The Ladies Bible Study

cooking Nshima by candlelight and coals!!
the ladies study group

Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I meet with the ladies and we are studying the book by John MacArthur called God’s High Calling for Women.

As you all know I am not an upfront teacher and prefer to be one on one but oh well here I am teaching up front. Well actually all I am doing is reading the book. I have done this study many times before so I know it well. The ladies seem to be enjoying it and have asked questions.

The most common one that they don’t seem to understand is if the men are not doing what they should why shouldn’t the women step up and do it if they are teachers. Doesn’t that sound so familiar? We have these same issues in our society. I have been able to tell them about Elizabeth Elliott and also Donald’s Aunty Esther who were missionaries and were on their own and how they dealt with the issues of the church meeting together. These issues are very real here as in some of the villages the men are not qualified to do the teaching or do not know the scriptures well enough to be able to pass on their knowledge to others. One village a student comes from, at different times of the year all the elders are out at their land planting then harvesting and also fishing and there are no men left to run the church except those who are not believers! We told them to go back to their elders and say to them that they need to have men at church all the time and not to just leave it to the women! These times that the men go away is their livelihood and they are not just taking a weekend off. It would be quite a hard thing to manage I think.

One of the other questions is that if a woman is not allowed to teach or have authority over a man in church what is she allowed to do. There doesn’t seem to be anything else in their eyes. I have tried to answer their questions but this one we will do in more depth after our study of this book is finished.

This Friday we will have our final study of this book, so all the ladies are coming up to my place for afternoon tea. I have promised them that I will have the dogs locked away as they are very scared of them – I understand this fear of dogs!

The ladies want me to teach them how to cross stitch. I have been given a name of a shop in Lusaka that sells cross stitching supplies. If they do, this will be the next job for me to do. If they don’t I don’t see the point in teaching them something they cannot continue to do.

Now Patricia is the lady who interprets for me at the study. She is wonderful. She has also had us over to her place and gave us a sort of western meal. It was really nice to go there and meet her family. She has a husband, Peter and together they have four children. Then they have also raised Gift whose parents died when he was two years old. His father was Peter’s brother. They have also raised a set of twin girls from the age of 11 years as their parents died as well. Their mother was Peter’s sister! So with everyone counted they are raising seven children. Peter also has a mother who is getting old and lives in Lusaka, and he is trying hard to be faithful to her and care for her. Patricia has a mother who lives in Mansa. Patricia is a housewife and Peter works for Zamtel which is like Telecom. It is a telecommunication company. Peter is away a lot between caring for his aging mother and his work. I think Patricia is an amazing woman!

Last night Agnes and Fanny come here to our place for dinner. Agnes taught me to make nshima and I have taught her some baking. I even got to cook the nshima on the coals as by the time Agnes arrived the power had gone off. I had everything else organised and cooked except for the nshima! Tonight I will try to make some on my own! Hahaha

Tomorrow Donald will head off to a village out on the other side of the lake. Katie and I are staying at home. He will be going with Peter and Francis and they will be sleeping in tents. Katie will hopefully be able to complete her school work so she can have some time off when the Atkinson’s come. I will be getting the house ready for their arrival and also doing some baking as we will be away for a week.

We leave for Lusaka at 5am on Monday morning. We are leaving that early as it is an eight to ten hour car trip and there are some things we want to get done in Lusaka. On Tuesday morning we leave to go to Livingstone which is about a six hour drive. We pick the Atkinson’s up at about mid day from the airport.
That is it from hot Samfya for now.
Have a great weekend everyone.

On The Road Again

Graduates and Bible School Staff
One of the churhc visits with Murray & Joy
On the road again...

We left Samfya at about 9am Friday morning, heading towards the DRC via Mansa. We needed to stop in Mansa to get our new passports and get the visas transferred from the Emergency Travel Documents. We could not believe it. We went to the immigration office and had left with all things done in less than 15 minutes!! If you know Zambia at all you will know that this is truly amazing! We went to the Braham’s (missionaries from Canada) for lunch. They were the people our passports were sent too. They are so lovely and gave us an amazing lunch – actually more like a dinner! They had also done some printing of the elders pamphlet written by John MacArthur and translated by Francis. This is what Donald, Levy and Francis were going to teach on this weekend.

Ok off on our way again. The border this time is not so bad (the Zambian side) – actually quite a breeze to get through. Now we head off down a dirt track. I was wondering where on earth we were going and when were we going through the DRC border. Katie and I were both a bit apprehensive about the DRC border because of the last time we went through it! Ok Levy is telling us to stop as these were his friends on the side of the track. Actually what it is, is our stop. We unload the car as we are leaving it for a man to look after as we are going across the Luapula River. I was still wondering where customs was! We head off in a long boat and the men (Levy’s Friends who were actually from the church and also graduates) started singing. They sang us all the way across. It was rather nice. Donald helped to row the boat. Well we are getting close now and who on earth are all those people and who are they waiting for? Oh there is Murray and Joy – Yay.

Kasenga – Democratic Republic of Congo
Oh my goodness all those people are there for us!!! You should hear the singing to welcome us. They are amazing! They get us off the boat and all our luggage went with them. I hope the people taking it are actually church people – we certainly don’t know! The singing volume was incredible. I wonder if our church could sing like that without music! INCREDIBLE

Well now we need to go through customs- There it is the little building over there! We go into this tiny room which has two customs officers in it, Donald, Gwen, Katie, Levy and Francis! Ohhhh man some of the other men came in too! It was so crowded and hot. I was kinda wondering why the other men were there but they had organised a special price for us to get through so needed to be there. The customs officers couldn’t say my name so kept calling me Patricia! Well no problems at this end of customs either. We pay our money and go. Murray has all our luggage and the boxes of Bibles but we are told we have to walk and that we have to go the long way!

Ok now it is VERY hot for us and we are going to walk! It took us about 20 minutes to walk, however with all those people the dust was amazing and I started coughing – that darn asthma. Now where is my ventolin – oh that’s right I left it in Samfya!!! Oh well just deal with it and carry on Gwen!!! The singing started as we started to walk, again absolutely incredible! They sang the whole way and I mean the whole way right into the Catholic Mission!

Now, in our original plans Katie and I were going to spend the weekend with the Braham’s in Mansa. Donald had found out that the Catholic Mission was the best place to stay in Kasenga and had flush loos and inside showers. We get there and everything looks nice on the outside, we opened the door and ohhhhh what a different story!! The flush loos were kinda flush loos – we had to pour water into the toilet bowl after it had been used. Ok I guess we could deal with that, at least it is in our room and isn’t a pit! Now for the shower. A good start, we have a shower box and a shower rose. Ummmm the tap for the sink doesn’t work. Uh oh the shower is for looks (and it wasn’t that pretty either). When we shower the men heat the hot water and then bring it to us in a basin. Yep that’s right we are having washes out of a basin again. I don’t think I will trust any of these people again who say oh the place is fine!!! Oh well we are here now and no way back until Monday.

Today is Saturday and Donald will be at his conference with Levy and Francis. Katie and I will be going on the road (so to speak) with Murray and Joy.
We had a great time looking at all the projects Murray and Joy manage. There were schools, churches and clinics. At one school Murray was not too happy as progress of the building had been very slow. When he inquired as to why, he found out that the elders weren’t very happy that the headmistress of the school was put in charge of the project. They came and took the cement that was supposed to be for the mortar. The new school building is to be bricks. The old school building caught on fire. They have put on a new grass roof for the time being. Murray actually felt sorry for the lady as it wasn’t her fault. The elders had their noses put out of joint because they weren’t in charge. It is the culture here. It is strange for a woman to be in charge and these elders took advantage of her!

