Men from Annapolis

 

Early this morning a group of 10 men left our house after spending a week here.  They were all members of Annapolis Evangelical Presbyterian Church.  I don't think I've ever spent a week living in the same house as 11 men (counting Benedict).  Actually, it was a lot of fun and they helped us in so many ways.  In 2 days they got the walls up to the ring beam for the next cottage.  They began work on a building up near the road that will provide toilet facilities for the restaurant and the school.  And they:  hooked up the hose to our dryer so we can now dry clothes inside (we need this badly right now), made 6 sets of shelves for the 3 house mothers to have one for boys and one for girls to keep their clothes on, they put more shelves in our pantry, installed a water filter in our sink, built 3 large sets of shelves for the book store, and a variety of small tasks. They did lunch play duty with the children at school, read books to them at night, played soccer, spun the kids around, and were touched by the sweet children we have here.  This was the first group that ever put together some of the jigsaw puzzles we have, actually 3 in a week.  We look forward to seeing many of them again in Africa.

 

First Week of School

 

This was the first week of school for this school year.  I think we are beginning to be in the routine.  We now are using the 2 classrooms in the Community Center as well as the Assembly Room.  One end of the Assembly Room is set up for the teachers with work place and storage of materials.  The classrooms have new cement floors and the classrooms are painted.  We are moving up!  

 

But there are still things that happen that remind us that we are in Africa.  Yesterday it was pouring so we did have drops of water coming through the ceiling onto the rug where the children were sitting.   One lunch, after a huge rain, the play area was under water – a little pond.  So for the lunch/play break I let the kids go out in their gum boots and play in the water.  Fortunately, no one ended up falling into the water.  Outside gumboots, lined up on the verandah when they come inside, and then barefoot in the classrooms.

 

On the way to the toilet one day the children were intrigued by the large snails they saw.  We looked up snails in a wonderful book we happened to have that had been donated and came over on the last container.  The next morning, the kids had collected about 40 of these large snails on the way to school and we put them in a container with sand and water.  Isaac even found the hole where the snails breathe.  (Did you know that snails breathe?)

 

Doubled in One Day

 

At the first meeting of the Chimwemwe Ladies for 2009 we discussed our goals for 2009. One goal was to open the Club up for new members.  So last Wednesday was the day when ladies who were interested could come.  Currently we have had 30 women in the club.  The Executive Committee had decided that we would accept 25 new members.  On Wednesday, the first ladies began to arrive at 1:30 (meeting starts at 2:00).  All in all there were close to 40 new women who came.  It shows the amazing need in this rural area and the desire of the women to have meaningful activities, and activities they can use to earn some money. 

 

The first 3 months are trial months, while the women learn to make the bags.  They will not receive any remuneration during that time.  So we will see how many of the new ones will faithfully attend the meetings and become members.

 

Global Economics and our Electricity

 

Since we have been back from the US I have noticed that we rarely have the electricity go off in the afternoon like we were having before we left.  I mentioned something to Benedict about this.  Apparently with the economic troubles in the world, the price of copper has gone way down.  So a couple of the big copper mines in the north have closed down.  Because those mines used so much electricity, there is now more electricity to go around so they don't have to do "load shedding."  It means that in this case we benefit, and have electricity almost all of the time.

People stopping by

 

In the last 2 days we had 3 groups come to see what is happening here at the Village of Hope.  The first group was from Philadelphia, folks that Kimberly and Kamau had met and who were on the same plane with us from London to Lusaka.  On their way back to Lusaka after constructing a radio tower way up in the northern part of Zambia, they stopped for a quick tour.

 

The second group was from the US.  They came out to do a special program for the children.  They also had a tour of everything.

 

Finally, a group of 5 Zambians came.  They have family land in northern Zambia and are beginning work to build an orphan care facility, school, medical clinic, and more on that land.  One of the daughters lives near Washington DC and she had visited us in our home in MD.  So these 5 came to see what has happened here.  They were very encouraged and I think excited to see what is possible. 

 

Saved for a Home

 

When we picked a site for the visitor house that we live in, it was very important that we have trees around it.  We even cut out a piece of the roof coming off of the verandah so that we could save a tree.  The last few days I have been hearing lots of bird noises.  At first I thought it was baby chicks, but we really don't have very many right now. 

 

So this afternoon I went outside to look at what all the noise was.  In the tree right next to our house there were all these beautiful yellow and black birds making their nests.  These nests are the kind that hang down from the tree.  Occasionally they aren't attached very well and we will find one on the ground.  They are beautiful birds and they are very busy right now making those nests.

Bride Price

 

As the parents of 4 daughters, 2 of whom are married, we know that when girls get married, it can be a time when the parents have to spend a lot of money for the wedding, reception, etc.  Well, today at lunch we were eating with our 2 young teachers.  Maureen got married a year ago.  Caroline is getting married in April.  They were so surprised to hear that our son-in-laws didn't have to give us money in order to wed our daughters.  Maureen's husband had to give her parents 3.5 million kwacha.  Caroline's husband-to-be is paying 4 million kwacha ( about $1000 US).  Different cultures!

