalomo Hospital Outreach

Every Thursday afternoon Rodgers Namuswa visits the Kalomo Hospital. First he goes into the wards to pray with the patients, and then he goes to the Family Shelter and facilitates a Bible study with the women there. Recently he recruited me to teach the Bible study, and I recruited three of the college girls to go along and sing. We now try to go every other week.

The Family Shelter is the place where relatives of the patients stay while their loved ones are hospitalized. The concept is similar to our Ronald McDonald House, but there the similarity ends.

The Kalomo Family Center is a bleak concrete structure that includes two large rooms, a small shop, and a toilet. The rooms have windows and concrete floors, but no furniture. The women spread out mats on the floor for seating and sleeping. They bring all their own cooking gear and food for cooking outdoors on open fires. Their blankets, clothes, and other belongings are piled against the walls of the room.

When I arrive to teach the class, around 25 ladies are already seated Zambian style with their legs straight out in front of them. We sing a few songs and then I teach my lesson with the help of an interpreter.

As I teach, the toddlers crawl over and around their mothers, and occasionally an infant or two will fuss and cry. Flies are everywhere, and I find myself swishing them away from my face as I teach. The women’s faces are tired and strained from stress and worry. I teach something that will encourage them—a message of hope and assurance that God cares. After the lesson, the college girls sing to the ladies. The girls sing in beautiful harmony, their hearts poured into the melody and the words, and I have to choke back the tears as I watch the ladies in the room. Some close their eyes in contemplation. Others mouth the words or join in on familiar songs. A few just listen.

When we can, we bring food to pass out after the lesson. Bernard, a local evangelist, handles this. The ladies bring their plates, bowls, or plastic bags and line up. Bernard uses the tailgate as his table and scoops mealie meal (cornmeal) or dehydrated food powder into their containers.


A message of hope, the blessing of songs, and nourishment for the body. These are the small gifts we offer to the women who wait and watch.

Brandon Goes Home

Brandon is one of the Haven orphans who quickly found a place in my heart. He is handsome, smart, and full of mischief. He kept everything hopping when he was around.

I have two favorite Brandon stories. When Sara was working with the toddlers at the orphanage last summer, Brandon had just figured out how to take off his cloth diaper. Jason came running in from the dining room one day holding up Brandon's diaper with a shocked look that seemed to say, "Look what Brandon did!" Sure enough, Brandon was not far behind him--naked and quite proud of himself.

A more recent Brandon story happened in December. I had gone to The Haven to get Bernard and Jason to come to my house for lunch and naps. As I was getting them ready to leave with me, Brandon ran to his room and put on his shoes. Before I knew what was happening, he grabbed my hand and headed for the door. Then he turned to all the others who were watching and waved goodbye. And of course I took him home.

At one time, we all thought Brandon would grow up at The Haven. He has sickle cell anemia and will always need some special medical care and attention. But two weeks ago his grandmother arrived, determined to take him home with her. She speaks English well and was able to articulate her plans for Brandon. She convinced Kathi Merritt and others in charge that she is quite capable of taking care of him. She has nine other grandchildren and orphans who live with her, so Brandon will have lots of company. She also lives in a village that is relatively close and easy to get to, which means that someone from Namwianga can check on Brandon every now and then.

On Tuesday Brandon and his grandmother were ready to leave The Haven. They had just gotten past the veranda gate when one of the caregivers tried to take Brandon back in the house to get one more hug. Brandon threw a fit and absolutely refused to leave the arms of his grandmother. Everyone was thrilled to see him so obviously bonded, so they happily sent him on with her.

I love happy endings. . . and happy beginnings.

Shopping Spree

Recently I got to go shopping for The Haven. Marge Kagels, a loyal medical mission volunteer, had given me some money to spend on the babies. After consulting with Kathi Merritt about what was most needed, I headed for the shopping center in Lusaka and had a most enjoyable shopping spree.

Pictured above are the purchases. The five bouncer seats are for the infants to sit in. Any movement by the baby makes the seat move a little, so that encourages activity. Plus, the baby can sit up and see what's going on in the world. I also bought nine receiving blankets, 36 infant size cloth diapers, 24 larger size cloth diapers, plus three pairs of toddler sandals just for fun. Later I bought 40 sets of diaper pins to finish off the purchase.

The day I delivered all this to the orphanage was like Christmas. Cecilia, the housemother, was dancing around, the aunties (caregivers) were clapping, and everyone was grabbing babies to put them in the bouncer seats! Thanks, Marge, for making life brighter in our corner of the world.

Everyday Hero

We met Obert on Sunday when we took a group of college guys on an outreach to a small congregation at Dube Farm. Laura Oldenburg and I taught the children, and Obert was in our class. After the lesson we spent a few minutes talking to the kids and asking them about school. We found out that Obert walks into Kalomo every day to go to school. He leaves at 5:00 in the morning and arrives at school between 7:00 and 8:00. He walks home in the afternoon and gets in around 4:00.

We checked the distance with our odometer on the way back to the Mission. Obert walks over nine kilometers one way to get to school.

Obert and kids like him all over Zambia are heroes in my book.

Ellie’s Lusaka Photography Show

In addition to all the work Ellie Hamby does for Zambia Medical Mission and for Namwianga, Ellie is also an excellent photographer. A special exhibit of her work is now on display in Lusaka at the Visual Arts Center. Last Friday night was the opening celebration, and several of us took the opportunity to get away for a couple of days and enjoy the event with her.