Everywhere we went people were so happy to see Murray and Joy. They had lots of meetings of reports given of progress and also what still needs to happen and how much it costs. Then discussions on whether the funds Murray and Joy have charge of will be used for the particular projects at hand. People are always wanting more money, but as Joy said to me they also have to be trying to do some things themselves, or they will always just rely on others to help them instead of trying to help themselves.

Kids were everywhere and I mean everywhere. Wherever we went there were heaps of children. The children were becoming overbearing at times as they wouldn’t talk, smile or try any form of communication – they just stared at us! Then started to touch my arm. Even when Joy, Katie and I were just sitting they came up and stared. This was a bit difficult to cope with at times. Katie was always surrounded by children which most of the time she loved, but when it got too much would hide in the car. That didn’t stop the kids though – they just came and looked in the window!

We stopped to have a picnic lunch under a tree and guess what – kids came to watch. Yep they watched us eat!!! Then we looked around and the parents were watching as well. Oh to be so popular!

That night Murray set up the big screen and played the Jesus movie. Lots of people came to see. The kids of came early. Murray had a Christian music dvd so he cranked up the music and that really bought everyone in. Unfortunately we couldn’t see the screen as it was still too light.

It was a good day even though it was hard sometimes not knowing what anyone was saying! Murray and Joy got given 3 goats and 4 chickens today. They will be taking 2 goats and the chickens back to Lubumbashi with them. The goats will be tied to the roof all the way. It will take about 4 hours.

The next morning we were told that church started at 9am. So we are there but where are the congregation? Eventually some of the choir arrive and they start to sing and then someone goes outside to beat the drum to tell everyone to come. By now it is 10:am and they have just started.

Donald was doing the teaching. He loves to hear them sing and got the Sunday School of 250 kids to sing. They were all so pleased with themselves! Well then it was back to the Mission for Lunch and then Donald, Levy and Francis were to go back for a meeting with the elders, then the graduates then the both groups together. Katie and I decided to stay at the mission. Bad move! There was nothing to do. I mean nothing. Donald said we would go for a walk to the market when he came home and we were by the river most of Saturday – there was nothing to do. We ended up on our beds dosing on and off! We were so pleased when Donald turned up after 5pm! We headed off to the market to get a cold drink. Oh did I tell you how hot it is here!!! Tooo hot!!!

Dinner time now and it is a repeat of lunch – oh well at least it filled our tummies! It was one of Murrays goats! It was very nice.
We are planning to get to the customs office as soon as it opens in the morning so we need to leave the mission at about 7:30am! Yeah right! No one told us they wanted to give us breakfast and we have already had our cornies! Ok then we will have some of their breakfast so that we don’t offend anyone but we need to get going soon! Ummmmmmm where is the breakfast!!! Donald who is very time orientated is starting to get very frustrated. We are all packed and ready to go but can’t! Breakfast arrives at about 9:00am – now what time were we supposed to leave! We had chicken, nshima and hot rice – for breakfast!!! We have a little and then head out.

We are now at the customs office and everything is fine – we didn’t even have to go in. One of the guys did it! Now we are ready to go but where is the boat!! Oh dear it isn’t here! The women who sang us down the road are still singing. They are going to have very sore throats by the time we leave. They do sound amazing though. They are singing songs that say we will meet again in heaven and that there will be lots of flowers there – not sure about the theology there. Oh look here comes the boat. It is now 10am.

Our car we can see has been parked on the other side for a very long time! We are now on our way. An easy trip through customs again. Donald stopped in at Mambelima to show us where the conference is (you know the one with the big rock that we have seen photos of). Then we stop in to see Francis’ parents. Now off to Mansa to see the Braham’s again. They have prepared lunch for us again and it was very yum! Donald has dropped the car off to get it serviced. It will take 2 ½ hours. Mrs Braham has Anne of Green Gables so Katie and I got to watch some of it and have bought it back to our place. Unfortunately we do not have a vcr but we will try to borrow one! She also gave us Pride and Prejudice on a dvd and so Katie and I have started to watch that. What a treat!

We got home at about 5pm. This week I will be baking for going away to Lusaka and Livingstone and getting beds etc ready for the arrival of the Atkinsons. It looks like Katie might have some work to do at the orphan project cataloguing some of the books in their library but that is yet to be finalised.

Well that is it from here. We got a very warm welcome home from Copper who met us at the top of the road then got distracted when he saw the chickens and went after them! Apparently there have been some complaints about the dogs so this morning Morgan (the gardener) has been putting up more fencing and when we got home there was a gate across the driveway. Today the dogs have been contained in our yard and I think has settled Copper a lot - we can hope can’t we.
Love to everyone
Gwen

D.R. Congo - Ministry Weekend

Us crossing the Luapula
Bibles to Graduates
What a wonderful weekend with our brothers and sisters in Christ in Kasenga, DR Congo. We met in Nsansamina church where four graduates minister - Saidi & Claudine (2006),and Talaka & Carol (2009). There were also present three other graduates, Mainsa (2001), Kafusha (1999), Mumba (2004). The reports from the elders of the work these people are doing was very encouraging. They all seem to be working hard in church life. Talaka and Carol even help support 12 orphans in their community through the gardening skills taught at Samfya!

Over this year, two graduates have been involved in Evangelism Training as far away as Lumbumbashi. Locally one graduate has been active in establishing and equipping Sunday Schools and teachers for various local churches, as well as the ongoing teaching programme that they are all involved with in the churches. As a team they have been training 21 people through June/July in Bible interpretation, Theology (the Doctrine of Salvation)...

The challenges they face are primarily support issues. They still need to work on farming as the churches do not give financial support. Bicycles are also needed for their ministry visits (they had some in 2006 , however these are now worn out!!). We are working on this one through the ministry fund.

The training that we worked on through the weekend was primarily aimed at leadership, using the booklet on Elders (by John MacArthur, now translated into Bemba - having this resource is a huge blessing to these village church leaders). This enabled us to cover the NT teaching on elders, the role of elders, their qualification, the team nature of the work, and the need to support those who lead well and are given to the task of teaching and preaching (1 Timothy 5:17f). The Impact of the teaching was significant. The leaders (around 90-100 men & women) were hungry for the Word and wanted to be applying the things they were learning. It is very important that follow up training occurs, and we know that even more people from many other churches will attend.

We were also blessed to have Murray & Joy Stevenson with us for Friday night, Saturday & Sunday morning. Gwen & Katie got to travel with them on Saturday to many projects that they work with (see Gwen’s blog for all the details!!) including doing an evening projection of the Jesus film. It was nice to have some family time in the depths of Africa!

One of the graduates children was in the local hospital with severe dysentery. We were able to leave a small gift for medications - life is truly on a knife edge here! Three boxes of Bibles were left for sale to the local village Christians. As always the distribution of these causes some jealousies among people who don’t have much, but please pray that they will be used to see men & women growing in Christ. I only wish you could have seen the joy in people’s faces and hear the songs of thanks and praise that were sung for the whole weekend and its impact on them all.