Joy at Chimwemwe Ladies Club

 

Today there was joy at the Chimwemwe Ladies Club.  The women got paid for all the things they had made in November and December.  For some of the ladies it was quite a bit of money.  In total we paid out 5.5 million kwacha!  That is about $1,000.   Some of the women started dancing, and hugged me and had huge smiles on their faces.  I reminded the women that I have heard many of them complain about husbands that "drink" their pay, not leaving much for the family.  I told them that I hoped they would not do that.  The fact that it was for 2 months meant that the sums were bigger than they were used to.

 

Since we are now paying them for everything they make, it means that I'm going out on faith that we will be able to sell everything.  So I'm hoping that the teams that come and people who have been here and are interested in this ministry will continue to find ways to sell these unique gifts.

Teacher Training

 

Today we began our week of teacher training and orientation.  Each morning we will be meeting to work together, to learn and to plan.  Teacher training in Zambia is very very basic.  We also have a unique and creative way to organize and teach in our school.  So we are all learning and working together.  Maureen, a teacher who has already taught 2 terms for us, is returning.  Caroline is a new teacher and went to teacher training with Maureen.  Erna is a pastor's wife from South Africa who has helped us on a temporary basis in the past.  She is an experienced teacher, something that we need.  Kimberly is also joining our week and it is great to have her there.  We are very blessed to have materials that folks have brought over and that came on the container.  I'm looking forward to the rest of the week and the school year ahead. 

A Joyful Sound

 

We welcome family members of our children to come and visit the children.  Usually I am not around and don't see what happens.  However, today I was working in my garden and a rather old woman with a small girl came walking up to Miriam's house.  Then I heard a happy voice saying (in their language), "Grandma!, Grandma!".  I believe it was little Gift.  He jumped up into her arms and they hugged each other.  It was so sweet and reminded me of the happiness my grandchildren exhibit when they see me.  What a blessing that that Grandmother knows that Gift will be taken care of after she is gone, and that he is in a happy place with a family that loves him.

Breaking down Images

 

What is your picture of a missionary, or someone who answers the call to go to another home and country?  Very few people probably envision a couple nearing retirement moving for an open-ended length of time to Africa.  It is the time of life to spend some time and money on themselves, right?  And of course, people who answer the call don't have large families – too disruptive to too many kids, and too hard to accomplish, right?  Well, at our Village of Hope the answer to both would be – Wrong!!  Benedict is spending as much energy to follow the call as he ever did when he was younger.  And Paul and Ann Rachel Hamelryck from MD are packing up their home, getting things in order and planning to come over in June with 9 of their 10 children to manage all of the construction and train the workers.  What a blessing.  So if you have reasons why you are not a candidate to do something "radical" for God, you might want to think again. If it really is God's call to you, then no excuse is valid.

Breaking down Images

 

What is your picture of a missionary, or someone who answers the call to go to another home and country?  Very few people probably envision a couple nearing retirement moving for an open-ended length of time to Africa.  It is the time of life to spend some time and money on themselves, right?  And of course, people who answer the call don't have large families – too disruptive to too many kids, and too hard to accomplish, right?  Well, at our Village of Hope the answer to both would be – Wrong!!  Benedict is spending as much energy to follow the call as he ever did when he was younger.  And

Hearts and Hands Knit Together

 

We just spent 2 months in the US.  We spoke in churches and schools in PA, MI, MD and by phone with folks from KS, WI, IN, MN and I'm sure others that I don't remember.  At our last US team meeting we shared about what God is doing in the lives of those individuals and churches that have partnered with us, especially when members have visited us.  It's not just about a 2 week mission trip/vacation. People are finding that their lives are changed, and God is raising up teams and groups that are praying for the work, sharing the vision, studying the Bible together, and walking the road of discipleship with others.  The original vision for this work was that we would be about rescuing orphans, and also rescuing Western Christians from self-absorption, self-indulgence, complacency and apathy to the call God is sending out.  I'm so grateful that that is actually happening over and over again.

The difference 2 months make

 

I believe that last year at this time I wrote a similar blog about what an amazing change happens between the beginning of Nov and the beginning of January here in Zambia.   When Sena and I left everything was so brown and dry.  (The one exception was a kind of tree that starts to leaf out in anticipation of the rains – quite amazing since there hadn't been rain for 8 months.)  I really was longing for some green.  So now I return.  The whole country is green.  Every little space of land possible has maize/corn growing on it.  Our village has a whole different atmosphere.  The trees and bushes have grown just in that amount of time.  The grass is long, and where before there was just dirt, there is so much grass.    I want to plant some things in the next couple of days so I can take advantage of the part of the rainy season that I'm here for.