Walking Around Komoto

Where do I start? We are back in Lusaka now after spending two weeks in the village of Komoto. It was a long two weeks full of ups and downs, but I can honestly say I’m going to miss the people there and I hope to go back some day. We stayed at the house of a woman named Mai Phiri. Her hospitality was amazing and she was very patient in teaching us as we bumbled our way through trying new things. 

Us girls with Mai Phiri

Our purpose for being in Komoto was to build a house with the youth. Youth Hope is working with Lloyd Ng’ambi and the CCAP (Presbytery church) to start up a training farm for the youth in the area. This house will be for the caretaker of the land.

This is as far as we got while we were there. The inside walls still needed to be finished, as well as the floor, windows and roof for the veranda. There were a few men who were going to finish that up this week.

Some of my favorite moments in the day were when I got to hang out with the kids in the village. They didn’t understand me very well and I didn’t really understand them. But I loved singing with them, or just sitting around the fire while the sun set and trying to learn new words from them. 

We were supposed to be watching football but we got a bit distracted :)

All of these kids helped with the construction wherever they could, whether is was mixing up the cement or moving bricks, these kids really know how to work!

 

I was supposed to be getting a picture with Ndaba (next to me), but as is common here, others jumped in and became my band of hooligans!

 

One day they decided to put this baby on my back. It only lasted for a minute because he woke and knew I was not his Mama! But it was fun while it lasted :)

Singing Feet

We have reached the middle of our trip. If you read my last blog you know that I've been struggling a bit with just being tired. Tired of meeting new people all the time and trying remember what to say to them. Tired of packing up every three days and moving to a new place. Tired of being uncomfortable. I had been struggling with this all week. But this is what I wrote down Sunday morning:

This morning I woke up with a song in my heart. A morning after two weeks of just being so tired and ready to not necessarily go home, but to go somewhere more comfortable. The last few days I've had a hard time thinking of things to thank God for. I'm tired, my body aches and my head afflicted with the common cold. But even through it all God sent me a song from my childhood. "Thank you! Oh thank you, my God for what you've done. You gave the greatest gift of all. Thank you for your only Son!" If I cannot give thanks for the things surrounding me, at least I can give thanks for the greatest thing of all. God's gift to all mankind. If we have nothing else in this world, we at least have the love of Jesus and that is enough.

That morning in church our team leader gave the sermon, speaking from Isaiah 1:10-17 and Romans 12:1-2. I encourage you to go and read them for yourselves, but they talk about living for God and giving our lives as a sacrifice. Here are my notes from the sermon.

 

The biggest thing I got from the message was that this world is not our home, and when we try to conform to this world we are trying to get comfortable. But when Jesus told us to take up our cross and follow Him, He didn't promise comfort. In fact, he pretty much guaranteed that it would be uncomfortable. 

So the next time that I get tired of not having a real toilet, when I can't remember how to respond to someone when they say "Nantandala uli?" I just have to remember why I'm here. What my purpose is on this trip and in this life. And that is to bring glory Jesus. 

Praise: Today we went to get our visas renewed. Apparently when we came back into Zambia from Zimbabwe they messed up on my passport. Drew and Lauren got the 30 day visas that we requested, but I only got 20 days. I've been in Zambia illegally for 10 days!! The immigration officer was very nice though and they didn't throw me in jail :) Drew said that he was the nicest officer he's dealt with so far. 

Trudging Feet but Thankful Feet

Wow, I can't believe it's only been a week since I've written anything last. It's been a busy week of conferences in two different cities. Our first was in Chipata. We arrived on Thursday with the intent on being able to prepare on Friday and teach on Saturday. We found out Friday morning that the conference was supposed to start bright and early that day. Since most of the youth had work and school it didn't actually start until about 3 in the afternoon, but Lauren and I had a few moments of panic. We were able to get together as a team and hammer out a few more details with our lessons. The lessons for that conference were on prayer, forgiveness, God's calling, friendship evangelism and HIV/AIDS.

