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.