KamZamNews

This is from Kamau and Kimberly's News Blog. This one was titled
Witches, Mumps, and Pox. For pictures go to
www.kamzamnews.blogspot.com

..From Kamau

Greetings friends! I trust this finds you all doing well! From what
we've heard, you have been experiencing a sizzling hot summer season
especially in the East Coast! Here in Zambia, the months of June and
July are usually our winter season and yes it has been getting cold
late in the evening and especially early mornings' but it has none the
less been a rather warm winter which is unusual.

You in the Northern Hemisphere may find it hard to believe, but it
really does get cold in Zambia to a point where I have been forced to
wear several layers of clothes to stay warm. The house we live in has
a tin roof and no ceiling such that when its get cold, the only
solution is to dress up and go to bed early. Now during the hot
months, the opposite is true! The same tin roof gets so hot you feel
like you are broiling slowly.

Now about those pesky witches! This is one of those things which as an
African I really find aggravating! Especially when I witness the
strong spiritual, emotional and mental bondage many are subjected to
including some believers! It especially get me riled up when I see the
adamant rejection of the care of a medical doctor because the person
or the family of the patient believes that the illness has nothing to
do with normal sickness which any person born of flesh may suffer, but
a belief that someone has cast a spell or that out of jealously, the
patient has been bewitched and therefore medical science has nothing
to offer.

This was our experience recently when one of our workers became
seriously ill and we decided to take him to hospital. He was admitted
into the local district hospital but a few days later, his wife and
his brother came to see me and told me that the patient was being
transferred to the national hospital for more specialized care and
they therefore need money to help facilitate this transfer. They were
given the funds but several days later, they came back and said they
needed yet more money! I was confused and thought perhaps we were
having a communication barrier, because as far as I knew the transfer
to the national hospital and already been effected! I don't speak
their particular language and so I asked one of the staff to
translate. It finally came out that they needed the funds to pay a
witch doctor who I was told was treating the patient! I got so angry
and told and them there was no way we were going to take money God's
people have provided to pay for the services of a witchdoctor!

The whole story eventually surfaced and I found out that lies had been
told; the district hospital had not really transferred the patient but
the family had decided to remove the patient from the district
hospital and taken him to a witchdoctor in the village because they
had decided that what he was suffering from was not a "normal illness"
but that he had been bewitched and therefore the only way he could be
cured was through "traditional means." They were heard to say that
they had seen a witchdoctor and that the witch had actually shown them
on a "screen" the persons who had bewitched their loved one. According
to the family the people responsible for the "bewitchment" were the
patient's two co-workers who out of jealousy had done this terrible
deed.

Now, being accused of practicing witchcraft is a very serious charge
in Zambia! People accused of bewitching others have been killed and
sometimes burned alive in their grass huts! Killings of people
suspected of witchcraft occurred recently in a place called Mansa. You
can therefore appreciate the deep hurt and pain our two workers were
experiencing not to mention the danger inherent at such an accusation.
The two threatened to report this matter to the police in order to be
accorded protection and help guard their reputation. When we as
management found out that the family had removed the patient from the
hospital, we decided to step in and do whatever was necessary to help
him access medical care. We paid a visit to the home of the worker's
parents in the village to plead with them to allow us to take him to a
good hospital. We found the worker lying on a mattress on the ground
very weak and emaciated; he could barely see or talk. We were informed
he had not eaten for days nor used the bathroom. After some
discussion, the family agreed to let us take him to the hospital, we
took him to a private hospital where we were sure he would get proper
care and attention. The doctors at the well equipped Egyptian Orthodox
Hospital very quickly diagnosed him with TB which is a treatable
disease. He was there for almost a week and was beginning to eat and
get stronger when he suddenly took a turn for the worse and died. He
was only 27 yrs. He left behind his wife and two children, one a very
young baby. The cause of death was listed as respiratory failure and
TB. NOT witchcraft! But a treatable illness! I can't help but wonder
if he would be alive today had he been able to access thorough medical
attention much earlier instead of a dalliance with primitive and
hollow remedies.

Here at the children's home, we have faced our own challenges with
chicken pox among some of the children and an outbreak of mumps. Four
of our children in the same house tested positive for mumps and just
last week, two other children from a different house also tested
positive! We hope it doesn't get out of control; we are trying not to
panic! (Did I hear witchcraft!!!) Just joking! I am reliably informed
that this illness is particularly bad for boys and especially older
men! Boy, am I glad I have 44 children!