By Sunday afternoon we were headed to Lumezi to do another conferences. This one started late in the afternoon on Monday, ran all day Tuesday and Wednesday morning. Throughout this trip I have always shared a room with my teammate Lauren. This has been very good for us because we use our time in our room to debrief and talk through things and bounce ideas off of each other. In Lumezi they had decided to send us all to different places so more families could enjoy hosting visitors. While I was okay with the idea of being separated from my team at night, it ended up being more taxing than I had thought it would be. By Tuesday I ended up breaking down. I was tired. We were continually meeting new people. I have been struggling to remember some of the basic greetings that we have learned as well as trying to interpret the different accents. My brain was tired. After a quick team meeting, Drew sent Lauren and myself off on a walk so that we could talk to each other and just have some time alone. We talked about some of our different struggles, but ended our walk saying all the things we were thankful for. Seeing so many stars at night, working toilets, beds to sleep in. It was a restful time and made the rest of the conference much easier.

On Wednesday morning, one of the lessons that Drew was teaching was HIV/AIDS. As we had noticed all through this conference and the previous conference, the girls were very quiet and not contributing a lot. So after he had started the discussion he had Maureen, Lauren and myself take them off to another area so they could feel free to talk more openly. I think it was a very good time. I had started reading the book the Drew gets a lot of his teaching from called HIV Hope. Even though I was only about seven chapters into the book, I was able to use a lot of content from there in our discussion. I think it was good for all involved. In the afternoon we drove to Lumdazi for a short time of rest. We will be going on to Musa for our next conference on Friday. It has been very good to rest. Last night I sat down and read a book that I have been saving for awhile now. It was so good I read it all in one sitting, which was wonderful. After we are done in Musa will be going to a training farm in Komoto and staying there for about two weeks.

Please pray:
- that we will continue to be able to take time to talk as a team and just have time together.
- that we will continue to have safe travels and our car would stay in good condition
- that as we talk to the youth we would be clear with our words and be able to talk about things that are important in their lives.
- that our team would continue to remain in good health.
- that I would be able to get enough to eat and drink and that the food would sit well with me. The only thing I haven't been able to eat so far is the fish (I think the smell doesn't agree with me), but the food doesn't always sit well in my stomach. Maureen has been very gracious in making sure that something is prepared that she knows I will be able to eat, like rice instead of sheema. Even though I don't mind eating the sheema, apparently rice agrees with me better :)
- I got some mosquito bites last night, so please pray that my malaria medication works!! :)

They wanted their picture taken, so I happily obliged :)

Our conference group in Lumezi on Wednesday morning, there were about 30 people there.

Pictures

Lauren and I teaching the water safety and storage workshop for the ladies Bible study.

 

At the Zambezi River gorge.

Lauren playing with the Boy's Brigade band.

The ladies who tailored our chitenge's.

Lizard Feet???

After a wonderful week and a half in Zimbabwe we are now back in Lusaka, Zambia. Our last few days in the village were filled with the men working on the rainwater harvester and Lauren and I taught a workshop as well as led a Bible study. Thursday was our big long day. 

We had planned on getting an early start in the morning, but it took longer to get some stuff than we had planned. Daniel and Drew decided to spend the night in the village so that they could get as much done on the harvester as early as possible. We got on the road around 10:30, but the car was so weighted down that Amber decided to catch a Combi (the public transportation van’s I wrote about earlier) out to the village to help make the car lighter. So we were finally on our way. Kudashi was asleep in my arms and Mufaro was asleep on Lauren’s lap. We were bouncing down the road when all of the sudden I felt something land on my hand. I quickly flung it off and saw that it was a lizard. I was in a bit of a shock so Lauren and I just looked at each other without saying anything, even when it started to crawl to the front. It got quite the reaction from the guys. I think we almost heard Drew scream when he saw it! J When we got to the Lufiyele’s land the guy they had hired to drive the cement out had gotten stuck in their driveway. It hasn’t gotten packed down yet so it is very loose sand. Daniel used his jeep to get it out which was quite the sight to see. Since the girls were sleeping, Lauren and I just stayed inside the car, along for the ride. Once Amber arrived we ate and then went to the ladies Bible study. Lauren and I started with a workshop that we had planned about safe water storage. It went pretty well. Amai Christ In Us translated for us, which was interesting an interesting experience. She does a very good job, but we still had to make sure we were clear in what we were trying to say. We left the guys to keep working and got home to find that the power was out. 

