Megan - Dec 16-18 (Thur-Sat)

I’m happy to report that I did not die from either the mystery disease or the malaria drugs I took, but I can’t say that I would like to repeat either experience. I have, however, discovered the new Zambian weight loss program, which is pretty much: feel like death, don’t eat for 3 days.

Happily, by Thursday I was sufficiently recovered to walk the 2 kilometers into town with the team for our meeting with the Facilitators. Tessa actually headed in early for a continued discussion on Counseling. I wasn’t there to see it, but I heard positive reports, and I think a lot of the Facilitators are interested in becoming more proficient at helping their students work through some challenging issues.

The Facilitators’ meeting focused on how to implement the business development workshop for the students next year – it was universally agreed that we ought to focus on a few pilot schools, rather than invite a limited number of students from each school to a larger workshop. Although it will take longer (several years, perhaps) to reach all the schools, we want to make sure we offer the students enough attention and depth that they really grasp the tools we are teaching them, and can successfully apply them. We are hoping that over the course of next year’s workshop, the students will be able to generate business plans and proposals, which will allow them to start a business run by their club. Students regularly request funds for t-shirts, sports equipment, inter-club events, and even school fees for their club members, and we would like to empower them to earn their own money to support their clubs. These will also be solid foundational tools that they can take with them as they go on to college or out into the “working world” where they will most likely need to create their own jobs, since the employment rate in Zambia is so low.

Friday was reserved as a planning day for the Annual General Meeting (AGM), which of course meant that it was immediately filled with a thousand endabas. It is entirely futile to allocate “planning time” in our schedule. Zambian Time is a finicky thing. After a full day meeting at the church planting school, the locals are perfectly happy to sit around singing or playing some Zambian version of hacky sack for 2 hours, while the rain prevents you from going home. But as soon as the rain lightens and you show signs of packing up, 6 people suddenly need to talk to you now now. (Which is sooner than now.) Asking them why they couldn’t have talked to you over the past 2 hours will only result in their sudden incapacity to understand English. Similarly, if their inscrutable Zambian Time sense tells them that you will be at home all day (regardless of your intent to be planning so that the AGM doesn’t last 12 hours) they will all discover that they need to meet with you, and will proceed to come by the house, utterly preventing you from accomplishing anything.

And so it was that on Friday we spent a significant amount of time with Simon, learning wonderful things about how traditional Zambian spouses respect each other. Women respect their husbands by welcoming them home on their knees, serving them food on their knees, bringing them water in bed on their knees. Men respect their wives (I had to ask) by 1. not shouting at them, 2. not chastising them publicly in front of guests, but rather waiting until they are alone. R-E-S-P-E-C-T. I don’t think Simon understands what it means when I stare at him incredulously. I also find it hilarious when Bishop Muleya tells us that we should find some nice Zambian men to marry. I don’t think my knees could take it. Not being shouted at publicly though, now that would be a perk.

On Saturday, we sent Sarah off to the airport with a fond farewell to one of our finest chefs. These Paynes are certainly worth having around for their creative culinary skills. Sarah was also instrumental in making sure that I got lots of sleep and ate the occasional piece of bread while I was “down” as they say, so she has my thanks.

Saturday afternoon was consumed by the AGM with the Executive Committee (EC), which is comprised of several hard-working and committed Zambians. The EC has been one of the greatest STS accomplishments for 2010. They have really taken ownership of the Zambian side of the organization, keeping the Facilitators motivated and on track, dealing with distributing the funds, helping us organize this trip’s workshop, and preparing to take over a significant chunk of Johnny’s monitoring & evaluation role in 2011.

I’ll leave the tales of Sunday to another lucky blogger, but I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Tannen - Dec 14-15th

Yesterday and today was our Business Development Workshop, which we are leading for the first time. Attendees included all of our “STS Facilitators” who are the leaders in each of the clubs, a couple of “Club Parents” who are the liaison between the club and the school, and a small number of promising OVC Advocates. The workshop itself is primarily a path-finder for a 5 day workshop that we hope to host at the schools in 2011. The long term goal is to assist the clubs to become self-sufficient (decrease dependency on foreign support), and simultaneously provide the students in the clubs with practical skills for providing for themselves and their families in the future. We have observed through the years that many of the students who manage to pay for and complete their high school education struggle to find something to transition to when they graduate. College is not an option for most, and the high schools are not focused on providing them with a vocation or essential life skills. A small percentage of high school graduates are able to find jobs, and too many of them become idle. Our hope is that this program can help to span the gap between the reading-writing-arithmetic-type of education to something that can practically assist them with their lives upon graduation. In the same vein, we would like to encourage them to start businesses that result in a product that will provide for core community needs such as food and clothing. I had a conversation about the need to develop basic vocational skills and focus on providing the essentials for survival with one of my brothers before leaving for Zambia, and this conversation helped me to put these concepts at the forefront of my mind.

That’s probably enough philosophy for now, so back to the workshop… we kept the STS leaders and OVC advocates together yesterday morning. We started late due to late arrivals, but once we got going I enjoyed facilitating the morning and early afternoon activities. We covered some introductory materials, expectations, and brainstormed business ideas. These ideas were reduced to ones that had a reasonable capital investment and were determined to have the most benefit to student members and the community, and the greatest chance of success. Small groups formed and discussed which business would be the best fit for them. We started from a list of 50+ ideas, reduced to the top 8, and at the end everyone ended up choosing either farming for ground nuts or chicken rearing but I think that we learned something from the process and I do think those businesses fit the bill.

Megan was sick, but made it in around lunch time. She taught about “making money” – market strategy, minimizing expenditures, and risk management. Our late start & lunch time made it so that she had to compress her materials, but it was a nice overview which is in alignment with our objective for these two days. She impressed me with her ability to power through her sickness and coherently teach these subjects, engage the audience, and provide appropriate and thoughtful responses to their questions.

Today, Megan was even sicker than yesterday (we think as a response to the additional malaria meds that she took yesterday). We were all somewhat dehydrated since we ran out of clean water the night before, but she woke up very thirsty so I scavenged around the house and managed to find a few sips of clean water & some boiled water which Sarah had turned into lemonade the night before. Johnny had to make a run home a little later in the morning, so he brought her home some bread and purified water which was basically the only thing that she wanted.

At the workshop, we started off in the traditional way with some great music. Fena Chibesa, who hosted part of our team when we were in Dar Es Salaam last year, led us in Zambian & Tanzanian worship songs which I really enjoyed. Afterwards we split the OVC Advocates from the STS leaders for the rest of the day. Johnny taught those who had come in support of their OVCs. I didn't have the opportunity to hear what he was saying, but I know that he has a solid understanding of the needs of his group and a nice teaching style. He had made colorful poster boards with good content which he duct taped to the wall to reference in support of his message, and the couple of times that I passed by it seemed like his group was engaged and I got a verbal confirmation that “it went good” at the end of the day.

