Obert's very great day!

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:

1. Take some time to thank God for your blessings—today!
2. Remember that you've been blessed for one reason—I'll let you figure that out.
3. 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

Febby & Robson

Febby is a mother of nine children who lives out in the bush. She is here with us because she is waiting for a ride home. ZMF-C is building a school building in their bush community and yesterday, after delivering building materials to the site, she caught a ride back with me. She was sick and needed to go to the clinic. Their nearest clinic is close to where we live, about 35km from their home.

She and her husband, Robson, are the main leaders at the Lobombo church. We attended there last Sunday, and I had the opportunity to preach. They are eager to hear from visitors, but I am convinced that my real purpose in being in those situations is so that God can use their lives to mold and change mine. This couple is very poor and they live off the land, yet they accomplish so much for the Lord. They live in a small two-roomed brick house with a dirt floor. It might have 150 square feet. There is no glass for the windows, no electricity, and no plumbing. When I picked up Febby, she insisted that I come into her home and sit and pray with them.

Febby has started a program to help the orphans, widows, and sick in her bush community. She formed a group of about twenty people who got a loan to begin an egg program. They will keep fifty chickens (layers) and sell the eggs for a profit. However, all of the men except for her husband dropped out of the project when they found out that it was a loan that needed to be repaid. Even after a profit is made, there is no money in it for the workers. All of the money will be used to help the needy. She is concerned about those who are dropping out, but she said, "I prayed to God and told him to bring it to me. Even if I am the only one left I will do it because God will bless." And God will bless. This project will succeed because of Febby's faith in our Lord. God will bless the needy, Febby will rejoice, and our Lord's name will be honoured. New people will come to know our Lord.

This is the real reason that I am in Zambia! God has brought me here to build my faith. He is a God who is alive and active! He wants to be involved in my day to day activities! I have been blessed by the faith of these Zambians.

Love,
Rich

Nephias Sinyebulula

Nephias is a young man who has been sponsored by Zambia Mission Fund - Canada for his schooling since 1999. Today he told us parts of his story that we had never heard before. His father is very poor and has two wives. Without sponsorship to go to school, his life would have been very different. His older brother only had the opportunity to complete grade 7, and, Nephias said, "My opportunity to go to school has opened the door for my other family members." There are nine children altogether. Nephias graduated from grade 12, and attended college here at George Benson in order to become a teacher. Since January of 2007, he has been living in the northern part of Zambia. He and one other graduate from George Benson were taken there by the college, given jobs in a high school and the responsibility of planting a church. After ten months, their membership has grown from two members to sixteen. He has returned here to the mission because his graduation ceremony is this week.

As he left after our visit, he was overcome with emotion. He said, "I praise God for the way that he has blessed me. I can only imagine what my life would have been like without sponsorship." He left the house with tears rolling down his cheeks. I find moments like these very encouraging, and I am reminded that the reason that God blesses our lives so that we can share his blessings with others.

Love,
Rich

Visiting Grannies

Yesterday we went to visit three Grannies! I didn't know any of their names! These grannies are caring for our sponsored students because all these kids are orphans.

The first one is Susan Mukanda's, sponsored by the Elsaesser family. She lives at Wasewange (a very poor compound not far from Namwianga) with about six grandchildren. The photo is a picture of this granny's newest great-grand daughter, born two days ago now! It is a tradition for the daughter to return to her mother for childbirth. (Fortunately, Fortune delivered this one at the clinic!) In this case, the lady had no mother, only a granny. So... the granny has a few more house guests for a few more days! The only problem, very little food! As part of the Sponsored Student program, pupils who have no parents receive food monthly from ZMF-C. I wish each of you could have seen the excitement of these grannies as we delivered a few groceries along with some seed and fertilizer. The rains are coming and it's time for each one to get planting.

The second granny is the grandmother of Dickson and Stanford. (Tonkin's student). Her name is Marta. She has a wee photo album left by an Education Mission a few years back. The only photo in it is of Wendy Ulrich and Marta! Marta was dancing as we brought her the seed and fertilizer and a few groceries. She was down to her last piece of old maize! It's about five months to the next harvest so we'll have to keep tabs on her! She cares for about eight grandkids in her little shanty compound.

