Yesterday was interesting. It started with the morning training session -- the women we were supposed to train never showed up. The men wanted us to purchase them an office and a minibus to "empower" them to do ministry. Needless to say, we weren't quite buying into this plan. Have you ever heard of a "sitting allowance"? Well, I hadn't until yesterday, but apparently in order to do Stop The Spread work we were told that it is necessary to provide the people who you are helping with free food, transport money and a SITTING ALLOWANCE (i.e., you pay each person attending the meeting to sit on their butts during the meeting). Not exactly the heart we were looking for... the focus was on getting the title associate with chairing an STS. Time for new leadership on the Zambian side.
We arrived at Chibote high school after our morning "training session". Our PA system didn't work (again). Then after Dr T left we were notified that the water was out in the school and they had released all the kids early. So our afternoon session was completely scrapped. We twiddled with the PA system to try to get it working and waited at the school for ~3.5 hours to for Dr T to finish his things and make it back to Kitwe to pick us up (he's doing the work that should probably be allotted to 3-4 qualified people)... we didn't want to take public transport because we had to take the PA system home with us to get it fixed. So from there we went to a meeting about the Murundu Orphanage Foundation (MOF), so of course it was only appropriate that the person we had scheduled to meet was in Kitwe.
So the day seemed to basically be a blowout, but I wasn't bothered by it... maybe since it was out of our control. And we gained a few things from the day: (1) A decision was made to put new leadership in place with the STS Zambia team in Kitwe (2) While we were waiting for Dr T to come some of the Chibote girls stayed to hang out with us... we had fun getting to know them, playing games, singing songs, and getting Medryn to teach us a dance she made up. Good stuff. (3) we left the MOF meeting with a green light as far as taking over the orphanage (4) The van didn't break down on the way home from Kitwe and we survived another day of Dr T's crazy driving. :)
About the Murundu Orphanage Foundation, we were shown a lot of paperwork regarding the history of the orphanage and some of the squabbles that we had been hearing about that cleared things up for us. Also, they are prepared to give us complete control over the orphanage and all of the property, buildings, etc for us to improve the situation for the orphans in that area. There are more than 300 orphans in the city and I have heard that the HIV infection rate is around 75%, although I don't know where that statistic comes from.
Jeremy spoke today (Thursday) on our condition after trauma and gave several stories to illustrate his point... I know that a lot of girls were touched by what he was saying, but one girl stood out to me and my eyes kept sticking on her during the message. So as I divided up the small groups I hoped and prayed that she was in mine and she got my number so I was stoked. There were about 12 or so girls in my small group and this girl sat directly to my right. Since this was our first small group (we were planning to have them every day, but various things prevented them from happening) and we were running short on time I just asked everyone to introduce themselves... their name, grade, and something about themselves. Well, that girl on my right started us off and just busted out with her story... parents dead of HIV, current living situation, etc, and then just started crying... I'm used to facing a brick wall on the first day and getting some of the kids to say ANYTHING can be like pulling teeth, then gradually moving towards a place where some of the girls can confide in my by the end of our 2 week sessions. So I couldn't believe that she was willing to trust me and the rest group with her story. With my arm around her, the rest of the girls in the circle began to introduce themselves by saying their names, grade, and then how old they were when their parents died and what their current living situation is. Afterwards I got some time to be one-on-one with the girls and I was again surprised by their honesty about the trauma in their own lives and pleased to have the opportunity to cut to the heart of the issues and start counseling them and praying with them.
Tannen
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
5/30 Update from Elizabeth - VBS Team
Hi, everyone! I thought I would take a minute to write much more in depth about the VBS project that we are doing in Murundu village with the orphans there. The other blog I wrote was a bit rushed and written WAY too early in the morning for it to truly convey what I'm feeling about this project. Allow me to elaborate, please....
Jess, Abbie and I are really enjoying this new project. Today, I was struck by the feeling of going back to Bible times - smelling food cooked over open fires, seeing children running through the streets half-dressed, all the while walking with Pastor Joseph down a very dusty road - and realizing the heartbeat of God as a child unnoticeably walked quietly beside me and then slipped a tiny, dirty hand into mine. How much more does our Father in heaven love us and long for us to trust Him enough to slip our tiny, torn hearts and lives into His capable hands?
Every time I walk into that village, my heart is tugged and pulled. Pastor Joseph shared some things with me that made it all real. I mentioned earlier that we are singing, dancing, playing games, doing crafts and teaching Bible stories to the orphans this entire week in a make-shift VBS. While we were showing the children relay races and watching them tear down the one dusty road with HUGE grins on their faces, Pastor Joseph came up to me and thanked me for allowing the children to run. He said that for many that was probably the very first time in their lives that they were encouraged to run as fast as they could - for the simple reason of having fun. Shocking, huh? In a village where it is commonly thought that 75% of the population is probably HIV+, exercise is vital for maintaining good health for as long as possible. How simple to just teach these children to run, and yet I know it is critical that they play these types of games long after we leave the village.
We also have had a blast teaching them Bible stories. We are using some fun puppets to help tell the stories, as well as encouraging the children to get involved. Yesterday, I told the story of Noah and the ark. It's amazing how simple these familiar stories must become as they are being translated to children who cannot fathom that much water (Pastor Joseph has been a life-saver!). We had the children participate and they imitated various animals walking into the ark. They laughed and laughed and really got into their parts... monkeys, elephants, lions, etc. Try to envision 50-70 orphans crowded under the shade of a single smallish tree, hanging on every word that we shared, large brown eyes sparkling at the idea of all the animals of the world in one single boat. Can you see it? Pastor Joseph told us that most of these children had never heard that story, as churches do not have the resources to design children-specific programs. He does a tremendous job - feeding, clothing and ministering to these orphans as he is able! Daily, Pastor Joseph, Abbie, Jess and I simply cannot keep silly, sloppy smiles from covering our own faces when we see their little eyes light up with joy! :)
I've got to sign off for the night, but please continue to pray for the Murundu village orphans and the work that Pastor Joseph and his family have already begun. It has been an amazing opportunity for us to reach out and touch the "real Africa" with the compassionate love of Jesus Christ. I am so grateful to have had a chance to spend every day being the hands and feet of Christ in such a real and tangible way. Please continue to pray for all the different projects and teams! We are all a bit sun-burned and weary from long days in the quite-hot African "winter" sun! :)
Love in Jesus,
Elizabeth
Jess, Abbie and I are really enjoying this new project. Today, I was struck by the feeling of going back to Bible times - smelling food cooked over open fires, seeing children running through the streets half-dressed, all the while walking with Pastor Joseph down a very dusty road - and realizing the heartbeat of God as a child unnoticeably walked quietly beside me and then slipped a tiny, dirty hand into mine. How much more does our Father in heaven love us and long for us to trust Him enough to slip our tiny, torn hearts and lives into His capable hands?
Every time I walk into that village, my heart is tugged and pulled. Pastor Joseph shared some things with me that made it all real. I mentioned earlier that we are singing, dancing, playing games, doing crafts and teaching Bible stories to the orphans this entire week in a make-shift VBS. While we were showing the children relay races and watching them tear down the one dusty road with HUGE grins on their faces, Pastor Joseph came up to me and thanked me for allowing the children to run. He said that for many that was probably the very first time in their lives that they were encouraged to run as fast as they could - for the simple reason of having fun. Shocking, huh? In a village where it is commonly thought that 75% of the population is probably HIV+, exercise is vital for maintaining good health for as long as possible. How simple to just teach these children to run, and yet I know it is critical that they play these types of games long after we leave the village.
We also have had a blast teaching them Bible stories. We are using some fun puppets to help tell the stories, as well as encouraging the children to get involved. Yesterday, I told the story of Noah and the ark. It's amazing how simple these familiar stories must become as they are being translated to children who cannot fathom that much water (Pastor Joseph has been a life-saver!). We had the children participate and they imitated various animals walking into the ark. They laughed and laughed and really got into their parts... monkeys, elephants, lions, etc. Try to envision 50-70 orphans crowded under the shade of a single smallish tree, hanging on every word that we shared, large brown eyes sparkling at the idea of all the animals of the world in one single boat. Can you see it? Pastor Joseph told us that most of these children had never heard that story, as churches do not have the resources to design children-specific programs. He does a tremendous job - feeding, clothing and ministering to these orphans as he is able! Daily, Pastor Joseph, Abbie, Jess and I simply cannot keep silly, sloppy smiles from covering our own faces when we see their little eyes light up with joy! :)
I've got to sign off for the night, but please continue to pray for the Murundu village orphans and the work that Pastor Joseph and his family have already begun. It has been an amazing opportunity for us to reach out and touch the "real Africa" with the compassionate love of Jesus Christ. I am so grateful to have had a chance to spend every day being the hands and feet of Christ in such a real and tangible way. Please continue to pray for all the different projects and teams! We are all a bit sun-burned and weary from long days in the quite-hot African "winter" sun! :)
Love in Jesus,
Elizabeth
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
5/29 Update from George - HIV Education Program
Hello to all,
This is George, a.k.a. Georgina (long story about me, a guy, having to dress up as a girl in a skit and the kids loved it so much that Georgina had to make a return appearance!), and one of the new team members that flew in the past weekend. But you haven't come to this blog site to hear all about me, so here goes some news about the team.
WOW, we just had a really great worship and testimony session. As we returned this evening, we were greeted by two of the girls cooking grilled cheese sandwiches. They were a big hit. Then we followed that with a bit of worship music. It started a bit slow and then it just started happening. The Spirit enter the room and peace came at the same time. By the time we got to "Here I am to Worship", I had chills. Then we went around the room to share testimonies and it was nothing short of moving and amazing.
Today at Murundu Basic School: Well, we were at the Basic School in Murundu again today. Today was the last of Jami's talk on Transmission of AIDS which was followed by Dan bringing a great message about Truth and the reasons why the students should get tested (this was all for the morning session!). The afternoon session was started with Dan's talk and then followed up with a message about Abstinence and Sex, as it relates to biblical truth, by Henry (a Zambian church planting student) and myself. The most powerful moment for me was during Henry's testimony. I sat and watched the student's faces. They had the look that said, "I'm connecting with you." I just know that some of them were encouraged and inspired.
Of course we did have a few bumps along the road, but overall, today was really great. Our team is working very well together, praying for each other, and helping out wherever is needed.
Now let me share one personal story before I leave. I arrived on Saturday and was told, within my first hour of being in Zambia, that I would be preaching the next morning. Talk about on the spot! :) As I sat in the Kitwe church worship service, singing and dancing (they dance a lot), it hit me. I hate this overwhelming feeling of "these people really know how to worship. Who am I to bring God's message to them? They are such a beautiful people." I felt so unworthy. Of course, I brought the message and it was received really well. (God can work miracles even when you don't feel worthy.) The point I want to get across, however, is this. These people are truly a beautiful people. They are worthy of our prayers. They are worthy of the small help we can give to them and I am even worthy of them. A few of the Zambians have taught me so much about love, about caring and about so much more.
Peace,
George
This is George, a.k.a. Georgina (long story about me, a guy, having to dress up as a girl in a skit and the kids loved it so much that Georgina had to make a return appearance!), and one of the new team members that flew in the past weekend. But you haven't come to this blog site to hear all about me, so here goes some news about the team.
WOW, we just had a really great worship and testimony session. As we returned this evening, we were greeted by two of the girls cooking grilled cheese sandwiches. They were a big hit. Then we followed that with a bit of worship music. It started a bit slow and then it just started happening. The Spirit enter the room and peace came at the same time. By the time we got to "Here I am to Worship", I had chills. Then we went around the room to share testimonies and it was nothing short of moving and amazing.
Today at Murundu Basic School: Well, we were at the Basic School in Murundu again today. Today was the last of Jami's talk on Transmission of AIDS which was followed by Dan bringing a great message about Truth and the reasons why the students should get tested (this was all for the morning session!). The afternoon session was started with Dan's talk and then followed up with a message about Abstinence and Sex, as it relates to biblical truth, by Henry (a Zambian church planting student) and myself. The most powerful moment for me was during Henry's testimony. I sat and watched the student's faces. They had the look that said, "I'm connecting with you." I just know that some of them were encouraged and inspired.
Of course we did have a few bumps along the road, but overall, today was really great. Our team is working very well together, praying for each other, and helping out wherever is needed.
Now let me share one personal story before I leave. I arrived on Saturday and was told, within my first hour of being in Zambia, that I would be preaching the next morning. Talk about on the spot! :) As I sat in the Kitwe church worship service, singing and dancing (they dance a lot), it hit me. I hate this overwhelming feeling of "these people really know how to worship. Who am I to bring God's message to them? They are such a beautiful people." I felt so unworthy. Of course, I brought the message and it was received really well. (God can work miracles even when you don't feel worthy.) The point I want to get across, however, is this. These people are truly a beautiful people. They are worthy of our prayers. They are worthy of the small help we can give to them and I am even worthy of them. A few of the Zambians have taught me so much about love, about caring and about so much more.
Peace,
George
5/29 Update from Carol - Trauma Program
Hey y'all,
It's Carol reporting live from Zambia! Woot woot! Today the Trauma team went into Kitwe to the all girls Chibote High School. We had some technical difficulties at first with the black amps in the hot sun, then decided to just raise our voices... not yell because you know we're not bringing the heat just yet! We started out with some songs and WHOA DANG can this Zambian girl Meydren sing! God has definitely blessed her!!! After that we had the doctors skit, which just so you all know... PJ (Pastor Jeremy Swanson) did an impression of explosive diarrhea that would make his Swanson kids proud... ESPECIALLY Israel! HECK YES MAN! And how it went was... I went in for an annual physical checkup, and every time someone sat down next to me I caught whatever they had. First it was coughing, then fiercely itching, then EXPLOSIVE POO, then Tannen walked in acting like she was pregnato, and I realized what was going on and I flipped out and ran "off stage" exit stage left!
Then Kristen started giving a brief overview of Trauma, and I put on this sweater thing, and was the "Hairy scary monster" and I kept trying to get Kristen's attention. It went on for a while like this: OH EH AHA HA AH AH OH EH OH UH OHUH OHUH OHUH (various monkey calls), rolling around on the ground yelling randomly, making funny noises, just to try and get Kristen's attention. She never looked til Tannen came running up yelling at her for not acknowledging (I think that's the wrong spelling... whatever DUDE!) the hairy scary sweaty... haha monster. Finally she recognizes it, and the point is that Trauma is the hairy scary stuff that no one wants to talk about or deal with.