Megan didn’t end up making it out of the house, so I had the facilitators to myself for the day. One of our long-time STS-Zambia members, Terry, taught a session in the morning on business planning. I’m really glad that he used his education and experience in business to help us teach and I think that it added a lot. I have nothing but good things to say about his preparation, content, and presentation and it flowed well with the rest of the day. I mostly focused on the management of people and finances, the content of which had been prepared with the help of a state-side colleague. The emphasis was on starting a small business with their club, but we also discussed applicability to their clubs in general. Despite just getting over being sick and generally being somewhat fatigued, I found the day to be very enjoyable, interactive, and productive. I left with the feeling that we had accomplished something and the verbal and written comments from the facilitators and club parents confirmed this for me.

Back at the house, Sarah already had dinner going and we enjoyed our bucket baths since the day had been somewhat hot. Megan is still sick but has been sleeping and resting a lot and appears to be on the road to recovery. So don’t worry Megan’s Mom and Dad but please do continue to keep her in your prayers!

Chisuma mukwai,

Tannen VZ

Tessa - December 13th

This afternoon Tannen, Megan, Sarah and I headed to Murundu. The driver was a risk taker; even the Zambians were fussing at the driver. One Zambian man thanked God for surviving when we made it to Murundu. Many children ran to meet us down the road from Enfys school to escort us. While Tannen and Megan met with Hilda and Joseph about financial issues I taught a bulk of the children "The Itsy Bitsy Spider," "Here’s the church here is the steeple, open it up to see all the people" and the hand trick where you have middle fingers wiggling on either side of your palms. The last interactive activity proved to be a bit more difficult than the other 2. Next, I lined up the kids outside so we could pass out yo-yo balloons. It went well at first because we selected 1 child at a time to go inside, get a balloon from Sarah and sit down. However, when the room filled up and there were still children coming from the village we needed to move them out for space. Tranquility ended and chaos began. The children began trying to get the air out of the balloons, the children in line outside started pushing and fighting, it became very loud and they ignored directions. I wished very badly in that moment to know more Bemba. Help was asked of Joseph so we could gain some order. The children who already had balloons would not get away from the school door and some tried to get another balloon. Even after Joseph told them to go under the shelter, they returned. As I watched the kids, I became saddened at the meanness and fight for survival that arose. In a childlike way it became a bit barbaric. Some balloons destroyed within minutes. I wanted to communicate love, boundaries and service but I found it very difficult with the amount of children and language barrier.

It was a mutual decision eventually to shut the door after all the balloons were handed out. Sarah went to play soccer with some older boys from the Earn It Program. A few kids stayed around and I went outside to read them a children’s “Dear God” book. I also had my small dry erase board to help teach them new English words. I started with about 8 kids sitting with me which grew to approximately 30. It was fun and they were a captive audience... smothering in fact. :) Rebecca (one of the school teachers) arrived halfway through the story and helped interpret which was helpful for the kids I’m sure.

The dichotomy of the 2 experiences was difficult, yet a rewarding experience. I feel it was a good reminder of the Lord’s love for us despite our selfishness and flesh outbursts. Often times when God gives us what we want we lose sight of what is most important and develop an attitude of deserving what is given and destruction can occur. However, when we openly accept what we need from the Father there is often more peace and good ultimately is the result.

Blog for Sunday, December 12th

Muli Shani ? (How are you?)

This is Sarah blogging… my first STS blog! I am Johnny’s older sister and I am visiting Johnny in Africa and getting to help with some STS missions as well. On Sunday we traveled to Showers of Blessings Church in Kitwe to worship with their congregation and listen to Dr. Thinus preach. It was my first time in an African church! In typical African style, there was music playing and people came in slowly over the next hour. The choir sang tirelessly for us and was composed of 3 men and 4 women with beautiful voices. They sang from their souls with deep conviction. We swayed along with the music and tried to pick out a few words and sounds to hum along. We were asked to sit in the first pew as guests of honor. Dr. Thinus then preached about the responsibility of believers to encourage each other daily to keep believing in the face of hardship and to reach out to members who have stopped coming to church, from Hebrews 3. Dr. Thinus preached in English but had an interpreter who was as expressive and as sincere as he was. I enjoyed hearing the Bemba language but having to pause after every phrase sometimes interrupted the flow of the message.

After Church we went to lunch at the pastor’s house. The pastor also works at the bank and has a very nicely furnished middle class home. We enjoyed a delicious meal of rice, potatoes, beef stew, cabbage, chicken, Nshima, and gravy.

We visited the souvenir market in Kitwe, which houses about 20 stalls under one roof selling all manner of wooden animals, copper bracelets, printed cloths, native paintings, musical instruments, carvings, jade jewelry, and chess sets. We each picked out gifts for loved ones back home to share the magic of Zambia with them. The price for each item was negotiable and we were forced to learn how to haggle to get a fair price. Tessa went from very nervous about the whole process and not wanting to do it by herself to having the vendors eat out of her hand while she walked away with half their goods for a very good deal!

Sunday evening was bittersweet as we said out goodbyes to Etricia, Andre and Dr. Thinus who were leaving at 3:00am to set off for South Africa.

Update from Johnny

Today was a special day, an important day, and one that will stand out as one of my proudest moments of my life in Zambia in 2010. I was very proud of the Zambians who worked to make this activity happen and I was also very proud of what it represented. The activity I’m referring to was the field day for the Mufulira and Ndola adolescent HIV support groups. Despite only knowing and working with these groups for the last 3 months, my passion for HIV support groups has its roots in my work at UCLA’s Center for Community Health in 2006. I also have fond memories of my time volunteering with the Botswana Baylor Teen Club in 2009, also a support group for adolescents living with HIV. Of the many programs, organizations, and issues I have engaged with over the past 5 years, working directly with persons living with HIV has been the most fulfilling.

These groups existed before I came to Zambia, though they might never have met if I had not taken the initiative to bring them together. Bringing people together is in fact one of the most powerful tools we have in fighting the HIV epidemic. This ministry has always found its strength in the community of believers. Africans living with HIV often have an unmet need for community because others discriminate against them because of their HIV status, though some also internalize this attitude and count themselves unworthy of the intimacy that comes from disclosing their HIV status to others they love and trust. It was my vision and my hope that as these groups came together during this field day, the sports, small group discussions, entertainment, and meal would not just be remembered as an enjoyable weekend, but the beginning of the realization that there are many people just like us, feeling the same fears, wishing for the same futures, needing the same acceptance as part of a family. I really will miss these guys and gals a lot but it gives me a lot of happiness to know they have met and will be able to grow closer to each other even in the time that I must be away from them. I am reminded of the Passport messages by Louie Giglio in which he asserts that our enjoyment of Heaven will not only be found in the presence of God, but the reunion with fellow believers whom we knew, loved, and poured our lives into. If that is true, and I think it is, then I know that I have much to look forward to even if my days in Zambia in this life are shorter than I expect.

Update from Tessa

The Enfys women’s workshop was to start at 9:30 a.m., you can already guess we didn't start at that time but of course, God knows it was better. At 10:00 we gathered and sang while we waited on others to show up. We were in the main school (Grace’s Place) room which is ½ the size of a college dorm room. Their voices roared against the concrete walls as they praised God in Bemba. I became overwhelmed with God’s presence and again humbled that it is me who will be standing and sitting before these women to teach them. I who have no children, I who have never been married, I who have never been physically or sexually abused, I who live in comfortable conditions and I who have many more rights culturally as a woman. At the time I couldn't distinguish what was happening with my feelings. I just knew I couldn't hold back my tears. I think the above is what it was about. In reflection I believe I was also thinking about the women at the prison (where I work in the states) as well and the number of women/children the Lord has entrusted to me over years. When I began speaking, I began crying. I prayed for them and Beauty, an interpreter, was quiet I realized after she wept with me.