These graduates are strategizing to try and establish a Bible Centre for distributing Christian material, and would also like to begin a mini Bible School at the end of 2012 when people they have training will return (they are training at a theological school that Roger Wharrie and I visited in 2008 - it does a three year French programme). What an encouraging time to spend with these saints - with huge challenges they are committed to Gospel truth and impacting their communities.

To DR Congo Today

Greetings all, it is Thursday night and I have just finished teaching through 1 & 2 Timothy - 20 sessions in four days, a little bit of a marathon. The students had a good number of questions and seemed to be following the teaching well. There is so much very practical instruction in these two books about what we need to do and apply in church life and we talked much of the application of these principles in village church ministry.

We cross into the Congo tomorrow (early Saturday morning NZ time). The border crossing will be a little unknown for us as Congo can be a little difficult; however the graduates from Congo have been trying to prepare the way. The crossing is by long boat over the Luapula River which should be interesting and we will be taking Bibles as well. We expect to see around 8 graduates and we understand that there will be quite a crowd at the meetings, not just the church leaders. We will still focus on leadership training however, as this is the essential ingredient to the churches growth.

We value your prayers for this time and the effectiveness of the training. There will be five of us going over, Gwen, Katie, Donald, Levy Kasoma (Principal) and Francis Chola (teacher). Gwen & Katie will get to see some projects that Murray & Joy work with, so that will be interesting and fun.

We are thankful that our new passports have arrived in Mansa, and we will pick them up on our way through. We also will visit the Immigration office to have our visas transferred into the new passports. Please also pray that this will go smoothly. Thank you for all your prayers and emails - we really do appreciate your support.

That Naughty Copper!

Today (Tuesday) Katie and I head out for our walk. Copper decides he is going to come too! I know that I can’t control him so we try to get him back, but would he go. NO! Morgan (the gardener) sees him and calls him back and off he goes. We are not even two minutes away and here comes Copper charging down the hill right between us! We both got a fright and of course screamed. We tried to get him back but no his mind was made up. There were these men coming along the road. One was carrying a bag of fish. Copper decided that he liked that smell and went up to the man. Well... do I need to say more. The man dropped his bag and ran so fast. Ohhhh thinks Copper he is playing with me and chased the man!!! By this time I am calling Morgan to come and get the jolly dog. This other man was so scared! I told Katie to pick up the bag before Copper got it. We tried to give it back but every time Copper saw him, well... he chased him! One of the men working at the resort came and tried to help, but kept pulling Copper by the collar which he doesn’t like and so Copper kept trying to bite him! In the end Morgan was able to trick him into going home. The man that Copper chased scratched himself while running away and tried to get ‘compensation’ as he called it. I just told him ‘silly dog’. Well all this and not even 8am yet. What will the rest of the day bring!

Partnership Affirmed

It is now Monday night, the wind is blowing very strongly and our dinner visitor has gone home. It is time to reflect on the weekend and the interaction with the Samfya Bible School (SBS) board. The board are made up of men and women from around the Bemba areas of Zambia. Since last meeting them in 2008 there are a number of new members. Again I have been impressed by the calibre of these people and their commitment to the gospel and their desire to see positive change implemented in the Bible School training and in village church life.

The meeting discussed the Memorandum of Understanding between SBS and RBC. It was passed unanimously and the document was signed at the close of the meeting. This is a good step in clearly outlining the responsibilities that we both have in our partnership and will provide a firm foundation for our future working together.

I have also been able to have much personal time with the chairman of the board, Wathabu Simfukwe. He is a godly man with a passion for rural church ministry and a desire to see the Bible School become more effective in its training. Quietly spoken, Wathabu demands attention as he speaks with the wisdom of many years walking with our Lord. There are some people in life that you have an immediate bond and relationship with - Wathabu is one of those. He speaks with clarity and passion and will lead and guide the final decisions on curriculum development in October.

One area we talked of is the development of Bemba studies to enhance rural church life. There is very little available and a real need to see good material written as well as updating some other work. Graduates and church leaders desperately need material that is simple and yet solidly based on God’s Word, resources that will build into the lives of rural Christians.

Back to the board - they affirmed the desire that no infrastructure building begin before the arrival of Engineering Ministries International (EMI) on 2nd September. EMI will have a team of 10 here to develop the new master plan for SBS. They all bring areas of expertise that will be applied to establishing the most excellent use of the Bible School property. Please pray for the preparations for their visit that all will go well (we are having little success in finding any boundary markers for the site!).

The photos above are of the board and Chairman Wathabu signing the Memorandum of Understanding. This week Donald is teaching at the Bible School, working through 1 & 2 Timothy and on Friday we all head off to Kasenga in the Democratic Republic of Congo for meetings with graduates and their church leaders from this area. Donald’s brother Murray and his wife Joy will also meet us there and Gwen and Katie will visit the projects that Murray & Joy’s ministry partners with in this area.

Our Place

Well I thought it was about time I told you about where we live.
We live at the top of a hill and have an amazing view of Lake Bangweulu. Sometimes the lake looks like the sea. It is very beautiful. It is fresh water. Fishing is a big part of the way people live. At night time when you look across the water you would think it was a city out there not a lake as the fishermen are out and all have a light on their boats.

As Donald has told us many times Lake Bangweulu means ‘where the water meets the sky’ and let me tell you that is exactly what you see.

The house we are in belongs to Mark and Carmen Brubaker. They are missionaries here and work with the orphan project. The house has 4 bedrooms, lounge, formal dining, 2 kitchens (I will tell you about that later), and an upstairs loft (which has a tv with our equivalent of sky on it!), 2 bathrooms (with flush toilets yay) and for the moment 2 dogs. The house itself isn’t completely finished but is very liveable. Things like the breakfast bar needs to go in and some more painting done, but as I said very liveable.

Now by two kitchens I mean that there is the main kitchen and then opposite the formal lounge there is a long kitchen bench, which is also where the breakfast bar is to go and is to have a sink in it! For the moment however all the water is in the main kitchen behind the wall. Most of the dishes are not in the main kitchen which means when you are cooking you are constantly going backwards and forwards and also when you are doing the dishes. The oven is in the other kitchen – not the main one. I think the main kitchen is called a butlers Kitchen.

The two dogs. Well one belongs to Mark and Carmen and his name is Copper. The other one belongs to Mr and Mrs Fuller who are missionaries as well, but are on furlough and her name is Spice. Spice is the one who attacked the village dog that Donald wrote about! She is actually a very loving dog! Both these dogs are used to being inside. They are very big! Well we have moved their food and water outside and they are not allowed inside during the day. At night they sleep in the lounge! That is for security – however it means that we have to have all the other doors in the place closed as copper likes to visit everyone during the night. He also loves our bed and if he happens to come inside... well he loves to lounge on our bed!!! Naughty dog!!!!

We are about 15 minutes walk away from the Bible School. Katie and I walk there 3 times a week for the ladies Bible Study. They don’t want to come here because of the dogs! The Bible School has a great veggie garden which is where we buy, silverbeet(they call it spinach!), rape, and now carrots. We also buy our chickens there but we get them to ‘dress’ it before we get it! Donald is constantly bringing home fresh fruit which he buys from the ladies on the side of the road. Ohhh the fruit here is amazing. It tastes so great! Bananas and pawpaw are just wonderful! They taste so different to home!