These kids... AMAZING! This place, God's land... I think Tannen and I decided today that someday we're going to go live in a mud hut in the bush for a month or two... YEP that's right folks I said it. On the way home we got onto the people transporter, aka the bus, and about 17.3 miles away from Mufulira (rough estimate of course) it broke down. And these crazy munto's (Zambian's) were pulling out "spare parts". So I sat on the ground ate some nerds (I don't like candy, but had nothing to eat, and if you know me you know I am ALWAYS hungry!) And I very quietly left my mark on Africa. No I didn't pee you sickos, I just wrote my name and took a picture. So there I am sitting on the ground finished with my nerds staring at our non-working people transporter and wondering how we're going to get home.
WE HITCH HIKED! Parents, significant others, friends, family, and anyone who randomly cares... Zambia is a friendly country. Zambia is safe. There were no sketchy situations involved and we returned home safely to a new GEIZER! Installed by an old geizer... but don't tell Dr. Yodis I said that! ;) ;)
One thing I would like to mention that will make someone proud... A Zambian guy came up to me today and asked "How much are you?" I said "I am not for sale buddy!" He says "How much, women don't choose." I say "You can't afford me! :)" Then I shook my fist with an incredibly stern expression.
Okay, blogging out.
Sendamenapo (Goodnight!)...Even though it's only 1:30 in the afternoon for y'all.
P.S, How is living in the past? Get it, since y'all are 6 hours behind us!!!:)
It's Carol reporting live from Zambia! Woot woot! Today the Trauma team went into Kitwe to the all girls Chibote High School. We had some technical difficulties at first with the black amps in the hot sun, then decided to just raise our voices... not yell because you know we're not bringing the heat just yet! We started out with some songs and WHOA DANG can this Zambian girl Meydren sing! God has definitely blessed her!!! After that we had the doctors skit, which just so you all know... PJ (Pastor Jeremy Swanson) did an impression of explosive diarrhea that would make his Swanson kids proud... ESPECIALLY Israel! HECK YES MAN! And how it went was... I went in for an annual physical checkup, and every time someone sat down next to me I caught whatever they had. First it was coughing, then fiercely itching, then EXPLOSIVE POO, then Tannen walked in acting like she was pregnato, and I realized what was going on and I flipped out and ran "off stage" exit stage left!
Then Kristen started giving a brief overview of Trauma, and I put on this sweater thing, and was the "Hairy scary monster" and I kept trying to get Kristen's attention. It went on for a while like this: OH EH AHA HA AH AH OH EH OH UH OHUH OHUH OHUH (various monkey calls), rolling around on the ground yelling randomly, making funny noises, just to try and get Kristen's attention. She never looked til Tannen came running up yelling at her for not acknowledging (I think that's the wrong spelling... whatever DUDE!) the hairy scary sweaty... haha monster. Finally she recognizes it, and the point is that Trauma is the hairy scary stuff that no one wants to talk about or deal with.
These kids... AMAZING! This place, God's land... I think Tannen and I decided today that someday we're going to go live in a mud hut in the bush for a month or two... YEP that's right folks I said it. On the way home we got onto the people transporter, aka the bus, and about 17.3 miles away from Mufulira (rough estimate of course) it broke down. And these crazy munto's (Zambian's) were pulling out "spare parts". So I sat on the ground ate some nerds (I don't like candy, but had nothing to eat, and if you know me you know I am ALWAYS hungry!) And I very quietly left my mark on Africa. No I didn't pee you sickos, I just wrote my name and took a picture. So there I am sitting on the ground finished with my nerds staring at our non-working people transporter and wondering how we're going to get home.
WE HITCH HIKED! Parents, significant others, friends, family, and anyone who randomly cares... Zambia is a friendly country. Zambia is safe. There were no sketchy situations involved and we returned home safely to a new GEIZER! Installed by an old geizer... but don't tell Dr. Yodis I said that! ;) ;)
One thing I would like to mention that will make someone proud... A Zambian guy came up to me today and asked "How much are you?" I said "I am not for sale buddy!" He says "How much, women don't choose." I say "You can't afford me! :)" Then I shook my fist with an incredibly stern expression.
Okay, blogging out.
Sendamenapo (Goodnight!)...Even though it's only 1:30 in the afternoon for y'all.
P.S, How is living in the past? Get it, since y'all are 6 hours behind us!!!:)
Monday/Tuesday Update from Kristen - Trauma Program
Yesterday we started the second two-week session of our Trauma Program. We're working in Kitwe, about a half-hour from Mufulira, in the heart of the copper belt. Kitwe, in the local language, literally means "head," and is named as such because it is nearly the largest city in Zambia, second only to Lusaka. It is a relatively wealthy area due to the copper-mining industry. About 40 km from Kitwe is a copper mine that claims to be the largest open-pit mine in the world - think Grand Canyon without the pretty sunrises. Every morning we'll be working with the Stop The Spread team that was formed last year. It consists of four women and three men. They have been working with Wiseman (a local pastor) and a teacher at Chabote High School to keep a STS club running throughout the school year. Tannen, Jeremy, Carol (she's joining us this session) and I will split up the women and men on the team and do training with each group separately. Because of gender issues, we thought it best to have Jeremy train the men and Tannen, Carol, and I train the women. Today will be day one of training for them in this format. In the afternoon, we'll all head over to Chabote High School and start our program there. We'll be there from 1300 hours to about 1430. This is, of course, all subject to change - at any moment. TIA.
The team as a whole seems to be doing well, we're excited to have some new faces in the house - Jami, Megan, Abbie, and George (pardon if I butchered the spellings). Dan is especially excited to have some additional testosterone around to combat the estrogen ocean. And I have a friend visiting, Annie, who has been serving in the peace corp for the last year in the southern province. She lives in a village - mud hut, no running water or electricity - so there has been a lot to learn from her time here as well.
Oh, and one last event of note: thanks to the skills of Dr. T, we now have a brand-new Geyzer! (Anyone not familiar with the situation - the Geyzer is a British term for water heater.) It is now possible to take a shower all by yourself...meaning no one has to stand by to turn the hot water on and off. The house will be much quieter. And we don't have to worry about the thing exploding, which is also a plus.
Well, we're off to start another day...
Kristen
The team as a whole seems to be doing well, we're excited to have some new faces in the house - Jami, Megan, Abbie, and George (pardon if I butchered the spellings). Dan is especially excited to have some additional testosterone around to combat the estrogen ocean. And I have a friend visiting, Annie, who has been serving in the peace corp for the last year in the southern province. She lives in a village - mud hut, no running water or electricity - so there has been a lot to learn from her time here as well.
Oh, and one last event of note: thanks to the skills of Dr. T, we now have a brand-new Geyzer! (Anyone not familiar with the situation - the Geyzer is a British term for water heater.) It is now possible to take a shower all by yourself...meaning no one has to stand by to turn the hot water on and off. The house will be much quieter. And we don't have to worry about the thing exploding, which is also a plus.
Well, we're off to start another day...
Kristen
Monday/Tuesday Update from Elizabeth - VBS/HIV Team
Hi, friends and family!
We are continuing to have a really great time here in Zambia. I believe that the "newbies" are acclimating well, and all projects are off to another roaring start. The trauma team consists of Tannen, Jeremy, Kristin and Carol, and they are working in Kitwe this week. The HIV/AIDS education team is Dan, George, Megan, Jami and sometimes me (Elizabeth). I am also working with Abbie and Jess leading a VBS at Murundu village in the mornings this week. In the afternoons, Abbie and Jess will continue to look after the various Moringa tree projects, while I return to the HIV/AIDS education team. The HIV/AIDS education team is also working in Murundu this week, at the local basic school (grades 1-12).
I will just take a minute or two to share about yesterday's adventures in Murundu. Dan's team did an excellent job teaching the upper grades through the HIV/AIDS education program. We have the help of two church planters and one of the singers from Agape church. It makes for a wonderful program! They ran two programs - one in the morning and one in the afternoon. The VBS team ended up doing an impromptu "program" for the lower grades, since our orphans were not yet ready for us (they will hopefully be gathered together today - Tuesday!). We had a really neat time working with the headmaster and the teachers. The students were great and very many... around 200-250! :) We played some of their games and ours; sang some of their songs and ours; and shared the story of David and Goliath through puppets. I really enjoyed working with the little ones and hearing their beautiful voices responding to our message.
I've got to run off to start another day at Murundu. Hope that everyone is enjoying life in the USA. Happy Memorial Day! :) Thank you sooo much for your continued prayers and support. We definitely need and appreciate the prayers and comments, emails and calls, from home. We could not do this without you!
Love in Christ,
Elizabeth
We are continuing to have a really great time here in Zambia. I believe that the "newbies" are acclimating well, and all projects are off to another roaring start. The trauma team consists of Tannen, Jeremy, Kristin and Carol, and they are working in Kitwe this week. The HIV/AIDS education team is Dan, George, Megan, Jami and sometimes me (Elizabeth). I am also working with Abbie and Jess leading a VBS at Murundu village in the mornings this week. In the afternoons, Abbie and Jess will continue to look after the various Moringa tree projects, while I return to the HIV/AIDS education team. The HIV/AIDS education team is also working in Murundu this week, at the local basic school (grades 1-12).
I will just take a minute or two to share about yesterday's adventures in Murundu. Dan's team did an excellent job teaching the upper grades through the HIV/AIDS education program. We have the help of two church planters and one of the singers from Agape church. It makes for a wonderful program! They ran two programs - one in the morning and one in the afternoon. The VBS team ended up doing an impromptu "program" for the lower grades, since our orphans were not yet ready for us (they will hopefully be gathered together today - Tuesday!). We had a really neat time working with the headmaster and the teachers. The students were great and very many... around 200-250! :) We played some of their games and ours; sang some of their songs and ours; and shared the story of David and Goliath through puppets. I really enjoyed working with the little ones and hearing their beautiful voices responding to our message.
I've got to run off to start another day at Murundu. Hope that everyone is enjoying life in the USA. Happy Memorial Day! :) Thank you sooo much for your continued prayers and support. We definitely need and appreciate the prayers and comments, emails and calls, from home. We could not do this without you!
Love in Christ,
Elizabeth
Friday, May 25, 2007
5/25 Update from Stef - HIV Education Program
Hello Everyone! As usual, today was another unique and interesting day in Zambia. As it is Zambia's Independence Day, there was no school today so all the teams had a break and it gave us a chance to explore the country a little bit. We began by waking up at 5am and piling all 12 people into the van (pillows and blankets in tow) and heading off to Chingola to visit a Chimp orphanage. Of course, the ever reliant "Say Yes to Jesus" van blew a shock and we had to turn around about 20 minutes into our trip to take the shock that was dragging on the road off. After the boys fixed the problem, we piled back in the van and settled in quite cozily. Dan, Jim, Carol, and myself sacrificed for the group by taking the back where we were able to again "sacrifice" by stretching out and falling asleep like a pile of kittens snuggled together in a heap of blankets and pillows. Almost 2 hours later we arrived on a very narrow dirt road surrounded on both sides by miles and miles of tall grass and rolling hills. 12 miles later, we arrived at the orphanage and proceeded to behave like children in awe of their first experience with animals at the Petco in the mall. As soon as we stepped outside of the van, we were faced with a female hippo named Billy laying in the pond only 5 feet away from us. This was only to be made even more surreal as we looked around and noticed all the little monkeys running around free jumping from roof to roof and hanging on branches just above our heads. Needless to say, we were all very excited about being so close to these animals that were not being held behind bars or cages. After being shown around a little bit and meeting the Chimps that were being held behind fences, we were called to the side of the house to watch Billy being fed her bottle. Seriously, this was hilarious. Billy is like 3 times the size of a cow and this little old English woman stood in front of her feeding her milk out of a bottle the size of a 2 liter coke. Apparently, "little" Billy who was 15 years old and obviously over weight, was kind of particular and refused to drink milk that was not heated up first. According to the little old woman, "Billy won't drink cold milk, she doesn't like it." Well, Billy...it looks as if you've figured our species out...
After watching Billy get fed and watching the Chimps (who were saved because people are poaching them for food) beat each other up "in play," we headed down the dirt path to Kitwe to enjoy some lunch and a day at the markets. Dr. Thinus treated us to Schwarma's (wow, I totally did not do justice to the spelling of that food!) and coke. While we sat in the van to enjoy our lunch, we were surrounded by young boys who were beggars and put their faces right up to the windows of the van and stared at us as we ate. While this was uncomfortable and frustrating, it shows you that there is always suffering in the world, whether it is your day off or not. Nevertheless, we finished eating and headed downtown to shop in the open markets and pick up souvenirs for our loved ones. I have to admit, I am not used to bargaining with people and I was a little overwhelmed by the experience of negotiating prices. You will be pleased to know that most of the group behaved like pro's and I would count the shopping trip as a success:)
While shopping was fun, we were cut a little short of time because we had to leave to drive to Ndola where we sadly dropped Holly and Jim off to head home for the states. After dropping them off after a round of hugs and goodbye's, we welcomed Jamie to the crew as she flew in on the plane that flew Holly and Jim out.
The evening ended with yet another night of the house favorite dinner, PB and J, and various journal writing, book reading, or listening to music. Jill and I fly out tomorrow and I think I speak for both of us when I say that we are going to deeply miss all that is Africa. This country is beautiful, hungry for Jesus, alive with culture, and painted with suffering...all the while, welcoming and loving the strange people that talk funny and don't know how to dance.
In any event, we miss our family and friends and talk about you often...thank you for your prayers and support.
Love,
Stef
After watching Billy get fed and watching the Chimps (who were saved because people are poaching them for food) beat each other up "in play," we headed down the dirt path to Kitwe to enjoy some lunch and a day at the markets. Dr. Thinus treated us to Schwarma's (wow, I totally did not do justice to the spelling of that food!) and coke. While we sat in the van to enjoy our lunch, we were surrounded by young boys who were beggars and put their faces right up to the windows of the van and stared at us as we ate. While this was uncomfortable and frustrating, it shows you that there is always suffering in the world, whether it is your day off or not. Nevertheless, we finished eating and headed downtown to shop in the open markets and pick up souvenirs for our loved ones. I have to admit, I am not used to bargaining with people and I was a little overwhelmed by the experience of negotiating prices. You will be pleased to know that most of the group behaved like pro's and I would count the shopping trip as a success:)
While shopping was fun, we were cut a little short of time because we had to leave to drive to Ndola where we sadly dropped Holly and Jim off to head home for the states. After dropping them off after a round of hugs and goodbye's, we welcomed Jamie to the crew as she flew in on the plane that flew Holly and Jim out.