My sister pointed out to me last week that I seldom ever post photos on the blog of David and me together. The reason, of course, is that one of us is usually taking the pictures. But this weekend we enlisted the help of Meagan and Louisa to make sure that there are, indeed, photographic records showing that David and I do go places together (see above photo of us at the exhibit opening).

The other photo shows the wonderful missionaries we work with at Namwianga: Don and Laura Oldenburg, Meagan Hawley, Louisa Duke, and on the far right, Sheri Sears. We had a great time at the exhibit opening, eating Chinese food afterward, and doing lots of shopping in Lusaka on Friday and Saturday.

The Bog Revisited

I ventured out on the roads today to do an outreach at Kalomo Hospital. We have had five days of sunshine now, so the roads are beginning to dry out.

The top photo shows a full view of The Bog, notorious for trapping vehicles in its mire last week. The left side is much improved, thanks to the work of Art Nine and the maintenance crew. They filled low areas with sandbags and then spread a layer of gravel on top.

The second photo is a close-up of the non-improved right side of The Bog—still intimidating with its tire-sucking mud. On the far right you can see the detour that was created around The Bog during the worst of the road woes.

If the sunshine holds, we can send the students for outreaches this Sunday. But our road experts tell us that any major rains will make The Bog impassable for our buses and maroon us once again. Let’s pray for more sunshine.

New Duds

One of our American visitors last week was Curt Buchholz, a pathologist from Alaska who was making his first trip to Namwianga. Curt’s wife, Carole, has come on the last two medical missions. She sponsors one of our secondary students and knows the needs of the young people here.

Carole went shopping for new clothes for the sponsored guys. She found a store in her town that had a clearance sale in progress. When Carole told the manager what she was shopping for, the manager lowered the prices even more.

So Carole sent Curt to Namwianga with one suitcase full of brand new men’s clothing for the sponsored high school students. And I had the fun of distributing it to them!

On Friday I called all the sponsored high school boys to a meeting. I told them about the new clothes, and each one drew a number to determine when he would get to choose his clothing items. Then we all headed for the veranda at my house where Valerie England, another visitor from the US, was waiting to help us.

I had the new clothes laid out on tables by size and style. We also had some other items to give away on a separate table. Valerie had brought some T-shirts and ball caps, and I had a collection of neckties to give away.

Each of the 28 boys got to choose a new item of clothing (shirt, shoes, or shorts) from the "new" table plus a necktie and either a T-shirt or ball cap from the other table.

The boys had a great time making their selections and posing for photos afterward. I'm sure that for many of them this "shopping" was a rare experience. To Carole, Curt, and the store manager, the boys and I say a hearty “Twalumba Meninge!” (Thank you VERY much.)

The Bog

Roy Merritt sent out an e-mail today telling about his wife Kathi's recent adventure in The Bog. He writes:

Rain has swished over us almost daily the last two months. Zambia is about to sink!

I got this giggly phone call from Meagan Hawley, "Uh, um...(tee hee hee). We're stuck in the middle of the road just past the hospital. (twitter)"

How can Kathi get stuck right in the middle of the main road????

Of course, I leaped into my trusty 4X4 steed and charged forth to rescue damsels in distress.

Not far, a hint of road conditions ahead...

I'm sorry, I didn't take my camera along to record her buried wheels or her muddy feet. I didn't realize that the place would get worse and worse, and figured it was a one-time woman driver thing.

Nope.

After she "opened" the ground, several dozen cars have suffered that same sloppy fate. This morning Kathi's mud-arena looked like this:

6-8 rainy weeks still lie ahead.

Usually we beg the Lord for rain. Now we'd (gulp!) like a bit less. We feel like those Israelites who grumbled for meat, then guzzled so many quail they got sick!

Roy

Bernard and Jason

Bernard and Jason have become my special little guys from the orphanage. About once a week they come home with me for the day. I think the extra attention is good for them, but the truth is that I have the most fun! Bernard has figured out the routine now, so when I arrived at the orphanage last week he grabbed my hand, looked up at me with those BIG eyes and said, “Bye, Bye?”

A couple of weeks ago we had a Sunday outreach planned with John and Beth Reese who were visiting at Namwianga. They are from Austin and work with World Bible School. I decided this would be a good chance to take my little guys on an outing and let them experience a trip to the bush with us.

I picked them up early on Sunday so we had time to read (see photo) and play a bit before we left. They did well on the bumpy ride to Kanyaya, with Bernard sleeping most of the way. As it turns out, Bernard was running a fever and slept most of the day. Jason was content to sit on Beth’s lap and enjoy the scenery.

We arrived at the Kanyaya church building and were greeted by the members. Jason clung to my skirt, not sure what to think of all the new people. We went in and sat on the low wooden plank benches and the service began. Bernard fell back to sleep on Beth’s lap. Jason looked all around at the small thatched building, the rows of people, and especially at the other little children. It occurred to me that Jason has only seen a handful of houses, the Namwianga church building, and the Namwianga clinic in his two and a half years. Slowly his eyes began to register how overwhelmed he was with all these new sights, smells, and sounds. Big tears started rolling down his cheeks. I held him close and hoped for the best, but in a few minutes he lost his composure and began to wail. I carried him outside and got him calmed down after a few minutes.

Then Beth came out with Bernard because he had fallen apart when he saw Beth’s face and not mine. I sent Beth back inside and put both boys in the back seat of our vehicle. Bernard fell back asleep and Jason and I spent a pleasant half hour or so just sitting together. Later the boys ate the nshima and chicken that the ladies had cooked for us.

We bumped and jolted home. The boys had a long nap before I took them back to The Haven. There is a good chance that both Bernard and Jason will be leaving the orphanage soon to go live with family members. I hope our outing helped them get a little preparation for the big world out there.

