Mud, dancing, rain, mud, lightning, thunder, more mud, chicken, Patricia and Charity.

Stuck in the mud

A few weeks ago I experienced a very African phenomenon of super thick sticky mud. Anne-Mette and I were driving out to a youth conference in Misaka. There had been quite a lot of rain so the puddles were huge and the road very muddy in places. We got to one part where the options we're go through a huge puddle, or follow the other car tracks through some very thick looking mud. Having no idea how deep the puddle could be the muddy route looked best. So we went for the muddy path. Unfortunately turns out mud is pretty slippery, so our back wheel ended up in the deep puddle and the others were just spinning. We weren't to far from Misaka so Anne-Mette ran to get some help. With a few more hands and some more experienced mud drivers we managed to get the truck out with not too much difficulty. It's all part of the fun!

Catch the fire

We visited the Catch The Fire church with the team from Denmark. It is a great place. I enjoy going the church there. When we were last there we had a great worship time! I felt led to go and dance with some of the older ladies in the church. Dancing with them was so much fun, they were full of so much joy and thankfulness.

Mid term break.

We went away to Nsobe bush camp, where we stayed in some really nice chalets.

With outdoor bathrooms, a bit strange showering in the rain and hoping no one will walk past while you are on the loo. But thankfully being quite isolated none of us were caught unawares.

It was a very relaxing time of chatting, playing games, going for walks, eating and drinking yummy things. The rain continuers! We were out for a walk one day and it started to rain we carried on regardless, as the rain got heavier and heavier we had to make a choice, continue and accept we would be soaked or turn back and try to avoid a total drenching. I'm sure you can guess which option I went for. A few turned back but Charlie, Malene and I continued enjoying the refreshing rain and eventually, after giving up the flip flops, the squishing of mud between our toes. We got back to camp drenched and joyful.

Storms

The storms are still here the lightning and thunder  is crazy. The thunder has been unbelievably loud at times, making you jump out of your skin and causing the windows to shake. They also bring with them the increased possibility of power cuts, and lots more mud.

Kapumpe

School is still going well! On the whole the children seem to be picking up English well although there are times when we realise that maybe they haven't understood everything as well as we had hoped. One funny incident was when asking what day of the week it was their reply was chicken, followed by all sorts of other answers, fruits of the spirit, banana, patience. Clearly we are teaching them something!

We also have our official opening day this Wednesday so we are busy preparing the kids for doing a little presentation of the work we have been doing including a few songs.

Adventures
In the past few months me and friends here have decided that we want to make sure we have some adventure times with God just asking Him what he wants to do and then going out into the community and following His lead.

So last week Anne-Mette and I met to pray, as we started it began to rain but we were to excited to not go out, I felt God gave me the name Patricia and word orange, Anne-Mette felt we should walk rather than cycle and go in the direction of town. So off we went in the rain which got heavier and heavier! Chatted to a few people at the roadside stalls, where they sell tomatoes, bananas and onions. We offered to pray for them they looked a little confused and said they were all well! So we carried on up the road.

Everyone in cars driving by looked very shocked to see two girls walking in the pouring rain, but we were having fun. By the time we got to the next stall it was torrential rain so we sheltered with the ladies there, they introduced themselves and then Anne-Mette saw a little girl about 2 years old playing in a puddle she asked what her name was "Patricia" WOOO! We noticed it looked like she had an infection in her eyes so we prayed for her. I was so excited and surprised, love how God loves to speak! On the way home we celebrated by jumping in all the pothole puddles it really fun you have no idea if they will be toe deep or knee deep before you jump in!

Hospital

As part of the work I'm doing with the orphan project we go out on visits once a week to see how the guardians and kids are doing at home. Through this I have met a lady called Charity she has been sick for a very long time about 3years or so. When we first went to visit with the Danish team she was quite unwell and it was clear she was very weak, we encouraged her, sang and prayed with her. A few weeks later we visited again,  she has sores on her lips, fingers and toes. She said she should have gone to the hospital but didn't have the transport money.

Last week her grandson came to see us and said she was worse and thought she needed to go to the hospital as she had been given medication from the local clinic but there was no improvement. So we went to pick her up. She found it very difficult to get up and into the vehicle. We made it to the hospital. Driving in I realised I had never been in a hospital like this before. We drove up to the door saying casualty and helped Charity out. Walking in we were directed to an assessment type room which was very bare with a desk in the middle surrounded by nurses and doctors on stools. There were people sitting all around the edge of the room having various treatments. The label on the door said medical and gyne cases. The nurses struggled to find Charity's veins tying a piece if plastic tubing around her arm and tilting their heads trying to get a better angle, eventually after about 4 attempts they managed to get a needle in. She was clearly in pain and afraid of the needles, it was hard to watch.

After the assessment they decided she needed to be admitted so we went to buy her some food, so that she would have something to eat while she was there. We prayed for her and encouraged her that God was with her.