The evening ended with yet another night of the house favorite dinner, PB and J, and various journal writing, book reading, or listening to music. Jill and I fly out tomorrow and I think I speak for both of us when I say that we are going to deeply miss all that is Africa. This country is beautiful, hungry for Jesus, alive with culture, and painted with suffering...all the while, welcoming and loving the strange people that talk funny and don't know how to dance.
In any event, we miss our family and friends and talk about you often...thank you for your prayers and support.
Love,
Stef
5/25 Update from Tannen - Trauma Program
Here goes for the trauma team again...Wednesday was our last day at Pamodzi High School. We had poetry and skit contests with the theme "Victory Over Trauma", and both contests went really great. Here is the winning poem:
*****
Anger, hate, jealousy occupied my thoughts day in and day out. I'd kill just for fun because of the love I never had.
I'd cause destruction, sickness and love to trespass in other people's dreams and I never cried not even a tear. Prostitution was my middle name, witchcraft was my first and murderer was my last.
I've never seen the sun cause it always rained on me, I slept in fear everyday and misery surrounded me.
When I lost my mother that's when I felt my heart break and the pieces were on my throat but never cried.
He talked to me and I knelt down and began to cry. I cried because of the joy I felt deep inside now I know.
If it is raining more than ever I can stand under his umbrella and we will stick together 'til the end.
*****
The skits were good...they were well thought out and we were happy to see a lot of what we had talked about integrated into them. Jeremy said a few parting words after the contests and we dismissed everyone for the last time. They broke into song for us before anyone had time to get up, and that was really touching. We took some time afterwards to hug and say goodbye to the girls that we've gotten close to over the past week and a half (some of whom we knew from last year). As always, each of the girls wanted pictures with us. Then we were off.
Friday a few of us had a meeting in Murundu regarding the orphanage. Kristen and I stayed afterwards and played soccer, sang songs, and hung out with some of the village kids -- lots of fun. We took public transport home, which is always an adventure.
In the evening, Dan, Elizabeth, Stef, Jill and I had a meeting with some of the church planting students who are serious about doing long-term STS work. I'm excited about our future plans, and about the awesome team of people that we have who are committed to doing the work that it will take to get us there.
Today my dad and Holly flew out, and Jami flew in on the plane that they flew out on. Tomorrow Stef and Jill leave, but we'll gain Abbie, Megan and George. So session 1 is winding down and Session 2 is winding up.
Tannen
*****
Anger, hate, jealousy occupied my thoughts day in and day out. I'd kill just for fun because of the love I never had.
I'd cause destruction, sickness and love to trespass in other people's dreams and I never cried not even a tear. Prostitution was my middle name, witchcraft was my first and murderer was my last.
I've never seen the sun cause it always rained on me, I slept in fear everyday and misery surrounded me.
When I lost my mother that's when I felt my heart break and the pieces were on my throat but never cried.
He talked to me and I knelt down and began to cry. I cried because of the joy I felt deep inside now I know.
If it is raining more than ever I can stand under his umbrella and we will stick together 'til the end.
*****
The skits were good...they were well thought out and we were happy to see a lot of what we had talked about integrated into them. Jeremy said a few parting words after the contests and we dismissed everyone for the last time. They broke into song for us before anyone had time to get up, and that was really touching. We took some time afterwards to hug and say goodbye to the girls that we've gotten close to over the past week and a half (some of whom we knew from last year). As always, each of the girls wanted pictures with us. Then we were off.
Friday a few of us had a meeting in Murundu regarding the orphanage. Kristen and I stayed afterwards and played soccer, sang songs, and hung out with some of the village kids -- lots of fun. We took public transport home, which is always an adventure.
In the evening, Dan, Elizabeth, Stef, Jill and I had a meeting with some of the church planting students who are serious about doing long-term STS work. I'm excited about our future plans, and about the awesome team of people that we have who are committed to doing the work that it will take to get us there.
Today my dad and Holly flew out, and Jami flew in on the plane that they flew out on. Tomorrow Stef and Jill leave, but we'll gain Abbie, Megan and George. So session 1 is winding down and Session 2 is winding up.
Tannen
Thursday, May 24, 2007
5/24 Update from Dan - HIV Education Program
Well, we finished our last day at Kalanga Basic School today... a good ending to a great week. Everything that went wrong last week came together for an amazing week at Kalanga. We have been spending our time from 12:00-1:15 playing soccer and forging relationships with the kids. They have been an absolute blessing to us. Whether it has been playing basketball with 30 girls and watching them scream and yell and be kids, or if it has been playing soccer with the boys and teaching them about the importance of teamwork and how "a house divided falls"... and how a nation divided falls if they do not join together to stop the spread. Or even playing lion tag where a hundred kids are charging across the field trying to escape the hungry lions (Jill and I) and grabbing them and sweeping them off their feet and hugging them so tight... and then grabbing all of our newly captured lions and roaring our lungs at the remaining runners. It has been evident since we walked through the gates of this humble school that these children were not the same as the ones we worked with last week. There was a certain yearning in every child's eyes... a certain pain behind every smile... a longing to be loved and to be known. This was never so evident than on the first day when there was a line twenty strong waiting their turn to be hugged by Stef. And seeing their faces as they were embraced was like watching one miracle after another unfold right before my eyes. It was beautiful.
Wednesday was probably the most powerful day of the time spent here. All week (and last week as well) we have had a really tough time with crowd control. As we gathered to sing songs together, our PA system cut out. But it must have been God telling us to change directions. So we broke into small groups by grades. The guys had a handful of 7th and 9th graders and a whole slew of 8th graders. I was figuring that I would just take the 8th since there was more of them, but God put it on my heart to take the 4 or 5 ninth graders. So I took them and sent the 7th and 8th with some church planters. As soon as we sat down about 12 more ninth graders walked over. And I started asking them, "why should we remain abstinent?" I pretended like I was Ruth, a girl that wanted to sleep with them and we started role playing. It was clear that they had no real reasons for why to remain abstinent. After getting through the obvious two: because I don't want to get HIV, and because the Bible says so... I pried to get any other reasons out (although those two reasons should be enough... it is clear that they are not sufficient as many, many Christian Zambians are having sex and taking the risk with HIV). We are trying to give them numerous reasons not to have sex, so that they can take ownership of the choice. I gave them a number of reasons and then went around the circle and asked them what they wanted to be when they grew up and one after another told me that they wanted to be doctors, engineers, teachers, electrician, pastors, etc. I was overwhelmed by their dreams... and told them the honest truth that choices that we make at 15 and 16 can affect the rest of their lives and that 5 minutes of pleasure is not worth sacrificing your dreams. I could see it in their faces... God showed up and they got it... they got it on a level that I haven't seen in the past two years of working here. I felt like I was talking with a group of high schoolers from America... it was like all the cultural lines and differing experiences were stripped away and we could just share about a struggle that is common to all men no matter where they come from or what they have been through. Jill and Elizabeth's small groups made similar connections about the future and just getting them to consider their hope and dreams and worth.
Stef on the other hand had a group that was very different... no one had much to say as they just sat and looked at her. So Stef decided to tell them that they could just ask her individual questions and she would pray with them. A line formed and each child proceeded to approach her and whispered heartbreaking stories of their lives: There were 8 and 9 year olds who had already lost their virginity; there were children orphaned and living on the streets, There were kids suffering unspeakable abuse from uncles and cousins. And just 5 minutes before there had been no discussion or life in the group. This perfectly characterizes an enemy of the fight against HIV/AIDS: silence... a silence which masks stories of the horrors and victims of this terrible virus and this deranged condition we call the sinful nature of man. Almost the exact same thing happened today in Elizabeth's small group. Silence in a group; tears once the silence is broken.
We are here to break the silence... we are here to give hugs to lines of desperate children... we are here to let a group of 5 and 6 year old boys hold onto our fingers as we walk through the schoolyard... we are here to teach these Zambian boys and girls to roar louder than they ever knew they could... we are here to blow kisses to them as we pile into the van... God is here... God is here... God is here... in every broken smile and tear filled eye, God is here... pray for us that the silence may be shattered by the only Love that can make old things new... a Love that covers over a multitude of sin and heartache and promises a place where tears are no more. Pray!
God Bless from Zambia... Dan
Wednesday was probably the most powerful day of the time spent here. All week (and last week as well) we have had a really tough time with crowd control. As we gathered to sing songs together, our PA system cut out. But it must have been God telling us to change directions. So we broke into small groups by grades. The guys had a handful of 7th and 9th graders and a whole slew of 8th graders. I was figuring that I would just take the 8th since there was more of them, but God put it on my heart to take the 4 or 5 ninth graders. So I took them and sent the 7th and 8th with some church planters. As soon as we sat down about 12 more ninth graders walked over. And I started asking them, "why should we remain abstinent?" I pretended like I was Ruth, a girl that wanted to sleep with them and we started role playing. It was clear that they had no real reasons for why to remain abstinent. After getting through the obvious two: because I don't want to get HIV, and because the Bible says so... I pried to get any other reasons out (although those two reasons should be enough... it is clear that they are not sufficient as many, many Christian Zambians are having sex and taking the risk with HIV). We are trying to give them numerous reasons not to have sex, so that they can take ownership of the choice. I gave them a number of reasons and then went around the circle and asked them what they wanted to be when they grew up and one after another told me that they wanted to be doctors, engineers, teachers, electrician, pastors, etc. I was overwhelmed by their dreams... and told them the honest truth that choices that we make at 15 and 16 can affect the rest of their lives and that 5 minutes of pleasure is not worth sacrificing your dreams. I could see it in their faces... God showed up and they got it... they got it on a level that I haven't seen in the past two years of working here. I felt like I was talking with a group of high schoolers from America... it was like all the cultural lines and differing experiences were stripped away and we could just share about a struggle that is common to all men no matter where they come from or what they have been through. Jill and Elizabeth's small groups made similar connections about the future and just getting them to consider their hope and dreams and worth.
Stef on the other hand had a group that was very different... no one had much to say as they just sat and looked at her. So Stef decided to tell them that they could just ask her individual questions and she would pray with them. A line formed and each child proceeded to approach her and whispered heartbreaking stories of their lives: There were 8 and 9 year olds who had already lost their virginity; there were children orphaned and living on the streets, There were kids suffering unspeakable abuse from uncles and cousins. And just 5 minutes before there had been no discussion or life in the group. This perfectly characterizes an enemy of the fight against HIV/AIDS: silence... a silence which masks stories of the horrors and victims of this terrible virus and this deranged condition we call the sinful nature of man. Almost the exact same thing happened today in Elizabeth's small group. Silence in a group; tears once the silence is broken.
We are here to break the silence... we are here to give hugs to lines of desperate children... we are here to let a group of 5 and 6 year old boys hold onto our fingers as we walk through the schoolyard... we are here to teach these Zambian boys and girls to roar louder than they ever knew they could... we are here to blow kisses to them as we pile into the van... God is here... God is here... God is here... in every broken smile and tear filled eye, God is here... pray for us that the silence may be shattered by the only Love that can make old things new... a Love that covers over a multitude of sin and heartache and promises a place where tears are no more. Pray!
God Bless from Zambia... Dan
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
5/23 Moringa Team Update
The moringa team had another good day. We traveled to Kitwe to give a presentation to a group of physicians at Kitwe Central Hospital. Before our presentation, a case study was presented on infant malnutrition that was closely related to what we were lecturing on. Jim and Holly then gave an abbreviated version of the presentation due to a lack of time, and then handed out moringa seeds and seedlings to those that were interested. We are hoping that the physicians will recommend using the tree to their patients and tell them how to grow and harvest it. The doctors seemed interested in our work, particularly some of the research that has been done on using the moringa to help prevent blindness; moringa has a very high Vitamin A content.
Tonight we had a meal of grilled-cheese and PB&Js; really whatever we could find. We found out that the power is going to be out from 8am-5pm tomorrow, so we're all trying to get our fill of electricity before then. There is a crowd gathered in the family room watching a soccer game as well as a line for the email.
Tomorrow we will hold one of our last workshops. A group of students from the church planting school as well as some other pastors will be coming to Dr. T's house. We're hoping to have them plant some of our trees for us, as "practice." We'll let you know how it goes.
Tonight we had a meal of grilled-cheese and PB&Js; really whatever we could find. We found out that the power is going to be out from 8am-5pm tomorrow, so we're all trying to get our fill of electricity before then. There is a crowd gathered in the family room watching a soccer game as well as a line for the email.
Tomorrow we will hold one of our last workshops. A group of students from the church planting school as well as some other pastors will be coming to Dr. T's house. We're hoping to have them plant some of our trees for us, as "practice." We'll let you know how it goes.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
5/22 Moringa Team Update
Sorry for not sending an update yesterday. The line was crazy and I went to bed. So here we go!
Monday:
The moringa team had a day of relative rest today. We woke up and planted about 8 more trees in the grove in front of Dr. Thinus' house. There are a few more that we'd like to plant, but we're going to wait until this Thursday during our workshop with the church planting students.
After planting the trees we went to Agape for another scrumptious meal (with moringa added to it!). Because we didn't have anything planned for the afternoon, Dr. T's secretary took us to the market downtown so that we could buy fabric for skirts. We then picked up some liner and went to the tailor to have them made. This Thursday afternoon we will get new skirts, custom made! While we were downtown we stopped at the butcher shop, which also sells soft-serve ice cream inside. Once we got over the smell of the store, we picked up our ice creams, ate them outside on the curb, and headed back to Dr. T's early. Holly and Jim worked on a presentation for the 2 workshops that will be holding this week.
Tuesday:
"The true meaning of life is to plant trees under whose shade you do not expect to sit." -Nelson Henderson.
While we know that this is not THE meaning of life, it pretty much sums up the moringa team's experiences here.
This morning we got up early and headed to Ndola to meet Sue Beare from Isubilo, a British NGO. They do work with orphans, HIV patients, and underweight babies. They had asked us to hold a workshop for about 40-60 people and so we were very nervous. It went well though! We set up our impressive array of books and materials and then Jim gave an introduction of Agape, STS and what we are all about. Holly then gave the presentation on the moringa to the audience, which consisted of volunteers, those who are HIV positive, and a few grandparents that were the main caretakers of underweight babies. As always, it was heartbreaking. They really seemed to understand the message (despite the translator) and all wanted some moringa seeds. We showed them how to plant, dry, and use the tree and made it a little interactive. When it came to the part where we told them how to grind the tree with a mortar and pestle, Jim asked for a volunteer so that we didn't make fools of ourselves trying to figure it out. She was very good and managed to create a fine powder far quicker than we would have. After the presentation we gave all the participants a handful of seeds and the main agricultural guy at Isubilo, Tenga, 84 seedlings. Tenga seems responsible and knowledgeable, so hopefully this time next year they will have a healthy grove.