Update - January 31

We have had a group of Americans here since last Friday. Richard Prather, Ellie Hamby, Dr. Allen Neese, and Allen and Valerie England have been here before. Our first-timers are the England's daughter Sherry, Art Nine, and Curt Bucholz.

Sherry is an artist and is teaching art lessons at all levels. The students have loved these classes and are begging her for more. Art is a farmer from Oklahoma and has been advising the farm management team when he's not working with them on the muddy road. Curt is a pathologist from Alaska who is here to help Allen Neese with hospital issues.

Richard, Ellie, Allen Neese, and Curt made a quick trip to Lusaka with the Oldenburgs and three mission staff members to take care of some business matters. They left for Lusaka on Monday before we had two days of torrential rains. Their return Wednesday night turned into an adventure as the Oldenburgs' two-wheel drive pickup got stuck on the Namwianga Road. I'll condense a long, muddy story and tell you that the Oldenburgs managed to get their vehicle unstuck and took it back into Kalomo and parked it. Richard collected them in the four-wheel drive Land Cruiser, but even that vehicle couldn't make it through The Bog on way back to Namwianga. David, Allen England, and Art were waiting at The Bog with the farm tractor where they had just rescued an SUV that ended up almost on its side in the mire. The tractor pulled out the Land Cruiser and everyone got safely home eventually.

We're all hoping for sunshine today.

Wet and Wordless

I got out the thesaurus to find words to describe this week. The relentless rains have left us far beyond just wet--we are soaked, drenched, saturated, doused, dampened, and waterlogged!

As of yesterday we can add one more descriptor--marooned! The road from the Mission into town is now impassable except for hardy four-wheel drive vehicles driven by drivers who are either desperate or daredevils. One particularly bad section of the road is now named "The Bog." This miry stretch has claimed a variety of vehicles the past two days and has kept the farm tractor busy pulling cars, trucks, and trailers out of the sticky slop.

One of our American visitors, Art Nine, is a farmer from Gage, Oklahoma. He has been a wonderful asset, working tirelessly on the roads. He and the Namwianga farm crew tried grading some sections on Tuesday. Yesterday they concentrated on The Bog, filling low places with sandbags. Art's work and a few days of dry weather might get us linked up with the outside world again . . . but the forecast is more rain.

I think I'll need a bigger thesaurus.

Zambia in the News

Here are some of the latest news stories in Zambia.

Our missionary friends the Davises, the Boyds, and the Bruingtons all live at Mumena in Northwestern Province. ShopRite, the ONLY major grocery store in the entire province, burned to the ground the other day. The town’s only fire engine was not working, so fire trucks had to be called in from the Kansanshi copper mines. By the time they arrived, there was little that could be done to save the store. The link for the story on this is http://www.times.co.zm/news/viewnews.cgi?category=4&id=1201074702

We’ve had power outages several times in the last few days. That’s not that unusual for us at Namwianga, but the outages on Saturday night and Monday night affected the ENTIRE COUNTRY of Zambia. Frustration over the blackouts in the capital city of Lusaka led to rioting. See the story at http://www.times.co.zm/news/viewnews.cgi?category=4&id=1201074608

Welcome Week

The college campus is buzzing with activity this week as the students return from their holiday break. We have a new program called Welcome Week in place this year to help greet and orient the new students. New students were placed in small groups with experienced student leaders who helped them find their way around the campus, learn procedures, and meet new people. The groups also were assigned campus projects to work together on and help develop relationships.

The Welcome Week student leaders planned a variety of activities. Every evening there was something special for students to do, including devotionals, movie nights, and Bible study. Two afternoons were devoted to sports. Drawings for prizes turned out to be the favorite activity of the week. I had a collection of items that had been donated, including backpacks, boxed pen sets, visors, and folders, plus a box of leftover cassettes from our recording project a couple of years ago. We held drawings for these prizes after chapel each day and after each evening activity. So far the feedback on Welcome Week from new and returning students has been overwhelmingly positive, with everyone agreeing that the 2008 school year is off to a good start!

Mpepo Update

Joe Mushika and Cosmos returned from Mpepo on Monday night.  They spent a week there teaching, training leaders, and interacting with the community.  Joe reported that the young man who was electrocuted (see earlier blog) is still in the hospital and not doing well.  Our late night rush to the hospital apparently created much good will in the community.  Joe said that when he introduced himself to residents, they would recognize his connection to Namwianga Mission and express their gratitude for our ambulance service for the injured person.  We're glad God was able to bring some good out of that unfortunate accident.  

The Shiwa Ngandu Legacy

Mark Harvey is the grandson of Stewart Gore-Brown, the eccentric gentleman who built Shiwa Ngandu, an English manor in the middle of the African Bush.

Mark owns and runs the Kapishya Hot Springs Lodge and Campground where we spent two nights on our recent trip up north. Mark is a gracious and knowledgeable host and went out of his way to make our stay a memorable experience. Since January is the off-season for tourism, we were the only guests at Kapishya on our second night. Mark and his wife Mel hosted us for dinner in the Lodge’s dining hall and entertained us with stories of their life in Zambia and their experiences in running Kapishya.

Mark and his two brothers and a sister all grew up living in the great house at Shiwa Ngandu. Mark’s mother, the daughter of Stewart Gore-Brown, and her husband Charles ran the estate until their mysterious murder in 1992. It was an unusual childhood in many ways, as Mark tells of constant visitors who came to see Shiwa Ngandu and to visit his grandfather. Kapishya, 18 kilometers down the road from Shiwa, was originally built as a weekend retreat so that the Harvey family could get away from all the activity at the manor.