I noticed that the women were very focused on their children and how to better their futures. It was important for them to communicate their desire for support concerning business opportunities, basic and spiritual needs being met. They seemed burdened by the idea of not being able to care adequately for their children. They communicated feelings of failure and being distracted from their relationship with God because of their everyday problems. Enfys women were also open about their involvement with God and His love. They expressed His love for them and that everything is done by His grace. It seemed their answer for hard times and weakness in faith is to kneel, pray, repent, seek God’s face and ask for power. Tannen and Megan’s time seemed to be fruitful not only for information but punctuating they are not alone. The second half of the workshop was more teaching and less discussion. Fana (missionary from Tanzania who is originally from Mufulira) talked with them about caring for their infants. Although I couldn’t understand everything she said, what I did catch seemed very valuable. It was evident God used the workshop today by connecting with their basic needs, emotional information and spiritual edification.

Next, I helped Tannen and Megan interview teens who are in the Earn It Program. This program provided an opportunity for older teenagers to work jobs to earn money for their education: high school and college. Fana helped me with translation and Tannen and Megan fend for themselves with the students. Although I only interview 3 teens, it was cool to see how this program is affecting their lives through education, occupational skills and interaction with Martinz (Manager of Earn It Program). Tannen shared on the taxi ride home from Murundu her excitement with what she saw in the kids and the progress the program seems to be encouraging.

Tonight with 4 of us crammed in the back of a taxi (Tannen, Megan, Fana, and myself... the taxi being a compact car) in the rain and dark, riding through massive pot holes on a mud road and Fana playing Tanzania music from her cell phone is just difficult to describe, but everyone should try it. :)

Welcome to Mufulira (written by Megan)

Welcome to Mufulira. It’s the rainy season, FYI, in case the periodic, deafening pounding on the tin roofs didn't give it away. Oh, and the enormous flying ants, landing in your food, hair, and/or mouth, would also like to express their pleasure at your arrival.

We are all gathered at 158 Jomo Kenyatta (take a look on Google Earth):
· Tannen, fearless leader, slightly jetlagged
· Megan, sidekick, coffee addict
· Johnny, faux blond, ending his tenure of a year’s stay in Zambia
· Sarah, biologist, recent PhD, but we won’t hold that against her
· Tessa, counselor, cuts her teeth on this teaching thing tomorrow
· Dr T, Tricia, and Andre, the South African contingent

You know you’re projecting the right image when on your taxi ride from the airport, a boy on the side of the road, seeing your car full of muzungus (pasty people, such as ourselves), shouts with great enthusiasm, “MONEY!”

Today was spent in Murundu, visiting Hilda and Martins at the Enfys orphanage school, currently occupying the clinic building that has yet to become a clinic. We got a tour of the toilets & showers in progress, septic tank is installed but no water yet. I’m waiting for the day they get that up and running, because as we were leaving, several kids sprinted outside, hiked up their skirts and publicly relieved themselves next to the clinic. I think some commentary on that will need to get incorporated in tomorrow’s hygiene program…

Several of the boys from the Earn It program were working on rebuilding the feeding shelter, where the orphans are fed every day. Earn It is designed to employ local youths to help with the farming, infrastructure maintenance, milling, etc, and in return pay for them to go to school. So far, 14 youths are employed for a few hours each week and are back in school.

After a long walk through the very red mud, we had a late lunch of traditional nshima with relish and chicken, and were collected by Dr T. We went with him and Bishop Muleya, from the church planting school, to observe a home cell church that was established by one of their students, who will be graduating on Saturday. It was in a very rural village, which appeared to be comprised of mostly children, with a healthy population of chickens, goats, and stray dogs. It’s also mango season, so the mango trees are all heavily laden, and many of the kids were clutching the juicy fruit and biting right through the skin.

More to come…

Megan

Connections (Johnny Payne)

The movie I Heart Huckabees contains two “existential investigators” played by Lily Tomlin and Dustin Hoffman, which seek to help their clients to make connections between all the events, persons, and circumstances in which they find themselves, in order to draw out underlying meanings, or spiritual truths we might say, about their own lives as well as more grandiose ones like the existence of the universe. Making connections allows the characters in the movie to view individual persons, events, and circumstances in a way they would not otherwise appreciate. For example, losing one’s job becomes an opportunity to rediscover a more fulfilling vocation, meet new friends which strengthen one’s self-awareness as well as providing distance from stagnant and discouraging colleagues.

This concept has been important to me in discerning how God is working in my life and how to minister more effectively to others. However, making connections is definitely not an exact science. For instance, Job and his friends spent a long time discussing the connection between his hardships and what God was doing and why He was doing it, all to no avail. When we reach the point of total confusion about the connection between our life and God’s plans, it is helpful to remember “[God’s] ways are not our ways”.

Connections which we have been experiencing the past two weeks in Zambia as a team have been many and have given us a lot of encouragement that God is present in what we are doing. For example, the dramas which the students (8th-9th graders) have come up with reveal the bleak reality which they face in their personal lives. Both girls and boys groups frequently, almost exclusively, portrayed the norm for young people in their community: boys, inspired by American hip hop videos, meeting up with girls, dressed “a la Rihanna”, and quickly preceding to have sex (this was inferred or referred to by the characters), without mention of HIV status or condoms. The pressure to follow in this behavior, despite the well known consequences (all characters tested HIV+), is more significant than most of us could appreciate from an outsider’s perspective. While the connection seems so obvious in the play, actually resisting the temptation to pursue such a relationship and to refuse sex is extremely difficult and very few teenagers are able to maintain abstinence until they are married. HIV infection statistics bear this out.

Some connections which need to be made are not being made. For example, answer the following based on your own experience or what you have read:

A. Does the knowledge of HIV differ between Christians and non-Christians? Testing rates? Percentage of singles who abstain from sex?

B. Has the presence of HIV been handled by the Church better or worse than the general public or other faiths?

C. Have our prevention efforts been based on a scriptural understanding of extending grace to the fallen and discipline to the non-repentant?

I believe the Church has overlooked the connection between who we are in Christ and what we do in the world and why we do it. Agape love is the unstoppable force with which Christ intends for us to overcome the darkness of the world, yet we fail to connect how this love should appear in our daily lives and especially how to love others which are not ready to love us in return.

The longer I work in the HIV education ministry the more consistently I find that people struggle to make connections between important things and are generally distracted by the unimportant. Many are eager to understand risks involved with using razors or condoms while they have never tested for HIV even once in their life. At one of the schools we are teaching at during this trip, 2 out of 20 teachers polled had ever received a formal training on HIV/AIDS (those two were lasted trained in 2006). While I became concerned that they needed training for their own sake as well as to share information with the students, I quickly reminded myself that knowing one’s HIV status would be far more important than knowing what HIV does to the immune system or most of the rest of our lessons’ content. Like most Africans, few teachers are willing to test for HIV, even fewer are willing amongst those who have a reason to believe they may test HIV+. Recently we offered HIV testing immediately following our Sunday morning service at my church in Mufulira, and only 16 out of 170 in attendance chose to test (2 were positive). Even in the US, the majority of those who are HIV+ have not tested since being infected, thus they are not aware that they may be transmitting it to others.