On the way home we stopped by a store called "The Hungry Lion" for some Zambian fast food. We ate fried chicken and fries and then snoozed on the long drive back home.
Tonight at 6:20 pm we will be featured on ZNBC in a 30-minute documentary. It's the highlight of our week! We'll be sure to make copies so that we can bring it back home.
Tomorrow we are going to Kitwe Central Hospital to give a presentation on the moringa to some doctors. This was arranged by our friend, Dr. Gil, who assures us that it won't be a tough crowd but we aren't totally believing him. Jim is busy preparing as we type.
We hope that everyone in the States is doing well and enjoying our blogs. We enjoy writing them! Take care and please keep praying for us.
p.s.- Those of you concerned about our hygiene will be pleased to know that we finally got some clothes washed so that we do not have to wear t-shirts covered in mud after 3 days of digging anymore. :-)
Monday:
The moringa team had a day of relative rest today. We woke up and planted about 8 more trees in the grove in front of Dr. Thinus' house. There are a few more that we'd like to plant, but we're going to wait until this Thursday during our workshop with the church planting students.
After planting the trees we went to Agape for another scrumptious meal (with moringa added to it!). Because we didn't have anything planned for the afternoon, Dr. T's secretary took us to the market downtown so that we could buy fabric for skirts. We then picked up some liner and went to the tailor to have them made. This Thursday afternoon we will get new skirts, custom made! While we were downtown we stopped at the butcher shop, which also sells soft-serve ice cream inside. Once we got over the smell of the store, we picked up our ice creams, ate them outside on the curb, and headed back to Dr. T's early. Holly and Jim worked on a presentation for the 2 workshops that will be holding this week.
Tuesday:
"The true meaning of life is to plant trees under whose shade you do not expect to sit." -Nelson Henderson.
While we know that this is not THE meaning of life, it pretty much sums up the moringa team's experiences here.
This morning we got up early and headed to Ndola to meet Sue Beare from Isubilo, a British NGO. They do work with orphans, HIV patients, and underweight babies. They had asked us to hold a workshop for about 40-60 people and so we were very nervous. It went well though! We set up our impressive array of books and materials and then Jim gave an introduction of Agape, STS and what we are all about. Holly then gave the presentation on the moringa to the audience, which consisted of volunteers, those who are HIV positive, and a few grandparents that were the main caretakers of underweight babies. As always, it was heartbreaking. They really seemed to understand the message (despite the translator) and all wanted some moringa seeds. We showed them how to plant, dry, and use the tree and made it a little interactive. When it came to the part where we told them how to grind the tree with a mortar and pestle, Jim asked for a volunteer so that we didn't make fools of ourselves trying to figure it out. She was very good and managed to create a fine powder far quicker than we would have. After the presentation we gave all the participants a handful of seeds and the main agricultural guy at Isubilo, Tenga, 84 seedlings. Tenga seems responsible and knowledgeable, so hopefully this time next year they will have a healthy grove.
On the way home we stopped by a store called "The Hungry Lion" for some Zambian fast food. We ate fried chicken and fries and then snoozed on the long drive back home.
Tonight at 6:20 pm we will be featured on ZNBC in a 30-minute documentary. It's the highlight of our week! We'll be sure to make copies so that we can bring it back home.
Tomorrow we are going to Kitwe Central Hospital to give a presentation on the moringa to some doctors. This was arranged by our friend, Dr. Gil, who assures us that it won't be a tough crowd but we aren't totally believing him. Jim is busy preparing as we type.
We hope that everyone in the States is doing well and enjoying our blogs. We enjoy writing them! Take care and please keep praying for us.
p.s.- Those of you concerned about our hygiene will be pleased to know that we finally got some clothes washed so that we do not have to wear t-shirts covered in mud after 3 days of digging anymore. :-)
Monday, May 21, 2007
5/21 Update from Jill - HIV Education Program
Today was an interesting day for the HIV/AIDS team. We finished at Kantanshi last week and are spending this week at Kulungu Basic School. Basic schools are a bit like special education schools in the US; they're for the children who were not quite smart enough to get in to a secondary school.
The highlight of the trip to and from the school was that we managed to fit 25 people and all of the sound equipment into Dr. T's 8 passenger van- which lacks A/C and in which only half of the windows open. :) The headmaster of Kulungu was much more friendly and accomodating than the Kantanshi headmaster had been, which was very refreshing. He invited us into his office and showed a genuine interest in both our project and the team itself. We appreciated his kindness, but were a bit distracted by the "Beauty and the Beast" queen-sized dust ruffle that passed for his desk cover. :D
After we introduced ourselves to the teachers, the fun really began. We presented to students ranging from 1st grade to age 16 (which in a regular secondary school would mean an 11th grader but at Kulungu was an 8th grader). We started setting up in an empty classroom reserved for that purpose, but found that there were too many students and moved our program outside. After we began, we found that the sound system that we had worked so hard to bring with us and set up was out of commission; we resorted to speaking very loudly and enunciating slowly. :) The kids at Kulungu speak very little English compared to those at Kantanshi, but they did their best to pay attention; Henry (one of the church planters) kindly remedied the situation by voluntarily translating our talks into Bemba.
Our program went better than we expected, all things considered, and I speak for us all when I say we found Kulungu much better all around than Kantanshi. The students are markedly poorer, and there is the slight language barrier, but these kids seem to be genuinely interested and in dire need of someone to care about them. We're all looking forward to how God is going to work in the next few days as we adjust our program for the outdoor venue and the significant age gap. We truly appreciate your prayers, and can feel the blessings that y'all are praying over us as we work for the kingdom.
The highlight of the trip to and from the school was that we managed to fit 25 people and all of the sound equipment into Dr. T's 8 passenger van- which lacks A/C and in which only half of the windows open. :) The headmaster of Kulungu was much more friendly and accomodating than the Kantanshi headmaster had been, which was very refreshing. He invited us into his office and showed a genuine interest in both our project and the team itself. We appreciated his kindness, but were a bit distracted by the "Beauty and the Beast" queen-sized dust ruffle that passed for his desk cover. :D
After we introduced ourselves to the teachers, the fun really began. We presented to students ranging from 1st grade to age 16 (which in a regular secondary school would mean an 11th grader but at Kulungu was an 8th grader). We started setting up in an empty classroom reserved for that purpose, but found that there were too many students and moved our program outside. After we began, we found that the sound system that we had worked so hard to bring with us and set up was out of commission; we resorted to speaking very loudly and enunciating slowly. :) The kids at Kulungu speak very little English compared to those at Kantanshi, but they did their best to pay attention; Henry (one of the church planters) kindly remedied the situation by voluntarily translating our talks into Bemba.
Our program went better than we expected, all things considered, and I speak for us all when I say we found Kulungu much better all around than Kantanshi. The students are markedly poorer, and there is the slight language barrier, but these kids seem to be genuinely interested and in dire need of someone to care about them. We're all looking forward to how God is going to work in the next few days as we adjust our program for the outdoor venue and the significant age gap. We truly appreciate your prayers, and can feel the blessings that y'all are praying over us as we work for the kingdom.
5/21 Update from Jeremy - Trauma Program
Since arriving in Africa much has happened, as you well may imagine. Who can know who is learning more: us or the people who we are ministering to. As I talk to my brothers and sisters in Christ, who daily become closer to my heart, I sense a connection that indeed shall forever be with me. As humans we have our ups and downs, senses of inadequacies, but I am constantly reminded that the battle is the Lord's. I am convinced, in spite of what I see at times, that the Holy Spirit is doing eternal things -- and I mean eternal things -- in the hearts and minds of our Zambian brothers and sisters.
I have seen team members with little experience in ministry step up day after day and effectively minister into the lives of hurting people. The team that I am with is ministering on the subject of Trauma. I find it interesting that as we reach out to see others free the Lord is doing the same things in us. It makes for a pretty good day.
Kristen spoke today in regard to all the junk in our lives that we pack neatly away in little boxes and hide them for no one to see. What a blessing to see young ladies of Pamodzi High School present their boxes to the Lord. I believe it is a day they will never forget. The Lord was there. Can it get any better than that?
I have seen team members with little experience in ministry step up day after day and effectively minister into the lives of hurting people. The team that I am with is ministering on the subject of Trauma. I find it interesting that as we reach out to see others free the Lord is doing the same things in us. It makes for a pretty good day.
Kristen spoke today in regard to all the junk in our lives that we pack neatly away in little boxes and hide them for no one to see. What a blessing to see young ladies of Pamodzi High School present their boxes to the Lord. I believe it is a day they will never forget. The Lord was there. Can it get any better than that?
Sunday, May 20, 2007
5/20 Update from Holly - Moringa Project
It's been yet another beautiful day in Zambia. We woke up and went to church; a few of us went to a church to hear Jeremy preach, and the rest of us went to Agape with Dr. T. They were singing our favorite song as we came in, but it went on a while so that we were able to join in. The service lasted about 3 hours today as opposed to 4 last week. There was so much singing and dancing that it seemed to pass quickly though. The services here make ours in the U.S. look so boring! We definitely get much more exercise at church in Zambia from dancing.
After church we made a trip to the ShopRite where we stocked up on water, chocolate, and Fanta- all the important things. The crew from ZNBC came by to film the documentary on STS shortly after we returned home. They had intended to speak to us only about moringa, but we made sure that the other teams spoke with them. Carol demonstrated how to plant the moringa and Jim cut the top off of a mature tree to show how it is pruned. Next we went back to the Murundu village, where we planted the grove earlier this week. The TV crew wanted to see who our project would be directly benefiting. As we raced to get there before dark, we passed village children screaming "muzungu!", which always makes us laugh. When we pulled up to the grove area, about 50 orphans were waiting for us and screamed at the top of their lungs. Holly was first to get out of the car and they all quickly surrounded her to say "muli shani" and hang onto her. She almost got knocked over! Jim, Jess, Dr. T and the rest were also greeted with many smiling faces. We brought clothes for the children and Pastor Joseph, a local pastor and vice-mayor of Murundu, arranged all of the kids around us so that we could speak a little bit and then hand out clothes. The kids were very excited because they are only used to getting clothes once a year, so for them it was like Christmas. Many of the clothes they wear are very worn and torn, since they have only a few items year-round. The children ate their meal, which they receive once daily. We played and Jess took many pictures while the cameraman filmed the action. Dr. Gilbert Siame and his friend, Dr. Brian, accompanied us and provided medical recommendations for some of the orphans; specifically the young 6 year old girl that we mentioned the other day that is suffering from HIV and is very malnourished. We are incredibly grateful to Gilbert for all of his help, including arranging the ZNBC spots, providing Carol with medicine for her strep, and arranging the moringa workshop that will occur this week at Kitwe Central Hospital.
The sight of the orphans is so heartbreaking. There is nobody to care for them and they are severely malnourished, all very thin with distended bellies. The orphan problem in Zambia is absolutely appalling; in the Mufulira area alone, there are over 40,000 orphans. In addition to being malnourished, they can't afford to attend school although their education costs mere pennies. We are praying that we can be a part of the solution in Murundu by taking over the Murundu Village Orphanage Foundation. Please pray for God's direction as we contemplate this large undertaking.
After returning home we spent the night relaxing, playing card, painting our nails (the men opted out) and sharing stories. Jeremy and Dan assumed the manly role of BBQing sausages while Dr. T and the girls made a fresh salad. It was an amazing meal. We all realize how lucky we are to have nutritious, yummy food to eat and constantly make sure that we thank God for what we are given. We realize how blessed we all are and hope that through our work we will continue to bless others.
Until tomorrow...
After church we made a trip to the ShopRite where we stocked up on water, chocolate, and Fanta- all the important things. The crew from ZNBC came by to film the documentary on STS shortly after we returned home. They had intended to speak to us only about moringa, but we made sure that the other teams spoke with them. Carol demonstrated how to plant the moringa and Jim cut the top off of a mature tree to show how it is pruned. Next we went back to the Murundu village, where we planted the grove earlier this week. The TV crew wanted to see who our project would be directly benefiting. As we raced to get there before dark, we passed village children screaming "muzungu!", which always makes us laugh. When we pulled up to the grove area, about 50 orphans were waiting for us and screamed at the top of their lungs. Holly was first to get out of the car and they all quickly surrounded her to say "muli shani" and hang onto her. She almost got knocked over! Jim, Jess, Dr. T and the rest were also greeted with many smiling faces. We brought clothes for the children and Pastor Joseph, a local pastor and vice-mayor of Murundu, arranged all of the kids around us so that we could speak a little bit and then hand out clothes. The kids were very excited because they are only used to getting clothes once a year, so for them it was like Christmas. Many of the clothes they wear are very worn and torn, since they have only a few items year-round. The children ate their meal, which they receive once daily. We played and Jess took many pictures while the cameraman filmed the action. Dr. Gilbert Siame and his friend, Dr. Brian, accompanied us and provided medical recommendations for some of the orphans; specifically the young 6 year old girl that we mentioned the other day that is suffering from HIV and is very malnourished. We are incredibly grateful to Gilbert for all of his help, including arranging the ZNBC spots, providing Carol with medicine for her strep, and arranging the moringa workshop that will occur this week at Kitwe Central Hospital.
The sight of the orphans is so heartbreaking. There is nobody to care for them and they are severely malnourished, all very thin with distended bellies. The orphan problem in Zambia is absolutely appalling; in the Mufulira area alone, there are over 40,000 orphans. In addition to being malnourished, they can't afford to attend school although their education costs mere pennies. We are praying that we can be a part of the solution in Murundu by taking over the Murundu Village Orphanage Foundation. Please pray for God's direction as we contemplate this large undertaking.
After returning home we spent the night relaxing, playing card, painting our nails (the men opted out) and sharing stories. Jeremy and Dan assumed the manly role of BBQing sausages while Dr. T and the girls made a fresh salad. It was an amazing meal. We all realize how lucky we are to have nutritious, yummy food to eat and constantly make sure that we thank God for what we are given. We realize how blessed we all are and hope that through our work we will continue to bless others.
Until tomorrow...
Saturday, May 19, 2007
5/19 Update from Tannen - Trauma Program
Well, it's Saturday night now and we just finished our first week here in Mufulira. As usual, all of our teams are constantly adapting our programs and modifying things because the situations are different than what we expected ("TIA man -- This Is Africa").
Our time at Pamodzi has been good, but completely different than what we did there last year with the HIV Education program. The issues that we are dealing with are so personal that most of the kids shy away from them (and who can blame them since most adults do the same thing, myself included). I do think that it is a little sad, though, that there are so many people in this world dealing with things that are ripping them apart on the inside and filtering through so many areas of their lives, yet we continue to avoid them and try to live in this make-believe world where everything is happy. I think that this avoidance is a big reason why our group narrowed down from the couple hundred kids we had last year to the 40 or so kids who are taking part in our program this year. The ones that we have really seem to be listening and I'm happy to be working with a smaller, more personal group.