Mark’s brother Charlie now lives at Shiwa and works in partnership with Mark. The farming and ranching operation at Shiwa provides most of the meat for Kapishya’s lodge. Both Mark and Charlie offer safari guide services in the nearby North Luangwa Game Park.

An entire community thrives in the area around Shiwa and Kapishya. A hospital and a school are just down the road from the main house. Fees paid by visitors to tour the house go directly to fund the school and hospital. Mark and Charlie also make sure that over 70 orphans are fed three meals a day at the school. Many of their employees are the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of people who worked for Stewart Gore-Brown. A fascinating legacy continues.

The Africa House - called Shiwa Ngandu

The dining room inside Shiwa Ngandu. The table is so large that it had to be built inside the room. Guests at the house still eat their meals here.

Sets of china that were used during the days of Stewart Gore-Brown. The china probably was carried overland from the coast in ox-carts.

A view of the lawn in front of The Africa House. The lake is in the background.

Shiwa Ngandu

Our harrowing night drive in the bush (see the previous story) was well worth the effort. We spent a delightful two nights camping at the Kapishya Hot Springs. We had chosen this place to stay so that we could visit nearby Shiwa Ngandu, a place described by The Magic of Zambia as “perhaps one of the most startling sights in the whole country of Zambia: a rambling English country manor overlooking a shimmering lake in the middle of the African Bush.”

Christina Lamb wrote a fascinating book about the house at Shiwa Ngandu and the eccentric English gentleman who poured his life into building it. David and I had read The Africa House and couldn’t wait to see the actual Shiwa Ngandu.

Stewart Gore-Brown was a young British colonial officer working on demarcating the border between Rhodesia and the Belgian Congo in 1914. His work led him to discover a place called Shiwa Ngandu, or Lake of the Royal Crocodiles. Gore-Brown bought the lake and the nearby land from the local chief and spent the rest of his life building and maintaining an English country manor and estate.

A rich aunt in England supplied much of the funding necessary to bring building material, furniture, household goods, and supplies into the remote area. The house was completed in 1932, and for many years Gore-Brown entertained guests in British grandeur.

After his death in 1967, his daughter and son-in-law struggled to maintain the estate. They also campaigned against poaching the nearby North Luangwa Game Park. It is suspected that their anti-poaching stance led to their mysterious murders in 1992.

The house was empty for a few years and quickly fell into disrepair. Now Charles, Gore-Brown’s grandson, and his wife Jo have restored the house and opened it to the public as an inn and also for guided tours. We spent a fascinating morning exploring the old house and hiking up a hill to view Gore-Brown’s grave and get spectacular view of the lake.

Charles and Jo live in the old house and have a prosperous farm operation raising cattle, sheep, and African game. Nearly 100 years later, they are maintaining Stewart Gore-Brown’s dream of an English estate in the middle of the gorgeous and untamed African bush. I'll post photos in a separate blog.

On to Kapishya

It was 5:30 on Sunday afternoon before we were able to get on the road from Mpepo. We had met with the church leaders, eaten at the Chief’s palace, and said our goodbyes to Joseph and Cosmas who were staying behind to work with the congregation for a few days. Now we wondered whether we should even leave. We had broken our “no driving at night” rule the night before to take the young man to the hospital in Mpika, and we didn’t want to do that again.

But Joseph assured us that the road to the Kapishya Hot Springs Campground was good, estimating that we could be there in 20 minutes. I multiplied that by three just to be safe and figured surely we could make it before dark. If not, we reasoned, we could always turn around and come back.

Twenty minutes down the road we came to the turnoff for Kapishya—a turnoff onto a one-lane dirt road. A turnoff with a sign and said Kapishya was 30 miles down this dirt road. I was getting a little nervous as the shadows lengthened and the air grew cooler. We headed down the road, with David promising, “If the road gets worse, we’ll turn around and go back.” The road continued to be relatively smooth for about 10 miles or so, and we were making pretty good time traveling through a totally deserted wooded area with absolutely no signs of human life other than an occasional hut every three miles or so.

By 6:30 it was getting dark fast, and we both realized we had come far enough that turning back was not a good option. About that time the road narrowed to a trail and we began to see that the recent rains had left their mark. David shifted into four-wheel drive and we slowed to a crawl. At two or three places the road had washed out completely. David had to get out and look it over carefully to decide if we could make it, but our invincible Toyota managed to get us through.

At 7:00 the sky was black and we were still miles from Kapishya. I was making lists of our options in my head. We had never been able to contact the campground by e-mail or phone, so we were just hoping that the place was even open. When we saw how absolutely deserted the area was, I had a panicky thought that maybe the place was closed for the season. We also faced the possibility that any minute we might come to a washed-out place in the road that would be too much even for our four-wheel drive pickup to maneuver. We decided that in either of those events we would just crawl in the back of the truck for the night and sort it all out in the morning. At any rate, I would have blog material and we could chalk up another adventure.

After two hours of seeing nothing but trees and road, the sight of a burning lightbulb seemed just as welcome as an oasis in the desert. We spotted the sign for Kapishya Hot Springs Lodge and drove through the gate to find a parking lot filled with safari vehicles around a gorgeous thatched roof building illumined by electric lights. I don’t know when I have felt more relieved. I stifled the urge to hug the night watchman in sheer gratitude that I was alive and out of the dark wilderness where we had spent two nail-biting hours!

