Meetings and Elections

Monday, October 27, 2008

We just returned from an MCC Team Meeting in Lusaka. Despite the nearly five hour journey home, we find ourselves refreshed from a long weekend in the big city, surrounded with great people. Eric and Kathy, our Reps, are really great and each time we get to be with them, we appreciate them all the more. They are very good with Brendan and Jason, engaging them in conversation and thinking about their needs. They must know how important it is to have other adults interact with your children. Jocelyn, our one remaining team member, was there and it was fun to see her again. We met Ashley Kraybill and Chris Taylor, the two new SALTers (one year term). With a smaller team than last year, we all spent time together, laughing, and getting to know each other. I am amazed at how mature Ashley and Chris are, how self-confident, and willing to get the most out of the experience even though it is really challenging. It was also great to connect with Ginah Mudende who spent last year in British Columbia on an MCC exchange program (IVEP). Keith Mwaanga, an advisory board member, spent the weekend with us as well. He was on a Youth Discovery Team that toured and sang in Zambia and Zimbabwe as well as the US and Canada years ago and is now the chaplain in Macha. All really great people.

Eric and Kathy tossing Brendan in the air

We had a rough start to the weekend though. Brendan was still battling malaria and was very feverish. Our first night there, he was awake from 1-3 a.m., coughing and sweating. During that time, Jason woke up every twenty minutes, groaning with stomach pains. Jason was wide awake at 5:30 but he went out and talked with Kathy, who is also an early bird. Brendan woke up at 6 and proceeded to throw up into our open suitcase. Nasty. Poor kid. He never saw it coming. Luckily he didn’t have much in his stomach.

On a more positive note, on our way to Lusaka, the road was lined with watermelons. We are thrilled that is now watermelon season again! Even better than that, Kathy made rollkuchen to go with it for lunch!

Friday afternoon we were supposed to go to the waterslides at Adventure City. Despite Brendan throwing up again, we decided to attempt it. But when we got there, the people at the booth actually recommended that we don’t go in because it was so packed. Jocelyn and Ashley went in to scout it out and reported that you couldn’t even see the water in the pools because there were so many kids. That was a bit disappointing but now we know not to go anywhere public on a holiday. Eric and Chris set up some water play for Jason at the Guesthouse which was fun for him. Our family went to Adventure City on Sunday afternoon instead and that pleased the boys.

Chris and Jason cooling off together

Chris and Peter bonding in the water

Ashley and the boys in what is left of the treehouse at the Guesthouse

Ashley, Kathy, and Eric comparing bug bites

Saturday was spent in meetings. The boys were able to go to the home of a family that had provided babysitting for our regional retreat last year. There are seven kids in the family, two of whom live in the US, and so the two teenage boys agreed to babysit Brendan and Jason. By then Brendan had mostly recovered, though still lacked energy, and they had a great time there all day. That allowed us to be fully present in the meetings.

During one part of our meetings, each person was asked to share a bit about how they are doing. In living cross-culturally, there are often three stages: honeymoon, frustration and acceptance. I think the honeymoon phase happened before we came here when I still thought of living in Africa somewhat romantically. The frustration stage hit the day we landed and lasted almost the whole first year. In some subtle way, I feel like I have moved into acceptance. That doesn’t mean that I am not frustrated (on a nearly daily basis) but it doesn’t frazzle me in the same way. When things inevitably went wrong, I used to feel shaken to the core, my center was affected. But now, I feel stronger and more capable of handling the more difficult aspects of living here. I also feel like I am on the cusp of relationships moving forward or deeper. It takes a long time to make friends and feel connected but, little by little, they are growing. I feel hopeful which is a big thing.

For me, acceptance and familiarity go hand in hand. Having gone through one year, we know a bit more of what to expect and that helps ease the frustrations. For instance, when we travel to Lusaka, we always stop at a fee-paying bathroom behind the “Hungry Lion” in Kabwe, about half-way. I know to pay and take my allotted toilet paper from the lady sitting out front. I know that none of the toilets have seats and that the last stall on the left has a lock on the door. And I know that when I pull the cord to flush the toilet, I have to jump back because the water sprays out (that is, if the water is on). All helpful things to know.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

What we don’t know is how the country’s elections will turn out. Today was voting day and everything was shut down. It will take awhile before all the ballots are counted. Bob went to a voting booth and discovered that he wasn’t allowed within 400ft of it. But he also discovered that, after you have voted, you have your thumbnail painted. I guess that ensures that you can only vote once.

It has been interesting to see how elections are run here. There are two main candidates: Sata and Banda. We see their faces on billboards and sticky posters that are plastered everywhere, even on stop signs, paid advertising billboards of other companies, and the government sign indicating how far it is to the next town. The supporters of each candidate have a special handsign to show which party they are with and you see people driving down the street honking their horns and making the sign of their political party. Sometimes roads are blocked off temporarily by police so that a caravan of trucks and cars with hazard lights flashing can zoom by, chanting and cheering for their candidate.

There is some concern that this will not be a fair election. Three boxes of ballots went “missing” and there was a truck with illegal ballots that were confiscated in Livingstone. Tension is building and there is concern that Zambia will not remain a peaceful country. School has been cancelled for the boys so we are staying at home and seeing what happens. After the last elections, there was rioting in the town center and the police had to use tear gas to disperse the crowds. We are well away from town center and feel safe in the walls of MEF so I am not really too concerned. If things get bad, the school will remain closed until things settle down. I did a big shopping trip this week and so there is no need to go to town for food.

Unfortunately, Peter does have to leave MEF and travel to Zimbabwe on Sunday. He will take a bus to Lusaka and then fly to Harare. He will return the following Sunday. He will be helping conduct a youth training on conflict resolution with one of MEF’s partner institutions. The timing of this workshop isn’t stellar with potential turmoil here in Zambia and the constant instability of Zimbabwe but such is life. Who knows? Perhaps the election will be just fine and there will be a smooth transition to the next president. There are many praying for just this so we will wait and see.

Friday, October 31, 2008

Thank goodness Halloween is not celebrated here.

Sata supporters are already celebrating their victory, even though there are no election results out. The good news is that the Copperbelt is largely pro-Sata so if he indeed wins there will be only celebrating. The bad news is that last time around, people thought Sata had won and were celebrating, only to find out the next day that he had lost. Then things got bad.