We have spent a lot of money on teaching people about transmission and prevention, on treatment, and other interventions like prevention of mother-child transmission, but few countries have attained a position in which a significant majority of citizens test regularly for HIV or in which those infected are aware of it. Likewise, only 3 countries have attained significant decreases in their HIV infection rates (and these may be easily reversed). This means the number who should be enrolled on ARVs is still far less than it could be if more tested and far less than it will be as epidemics become more connected by regional and global development. Already, we have concerns that treatment costs will not be manageable beyond the near future. Are we missing a serious connection between testing and prevention?

As we teach students about the reproductive system, sexual transmission of HIV, the immune system, and testing/treatment choices, we hope that both information as well as our encouragement and educational activities will give them the ability to make better connections between those truly important things, not only to prevent HIV transmission but to help them realize what God is doing in their lives and how they can reach their potential as children of God.

Day of the People (written by Jami Ward)

Church doesn’t start in Zambia until around 10:00 hours. What were we to do with all this extra time? :) Many different things, some slept, some cleaned, and some enjoy the worship music! Whatever was done, it was a well welcomed time of rest and renewal for all. We set off by foot to Agape church and enjoyed a nice service given by Dr. Thinus on how we’re challenged to not focus on the bad doings that are going on all around us but to stay focused on G’d. And to remember he’s in control. Bishop Mulaea then gave a short testimony about the HIV/AIDS conference they all attended. We ate lunch prepared by the church ladies out in the open lot in front of the church, like a picnic. It was amazingly good food. We then walked back to the house where Matt and Austin changed into more comfortable clothes. Then we headed off to Glenis’s church to give an HIV/AIDS talk to her group. The talk went great where everyone had tons of questions. We had that one guy who no one could figure out what he was asking ... and he was innately angry ... but beside him, all questions were answered and everyone was very positive and learned a lot. The night was concluded at Carmelitar and Rebecca’s house where they prepared us a Zambian dinner. A Zambian drink was prepared for us, which was called Mumkyo. It’s basically maze mill and millet. We played with the kids and danced and sang. All 7 of us road home in Dr. Thinus’s little Volkswagen car, now that the cockroaches (what Zambians call the police) were now all asleep! You couldn’t ask for a better day.

Sports Clinic Day (Austin)

Today was Sports Clinic Day! I was very excited for today as this was my big to-do. During preparation of our trip Jami had assigned me the task of Coordinating the Sports Clinic. That meant coming up with the games, organizing the teams, and developing a “Sports Safety Presentation” that would be presented after the games were over.

The event itself was held at a community sports arena down the street from Butundo Basic (the local school). When Jami, Matt, Jill, Sidney and I arrived at the sports arena we were greeted by Pius, Henry, Duncan and Davison, who would be translating for us. There were already some kids playing soccer when we got there but the child population quickly jumped up to around 100+ kids when news had spread that we had arrived. Once most of the kids had shown up we played “Red Light, Green Light” to get the kids warmed-up and excited about the games. Afterwards Matt and Jill lead stretching circles for the boys and girls while the translators and I went around and placed the children into teams by tying colored strings on their wrists. Once finished we broke the kids up into their colored teams and started the games. The whole event worked like a well oiled machine. Jami, Matt, Jill, and Sidney were team leads and helped get the kids get ready for each event, the translators did a fantastic job of explaining the rules of each game to the kids, and I did my best to keep the whole event moving smoothly with minimal hang-ups. The actual game events were as follows: Wheel Barrel Race, Dizzy Race, Three-Legged Race, Relay Race, Tug-o-War. The teams were very evenly matched and there was strong competition throughout the whole event.

After all the games were said and done we handed out these frozen water pops (which was total chaos) and then settled the kids back down so we could talk to them about sports safety. This was my first time actually using a translator to teach so I was a little nervous but I had been watching Matt all week in class so I understood how it would work and it went quite well. I talked to the kids about sports safety focusing on what to do if one of their friends was injured or if there is blood present. Matt helped out by playing the part of my injured friend and Jill helped by playing the parts of both an Adult and a Doctor. After the presentation we said our goodbyes to the children and headed back to Dr. Thinus’s house very satisfied with the outcome of the day’s events.

We Can’t Get A Bus Day (by Jill Hansen)

Today was our last day @ Eastlea and Murundu, and the day that the students had an opportunity to apply what they’d (hopefully) learned throughout the week by presenting their own independently developed skits about some aspect of HIV/AIDS to all 4 groups of students, with a prize for the best overall skit. In an effort to make the grading process as legitimate and fair as possible, we used a rubric that allowed 10 points each for originality, creativity, message, and working within the 5-minute time limit; all of us team members plus the facilitators formed the panel of judges. I conducted a quick quiz of my class before I herded them over to the student center for the presentations, and was pleasantly surprised by their quick and accurate responses. I wasn’t sure how effective my lessons had been since I’d had a different translator nearly every day, the last of whom had been an Eastlea teacher who had “translated” by paraphrasing everything I said in English prefaced with “What she was saying is…”

The presentations were all quite entertaining, despite all covering basically the same events: boy (or girl) meets girl (or boy), who pressures them to have sex. Girl (or boy) finds out that they have HIV, and the parents/grandparents/friends reject the HIV+ person. Most of the skits concentrated on portraying the seduction process and, since the teams were made up of all girls or all boys, each got creative with their portrayals of the opposite gender. The girls teams had the baseball caps, slouching walks, and awkward pick-up lines of the stereotypical Zambian high school boy down pat, while the guys teams stuck out their butts and pranced their way across the stage in comical portrayals of their female counterparts. A team from my class actually won with their well-choreographed and melodramatic presentation that culminated in a perfectly timed ensemble admonition not to have sex before marriage. I’m so proud of my girls! It’s so encouraging to see the spark of initiative and thirst for knowledge spring up in the eyes of these precious students, especially after a long week of feeling as if I were a less than effective teacher. :)

