Sunday, July 31st

Today our team decided to take a bit of a rest day. We didn’t set any alarms, but most of us woke up around 7:30am anyway just out of habit… and by “habit,” I mean the giant rooster that crawls up to our window, fluffs out his feathers and screams until we’re all shuffling around at exactly 7:28 every morning.

Megan, Jim and I took a long walk into the suburbs of Mufulira just to relax and kill some time. We stopped at a tuck shop and watched a father buy his family some snacks and sodas on their Sunday stroll. It’s still funny to me that no matter how different our cultures are, there are still these small undertones of familiarity. That father getting his family snacks from the tuck shop struck a chord in both Megan and me. It reminded us both of our dads stopping to get us yogurt or snacks on those laid-back family days. As we were talking about all this, Jim- as our adoptive father for this trip- bought Megan and I each an ‘AppleMax’ soda.

Our morning of rest wrapped up as we all got ready for Martinz wedding. We were at the church by 2:00pm and the wedding procession started around 3:00pm. Martinz had asked all of us to take photos for him. In my mind, I was picturing the four of us sneaking around with our cameras, hoping not to disturb the ceremony. By the time the bride was walking down the aisle, there were about 20 people, crowding the aisle with their cameras and camera-phones. It was like being a member of the paparazzi. The ceremony was slightly similar to ceremonies in the U.S. The bride and groom sat across from one another and shared vows and a couple of “I do’s.” They then signed the wedding certificate in front of the full congregation. Then, the congregation flooded outside the church with them and took tons of photos. I tried to get a couple shots, but ended up getting elbowed in the ribs. I am clearly not built for intensely competitive photography.

Eventually, the bride, groom and wedding party crowded into cars and were taken to a house for a meal, while the rest of us were taken to a local high school for the reception. About an hour and half later, we were gathered inside and the wedding party entered one at a time. A couple of family members spoke for the bride and groom and then we were all fed a traditional Zambian meal- maize bread, pasta, rice, chicken and cake. After the meal was done, everyone lined up and shook hands and cheers with the whole wedding party. It was really a beautiful day and we’re wishing the best for Martinz and Cecilia!

We’re having a few last meetings and a team dinner tomorrow and then we head to Ndola for our flight on Tuesday morning. It’s been a great trip and we can’t say enough wonderful things about the people who have touched our lives on this trip. We’re all looking forward to heading back to our friends and family in the U.S. See you all soon!

-Katie

Thursday, July 28

Today began like many other of our days here this week have. Duane continued with his amazing HIV Hope seminar here in Mufulira - Equipping students to go out and become advocates for teaching others about HIV/AIDS. Tannen, Megan and myself headed out to Murundu for the day. We spent the morning with the ENFYS Women’s Group - a collection of women that come together regularly for worship and fellowship in the village. Usually, the women are the ones asking us questions, but today we turned the table. We worked to learn about their lives - What is village life like for these women? What role do fathers play in the children’s lives? How are young women educated as they grow up? It was amazing to see them light up and teach us. By the end, we were cracking one another up sharing stories and traditions from both Zambia and the U.S. To close the morning, our team handed out bags for the women with sewing kits, nail polish and other presents. Their reaction was incredible - They cheered and shared hugs and had huge smiles on their faces. It’s still amazing to me how easy it is to connect with these women without sharing a language or a cultural background. We’ve become such close friends in such a short time. They feel like family.

Today’s ending, was unlike any other evening we’ve had so far. There is a woman we met a few days ago named Fridah. The moment I saw Fridah, I realized she was something special. She has an energy in her eyes and smile that lights up everyone around her. Fridah has been attending Duane’s seminar and also letting us teach our computer classes at her internet café. After tonight’s class, Megan, Tannen and I were completely exhausted from the day. But once the shop had emptied, Fridah turned up the music and blasted Zambian songs into the café. Then, she came down and started teaching us traditional dance moves. Fridah is the Zambian Shakira. Tannen, Megan and I are the Zambian Three Stooges. Fridah can somehow manage to move her hips while gracefully moving her arms. Tannen, meanwhile, “expresses herself best using less grace” and “more arms!” (And yes, that’s a direct quote). She then shot across the dance floor like a crazed albatross. It was an amazing ending to a full day of work. We couldn’t have asked for anything better or anyone better to share it with. Thanks Fridah!
We miss you all. Thanks for all the well wishes!

