I would wish for all of you to have been with us this morning at the Mawaya Church of Christ. Mawaya is a very poor compound close to Kalomo. Many people at Mawaya have no jobs, because there are no jobs to be had! Houses are very small mud shacks with mud floors. Kids are usually very dirty and there are always some that yell at the truck, "I am hungry!" This evening as we returned to Mawaya on Obert business there was a beat up guy with blood running all down his head. A yucky site, a fresh beating. Usually there is a drunk trying to converse with us or the truck. This is not somewhere where most of us would care to live. Actually, just visiting is tough.
The church in Mawaya built a small building just over a year ago in this compound. The church building is made of poles (made from skinny trees!) and a grass roof. The floor is dirt and the "walls" are old black plastic that has ripped to shreds in many places. We sat on "pews" made of poles and I shall never complain of hard pews again! I was close to numb when the service was over!
We had taken some college students with us, including Superior (Ellis Krogsgaard's sponsored student). Richard did the preaching. Noel, a very bright college student with the warmest smile ever, did some translating, as did Kadonzi. Justin, a college student from Luapula also assisted—but he doesn't know Tonga so he also needed a translator.
At the very end of the church service the Mawaya quartet and choir performed. The quartet is unbelievable. As I sat in this very humble "church building" I was amazed at the quality and energy of these four guys! They really should be recording! I almost forgot about the pain of sitting on the skinny pole!
In the afternoon we had to take care of some ZMF-C business at Mutala and following that is when we returned to Mawaya compound to move Obert, one of our sponsored students. Obert is in grade 11 at Kalomo High School and because he was unable to get into the boarding section of KHS he has had to live alone in a very small round mud shack (mud floor, no windows) in Mawaya. He had been doing "piece work" so he could purchase some food for himself. Since we figured out his situation we've been supplying him with food and now we've found him a family to live with, the Mulamfu's! Obert will stay with Robinson and Everness until this term ends and then we will appeal to Kalomo High School so Obert can live in the boarding school, and no longer be a day student. I wonder if the Principal would like some chocolate cake, with sprinkles!
And.just as we were leaving Mawaya we found another sponsored student at Mawaya! We thought Obert was the only one! Calistos and his brother are "double orphans" having lost both their parents in 2006. They share a small shack near Obert's and are doing piece work so they can purchase food. Doing "piece work" is very difficult because it takes precious time away from studying and because it's just hard to find work. Calistos is very skinny—VERY skinny! I'll be leaving him some food tomorrow; I think I need to set up a tent in town for kids like this! They have no parents and are just barely surviving and meanwhile trying so hard to get a grade 12 certificate! Yikes!
So, I hope you are feeling blessed in Canada. In Canada we are have way too much and some like Calistos, his brother and Obert are barely surviving! I can't make sense of it—I communicate these things to you for a few reasons:
The church in Mawaya built a small building just over a year ago in this compound. The church building is made of poles (made from skinny trees!) and a grass roof. The floor is dirt and the "walls" are old black plastic that has ripped to shreds in many places. We sat on "pews" made of poles and I shall never complain of hard pews again! I was close to numb when the service was over!
We had taken some college students with us, including Superior (Ellis Krogsgaard's sponsored student). Richard did the preaching. Noel, a very bright college student with the warmest smile ever, did some translating, as did Kadonzi. Justin, a college student from Luapula also assisted—but he doesn't know Tonga so he also needed a translator.
At the very end of the church service the Mawaya quartet and choir performed. The quartet is unbelievable. As I sat in this very humble "church building" I was amazed at the quality and energy of these four guys! They really should be recording! I almost forgot about the pain of sitting on the skinny pole!
In the afternoon we had to take care of some ZMF-C business at Mutala and following that is when we returned to Mawaya compound to move Obert, one of our sponsored students. Obert is in grade 11 at Kalomo High School and because he was unable to get into the boarding section of KHS he has had to live alone in a very small round mud shack (mud floor, no windows) in Mawaya. He had been doing "piece work" so he could purchase some food for himself. Since we figured out his situation we've been supplying him with food and now we've found him a family to live with, the Mulamfu's! Obert will stay with Robinson and Everness until this term ends and then we will appeal to Kalomo High School so Obert can live in the boarding school, and no longer be a day student. I wonder if the Principal would like some chocolate cake, with sprinkles!
And.just as we were leaving Mawaya we found another sponsored student at Mawaya! We thought Obert was the only one! Calistos and his brother are "double orphans" having lost both their parents in 2006. They share a small shack near Obert's and are doing piece work so they can purchase food. Doing "piece work" is very difficult because it takes precious time away from studying and because it's just hard to find work. Calistos is very skinny—VERY skinny! I'll be leaving him some food tomorrow; I think I need to set up a tent in town for kids like this! They have no parents and are just barely surviving and meanwhile trying so hard to get a grade 12 certificate! Yikes!
So, I hope you are feeling blessed in Canada. In Canada we are have way too much and some like Calistos, his brother and Obert are barely surviving! I can't make sense of it—I communicate these things to you for a few reasons:
- Take some time to thank God for your blessings—today!
- Remember that you've been blessed for one reason—I'll let you figure that out.
- When you go to Tim Horton's (Java, Starbucks...) this week, please remember Calistos and his brother and Obert, and if you aren't sponsoring a kid—maybe you'd like to!
Love to all of you,
Sue and Richard
Sue and Richard
1 comment:
Rich and Sue,
Thanks for sharing your daily stories with us. They are so meaningful and give us such reason to think and pray. Is Mawaya where our Febby lives? I can't remember the name of the area of Kalomo, but I thought that it might be Mawaya also.
Souper Sunday was super! More details will come to you later.
Thanks for being there. Give our warmest greetings to our Zambian friends. We miss you.
Barb
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