Treats and Retreats

Saturday, December 19, 2009

It’s been three weeks since the last blog. I know our friends and family are probably scurrying around, doing their Christmas shopping, and attending holiday programs and parties. We’ve had a holiday program and done a bit of scurrying but the quality and quantity of Christmas preparations seem vastly different here than what I remember of our time living in the West.

We decorated our little fake tree and hung our Christmas lights on the Saturday before the first Sunday of Advent. As is the tradition in the Dueck household, we gave our boys one gift to mark the beginning of the Advent season, giving them a taste of what is to come and talking about waiting and expectation during the month of December. We attended Brendan’s Christmas concert, which was nice despite all the technical difficulties. The highlight of the show was when a Lechwe alumni played “O Holy Night” on her electric violin. She was really incredible. The kids looked on in a perpetual state of awe. I will forever be indebted to Lechwe School for teaching Brendan many of the traditional Christmas carols.

The boys are out of school for the month of December and the time is going by quickly. We borrowed an electric keyboard from the school during the term break so that our boys can practice on a piano that is in tune and where the middle C still works. One morning Peter and I thought we would count just how many times Brendan played the tune “Axel F” that day but we counted up to 38 and it wasn’t even 8 a.m. so we quit. “Ode to Joy” gets sprinkled in occasionally and a few of the other songs he is supposed to be practicing but not as much as we would like. Jason always has an art project of some sort going, like drawing all the villains in Spiderman or making a Star Wars comic book. I’ve also been tutoring him in a few of his weaker subjects, trying to get him up to speed in his class. In between rain showers, and sometimes in the midst of the rain, they are often out playing soccer in the front yard.

There is a new American family living here at MEF, the Jacksons from Vancouver, Washington. They have two adolescent daughters and an eight-year-old son. Max was a bit shy at first, having difficulty making the adjustment to life in Zambia. But our boys befriended him and now they are often playing together. Steve and Carol are here for two years as missionaries with a Pentecostal Bible School. We had them all over for Mexican Fiesta and the girls raved over our homemade tortillas. I took Carol into the market and showed her where I get my fresh fruit and vegetables. It’s nice to have new friends.

Brent and Erin continue to bless us in so many ways. They invited us over for yummy pizza at their place. They babysat the boys one afternoon when I was giving a workshop. They come over and play games and Erin makes me laugh. I went to the market to buy a ton of produce for our MCC Retreat and Erin volunteered to come along just to help me carry everything. So kind.

The last three weeks haven’t been without problems, though. On the way to pick up the boys from school one afternoon, I stopped by at a store for milk and yogurt. When I tried to start the car again, there was no response. It seemed like a battery issue or electrical problem but what do I know? For the next twenty minutes in the midst of a horrendous downpour, I tried every now and then to see if it would start. Meanwhile, I called Peter and he was working on getting a taxi to come pick me up and possibly jumpstart the car. Then miraculously, I turned the key and it started. We cancelled the taxi and picked up the kids, a bit late but thankful nonetheless. Our car gave us further problems when the back seat window got stuck halfway down. It seems the motor on the power windows has gone on strike. Peter managed to get it back up so that the rain wouldn’t get inside and for security reasons so that is good.

We had a major hailstorm one afternoon, the first we’ve experienced here. The screens on our windows were blown out of the frames they sit in and rain was billowing into our kitchen and dining room, covering the floor with water. I had to try to close the windows against the storm and was pelted with large hailstones, one of which left a nice bruise on my arm. It was crazy! Apparently, while we were on our MCC retreat, there were more storms in Kitwe. Two big trees fell down on the property and part of our carport metal sheeting flipped over but that was easily fixed by Peter. It most definitely is rainy season!

I’m not sure if it is the change in weather, the very bad air quality due to the mines, or just tension, but I have been battling headaches for the last few weeks. With a bit of ibuprofen, they disappear for awhile, only to return when the medication wears off. It has become a constant companion, one that I could do without.

The biggest problem I faced though, was that my hard drive crashed. I had been working for a few days on the conflict resolution curriculum that I have to introduce the beginning of January but it didn’t get backed up before the crash so I lost all of it. Back to square one. While in Lusaka, Peter managed to get a new hard drive and when we returned, he installed it and I can get back to work. Although I would like to use the Internet to research a bit more and that is not possible. MEF hasn’t paid the bill so it has been turned off all week. Apparently, a partial payment has been made and we hope will be accepted, buying us a bit more time before it inevitably gets switched off again.

The highlight of our month so far has been our MCC Team Retreat. We drove down to Lusaka a day early so that Cynthia and I could do the grocery shopping for the retreat. We cut a deal with the place we were staying that we would provide the food but that their cooks would prepare it and clean up. So Cynthia and I tried to figure out amounts for 26 people over three days, not something we are accustomed to doing. That evening, those of us who were in Lusaka, went to a Korean restaurant for a meal, with YoungMi as our guide and cultural expert. We wrapped the rice, sauce, and tender meat in a leaf of lettuce and popped it into our mouths, just like YoungMi showed us. It was all very good and we enjoyed the experience.

