Diary 2 (Thurs 27th February):
Well, today began with an amazing breakfast of
porridge, bread and fried eggs, a pot of hot water, milk and guava juice. We fed well and awaited our transport to the
church/conference centre. Pastor George
arrived with Len and Ian who were impressed with our accommodation. We went on to pick up James and Farayi, back
along the potholed roads. We waved to
the lads that James had been out playing footy with the night before. It’s amazing to be staying in these homes
where the people are; such a privilege and an eye-opener – so glad we weren’t
in a hotel.
At the church, Ian was impressed at the initial
site of the work they had managed to do to the premises since his last
visit. We were ushered in to a back room
to make ourselves comfortable, shown where water was stored, and reacquainted
with our boxes of supplies, shipped in the weeks ahead of our visit.
We all then went in to join the beginning of the
conference where they were already in full worship. We were ushered on to sofas which made up the
front row, with the delegates of the conference on wooden benches behind. This felt a little uncomfortable but is
customary for them so had make good of the situation. We soon had opportunity
to move around and greet people. This
meeting, personally, I found quite overwhelming and suddenly found myself
overcome at how God had brought us (me) to this place and gave to God all that
I am and have and prayed that we use these next two weeks effectively.
We could hear the children in the next part of the
building so, at the break, Stephen asked us; James, Farayi, Hannah and myself,
to follow him round for a tour of the school and orphanage. We began by seeing some young men working on
constructing some fencing they were going to use to secure the room to be used
for the IT project (we later saw this being installed). Entering the school was
an incredible experience! It’s an
extremely high ceilinged building and there appears to be no electricity so
they rely totally on natural daylight which comes in from barred openings high
up. I was needing to adjust my eyes to take
this in properly. The large area has
been divided up with hardboard partitions to create a central corridor and
maybe 7 or 8 ‘rooms’. Each room caters
for 1 or 2 year groups ranging from about 9 to 25/30 children in each, sat
around small wooden desks – these being very overcrowded in the larger
classes. Each teacher has a blackboard
easel of sorts and there are a few basic pictures on the walls. Greeting the children is very hard to
describe; you get the feeling that most haven’t seen a white person before,
some wanting just to touch your skin and starring deeply into your face. We shook hands with all of them; some were
happy to shake hands and others wanted to curtsey. One class stood to their feet and started
singing, ‘The love of God is very wonderful …’ The teacher said it was because
they were so happy to see us. I think
we’ve got our work cut out for us this next couple of weeks, and I’d really
like to spend some quality time with these amazing young people; the next
generation, and to make friends with the youngest pupil (16months old) who
cried at the sight of us.
We went on for a tour of the orphanage; 4 or 5
rooms fully bunked out, a couple of mosquito nets dotted around, string around
to suffice as a wardrobe, and one shelf for a handful of writing
materials. I didn’t see any washroom
facilities but I guess they are sparse and open to disease due to lack of
water. One lad was home as he hadn’t
been feeling too well. He looked rather
forlorn and lonely sat there, the reality that there is then nothing to do
other than to sit and think.
It’s lunchtime and we have now (again) been well
fed (chicken, rice, potato salad, coleslaw and tomato soup and I am trying to
catch up with my diary, sort through the boxes of materials and make some plans
for the next few days as the best way to push this forward ……………………………………….
…………………………………………..
having sorted through the boxes and checked everything had arrived, I decided
to take a stroll around the complex to get some fresh air and some daylight as
rooms tend to remain curtained shut throughout the daytime and I felt in need
of some sunlight. School had now
finished for the day, 13:30 at this time of year, and they had just finished
lunch in the orphanage. Two of the girls
were outside busily doing the washing up – one very large bowl on the ground for
washing off the remains of dinner and one for rinsing. Clothes were also hung out to dry on the
ropes strung from wall to wall. One
young man of around 14 years of age was sat slumped against the wall,
scratching around in the dirt. He sat up
to look smart as I approached and found it very difficult to communicate with
me, not knowing quite what he should or shouldn’t say. Further along the wall
of the building a girl in a pretty pink dress of around 7 years was playing by
herself, scratching away at the mortar between the bricks with some small
coloured stones and pieces of glass she had found. I asked what she was playing. She said, ‘Just playing …. I want you to get
me’. Realising that ‘to get me’ meant
she wanted me to take her home with me, so the conversation became a bit stuck
on this point and I found it impossible to make her smile. Weighed down a little with how to break in to
the life and thinking of these young people I continued to stroll. I met Stephen’s wife and some other ladies
from the conference as they left to go home; much excitement is spreading in
terms of the literacy project to begin on Monday …….. as I re-entered the building, the delegates
had dispersed and Jimmy was now happily banging away on the drums, accompanied
by three young men on the keyboard or PA.
