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!