Katie and I try to go as often as we can on the big walk and that takes about half an hour and also some of it is uphill. There are stores up this end of Samfya and Katie and I will go there to get groceries that we need. The other end of town is where you would buy whatever you need (as long as they have it!) including a fish market. The smell there is ... well I am sure you can use your imagination. There is no refrigeration! Katie and I don’t like going down there. It is a very sleezy part of town! However Katie and I feel safe when we are out walking. Most people greet you as you go.

Now we have a housekeeper whose name is Rosemary. She is great and gets rid of all the spiders, lizards and stuff like that. She also does the washing if I haven’t done it first, hangs it out and when it is in does the ironing!
Then there is Morgan and he is the gardener but will do anything and when Rosemary isn’t here. He will do dishes and even the washing and washing the floor – I don’t ask him. We just come home and it is all done!

Well finally there is the night watchman - Bwalya! He is really funny! The other day we were showing him photos of home and he told me “madam you are fat!” Yes that is what he said. Well I got the giggles and he said “yes you are”. Well what do you say to that. He then saw a picture of my Mother and told me that she was very beautiful. He saw a photo of Donald’s Mother and I told him that she was beautiful and he asked me if she was fat too!!! He is so funny. For a lot of Zambians being fat is a good thing. It means that you are wealthy and healthy. Being skinny means that you don’t have enough food and possibly are even sick. Donald remembers when he lost 22kgs and then came here no one said anything about the weight loss in case he was sick! So by telling me I was fat – he was trying to tell me I was beautiful ohhhhhh how lovely (I think!).

Well I hope you are able to see in your mind where we are. It is really nice. We have been really fortunate to be living here. We wouldn’t be if Mark and Carmen weren’t back in the USA and Canada.
Love to everyone
Gwen

Board Meeting, Boys Update, Next Week

Today is the day of the Bible School board meeting when we hope to formalise our partnership relationship with the board through an official document. This will be a helpful step as it clearly outlines both parties’ responsibilities in the partnership. I will report again about this meeting.

The two young boys that we reported on earlier have come back to give us updates. Gullivers had his eyes treated and is doing much better. He must have monthly checkups and so the Bible School’s medical clinic will take this over from now on unless he gets worse. What a blessing to see his eyes improving. Unfortunately the local hospital just does not have the right people to deal with such issues, so the trip to Mansa was a necessity. Gullivers mother even returned some cash that was not required and she also wants to study at the Bible School next year.

Godfrey and his dad travelled to Mambalima and he has been accepted at this school starting in August. The problems his family will have are getting there and back each term (probably by bicycle - about 200kms or more), fees and food requirements. We are working with the family to see if there is the possibility of a micro loan that will enable them to increase their income through extra business/farming. These loans are working very effectively in the community and making a big difference for many impoverished families. The capital must be repaid, however they get a help up to being more productive. The fees and food for one term are only about NZ$50 but we do not want to create dependency by paying these things when families need to work hard to provide what they are able. We may assist with a small amount this term until the family are able to provide.

Please pray for this next week at the Bible School when I will be teaching through 1 & 2 Timothy. We have had all the headings for my notes translated and copied which will make class time much more efficient. The following weekend we are off to Kasenga in the Democratic Republic of Congo for leadership training with graduates and their leaders. We value your prayers.

Please also pray for Donald’s Mum who is waiting for surgery to place a stent near her heart. She is very breathless and can’t do much at all - very unlike her. The surgery was due on 14th but now 28th - pray that it will happen then!

Kasanka National Park

Well we left home at about 8:30am and went to send our emails from Samfya Basic School before heading out to Kasanka National Park. There were the usual people selling their wares and also some children with a huge catfish! It was almost bigger than they were!

We arrived at Kasanka at around mid day. On our way to reception some baboons ran across the road right front of us! Then we checked in at Wasa Lodge and had some lunch then headed out to explore.

First we had to cross the river so Donald drove the car onto a pontoon and off we went.

Katie was the first to spot some Puku which is a type of antelope. They are average in size, red and fast. We also saw some monkeys. We went to Luwombwa (another lodge down the road a little) and went on a boat for a ride up the river to see what we could see! We saw a hippo, a small crocodile, and some water monitors. Donald was also fishing and caught 3 bream fish. Two were small so we put them back but one we are going to have for dinner. On our way back we saw, wart hogs, a common gray duiker, sable antelope and lots and lots of Puku. We also stopped at Fibwe Hide. Fibwe Hide is a place you can go to spot some of the rare sitatunga (another type of antelope – we didn’t see any). Fibwe Hide is up a tree with a look out at the top. Needless to say Gwen who is scared of heights got a little way up and then chickened out! We are having a Brie (BBQ) for dinner with beef and Donald’s fish.

Well the beef ended up being chicken and South African sausage, roast potatoes and pumpkin, boiled beans and carrots, and Donald’s fish! Not what we were expecting but very nice anyway.

Having a warm shower was another unusual time! They came and asked us when we would like our hot water. It was to be at night or not at all! The men arrived with the hot water, climbed up the ladder and poured it into the containers on the roof. Once it was finished it was literally finished – not even a cold one! It was done, all the water gone!

This was the end of our first day!

All things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small, all things wise and wonderful, the Lord God made them all!

Day two at Kasanka, started with our cereal and then off to explore. What would today bring after all the amazing things we saw yesterday. Our first stop was the airstrip and we saw 3 zebras! They were quite far away but at least we got to see them! It is even the first time Donald has seen them in the wild as well. Gosh these darn flies I wish they would go away. Owww that one bit me!! Turns out these flies that bite can also give us sleeping sickness. Let’s pray that we don’t get that. Symptoms won’t show until we are in the UK!

We saw lots and lots of animals they certainly showed how amazing our God is. He made all of these things! We went down this dusty road wondering what was down there. Well there was bush, bush and more bush, not even a puku in sight. It took us the rest of the morning. Finally we found we were back at the pontoon so we crossed the river, parked at a spot we knew we had seen some puku the day before and had lunch. It was a nice picnic lunch the only thing missing was the bluebird chicken chips! Oh well back to the lodge to see if we could find some coffee! At the lodge we got talking to a family who had just been out (in a different direction to us). They had seen hippos and crocodiles... so off we went again in the hunt to see more of the African wild! Wow we saw 4 hippos, 7 crocodiles, and lots of the rare sitatunga antelopes! It was so wonderful. The sitatunga are a lot different to a normal antelope. They are a lot darker and as Katie put it when they run they look like my bunny hopping! They are not graceful at all but there were quite a few and were playing in the water.

Ok back for dinner. Tonight we are supposed to be having sweet and sour pork – we will see!

Well they still told us it was sweet and sour pork but it was more like a beef casserole! Dessert was really sweet so I only had a couple of mouthfuls – Donald ate the rest! All in all a wonderful day! Back for our showers, now where is that hot water man!

So here is a list of the animals we saw:

Antelope:

Puku,Sable, Common Gray Duiter, the rare Sitatunga

Birds:

Saddle Billed Stork, African, Fish Eagle, Bat Hawks, White Egrets, Sacred Ibis and many, many more but we didn’t know their names!

Other Animals:

Water Monitor (3), Wart Hogs (heaps), Lizards, Zebras (3), Hippos (5), Crocodiles (8), Vervet monkeys (heaps), Baboons (heaps), Termites, Ants, Bats, Bream, Flies and Frogs!

Ok Time for bed and it is only 8:30pm, we must have had a hard day as we are all tired.

Thursday Morning- Time to go home.

