Kites, Mud, and Bicycle Tires

 

Children can be so creative.  In this area of the world there aren't big toy stores and people wouldn't have money to buy toys anyway.  So it is wonderful to see what children come up with.  We are seeing lots of kites.  The kids use a couple pieces of wood and then a plastic bag - like from the grocery story.  It is amazing how high they fly.

 

Another amazing toy is mud.  The children take mud and sculpt all kinds of things.  One of the cutest is when they make a doll and then wrap it up with a piece of cloth.  They sometimes even carve a face into the mud where the face would be.

 

And finally, Adam, a 4 year old at our village runs around all day pushing a bicycle tire.  It reminds me of a toy our daughter bought in Williamsburg - a wooden hoop with a stick to make it go round and round.  

Bush ingenuity at work.  

Around the table – Around the world

 

Yesterday for lunch after church we went out to lunch with some other folks.  At the table was a couple from Zimbabwe.  There was a family – wife from Holland, husband from Germany.  Then there was our family and Bethany from US.  I always find it so interesting the number of places people are from that we know.  Eckert, the German, works for an organization that identifies children with disabilities and tries to hook them up with whatever help they need.  They have lived in Africa for 20 years, met in Sierre Leone.  They had to evacuate from Zaire at one point.  They are very familiar with living in the bush, although now they live in Lusaka, especially so their 3 children will have a good education.

Exercise, Guns, and So Many Children

 

Yesterday I walked to the Chimwemwe Ladies Club meeting.  It is about 3 miles each way, so I was getting good exercise. I'm hoping that more walking will help my back.   It also gives me time to talk with the ladies since I always walk with someone else.  I was returning home with 4 of the ladies, one carrying a small child on her back.  A car coming towards us pulled off the road a little bit ahead of us, and out jumped 2 guys with machine guns or automatic rifles (shows how much I know about guns!).  It was a little startling!  But one of the ladies looked behind us.  Down the road behind us there was an armored car being escorted by 2 security cars – one in front, one in back.  It seemed that they were adding more security or switching the guards.

 

The armored car was coming from the copper belt and apparently filled with lots of money.  Last year there was an incident with one of the trucks.  So now they have much more security with armed guards.  I joked with the ladies, that we must look like robbers!

Stella was very curious about how I felt about it.  She said it scared her.  It didn't scare me.  I just thought about how different it was than in the states.

 

For those of you with children, you might consider the job that Rose has as housemother of 10 children.  The ages of the children are 3-7, so it is like having several sets of twins or triplets.  It is her responsibility to make sure they are fed, have clean clothes, the house is maintained, there are devotions each day, and everything that is involved with having children.  There is still no electricity so all the washing is done by hand and the cooking over a little brazier.  One thing that is nice is that even at that early age, the children are being taught to wash their own clothes, sweep, clean, do dishes, make their beds, and help outside.  The children are much more cooperative and happy to help than most kids in the states.  But it is quite a job for the housemother, and not one that I would want to have.  The rewards are the smiles, the happy faces, the hugs, and the knowledge that these children are being rescued from very difficult circumstances.

 

Roses, Yogurt, and Ants in the Pants

 

As is true anywhere, there are positives and negatives about our little area of Zambia.  On the way to Lusaka we pass a big rose nursery.  They have many green house type buildings where they grow roses for export to Europe.  They harvest the roses 3 times a day to make sure that the buds are just at the right point.  The ones that don't make it are sold very, very cheaply.  They look fine to us.  On Friday, Lyndsay who is staying with us from Canada, was near this nursery.  She knows how much I love roses.  She came home with about 3-4 dozen beautiful rosebuds that she probably paid about $10.00 for.  They look so beautiful on our table.

 

We have had a hard time getting dairy products.  In the stores in Lusaka cheese is so expensive.  However, at the conference center across the road from us they have dairy cows.  They make all the cheese, cream, and yogurt that they use in the restaurant, at their hotel in Kabwe, and at their restaurant in Lusaka.  So now we have a standing order for yogurt.  It is so good.  It is runnier than what we buy in the states but we use it with cereal, fruit or just to eat plain.

 

I have often asked a child, "Do you have ants in your pants?"  when they were wiggling around.  Well, there are millions of ants here.  If you happen to walk through where they have their line of activity, you do get ants in your pants, and you move very quickly.  They also keep coming up to the verandah.  Someone said that they don't like what is in soap.  So we put laundry soap in water and pour it on the verandah.  I don't know if it is the ingredients in the soap or the fact that it drowns the ones where you pour the water. Either way it usually keeps them away for a few days!

 

5 Visitors:  4 Revs., 2 baldies, and a barrel of laughs

 

On Wednesday we sadly said goodbye to 4 pastors from Eastern Hills Community church in Denver, and Gayle Zonnefeld from Partners Worldwide who also lives in Colorado.  It was a busy time but so much fun.  Two of them were youth pastors, so we know what fun (and a little crazy) youth pastors can be!  And all 5 of them are filled with joy and are so funny.  They were able to play with the children at our Village, play "football" with children at Okada school.   They heard the stories of Kamau, and Miriam and Rose our housemothers.  In the evening of the same day they heard from the Zimbabwean farmers who have had to move to Zambia after loosing everything.  One afternoon 19 people from the church in Liteta came for singing, sharing, and a meal together.  It was wonderful to see little groups of Zambians talking with the folks from the US.  We are excited to be connected to their church and we are looking forward to the teams who will come over to help us here.

Woman with a Dream

A woman with a dream

 

This morning one of the Chimwemwe ladies, Judith, came to my door.  Christine had to interpret because she does not understand or speak English.  She said that for 2 nights she had dreamed about coming and helping me – doing laundry or whatever I needed.  She didn't expect pay.  She just wanted to fulfill the dream she had because she was troubled until she did.  So she is in our bathroom right now, helping Christine do about a week's worth of laundry in the bathtub.  Now we pray for some sun this afternoon so that the clothes will dry.   Many of these young women I want to just put my arms around and hug.  Most of them have no mothers or fathers alive, they have several children, their lives are hard and very routine, and need love and affirmation.

 

Matilda Has an Operation

Matilda operated on

 

On Monday January 28, the surgeons at Cure Hospital did operate on Matilda.  I have not been able to visit her, but Benedict stopped by the hospital on Wednesday.  They have her for 2 weeks in one of those halo things (remember I'm not a medical person) that holds your head in place so it can't move.  Benedict said she looked ok.  She will probably be there for close to 3 weeks.