One of the most encouraging things that happened to me so far in regards to our program this year had to do with a local pastor who has been accompanying us to the school in the afternoons. Kristen and I had given a talk that day about how our condition changes after we go through trauma and how it wrecks our life and distorts our view of God... but also that His position never changes, and shared a few things that we had learned about God during our own journeys -- things that stay constant, despite where we are in our lives at any given moment. As usual, we followed the main talk with a small group time and on that day we handed out little slips of paper to the girls to stimulate discussion and get the wheels turning in everyone's brains. Well, afterwards the pastor went around and collected all of the little pieces of paper so that he could look at them more later and told us that "last year may have been for the girls, but this was for me." He told me later that he had woken up that morning and thought that all of the suffering that he was going through was "too much" (I'll skip the details on that) and that he couldn't do it anymore. But somehow that afternoon he was given hope. He told me the same thing the next day. So I was encouraged. I also had to take a step back and say thank you to God, because without him there is no hope.
We will only have our Trauma Program at Pamodzi High School until Wednesday of next week (school was cancelled on Thurs and Fri), so we have 3 more days there. We're in the middle of switching gears and moving from some of the softer issues (like the effect that trauma has on our life, God's love & acceptance, recognizing "safe" vs. "unsafe" people, developing a support system, etc) to the personal responsibility end of things.
On another note, Elizabeth did an AWESOME job with the dance workshop today - the girls loved it and we had a lot of fun. I am really, really enjoying working with everyone on our STS team this year. It is great to be around lots of compassionate, dedicated, honest, encouraging, fun people with different talents and backgrounds.
I keep thinking about the Murundu Orphan's Foundation and the option for us to take that and run with it. It seems like the epitome of an open door to me, but I know that we need to be careful to think it through and pray about it before committing to anything.
Chisuma mukwai!
Tannen
Our time at Pamodzi has been good, but completely different than what we did there last year with the HIV Education program. The issues that we are dealing with are so personal that most of the kids shy away from them (and who can blame them since most adults do the same thing, myself included). I do think that it is a little sad, though, that there are so many people in this world dealing with things that are ripping them apart on the inside and filtering through so many areas of their lives, yet we continue to avoid them and try to live in this make-believe world where everything is happy. I think that this avoidance is a big reason why our group narrowed down from the couple hundred kids we had last year to the 40 or so kids who are taking part in our program this year. The ones that we have really seem to be listening and I'm happy to be working with a smaller, more personal group.
One of the most encouraging things that happened to me so far in regards to our program this year had to do with a local pastor who has been accompanying us to the school in the afternoons. Kristen and I had given a talk that day about how our condition changes after we go through trauma and how it wrecks our life and distorts our view of God... but also that His position never changes, and shared a few things that we had learned about God during our own journeys -- things that stay constant, despite where we are in our lives at any given moment. As usual, we followed the main talk with a small group time and on that day we handed out little slips of paper to the girls to stimulate discussion and get the wheels turning in everyone's brains. Well, afterwards the pastor went around and collected all of the little pieces of paper so that he could look at them more later and told us that "last year may have been for the girls, but this was for me." He told me later that he had woken up that morning and thought that all of the suffering that he was going through was "too much" (I'll skip the details on that) and that he couldn't do it anymore. But somehow that afternoon he was given hope. He told me the same thing the next day. So I was encouraged. I also had to take a step back and say thank you to God, because without him there is no hope.
We will only have our Trauma Program at Pamodzi High School until Wednesday of next week (school was cancelled on Thurs and Fri), so we have 3 more days there. We're in the middle of switching gears and moving from some of the softer issues (like the effect that trauma has on our life, God's love & acceptance, recognizing "safe" vs. "unsafe" people, developing a support system, etc) to the personal responsibility end of things.
On another note, Elizabeth did an AWESOME job with the dance workshop today - the girls loved it and we had a lot of fun. I am really, really enjoying working with everyone on our STS team this year. It is great to be around lots of compassionate, dedicated, honest, encouraging, fun people with different talents and backgrounds.
I keep thinking about the Murundu Orphan's Foundation and the option for us to take that and run with it. It seems like the epitome of an open door to me, but I know that we need to be careful to think it through and pray about it before committing to anything.
Chisuma mukwai!
Tannen
5/19 Update from Elizabeth - HIV Education Program
Hi, family and friends!!!
Today was AMAZING!!! We went to Pamodzi Girls High School to run a "Fun Day" for all the students at the various high schools we have worked this week. It was wonderful to be able to invite the students from both Pamodzi and Kantashi to come and have fun with us today. A bunch of students showed up! We ran a dance workshop and outside games (soccer, team-building games, etc.). I was blessed to be able to work on the dance side with Jeremy (yeah!), Carol, Tannen, Kristin and Jessica. The dance workshop was really neat! Together we invented a really cool hip-hop piece which they loved. We then handed out 4 different colored streamers and explained the representation of each color (red = blood of Christ, blue = living water, white = holiness, gold = heaven). They then approached the Lord in worshipful dance, which was beautiful to watch unfold. After a time or two, they seemed to get the idea behind the dance and become a little more God-focused and less streamer-focused! :) We then worked on expression and dancing out our emotions. There was also Scriptural teaching in between each segment of the workshop, and I pray that the girls received it. I believe that God really showed up, and blessed the girls and let them have a few hours of uninterrupted fun! My heart about burst watching these girls dance with the streamers, which my team helped put together the week before we came to Africa (special thanks to Dave, Chris, Gary, and my whole family in Jax)!!! Stef, Dan and Jill facilitated all the outside games and did a great job. The guys and girls alike had a really fun time. Stef, Dan and Jill were also able to incorporate some lessons on teamwork through the various games. Only a few injuries occurred, and judging by the amount of sweaty, smiling students, it seemed like it was a huge success!!!
After lunch, several of us went back out to Murundu village. We were able to visit with Pastor Joseph and his wife, Hilda, and get an idea how much property the Murundu Orphan Foundation really has. It was incredible! They are already an officially recognized non-profit organization, and have in their possession quite a few hectares of land and lots of buildings (of which several are in very good condition!). It would not take much to renovate these buildings in order to expand the orphanage that Pastor Joseph already runs. It was really neat to tromp through the bush to look over the property, and brainstorm over what God could do in the future with some hard work, willing hands and passionate hearts! More on this in our prayer requests section down below!
We then toured the actual village, which literally is just that. I had not yet been there and so saw everything for the very first time! The huts were made of mud with thatched roofs. How I wish I could send you a photo! I took oodles. People were cooking over open fires, while chickens, goats, and ducks ran around everywhere. The tiny huts had only a thin cloth for a door. Children were running around in rags or were half naked, some with distended bellies. That's what makes the Moringa tree project so beautiful - that we can "be the change" towards the horrors of malnutrition. There are so many things we can do to help. Unfortunately, I want to do it all NOW - realizing, of course, that programs and projects take time to develop. :) I was reading my quiet time last night from Psalm 68. Little did I know, the Lord was preparing my heart for today! It says in verses 5-6, "A father to the fatherless and a judge and protector of the widows is God in His holy habitation. God places the solitary in families and gives the desolate a home in which to dwell..."
PRAYER REQUESTS...we cannot do anything without your support!
1. Please pray for Murundu Orphan Foundation project. We have a lot of great ideas, but of course want to see what God has in mind. Opportunities abound and we would love to find out what areas YOU can get involved too! :)
2. Along those same lines, please lift up the people of the Murundu village. They have so many needs, and are literally "neighbors" to Mufalira. How can we be the hands and feet of Jesus Christ to these people?
3. Please lift up Carol's health. She thinks that she might have strep, and we would like you to pray for her total healing. We have made a connection with a very kind doctor here, so she has plenty of medication but doesn't feel any better yet!
4. Stef injured herself playing soccer with the students today. Her toe received a pretty deep gash, so please pray for her healing as well (no infection!).
5. In general, please pray for the entire team as we process the conclusion of our first full week in Zambia. God has already done some remarkable things in and through each one of us. Please pray for strength and spiritual encouragement as we continue to pour ourselves out in ministry day after day. It has been an incredible journey!
Thank you and good night!
Elizabeth
Today was AMAZING!!! We went to Pamodzi Girls High School to run a "Fun Day" for all the students at the various high schools we have worked this week. It was wonderful to be able to invite the students from both Pamodzi and Kantashi to come and have fun with us today. A bunch of students showed up! We ran a dance workshop and outside games (soccer, team-building games, etc.). I was blessed to be able to work on the dance side with Jeremy (yeah!), Carol, Tannen, Kristin and Jessica. The dance workshop was really neat! Together we invented a really cool hip-hop piece which they loved. We then handed out 4 different colored streamers and explained the representation of each color (red = blood of Christ, blue = living water, white = holiness, gold = heaven). They then approached the Lord in worshipful dance, which was beautiful to watch unfold. After a time or two, they seemed to get the idea behind the dance and become a little more God-focused and less streamer-focused! :) We then worked on expression and dancing out our emotions. There was also Scriptural teaching in between each segment of the workshop, and I pray that the girls received it. I believe that God really showed up, and blessed the girls and let them have a few hours of uninterrupted fun! My heart about burst watching these girls dance with the streamers, which my team helped put together the week before we came to Africa (special thanks to Dave, Chris, Gary, and my whole family in Jax)!!! Stef, Dan and Jill facilitated all the outside games and did a great job. The guys and girls alike had a really fun time. Stef, Dan and Jill were also able to incorporate some lessons on teamwork through the various games. Only a few injuries occurred, and judging by the amount of sweaty, smiling students, it seemed like it was a huge success!!!
After lunch, several of us went back out to Murundu village. We were able to visit with Pastor Joseph and his wife, Hilda, and get an idea how much property the Murundu Orphan Foundation really has. It was incredible! They are already an officially recognized non-profit organization, and have in their possession quite a few hectares of land and lots of buildings (of which several are in very good condition!). It would not take much to renovate these buildings in order to expand the orphanage that Pastor Joseph already runs. It was really neat to tromp through the bush to look over the property, and brainstorm over what God could do in the future with some hard work, willing hands and passionate hearts! More on this in our prayer requests section down below!
We then toured the actual village, which literally is just that. I had not yet been there and so saw everything for the very first time! The huts were made of mud with thatched roofs. How I wish I could send you a photo! I took oodles. People were cooking over open fires, while chickens, goats, and ducks ran around everywhere. The tiny huts had only a thin cloth for a door. Children were running around in rags or were half naked, some with distended bellies. That's what makes the Moringa tree project so beautiful - that we can "be the change" towards the horrors of malnutrition. There are so many things we can do to help. Unfortunately, I want to do it all NOW - realizing, of course, that programs and projects take time to develop. :) I was reading my quiet time last night from Psalm 68. Little did I know, the Lord was preparing my heart for today! It says in verses 5-6, "A father to the fatherless and a judge and protector of the widows is God in His holy habitation. God places the solitary in families and gives the desolate a home in which to dwell..."
PRAYER REQUESTS...we cannot do anything without your support!
1. Please pray for Murundu Orphan Foundation project. We have a lot of great ideas, but of course want to see what God has in mind. Opportunities abound and we would love to find out what areas YOU can get involved too! :)
2. Along those same lines, please lift up the people of the Murundu village. They have so many needs, and are literally "neighbors" to Mufalira. How can we be the hands and feet of Jesus Christ to these people?
3. Please lift up Carol's health. She thinks that she might have strep, and we would like you to pray for her total healing. We have made a connection with a very kind doctor here, so she has plenty of medication but doesn't feel any better yet!
4. Stef injured herself playing soccer with the students today. Her toe received a pretty deep gash, so please pray for her healing as well (no infection!).
5. In general, please pray for the entire team as we process the conclusion of our first full week in Zambia. God has already done some remarkable things in and through each one of us. Please pray for strength and spiritual encouragement as we continue to pour ourselves out in ministry day after day. It has been an incredible journey!
Thank you and good night!
Elizabeth
5/19 Update from Holly - Moringa Project
The water is back on! The moringa team is very pleased about this, as our freshly planted trees need water, and we could all use a real shower. This morning Dr. Thinus, Jim and I (Holly) woke up at 5 a.m. to go to the ZNBC (Zambian National Broadcasting) station in Kitwe, about a 45 minute drive. Jim and I were interviewed live on TV and managed to get through without fumbling too much. While we were in Kitwe, we took advantage of being in the country's 2nd largest city to eat a real American breakfast. We had eggs, juice, coffee, beans, yogurt, toast, sausage, and bacon (which is not like American bacon- it's much better). It was absolutely delicious! Jim bought us all breakfast, as well as Gil, our new favorite Zambian. He is a friend of a friend in the U.S. and an absolute blessing! In less than a week he has secured our live TV spot which happened this morning, arranged for ZNBC to do a documentary on what we're doing tomorrow, organized a workshop at Kitwe Central Hospital for us with about 20 doctors and enthusiastically agreed to be on the board of the Murundu orphanage foundation if we take it over. Just a few hours ago he drove almost an hour from his home to bring penicillin, Vitamin C, and Tylenol to Carol, who has strep.
After our TV spot and breakfast, we came home and Dr. T worked on the house while Jim and I slept. We were exhausted from waking up so early. The rest of the team went to a local girl's high school to do a workshop for over 100 kids. It was more of a fun-time, with dancing and soccer. A great time was had by all. Once we the entire STS team reassembled, all but 4 of us (3 from the moringa group) traveled back to Murundu to visit the potential orphanage site and play with the children. The children there act as if they never get any attention from anyone, and they all huddle around to see the muzungus, or white people. We are a bit of an oddity. Throughout the afternoon, Carol, Jess, Jill and I relaxed at home by playing cards, reading, and typing emails. It's nice to have some down time!
Tonight Dr. T and I (Holly) make dinner for the group. We went to the Shop-Rite (think 3rd world grocery store) for some meat. Dr. T kept calling the meat that we were purchasing mince meat, which we thought was something gross and British. We did not want mince meat for dinner, until Dr. T dragged us to the meat section and showed us that it's high-quality beef that's been shredded. That made us feel much better. So tonight we are going to do something with that and spaghetti.
Tomorrow after church Gil will bring the folks from ZNBC here to do a documentary on STS. We are all very excited and mildly nervous. We'll be sure to let you know how it goes!