Well you would think this would be straight forward wouldn’t you. We had our breakfast and Katie went to brush her teeth. In the jug of water (that had a lid on it!) now had a frog in it!! Of course Katie thought it was cute but hey true to form I screamed! Yep just can’t help myself!!!

Ok in the car now. Where is Donald? He is trying to pay the bill but it has been close to an hour that he has been in reception. Now just to add to all our excitement two families who had come to the park decide to have a big arguement - time to move I reckon!

It is now 8am. We are hoping to be back in time to do some emails etc so off we go!

On our way Donald notices that he doesn’t have brakes! The pipe has been leaking brake fluid, oh well we still have the hand brake so we keep going. We can get that fixed in Samfya! Ummmm now we are about 20 minutes away from home yay. Oh oh what now!!!! There seems to be a blockage in the fuel line and the car won’t go anymore. Donald tries to fix it but we have to end up calling Hoggie! We have such a big audience outside the car. Just lots and lots of kids! I decided to take some photos of them. Oh my goodness you should hear the noise when I show them the photos on the camera!!!

Hoggie has arrived with a mechanic yay! There isn’t a fuel blockage it is one of the pumps! Anyway to cut an even longer story short, they get us going and when we get back to Samfya they will fix it all properly! We have no idea how much it is all going to cost! Hopefully not too much but it does sound expensive to me!

Oh well we are now home thank goodness. We have unloaded the car and are ready for the rest of the day, and now Donald is taking the car in. At least while we are in Samfya we don’t actually need a vehicle but next weekend Donald is heading off to the Congo so it will need to be done by then. Oh well everything is in God’s control. At least we were able to make a whole lot of children happy today.

The rest of the week will be school work and ladies study. This weekend the Samfya Board is meeting for the whole of Saturday. Donald will be tied up with them. He will give you his report later.

Bye from Gwen

Leadership Training in Kalalushi

We have just returned from our first leadership training weekend in Kalalushi. We were able to stay with one of the Samfya Board members Oliver Mulenga. There were four graduates and two GLO graduates working in this area and they are quite widely spread geographically. Unfortunately one of the men was in hospital having been diagnosed with diabetes. We visited him on Friday night and we were able to give him some good advice on how to manage his diet (thanks to Gwen), as well as leave a small gift to help in paying for his treatment. The open ward that he was in would have had 60 beds in at least and looked like a very sad place indeed.

We travelled to the church where the conference was on Saturday - long potholed roads. We started with a general teaching session from Titus 1:9-16 with the call for the leaders of the church to hold firm to God’s Word. For the rest of the day we worked through the principles about leadership from the booklet [produced by John MacArthur and Grace Community Church] on Elders. This booklet has been translated by the Bible School staff as they have found it so helpful in teaching their people. We copied this booklet off in Ndola on the Thursday (what a long job that was - everything in Zambia tests your patience!!).

The response to the teaching was fantastic! It was as if we were opening up new concepts - we truly take so much for granted in our church in NZ. On Sunday we had another general session from 1 Timothy 3:14-16 on what the nature and purpose of the church is and the central message of the gospel that we must hold on to. Again this was well received and we pray will resonate in the hearts of our brothers and sisters as they focus on what the church should be doing.

Our visit here was a timely one. Two graduates were trained in 1994/5 and this is the first ongoing training that they had received (prior to coming to Christ these men were Angolan Freedom Fighters!! - not to be messed with, but God changes hearts!). One of these men, Alex has started a new church plant in 2008 and had just baptised 10 new believers. He and his wife start walking to church on Sunday morning at about 5am so they can get there by 9am - we are going to send funds to purchase bicycles for some of these men. Well it was a timely visit, because this visit has become an impetus for these men to work more closely together. They intend now to meet at least twice each year for ongoing training and encouragement in the work that they are doing.

It would be fair to say that these men have struggled with their work, often due to the traditions of church leaders where the Word of God has not been upheld. Please pray for them to be even more effective in this work and make the changes that are necessary in their own leaderships so that the churches can grow both spiritually and numerically.

We left three boxes of bibles for these men. One will be used to help raise funds to send another student to the Bible School. The other two boxes were split among the graduates for distribution to their church people. They will sell these Bibles at less than half the price you can buy them from the city stores. This makes them affordable to their people and the money raised is used to support their church ministries.

This weekend was a true blessing! It was way out in the bush, difficult roads and difficult conditions, but this is where so many people live. Again we have affirmed to us the need to train men and women for this work. You should have heard the song of thanks that the women led as we finished the teaching - they were so grateful. Please keep praying for this work and for what we are doing. Our seven hour journey home with a vehicle full of Bibles for distribution just about ended in tragedy when we hit a very unexpected pot hole - God protected us, thank you for your prayers. Please read Gwen’s three blogs below that give you all the details of our time away.

We have just returned from our first leadership training weekend in Kalalushi. We were able to stay with one of the Samfya Board members Oliver Mulenga. There were four graduates and two GLO graduates working in this area and they are quite widely spread geographically. Unfortunately one of the men was in hospital having been diagnosed with diabetes. We visited him on Friday night and we were able to give him some good advice on how to manage his diet (thanks to Gwen), as well as leave a small gift to help in paying for his treatment. The open ward that he was in would have had 60 beds in at least and looked like a very sad place indeed.

We travelled to the church where the conference was on Saturday - long potholed roads. We started with a general teaching session from Titus 1:9-16 with the call for the leaders of the church to hold firm to God’s Word. For the rest of the day we worked through the principles about leadership from the booklet [produced by John MacArthur and Grace Community Church] on Elders. This booklet has been translated by the Bible School staff as they have found it so helpful in teaching their people. We copied this booklet off in Ndola on the Thursday (what a long job that was - everything in Zambia tests your patience!!).

The response to the teaching was fantastic! It was as if we were opening up new concepts - we truly take so much for granted in our church in NZ. On Sunday we had another general session from 1 Timothy 3:14-16 on what the nature and purpose of the church is and the central message of the gospel that we must hold on to. Again this was well received and we pray will resonate in the hearts of our brothers and sisters as they focus on what the church should be doing.

Our visit here was a timely one. Two graduates were trained in 1994/5 and this is the first ongoing training that they had received (prior to coming to Christ these men were Angolan Freedom Fighters!! - not to be messed with, but God changes hearts!). One of these men, Alex has started a new church plant in 2008 and had just baptised 10 new believers. He and his wife start walking to church on Sunday morning at about 5am so they can get there by 9am - we are going to send funds to purchase bicycles for some of these men. Well it was a timely visit, because this visit has become an impetus for these men to work more closely together. They intend now to meet at least twice each year for ongoing training and encouragement in the work that they are doing.

It would be fair to say that these men have struggled with their work, often due to the traditions of church leaders where the Word of God has not been upheld. Please pray for them to be even more effective in this work and make the changes that are necessary in their own leaderships so that the churches can grow both spiritually and numerically.

We left three boxes of bibles for these men. One will be used to help raise funds to send another student to the Bible School. The other two boxes were split among the graduates for distribution to their church people. They will sell these Bibles at less than half the price you can buy them from the city stores. This makes them affordable to their people and the money raised is used to support their church ministries.