We left Eastlea right on (Africa) time, so about 30 minutes after we said we would, and had to hike quickly to the taxi stop (i.e. the side of the road) so we could make it to town in time to pick up a minibus and get to Murundu by 14 hours (2 pm). Finding 2 taxis is always a problem, but we managed to do so in record time. Once they dropped us at the Murundu minibus stop, we decided against climbing into the “Liverpool” minibus (they all have names) that sported 3 broken windows, a flat tire, and a non-functioning trunk latch. Unfortunately, the buses are not on any sort of fixed schedule and the unspoken but omnipotent Minibus Drivers Code requires that the first bus to arrive must be filled before the next bus can leave, so we had to wait for 15 people to brave Liverpool and 15 more to fill up the equally sketchy bus in line behind it before we found one that looked remotely road-worthy. That process took about an hour, and by that time we decided that it was worth the 60,000 Kwacha (~ $12) to pay for the extra seats to hire a minibus to take all of us to Murundu, instead of waiting another hour for a safe minibus for 2,000 Kwacha each (K 20,000/ $4 total). By the time we arrived at Murundu Basic School (after having been stopped by the police for illegally changing lanes-and watching the bus handler hotwire the bus to get it started afterwards), most of the children and teachers had gone home for the day. We did find about 50 of our group members, though, and set up the skits in one of the classrooms. Honestly, we weren’t sure what to expect, but the kids did a wonderful job! Watching Zambian high school students perform skits about HIV/AIDS entirely in Bemba (with occasional snatches in “Bemblish,” as they call it :) ) is quite an experience, and the Murundu kids went all out. The possibility of winning a certificate is an incredibly effective motivational tool for the average Zambian student, and these kids were no exception. We were entertained and enlightened to see how these students see HIV/AIDS in their everyday lives, and left the school exhausted but pleasantly surprised at how well the kids seemed to have assimilated the lessons. We’re all looking forward to the sports clinic @ Butondo tomorrow, and to not having an Indaba tonight. :) Overall, I think God has used this week to teach us patience and faith in His ability to work even when we’ve had to change all of our best laid plans, and to keep a sense of humor no matter what comes our way.

Immigration Day (Blog from Jami Ward)

Thursday started out like a standard Zambian day, the rooster was crowing by the window, the sun was beginning to shine in a big blue sky and my mosquito net was beginning to fall. I was awoken by Jill bringing me a piece of bread with thickly spread chocolate Nutella, which is a highly effective means of getting me out of bed! We all ate breakfast, packed for the day at the schools, grabbed water and headed out on foot. We walked to Eastlea where we met the STS Zambian facilitators to teach the last day’s curriculum. The celebration of Freedom Day on Tuesday, 25th of May, meant that we had to squeeze the getting tested topic in with transmission/prevention talk. Being that it was a last day for the students to practice their presentations, we all gave the students a little extra time to practice along with extra guidance. We also all spent sufficient time answering the student’s questions about HIV/AIDS and making sure that any misconceptions were clear. The girls had lots of additional questions about pregnancy and mother-to-child HIV transmission. For the life skill lesson, we encouraged the students to think about what life means to them. The topic was quite abstract for a lot of them but good discussions was had. After teaching at Eastlea, we walked out the back gate of the school, as usual and walked to the corner where we again caught a taxi which would take us to the bus stop for the bus to Murundu. We were walking towards the bus, where the drivers were waiting for us, when we were stopped by two men who claimed to be with immigration. The immigration officer talked to the Zambians first, asking what we were doing here. Johnny asked to see his papers proving he was who he said he was. He proved he was with the immigration office and proceeded to ask for all our passports. He harped on the fact that we should have registered as travelling as a business. We disagreed but then convinced them that we’d do better next time. This pleased them and then we spoke some Chibemba which made them laugh, which seemed to do the trick. We assumed they were trying to find a way to get just a few Kwatcha out of us! They failed!! During this whole charade, a bus driver who remembered Austin from the day before was loudly signaling for him to bring us to get on his bus. Once released from the immigration officers … we all went and jumped on the minibus to Murundu. We barreled off, down the road to Murundu, tightly packed in the minibus. We got to Murundu basic where we all went and taught again! The girls at Murundu declared to Jill that, “they know everything there is to know about HIV/AIDS and sex.” Slightly overconfident perhaps! We practiced the relay for the sports clinic on the students at Murundu. It didn’t prove to be the easiest game to organize but it was fun. With a little reorganization it would work perfectly. Overall, it was a terrific day filled with lots of great talks and fun!

African Freedom Day! (Blog from Jill Hansen)

Happy African Freedom Day! :) Schools were closed today, so we took the morning to stock up the pantry @ Shoprite, then headed to Murundu to spend the afternoon with Pastor Joseph. Jami and I helped Martins water the burgeoning tomato crop, which they will soon be selling to help cover transport costs for the orphanage, before moving on to the new moringa saplings- all using the sprinkler/irrigation system that Mr VZ had installed last summer. It’s delightful to see the orphanage moving even closer to self-sufficiency. :) We were called back to the house for lunch, but first pitched in- literally- to help the guys load maize onto the roof to dry. 5 guys on the roof, 1 on a ladder, and 10 on the ground formed a human grain elevator and made relatively quick work of all 5000 kg / 11,000 lbs. By the time Hilda’s scrumptious meal of nshima, sweet potato leaves, and chicken was served, it was all we could do to flop onto the couches in exhausted but happy stupors.

After lunch and a much-needed break, we set off for Game Day at the orphanage, where we saw their new maize mill and introduced the kids to the classic pastimes of Tug of War, Dizzy Races, and Wheelbarrow Races. There is nothing quite so heartwarming as the gleeful laughter of happy children, and I know their joy blessed us as much as our spending time with them blessed them. :)

We had so much fun at the orphanage that we departed too late to catch a taxi in time, and ended up waiting for an hour for a minibus that would fit all 8 of us. The time passed quickly, though, just sitting on the sun-warmed ground and enjoying fellowship in the balmy African winter evening. This is what STS is all about- ministry and fellowship.

First Day of Work (by Matt Porter)

We awoke early this morning and made our way to Eastlea in the hopes of meeting with the headmaster of the school. Previously he had been adamant that we needed to have our classes from 11-13 hours, which would effectively kill any chance of visiting two schools per day. Fortunately, he was willing to accept starting at 10 and knocking off at 12. The kids were well behaved and we could see that many of them were very intelligent. We taught about the immune system with games and demonstrations. Some of the students were labeled helper T-cells, some B-cells, Killer T-cells and of course we had a compliment of random diseases. For some reason, you don’t get many volunteers when you ask “who wants to be Syphilis?” maybe it got a little mixed up in translation. I think our only two problems were the short teaching time and the language barrier. I have a hard time judging whether or not they just aren’t confident in their English abilities or if they have no clue what we are saying. After class, we went outside for games and the most peculiar thing happened. Johnny asked if anyone wanted a bible lesson and he actually drew a huge crowd, larger than the groups playing soccer, Frisbee, or any of our other games. I found it to be very refreshing that kids would actually want to learn about the bible. We walked to the bus stop to catch a bus and waited for about a half hour before one of the Zambians said that buses don’t run during the lunch hour so we would have to take a taxi. It makes you frustrated at first but if you don’t adapt it will make you go crazy, just remember TIA (This Is Africa). Finally we made it to the bus stop for Murundu, our last school of the day and climbed aboard. I learned that sunglasses are the most valuable thing that you can bring with you on the mini bus, if you want to know that story I’ll have to tell you all about it later. Either way, Murundu Basic school was great and the kids were easier to teach than last year. By the time we made it back home, all of us were exhausted and in need of sleep, but we still had to cook dinner together. Johnny and Jill are amazing chefs who actually enjoy cooking, while the rest of us are merely helping where we can in the hopes of sharing the load and of course eating sooner. I think that our group will get along just fine and have a great trip.