After our TV spot and breakfast, we came home and Dr. T worked on the house while Jim and I slept. We were exhausted from waking up so early. The rest of the team went to a local girl's high school to do a workshop for over 100 kids. It was more of a fun-time, with dancing and soccer. A great time was had by all. Once we the entire STS team reassembled, all but 4 of us (3 from the moringa group) traveled back to Murundu to visit the potential orphanage site and play with the children. The children there act as if they never get any attention from anyone, and they all huddle around to see the muzungus, or white people. We are a bit of an oddity. Throughout the afternoon, Carol, Jess, Jill and I relaxed at home by playing cards, reading, and typing emails. It's nice to have some down time!
Tonight Dr. T and I (Holly) make dinner for the group. We went to the Shop-Rite (think 3rd world grocery store) for some meat. Dr. T kept calling the meat that we were purchasing mince meat, which we thought was something gross and British. We did not want mince meat for dinner, until Dr. T dragged us to the meat section and showed us that it's high-quality beef that's been shredded. That made us feel much better. So tonight we are going to do something with that and spaghetti.
Tomorrow after church Gil will bring the folks from ZNBC here to do a documentary on STS. We are all very excited and mildly nervous. We'll be sure to let you know how it goes!
Friday, May 18, 2007
5/18 Update from Holly - Moringa Project
The moringa team had another productive day today. We all slept in except Jim- he woke up at 6am and got hard to work. After we all woke up, we worked on the grove in front of Dr. Thinus' yard. We'd already dug the holes the other day, so we just had to mix the compost and manure, add water, and plant the seed pods. Luckily it was much cooler today than yesterday and a slight breeze was blowing. Because it is the dry season, it is incredibly dusty. Around noon the water supply shut off, so we went to the church planting school with everyone to eat nshima and sausage. After we came back we were able to get some more water, so we finished planting most of the grove- 31 trees total! There are still a few left to plant on the perimeter, but we will finish those tomorrow. A few of the neighborhood kids helped us, and we drew a small crowd; nowhere close to yesterday though.
We are in a hurry to finish the grove because ZNBC (Zambian National Broadcasting Co.) is coming out to the house this Sunday after church to make a documentary about STS. We will take them to the Murundu village to show them what we did yesterday. Tomorrow (Saturday) morning, Holly and Jim will wake up around 5am to travel to Kitwe for an interview with ZNBC. ZNBC is the only TV station in Zambia, so we are hoping that this will give us lots of publicity.
Unfortunately one of our team members is sick; we are pretty sure that Carol has strep throat. Please pray for her speedy recovery! She's one of our hardest workers.
As of now (about 6pm), the water is still off. Holly is freaking out about possibly not being able to take a shower because she is covered in dirt and can't remember ever going to bed without a shower. Tannen thinks this is funny, but it's not.
We are in a hurry to finish the grove because ZNBC (Zambian National Broadcasting Co.) is coming out to the house this Sunday after church to make a documentary about STS. We will take them to the Murundu village to show them what we did yesterday. Tomorrow (Saturday) morning, Holly and Jim will wake up around 5am to travel to Kitwe for an interview with ZNBC. ZNBC is the only TV station in Zambia, so we are hoping that this will give us lots of publicity.
Unfortunately one of our team members is sick; we are pretty sure that Carol has strep throat. Please pray for her speedy recovery! She's one of our hardest workers.
As of now (about 6pm), the water is still off. Holly is freaking out about possibly not being able to take a shower because she is covered in dirt and can't remember ever going to bed without a shower. Tannen thinks this is funny, but it's not.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
5/17 Update from Stefanie - HIV Education Program
Today started out pretty relaxed for our team. Jeremy talked at the church planting school this morning so our team got to sleep in. For the most part we did exactly as we normally do, we sleepily walked out of our rooms to the kitchen, poured bowls of either weetibix or oatmeal, and drank coffee together around our tiny table sitting on our tiny square stools. From there we either listened to Patty Griffin on the radio while preparing our talks or stayed in the kitchen to just sit and talk before the day got going. At about 10:15 we left the house on foot and walked to the church planting school. I must say this was one of the highlights of the day. Dan, Jill, Elizabeth, and I set out side by side with our various backpacks, nalgene bottles, and of course, Jill's rock star sun glasses. The walk is about 20 minutes and along the way we passed beautiful trees that grow out instead of up and always are decorated with colorful flowers. There are also other Zambians out and about walking and we definitely stick out being a pack of four "muzungu" kids with matching shirts and a tendency to giggle and walk on the wrong side of the road. We also passed an orphanage and the marketplace-each reminding of us that we are a long way from home.
When we got to the church planting school 15 minutes late we wondered if Jeremy would be just awkwardly sitting around but then we remembered, its JEREMY, there would be no awkward sitting around-he would be preaching. We were right and he finished up about 10 minutes after we arrived. We gave the church planting students their tea break and then I gave a presentation about how to present the "getting tested" talk. The students were involved in the presentation and informed us that in Zambia, mothers often use their babies as a sign for whether they have HIV or not. If the baby lives and is healthy until it is 5, then they know they are safe. Needless to say, we were all aware of how much fear and stigma interferes with the simple act of getting tested.
After eating another fine meal of enchima and chicken (the chicken here is amazing, probably because it was just slaughtered that very same day!) we left for Kantanshi High School and were greeted like rock stars. Immediately the team was surrounded by kids shoving notebooks in our faces asking for our addresses. While becoming famous at Kantanshi High School is not our mission here, it was encouraging to see how quickly these kids were able to feel connected to us. After a quick team prayer session in the grass off to the side of the school, us four "muzungus" entered the auditorium and the program began. I have to say the dancing was awesome today! Most of the kids were standing and everyone was either swaying, shaking their hips, or waving their hands in the same direction. Then ensued the regular program including the dance contest where yet again, Dan and I totally embarrassed the American people for the sake of a laugh. I have to say the "flounder" move was probably the best... Dan, we have that on video ;) Meanwhile Jill was taking wonderful pictures and Elizabeth, while she tried hard not to, still managed to be one of the best dancers. Later on we broke into groups where Dan lead the boys in an intimate talk about Jesus Christ and the girls did the same. Jill ended our group with one of her favorite Bible verses and I think the girls all felt how personally connected the three of us are to our mission and to truly loving those students.
As the day came to a close at Kantanshi High, we packed into the van and headed home. However, our day was not over as Dan and I played soccer well into the night with the neighbor boys and Jill and Elizabeth played in the dirt with the neighbor girls. After dinner, the four of us re-grouped to talk about the plan for tomorrow and what should have been a 15 minute meeting turned into an hour and half meeting because at this point in our trip, the four of us can't be together without laughing hysterically and getting off topic. I have to say, I have come to love Zambia, the Zambian people, my housemates, and most definitely, my fellow teammates. At the end of our meeting Dan reminded us that we are covered in prayer right now and that made us all more comfortable about getting up and continuing on... thank you everyone who is praying for us, we love you and miss you.
~Stef
When we got to the church planting school 15 minutes late we wondered if Jeremy would be just awkwardly sitting around but then we remembered, its JEREMY, there would be no awkward sitting around-he would be preaching. We were right and he finished up about 10 minutes after we arrived. We gave the church planting students their tea break and then I gave a presentation about how to present the "getting tested" talk. The students were involved in the presentation and informed us that in Zambia, mothers often use their babies as a sign for whether they have HIV or not. If the baby lives and is healthy until it is 5, then they know they are safe. Needless to say, we were all aware of how much fear and stigma interferes with the simple act of getting tested.
After eating another fine meal of enchima and chicken (the chicken here is amazing, probably because it was just slaughtered that very same day!) we left for Kantanshi High School and were greeted like rock stars. Immediately the team was surrounded by kids shoving notebooks in our faces asking for our addresses. While becoming famous at Kantanshi High School is not our mission here, it was encouraging to see how quickly these kids were able to feel connected to us. After a quick team prayer session in the grass off to the side of the school, us four "muzungus" entered the auditorium and the program began. I have to say the dancing was awesome today! Most of the kids were standing and everyone was either swaying, shaking their hips, or waving their hands in the same direction. Then ensued the regular program including the dance contest where yet again, Dan and I totally embarrassed the American people for the sake of a laugh. I have to say the "flounder" move was probably the best... Dan, we have that on video ;) Meanwhile Jill was taking wonderful pictures and Elizabeth, while she tried hard not to, still managed to be one of the best dancers. Later on we broke into groups where Dan lead the boys in an intimate talk about Jesus Christ and the girls did the same. Jill ended our group with one of her favorite Bible verses and I think the girls all felt how personally connected the three of us are to our mission and to truly loving those students.
As the day came to a close at Kantanshi High, we packed into the van and headed home. However, our day was not over as Dan and I played soccer well into the night with the neighbor boys and Jill and Elizabeth played in the dirt with the neighbor girls. After dinner, the four of us re-grouped to talk about the plan for tomorrow and what should have been a 15 minute meeting turned into an hour and half meeting because at this point in our trip, the four of us can't be together without laughing hysterically and getting off topic. I have to say, I have come to love Zambia, the Zambian people, my housemates, and most definitely, my fellow teammates. At the end of our meeting Dan reminded us that we are covered in prayer right now and that made us all more comfortable about getting up and continuing on... thank you everyone who is praying for us, we love you and miss you.
~Stef
5/17 Update from Holly - Moringa Project
There are 4 words to describe today: hot, dirty, exhausting, and fulfilling. The moringa team woke up at 6am to travel to the Murundu village, which is located about 1.5 miles from the Congo border. There are about 17,000 residents and no running water; it's what you think of when you think of Africa. We started out by meeting Pastor Joseph at his house and then walking to/through town to a plot of land that he had selected. Pastor Joseph runs an orphanage in the town for about 30-40 children; many of them are malnourished and sick. He asked us to help him plant some moringa so that when it is full grown they may add it to the food of the orphans to enrich their diet. We plotted out the area and put stakes in every 3 meters, then dug holes that were 1' wide x 1' deep. The ground was hard and sandy, but not as bad as they clay that is found at Dr. Thinus' house. Digging the holes took all morning, even with a few extra helpers. We did not want to do all the work, but instead show them how to do the work so that they would have a sense of ownership; we ended up doing a lot of back-breaking labor, though. As we walked through the town and worked in the field, many of the local children gathered to watch. We then obtained some chicken manure and mixed it with compost/hay to fill in the holes. Water had to be brought a ways from a well in buckets. It took about 5 hours for us to dig the holes and add the soil mixture to a few holes. It was incredibly hot and some of us had dizzy spells from laboring in the heat. We tried to keep ourselves hydrated by drinking lots of water, but we could only drink the bottled water that we had brought with us, which was in short supply. I (Holly) had a real adventure when I had to use the toilet. After asking for a deserted area in the trees, I was instead led to their version of a restroom. It was a small, thatch-roof mud hut with a piece of fabric covering the makeshift door. The "toilet" consisted of a hole in the ground with a large dug-out hole underneath. There were flies everywhere and it stunk horribly, but I am proud to say I survived. I was thinking of making a shirt that says "I survived a Murundu long drop." Afterwards we went to lunch at Pastor Joseph's house. They made a wonderful meal of kasava, Zambian sweet potatoes (which are very different from the ones in the U.S.), rice, and fresh fried chicken. The girls actually saw the chicken being killed in the morning and were mildly disturbed by it. It sure tasted good though.
After lunch the team went back to the plot and finished adding the compost/manure mixture to all of the holes. After soaking the holes thoroughly, we added the moringa seedlings. A larger crowd gathered after lunch, and all of the orphans and other children sat around and stared at us. When we'd take a short break, they'd all automatically surround us. Carol played with them, picking them up and being silly. Jessica took many photos- they all posed and smiled. It was obvious that many of them were not used to having much attention. One girl in particular broke our hearts. She is 6 years old and is the size of a 2 year old. She is severely malnourished and is also HIV+ (she does not know this). She was as thin as a stick and had to be picked up because she couldn't walk. Both of her parents died of AIDS and she is being taken care of by her grandmother that is very elderly. She will be the first to take the moringa powder. We are consulting with US missionaries in the Congo that work with moringa to determine the proper dosage for her, as she is so weak. By the end of a LONG day, we had planted 57 moringa trees. By the time that we come back next year, we expect the orchard to be fully grown and producing many leaves.
After finishing at the plot of land, we hiked back to town to wait for the public transport. All the kids followed us and many more joined from the market. They wanted to be videotaped, but would only smile. Holly finally broke out in a round of "If you're Happy and You Know It" and the kids tried to follow. Carol joined in for the encore, the Chicken Dance. The ride back to Mufulira was another adventure. The minivan-type vehicle was falling apart with no shocks, and we had to cram 18 people in. Talk about uncomfortable! On the way home the van stopped at the Congo border, so we got to look across and take a picture with the Zambian guard, who was surprisingly nice.
Tomorrow we will have a much needed day of rest. Well, kind of. We are going to spend the day finishing the grove at Dr. Thinus' house. At least we don't have to wake up at 6am.
Dr. Thinus wanted us to add that Pastor Joseph's wife made us Zambian bologna (chikanda) to bring back to the house. It was quite smelly and it looked funny, but he forced us to try it.
Until then....
-Holly
After lunch the team went back to the plot and finished adding the compost/manure mixture to all of the holes. After soaking the holes thoroughly, we added the moringa seedlings. A larger crowd gathered after lunch, and all of the orphans and other children sat around and stared at us. When we'd take a short break, they'd all automatically surround us. Carol played with them, picking them up and being silly. Jessica took many photos- they all posed and smiled. It was obvious that many of them were not used to having much attention. One girl in particular broke our hearts. She is 6 years old and is the size of a 2 year old. She is severely malnourished and is also HIV+ (she does not know this). She was as thin as a stick and had to be picked up because she couldn't walk. Both of her parents died of AIDS and she is being taken care of by her grandmother that is very elderly. She will be the first to take the moringa powder. We are consulting with US missionaries in the Congo that work with moringa to determine the proper dosage for her, as she is so weak. By the end of a LONG day, we had planted 57 moringa trees. By the time that we come back next year, we expect the orchard to be fully grown and producing many leaves.
After finishing at the plot of land, we hiked back to town to wait for the public transport. All the kids followed us and many more joined from the market. They wanted to be videotaped, but would only smile. Holly finally broke out in a round of "If you're Happy and You Know It" and the kids tried to follow. Carol joined in for the encore, the Chicken Dance. The ride back to Mufulira was another adventure. The minivan-type vehicle was falling apart with no shocks, and we had to cram 18 people in. Talk about uncomfortable! On the way home the van stopped at the Congo border, so we got to look across and take a picture with the Zambian guard, who was surprisingly nice.