This weekend was a true blessing! It was way out in the bush, difficult roads and difficult conditions, but this is where so many people live. Again we have affirmed to us the need to train men and women for this work. You should have heard the song of thanks that the women led as we finished the teaching - they were so grateful. Please keep praying for this work and for what we are doing. Our seven hour journey home with a vehicle full of Bibles for distribution just about ended in tragedy when we hit a very unexpected pot hole - God protected us, thank you for your prayers. Please read Gwen’s three blogs below that give you all the details of our time away.

Back to Samfya!

Today is Sunday and we are on our way back to Samfya today but we have to go to church first. We need to leave the house at 7:45am to be there by 8:30am. Back on the bad roads and we are actually 15 minutes late. We were thinking that they would all be in the church building waiting but no one was there! Where are they all? The service didn’t end up starting until 9:30 and then they wanted Donald just to teach one session and then have a break so that they could have some breakfast, then he could teach another. Well he ended up just teaching one, then after the break giving out the Bibles and explaining what they are for.

When we were waiting for everyone to arrive Donald bought an older lady to me. She wanted to ask me some questions he said. Well she told me she had pains in her hip and in her leg. I told her that I wasn’t a doctor. I had been talking to some about diabetes as it is such a problem here, and told her that I knew a bit about that because I am a diabetic but I don’t know about other things. Francis was interpreting for me. Then he just started talking to her. Obviously I did not know what he was saying but later said that she really just wanted money for the orphans that she looks after and didn’t need medical assistance. He told her to go and see Oliver and Emily as this is the ministry they were in. I thought it was a bit deceitful but Donald said that it is the way things work here. I would rather they just asked straight out. You know me straight to the point.

It is now after 11:00am and we are just about ready to leave and Francis is called to the side of the chapel. We have been given a chicken – a live breathing one. We are supposed to take it to Samfya with us! Now being given a chicken is a great honour. It means that they have really appreciated what we have done and hold us in high respect. So now we have a chicken but we give it to Oliver. He will have it for dinner tonight.

Back to Oliver’s for lunch – goat again. We have had goat in NZ and have liked it. It was very yummy! Load the car up and we are off to Kitwe and pick up Agnes and back to Samfya. Going through customs this time was really easy. They remembered us going through before – I guess we are an attraction!

We have picked up Agnes and we are on the road to the pedicle again. There are police stops everywhere here. They usually just let us through, but this time they tell Donald that he has committed an offence. Apparently he has overtaken on the bridge! He is told to park the car and come back to them. Oh dear here we go again!! Donald and Francis (he got out to interpret) get out and by then Francis told Donald that he actually passed the truck after the bridge. Donald gets to the police officer and he says that he is going to charge him for the offense! Donald tells him that he didn’t do it and the guys says ok you can go! Francis says that sometimes the Police here just want to show you that they are the boss! Ok lets get going again!

The road is still bad. Sometimes potholes and how deep they are can’t been seen until you are almost on top of it because of the shadows on the road. Donald hit one and nearly lost control of the car. The people on the side of the road started running to get out of the way and a man who was riding a bike rode off into the long grass!! Hahahaha it looked like something out of a movie!

Thankfully we didn’t crash. We were going fast but thankfully we were kept safe – the angels were working overtime I think. We keep going everyone is laughing so much! When you are on bad roads like these you have to use the whole width of the road avoiding potholes where you can. Sometimes you are actually on the wrong side of the road! Oh did I tell you that in the DRC you drive on the other side of the road! Just another thing to remember when you are driving here! Anyway we are going along quite happily and Donald is avoiding the potholes and drives to the other side of the road, well.... this man on a bike saw it and thought he was out of control and rode his bike straight into the long grass. Donald and I just looked at each other and then cracked up laughing! The poor man. Now let me tell you the long grass is taller than Donald, so when they ride off you can’t see them anymore!

We are now in Mansa and looking for a place to have some dinner – there are no takeaways here. We ended up finding a bakery and having bread and pies – not too good for the diabetes but at least it fills out tummys. Off again and we arrive safely in Samfya.

When I saw Levy I shook my finger at him and when we told him about the loos and the shower he laughed and laughed.

Well that was our weekend – a bit more eventful than we have at home but a lot of fun! Tomorrow we are taking two days off and are going to Kasanka Wildlife park! It will be fun and nice to have some rest.

Talk to you later

Gwen

Ps sorry it is so long!!!

Kitwe and Kalaushi here we come!

We go back into Ndola to get the little booklets. Francis stayed up late last night to get the translation finished. The printing ends up taking most of the morning! Katie and I leave the men to it and we have decided to go and look at the shops. We find a western type shops and it was fun to go and look and all the clothes shops. They certainly have different styles to what we have. Now it is lunch time so we grab a roll and some cheese and off we go to Kitwe.

The road here is amazing at the other end! We have two lanes each way and no potholes! The copper belt certainly has more money, because of the mines. You can certainly see it but it still isn’t like home. There are people everywhere and lots of little road side stalls selling everything you can imagine – cane baskets, food, oil, wood, coal, clothes, furniture – sofas and one place even had beds! I can’t imagine buying a bed or a sofa that is already dusty and dirty! They are also very uncomfortable with no springs or anything like that just boards covered with fabric!

Kitwe is quite a sleazy place. Katie and I didn’t like it much. We just passed through here initially but came back later. We are on our way to pick up the Bemba Bibles. Chingola is only about ¾ hours away from Kitwe. We got 22 boxes of 24 bibles. We met Covina and Gertrude. Covina is a board member for Samfya Bible School.

On our way there Donald got pulled over by the traffic police! Donald was overtaking a truck when the speed limit changed to 80kms. The police said that he was doing 93! Well after lots of talking he got off a ticket. It would have been $60.00 NZ. We are thankful that we didn’t have to pay for that.

Ok now we are on our way back to Kitwe. We stop at shoprite to get a few supplies to take home. What a yucky place. Oh well now we are on our way to Katalushi. Oh my goodness back to the bumpy roads again. This time they are worse than ever and everyone (even Donald has to go slow).

We arrive at Oliver and Emily’s home. The inside of the house is just bedrooms and a lounge. When we were shown our rooms I was thinking that I hadn’t seen a toilet. Yes we are on that subject again and I was right there is no toilet in the house! It is a pit loo outside! I thought oh no Donald where have you bought us but actually this one isn’t too bad. It is still a squat loo but it is all concrete and I haven’t seen any lizards and it doesn’t smell! Thank goodness for small mercies! Ummm we have power on but no water - what is the deal here. Everytime we go somewhere we either don’t have power or water or both!

Well in looking around our rooms we start to think that are beds don’t have sheets on them. Now we are heading back to Kitwe to try and find sheets. No such luck, however we did find blankets, so we bought a few of them. Since we are in Kitwe Oliver decided we should go and see one of the ex Samfya Bible School students. He was in Kitwe hospital. We went up there and oh it was not a nice place to be. I was sure we would catch something just by being there. Anyway it turns out that the man has diabetes! His leg is badly swollen. He was sent to hospital and that was when he found out that he was a diabetic! Katie happened to look out of the ward and saw a man being dragged down the hallway. She was rather scared. As we were going out we saw the man. They had just left him by the stairs and he didn’t look well at all and smelled even worse! Later we asked Francis what was wrong with the man. He told us that the man was drunk! All our emotions (Katie and I that is) was all on a drunk man! It really wasn’t a nice thing to see. Some more good teaching moments on being thankful we live where we do with GREAT medical service and the effects that alcohol can have on people and why the Bible says not to be a drunkard! Katie saw these things first hand!

