God works all things

There is a scripture verse that says, "God works all things together for good to those who love the Lord, who are called according to His purposes."   This has been so true with Matilda.  We were brought back into her life when we were asked to help with a very bad burn.  I'm not so sure that it was bad in terms of degree, but it covered a large part of her little leg and untreated properly could have led to infection throughout her body. 

As recorded in other places on this blog, she came to stay at our house for the time being.  It seemed like it was such a bad situation.  However, in an effort to find a place that could help her with her disability, we discovered Cheshire Home and the physical therapy services they offer.

 

Waltzing Matilda

 

I was in my bedroom this morning and I could hear the children singing the chorus to "Waltzing Matilda" or at least half of the chorus.  They pick up songs so quickly.

 

Four of the team from Australia left this morning.  We had a great time with them here and we all learned more about Australia.  We are looking forward to working with them as they seek to set up a Village of Hope in Ndola Zambia.  Dion will be staying for 2 more weeks to learn more and get direction for how they are to proceed.

 

Back to the song, both Julie and I never really knew what the words to the song were.  I thought it was something like, änd he sang as he sat and waited by the billie bog, you'll come a waltzing matilda with me."  Well I learned that the real words are, änd he sang as he sat and waited til his billy boiled...." In other words, a guy is waiting for his tea to boil over a fire.  Billy is another word for tea in a can.  Always something new to learn!!

 

And about öur Matilda:  We took her to Cheshire Home's physical therapy center on Thursday.  They spent about 2 hours evaluating her and giving us suggestions about exercises to do to help her.  They would also like us to bring her 2 times a week for physical therapy.  I don't know how that will work with it being over an hour from the Village.

G'day, Mates!

 

The team from Australia spent time yesterday talking to all of us about life in Australia.  This included kangaroos, koalas, emus, Australian "soccer," slang terms, maps, and Australian flags for everyone.  It was a very fun afternoon.

 

In the evening we had our first campfire of 2009.  For the first time at a campfire we sang Australian songs:  Waltzing Matilda, Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree, and a couple of others that I didn't know.  They brought the Australian staple of "vegemite."  I heard about this when our oldest went to nursery school with an Australian girl.  Vegemite is to Australia what peanut butter is to the US.  But I must say, I will take peanut butter anytime over vegemite!  

 

This group of 5 young adults come from a church in Bendigo and they are trying to live their faith in a variety of ways.  Nathan, who is part of the team, is the pastor of the church. They are praying about starting a "Village of Hope" in another location that would be supported by their church and other Australian churches.  It's been fun to add another the Australian accent to the English that we hear around here!

 

A Shiny Red Set of Wheels

 

On Thursday we went into Lusaka to visit a ministry called Cheshire Home.  It is run by Roman Catholic nuns and is a place that takes care of children before and after they have surgery, especially orthopedic surgery.  They have a very nice physical therapy department.  We saw the sister in charge who was a wonderful woman.

 

We had seen a small red wheelchair on the verandah as we were going into her office.  As we started to leave, Julie asked where they had gotten the wheelchair since it seemed like a good thing to get Matilda.  She has been using an adult one that came over on the container last year.  The sister said, "Oh, let me see if we have an extra one that we can give you."  So here came someone with a shiny new wheelchair, just Matilda's size. 

 

So now Matilda has a wheelchair that she can maneuver and that the children like pushing her around in.  What an unexpected gift!!  We will be taking Matilda there on Thursday for them to evaluate her for physical therapy exercises that we can do with her.

 

Easter 2009

It was a beautiful day here (another beautiful Zambian day) this Sunday.  We gathered outside the Kamau's house since the floor in the Assembly Room of the Community Center was being finished.  All of the children, 3 mothers, an auntie, and 2 daughters of mothers along with the Kamaus, Schwartzes, and Brian and Angie and children were there.  Then there were 10-15 of the building contract workers that work for Moses.  All in all a very interesting group. 