Tomorrow we will have a much needed day of rest. Well, kind of. We are going to spend the day finishing the grove at Dr. Thinus' house. At least we don't have to wake up at 6am.
Dr. Thinus wanted us to add that Pastor Joseph's wife made us Zambian bologna (chikanda) to bring back to the house. It was quite smelly and it looked funny, but he forced us to try it.
Until then....
-Holly
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
5/16 Update from Dan - HIV Education Program
It was an interesting day today. I (Dan) was up all night with a stomach bug... my first bout with sickness in the three years I have been here. But the team rallied and we were out the door by 8:45, heading for the Church Planting School in our A-Team van. Elizabeth gave the first talk to the church planters about abstinence. She did an amazing job, rousing the best discussion that we have had thus far. I cannot tell you how impressed I am with this intake of church planters...it is the best group that I've experienced so far. They are passionate about HIV/AIDS and seem to have a lot of wisdom to relate to it. It is constantly giving me more and more hope for the future leadership in Africa (which has been such a plaguing problem for the last 60 years on this continent). After tea time (10:30), I talked about abstinence (particularly in respect to men) and then we got into a pretty intense discussion about judgmental attitudes, their origins, and the damage that they inflict on the church and in relationships.
After this teaching session, our team was pretty spent. As we arrived at Kantanshi High, we all just looked into each other's tired eyes and realized that we needed to pray. It seems we have already hit that place where we are tapped out of our own strength. So we took a seat under this beautiful African canopy tree in the courtyard and asked God for strength, for confidence, and for Him to show up. Then we went in and began to dance to our accompanying African choir. As we were doing our opening skit, a lot of the students (the 11th and 12th graders) began to leave because lunch break was over and we were supposed to be working with the 10th graders today. It has definitely been a constant frustration because they will begin to exit as our talks are beginning to start (please pray for us about this!). Once they were all cleared out, it went really well as Stef and Elizabeth delivered some solid talks. Then we had a dance contest that really showed our whiteness in pure embarrassment. I got out on stage and commenced in using the 5 worst and most botched dance moves Zambians have ever seen. It was purely pitiful. Then Stefanie got out there and everything was going okay until about 3 minutes in when she started doing these frightful hippy dances and our whole team was rolling (literally) on the ground. It was really good for us to laugh...laughter has not been sparse among the team and has served as therapy for all of us. Elizabeth danced next and she brought a shred of dignity to the "mazungus" (white people) with dance moves that were actually dance moves.
From there we split up into guys and girls to talk about standards and abstinence. The guys group went really well. We had a handful of the 8th and 9th graders from the day before, but we had a good group of 10th graders as well. Both talks went well and I think it is really challenging them to think about how they look at women. It has been really good to break the silence about these guys' struggle with masturbation and pornography. I get the feeling that these are topics that are very taboo in Africa, but are things that all Zambian youth struggle with (similar to American youth). We are challenging them to stop looking for girlfriends and start looking for wives... to stop just messing around and start treating the girls as sisters, rather than just something to use for their pleasure. Afterwards this group of guys approached and had some really good questions. God continues to work here... He continues to be faithful to a group of Americans who are in over our head. I guess that makes sense... God tends to never use those who garner their own strength... praise God!
After this teaching session, our team was pretty spent. As we arrived at Kantanshi High, we all just looked into each other's tired eyes and realized that we needed to pray. It seems we have already hit that place where we are tapped out of our own strength. So we took a seat under this beautiful African canopy tree in the courtyard and asked God for strength, for confidence, and for Him to show up. Then we went in and began to dance to our accompanying African choir. As we were doing our opening skit, a lot of the students (the 11th and 12th graders) began to leave because lunch break was over and we were supposed to be working with the 10th graders today. It has definitely been a constant frustration because they will begin to exit as our talks are beginning to start (please pray for us about this!). Once they were all cleared out, it went really well as Stef and Elizabeth delivered some solid talks. Then we had a dance contest that really showed our whiteness in pure embarrassment. I got out on stage and commenced in using the 5 worst and most botched dance moves Zambians have ever seen. It was purely pitiful. Then Stefanie got out there and everything was going okay until about 3 minutes in when she started doing these frightful hippy dances and our whole team was rolling (literally) on the ground. It was really good for us to laugh...laughter has not been sparse among the team and has served as therapy for all of us. Elizabeth danced next and she brought a shred of dignity to the "mazungus" (white people) with dance moves that were actually dance moves.
From there we split up into guys and girls to talk about standards and abstinence. The guys group went really well. We had a handful of the 8th and 9th graders from the day before, but we had a good group of 10th graders as well. Both talks went well and I think it is really challenging them to think about how they look at women. It has been really good to break the silence about these guys' struggle with masturbation and pornography. I get the feeling that these are topics that are very taboo in Africa, but are things that all Zambian youth struggle with (similar to American youth). We are challenging them to stop looking for girlfriends and start looking for wives... to stop just messing around and start treating the girls as sisters, rather than just something to use for their pleasure. Afterwards this group of guys approached and had some really good questions. God continues to work here... He continues to be faithful to a group of Americans who are in over our head. I guess that makes sense... God tends to never use those who garner their own strength... praise God!
5/16 Update from Holly - Moringa Project
Happy Wednesday! Today has been yet another interesting day in Zambia. The moringa team started by waking up at 6am to travel to Emma's Kids, an orphanage in the area. Emma's Kids has about 300 street kids and houses 50 there full-time. They were all sweet and kind and happy to see us. We participated in their morning worship and I (Holly) got chills throughout several parts. Zambians pray out loud, and when they prayed individually we couldn't help but open our eyes. They got louder and louder until it was a cacophony of people almost shouting prayer. Some were on their knees, others standing with their hands folded, and some that looked like they were preaching. A 4-5 year old girl prayed so that she was almost screaming. It was very different from the prayers that we are used to, but very moving. Afterwards they sang and danced. And let me tell you- Zambians have beautiful voices! That was chill moment #2. We wish that we could have recorded their songs. Afterwards we got a tour of the orphanage, which was quite well run. It ended up that they had 5-6 grown moringa trees; a few were moringa oleifera (what we are planting) and others were moringa africana. The moringa africana has larger leaves and upon tasting it we discovered it was quite bitter. Several of us ended up spitting it out. Although they had the trees already producing pods and seeds, they did not know how to use them. We ended up teaching them how to process it and incorporate it into their diets and within a few hours they were able to make moringa powder. We headed out to their farm in the back of a truck, along a long incredibly rough dirt road in the bush. It took about 45 minutes, but we were able to take pictures of bush huts and see a few bush people. They were all very friendly, happily waving. At the farm we took a look around and spoke with them about building a lake for irrigation. The farm is very primitive, with no running water, but they were working on adding some plumbing to newly built buildings. They make their own bricks out of termite mounds. Kinda crazy! They plan on building a moringa forest, with about 1000 trees on 2000 acres. They have the seeds, and plan to plant them and incorporate the leaves and powder into their food. We caught a ride back on the back of a corn truck. It was funny riding through town; all the locals were laughing at the crazy muzungu girls sprawled out across maize, which is a type of corn. Many people laughed at us, as I'm sure it is not a sight that they see every day.
The trip to Emma's Kids took the whole day. We all thought that we'd accomplish more within the time period, but we were captive to the African way of moving at a glacial pace. People would hang out a while, talk a little bit, hang out some more, then talk about doing something before hanging out some more... I was fine with the slow pace, but some of the others were tested. As Carol put it, "I didn't ask God to test my patience, but he sure is!" It probably had a lot to do with the fact that we were all sweating like pigs, dirty, and starving from no lunch.
Tomorrow we will be going to the bush again, in Murundu. Hopefully we will get more accomplished, but it is sure to at least be another exciting adventure.
Something I forgot to mention yesterday that was funny. We asked the local boys what their favorite music is and they said R Kelly and Lil Jon. Apparently American music (or R&B/rap at least) is really cool here.
Until tomorrow.
The trip to Emma's Kids took the whole day. We all thought that we'd accomplish more within the time period, but we were captive to the African way of moving at a glacial pace. People would hang out a while, talk a little bit, hang out some more, then talk about doing something before hanging out some more... I was fine with the slow pace, but some of the others were tested. As Carol put it, "I didn't ask God to test my patience, but he sure is!" It probably had a lot to do with the fact that we were all sweating like pigs, dirty, and starving from no lunch.
Tomorrow we will be going to the bush again, in Murundu. Hopefully we will get more accomplished, but it is sure to at least be another exciting adventure.
Something I forgot to mention yesterday that was funny. We asked the local boys what their favorite music is and they said R Kelly and Lil Jon. Apparently American music (or R&B/rap at least) is really cool here.
Until tomorrow.
5/16 Update from Kristen - Trauma Program
Today was day three of our Trauma program at Pamodzi Girls High School. Our time with the girls there has been very precious - Tannen, Jeremy and I spent two weeks there last May, and we have been very excited to see all of our friends again. Tannen spoke today on the topic of Our Condition vs. His Position, and was received very well by the girls. Her moving testimony and profound insights on her experience of trauma impacted all of us. The girls especially were able to relate to Tannen's story and opened up to us in our small groups afterward. The stories that we are hearing are heart-breaking, and it is easy to feel that these situations are hopeless - but we find comfort in knowing that we serve a God who works outside our puny expectations.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
5/15 Update from Jill - HIV Education Program
Good evening! My name is Jill, and I am a proud member of the STS school presentation team. As Holly mentioned, we’re all a bit tired today; probably a combination of residual jet lag, late nights, and general exhaustion; despite that fact, the day has been overwhelmingly positive. :) My team returned to Kantanshi High School to work with the 8th and 9th graders today. We’re much more confident and prepared than we were yesterday, now that we’ve managed to re-work our entire presentation to fit into 2 days rather than the originally scheduled 2 weeks. I think that the shorter time frame is a good fit for the kids’ attention spans, although it does make it more difficult to form trust relationships with the kids. We started out with a skit and then hit upon the topics of standards, abstinence, and how God views sex, and then got them laughing with a dance competition which they handily won. :) The real ‘meat’ of the presentation was the small group time that followed the standards talk, for which we had separated the girls and the boys. All of the children were attentive and asked some very good questions. I am praying that the 10th and 11th graders have the same kind of response tomorrow. :) Although it is pretty exhausting to truly trust God for every word of a presentation and a small group session, it is a singularly spiritual experience. God has and will continue to work out His kingdom through this ministry, and I can’t wait to see what He will do next.
5/15 Update from Holly - Moringa Project
Good afternoon! Today has been a busy day for us all. We had to awake at a decent time because several of us were going to give presentations at the church planting school first thing. Tannen stayed up with me until 2am brainstorming, so we were tired but managed. I finally hit the point where I said "I'm spent- I'm going to bed. It'll all work out..." You know how I value my sleep. I'm so thankful that Dr. T brought tea from SA so we could perk up a bit this morning. Jim VZ led the sessions at the school by speaking with the students about the moringa; what it is, how to use it, etc. He's preparing for his spotlight on Zambian national TV this weekend; I think that he'll do quite well. After Jim presented, I led a 2 hour seminar on counseling. I started by asking the students "Ok, so what do you think that counseling is?" We talked about that a while, and also discussed some of their preconceived notions. Admittedly, I have been quite nervous about this because I thought "I'm not a trained counselor- how can I tell them what to do? Why should they listen to me?" I've been reading lots of books, but that doesn't make me an expert. It worked out amazingly well though; I think that the seminar made a huge difference. We ran through some textbook stuff on "what makes a counselor"- different characteristics and traits, and discussed them in depth. Tannen then helped by doing a little role-playing with me. We acted out a counseling scenario to illustrate the 15 necessary steps; e.g.- empathy, active listening, directing. They thought that we were kind of funny (which we are, I suppose). Next we broke them up into 4 groups of 3/4 students and gave them scenarios that we had made up ahead of time. An example:
Who: 16 year old girl
What: She was raped by her uncle and is dealing with feelings of anger and anxiety
When: about a year ago
They took turns being the counselor and counselee and Tannen, Jeremy and I watched each group and tried to guide them along, interjecting when we felt it was necessary. The students did an amazing job, and we were all very impressed. It was obvious that they were used to hearing tragic stories; they elaborated in such detail on some of them that I had to remind myself that they were acting. After the exercise, they discussed what worked and what didn't work, both as the counselor and the counselee. We were very pleased with the feedback, as they seemed to have learned a lot. They asked many questions, some very difficult. We gave them handouts that summarized what we'd taught, so they would have a reference. Overall it went far better than I'd hoped or expected. Tannen's knowledge of HIV and trauma as well as Jeremy's 25+ years as a pastor really helped out.
After Dan and his HIV education group gave a talk, we had lunch. Dr. Thinus made my day by announcing that he had brought many bags of rice from SA with him so that we can rotate eating nshima and rice. Apparently rice is rarely eaten here; people can't afford it. I ate every last drop with a sausage and sauce. It was delicious! They also served us a cooked cabbage dish that seems to be a staple of every meal. It's not my favorite, but is growing on me.
After we ate enough to keep us going for a while, Carol, Jessica and I went back to the house to keep digging more holes. Jim VZ stayed at the church planting school to make photocopies of technical notes for the doctors that we will be presenting the moringa information to next week at Kitwe Central Hospital. (This is the presentation that was set up through my mutual friend). The photocopy machine here is very old and breaks down about every other copy, so it's been taking him a while. The hole digging is the least fun part, and today the local kids were more interested in sitting back and laughing at us and just hanging out. A few lent a helping hand. The baby next door just sat while we were digging and threw the dirt back in the hole. I tried to tell her "No, please don't do that" but of course she didn't understand. She's adorable though. Carol went to town with the pick-axe (she's very strong!), I dug the holes, and Jessica hauled pails of water back and forth. By the time that we finished the 40 holes for the new trees, we had quite a system going. We were also completely drenched in sweat and parched, despite our massive water intake. The soil is hard red clay, and we have to dig holes about 1' around and 1' deep. It is quite an undertaking, but when we are done we will have a grove of 46 moringa trees in front of Dr. T's house. Needless to say, we're all pretty exhausted.
Tomorrow we are going to visit an orphanage called Emma's Kids, which I am REALLY excited about. They have moringa trees but don't know how to use them. We’ll be sure to let you all know how it goes!