New Year brings some new things

-Our New School begins

Last Tuesday we started school properly in our building including running water, electricity, painted walls, tiled floors, lots of excited children in their new uniforms, a Zambian Teacher called Fatima and quiet a few ants.

The first week of school has gone very well, the children have been enjoying all the activities we are doing with them from singing to playing games to writing their names to counting a bit of sports, music, art, science and then some more singing (we do a lot of that).

They seem to be picking up English reasonably well the main phrases of this week have been "please may I go to the toilet?"and remembering what to say when someone says "good morning" most of them used to reply with "I'm fine" so we recapped the difference between "how are you?" and "good morning". Oh and they have all learnt a new word "SCOOTER" this is a vital one for them as this is their favorite toy and we encourage the to ask for it in English.

-Some new adventures- going out and about

After breakfast on Saturday, as Anne-Mette, Charlie and I talked about what to do with the rest of our day, we remembered that we had talked about going out to different communities to see what God wanted to do but hadn't actually gone yet. So we thought we would go to a nearby village where there is a clinic to offer to pray for people there.

As we cycled up to the clinic we recognized a lady walking away from it (she is a teacher from another village around 10km away) we asked why she was there she explained her daughter was unwell with suspected malaria but the clinic was closed. She then asked what we were doing there, we explained, and she was very happy for us to pray for her daughter. It felt like we were where God wanted us to be. We have since found out that just a few hours later her daughter was feeling well again! How exciting!!

 While we were there I remembered a lady (Albertina) who had been taken to a witch doctor and been held there for over a month because there were rumours in the community that she was also a witch doctor (not sure how this was meant to help her?) she had been released just before Christmas. So we set off to visit her house. Along the way we passed the house where one of our pupils (Purity) lives she had been unwell and missed school on Friday. When we saw her she was still looking very weak and unwell so we offered to pray for her and her grandmother was happy for that. So we prayed and continued on our way to Albertina's house. We chatted with Albertina prayed for her and her grandson who had been with her at the witch doctors, she seemed encouraged! On our way back we saw Purity again and she was looking a lot more lively which is great!

-a new level of recognizing Gods provision

One of the most difficult things about being here is missing people in the UK especially when there are big things happening in their lives. Since I have been here one of my best friends has got engaged and is getting married at the end of March. We decided as I couldn't be there we could set up an iPad with Skype and then I could still be part of it! But to my utter shock through some very generous people it has become possible for me to actually travel back for her wedding! I am so excited to get to be fully part of it! God really does provide for things that are important to us!

- a new theme - Emmanuel - God with us
God seems to have been reminding of this name of his in a number of ways, so funny when it feels like everywhere you turn you are being reminded of the same thing. Here are some examples of how God has been reminding me that He is Emmanuel (God with us):

- songs
- printed on a milk carton
- finding a bible in the roof of a prayer hut with EMMANUEL written in big letters across the front
- on stickers on the buses
- in the name of one of the churches we visited

Christmasish time, no mistletoe, a little bit of wine.

A collection of mini updates:

Christmassyness: (In the last two weeks it has become Christmassy here which is nice)

- First we decorated our house with a combination of things we found in the cupboard and some nice seeds we painted to be Christmassy. 

-On Tuesday Charlie and I took the play-school children out for ice cream (They loved it although it took some getting used for quite a few of the kids, also it turns out wearing a seatbelt is very exciting thing, I realised this when there was a bus full of kids shouting "me belt, me belt" as I clipped them all in)

- On Thursday it was christmaspartytime at the play-school this involved music, hilarious dancing, snacks, presents, games and laughing. A great way to finish the term!

-One more Christmas related item! If you are reading this thinking, I should be Christmas shopping, I have a solution, how about choosing something from the project that is sponsoring our kids, here is their giftlist (www.threeeighteen.org)

Falling off bikes:
- this seems to be a new skill I'm developing!
- today was my 6th fall and the most impressive of them all. I was cycling back from a conference with some friends we had been through a few puddles and then I saw a nice big one and it didn't look too deep so I decided I could go through the middle, my friends needless to say didn't follow me. I ended up sitting waist deep in a very muddy puddle laughing a lot!  

School progress: (it's been full speed ahead, January here we come) 

- many pots of paint + many hours of painting = one finished school building woo woo! 

- lots of lifting + shifting = furniture being in place 

- measuring + stapling + hammering+ drilling + blue tac sticking =  it looking  like a classroom 

- moving resources + organizing things= its almost ready for the teaching to start

Wildlife: (I have included this mainly as evidence that there are no elephants in the garden/ a common misconception): 

Snakes : yes we have seen quite a few recently, although mostly harmless ones (1 in a tree, 1 in the grass near our house and at least 2 by the school!) , 

Beetles:  yes too many to count really lots with cool colours and even a Titan beetle (worlds longest variety of beetle.) 

Ants: yes of all different shapes and sizes always busy. I did get bitten by a very large one this week felt more like a bee sting! 

Elephants: nope none not one, ok, unless you are counting pictures or sculptures of them!? 