 We sang with many of the songs led by the 4 oldest girls.  Kimberly read the Easter story from a children's Bible story book.  Then the 4 oldest girls and 2 oldest boys did a liturgical dance to the Selah song "You Raise Me Up."  They used 2 purple flags, and 2 pieces of shiny gold fabric.  At the end they use the gold fabric to form a cross.  It was really very moving. 

 Kamau brought a wonderful message and we ended with the chorus, "Because He lives.."

 It was an Easter we will not easily forget. 

Holy Week in the Village

 Since over the years I have played the organ in Episcopal, Lutheran, and Methodist churches, I'm very aware of the church calendar and the liturgical year.  I also believe that many of us, and often children, are touched by seeing visual reminders of things.

 To me it is important to use this time of year to remember.  So on Sunday afternoon we had a lovely time with our "Palm Sunday Service" here in the village.  We went from the Kamau's to Sylvia's house waving ribbons, shaking shakers, and singing "Hosanna" songs.

 Then today, Good Friday, we met at 1:00 and went through the Resurrection Eggs.  These are 12 plastic eggs.  In each one is a reminder of the events of that week: donkey, coins, a cup, praying hands, leather for a whip, crown of thorns, spear, cross of nails, single dice, gauze, rock, and the final one empty.  There was such intensity of expressions and responses.  They knew what everything in the eggs stood for since Teacher Bosman had been teaching about this.  We sat under the trees in front of the Kamau's house.  It was a beautiful day and very moving for me.

 On Sunday we will meet in the same place for our Easter Service.  They have just put in a new floor in the Community Center so we can't use that.   We will have singing, the older children are doing a liturgical dance to Selah's  "You Raise Me Up."   Kamau will bring the message. 

 With the beautiful weather at this time of year, it should be a lovely time.

 

 

An April Day at our house

Monday and Tuesday were such an interesting time at our house.  Of course, Julie (from CO) is around and we will really miss her when she leaves at the end of the month. Esther who does the cleaning and laundry for us is there everyday.  Then we have Zandile who we have hired temporarily to come to help take care of Matilda during the day.  On the verandah I set up a place for Felix to do his drawing and art work.  Erna (teacher) and I felt so bad that he wouldn't be able to come each day to the school to draw, which means so much to him.  So I just said that he could come to our house.  So he was happily drawing. 

On Monday Mary came over first thing to say that they wanted to go to school.  The children would rather go to school than have the holiday!!  Says good things about our school.  The children take turns pushing Matilda in the wheelchair and coming and coloring with her.  I also set up for her to eat lunch in the houses.  One reason, among many, is that most folks in the villages eat while sitting on the floor.  That is the case with her.  Also she is so short that when she sits on a chair the table is very high for her.  In the houses the tables are short, so I thought it would be a good experience to have her see how they eat at a table. 

Tuesday morning, the gardener was watering some of my plants.  Adam came over to help.  What he really wanted to do was to wash my car.  He is the one who loves wheels, tractors, trucks, cars, etc.  So he very faithfully helped with the watering so that he could then wash my car.  A couple of the other children also helped. 

So our house was kind of busy with all these people and all these things going on.

I'm realizing how greatly disabled Matilda is.  I knew, but seeing her everyday and her great difficulty with walking brings it home more to me.  My plan is to consult with a friend in Lusaka who knows about services there for children with disablities.  I really think a good case can be made that she needs extra care beyond what her mother can give.  So we will see if there is a place where she can go to stay and also get therapy and things that she needs. 

Matilda reminds Benedict and I of a very young Gail.  Gail was our friend who was also in a wheelchair and part of our family in many ways.  She was a survivor and very fiesty.  So is Matilda.  On Monday, Zandile was trying to get her to walk with her crutches.  She just refused.  When she says "no"she means "NO." She then said to Zandile, "Have you ever had to walk with crutches?"

