Mapenzi at home

She's at home in her home! There are no walls, screen doors, or windows. No colorful, fancy toys....and probably the only story book she has is the one sent with her last week.  

But she's a happy gal - pigs and dogs lazing in the warm ground, chicken pecking at leftover nsima and whatever! Goats milling round the open kitchen shelter, lots of kids to play with, interesting rocks and sticks to pick up and put in the mouth, etc.

We watched closely as Mapenzi motored around the dog - almost stepping on his/her ears while it was sleeping, messing with the ground nuts the ladies were shelling and bringing a few to us every couple of seconds....

This is village life - challenges, foibles....and this is family....the blessing of God!

Home visit to Mapenzi's one week after!

We were greeted by Mapenzi's family as well as the local church for this home visit. 

It's now been just over a week since Mapenzi left. She's already adjusting just fine, as are the family. 

Anith, paternal aunty, admits she's been running to keep up with Mapenzi - as Mapenzi is a busy little one. We sort of apologized for not training Mapenzi to be quieter :)

What resources does this $2.00/day family have? 
Pigs, cows, goats, chickens, gineau fowl, fields, plenty of energy, strong family ties, a concerned church body....Among their challenges: Macha clinic, their closest health center, is FAR - they request a bicycle! (Bicycles by the tree belong to the other church members), government systems to support them are sparse and difficult to access, rural development is difficult and so far behind.

Continue to pray for Mapenzi and this family! They need our prayerful support! 

First hand knowledge

The visit to Chipo and Chabota's household - about 2 hours from here, in the bush, but not far from Macha was very satisfying!

These twins, now 21 months are doing very fine. They are cared for by a loving family, which here in Zambia means also a loving extended family.

The twin's mom had died shortly after childbirth and the maternal aunty (Gertrude)'s husband had also died around the same time. So...the two of them are now married, "according to traditional" ways and these babies are well cared for. 4 year old brother, Givus is happy to have these sweet girls home! They were dressed in their finest for the visit.

And they cried most of the visit time b/c they were wakened so they could see us - sorry, wee ones!

Lydia, also in the photo, is the older sister to Gertrude. She lives nearby and is also active in the children's life.

Financially, this family has very little, being a $2.00 a day" family. But....as a team they will provide security and a strong foundaion for their children and they have some good resources nearby.  Clean water, probably the best health service in southern province, nearby schools, supportive churches....They will be okay. They will have a strong foundation to build on.

Home visits give us first hand knowledge of a few things:
Families in extreme poverty can and want to care for their kids, extreme poverty is painful - but many have much resilience and fortitude. The government incapabilites are hugely evident as you travel further into the bush.......

We always end our visits in prayer - for the family and for the children.....Do they have needs? many - one is full time work for dad. He only has "piece work" as a bricklayer. Why not add this family to your prayer list?

Have you ordered "Helping without hurting" yet?

The race!

Its not all work, sometimes we play. We have to play!!

After several scorching weeks and the brains of most of us almost frying up, the rains have finally started - last week we rec'd about 38 mm.  The temperatures have come down a few degrees, but today it looks like we're back to possibly mid-30's.

We were telling bike crashin' stories the other night and that spurred Memory to challenge her dad, Wilson Siazilo, to a bike race.

As well, the Siazilo bikes had all been repaired so she was EAGER to test it out and challenge dad!

So..the idea grew and we all joined in the 6 km. race - Holy, Sue, Memory, Osco, Wilson, Willie, Memory and at the end ...David Kashakele (visiting with his family from Kanhele for the week-end!).

Willie's bike broke down about 1/3 of the way, so he and traded and I got a gonger of a bike and so cheating, I headed back to come in first! But.....Holy was the real 1st and Memory,  coming in #6, beat last place Wilson :)

Everyone cheered as Memory came panting up the driveway after the 6 km mini-marathon!

Prizes were: whatever # you came in is how many mangoes you got! Memory got 6, I got one!

Good work Memory!

 Osco is a Social Worker, recently completing at UNZA. He's been a ZMF-C sponsored student since grade 11.

UNZA graduation takes place December 20 and that day will mark his official time to start applying for "real jobs" with either the government or an NGO.

Until then he is assisting ZMF-C with home visits, counselling to school pupils at Siabalumbi, Nalabumba and to sponsored students.

He's been facilitating "Aunty Stella" at the 2 schools and also now he and I have been teaching the UN convention of child rights with the grade 8's at the 2 schools.

He's also been able to provide counsel for some staff and as well, he and I go to Kalomo Hospital to provide some support and we interview various NGO's in town to see what services they provide, who provides the funding and we ask how we can connect their resource to our discharged babies in the way far out villages.

It has been great to have Osco's professional services. And its great to see that soon he'll be able to support himself as well as assist many of his siblings with school fees. He comes from a polygamy family where there are 19 children!