We made arrangements in the lodge for our campsite and headed back into the inky night to set up camp. We were, as you might guess, the ONLY people in the campground, but we had flush toilets and hot showers, and after having been resigned to the idea of parking our vehicle by the roadside in the bush, this seemed pretty luxurious. For the second night in a row we set up our tent on the back of the truck by the light of a flashlight—shaving minutes off our previous time--and crawled into our sleeping bags. Lulled by the sound of rushing river water, croaking frogs, and squeaking fruit bats, we slept soundly.

More Adventures at Mpeepo

Sunday morning we were awake at daybreak and discovered that the windows in our camper tent offer no privacy. I tentatively sat up in my sleeping bag and looked out on four pairs of eyes. Our host family’s children were sitting in front of their house (about six feet from our truck) and watching us intently.

We had agreed to go meet the Chief of the area at 7:00 that morning. As we headed toward his home (called a palace), we were escorted by his guard and told what to do. As soon as the Chief emerged from his house, we performed the traditional greeting by getting on our knees and clapping. The Chief and his wife then offered us seats and greeted us warmly. The Chief expressed his appreciation for the late-night hospital run. Apparently if we had not been available, the Chief would have been the one to arrange transportation, and it would have been Sunday morning at the earliest before any action could have been taken. Moses, the local church leader who accompanied us, invited the Chief to attend the church’s worship service that morning, and the Chief agreed.

The Chief and his wife

The Sunday service was held in the local school building about a mile from our host campground. The regular attendance at the congregation runs around 16 or so, but since the word was out about our visit, several local community leaders and visitors came and swelled the attendance to near 40. After the singing and David’s sermon, Moses provided detailed introductions of every visitor. Then we headed down to the river (another mile walk) for seven baptisms.

David met with the men of the congregation that afternoon, finally arriving back at our vehicle around 3:30. The Chief had requested that we come back to visit him, so off we went again to his palace. This time, since we were already good friends, we got to skip the kneeling and clapping. The Chief informed us that he wanted to serve us dinner and that we would walk around his farm while it was being prepared.

We spent a delightful hour with the Chief as we walked through his fields of maize and soybeans and saw the artesian well that provides clean water for most of the village. I have still not figured out the intricacies of the role of chiefs in Zambia, but each area has a chief who in involved in settling disputes. Chief Mpeepo told us that he holds court every Friday and judges matters like marriage problems, land disputes, and conflicts between his subjects. The punishment he assigns usually involves some sort of manual labor in the farm fields or construction of buildings for the Chief.

Dinner—our first meal since tea and buns at breakfast--was finally served at 5:00. The Chief insisted that David sit in his chair for the meal, but the Chief himself did not eat with us. We enjoyed the traditional Zambian meal of chicken, nshima, and cabbage served by the Chief’s delightful wife.

We had taken some photos of the Chief that morning, and he requested that we take some more, which we were happy to do. The Chief invited us to come back, even offering to give us land if we would move into his chiefdom!

We finally said our goodbyes and headed back to our campsite to get on the road before dark.

To be continued

The congregation at Mpeepo

Home Sweet Home

Our tent fits over the back of the pickup with the tailgate down. We can set it up in less than 15 minutes--even at 1 a.m. in pitch blackness, as we discovered last weekend in Mpeepo.

Another Adventure

We set off early Friday morning to visit a struggling congregation at Mpeepo in northern Zambia. Two Zambian co-workers, Joseph and Cosmos, traveled with us, planning to stay a few extra days to do some leadership training with the church members.

We spent Friday night at a lodge on the way and arrived at Mpeepo Saturday afternoon. A local church member offered his yard for our camping spot, so we set up a tent for Joseph and Cosmos and then set up our "tent" for the night on the back of our Toyota. At about 7:30 that evening we were sitting outside with several of the men from the local congregation when we heard an explosion and saw a bright flash across the highway from where we were sitting. "Something hit the electric tower," our friend Moses said. David and some other men got their flashlights and headed out to investigate. (Even though we were 100 yards from the electric tower, there was no electricity in our host's house.)

It turns out that a 20-year-old young man high on the local variety of marijuana had decided to climb up the metal electric tower to steal a length of barb wire. He was about 10 feet up when he grabbed the wire and was electrocuted. The jolt tore open his left leg from the thigh to the calf, and the fall from the tower gave him a possible head injury. David warned the villagers not to move the victim, but eventually the man sat up and the villagers carried him to the nearby health clinic.

As it turns out, our vehicle was the only one in this community of 3,000 people. David volunteered to take the young man to the hospital as soon as the clinic officer had him stabilized. Since we would have to use the back of our pick-up, we hurriedly took down all our camping gear and stored it in Joseph's tent. At 9:00 the word came that he was ready to go. We wound our way over one-lane paths to the clinic--a large building in total darkness except for a candle burning in one office. The young man was carried out on a mattress and placed in the back of our pickup, along with his father who would be needed to care for him in the hospital. In the cab with us were Joseph and Douglas, a community member who knew the way and had the necessary paperwork to deliver to the hospital. At 9:30 we set off in the inky blackness of night on the road to Mpika.

We were breaking our rule about never driving at night in Zambia. Thankfully, the traffic was extremely light with none of the usual large trucks or wild animals on the road that make night driving a nail-biting, heart-pounding experience. Of course, that's easy for me to say since I slept most of the way, as did Joseph and Douglas. We pulled into Mpika at 11:00 and found the hospital. The patient and his father were unloaded, and we headed back for Mpeepo. I think David said we met a total of three cars on the hour and a half drive back to our campsite. We pulled in at 1 a.m. and then had to set up the camper tent again before collapsing into our sleeping bags.

To be continued . . .