May God's peace and grace rest upon you!

The Kamaus

Handel in the African Bush

Handel in the African Bush

Today I was teaching 12 of our new students. One of the new girls the
class is Loina Bwanga. She is the daughter of Mr. Bwanga, who is in
charge of our chickens. He has a large family who live on our
property near the chicken operation. His wife recently had twin
daughters. Loina is 10 or 11, has been going to a school near us,
speaks fairly good English, but can't read. (This is a function of the
school she was attending, not her intelligence.) So she is in this
class where we are starting at the beginning.

As part of their early learning experience at our school, they get to
do things that they may never have done before, like coloring, cutting
paper, gluing, and other things. Today they were cutting pictures
from greeting cards and gluing them onto a piece of construction
paper.

Some of the cards were Christmas cards. To my shock and wonder, Loina
began singing "For unto us a child is born" from Handel's Messiah. I
asked her where she had heard it or learned it. She said that they
use to have a CD of it, although it now skips. I started singing it
with her. I am still amazed that this family that lives in the
African bush in very basic conditions has been listening to the great
music of Handel.

Visitors, New students, and a lunar eclipse

Visitors, New students, and a lunar eclipse

Well, it has been a very busy but good last couple of weeks. Never a
boring moment.

We had Kayla and Sarah Cook here for 10 days. They were here 2 ½
years ago. Kayla is a nurse and Sarah is her daughter and a flight
attendant in the US. They did a wonderful series of classes at school
on the human body. The way they present things makes it a way that
the children won't forget. They also set up the examining room in the
clinic, so we should be able to start using it. And they did very
complete physicals on all of the kids. They had done that when they
were here before, but about half of the kids weren't living in the
Village then. (Adam had grown over 6 inches and so had Docklin.) So
they had a very busy time for 10 days.

On Friday Prince, a Zimbabwean who is in ministry in Kenya, brought
his wife. He had been here in November to do the videotaping and made
that very nice tape that is now on You tube. He was here to video a
little more, including an introduction for a short video, with Claude
Allen who arrived on Saturday.

Prince's wife is Chipo and she has started a school in a poor section
of Nairobi, Kenya and it is in a 40 foot container. Prince had wanted
her to come and see what is going on here including with our school.
So this time she came with him.

Claude, who arrived on Saturday, is an advisor to our AKCLI Board in
the US. He has been in over 200 countries, both in his current job
and when he worked at the White House as domestic policy advisor to
President Bush. I enjoyed asking him questions about his jobs in
Washington and things he did then.

On Monday a man from Zimbabwe arrived, Francis. His wife is a friend
of Susan Lukaart in MI where she is teaching at Aquinas University.
They want to return to Africa at some point in the future.

Prince, Chipo, and Claude all left on Tuesday. Francis left on
Wednesday morning and then a couple who are from the Philippines but
are living in Lusaka working for an NGO, came out for the morning and
lunch. How amazing that in a short amount of time we can have all
these visitors from places around the world!

In addition to all the visitors coming and going, things have been
busy at school. We now have 14 additional children attending school,
children of our workers. Most can't read or write and understand very
little English. I have been teaching 12 of them in the mornings. I
have been doing pre-reading activities, and then some basic math. I
have been using the office, which is still somewhat a mess from
unloading the container and all the boxes with books and teachers'
supplies. Hopefully by the end of next week, the office will be
presentable and usable.

I enjoy working with these new kids since it gives me a chance to get
to know them. Most of them are so eager and want to learn. One girl,
Grace, really touches my heart. She is 10 years old and has never
been to school. She can kind of write her numbers but they are so
tiny, and she is still in the stage where they are backwards or upside
down sometimes. I can tell that she is trying to use what little
English she is learning, and every morning she runs up to greet me in
a very joyful manner.

Finally, last night was exciting. We had a complete lunar eclipse.
Kamau had had the yard workers collect fire wood. We started the
campfire around 8:00 and the eclipse began around 8:20. Many of the
kids were pretty active, singing, and "bouncing around." However,
Mary J, and Gift small came and stood by my chair the whole time
asking questions and looking at the moon. It was very neat. When the
moon was about half covered I made all the kids sit and be quiet and
ask questions if they had any. Around 9:30 the moon was covered.
Actually it looked kind of brown and not white. It was a perfectly
clear sky and as the moon disappeared, you could see the stars even
more brightly. The Southern Cross and the Milky Way are so clear to
see. As soon as the moon disappeared everyone went to bed. It stayed
covered for about 2 hours, so we weren't going to wait that long. But
this morning the white moon was back for all to see.

