The holiday is over and it was lovely! Zanzibarians are very friendly, and, since tourism is their number one source of revenue, we were treated very well. The Truscotts who live near here also returned from Zanzibar recently. They said that while they were in Zanzibar a local man was beaten to death by other Zanzibarians over stealing a mazungu’s (white person-Swahili) purse. 'Don’t mess with the guests,' is the message to the locals—they are our business.
Friday, December 21 -We stayed at the Mennonite Guest House in Lusaka. We had a Canadian time as some others from Winnipeg area were there and Lois (wife of Siggy) are is from Victoria. We had a good visit over breakfast. Siggy and Lois run the guest house and are in charge of the Mennonite Mission Work in Zambia. They’ve been in Zambia five years; they will return to Canada in June 2008.
Saturday, December 22, 0700 -kids have arrived and we are heading out to our maize field for a weeding party (as I call it). I am expecting the maize to be at least knee high, and am sadly disappointed at the short little stalks! But, there are plenty of weeds! So with about sixteen of our sponsored students we hoe and weed until about noon. Those Zambian kids can really work. Planting and looking after the maize fields is hard work and must be done with extreme regularity and expertise. Otherwise, people go hungry! Everything is done by hand—the planting, the fertilizing and the hoeing. Our field is a bit too big—the size of three official soccer fields, or 2.25 hectares!! What were we thinking?! If the crop is successful we should be able to feed plenty! I brought along water, buns (no butter, no filling—plain buns!) and mango from the yard for treat time!
Sunday, December 23 -We attend Farmer Church at Sam and Fiona’s farm. Sam and Fiona are ex-Zimbabwean tobacco farmers and probably have the largest tobacco farm in the area. Many makuwas join together in Sam and Fiona’s living room to sing praises and listen to Shawn (youth minister from Mazabuka Boarding school) speak. Everyone stayed for tea and following that we had a braii (barbeque). When folks in this area have a barbeque they do NOT have hot dogs and chips. They have roast beef, boerwurst sausage, marinated chicken, along with a variety of salads and breads. It was all so yummy! Fiona makes the best fruit cake I’ve ever tasted! We met many folks and now when we see them in Kalomo or Choma we will be able to greet and chat! A good group of Christians meet weekly at this home. Kind of reminds me of church in Crofton!
Monday, December 24 -Time to prepare for Christmas as tomorrow we are having a number of Zambians in for lunch!
Tuesday, December 25 -Merry Christmas. We take the cinnamon buns I made yesterday out to Simakakata, the blind community. As we drive in to the compound, we see Mr. Shebby, the leader, standing and clapping his hands. Our young friends, Timmy and Oscar help us to sing “we wish you a merry Christmas” (we taught them the song while driving this morning!). Each of the families gets a new blanket (from my shopping trip on Dec 24)! So much fun!
Christmas Dinner -two small turkeys, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, squash casserole, green beans, cabbage salad, buns, then shortbread cookies and date squares. Richard spent a whack of time nicely decorating all sorts of little parcels for each of our Zambian guests and we had so much fun watching them open their gifts. Oscar and Timmy have NEVER done anything like this, and I don’t think Mashell and family had either. In the end, Oscar gave a thank-you speech, because no get together in Zambia is complete without one! After everyone had gone home – Timmy, Oscar and Richard and I watched Finding Nemo, a movie I like because they always find him!!
Wednesday -Another weeding day!!
Thursday -Meeting day about hiring teachers and choosing new sponsored kids! What a task—so many applicants and fewer sponsors than kids!
Friday, December 28 -Katungu day. We are supposed to pick up Kelvin (HIV patient who had a stroke a year ago) and take him to Martin Hospice in Choma for a time of rehab. After three hours, our friend, Lemmy, arrives at Katungu from the village, Kalowa, without Kelvin! We cannot drive into Kalowa this time of year because of the rains—even with a 4-wheel drive it is impassable. Lemmy says the family is quite nervous about Kelvin going into such a centre, even though Kelvin was going to have family with him 24/7. I think in the end they thought Kelvin would likely go there to die—isn’t that what normally happens in hospitals?! So, for now we will let the issue rest; even though I’ve been working on this issue for about a month and had a bed saved for him for Friday, December 28! Such is life—in Zambia.
Saturday, December 29 -In the morning we went out to Seven Fountains Farm (SFF) for an interesting visit with Rod and Sue and a family from Macha Mission. The wife is a doctor doing Malaria research at Macha Hospital and the husband, Gert, is a project manager for a zillion development projects. They are doing extremely progressive work in the area of community development and folks from all over are flocking to Macha. Even Robert Schuller of the Crystal Palace church was there recently. Gert is thinking that SFF should have an air strip, so we will put that one before the board. In the afternoon Richard, Kadonsi and I interview five prospective teachers. These are newly graduated teachers from the sponsorship program. A few of them will be needed at Katungu and Mutala. After all of that, I make pizza and Richard and I watch a taped movie.
It’s been a wonderful week in Zambia. We are blessed by being able to serve in unique ways!
Happy New Year to All!
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