Unexpected Gifts

Saturday, October 13, 2007

Our most recent TIA (This is Africa, in case you forgot): Tonight was MEF’s International Night and the participants have been preparing for this for weeks. Participants spent all day cooking for the meal that was to be at 18:00. This was to be followed by a program at 19:00. Being newbies to Africa, we actually thought this schedule would be followed. We fed the boys then arrived at the dining hall a little after six. We were the first ones there. But we had a lovely conversation with Bishop John, a New Zealander who has lived and ministered in southern Africa for over thirty years. He received a parcel bomb from powerful people supportive of the apartheid regime in South Africa. They didn’t look so favorably on his work with South African refugees and the fledgling African National Congress. He is missing his right hand as a result. He has been good friends with Mennonites in these regions who were also working with refugees. This conversation was interrupted by Brendan desperately needing a bathroom, so I left with him and Jason. Peter was going to text me when they began eating. I ended up staying home the rest of the evening as people only began eating around 20:30. The program didn’t even begin until 21:45 but Peter didn’t stay for that. I’m sure we will feel more of an obligation to stay next year as we will know the students involved. We have learned our lesson for next year and will plan accordingly!

Sunday, October 14, 2007

After having met the American missionaries in Shoprite and learning of another church option, we decided to check out Faith Baptist Church of Riverside as a family. It took about fifteen minutes to get there by taxi and we were greeted warmly. We met a woman named Ruth who seems very interesting. She is an African American woman from Houston, Texas but has lived in Zambia for over thirty years. She is married to a Zambian, together they have lived in Canada and Wales for his higher education, and have raised three children who are all now living back in the United States. We also talked a bit with Todd and Kathy and their children. I really appreciated how warmly we were greeted and how the ushers explained when and where the children would go for Sunday School. We were given a songbook which enabled us to participate in the singing but there was also a choir that sang a few numbers. The choir was excellent and I enjoyed it thoroughly. During the service, they invited guests to stay seated, so as not to embarrass us but had others come to greet us during a welcoming time. So many handshakes and friendly smiles. I left with the children to their Sunday School and stayed since Jason was feeling shy. There were about 40 children (four white, including our two) with all the primary kids together. The singing transported me back to my childhood with songs like “Father Abraham “and “The Wise Man Built His House Upon the Rock.” The three young adults leading had lots of energy and did their best to engage the kids. They are doing parables right now and so they told the story of the foolish man and wise man building their houses on the sand and the rock. Jason was excited that he already knew that story. At the end, they played a big crazy game of dodgeball and my kids were in their glory. That clinched it for them. This was the church they wanted to attend. Peter and I liked the church in general and enjoyed the singing and the warm welcome. After the service, I talked with two young Zambian women, one of which was an architect and the other a lawyer. This is definitely a church of middle to upper class Zambians.

Should we choose to attend this church though, there are some drawbacks. Theologically, this church is far more conservative than we are accustomed to. Today’s service felt like an American service, dropped into Africa. There are Bemba songs in the songbook and I wonder how much integration of the Zambian context there is in the worship and theology. There are two American missionary families that attend there as well and I am concerned that our boys will stick with the white kids and not make other friends at church. At the same time, they don’t have very many friends and someone from their own culture is exciting for them. Todd and Kathy are very nice but sometimes feel like they are from another culture, as they are graduates of Bob Jones University and have different perspectives on life and ministry in Zambia than we do. However, today was the first day that Brendan and Jason liked church and that is huge. We may still keep looking, but our kids’ interest in church, engaging worship, and a sense of community may win out. The chances of finding a church where we fit theologically are slim so we may do the best we can and find other ways to fill in the gaps.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!! My stomach is still flipping out by the cockroach incident we just had in the kitchen. I just walked into the kitchen and saw a huge cockroach on the wall near the ceiling. Peter came in with his shoe to try to murder it. He missed and it went on top of the cupboards. We got out the roach spray and he began spraying. The cockroach, in his fight for life, FLEW OFF THE CUPBOARD AND LANDED ON PETER’S BACK! I screamed, Peter did some crazy jig when I managed to tell him the cockroach was now on HIM, and the critter scurried down his leg. Meanwhile, I was screaming and dancing around trying to avoid the thing but also thinking I should step on it and kill it. My violent tendencies took over and I managed to execute the unwelcome guest. This is why Mennonites don’t dance. It doesn’t lead to sex . . . it leads to violence.