Some younger ladies came along to join in by picking up the microphones
and singing. They had amazing voices and
began to freely worship and dance. I realised that the door between the church
hall and orphanage was open and some young faces were gathering to watch from a
distance; one or two slipping in to the pews, including the little girl in the
pink dress. I beckoned them to come over
and join in the singing and dancing but they were hesitant; maybe it wasn’t the
done thing or maybe they were just a bit shy, I wasn’t sure which, but I went
across and took the little girl by the hand and took her to the front with me
to sing, and sing she did. She had a
good voice on her and knew how to worship Jesus. It was warming to now see her smile!
We then headed back
in to town with Pastor George to buy some data sims and check-out the local
supermarket, Shoprite. So glad we had a
local man to guide us as we really would have got a bit stuck left to our own
devices. He chatted to the man on the
MTN stall to sort us a deal on sims and 10mins later we were done. Off now to the supermarket, very aware that
all eyes were on these half dozen white faces.
Our host had to chat to the lady on security to get me in to the
supermarket due to the fact I had a full backpack on, having just come from the
church. I would normally have had to
leave it at the entrance, but she allowed me to take it in. Very thankful as there were some important
documents in there. The supermarket was
packed and reminded me very much of ours back home, even selling green reusable
carrier bags at the checkout. Hannah was
keen to buy a fresh mango and the guys bought various bits of food and
teabags. As we were queuing to pay for
our goods, a lady with her baby approached Hannah and asked for her name and
phone number with no hesitation. Hannah
chatted to her, saying she didn’t have her number on her, but could meet us if
she came to church on Sunday. The lady
wasn’t going to be put off, but Farayi came to the rescue, giving the lady the
address to the church and Hannah was able to slip away. Pastor George helped Len and I through the
checkout to buy top-up for our sim cards as we are still getting our heads
round the local currency and you have to be sure you are not being done a poor
deal. As we waited for the others to
come through I pointed out to Len and Ian a man further along our queue; very
tall and gaunt looking and dressed in a bright red caftan. George had told me earlier in the supermarket
that he was a witch doctor, and this is how they dressed.
Getting out of the
supermarket wasn’t so easy either; we had to product our receipts to a young
man to check and tear, but mine were buried in the depths of my bag. This was going to be a mission in the
entrance of this busy little place but, again, a word from our host meant we
were waved through.
Back out in the
street there were women sat on the ground selling various wares, mainly food
and herbs, but also handbags and flip-flops etc. We strolled back down the muddy track to our
car. One young guy came up in front of
us doing a funny little gesture; stomping his feet, knees bent, from side to
side, with his hands up to his face, elbows out. It would have been tempting to do likewise to
‘connect’ with him but this was the catch.
George said that if you did, you would be off guard and his hands would
be in your pockets.
We passed a statue
of a man throwing large muddy balls of stone; apparently how they fought for
independence in Zambia (guns are not common place here even today). Len and I decided to run back quickly to take
a photo here for one of my colleagues at work, but we had to be very quick and
told to be very careful not to get caught up with the glued up young men
sitting to the back of this monument.
They did start to shout at us as we walked away and when we didn’t stop
they shouted, ‘what’s up?’ Len said,
‘Jesus is up’ which seemed to make them happy.
So aware that you
just can’t talk to people the same way here in the streets; at least, not as a
white man/woman. On the whole, the main
aim is to get as much out of you as they can, and if they can get your contact
details, you will be constantly plagued for practical and financial help. Having said that, the Zambian people, by
nature, are also an incredibly hospitable people and the Christians here go all
out to serve and bless.
4:30pm and the
evening rains began, right on time. On arriving home, mine and Hannah’s bags
were taken from us at the door and carried to our room where we found that our
bed had been remade and all our personal belongings had been tidied and
organised for us, and there was food prepared on the table. The rain outside was now torrential and
lightning flashed across the sky. I
stood for a few minutes in the doorway as it was very refreshing after the heat
of the day, but not for too long as we didn’t want a mozzie attack. We had a lovely evening of fellowship
together and got some chocolate out to share, especially as we were now aware
that chocolate is a luxury not often bought but very much liked. What a beautiful family and we are really
getting to know each other now, and talking together about the differences in our
cultures. Time for another good night’s
sleep.