Everyday Heroes - Roy and Kathi Merritt

In the busy-ness of last year, I stopped featuring the "Everyday Heroes" that we work with. Starting with today's blog, I hope to do a better job of describing some of the incredible people who are making a difference for the Lord in Zambia.

Roy Merritt grew up in Zambia as the child of missionaries. He returned to Namwianga after attending Harding College and has been here most of the last thirty-plus years. Roy and his wife Kathi oversee the orphanages at Namwianga. Roy also works with the Northreach program which sends GBCC students and graduates into northern Zambia to plant and nurture congregations. I received Roy's end-of-year e-mail and wanted to share excerpts from it to let you know how God is using these Everyday Heroes in the kingdom.

From Roy Merritt:

Namwianga Mission has been involved in Christian Education for 75 years. In 1966 the mission added a high school. Lamech Nsende was in that first class.

He became a teacher in 1971 and served the government 35 years. All that time he worked with the church wherever the Ministry of Education posted him. Now he has retired to a farm he bought in Mapanza area. The village he lives in does not have a church, so he is working on that.

Lamech is an example of what Namwianga is all about--developing self-supporting church leaders.

As you know, Namwianga Mission now has a teachers' college. Students who come here under Northreach Sponsorship sign a contract that they will work in mission areas of the country for at least three years after they graduate. I do not know the exact number of the new churches started by GBCC graduates since 1999. I lost count at 150. The number is around 200.

We are getting ready to send 33 George Benson Christian College graduates to mission areas of the country. Departure date and time is 3:00 am January 3. Three vehicles will travel a week to deliver them all--longer if rains mess up the roads. After this exercise, GBCC will have 88 graduates at work around the country in places where the church is weak or nonexistent.

Closer to home, the orphan/street kid program continues to grow--whether we have room for new ones or not. We average 75 youngsters in Eric's, Eleanor's, and Kelly's houses. Right now all of them but five have a USA sponsor.

We hope to break ground on yet another baby house January 1.

We deal with AIDS daily. Several babies have come to us with syphilis and HIV. We have lost several this year, two just in the last month. All AIDS-related deaths. That bad news must not overshadow the good news--that 95% of our children are in fine health. Without the Haven, nearly all these noisy survivors would have died a week or two after their birth.

May God bless Roy and Kathi in their quiet but heroic efforts to make a difference.

Kariba Sunset

This is one of the beautiful sunsets we viewed from our lodge on Lake Kariba. This particular evening the sky included every color of the rainbow at some point.

Lake Kariba

Last weekend we went with Don and Laura Oldenburg to Lake Kariba on the southern border of Zambia. They were celebrating their 39th anniversary and asked us to go along. We stayed at a gorgeous lodge right on the lake and enjoyed watching spectacular sunsets each evening of our stay there.

On Saturday we visited the dam at Lake Kariba and found out more about the lake, the dam, and its construction. Lake Kariba is the largest man-made lake in the world, which is amazing enough, but its construction is even more remarkable. The dam was built from start to finish in five years (1955 – 1960), even with severe floods and other setbacks. Having at least a little bit of experience in trying to get things done here in Africa, I am thoroughly impressed that a project of this size was completed so quickly.

The new lake displaced over 60,000 people who were relocated to other parts of Zambia and Zimbabwe. Wildlife also had to be moved out of the area. David remembers watching Marlon Perkins on the “Wild Kingdom” TV show as he documented the efforts to get the animals safely onto high ground before the floodgates were opened.

Now the lake provides hydro-electric power to Zambia and Zimbabwe and is a huge tourism resource for both countries.

Christmas 2007

Here is the group that gathered at our house for Christmas dinner. Front row: Lois Sears, Marie Banda, John Phiri, Nathan Banda, and Tamara Banda. Back row: Robby Banda, Sarah Sears, Don and Laura Oldenburg, David, and me. Lois and Sarah are Sheri’s daughters. Tamara, Marie, and Nathan are Robby’s children, and John is Robby’s nephew. We managed a pretty traditional American dinner with turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole (made with homemade onion rings by Sheri), rolls, salad, and pumpkin, pecan, and chocolate pies. The cranberry sauce and pumpkin were brought to us by the Ganuses who visited in November. My sister sent us the pecans.

Tweezing the Turkey- A Christmas Tale

We wanted turkey for Christmas dinner this year. Enough of grilled chicken, cornflake chicken, and roasted chicken. It was Christmas and we wanted turkey.

Way back in November, Don Oldenburg made a special request to the manager of the supermarket in Choma to get us some turkeys. Last week the call came that turkeys were in, so Don drove to Choma to claim two rare, prized, and expensive birds for our holiday dinner. Because Namwianga is such a great customer of the store, the manager graciously gave us one turkey free. (Otherwise Don might have had to float a loan to pay for them.)

Don and Laura took one turkey to cook at their house, and I kept one. On Christmas Day I took my turkey out of its plastic bag and made a grim discovery: this was not a Butterball. No smooth, white skin on this bird. No nifty little pop-up timer. No legs banded together neatly with a specially designed leg wire. No neat little packet of giblets tucked under the skin. This bony, blotched hunk had a breastbone that resembled a craggy mountain peak, and I double-checked to make sure that there was indeed some meat under the sagging skin. Even worse, this turkey was not well dressed, and I don’t mean poor fashion sense. There were black pin feathers over much of the skin and gross stuff still hanging from the inner cavities. I cleaned up the stuff as best I could and then tackled the pin feathers.