Traveling to Zambia (Austin)

I awoke Saturday morning to Matt and his freshly shaved head staring down at me. He was wearing one of our custom made ”STS” T-shirts and coaxing me to get up; it was 4am. As I was stumbling through the living room to go to the bathroom I could see Jami in the dining room clipping papers into our lesson plan binders while Matt returned to weighing luggage. At about a quarter till 5am Rich shows up to help us load our luggage into his car and drive us the 3 hours north to JFK airport. We took turns being Rich’s co-pilot while the others napped ... wait let me rephrase that, we attempted to take turns then all of us promptly fell asleep 10 minutes later. Rich was kind enough to let us nap until we arrived at JFK. We said our very gracious goodbyes to Rich and then proceed inside to get our tickets and check luggage. The best way I can explain our 13 hour flight from New York to South Africa is a combination of awakeness, followed by movies, followed by napping, followed by some light reading, followed by some airline food, followed by some more movies.

The next morning, after we finally landed in Johannesburg, South Africa, we had planned to meet up with Jill, who had taken separate flights from Tennessee. But not before I was harassed by the airport security for having too many batteries in a single bag. FYI: 16 batteries in one bag = bad, 16 batteries scattered in 4 bags = quite alright. So after my little battery debacle, we met up with Jill and I was introduced to both her and a giant fake giraffe in the airport terminal lobby. Jill later described our connecting flight as, “waiting in the terminal lobby for the bus, so we could wait on the bus for a bus driver, so we could wait outside the airplane for the pilot, so we could wait on the airplane for takeoff”. Luckily the 2nd plane ride was only about 3 hours long and we slept almost the time.

After we landed in Ndola, Zambia we had to go through customs to get our visa’s before we could officially enter the country. It was quite funny explaining to the security guard who was checking my baggage that all the toys I had packed in my suitcase were my “personal games” and weren’t going to be sold or gifted to anyone. Once outside Jami, Matt, Jill, & I waited for Johnny (who lives in Zambia at Dr. Thinus' house) to come pick us up. Johnny arrives with a taxi about 10 minutes later and after some luggage Tetris we head off towards the town of Mufulira and Dr. Thinus’s house. Now as a first time international traveler it did take some getting used to the fact that cars drive on the left side of the road but that driving anomaly quickly took a backseat to the fact that African drivers will just drive on whatever side of the road has less pot holes so really we were driving on the right side of the road half that time anyway.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful as Dr. Thinus wasn’t going to be arriving until the next day so when we arrived at his house we just unloaded our stuff rested from our long trip.

-Austin

1/9/10 from Johnny

We are all very tired, its 5am on Saturday morning and we have finished our last meeting. We couldn’t have spent any more time or energy this week, that’s for sure. STS concluded a facilitator training (and facilitators-to-be) around 5pm on Thursday, we had 28 graduates complete our training which covered topics like how to write a lesson plan, interactive teaching methods, as well as HIV transmission, prevention, treatment, and the immune system. The evaluation of the training by the facilitators was very positive, they were extremely appreciative of our efforts to partner with them in this ministry and share the knowledge and skills we have. We also interviewed all of our trainees individually and found that many had very impressive and admirable goals for their clubs or other kinds of HIV/AIDS ministry in 2010.

Also, I am particularly excited about working with churches to give them information, training, strategies, and support as they find God’s calling to this ministry and to the lives of their members affected by HIV and AIDS. I have several friends who already have expressed interest in teaching information to the members of their churches. I continue to be inspired by the way that God uses tragedies like the deaths of HIV+ persons to draw others closer to Himself and call their surviving family members to this ministry as part of the process of grieving, redemption, and renewal. My heart goes out to those who have persevered in this ministry for many years, seeing many they care about die along the way, and often finding resistance from persons and groups despite the fact that there is no one left in Botswana, Zambia, or perhaps Southern Africa who has not been personally, intimately affected by the stigma, suffering, poverty, anger, fear, despair, and death which HIV has wrought.

We had an amazing Friday in Murundu, playing with 100 or more children, very eager and curious about some people which appear much different than them. The Enfy’s Orphan project in Murundu which we support has made great progress in its income generation through the director’s agricultural business which includes pigs, chickens, tomatoes, potatoes, moringa, and maize. It has completed building a clinic which we are tentatively hoping to staff with a VCT counselor who will offer free, spiritually-inspired counseling and HIV testing to the residents of Murundu. 3 of our club facilitators and I are planning to pilot a health/spiritual education program with the orphans about twice a month. In fact, we believe we will need to cover many different topics which are particular to these children’s situation in Murundu and the challenges of orphanhood.

I wish safe travel and blessings to my colleagues who are returning to their homes, jobs, and families. Their desire to seek God and to give Him their vacation time and their savings to come here, and their leisure time in preparation for their trips continues to fan the passion which I have for this ministry and for God. These guys are the real deal, the vision you read on our website is lived out, and its been an awesome team to be a part of. If any of you reading this think you may be interested in what we do and why we are doing it, contact us, perhaps there is a calling somewhere there. Let God take you where He wants! Stay well.

Blessings

Johnny

Night in Africa - from William

If you happen to be in the bush, then nighttime is exciting. At dusk, the path in front of you glows orange-red with the setting sun, and the sky is kiln-fired to a bright pink and brushed with dusty blue pigments. The earth, the sun, and the trees, the people, the birds, and the fields of maize that stretch out beside you, and even the houses are all clearly made of the same red-orange-pink-blue stuff, and that stuff is in you and in all things, and you walk among the orange stuff and you see the pink and blue stuff, and you are in all that stuff, but you are a part of all that stuff, as well, the stuff that stretches out and makes more room to let the glow of evening fill up the spaces between all things. And then the sun sets, and all the stuff of the earth is glued back together, crystallized into rigid shadows and outlines, dark on light, black superimposed on black. The sense of being a thing among related things begins to fade. You continue along the path, and the outlines of the trees loom up in front of you, guiding your turns. The path glows faintly, if there is a moon out, but early in the evening only the shadows (which are really grasses) and the sound of your feet on the sand can tell you - Yes, this is the path. The way forward is still this way!

Night time is not always quiet. In the center of the villages, the bars are blasting and thump-thump-thump-thumping Congolese rhythms, with the clear intention of deafening everyone for miles, and electric lights blaze overhead, their arcs of light askew and casting fanciful shadows of passersby and shoppers - but not shadows so much as elongations of their souls, cocked at the odd angles that the geometry of Fate might construct to contain them, bouncing off the walls of shops and the uneven leafy-ness of bushes in a mad attempt to transcend The Here, to ascend to Heaven in one quick jump. These shadows, black forms on yellow and white backgrounds, they shimmer and dance out of pace with their bodies, until they shrink down, crammed again into their vessels by enveloping darkness. The shoppers pass on, and the music is still thump-thumping.

So you turn away to the outskirts of the village. There, the night sounds fade to crickets and the path leads away from the village, back towards the fields. The smell of woodsmoke hangs limply in the air, a twinge of humanity's presence in this dark, inhuman world. A dog yips at something until another dog joins in, and another, and another, and suddenly the whole world is howling at something indistinct and thrilling, something bigger than the moon - the moon which has just peeked it's head over the tops of the distant trees, and sits there swollen and still growing, waiting for the right time to grab hold of her rightful seat in the sky - but still something not quiet as big as the sky and all the stars in it. The howls die away, and the occasional voice is heard behind you. A ladle is dropped, laughter suddenly jumps up from the nearby houses. A villager appears - really, you can't see her until she is right in front of you - walking along with a load of wood on her head. Her dress is dark fabric on dark skin enveloping her dark eyes in her head, invisible under her load are her dark tresses, so no wonder she appeared as a ghost in front of you, nothing more than shadow falling on silk. She is late coming home, didn't beat the sun back to the compound, firewood piled high, and people are waiting. Behind you, she turns a corner and disappears into the mystery of blackness that is the night, that is Africa itself.