So...thanks to those who've sponsored Osco and thanks for continuing to support ZMF-C projects which add up to strengthening families! You make a difference.

And thanks to our God who provides much - physically, mentally and spiritually!

For those who are interested in faith based best practice development work please add reading "When Helping Hurts" to your reading list and try to attend their workshop in Vancouver in January 2014.

We are attempting to apply many of those concepts to this work to work towards sustainable and long term change.

Milk program

Our monthly milk program takes place every 3rd monday of the month. Numbers fluctuate and those who come appreciate the donation and support received from ZMF-C.

This lady is not receiving milk formula. Instead, ZMF-C is providing counsel and encouragement.

Joy...has recently had twins and almost going crazy with 2 crying wee babies and 3 others and no help. I'd have been long time ago crazy! She was asking for milk. Both babies were physically okay, but the 1st born was small and not gaining much.

Counselling was given to put that baby first to breast and then the other and and to attempt to feed both babies one after the other instead of being on demand every 2 hours, 24 hours a day.

It seems to be working baby # 1 is gaining.

As well, we spoke to neighbours and asked them why they were not helping Joy in terms of any assistance that they could render. This woman was exhausted and frustrated. Even her husband came to me twice looking for help thinking milk formula would be the answer. No, breast is best. Both husband and wife are healthy and they are surrounded by neighbours who are Christians.

Babies now come for weekly weights and both are gaining and although they are still quite demanding the support is at least boosting Joy...'s morale. Baby # 1 is now gaining as steadily as #2!

Yes, we have a milk program - but its much more than handing out cans of formula milk.

Also, each time she comes we share our chibwantu with her and the other kid's play a bit with our babies!

Mapenzi goes home

After a few visits to Mapanza, near Mapenzi's aunty's village, 14 month old Mapenzi returned to be with her family. 

Planning for re-unification with family can certainly be complicated and takes much time and fuel. 

What makes it complicated: 
already crowded families, polygamy, poverty ++, sickness of key relatives, no/little support in the community as in a functional social welfare system, or other helpful resources.   We find that the more rural the situation is and the less education the family has the less willing the family is to take back the child. 

So, what do we do? We visit with family in the village to get to know them, to teach them about how important family and culture is to child development. We attempt to assess their strengths, their assets, their needs, the community resources, so that when baby returns they have a higher possibility of survival. 

What do family want, why would they want to leave a child any longer in an orphan home - even an orphan home where they almost receive 1:1 care? Some are looking for longer term care - so that the child can get education, up to grade 12 and beyond. And there are other things that I'll let you discover that they're looking for. Look up Firelight's foundation: "From faith to action" or Better Care Networks: "Families not orphanages".   

Some of what families fear is that they'll not be able to care for "one more child". 

We attempt to connect village church leaders with families as there are churches in EVERY community, while ngo's and other helpful government systems are sparce and somewhat disconnected. Linkages between organizations is typically not a strong trait in developing nations. 

Today, we'll visit Mapenzi at her village home and also will visit recently discharged Chipo and Chabota as well as see another orphan home in the same area. 

Thanks for all your support. Our work is with families, churches, communities....so that baby can get the maximum opportunity for overall healthy development despite all the challenges that this developing nation faces. 

Kasensa crew a few weeks back!

This was taken before Abigail and Rozina went home a couple of weeks ago. 

A lot of our time is spent out in the community visiting with families and communities and working at connecting baby with family while also assessing community for other resources that will help to make caring for their wee one in a safe and healthy manner. 

So, while our numbers of babies is lower, the work in the community is more.

We also spend time with local ngo's trying to assess what their purposes are and now....next step will be to get the ngo's together to share our purposes and see how we can link with one another as linkages here are generally weak and a bit discombobulated! 

A few days we visited OVO in Choma. They're a group who work only in community assisting orphans and vulnerables - and mainly with paying school fees, but also in feeding programs and providing psycho-social counselling as many kids struggle with grief issues. 

Dance for them!

It's celebration time when the child has finished writing the grade 7 exams, even long before the exam results are known. Just completing is an achievement. 

Gifts of biscuits, money, shirts, etc. come out of the dark and as the child's name is called the grannies, aunties, community chairperson, teacher....jump out of their seats to dance and overload the child with praise! 

But....not all kids have such great families....so a few of the kids receive little (but some teachers and good citizens notice and do provide something). 

These great families are not rich...at all. Families in poverty can still be healthy - mentally, socially and spiritually! They are functional, we'd say in the Canadian culture and blessed we'd say in Christian terminology. 

These families would likely survive the worst of situations - i.e. drought. They can problem solve. 

ZMF-C assists kids at Siabalumbi and Nalabumba Basic Schools. Pre-school through to grade 9. ZMF-C also assists to pay teacher salaries at these schools as well as Good Hope School. 

Thanks for making a BIG difference to these kids! You can dance for them!!