I grew up on a farm where we raised chickens and turkeys, so I thought I knew what to do. I got a candle and held the flame on the feathers to singe them off. This worked marginally well. I was doing this outside on the back veranda, so the wind kept blowing out the flame. Then the sheer magnitude of the job caused another problem: the flames were starting to cook the skin in places. Plus the candle dripped wax onto the bird, and that didn’t seem too appetizing either.

My next brainstorm came from my extensive life knowledge—not of poultry, but of plucking. I got my eyebrow tweezers and started to work on the turkey. With a little wrist action and determination, this technique was quite successful, I must say, and before long the turkey was sufficiently clean-skinned for the roaster pan.

In spite of its poor initial impression and the paltry portions of actual meat, the turkey turned out to be tender and quite tasty. Or maybe the sheer effort of getting a turkey cooked in Zambia would have made anything taste delicious. I’m not sure. But next year I’m pretty sure we’ll go back to grilled chicken for Christmas dinner.

Mudding

My trip to town this morning turned into quite an adventure. It rained during the night and continued all day today. The roads are inches deep in mud--slimy, slippery, sloppy mud. I thought I was being cautious as I traveled in second gear and navigated around the ravines and pot holes. I wasn't quite cautious enough, though, as I hit a particularly slippery patch and spun a complete circle in the middle of the road! The rest of the trip was in first gear.

Lunch Bunch

Now that classes are over, I've had more time to spend with my little guys from the orphanage. I went there this morning just as they were finishing their bath time and helped get them dressed. I planned to take three of them--George, Bernard, and Jason--but Brandon got his shoes on and followed me the door waving goodbye to the caregivers. What could I do? I loaded him up and took him along.

Farming

This is the season for plowing and planting in Zambia. When I asked my students what they would be doing during the term break, most of them said that they would be working in the fields to plant the maize.

I guess it's only natural that the Zambians would expect us to join in on this activity. We gave it a valiant try during our first year and went in on shares with two other families on a large maize field. The rains were good and the crop was plentiful--but we still didn't make any money. Last year we had a great excuse not to plant because we were in the US on furlough in December. This year I hoped that my chickens and David's huge garden would be enough farming. We also thought we could get away with not planting since we'll be in the US on furlough in April during the harvest.

It was not to be. Our good (and outspoken) friend Mrs. Jope decided that we were going to have a groundnut (peanut) field behind our house. She stopped by on Monday and announced that she had hired a team of oxen to come the next day to plow our field (at our expense, of course) and that she was providing the seeds for us.

The next morning the yoke of oxen arrived along with their handlers and plowed the field. The young girl in the photo is leading the team, one of the guys is prodding the oxen along, and Obrien on the far right is guiding the plow.

So now we are reluctant peanut farmers. Obrien assures us that he will handle the harvesting for us in April while we're in the US. Let's hope it's a good harvest, because I'm thinking it will take a lot of peanuts to cover the $25 it cost us for the plowing. Adventures in farming--Zambian style.

Chicken Update for Courtney and Kelsey

In October HIZ students Courtney and Kelsey became the caregivers for the three orphan chicks that Cruella abandoned. They named them Harold, Larry, and Autumn and gave them lots of TLC. The photo shows them with Harold just before they left to go home. The chicks came back to us, and we gradually integrated them back into the coop with the others. For the first week, we kept them in their small pen at night and let them out in the yard during the day. These chicks were used to human company, and we had a challenge keeping them out of the house. They would just wander in the back door and make themselves at home.

After a week the chicks went into the big pen. At first the three of them huddled together away from the others, but gradually Autumn ventured away on her own part of the time. Larry also began spending more time with the other chickens. Harold semed to have the hardest time socializing and tended to stay with Larry or be on his own. Harold would always let me get close to him, and would even come over to the side of the pen and let me pet his head.

Sadly, a couple of weeks ago Autumn got sick and died suddenly, as did two other chickens in the pen. We quickly gave the rest of the flock some antibiotics to stop the spread of the disease.

Then last week Harold developed an eye problem. He has a severe infection in one eye and has probably lost his sight in that eye. He seems to be healthy otherwise, but we have him isolated in the small pen on the back porch so we can watch him carefully.

That leaves Larry as the only one still in the big pen. As you can from the photo above, Larry has grown quickly and seems to be doing great. And we think a name change is in order, because it sure looks like Larry is a Laura. We'll keep you posted.

So Courtney and Kelsey, I'm so sorry about losing Autumn and Harold's eye infection, but we're doing what we can. Thanks for being such good chicken farmers during your time here!

A letter for the HIZ Students

Dear HIZ Students,

Some of you told me that you would read my blog every day. You've been very disappointed, I'm sure! We were incredibly busy in November, and then for the past two weeks we've had all kinds of power outages and internet woes. Here's my attempt to catch you up on the Mission happenings.

As you can see by the photos above, the rains have turned everything lush and green. We have flowers everywhere in our yard, and the grass needs cut about twice a week. We've had torrential downpours and wild thunderstorms as well as gentle showers. Until this past week, a good rain also meant a power outage. We have gotten very skilled at locating candles and flashlights in the dark when the electricity goes off! The road to town is hard to describe--there are new holes, ridges, ditches, and puddles everywhere as a result of the rainwater runoff. A trip to town is even more of a rock and roll experience than when you were here.

The year one and year two college students went home at the end of November after their finals. The third year students stayed on until Monday when they finished the last of their exams. The business students were the last to leave on Thursday. The campus is deserted and much too quiet.