-Katie

Wednesday, July 27

After being the blog police for our first week here it’s probably about time that I blog myself before I become too much of a hypocrite. This week we have several things going on simultaneously that are running all week –

• HIV Hope seminar, led by Duane in the mornings
• Enfys women group workshop in the morning, led by Megan and I
• Youth Entrepreneurship workshop at Murundu Basic school, taught by Megan and I (sometimes Katie) starting at around noon
• Vacation Bible School (VBS), taught by Kathy and Lauren in the early afternoon

The result is a daily structure this week that is somewhat fixed, but the material and sometimes the people vary. Stuffed around the above activities are a bunch of odds and ends. Today Lauren stayed home sick. Dad (sorry, calling him “Jim” just doesn’t feel right) stayed home with Lauren and built a ladder so that the kids in Murundu have a better way of getting to the roof of the maize mill where they regularly climb to put maize for drying. Duane, Katie, and Kathy spent the morning with the HIV Hope seminar. Then Duane swapped out with my dad at home and Katie, Kathy and Dad headed off to Murundu after lunch. Katie and Kathy jumped right into Bible school with the kids, who had just finished lunch when they arrived. I’m glad to see that the daily lunch portions have gotten bigger for the kids and each child has a plate since the number of children under our care has been reduced.

Megan and I had a blast teaching the Enfys women for a couple hours in the mornings each day this week. I have been looking forward to spending time with them and it has been really good. We have had about 20 ladies coming consistently, the same ones who meet once per week in our absence. Even with the translator I found it easy to engage the group and generally connect with them. When a point resonates with them they clap and cheer. Their attitude makes our time with them so much fun, so we are probably becoming spoiled as facilitators. We’re teaching mostly about entrepreneurship, with emphasis on a knitting business that they are eager to start as an example. We also taught about oral-rehydration and Fena (who runs an STS club in Tanzania) taught them how to make a healthy porridge. I’m excited about this porridge because it can substitute the more normal porridge that is made of only maize. It can be made of all local ingredients and is cooked the same as the maize porridge and “sits” in ones stomach in a way that is nice so it seems to be culturally appropriate. Tomorrow is our last day with the Enfys women, so we will wrap up and give them our care packages which my mom put together.

After meeting the women, Megan and I headed straight over to Murundu basic where we are going through some of the basics of entrepreneurship. With the language barrier we have brought it down to the bare bones, but it’s nice to spend time with the kids. From there it was back to Grace’s Place where Dad, Kathy, Katie, Fena and I met with the Earn It youth for group discussions, interviews, and distribution of their care packages.

Okay, this is getting long. Those remaining up at the moment are indaba-ing in my room, so I’m signing out for now. :)

Tannen

Monday, July 25

I can’t skip to Monday until I’ve written about Sunday first. I’ll start with two facts: 1: You have not been to church until you’ve been to church in Zambia. 2: You have not heard music until you’ve heard a group of Zambians sing. Jim, Lauren, Megan and I drove to a church just outside of Chingola and were greeted and led to the front row, where the church-goers had given us the only bench with padding on it and set up a small table with flowers. From 9:00am to about 11:00am we watched groups trade off the stage to sing and dance. Just when you thought it was time for the service to start, a man would come up and announce that another group had prepared a program for us. There were old women, young men, children, even the pastor got up a couple of times and danced around. Then, all the women gathered in the back of the church and sang their way up to the front, singing one of the most beautiful songs I’ve ever heard. I don’t even know if they realize just how powerful that moment was for all of us.

After church ended at 1:00pm, all the gatherers form a line outside the door that wraps around the building and you shake hands and greet one another until everyone has left the building. It is like kindness is a by-product of being Zambian. I can’t get over the camaraderie of the people. Their personalities radiate such goodness; it makes all of us happier the longer we’re around them.

Today, our groups were separated again- one group, including myself, went to day 1 of Duane’s ‘HIV Hope’ Seminar. Duane is working with LRPI to help spiritually educate attendees on HIV/AIDS. So many people here are misinformed on the disease, mainly due to mis-education or cultural barriers that prevent information from flowing to generations effectively. Duane works with the attendees to truly teach them to recognize the correct facts on HIV/AIDS and also how to retrain themselves and others to prevent and eradicate the disease. The seminar continues through Friday, when the students will present their own teaching ideas for their fellow classmates.

-Katie

Saturday, July 23

Today is Tannen’s birthday. If you take nothing else away from this post, remember that. And send presents. In honor of her illustrious birth, as well as Kathy’s (which is later this week), we ate dinner at the Copper Cabana, a stylishly thatch-roofed bar & grill / restaurant / music-thumping social hotspot. Mufulira seems to be benefiting from the increasing demand for copper.