Who: 16 year old girl
What: She was raped by her uncle and is dealing with feelings of anger and anxiety
When: about a year ago
They took turns being the counselor and counselee and Tannen, Jeremy and I watched each group and tried to guide them along, interjecting when we felt it was necessary. The students did an amazing job, and we were all very impressed. It was obvious that they were used to hearing tragic stories; they elaborated in such detail on some of them that I had to remind myself that they were acting. After the exercise, they discussed what worked and what didn't work, both as the counselor and the counselee. We were very pleased with the feedback, as they seemed to have learned a lot. They asked many questions, some very difficult. We gave them handouts that summarized what we'd taught, so they would have a reference. Overall it went far better than I'd hoped or expected. Tannen's knowledge of HIV and trauma as well as Jeremy's 25+ years as a pastor really helped out.
After Dan and his HIV education group gave a talk, we had lunch. Dr. Thinus made my day by announcing that he had brought many bags of rice from SA with him so that we can rotate eating nshima and rice. Apparently rice is rarely eaten here; people can't afford it. I ate every last drop with a sausage and sauce. It was delicious! They also served us a cooked cabbage dish that seems to be a staple of every meal. It's not my favorite, but is growing on me.
After we ate enough to keep us going for a while, Carol, Jessica and I went back to the house to keep digging more holes. Jim VZ stayed at the church planting school to make photocopies of technical notes for the doctors that we will be presenting the moringa information to next week at Kitwe Central Hospital. (This is the presentation that was set up through my mutual friend). The photocopy machine here is very old and breaks down about every other copy, so it's been taking him a while. The hole digging is the least fun part, and today the local kids were more interested in sitting back and laughing at us and just hanging out. A few lent a helping hand. The baby next door just sat while we were digging and threw the dirt back in the hole. I tried to tell her "No, please don't do that" but of course she didn't understand. She's adorable though. Carol went to town with the pick-axe (she's very strong!), I dug the holes, and Jessica hauled pails of water back and forth. By the time that we finished the 40 holes for the new trees, we had quite a system going. We were also completely drenched in sweat and parched, despite our massive water intake. The soil is hard red clay, and we have to dig holes about 1' around and 1' deep. It is quite an undertaking, but when we are done we will have a grove of 46 moringa trees in front of Dr. T's house. Needless to say, we're all pretty exhausted.
Tomorrow we are going to visit an orphanage called Emma's Kids, which I am REALLY excited about. They have moringa trees but don't know how to use them. We’ll be sure to let you all know how it goes!
Monday, May 14, 2007
5/14 Update from Jim - Moringa Project
Briefly from the beginning, Dr T and I (Jim) spent 4 days in preparation from South Africa. We left at 1 am Monday morning, drove all night, all day, and all night. In the middle of the second night of driving someone jumped on our trailer as we were going slow through the town, cut the ropes, removed the tarp, stole our mattresses and some of the clothes that we were bringing for orphans. We arrived alive in Mufulira on Tuesday morning. After 2 hours of sleep we started painting and preparing for the rest of the team.
Along with working on the house, I started planting hundreds of moringa seeds. Many of the neighborhood kids joined in to help. By the time the rest of the group came on Saturday about 600 seeds had been planted.
Today we started planting more seeds. We have about 1000 seeds planted now. We also started our Moringa grove at Dr T's house. So far we have been digging the planting holes (18 in deep by 18 in wide). Tomorrow we are planning to talk to the CPS students about the Moringa and start including it in their food. Wednesday we hope to go to Emma's Kids farm -- they have many large moringa trees but don't know what to do with them. We've also made contact with an orphanage in Ndola that has the same problems: trees but no knowledge. We will have a clinic with them next week. Thursday we are going to Murundu village to get a grove of moringa trees started. Saturday I'm being interviewed on national TV (ZMBC) about the moringa project. Tentatively, on Sunday the national television station will come here to film and interview about the moringa project and Stop The Spread. A week from Wednesday we are planning to speak at a general hospital in Kitwe. Our schedule is filling up fast.
Along with working on the house, I started planting hundreds of moringa seeds. Many of the neighborhood kids joined in to help. By the time the rest of the group came on Saturday about 600 seeds had been planted.
Today we started planting more seeds. We have about 1000 seeds planted now. We also started our Moringa grove at Dr T's house. So far we have been digging the planting holes (18 in deep by 18 in wide). Tomorrow we are planning to talk to the CPS students about the Moringa and start including it in their food. Wednesday we hope to go to Emma's Kids farm -- they have many large moringa trees but don't know what to do with them. We've also made contact with an orphanage in Ndola that has the same problems: trees but no knowledge. We will have a clinic with them next week. Thursday we are going to Murundu village to get a grove of moringa trees started. Saturday I'm being interviewed on national TV (ZMBC) about the moringa project. Tentatively, on Sunday the national television station will come here to film and interview about the moringa project and Stop The Spread. A week from Wednesday we are planning to speak at a general hospital in Kitwe. Our schedule is filling up fast.
Sunday, May 13, 2007
5/13 Update from Holly & Elizabeth
Muli shani! (Hello, how are you? in Chibemba) I (Holly) decided to write before everyone gets in line. My first full day in Zambia is going wonderfully. As I write this it's only 5pm, but what a day it's been! Dr. T (whose house this is) got up shortly after and he treated me to rooibos tea from South Africa and some homemade bread biscuits. You dip the bread in the tea/coffee and it dissolves and is yummy. I guess it's their version of tea and scones. Once people got up and showered, we got ready for church. We split in 2 groups for some reason to go to 2 different churches in 2 diff. towns. I accompanied Tannen, Kristen, and Jim VZ to the church in the town here. What an experience! There was so much singing and dancing, everyone so happy. Unfortunately I dozed off throughout the service because it kept going on and on - for FOUR HOURS!!! It was a really cool experience.
I (Elizabeth) went with Dr. T, Carol, Jessica and Dan to church in Kitwe (the second biggest town in Zambia). We too experienced lots of singing and dancing. One of the best parts was their way of celebrating Mother’s Day. By the way, Happy Mother’s Day to all of you at home!!! Anyway, they celebrated by singing a special song during which each of the mothers came out to the aisle and boogied down – literally! It was fantastic and something you would never expect to see in the middle of church!!! :) Our service also lasted around four hours and was absolutely amazing. I loved being able to dance and sing with the Zambians.
We are treated like royalty here. All the locals carry our stuff for us, insist on serving us, etc. After church we were escorted out before everyone and then they had a large receiving line so that we met everyone in the church. I think they are not used to seeing many white people, so we are a bit of a novelty. Tannen knows many of them since this is her fourth year. They had her stand up during church and say some words; she spoke in Bemba and they all hooted and hollered. After church and the long receiving line we talked to the locals. All the kids were staring and smiling. Then we were invited for lunch at the house of a prominent man in the government whose wife is a member of the church. They are apparently the wealthiest couple around. They set tables out in the courtyard and decorated them and served an absolutely amazing meal! We had rice with sauce, some sort of amazing chicken, and some random green cole slaw stuff. Apparently Orange Fanta is what they serve to important people, so we had lots of it. It's been years since I've had that. It was nice and cool under the trees- no mosquitoes. The chicken here is so much better also. Probably because it's so fresh, and there are no hormones or anything. Afterwards they insisted that we take taxis back because it was a ways to the house. Since coming back a little bit ago, Jim VZ and I have been working on moringa stuff. An organization that is associated with the mines is looking to clean up their environment and plant trees. Many of the people around the copper mine are having intestinal issues from the sulfur by-products. We told them about moringa, showed them our trees and sprouts and let them taste some. They are very interested in planting moringa throughout their property because it is proven to help these issues. Later this week Jim and I are going to go there and tell them where to plant it before giving them seedlings.
Well that's about all that's happened so far. My (Holly) overall impressions of my first full day - the Zambians are a wonderful, happy people. We are safe to walk around freely and I haven't felt awkward at all. This is VERY different from South Africa. We all stink terribly, but that’s okay because we are in Zambia. We are blessed to have a real shower, which is wonderful. It stays warm and has great pressure. The only catch is that we need to yell “geyser!” to have it turned it on and off.
Here’s the best process for giving us a call, assuming that you really want to talk to us! :)
I (Elizabeth) went with Dr. T, Carol, Jessica and Dan to church in Kitwe (the second biggest town in Zambia). We too experienced lots of singing and dancing. One of the best parts was their way of celebrating Mother’s Day. By the way, Happy Mother’s Day to all of you at home!!! Anyway, they celebrated by singing a special song during which each of the mothers came out to the aisle and boogied down – literally! It was fantastic and something you would never expect to see in the middle of church!!! :) Our service also lasted around four hours and was absolutely amazing. I loved being able to dance and sing with the Zambians.
We are treated like royalty here. All the locals carry our stuff for us, insist on serving us, etc. After church we were escorted out before everyone and then they had a large receiving line so that we met everyone in the church. I think they are not used to seeing many white people, so we are a bit of a novelty. Tannen knows many of them since this is her fourth year. They had her stand up during church and say some words; she spoke in Bemba and they all hooted and hollered. After church and the long receiving line we talked to the locals. All the kids were staring and smiling. Then we were invited for lunch at the house of a prominent man in the government whose wife is a member of the church. They are apparently the wealthiest couple around. They set tables out in the courtyard and decorated them and served an absolutely amazing meal! We had rice with sauce, some sort of amazing chicken, and some random green cole slaw stuff. Apparently Orange Fanta is what they serve to important people, so we had lots of it. It's been years since I've had that. It was nice and cool under the trees- no mosquitoes. The chicken here is so much better also. Probably because it's so fresh, and there are no hormones or anything. Afterwards they insisted that we take taxis back because it was a ways to the house. Since coming back a little bit ago, Jim VZ and I have been working on moringa stuff. An organization that is associated with the mines is looking to clean up their environment and plant trees. Many of the people around the copper mine are having intestinal issues from the sulfur by-products. We told them about moringa, showed them our trees and sprouts and let them taste some. They are very interested in planting moringa throughout their property because it is proven to help these issues. Later this week Jim and I are going to go there and tell them where to plant it before giving them seedlings.
Well that's about all that's happened so far. My (Holly) overall impressions of my first full day - the Zambians are a wonderful, happy people. We are safe to walk around freely and I haven't felt awkward at all. This is VERY different from South Africa. We all stink terribly, but that’s okay because we are in Zambia. We are blessed to have a real shower, which is wonderful. It stays warm and has great pressure. The only catch is that we need to yell “geyser!” to have it turned it on and off.
Here’s the best process for giving us a call, assuming that you really want to talk to us! :)
- Calling from anywhere in the world,
- Put your international code before the following number: +2602-411517
- This will ring Dr. T’s landline that someone should answer.
Please be considerate of Zambian time and try to call after 7:00 PM
Friday, May 11, 2007
Ready to Go
Here are a couple of pictures of most of the first crew, ready to go to the airport in Miami:
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Packed up and heading out
"Mulishani!" is how you say hello in the native language, Bemba. So, Mulishani! Today's the day that many of us are leaving to begin our journey. We're scattered about from Lauderdale, Jacksonville, DC... The one common thing we share is our contagious enthusiasm and excitement about what lies ahead. It seems like to much has been building up to this that it's somewhat surreal that it's actually time! For those of us who haven't been to Zambia before, the excitement is laced with a little bit of nerves. I know that I am personally most worried about the 15 .5 hour direct flight from DC to Johannesburg, South Africa. After a night in SA, I'll be flying to Ndola where we will all meet.
Mr. VanZwieten is on the ground in Zambia already with Dr. Thinus. Apparently one of the cars broke down while driving from South Africa, so the groups will have to share a car. We are going to meet up with Mr. VZ and Dr. Thinus at the airport in Ndola on Saturday and then head to Mufulira, which should be about 45 minutes to an hour away. A map of Zambia is below:
The moringa project is pretty organized (for now) and we're ready to get things started. We know that we have to remain very flexible, as things have a way of changing suddenly once we're in Africa. In the past few weeks we've made contacts with people throughout the world that are interested in what we're doing. One of the contacts is a doctor and nurse team of missionaries with the PC(USA) church that are stationed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). They have been working with moringa for several years with great success. They have a great website at http://www.pcusa.org/missionconnections/profiles/haningerm.htm. Make sure you check out their photo album- there is a link to it just underneath their picture at the top. Another group that we're going to work with is another Christian non-profit called Isubilo (http://www.isubilo.org/index.htm). Isubilo is starting a moringa project in Ndola and needs some additional support getting things going. They have the contacts and we have the resources, so we are going join together to hold a workshop in the area. Some of their needs include biodegradable pots for replanting the moringa seedlings, as well as additional seeds and information on how to easily harvest the tree and incorporate it into their diets. This is what the moringa tree looks like once it's grown:
The other groups are also cranking things into gear. It's sure to be a fulfilling and exciting time! Please keep us in your prayers and check back for updates regularly.
Team STS would also like to give a "shout out" to all the future members of Team Stop the Spread (STS) in Mrs. Clarke's 3rd grade class at Holy Nativity Episcopal School in Panama City, FL. Keep working hard and maybe you can join our team in about 10 years. Also, make sure that you check out our video in the previous post. Turn the music up!!!
Take care and God bless!
Mr. VanZwieten is on the ground in Zambia already with Dr. Thinus. Apparently one of the cars broke down while driving from South Africa, so the groups will have to share a car. We are going to meet up with Mr. VZ and Dr. Thinus at the airport in Ndola on Saturday and then head to Mufulira, which should be about 45 minutes to an hour away. A map of Zambia is below:
The moringa project is pretty organized (for now) and we're ready to get things started. We know that we have to remain very flexible, as things have a way of changing suddenly once we're in Africa. In the past few weeks we've made contacts with people throughout the world that are interested in what we're doing. One of the contacts is a doctor and nurse team of missionaries with the PC(USA) church that are stationed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). They have been working with moringa for several years with great success. They have a great website at http://www.pcusa.org/missionconnections/profiles/haningerm.htm. Make sure you check out their photo album- there is a link to it just underneath their picture at the top. Another group that we're going to work with is another Christian non-profit called Isubilo (http://www.isubilo.org/index.htm). Isubilo is starting a moringa project in Ndola and needs some additional support getting things going. They have the contacts and we have the resources, so we are going join together to hold a workshop in the area. Some of their needs include biodegradable pots for replanting the moringa seedlings, as well as additional seeds and information on how to easily harvest the tree and incorporate it into their diets. This is what the moringa tree looks like once it's grown:
The other groups are also cranking things into gear. It's sure to be a fulfilling and exciting time! Please keep us in your prayers and check back for updates regularly.
Team STS would also like to give a "shout out" to all the future members of Team Stop the Spread (STS) in Mrs. Clarke's 3rd grade class at Holy Nativity Episcopal School in Panama City, FL. Keep working hard and maybe you can join our team in about 10 years. Also, make sure that you check out our video in the previous post. Turn the music up!!!
Take care and God bless!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)