Wednesday, October 18, 2007

We just enjoyed a few wonderful days with John and Charlene Wieler and their girls, Danica and Erin. The Wielers are working with MCC in Lusaka and part of the MCC Zambia team. We are all encouraged to visit other MCCers in Zambia sometime during the year and this was their visit to us in Kitwe. Our boys could hardly contain themselves, they were so excited! Danica and Erin are both older than our boys but they were very sweet and took an interest in them. We played lots of games together, something we hadn’t done much of yet since we moved. Since the Wielers have a vehicle, they drove me all around Kitwe and I was able to go into shops that I had seen but hadn’t been to yet. We have always turned left when leaving MEF and I had never gone right before so we also did that. I feel like I have a better feel for Kitwe now and not just the simple route I always take with the taxi. In addition to the encouraging conversation and a place to process our experiences and ask questions, a highlight was eating our first watermelon of the season! John picked one up on the way from Lusaka which was devoured quickly. We found another one at the market and lugged it home. Our boys were in heaven! We also bought wonderful avocados, the first I have seen here. I have been using the “Simply in Season” cookbook and in it, they talk about the joys of waiting for a fruit or vegetable to come in season and now I have experienced it. While I enjoyed the luxury of being able to get any fruit or vegetable I wanted year round in California, I understand that buying locally and in season is a better way to go. It makes you wait, but the wait is worth it!

The visit from the Wielers was very refreshing and I was glad to have that time with them. We will see them again at our team meetings in Lusaka a few weeks from now. That is much too long for our boys to wait but they will manage. I was still in the process of straightening out our home and undertaking the tasks I neglected because I was having too much fun visiting and playing games, when Sandra came to visit. My mind was whirling with the tasks I wanted to finish but I managed to put them aside and visit for almost an hour. Jimmy arrived back in Kitwe after being in Kenya and Sudan for the past few weeks. He had no food in the house so he came over for lunch as well as dinner. I always wonder what he makes of the American meals I prepare but he never complains. The boys were so excited to see him and jumped all over him. Jason tried to teach him how to play the game “Sorry” while I was getting dinner on the table. Jason plays by his own rules which can be very confusing. Jimmy likes games and was intrigued by it so we will have him over to play another time. Right now he is exhausted and returning to a very busy time at MEF with graduation next week.

Thursday, October 18, 2007

It is amazing how some things feel very overwhelming at first, but over time, a space opens up and you are able to incorporate new things. This summer, when I was imagining how I would do my shopping in Kitwe, I hoped I would get my fruits and vegetables at the market and the rest at Shoprite. So far, I have only managed to shop at Shoprite. Today I felt ready to try the market. I walked from Lechwe School to the market, and was very hot by the time I got there an hour later. It is the hot season and while the early mornings are cool and breezy, the rest of the day is HOT! I wonder if that is how they named the season . . . Anyway, I found vegetables that were fresh and looked good. I bartered a bit but my heart wasn’t in it as I was negotiating over twenty-five cents. Weighed down by my watermelon and all the other things I found, I walked up to Shoprite (another block or two) and left my bags at the Parcel drop-off. Every store has a place where you leave your bags as you are not allowed to bring them in the store. A guard takes the bag and hands you a piece of cardboard with a number on it that indicates the space where your bag is placed. When you are done you have to make sure to remember to retrieve your bag. So this month I am incorporating language lessons, exercise, shopping at the market, and composting. Baby steps.

Friday, October 19, 2007

When we were back in California, one of our friends celebrated her ninth birthday. Instead of receiving gifts, Heather asked her friends to bring money that she could give to someone in need. She gave that money to me and asked that I find someone in Zambia who needed it. A few weeks ago, Peggy told me about the school fees that she needed to pay so that her daughter could go to school. The amount was almost exactly the amount that Heather had given to me. So after checking with Heather, I gave Peggy the money today. Peggy was overwhelmed. I showed her a picture of Heather and told her about this American girl who wanted to give this money to her daughter. She kept saying, “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” and “God is good!” and “Praise God.” What a blessing it was to pass on this money from a child who was thinking of others less fortunate than herself.

Zambia is celebrating its independence next week but since the school is closed for mid-term break, the school had a big assembly today. Peter and I attended this assembly which the kids had been preparing for over the past several weeks. Jason’s class stood in the front and waved their flags while the national anthem was being sung. Brendan’s class sang and danced to a song that is typical of the Tonga tribe. The boys lined up on one side and the girls on the other. A boy and a girl would each go into the center and dance around each other then go back to their place. It was pretty funny. Each class contributed a dance or song. One teacher is Filipino and taught her class a bamboo dance that had kids jumping in and out of bamboo sticks. A girl from India performed a lovely traditionally Indian dance. There was even a Western style square dance. But most of the dances were Zambian. It was well done and very entertaining. Now the boys are on a break for the week. They are a little disappointed that they aren’t flying to Dar es Salaam, Dubai, Mauritius, Johannesburg, or some other exciting place like some of their classmates. They haven’t quite embraced the simple life MCC advocates.