Tannen and I spent the day at the Church Planting School, hosting an Orphans & Vulnerable Children (OVC) workshop. We were discussing LRPI’s philosophy for orphan care, as well as hearing from some potential partner organizations that we’ve either already been working with, or were identified by Johnny during his sojourn here. We had Joseph and Hilda from Enfys, the Chibesas and two of their students from Tanzania, Simon (our first loan recipient), Jane Chinyama (interested in developing an OVC program at her church), Herbert from Solwezi, and Terry and Idah from our Regional Office. All of these folks have a real heart for this ministry, and it’s inspiring to hear their stories and vision.

The highlight for me was a comment Joseph made that a couple of our Earn It alums, who have graduated from school and now have jobs, have started giving back to the program. Not only have they gone on to see success in their own lives, they’ve also been motivated to pay it forward, which is one more step towards sustainability.

So altogether, not a bad day. Plus there was cake. And ice cream. Some team members, who will remain unnamed, may have consumed ice cream 3 times today. In their defense, every ice cream machine in town has been out of order since we arrived, and today they were so excited to find a working one, they had to stop in twice. But that was before they were informed that there would be birthday dairy delights this evening. We shouldn’t judge. Not too much, anyway.

~Megan

Friday, July 22 from Duane

My name is Duane Crumb and I spent my first week in Zambia facilitating a seminar in Kitwe to empower local people to be effective HIV educators. While normally we try to limit attendance to 20, they cut off registration at 35 from six different local churches. What a blessing it was to see God open the hearts and minds of the participants each day during the week. Each day they became more comfortable and confident talking about all of the issues related to HIV.

Today, the final day, each participant presented a project they had created during the week of a tool they can use to teach people about HIV. The presentations ranged from beautiful original songs they wrote to wonderful dramas, to posters, slogans, poems, and other very creative ideas. They are VERY excited about all their new-found abilities to motivate people in their culture to make the life-choices that will keep them free of infection and overcome stigma and discrimination.

Please pray that they will find many opportunities to share the insights God has given them. We will also appreciate your prayers for all of the people who will be participating in a new seminar we will begin on Monday morning here in Mufulira.

Friday, July 22nd

Dear supporters, family, friends, and whoever else happens to fix their eyes upon this blog:

Today was quite the adventure for our team! Megan and I started the day by visiting two of the clubs run by STS in the local high schools of Mufulira. We were guided around by Martinz, one of the club facilitators. After the morning, Megan and I rode the bus to visit Murundu where Joseph and Hilda introduced us to three separate families of the village. The women allowed us to interview them about daily life in the village and also let us take photos of their homes and activities. We were doing it to create a profile of life in the village so that those of you who aren’t able to come to Zambia can still get an idea of what life is like here on the ground - What we ended up taking away was much more significant. There was a moment when Joseph stopped, turned to Megan and said, “You are changing the lives of these women… You are making a difference in the life here.” There are certain moments when you aren’t so sure that all the work is changing life significantly, when the problems seem too overpowering. And then, you walk into a village to take pictures and Joseph tells you that you are making life better. It was so simple, but it hit Megan and me pretty hard. After we left each house we were swarmed by the orphans, each of our hands being split between six to seven kids on each side. Whenever I turned around Megan had two calm lines on each side of her, kids holding hands with one another, grinning and walking lightly. However I, for some reason, had at least two kids trying to climb my legs, three on my right fighting over my pinky finger and one kid who managed to zip himself into my backpack. Nevertheless, I’m counting that as my weightlifting for the day. Hope you’re all doing well. We’re loving it over here!

-Katie

Kathy, Jim, Tannen and I went to two different districts where we met up with some Zambian women. It was interesting and eye-opening to discuss the needs within their community. There are so many, but solutions are coming as ideas are being launched to help better empower the women so they can successfully provide for their families. We passed out Moringa seeds and Jim spoke with the women on how to plant these remarkable trees that produce exceeding amounts of nutrition for better immune systems. Our team is aiming to minimize starvation and sickness and also explain them how to make a business out of it. The team is confident in the people of Mufulara to rise up out of their current circumstances, as we are here to reach out a hand and help. Awesome experiences took place today including being able to lay hands on two disabled children with cerebral palsy and pray for them. We spent all day with these women from both the districts speaking about LRPI and showing the love of God. We got to read scripture and then pray with the women before heading off to the next location, where disabled children were kept. It was a very big day for the team reaching into the hearts of the people and seeing their needs right before our eyes. We are recording the priorities of the people and formulating ways we can help in the different areas that need to be contributed to. Lots of love from our team here in Zambia, may God bless you and thank you all for the prayers. The Lord is truly moving here in Africa! ;]

-Lauren