Today Mr. Phiri's secretary handed me a stack of letters and post office notices for five packages. I'll mail the letters to Dr. Rackley or Miss Bingham to distribute to you. Joshua, Katie Pagett, Kelsey, Matthew, and Courtney need to tell me what to do with your packages--assuming the post office will allow me to pick them up. We'll have visitors in January, so I could send them back to the US then, but you would need to provide addresses and postage.

Mildred, Ian, Harold, and Leonard are all still working around the Mission and doing fine. They have kept busy with visitors in the Mann House. We had a group of Peace Corps volunteers here for Thanksgiving and another group here last week for a boys' leadership camp. Mildred's daughter graduated from ninth grade in November and was the top girl in her class. Mildred is very proud of her.

We had a college faculty meeting on Wednesday morning. One of our topics was the Harding program. I wish you could have heard all the good things that were said about you. Everyone this side agrees that you were a blessing to Namwianga! Mr. Siaziyu pointed out how well you interacted with people of all ages as you encountered them. You have left some wonderful memories with the Zambians here.

Blessings,
Linda and David

Update - 13 December

Now we are hearing about the ice storm in the midwest and about how many people are without power. We, on the other hand, have had power almost without interruption since last Saturday. One major difference in the circumstances is the temperature--we don't have to worry about freezing to death when our power is out!

We have also had drier weather this week. The last big rain was on Saturday. By comparison, in the previous week we had major thunderstorms every day.

The Africonnect internet system is still down (since last Friday). The company sent a new router which David installed, but the system still isn't working, and the company still won't send anyone out to work on it.

We have had a Peace Corps group on campus this week: Camp BLUE (Boys Learning, Understanding, and Experiencing). The Peace Corps volunteers in our area chose boys from their villages to attend this four-day leadership camp. We hosted the entire group of campers and volunteers on Tuesday night for dinner and a movie.

The last group of college students went home today. Now we'll have three weeks of very little activity on campus.

Power

On Thursday afternoon we finally got electricity again after three days of no power. I have decided that the whirring of an electric fan is definitely one of my favorite kinds of music.

As I mentioned in the last update, our frozen food thawed and had to be eaten. For lunch on Thursday I cooked four pounds of ground beef on the propane burner while David grilled a pork loin and a chicken. A Zambian worker made a huge pot of nshima, and we had lunch in our outdoor kitchen with eight other friends and workers.

We finally got the new AfriConnect internet system up and running on November 30. It lasted one week and went down again yesterday. Our faithful Coppernet system is painfully slow and won't allow me to post photos on the blog, but at least it is dependable and keeps us in touch with the world.

Update - December 5

I'm sitting at an internet cafe in Choma, the nearest town to Namwianga that still has electricity. On Monday we had a storm and the power went out. It was still out yesterday when we had another horrific storm. The lightning struck and killed over 30 goats on the Mission farm. The storm also knocked down several poles that held electric wires. We have been without power now since Monday night, and the electric company says it may be Friday before we have power again. And it's still raining!

My neighbors sell broilers and had butchered 40 chickens yesterday. Now they have nowhere to keep them frozen. All of us are dealing with thawed food in our freezers, so tonight we are planning to cook everything we can (over propane burners or charcoal fires) and have quite a feast.

Water is also a problem for those without storage tanks because the pumps are electric. We have a rainwater collection system and are sharing with anyone who needs water. We've had a steady line of people gathering water from our tanks all day.

My cell phone ran out of battery, as did the computer. We decided to make the trip to Choma to get our e-mails, charge up the computer and cell phone, and do banking. Henry Melton left us an inverter, so we were able to get the computer partially charged on the one-hour drive. Unfortunately, our laptop will not connect at the internet cafe, and for some reason we cannot get to our mac.com website to check e-mails. So, for those of you who wonder what has happened to us, we are experiencing life in Africa. Hopefully we'll be back in touch by the weekend.

Lots of Love

Peace Corps Volunteers Angela, Jalle, and Karen went with me to visit The Haven on Friday after Thanksgiving. As soon as we walked onto the veranda we had little arms reaching up to us wanting to be held. Angela just sat down and gathered a lapful of toddlers who enjoyed her care and attention for the next hour or so. Bernard is one of my special little guys and is shown with me in the middle photo. Jason and Brandon (lower photo) posed while waiting eagerly for bath time. Jason (left) is a big eater and has figured out that bath time is followed by lunch time, so he is usually at the front of the line for batheing so he can be first to the lunch table!

Thanksgiving Photo

Here is a belated photo of our Thanksgiving gathering--I couldn't get the blog to post photos until now. We had seven Peace Corps volunteers from Southern and Lusaka Provinces, Don and Laura Oldenburg, Sheri Sears, and Richard and Sue Krogsgaard. It was a delightful group.

Connected At Last!

I have been trying to blog for several days now, but the weather, the power company, and the internet providers would not cooperate. The Harding AfriConnect system at our house has been down since November 5, but we were managing by using our old Coppernet account or by going to one of the other houses that still had AfriConnect service. That worked--if the electricity was on. We have had power outages for parts of most days and all of some days. It's been interesting. The entire AfriConnect system went down early this week. I tried repeatedly to post from our Coppernet account, but couldn't get it to work--probably due to cloud cover.

The good news is that the AfriConnect engineers FINALLY came out and got the system working again. Now we hold our breath and hope that this time we can keep it going for more than two weeks (our current record is 13 days) without going down.

One other tidbit of internet news: The server for the AfriConnect system is in a small brick room adjacent to one of the offices. David has to make repeated trips down there to adjust the system, turn on the air conditioner, and try to keep everything working. He's usually the only one in there--but last week he opened the door and found a two-foot long green snake stretched out on the window sill. He very carefully opened the window and let the visitor slither out.