The last granny is Cynthia, Doubt and Woodgate's granny. She is so skinny. She, too, was dancing as we brought in the food, seed and fertilizer. Woodgate (Iddon's sponsor student) has no bed and sleeps on the floor of a mud hut. Recently, he's developed a bad chest infection and has missed some school because of it. I think I'll see about getting him a mattress as the dust and cockroaches can't be too good for anyone! Before we left, this granny grabbed our hands and said a prayer of thanks in Tonga. Then continuing to hold our hands she walked us to the vehicle. So grateful!

And that was yesterday's work day! It is a blessing to us to be able to share what has been donated to ZMF-C.

So... think about this for a bit. While we are eating plenty everyday truly Marta is eating little sour fruits from a tree nearby to stay alive and waiting for us to come again, next month. How is that?!

Sianene - Grandfather

Let me tell you more about this picture of two guys standing in front of the brick duplex.

One is Stanford, one of the sponsored students waiting for school placement and the other is Gideon, on the right. Gideon is my absolutely favorite Zambian (this week!). He is a builder and is 58 years old—although he looks slightly older. His wife's name is Esther. These guys are trying to complete the Katungu duplex this week—or whenever humanly possible!

Gideon is very sharp and has the most pleasant personality. He told Richard to just call him "Sianene" meaning, grandfather. There is only five years difference between Richard and Gideon, but everyone else calls Gideon "Sianene". So, we will, too!

Every time Gideon catches on to what Richard says he says "ho-ho"—but not just a "ho-ho" and not at all like the ho-ho that Santa Claus says—it is with a really deep voice and the accent goes up on the "last ho"—I know it's hard to describe, but I've caught on to it and every once in a while Richard says to me—you are sounding like Gideon! I'm going to capture it on video as it is too classic!

Enjoy your day—I'm on to finances now!

Happy Saturday, from Zambia

Hello to all of you. Hope you are enjoying your Saturday! I thought there might be a time soon when I would say we have a routine, but that hasn't happened yet. Each day is different and we have to be very flexible and not have our "to do" list too concrete!

But on Saturdays at our house there is a slight routine as some of the sponsored students arrive at 0800 to do "chores". Each sponsored student is to volunteer a certain amount of their time in order to show appreciation for the gift of education that the Canadians have provided. So... this morning there are about a dozen students that have come to sort beans, "peel" maize cobs, do a bit of laundry, rake the yard... Our philosophy is that education is not a free gift and in order to keep ZMF-C running, it is good for everyone to make a contribution!

You can see Belvis and Wisdom in the picture along with Mashel sorting beans. Each of the kids that came to do the work today will take home a packet of beans and a packet of kapenta and a bucket of mealie meal. Most of the kids have up to seven km to walk home. Mashel is the gardener/outside helper. Both Winnie and Mashel come every day except Sundays.

By 0700, Richard was out the door and off to Siabalumbi where we have construction of another classroom block on the go. My apple oatmeal muffins were in the oven and Mashell had arrived to get ready for the students.

By 0930 the laundry is finished—and this week Winnie (the lady that cleans inside the house) and I have been doing our "dry season" cleaning—washing of bedspreads, mattress covers, curtains. We had a few curtains left to do so Audrey and Orleen finished those. You can see how laundry is done in rural Zambia in one of the attached pictures.

I've just served muffins, watermelon and juice to the kids and we chatted about classroom sizes and availability of text books. Belvis tells me that his grade 12 class at Mwaata School in Kalomo has 43 pupils and they share a few English text books inside the classroom, but are not allowed to take them home. Wisdom, a grade 11 pupil at the same school says there are 53 pupils in his grade 11 class and they have one text per each pair of pupils. I haven't seen a class yet where the kids can take the text book home. This makes studying and passing exams very difficult.

Yesterday, I bought several high school text books and set up a library within the Kalomo High School library for Kalomo High School ZMF-C pupils. Fortunately, Jannie (a male student), one of our ZMF-C students) is the KHS library supervisor. He has the books under lock and key within the school library and only our sponsored pupils can borrow the books and the books must remain in the library. Since there are over 1200 pupils at this schools and text books are scarce leaving a text book around is a huge invitation for theft. Recently, there was a text left in the boys dormitory from another library system and it was stolen. The book was worth about K160,000—a sizeable sum. I asked our kids why a book would be stolen. They replied, kids can sell the book and buy cigarettes and alcohol. So... we shall see how this arrangement works out. My goal is for these thirty-three Kalomo High School kids to get better grades—and for us to be able to have the books in place for the next term! We shall see.