New temporary member of our household

 

In a blog entry of a day ago, I shared about Matilda, her burn and taking her to the doctor.  Just a new interesting update.  Today after church, Julie and I with Sena and then Isaac as interpreter, we went to check up on Matilda and to ask her mother if she would like us to take Matilda to our house for the afternoon to soak her leg as prescribed by the doctor.  When we arrived, and saw her leg, it looked worse than on Friday.  But her mother said she had already washed it (I don't think she had ever soaked it.) and that we could come on Monday to do it if we wanted. 
 
I told Julie I thought we should check with Jen, the headteacher, and a very concerned person.  We also went and talked to the 3 Aunties.  Well, Auntie Hope and Jen went back to talk to the mother.  They returned with Alice (Matilda's mother) carrying Matilda and Jen handing me all the medicines that the Doctor had given us on friday.  Her words, backed up by Auntie Hope was, "You can bring her back when the wound is healed." 
 
So we went from an afternoon visit to Matilda staying at our house until the wound heals.  When we got back to our village we had a Palm Sunday Event with everyone.  It included a parade with streamers, shakers, etc.  So we pushed Matilda around in a wheelbarrow.  Afterwards Julie bathed her and Matilda was so happy.  Sharon J came over and the 2 of them were coloring on our verandah.  They were talking quite a bit and Sharon said that Matilda said she was glad to be here. 
 
So we feel like Matilda will get proper care for her leg and some love and caring and good nutrition for a few days. 

Crying on the inside and outside

 

By the end of the morning yesterday, I was crying on the inside and the outside. The events of the morning followed a week when the plight of many folks here was brought home to me.  One of the Chimwemwe Ladies had come to me saying that her husband had beat her and kicked her out of the house.  She was leaving with 4 of her 7 children, including the baby and the 2 year old twins.  I knew that their marriage was in trouble, but knowing the difficulties this woman is and will be facing brought sorrow to my heart.

 

Then yesterday I was called to the local Okada Community School.  The little girl, Matilda, who we had helped when she became crippled with spinal TB, had burned her leg very badly.  I took Julie, our volunteer from CO with me.  We went to her house and found her sitting in the dark, wrapped only in a thin blanket.  She was shaking and her leg looked awful.  We ended up taking her to Dr. Mutali's office, where she received medicine and instructions for her mother on how to take care of the wound.

 

While at the school, however, Julie also tended to a sore on a little girl's leg.  As about 40 children were gathered round watching, they brought another child, a boy who had a sore on his leg.  This sore was very bad, from the knee to the ankle. 

 

By noon my tears were for Matilda and the lack of care and love she has received, for the children who don't have the most basic medical care, for the schools here where large groups of children meet in classrooms with 2-3 books per class, and for the women who live with men who drink in excess and beat them while at the same time having girl friends in neighboring towns.  My tears grow as I think of my own culture where children can go to the doctor at the first sign of infection, where school districts think nothing of discarding beautiful textbooks and children take for granted that they will each have their own book and workbook, and where women have no idea how blessed and privileged they are.

 

Even in the midst of economic difficulties many are facing right now, they are still rich in the eyes of millions in this world.

 

Im Poo Pai

 

Thursday marked the end of our first term of school for the year 2009.  During this term, Erna Bossman, our mentor teacher, a South African, had taught the children a Chinese song with motions, "Im Poo Pai."  The children loved the song and often after lining up as they moved to another area they would sing it and do the motions. 

 

So for our final day, we decided to invite the mothers, aunties, Kamau family, and a few others to come for a final event.  The 4 oldest girls helped Teacher Bossman make the stir fry Chinese Lunch.  The children had made paper lanterns and fans after reading a Chinese folk tale about those things. Teacher Bossman brought several sets of chop sticks so some folks were able to try and eat using the chopsticks.  I still saw fingers being used – the Zambian way. 

 

We ended with a special program.  We began with everyone singing the Zambian National Anthem.  The children shared songs they had learned, a poem about the 7 days of creation, Bible verses, and more.  We closed the program with the teachers giving "awards" to each child as mothers quietly cheered for the children.  These small awards of encouragement will be posted next to pictures of each child that they have in their houses.

 

It was a lovely day and an opportunity to really appreciate the children and all that they have been doing.