Rain : (I love it, this statement about rain may confuse some of you so let me explain) 

1 - it reminds me of being a kid ( I have enjoyed the adventure of running through the storms watching for lightning and getting completely soaking wet in minutes) 

2 -it makes driving more exciting (The huge puddles provide much entertainment while driving) 

3 - it's proper rain ( Firstly the drops are huge and they come down quickly, secondly it's still warm) 

     

Simplicity is the way forward!

In the last few weeks I have been reminded of how full of grace God is! I have been enjoying just spending time in His presence it is such a simple joy that we can so easily skip over. Also in the process of writing the curriculum we have been deciding how to teach the kids in a way that equips them to develop a real relationship with God. Through this I haven been reminded of Gods goodness and His plans for us to live as His children. A current favorite song that the kids sing at playschool is about God being wonderful and him sugaring our tea and buttering our bread, it's a good song with actions and even sweeter in a Zambian accent! 

Since being here I have been asking what is my main purpose, where should my focus be, why have I been called to be here. In day-to-day life its easy to think what impact am I having? how am I serving the people around me? and then come to the conclusion that there is so much more I could be doing. I feel like God has been reminding me that He first calls us to love people. So this has been my focus rather than asking myself what am I doing! I'm asking how am I loving the people around me? For example Last Monday 2 new orphans joined us in the playschool (Alice and Mabel) so I am doing what he has called me to do by loving these kids and helping them realise their value.

All the girls together at school from left to right Esnat, Mabel, Alice, Purity and Gift!

Here is a dangerous book that my brother and sister-in-law gave me for my birthday, it's the story of a 21 year old girl who moves to Uganda on her own and ends up adopting 14 children  

Trist and Naomi did say perhaps I shouldn't get too many ideas from the book. So far I haven't adopted any children although when they run towards you with huge smiles on their faces it's hard to imagine that you wouldn't want to! 

My days out here can be very varied although I am mostly teaching in the playschool, we have just started some teacher training sessions with the teachers from the playschool and two from Kamfinsa school. Which was a scary prospect be when you sit down t plan them it turns out you do know more than you thought and you might actually be able to teach some one something. Here are some other things I have been up to:

Painting ceilings in the classroom, the school building is nearly finished now!

Swimming at the top of waterfalls, my mum was not so pleased about this one!

Relaxing with Charlie and Liz, we are living together which is fun!

Zip wiring across the gorge, not nearly as scary as I thought! 

Eating nshima with the students, it's just Sadza with a different name. 

Other things I have been enjoying:

Lemon creams, they are yummy as you can tell by my face! 

Toasted marshmallows, we eat these pretty often! 

After church greeting everyone and shaking hands, I love community living!

The smell of the rains, brings back memories and just smells so good!

New Bemba words 'balenga' reading  and trying to learn days of the week but they are tricky. 

Life and adventures in Zambia!

So in the past few weeks I have returned to Kamfinsa where I have been teaching once a week. Although the first week I arrived to find the school wasn't open, so I happily joined Liz to help with a discipleship group of 14 woman she is starting running there. It was a great time of worshipping together in Bemba (including some songs I now recognize), dancing together, praying and Gods peace coming!

In the play-school as part of our school day we have introduced 'Time with God sessions' which we have been planning to help the kids have a real relationship with God. During one of the first sessions we were singing a song Thank you Lord for ............ and the children chose something they were thankful for. For the rest of the day children were walking around singing Thank you Lord for (bicycles, food, various people's names) such a demonstration of how to be continually thankful! 

Last weekend we went camping at a place called 'The Sunken Lake' it was a very unexpectedly beautiful place (see the photo) it was a great time to enjoy being outside, swimming, jumping off rocks, a rope swing and campfires! There were around 20 people there (unusually all white)  it was quite a shock to see so many white people in one place!

Esnat, Gift and Purity are well settled into the play school now and getting some more English. Which is great it means there are more opportunities to add in different activities (including parachute games, which all the kids love)

. It is difficult at times to feel like you are having a real impact through the day to day things you do, but as I was reminded recently that even impact on an individual scale has significance. I was told a story about a wise old man and a small boy who was busy throwing starfish one by one back into the sea, after a storm where thousands were washed up. The old man told the boy he could never make a difference, the boy simply picked up one more starfish threw it into the sea saying "it made a difference to that one" and continued along the beach picking up the starfish. 

Yesterday I went along on some home visits to see the guardians homes who have applied to join the new orphan project. We visited 5 homes including one who will be another pupil for the school  (Mabel). It was interesting to see some different places and meet some of the people, practice some more Bemba and enjoy some more off road driving, involving praying that a bridge would hold the weight of the car and finding some very narrow tracks. It will be a very difficult process to make decisions about which orphans we can support. There are over 300 (single or double orphans) who have applied and we can only support around half that amount. We are just praying for Gods wisdom in it all?! 

One of my newest Bemba words is 'katwish ' meaning 'I don't know' which I'm sure will come in useful! We have also impressed some of the bible college students by knowing the Bemba word for window (insolokoto) which some of them didn't even know! 

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!