Some Things

Since I last wrote........

So here's what's been happening with me in Zambia since last time:

Some fun:

- Driving mini buses to town and on dirt roads!

- Funny times with new friends :D

- The kids at the playschool can be pretty funny!

Charlie, Liz and I having lunch, part of Charlie's surprise birthday day out! 

Some challenges :

- So Monday was meant to be our first day of school with the kids from the orphan project (now named Arise) but unfortunately none of them arrived at first we expected it was just some African timing but when Wednesday came and still no children we started to wonder. 

We decided to visit them getting to their homes involved driving on dirt roads, walking over railway lines and saying hello to many people.

When we arrived at each home there were different reasons for why they weren't as school including attending a funeral, going to the wrong school my mistake and being unwell. So hopefully this Monday will be day 1 take 2. 

Some children:

(These are the three children we went to visit who will hopefully be joining our school) 

Esnat lives just over the railway line which is pretty much the border with Congo. She seems pretty shy but very sweet, when we spoke to her grandparents, her and her sister hid behind their hut and giggled. Poking their heads out every now and again. 

Bupe  lives with her grandparents, she is also a little shy but smiles at us and seems very happy. When asked what she wants to be when she is older she announced she wanted to be a  lawyer quite an unexpected choice but there you go!

Purity  is the least shy she even shook our hands! She lives with her aunt. When we visited the first time she was looking after her baby cousin and found it very funny that every time the baby saw us it cried, it was a good game moving the baby towards me and seeing the shock on her cousin's face then moving it away again.  She is HIV positive so is on medication which we will have to give her at school. 

Some praying:

- praying for Mr. Chomba  who was having trouble with his appendix (he managed to do a full days work the next day which hadn't done for weeks because he had been in pain woo woo) 

-praying for one of the workers building the school who had just been bitten by a snake (not sure how he is doing yet?)

-praying for Mrs. Chomba's painful knees (not sure how they are yet) 

Some Bemba 

New words I have learnt in the past few weeks include many ways to say I'm finished or we are finished and it is finished. 

Everyone - bonse  chair- icipuna  panshe-floor  outside-kunse stop that noise- leka chongo it is hot - nakukaba (this is becoming a useful word as it is definitely getting hotter now) 

A funny Bemba word Nannicanni meaning thingy-ma-bob 

So much learning going on!

(and that's only me! As school only starts on 16th September)

Bemba 

I'm making progress we have started a board of new words In our living room and i'm carrying a notebook around with me to write down new phrases. It is very funny to see the expressions on people faces when suddenly this white woman is speaking Bemba. My most common phrase is either muli shani? (How are you? ) or panono ici Bemba (A little Bemba) I am loving learning a new language which was never something I expected to do growing up! 

Names

I have had so many names to learn since arriving, people, places and pets. I am still having to be reminded who people are quite often.

God prepares us

Since arriving I have been realizing that many of the things I have been experiencing here which in the past I would have struggled to do or found very scary God was preparing me for even before I knew I was coming here. He provided the space to practice things like singing, praying for people, speaking to groups of people and worshipping without having a worship group or songs that you know. Most of this through the TSM (Training for Supernatural Ministry) course I did 2years ago (if you haven't heard about it or done I whole heartedly recommended it. He also provided the people I need around me for this adventure to be possible both supporting me from the UK and those who are with me here.

Snakes

We visited a game park for a day where we went into a snake house where we held a few snakes and learnt a lot about which ones are venomous and which ones are harmless. This could prove to be useful information as snakes are reasonably common in the area where we are living. So far I haven't bumped into one in the wild thankfully! 

A great church is hard to find

After going to my 5th church here I am learning that finding a great church is pretty tricky so far my experiences varied greatly in many ways, length of service from just over 1 hour to nearly 4hours, style of worship from very loud and exuberant to quiet and quite dull, language from completely Bemba (translated mostly for our benefit) to completely English. So just praying we find the right one (or 2 as may be the case)?! I miss being at the Kings Arms in Bedford!