Mystery has always bred magic. (After all, what is the magician but a controller of illusion, the Ring Master of normality, of rules and oaths, the inventor of a bubble in which things are unknown, unknowable, and mysterious?) And the mystery of night propels you forward with one swift step into the center of town. In one instant, you are in urban Africa, where night has the tang of metal ground into dust and the feel of leather worn, scuffed, and cracked. Here you notice that the air has cooled from the late afternoon rains, and the puddles catch the streetlights, flashing sodium orange globes up at you as you walk past. On raised and covered sidewalks, the evening people - a people seldom met in daylight - these people are crowding close to the artificial lights still on in store windows and hanging under the sidewalk's roof, sticking close to that thing they will not suffer in the day, churning out popcorn or samosas on charcoal fires, selling odd handkerchiefs and battered gents' watches, soliciting exotically at the edge of shadows, or barking at the yawning, toothless portals of nightclubs, from whose dimly lit interior comes the sounds of more Congolese music thump-thumping, the smell of bodies pressed tight against the real blackness, and shouts of revelry in the artificial nighttime.

Further away from the center of town, the lights fade down to just streetlamps. (The moon is still rising, but now it is obscured entirely by the trees around you.) Along the edge of the street, the sidewalk gradually gives way to a path in the grass, then fades to a track amid grasses cut low just today, then descends down to the street and over the curb, and flows away on the asphalt, invisible. You walk along the edge of the road, following the raised black-white-black-white paint of the curb. Soon, the night's orb spreads a glimmer of silver through the tops of the trees, but no light reaches down to the ground yet, just the black-white-black-white of the curb and your feet softly padding along in rhythm, left-right-left-right, still the same rhythm of the thump--thump-thump-thumping in the clubs and in the village, and the whole world is moving 1-2-1-2-1-2-1-2 with you. In and out of the streetlights, you walk through their pools of yellow light, the buzzing of electric daylight above. At first, your shadow leaps out behind you, stretching to grasp at the inky street, but then it is compressed around you, becomes a blanket wrapped around your body as you reach the center, then - sensing relief - it rushes again towards the nighttime on the other side. Your shadow always reaches the far side of the light first, where it waits, taunting you, but ready once again to travel with you through the nighttime.

The street is not yours alone, however. Behind you, the whistle of the cars becomes a rush becomes a crashing elephant becomes a beeping horn - Do you need a Taxi, my Friend? - and then flies past, leaving a womp-womp-womp-womp sound of unevenly filled tires on unevenly worn pavement and the light in front is replaced with the dull, red-orange-amber, evil grin of the tail lights, watching you with warning and malice - Don't Follow Me! In the opposite lane, the cars appear as if by angelic appointment, just two (but often only one) white globes suspended near where you think the horizon might be. Again the whistle and the rush and the crash of elephants and also a beeping horn - Should I take you to your destination, Boss? - and then it passes you, showing you the same demonic smile, issuing the same demonic warning - Don't Follow Me! A dog darts across the road, tail between her legs, not trespassing into the light, just skirting the edge of the street lamp's domain. Other people walk along - before and behind you - their dark skins reflecting only brown and orange light under the streetlamps, then disappearing into the night between the lights again, and again glowing, now disappearing, until they turn off the road and into a compound or down a side street.

You walk along 1-2-1-2 until you pass under the last streetlamp. The darkness is there, waiting. Now the people walking along here are fewer. And, like the woman in the field, they appear as a whisper of motion, more of a hint of being there than something truly seen, just at the edge of vision where night takes Truth and Knowing and Safety and smelts them all into mystery.The lights of the houses on either side stab brightly into the dark, short rapiers thrust into the folds of something much to large to comprehend, let alone wound or slay. You look away because they rob you of what little perception can be had without moon or sun or torch to light the road in front of you. Now the road is becoming rutted, riddled with potholes. The cars no longer speed past you, but creep, winding along various paths of their own designing, seeking the low, smooth bottom of the road - a rivulet flowing through a river otherwise tormented by rocks, eddies, and whitewater. When the headlights of the cars catch people moving in front of them, their silhouette stands out from the ankles upwards but disappears at the knees, melting back into darkness. Their shadows reach out in front of them, though, tall and proud and you can't begin to tell which of these mysterious figures belongs to whom, for is it the shadow standing in the air or lying along the ground?

You leave these troubling ghouls of nighttime and walk to the edge of town. Again, you have reached the fields and the bush, and you stand at the top of a rise, which descends slowly to a river before rising again to the forest on the other side. All of this you can see clearly - the mango trees lining the path, their branches loaded with sweet fruits, the grasses swaying along the river's edge, bowing in obeiscence to the soft breeze, the outline of a house across the bank, and the lines of maize and sweet potato beds running in exact parallel through it all, criss-crossed by the wandering paths carved out by ten thousand feet. A veil of moonlight seems laid down upon the earth, illuminating most things, but revealing nothing in the face of her mystery.

-William

1/7/10 from Johnny

Hello friends,

I am very excited to be posting on the STS Trip Blog for January 2010. First, I am very excited to begin a year in which I will be working for STS from Mufulira, a ministry which I feel the Lord has been preparing for me over the past few years and which I am deeply grateful to be a part of. The first few days (and travel from Virginia to Mufulira which began on Friday 5pm at Richmond Intl Airport and ended Monday at 5pm when I was dropped off at the bus station in Mufulira), I have felt the Lord’s hand on me and on the group of Americans and Zambians which are spending this week in training in preparation to lead the clubs we are coordinating in several communities across the Copperbelt. Today was especially powerful- we had some really beautiful and moving worship to start the day and just before lunch break. The way that Zambians allow music, song, and dance to attune their spirits to worship resonates with me, I dig it! Despite their already impressive enthusiasm for and ability to soak up all of the training sessions’ content, the facilitators continually bless us with their passion to take their learning back to their students and to plan outreach activities to cover an even greater number of people (many of whom were not and are not reached by government and other NGO programs).

1 Thess. 5:11,14 was embodied through an amazing testimony from a Zambian woman who shared with our facilitators the fact that she has tested HIV+, the struggles she had experienced before she came to accept her status, and the overwhelming love of God which has given her a renewed sense of belonging and purpose in Christ. Likewise, many of us were encouraged by her request to test, thus knowing our HIV status, and we had # test today, some of whom it was their first time. Praise God!

Pastor Terry shared a message on “Vision,” it was a powerful word which the Lord gave us through him! I could feel everyone’s spirit buzzing, as a result, we transitioned directly into some awesome praise songs. Pastor Terry said that there are people who don’t know what is happening, people who ask “whats happening?” and finally people who makes things happen. God’s calling of our Zambian and American volunteers to this ministry is evidence that He is with us, He is in the lives of the people we live and work with and pass on the street, and that He is making things happen! My prayer is that we continue in faith and obedience, allowing the Spirit to work in our lives and in STS’s activities.

