Back from Vacation

Monday, August 11, 2008

I apologize for my long absence from writing the snippets. It has been a full couple of weeks with the end of the school year, family visiting, traveling around Zambia, and now settling into our regular routine again. It feels very overwhelming to try to blog about the past few weeks as there is so much to tell. There are also 2500 pictures to sort through, all taken by my father and brother in 2.5 weeks. I took five pictures. Those were easy to sort. But I have to start somewhere so I have decided to write a few things about the days leading up to the Great African Dueck Vacation 2008 and the days following. Then I will attempt to blog parts of the trip afterward. A little crazy, but it feels more manageable that way.

We had several things to celebrate in the week preceding our family’s arrival. Jason received his report card for Upper Nursery and he excelled in all areas. He was very proud of his work, especially seeing how he didn’t even know how to hold a pencil when he began. There was an awards ceremony for the primary students which Peter and I attended. In each grade, there were three awards given: Merit, Endeavor, and Character. The Merit is the highest academic award as it is calculated using test scores from the entire year in all subjects. Brendan walked away with this prestigious award and we were very proud of him. He also received certificates in French (for getting the highest exam marks) and Music for his ability to play the melody on the glockenspiel (unlike most of the class). After receiving his prizes, he had to stand for a picture, holding his book (for the merit award) or certificate. The first two times, he hurried to his seat so fast that I couldn’t even get a picture. The third time, I finally got the picture!

And the last achievement that deserves celebration is that Peter submitted his dissertation for marking. Four years and 324 pages later, it is finished! We are all so proud of his accomplishment and are amazed at his discipline in getting it done. His dissertation will now be marked by an internal and external examiner. The plan is for him to fly to Prague in November to defend his work at an oral examination. If all goes well, which we have no reason to believe it won’t, he will graduate that same week and be awarded his PhD.

I guess I should come up with some kind of personal achievement to share with you as well. No major milestone to report but I think I deserve an award for surviving church on the Sunday before school ended and family arrived. Church was full of surprises that day. I was called upon to spontaneously lead the prayer of confession. At least someone led a short chorus before the prayer so I could somewhat gather my thoughts. And then I went out to lead Sunday School and discovered that the teacher for the older kids wasn’t there and the reverend’s wife was preaching so I was left to teach all the kids. Thankfully, Peter came out to help. I always look around during the service to see which of my age group are present that morning. If Slanda or Joseph or Tadywa are in attendance then I whisper to Peter that I need his help. This morning all three were there! So all of a sudden I had thirty children ranging in age from 2 to 14. Yikes! By the grace of God, I came up with something and it filled the time. By the grace of God too, the reverend’s wife doesn’t preach nearly as long as the reverend!

OK, with all the celebrations reported, I can now move on to the family visit. My parents, my brother Kevin, his wife Rhonda, and their four kids, made the 24 hour trip to Zambia and arrived safely with all their luggage (a small miracle). We had a marvelous time together, showing them our world here in Kitwe, seeing a variety of ministries, and playing tourist. We packed a lot into those two and a half weeks, I tell you. More on that to come . . .

And then we said our tearful goodbyes and we were on our own again. After visiting another MCC worker in the southern part of Zambia, we spent a few days in Lusaka. We have new MCC Reps (representatives, a.k.a our bosses), Eric and Kathy Fast, and we enjoyed spending time with them and getting to know them a bit better. Peter spent time visiting a few of his Peace participants who were in Lusaka doing their field work. And then it was back to Kitwe. As luck would have it, Carmen had to submit paperwork at Immigration in Lusaka so she took a bus down, took care of her errand, and then rode home with us. That gave us 4.5 hours of catching up since we hadn’t seen much of each other for the past month. It is a long drive but it flew by in Carmen’s company.

We were a bit worried about how the boys would adjust back to life without cousins to play with. But they were greeted excitedly by all the neighborhood kids and Brendan and Jason did not miss a beat. They switched into their Zambian accents and have been playing nonstop with all their friends. Peter is figuring out how to work without the pressure of a million things to do which has been the case since April. I am trying to find the energy to push forward and figure out where and how to contribute in our second year of MCC work. But first I am taking a mini-vacation by reading and playing piano and relaxing a bit. I guess I need a vacation from our vacation. Traveling in Zambia can be exhausting and there were many details to figure out. It was a joy for me to play tour guide for my family but I am ready for a little rest!

Our first task back is actually a huge undertaking and we would covet your prayers. Mindolo Ecumenical Foundation (MEF), our partner organization where Peter lectures in the Peace Centre, has had a rough couple of months. There have been major labor disputes which have caused a huge divide between the workers and management. The troubles began last November when the workers held an illegal strike (the day I began teaching the Trauma Counseling class). (Of course, the roots of the struggle go back many more years but I won’t go into that.) And it has gone downhill since then with workers fired, disciplinary hearings, workers rehired, lawsuits, etc. Adrian, Jenny, Peter and I (all associated with MEF) and Carmen (though she works for a different organization) have wrestled with what our role should be in all this conflict. We have been very troubled by what we have seen and heard but haven’t known when and how to get involved. While we were gone on vacation, the director launched a week of reconciliation, hoping this would resolve some of the hurt and tensions that exist at MEF. The workers approached Adrian, the chaplain, asking for the ex-pats (us) to help in this healing process. The director also asked us to lead a meeting that would help bring reconciliation. So now it is our time to get involved, having been sought out by both parties. After prayer and much thought, Adrian, Jenny, Peter and I are going to invite MEF to engage in a process of reconciliation and mediation. I think some wish it could be done in one two hour meeting but that is impossible. This week will be our first meeting where we explain the journey as we see it and invite workers and management to commit to this process. We have exercise and rituals that we will employ to help build trust and a common vision. Future meetings will involve hearing the pain of both sides, identifying issues that need to be mediated and then trying to come to some resolution. We figure it will take many meetings, especially as there are 80 people involved, translation into Bemba is necessary for some, there are cultural differences, people are unfamiliar with mediation, and it is just a really complicated situation with lots of hurt. I’m telling you, it is a huge undertaking and we ex-pats enter it with fear and trembling. We come with a few skills, a limited understanding of Zambian culture, and a hope for peace to come to MEF. We fully recognize that it will have to be the Spirit of Peace that brings reconciliation to this institution, and we pray that we will be conduits of that peace. There are so many things that could derail the process so we are dependent on the prayers of others to sustain us and the process. Please, please, please, pray for us!