Well here in Zambia they quite often don’t pronounce their letter ‘h’. For example herbs are erbs, humps are umps (as in road humps/ judder bars) etc. Well the gates at the hospital were open and obviously when the gates are closed the gate reads Kitwe Hospital! Well Katie reading the open gate wanted to know why hospital didn’t have an h on it. Well I got the giggles so bad everyone was wanting to know what was so funny. Initially I was laughing so much I couldn’t tell them! When I finally could talk I told them that they don’t pronounce their h’s like ump and ospital! Well they were all laughing by then!

We are now back at Oliver and Emily’s home and having a very nice dinner prepared by Emily. All of a sudden Oliver’s wife tells him that has just remembered that in our room in a suitcase are some sheets! Yay we now have a sheet to cover the mattress and blanket to cover us! Oh dear it is now dark and Katie needs the loo. Thank goodness for big brave daddy who can take her!

We all had a good nights sleep and now it is time for showers! Where are the showers? It is the little shed down the back of the yard! Oh dear! Oliver and Emily have been up very early to start boiling the water so there is no way out we have to have a bath! They have a plastic basin filled with hot water for our baths. It was actually really nice, although I did tell Donald that if I saw a lizard the people outside might see more of me than they bargained for! Thankfully they didn’t!

Ok off to the conference now. It is in a village in the back of beyond! Guess what, I did not drink anything all day as there was no way I was going to that toilet and it worked! I might try it again tomorrow for our trip back to Samfya! We are at the conference for lunch and they issue us in to the guest house for lunch. The lunch was yummy. It was goat! You will have to see the photo – it will explain everything! The kids are wonderful. Katie just seems to attract children of all ages. She had them all doing netball exercises today!

Well that is all for now and I am guessing that you are all saying it sure is!!!! Sorry about the marathon.

Gwen

Ndola here we come.

This photo is taken from the bridge that divides Zambia and the DRC. Beautiful isn't it!

Well we left home at 6am to go through the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to spend the night at the GLO centre in Ndola. Ohhhh man the road called the Pedicle was incredible! It was a dirt road but oh boy it was pitted and there were lots of potholes!!!!! Potholes, potholes and more potholes!!! It was amazing. Sometimes Donald didn’t realise how big they were and went straight over the top of them. I am really glad none of us had back problems! The seatbelts in the back don’t work and once Katie’s head hit the roof of the car! The place was soooo dusty that even the trees were covered. They looked like they were dead but they weren’t just covered in red dirt! Katie thought it was great and said it reminded her of when Josh took her and some of her friends on the back of his truck down by the river – I assure you that would have been mild compared to this road! The Pedicle is in the DRC. We saw these huge mounds of dirt which we were told ware anthills!

Well let me back up a bit.... A week ago Donald and I got our National Registration Cards. Today was a test to see if they would work so that we could then post our Emergency Travel Documents to London so that we could get our real passports sent to us. Leaving Zambia was no problem at all. Going into the Congo .... well that was a bit more interesting! All our details were written into 4 different books. That means we had to see four different people. Each person wanted 5 pin (about $1US Dollar) and also wanted money for a coke!

As in anywhere in Africa, as you drive around there are people trying to sell their goods. There was this one little boy in particular, he had been out to catch is product. On a stick displayed for all to have a good look at, were at least 7 RATS! Yes that is what he was selling. For those of you who know me... well you know what my reaction was. Yes I screamed and we were still in the car driving! Agnes and Francis just laughed and laughed and said now that was funny and that I had made their day! I commented that rats spread diseases and Francis informed me that it was only the city rats and that village ones were ok and disease free ...ummmm Ohhh well we kept going. It took a long time and then we were at the borders again. This time I didn’t like the look of one of the customs officers. Up till now they had all been fine. He wasn’t even the one dealing with us and came over and looked at us and our documents. Katie is on the work visa, and because she is a child they did not give her a National’s Card. Agnes asked if it was ok for the three girls to go outside now – they usually just deal with the driver and the rest of us walk through. They answered yes. When we went to go the dodgy guy said that Katie couldn’t because she had no documents! Donald kept telling him that she was only 12 yrs old! He studied that work visa very hard! Then Agnes told him again in Bemba that she was only 12 years old and still a child and that we were going through and told us to come. We followed obediently! It was not a problem at the Zambian end of the border. They still wrote details down but no issues at all. Whew thank goodness for that. Well now I need to go to the loo and guess what it is a pit loo, soooo ok I say to myself well I have to go. I was all ready to go in taking lots of deep breaths when a huge lizard ran across the door. That’s it I am not going in there! There were all these men outside. Actually I am not sure what they were doing there but oh well, I certainly made their day. They laughed and laughed! Agnes asked the customs officer if they had a toilet I could use. She pointed to the one I wasn’t going too. Agnes told her I was too scared of the lizard! She gave a smirk and took me to a flush toilet. The floor was even tiled! Ok business done let get back on the road!

We are now back in Zambia on our way to Ndola. Oh my goodness this road is tar sealed but ohhhh the potholes again! Donald reckons it is worse than the pedicle to drive. We arrive at GLO and we are staying in the guest house. It is a nice place to stay. We had a waterbed to sleep on! I haven’t slept on one of these since the 1980’s! Donald and Francis have printing to do. An elders booklet written by John MacArthur. Francis has translated it into Bemba. We also have to get a passport for Francis so that he can go to South Africa for studies. We have also dropped Agnes off. We will meet her again on Sunday.

We had dinner in Ndola. It was quite hard to find a restaurant here, that is clean or not a bar! We found one place and it is owned by an Arab man. It was a good lesson for Katie as all the food was ‘halaal’ so initially didn’t want to eat there. We told her as Christians we can eat it as it would not defile us as Christians. Good teaching moment! Unfortunately for Francis there is no nshima here!

Tomorrow we go to Kitwe and Kalalushi.

More Medical Needs

Here is the boy (Godfrey) who has badly deformed feet. We are sending him to Mambalima School and Hospital for assessment at the handicapped school. His father will take him - he is 9 years old and is being supported by his dad in the photo as he cannot stand like this with his legs apart. His family is part of one of the local churches here that we teach at.

Medical Needs

In Zambia it is so hard with the multitude of needs that there are. Medical needs are huge and conditions are often left until it is too late. On Sunday we meet Gullivers at Samfya West church - he was sitting behind us. His eyes are all puffed up and the pupils of his eyes are not clear and sharp. He has had some treatment that did not work, but he needs proper medication - as we know sight is so important! We are having him sent to Mansa Hospital which has an eye clinic and we trust a proper diagnosis of his problems. It seems that with the allergy he has there is also infection and potential damage to his eyes. We trust that intervention is not too late.

The second boy (picture to come) has badly deformed feet and will not get a fair education in the normal school system. There is a mission school and hospital at Mambalima that helps physically handicapped children and provides education. We will refer him to this mission and see what can happen to help him and his family. Unfortunately his feet could have been treated with early intervention as a small child, but now it is much more difficult.

How do you respond to such needs? We don’t have the resources to cover all the needs, however we can make a difference for some. If you want to help with such needs, please let us know by email.

Tomorrow (Thursday) we are travelling to the Copperbelt for leadership training meetings with graduates from the Kalalushi area. We will travel through the Pedacle Road which is in D.R. Congo - it is much faster. While in the Copperbelt we also plan to send our Emergency Travel Documents to London so that the High Commission there will release our new passports. Unfortunately they would not allow us to keep the ETD’s and then get new Passports at the same time. Please pray that these come through quickly and that we don’t have any immigration issues with officials here or in Congo!!