On Friday Amber took Lauren and myself to the gorge where the Zambezi River runs through. It is only about 2 miles from their land in the village. It was nice to just sit there, enjoying the view and talking about future possibilities. On Saturday we left. It was a long day of crossing the border and riding in the bus for 7 hours from Livingstone to Lusaka. It was harder than I thought it would be coming back to the bigger city of Lusaka after spending time in the countryside, right next to the bush. 

On Sunday we went to a different church, but still a part of the Presbyterian church that Lloyd is a part of. The service ended up being about 4 hours long. Most of it was in Nyange and very little English was spoken, so it was a tiring experience trying to follow along. There was quite a bit of liturgy involved, and they dedicated some new music equipment, as well as inducted some new deacons and deaconesses. A large part of the service though, was when they had the different choirs come up and sing. The men’s choir, women’s choir, youth choir and children’s choir each came to the front and sang a few songs. That was a lot of fun to see and hear. After the service was over we went to go visit the Moyo family whose nine month old granddaughter passed away. She had only been sick for a day when she died. All of the close female relatives were with the mother when we came. They had stayed up the last two nights since the baby had died, singing and reading the Bible. We sat with them in the room and Lloyd said a prayer for them, then the ladies told us what had happened. 

Monday night Lauren heard the Boy’s Brigade band playing next door. Lauren plays in a band back home and she was very interested to see them, so we had Tamara escort us over there to take a look. They were most willing to show off their skills. It was a brass band and Lauren plays some trumpet, so they had her play along with them. It was a lot of fun to listen to them and to see how much fun they have with their music. Teenage boys are teenage boys wherever you go J That night the U.S. played in the World Cup at midnight. I slept for about an hour and a half before the game and then was awake long enough to see the U.S. score their first goal. I was tired enough and not interested enough to fall asleep for most of the rest of the game. I woke up just in time to see Ghana score and the U.S. score again. So I saw all of the important parts, right? It was great to be able to go to sleep for real that night J Since the U.S. won we got stuff to make cheeseburgers for supper last night. Even though some of the things we used were a bit different, it was still really good to have something that tasted of home. 

Today (Wednesday) Maureen took Lauren and myself to the tailor. She saw the difficulties we have been having trying to wear our chitenge’s and so she had the tailor put ties on them so that we can tie them around our waist like an apron. We went to one tailor, but when he saw us white girls, he wanted to charge an extra 5 Kwacha. Maureen wouldn’t let him do that, so we found another shop where there were two ladies working. They were willing to do the work for the expected 10 Kwacha and even went beyond our expectations by hemming the raw edges. It was interesting for me to see the sewing machines they were using. They had two machines that originally been manpowered and had been adapted to use electricity. While we were there a couple of gentlemen came by and wanted to take us girls out for drinks. Apparently they were in love J Both of the tailor ladies and Maureen were quick to tell them off, but we had many laughs over the encounter. Maureen said that every Zambian woman must have at least one chitenge, so we like having ours to look traditional and respectful.(Maureen is a director of YouthHope here in Zambia and she will be joining us for the rest of our trip. She has been a great help to me and Lauren as we try to understand the language and culture here). 

We will be leaving for Chipata on Thursday and will be in the eastern areas of Zambia until around July 15^th. We will be doing some different leadership conferences and then going to the youth training camp where it will be more of the farming techniques. 

Please pray for: 

- safe travels

- We will be doing a lot of teaching at several different conferences, so pray that we will be prepared for that and for confidence for myself since this is not really in my comfort zone. 

- Unity for our team, that we would continue to feel free to share openly with each other.

