A week behind . . . more to come!

Wednesday, April 2, 2008
I don’t usually take my kids with me to the market but since they are out of school they came along. As soon as we got out of the car, we were surrounded by four or five street kids. I have been challenged by Carmen’s persistent effort to treat each person with respect and so I do my best to greet the street kids even when I am telling them I will not give them any money. This posse of “road kids” (as Jason called them), followed us around the market for the next 45 minutes. They kept picking Jason up and were constantly touching both boys. I firmly told them to put Jason down and keep their hands off the boys. They were in my face, asking for money, telling me what I should buy, and all the time grabbing the boys. We made it back to the car and the street kids began getting more agitated. One laid down on the ground and started wailing for me to give him money. Another wouldn’t let Jason open his car door to get in the car. Then when I finally got Jason in the car, the boy again opened the door and was leaning in on Jason. I pushed him out and locked the car doors. I reprimanded the boys and said that they needed to show respect to me as their elder (a Zambian value) and I told them where they could go . . . to a shelter for street kids at a nearby church, not the other place. A gentleman was walking by and he told me that I should just ignore the streetkids. I responded, “How can I ignore them when they are perpetually grabbing my children?” We drove off, all feeling a tad bit frazzled by the experience. Next week we are going to a drop-in shelter for street kids in Lusaka, an MCC partner organization. Maybe they will have some words of wisdom for me on what to do next time.

Thursday, April 3, 2008
My hard drive crashed this week. Thankfully, we had an extra hard drive that we had been using for back-up and so Peter installed that one in my computer. But that leaves us with no back-up until we come up with another plan. And even though Peter was able to load the software back onto the computer, many of them require updates that must be downloaded from the internet. That has proven to be a bit more difficult here with the connection constantly getting lost and the slow speed. Some of it will have to wait until our Lusaka trip next week because we hear the other MCCers have a better set-up that will make the updates possible. I am such a first-world citizen – being without a computer for several days was not easy. I use the computer for everything: calendar, email, recipes, music, videos for the boys, to do lists, pictures, and a myriad of other things. Like water, you don’t realize how much you appreciate it until it is gone.

Friday, April 4, 2008
I had my first opportunity to facilitate a training using the resource that my father developed with his doctoral student from Kenya. The training is called “Christian Counseling: An African Indigenous Perspective” and is comprised of 10 video sessions presented by Dr. Mwiti of Nairobi. There is a manual that comes with the DVD that also included questions for discussion. The resource is designed to train church leaders and laity in basic counseling skills, taking what is good from both African culture and Western psychology and addressing the specific issues that Africans face. At the end of the training, each participant receives his or her own personal copy of the DVD set and manual so that they can train others. All of this is at no cost to the participant, something they can hardly believe.

Every afternoon this week, for three and a half hours, I met with fifteen students at St. John’s Anglican seminary, located here on the MEF campus. Although leading this training was a gift to them, I was blessed by all that they gave back. I learned so much from them and came to appreciate even more the values and gifts of traditional African society. Unfortunately, they are caught between the traditional and the modern and much is being lost in the process of this transition. The course affirms traditional African wisdom and exhorts counselors to draw on proverbs and folk tales that have been used for ages to bring healing. The students lamented the loss of many of these proverbs as they have not been written down and the elderly who know these things are dying. There was also much discussion when it came to understanding suffering and God’s benevolence as well as in the area of the demonic and curses. At the end of the class, the participants gave me a traditional blessing (they usually use it as a welcome). They rubbed their hands together, progressively getting faster, to generate warmth in their hands. This symbolizes the warmth they feel toward the recipient. Then they end with a special clap rhythm. It was very touching.

Tuesday, April 8, 2008
As I collapsed into bed last night, I realized that some people have busy days like the one that I had yesterday EVERY day. I am thankful that even though I often have bizarre experiences and encounters by Western standards, I usually have time and space during the day to rest, think, and play. But not yesterday. I woke up early to do laundry and get my sourdough bread going. Peggy came with her daughter, Esther, to clean and watch the kids play while I went grocery shopping. Carmen helped me print out the certificates for last week’s training for the formal chapel being held tonight. There were a number of glitches but we finally found a way to get them completed. In preparation for Scott’s farewell that evening, I made a salad, baked a dessert, baked my sourdough bread, and made soup. I was going to pack for our trip to Lusaka (leaving today) but a friend came over to get a haircut. He also needed a bit of informal counseling so I did that instead of packing. I enjoy these opportunities that come my way to help someone figure out what is going on emotionally and help them to connect patterns and get unstuck. Yesterday wasn’t the most ideal day for this but it was energizing nonetheless. I left the kitchen a mess and went to St. John’s evensong chapel. At the end of the service, I gave a little speech and then handed out the certificates, books and DVDs to the students. I sat back down but then was called upon to speak again on what brought us to Africa and what we are doing here. By this time it was 18:00 and I had ten people coming to my house at 18:30 for a farewell dinner. But instead of closing, the bishop asked me to share again, this time on the history of the Mennonite church and what the Mennonites are doing all over the world. I came up with something somewhat coherent, I think, but then the bishop wanted to add on his experiences of the Mennonites who worked with refugees in Lesotho and Botswana. Finally, at 18:20, I was released from the chapel and I rushed home to finish making the soup and prepare to welcome our guests. Thankfully, Peter had set the table and cleaned up the kitchen and bathed the boys. He’s a good man. We had a lovely dinner with friends, although it was a sad occasion. This was our first time hosting a farewell party here for a good friend. It most definitely won’t be our last. Carmen put together a movie with digital pictures and funny captions to capture Scott’s year. It was very well done and we all enjoyed seeing the good times we have had together and the meaningful work that Scott has engaged in while here in Zambia. Jason hugged Scott for a long time, the first of many hard good-byes for this little guy. The guests left around 22:00 and Peter and I did the dishes and cleaned up a bit. I was definitely ready for bed after this busy day!