Student Gardens

These gardens are part of the Agricultural teaching that the students receive to help them when they return to village life to be a little more self supporting in ministry. The food here goes to their daily meals and also much is sold to the community sponsoring the Bible School work, as well as some going to student fees for the work they do in the gardens.

Marriage Proposal, 120 chicks, 9 bags @ 40kgs each, and 7 humans!

Well what a trip we had today. Firstly we were supposed to leave to go to Mansa at 7:30am. We didn’t leave till after 8am as the vehicle we were supposed to take wasn’t where it was meant to be. Then we had to find Peter and Aaron from the Bible School. It takes about 1 hour to Mansa. Fanny (pronounced Funny) also came with us. She is Levy’s niece and is 19 yrs old. So there were 6 of us in the car.

On our way now, the road is fairly nice but a lot of pot holes and they are fixing them. We dropped the guys off and went and did our little bits and pieces before heading for the supermarket called Shoprite. I had my first experience of the pit loo at the Mansa Mission Station!!!

We were to be home by 2:30pm as my Ladies Study starts then.

We got what we needed at Shoprite and when we got to the checkout the block of cheese didn’t have a price on it and the lady was really rude – like it was our fault. Donald said to her don’t you have someone who could check it. She said no so we said we wouldn’t have it. She then sent someone to go and get a price. She was amazingly rude! Donald said they get like that in Mansa as they see the white people (hehe me included in that) come and spend lots of money and the locals can’t. It’s not our fault we are so far from the supermarket and can only get there every now and again. Oh well time to move on....

Outside we met Hoggie Jnr (Hoggie, the caretaker’s son). He is doing a course in Mansa. We didn’t know that he wanted a ride back to Samfya. That was fine – now there are seven of us for the car, which is ok as you can actually seat 10 but keep reading!

After loading up the car with our goods to last hopefully till we leave, Donald decides that we would get some sausages, chicken and chips from the place right next door. Fanny and I decide we will wait outside. Well there was a power cut so everyone gets locked into the stores or out as the case may be! Katie came to ask what we wanted and then came and stayed out with us. There was a man there who took a liking to her. He wanted to know what her name was. We didn’t tell him of course but then he said he would like to marry her! I told him no as she was only 12 years old so he said he would wait for her. Well I got the giggles, Katie was getting freaked out, and Fanny was telling me that because I kept giggling he thought it was ok and was bragging to his friends there how he was chatting with us! As soon as the power came on Katie took off to the safety of her father! It was verrrry funny though!

Ok now we have our food and we go to pick up Aaron but the goods he needed hadn’t arrived yet, so we left him there and went to pick Peter up at the Mission. He hadn’t finished all his photocopying. By this time I told Donald to phone Levy to cancel the Ladies Study – there was no way we were going to be back on time. Ok, Peter is now in and we head off to pick up Aaron – this time his delivery was ready – nine big sacks full of chicken feed. That is fine we now put that on the top of the car! The next thing were the baby chicks. I mean real live baby chickens! A whole 120 of them. Then Francis phoned and wanted us to pick up 25kgs of flour! Those in the back seat had to nurse a box of chicks on their laps the rest of us had groceries around us and I also had the sack of flour beside me. Well by the time we got home I am covered in white flour, which Donald promptly told everyone that I was trying to become a white woman! This made everyone laugh!

The other amusing thing was that Fanny wanted to know what we put in the chicks to make them into chickens! We couldn’t understand what we meant. She did not realize that these baby chicks grew up to be adult chickens that she then killed and dressed (defeathered!) although she doesn’t eat them as she doesn’t like the taste! She also didn’t realise that the chicks came from eggs!

All in all it was a very fun day full of unexpected surprises and a marriage proposal!

We Have Moved House
Well today I am writing to you from Mark and Carmen’s home. We have moved in and are trying to get into a daily routine which is kinda hard here, when things aren’t the same every day.

Our first night was great. There was quiet, with no rats or bats in the ceiling, however in our diligence of switching off all the lights we also turned off the hot water. The switch just looked like a light switch right beside the outside door. We had cold showers in the morning.... ohhh well these things you learn as you go!
We also have to look after two big dogs and they are inside dogs. For the next two weeks we don’t have a maid so the dogs are now outside and they really don’t like it! They do however sleep inside at night – apparently for security! Whenever Donald is away we will also have a night watchman. He has a little shed outside to stay in! Copper (one of the dogs) keeps going in our room, smelling our suitcases and then whimpering!

Tomorrow (Friday) we will be going to Mansa to get supplies. I hope they have lots as my shopping list is as long as my arm! I went to do some baking yesterday and there wasn’t much in the pantry so we went into Samfya but couldn’t buy most of what we needed – oh we just have to make do with what we had. I assure you we didn’t go hungry.

Oh the power has just gone off again for the second time this morning! Glad I made the cheeseless quiche early for lunch! That is one thing I have learned is that when the power is on you make the most of it as you don’t know when it will go off and for how long. You also cook with what you have and do without the other!

One of the photos I have included this time is of Katie covering her eyes. This is because she wanted to see how they prepared the chicken for dinner and of course the chicken was still alive! She came just when it’s throat was being cut! Couldn’t get fresher than that! Speaking of chickens Donald will be getting us some dressed today (killed and plucked). The Bible School students will be doing that for us thank goodness. Oh the power is back on again!

Today Donald phoned us and told us to go up the road. Some of the local boys had made themselves a soccer goal by using sticks and an old mosquito net. We just got home and he told us to go back as there was a parade happening. It was something to do with all the different schools around here. Their posters talked about their Health Studies and some of the older boys were beatings drums. It very interesting but no one could tell us what it was about. They came to the Education Buildings and there were all sorts of officials and they played the National Anthem but no one sang it. They also had the Zambian flag flying. There also seemed to be a large number of smaller children not at school today so we are assuming it is some sort of holiday.

On Sunday Fanny (pronounce Funny!) took Katie, Elizabeth and her brother to the yach club – that is how she said it! It turned out to be the yacht club! It was really funny! Anyway Katie and Elizabeth came home totally soaked as they had decided to go for a swim but hadn’t taken their togs or towels!

The weather here is very hot during the day but cools off enough at night that we are wearing sweatshirts. It is also very dry and very windy.
Katie continues to make friends and they come to visit. A couple of girls turned up here at 2.30 yesterday and at approx 6pm went home. The three of them played outside mostly but man were they dirty when they came inside.

The ladies study is going ok I think. Yesterday we had questions as we were at the end of chapter one. The questions came from the book –God’s high calling for women. It is still hard to tell what is going through their minds. I think my interpreter Patricia just answers a lot of the questions as it seems to take a long time to interpret what few English words have been said!
That’s about it for another update
Katie needs the computer for her school work.

Bye for now

Gwen


Ps Donald, Katie and her friends went to the lake this afternoon. I suggested that they take the dogs which they did. Well I was at home cross stitching when I heard a whole lot of screaming and dogs barking. I went outside on the hill to see what all the noise was about and Spice the female dog had taken off and was attacking one of the village dogs!!! Donald went in to break it up. All the girls were screaming and the men who were at a building site were all cheering! Donald said if he hadn’t have pulled Spice off the other dog she would have killed it!