It is much cooler now. It was about 45 degrees this morning, so I
wear several layers. I would much rather stay in bed under the
covers! But it does warm up and was probably in the 70s during the
day.

Our lives are filled with so much variety: of people, of children, of
daily activities, and the world around us. I'm so glad that our God
is a God of creativity and variety and that He shares that with us.

Total Lunar Eclipse

Total Lunar Eclipse

Tonight there is a total lunar eclipse that is visible throughout
Africa. It begins at 8:20. Since this is the cold time of year, we
will be sitting around a campfire, looking heavenward. Some of the
little ones will probably be in bed, but most of the kids are looking
forward to being able to go out and see the eclipse. This morning at
morning meeting I used a big yellow balloon, a smallish globe, and a
small blue balloon to demonstrate what is happening. Tomorrow morning
we will then use various paints and colors to draw what we have seen
so that we can remember the event. There won't be another one until
2015 here in Africa and that one will be at 3am.

We now have 14 new students, dependents of our workers. Although some
say that they have been in 4th grade, they don't know how to read or
write and their English is very limited. I work with them in the
mornings and it is a great joy to see the light appear in their eyes
and faces as they learn do things and get to do things they had never
tried before. Since we have had this experience before, we know that
in a few short months, they will be speaking to us in English, reading
books, and learning so many things.

Games Night

Games Night

My son-in-law is a game's fanatic, not the kind where you sit in front
of a TV and watch others playing with a ball and knocking each other
around. He is the kind of fanatic who finds that one of the things he
likes to do most is sit at a table with other people and play card
games, board games, card/board games, etc, etc.

I've learned a lot from him and he has introduced me to a whole new
world of creative games. I already knew that playing games is great
for the brain, and great for children to play. In Zambia people
rarely play games, other than the kind that can be played with small
stones or other natural objects. So I have been trying to introduce
game playing to the teacher's in the hope that they would want to
teach the students.

We have lots of wonderful games that people have given to us and
shipped on containers. In the school day there often isn't much time
for the teachers to play games, so last night we had a fun time at our
house around our very large dining room table. Teacher Bruce and his
new bride Alice came; Teacher Joan, Kimberly, Malaika, and Kimani,
Sarah and Kayla, and Sena and I. We played Ten Days in Africa,
Skipbo, Trouble, and Speed. We also had popcorn to eat and had a
great time together. We will have to do it again soon.

What we learn about God's Way through our bodies?

What we learn about God's Way through our bodies?

The study question for this term (3 months May-July) at school is
"What can we learn about God's Way through our bodies?" Once again we
are blessed to have Kayla and Sarah Cook here visiting. They came 2 ½
years ago and since Kayla is a nurse, they led some classes on the
human body. So now they have come prepared and will be presenting 6
lessons to the students. On Friday we learned about cells and got to
act out with our bodies how the cell works. Then with play doh they
made sample cells. We also learned about the brain.

We love the way they teach with lots of hands-on activities. Kayla
also has such a gentle and encouraging way of teaching and brings in
the wonder of this magnificent creation God has made – our bodies.
Now we can't wait to see what we will learn and do next week!

Comings and Goings

Comings and Goings

This morning Anita Mumba left for Micronesia. She is the wife of Dick
Mumba one of the missionary families here. She has not been back to
her small home island in 15 years. During that time both of her
parents have died. She will travel Lusaka to Johannesburg, to Hong
Kong, to Manila, to Guam, to another island, and then 2 days on a boat
to her island. Please pray for her. She is nervous about remembering
her language after being immersed in English for so many years. Pray
that she is able to show the love of God to many. She will be gone
for 2 months. So also keep her family in prayer while she is away.

This afternoon Sarah and Kayla arrive from Indiana. We are looking
forward to their visit, the second time they have been to the Village
of Hope.

Finally, Benedict's mother had the ultimate home going yesterday. At
95 years of age, after becoming more and more frail she died in her
apartment. The funeral is Thursday. Benedict has been in MD for the
last 2 weeks to spend time with her and with his sister Sandy. Four
of our six children will be there for the funeral, and I wish I could
be, but I will be there in heart and love.