The community which I have already found and which I expect to build an even deeper relationship with in the volunteers and other persons associated with STS is something that I have been thanking God for constantly, and I encourage anyone who is reading this trip’s blog who has experienced the same reception and fellowship with STS as I have to find an opportunity to let them know what they mean to you.

1/4/10 from Jami

Our early morning started around 6:30am. After fighting with my mosquito net for the vast majority of the night, the morning came too soon! Note to all, duct tape doesn't really stick to anything when it's hot and humid. I will describe our first day at the STS training seminar here in Mufuliria, Zambia as wonderful with a hint of frustration. Six of the STS Facilitators were present for the training today as well as former students from STS clubs. Some logistics such as food, snacks, transport, lodging, quality of accommodations, water and don't forget talk time have been requested throughout the day, hence most of our frustrations. The training session in contrast have been nothing short of awesome. All the discussions, learning, participation, attentiveness from everyone is refreshing and lends itself to the hope that there really is change being made in the fight against the spread of HIV/AIDS. During my discussion with my group on Attitudes in the Classroom, I have them act out difficult scenarios and they are to role play to work on dealing with difficult conflict. One exercise required that two boys be talking and are being disruptive to the class. The one teaching realizes this and has to deal with it accordingly. The ones participating in this exercise acted so perfectly that I thought they were reading my notes from my working notebook. Johnny had arrived back from holiday and visited us at the Church Planting School. Once the day was complete we fit six people into a taxi and drove to 158 Jomo Kenyta! There we were greeted by Shadi and family as well as the smell of wonderfully good home cooked food. Reuben is the designated cook on this travel trip. It's nice to have someone in the house who actually "likes" to cook and does a great job. There were nightly indabas, my mosquito net was diligently fixed by Mr. Porter who's become the STS rope tying expert. Matt also brought a flashlight that has a red laser pointer combination. Therefore, it became a means of entertainment for the evening. The children at the house "loved" chasing it as it was moved across the ground. I've never heard Elizabeth (Shade's little girl) laugh so much. It was fun to watch them chase the laser around, play and have fun.

It's raining, for the very first time, on me here in Zambia! It's amazing. I've been coming here for many years and have barely seen a cloud in the sky. Now I've experienced what it's like here in the rainy season. At various times throughout the afternoon it pours rain. I've started to keep track of the times to see if I can see a pattern. My station in the training seminar is located outside, at the Church Plant School, under an awning. This location isn't very good if it starts to pour rain. A good rule of thumb is to make sure all your supplies are in bags, if traveling during the rainy season!

All-in-all it was a wonderful day and it's nice to be back home in Zambia! We're all looking for what's to come during this week's seminar.

Thanks,
Jami

1/4/10 from Megan (HIV Ed Team)

Happy birthday to me. Feel free to send presents. You’ll need lots of postage.

In other news, we have successfully arrived in Mufulira. The train ride from Dar Es Salaam across Tanzania and into Zambia was amazing. The scenery in Tanzania is gorgeous (puts Zambia to shame) and once we got up onto the plateau, it was blissfully cool. Which means that we spent the first 12 hours in extremely uncomfortable heat and humidity - 7 people plus 14 bags in a 2nd class compartment intended for 6 people with presumably no luggage whatsoever. We had to pile the bags on one of the bunks, so we slept seven people on 5 narrow bunks. I use the term “slept” loosely, since you have to wake up every 30 minutes at a minimum to adjust your position (“my tailbone!”, “oh, my hip”, “my arm is asleep”, “I can’t feel my legs”, etc. for 6 hours) and to prevent yourself falling onto the cockroach-infested floor when the train makes sudden stops.

The cockroaches were actually a late addition, when our first car was deemed unfit for service (something that sadly could not be fixed with a four foot pipe wrench and excessive banging on the joint between the cars). They said we had to get out of the car and unload all our bags through the window so we could stand on the side of the tracks in the rain for an undetermined amount of time. We declined that offer and opted to simply move our bags into the next car while the whole train moved forward and back on the tracks for about an hour. Apparently there is not a clear procedure for replacing a car (which could be construed as a good thing if it doesn't need to happen that often, but judging by the number of abandoned, tipped over, and rusted out cars along the route, I’d say the normal procedure is simply to dump the offending car and let the passengers walk to the next destination). They did eventually succeed in inserting the staff car where ours had been, but the staff gets the short end of the stick when it comes to quality living conditions. Jim is our master cockroach stomper, and taught us a thing or two about how not to jump onto the benches and scream like little girls at the site of a scurrying, hideous, creepy critter (you may be noticing a theme here by now).

Aside from that, the ride at large was awesome. We did see a herd of giraffes (twiga = giraffe, in Swahili), a couple warthogs, and a bunch of antelope things which may have been impala. It was fun seeing all the people run out to the train as it passed – they come through twice a week, but the kids still get really excited and there are a bunch of people selling things through the windows at every stop. We also met some interesting people on board, including a nice chatty guy with the MCC (Mennonite something something) working in Zambia, and a couple girls with FORGE, which also stands for something, doing aid work in Zambia. We didn't get a whole lot of sleep so you’ll have to forgive the lack of details. The food was pretty good, and we only had one upset stomach (which actually resulted in tossed cookies out the window of the moving train – one more reason not to stick your head out the window unless absolutely necessary – you don’t want to be downwind of that…).

We arrived about 6 hours late, but were greeted by William (yay! Newly arrived from the states via Johannesburg) and Felix, who works for Zamtel up in Muf, and two other Zambians we’d never met before. You’ll be delighted to hear that a 7 passenger minivan can in fact hold 8 STS’ers, 3 Zambians, a million bags AND a stray Canadian who needed a lift to Ndola. So yeah, 3 hours in the van made those dingy train cars look like the Hilton. But we made it safe and sound, and got to enjoy a substantial rainstorm on the way. Good times.

We did some HIV ed stuff today, but I’ll leave that for the next blogger, since it’s not my birthday anymore, and I need some sleep. Sendamenipoe, mukwai (we’re back in Bemba territory now).

Megan

1/4/10 from Reuben (Moringa Team)

Mulishani mukwai? (hello, how are you? in Bimba) and Habari yaku (Hello, in Swahili).

The team has concluded our work for this trip in Tanzania and traveled on to Mufurila. We learned just a little bit of Swahili while in Dar es Salaam and are now back in the copper belt of Zambia, muddling our way in Bimba. I do wish I had more of a gift for language, English included.

During the last STS workshop day in Dar es Salaam the team prepared about 50 planting bags and distributed them to interested pastors and students at the workshop. Several people were very excited about the moringa information we provided and were discussing organizing local projects to promote the trees and knowledge of their health and nutrition benefits.

After our two day travel by train to Zambia, we began our first working day this morning (04 Jan 2010). The moringa trees at Dr. Thinus's house are looking very well, healthy, and full of leaves and pods. We plan to harvest leaves and make moringa powder for the orphanage in Burundi. The Mufurila saw mill provided the lumber required to build drying trays and we nearly completed construction of 10 trays and a rack.

It's great to be back in Zambia and greeting again the people we know here.

Reuben