Walking Around Jemgwe

It’s been a lovely week here with the Lufiyele’s and I’m sad to see it coming to an end. Even as I type this Mufaro is trying to distract me with tickles and kisses J

On Monday our team went with Daniel and his brother Diva to the village of Jengwe. The men started working on a rainwater harvester so that we can document the process and Daniel and Amber can teach the people in the village how to make their own. While they were doing that, the pastor took Lauren and myself around to three different water sources so that we could test them. We got the pH levels, Total Dissolved Solids and e-coli samples. The village is made up of about 250 plots of land that are about 5 acres. Only 3 to 8 people are allowed to live on each section so the village consists of roughly 1500 people. At each source a few people came up to get some water and we got to explain what we were doing. We also stopped along the way to visit a few of the homesteads. Lauren and I recognized a few of the women that had been in the Bible Study last Thursday. The first two sources we visited were boreholes and the last was a well that had been dug in the dry river bed. They simply dig a whole of about 2 feet and put a metal tube in so that it stays and there was about 6 inches of water in the bottom of the whole. It has tested positive for e-coli. My favorite part of that day was our tag-a-long friend, Michael. At the beginning of our walk he simply ran around playing with his football. But as time went on I noticed that he was walking behind me following in my footsteps. So I started to stop suddenly, or turn around and look at him. He seemed to find this quite funny. As time went on things escalated a bit to where he was trying to touch me and get away while I tried to catch him or knock away his ball. I succeed in doing both of those things once. It made the long walk quite enjoyable.

On Tuesday, the men went back to the village to finish digging their whole and start pouring the cement for the floor. Lauren and I stayed back to work on some different projects. But first in the morning we had a ladies day out and we went around Victoria Falls to several different markets to do some shopping. Since the guys had the car we had to take public transportation to town. This consists of a van that has a bench in the back that sits four, two more benches in the middle that sit two or three and extra seats that fold down on the side once the back is full. I saw these in Lusaka and thought they looked a bit like a clown car, trying to see how many people can fit into them. It’s not the fastest way into town since they drive around for a while trying to get as many passengers as possible, but it works. The markets were quite fun. They are nice because they are in the shade, but the aisles can get a bit crowded if someone stops to look at some wares. The first place we went had mostly clothing. We got some chitenge’s and skirts. Chitenge’s are essentially two meters of cloth that you wrap around your waist to protect your clothes, it’s like wearing a skirt. We stopped for some chocolate filled pastries and cokes to rest up a bit and then were on our way to some more markets. One was more of a touristy and place and was quite expensive, but they had some fun live music and I got to touch an alligator. At the next market they seemed to specialize in artwork and jewelry. We went straight to the back to visit Amber’s friend, Simba. He had quite a bit of jewelry and convinced me to get some earrings. I couldn’t resist J Lauren and I also got a couple of bags from the stall next to his, which will definitely come in handy during our travels. In the afternoon we took a walk around the town they live in, Mkhosana. Everyone was quite friendly and wanted to say hello to us. All the kids yelled out “Mkhiwa!” as we walked by, which mean’s white person. We stopped in at a Tuck Shop to get some pop. We had to drink it while we were there so that they could send the bottles back for recycling. All in all it was a lovely walk.

Much happened today, but I don't have time to do it justice right now, so I will just leave you with a few pictures from these adventures. 

Christ In Us at one of the boreholes

Lauren explaining why we were testing the water and what we were doing to a curious bystander.

A young man who came to get some water and so willingly posed for a picture.

Michael and his football

The tuck shop that Lauren and I visited.

Pictures of Zimbabwe

This is just outside of Lusaka while we were traveling in the bus down to Livingstone.
This was one of the nicer parts of a detour that we took. 

From left to right: Lauren, Kudashi, me, Mufaro.
Lauren and I have had a lot of fun getting to know these girls and playing with them.

Amber teaching with the pastor's wife. 

The whole group of women who came for the Bible study. 

The football players! They seemed to have a lot of fun, although I had no idea who was on which team.
I was pretty content to just take pictures :)