Richard is off to Katungu now to take more building materials out. In Zambia, the builder must transport all supplies. We took out materials last night, but the roofing sheets were all the wrong size. See the photo of Richard, Mashel and Timmy tying the planks and re-bar onto the Dyna (truck).

At 1400 we have a "date" with our Kalomo High School pupils at the high school to celebrate graduation. We have eight grade 12's there. The grade 11's are the ones responsible for organizing and the makuwas (white people) and the pupils themselves have provided funds so that party can happen. There is to be singing, dancing and, of course, speeches. No formal gathering is complete without speeches!!

Timmy—the young man wearing the blue shirt pictured on the truck is sixteen years old. He attends Namwianga Secondary School, the boarding school that I can see from this window. Timmy has been a sponsored student from grade 5. His dad died when he was two years old and when his mom re-married she moved away and left Timmy with his grannie. Timmy started school on his own at age nine. His grannie wasn't able to send him so he just went on his own and it was noticed that this kid was neither enrolled nor paid for. I'm not sure who paid for him for the first five years, but eventually ZMF-C picked him up. Timmy is doing very well in grade 8—but he says he feels silly being so big in the grade 8 class. He plans on attending grade 9 at the same secondary school and then he's going to see if he can skip grade 10. He is very bright—and at this rate he'll be twenty years old in Grade 12. His goal is to be a minister. He said when he was in grade 4 and his granny had no food that he would walk the five km to the secondary school cafeteria and wait for the leftover food from the college students.

There are so many stories like Timmy's. I'd say most kids have it figured out that to have a life free of hunger they must work hard everyday at their studies. They do not take education for granted. When Timmy left our house last night at 1900 hours he said, "I'll be back tomorrow morning for chores!". We told him since he'd worked all afternoon and evening that he could just rest this morning. I fed him a big meal of beans, nshima and rape and buns before he left. He was a full and contented camper when he left, but very dirty from the long and dirty ride out to Katungu on the back of the truck.

If you've made it to the bottom of this e-mail then I owe you a chocolate cake!

One more thing—if you really want a chocolate cake! I've started a contest—The "when is it going to rain?!" contest.

I have a white board in this kitchen with names of sponsored students, Winnie, Mashell, Richard and Sue and guesses to when the rain will finally start. The winner gets a chocolate cake! The students are excited about this as is Richard. Richard has guessed November 5—and although that is his birthday and a chocolate cake would be nice, I really hope rain comes sooner. The days are hot!! It usually is about 38 celsius by 0930 and remains hot until about 1600. Then it cools down to about 30! No rains means that when the wind blows we eat dust and sand! So... we have a steady diet of sand because it is windy almost every day, like in Saskatchewan.

Must go for now and thanks for bearing with me!

Ordinary Daily Life!

Out at Simakakata: This mom is blind and has just finished bathing her three month-old baby.

We've taken maize, beans, kapenta to this area, yesterday we bought seed and fertilizer for them and will deliver it when the rains start in earnest. This morning Richard and some of the older kids from Simakakata and some college boys (including Oscar!) went to the farm to cut poles so their bathrooms now have roofs. We love visiting the blind community. They are always so appreciative and hospitable. They gave me a bag of tomatoes last time we went there. I fed the boys and men fresh baked muffins and juice this morning after their hard work cutting down poles. Richard and I took three of the teenage blind kids shopping for shoes in Choma the other day as they needed school shoes. Guess what? They went straight for the top shelf—the most expensive shoes! Just like our own kids! The cheaper ones are displayed on the bottom shelf. After we were done we awarded their great cooperation with some sweets! One of our boys, Penzya is top in his class—he is very smart and he's known for his height, as he's taller than all the kids at the school and even the teachers!

HIV/AIDS party at our house. All are doing well. We need to find a hospital for Kelvin; we will work on that. We sang, ate lunch and prayed and did an update on their health and their plans. In a week, I will take two of them to Choma to apply to a trade school. For the others, we are planning to discuss Income Generating activities with those who can manage the work.

Making nsima for lunch at the Boma church! Richard did the preaching. We actually went home and ate lunch!