Saturday afternoon, we piled into our cars and drove down to Siavonga on Lake Kariba. Bruno Baerg, the Regional Director for Southern Africa, drove with us so we had an extra 3.5 hours to talk together. He expressed interest in me providing trauma awareness trainings for MCC Reps so that they will better be able to care for their service workers, should anything bad happen. This is an area of real need so I am glad he sees that and is working at addressing it.

When we arrived at Sandy Beach, where we were staying, we unloaded all the food and I set about trying to explain to the cooks what we expected so that they could take over. It quickly became clear that we would need to still remain actively involved in food preparation, especially if we wanted to eat somewhere around the meal times we designated. Dennis and Mr. Zimba were lovely gentlemen and very kind. They were very concerned to do things the way we white people wanted it done and so meal preparation required quite a bit of handholding at first. I figured that they knew even better than I how to cut up mango and pineapple but they were hesitant, afraid to do it wrong. With Cynthia, Arja and I taking turns in the kitchen, we all figured out how to work together by the end, but it was more time intensive than we first imagined.

Once I got out of the kitchen, I discovered that we were in a really pretty setting. The resort is situated right on Lake Kariba and there was a nice beach (hence the name). They also had a swimming pool filled with warm lake water where the kids passed many a happy hour. Our boys and the other five MCC kids had a great time running around in a pack, exploring the grounds, digging in the sand, collecting seashells, and staying up very late with no expectation of sleeping in.

While the kids were doing their thing, the adults had morning sessions. John and Esther Spurrier, Brethren in Christ missionaries, were our speakers for these sessions. Esther is the country representative for BIC Zambia and John is a doctor who runs the mission hospital in Macha. Esther led us in a thoughtful, reflective Advent worship service Sunday morning. We were reminded that there was 400 years of silence between the prophets and Jesus’ birth and these generations had a lot of waiting to do before the promise of God was fulfilled. John had us looking at the Beatitudes and recognizing that the kingdom of God is present where people are on the margins, where people are struggling, where it is messy and complex. Both these messages combined to give me hope in the midst of the messiness, the struggle, the waiting to see how God is at work. The Kingdom of God is present and we have to hold onto the expectation that God will continue to bring about his Kingdom in this context, regardless of whether we can see that or not. Through the course of the retreat, I felt my perspective shift and I became more hopeful again and for that I am thankful.

In our free time, we took a boat ride on the lake, and walked on the Kariba Dam. We had hoped to get a tour of the dam but they are no longer offering that due to a fire that occurred several months ago where a number of workers perished. We were a stones throw from Zimbabwe but that’s as far as we got. We also enjoyed many treats by the fireside like s’mores (minus the graham crackers but found an acceptable substitute), bannock, and banana boats. Another evening we decorated gingerbread cookies, sang Christmas carols and exchanged small gifts.

After a final session where we could ask the doctor anything we wanted and a very meaningful and beautiful time of prayer together, we packed up and made the journey back to our homes. We spent the night in Lusaka, opting to break up the trek. Eric and Kathy kindly offered to keep an eye on our sleeping boys while Peter and I went to the only movie theater in Zambia to take in a flick. The next day, we continued our drive home, stopping at our favorite place, the Fig Garden Café, for the best burgers in the country. We returned to a house that hadn’t been robbed, thanks to Erin and Brent who kindly agreed to housesit for us. They left us pumpkin bread on the counter, Starburst candies on the boys’ pillows, and even invited us over for dinner that night. What a treat!

While we were thankful and amazed that nothing was stolen from us, Eric was not so fortunate. Returning home from the gas station, he was blocked by another car and two guys with shotguns got out. He was ordered out of his car and forced to lay face down on the ground. Another car happened on the robbery so the gunmen stole the purses of the two ladies in that vehicle and then they got in Eric’s car and drove away. Thankfully, Eric was not hurt although it was a very scary experience. In addition to the trauma of having two shotguns pointed at you, he has a huge hassle ahead of him. Having handled our stolen vehicle incident, he knows what is coming: police reports, insurance, buying another car, getting all the paperwork processed for that, etc. Our team has four vehicles for four families. Our car was stolen so another car was purchased but that took months to happen. The car that Eric was driving was the new car that replaced our stolen car. It still did not have license plates despite Eric and Kathy making frequent trips to the necessary departments. (We can thank Zambia’s slow bureaucracy for this theft since the car was targeted precisely because it did not have license plates and could not be tracked.) Another truck died and a replacement was bought but still hasn’t been released. In the meantime, a loaner vehicle was given until the car was released. Now another car has to be purchased and the months long process begins again. All this on a reduced budget due to the global financial crisis. Eeesh. Glad this isn’t my headache to deal with but we feel bad for our Reps who have a lot on their plate.

So now we are home again and looking ahead to Christmas. I am fighting a cold, a nice souvenir I took home with me from retreat. Peter is using the MEF holidays to further his dissertation revisions. Christmas will be quiet around here but we are fine with that. We are anticipating visits from the two other MCC families, the Sanfilippos and Moellers in the week between Christmas and New Years. We will enjoy the holiday baking, conversations, and games when they come to visit so our Christmas will be more relaxed and quiet. Both have their blessings and we will try to savor it all.

Monday, December 21, 2009

Internet is finally up and running at MEF so I can post this blog. However, it was a bit too much to try to upload pictures. I will try again another day. By the way, my headaches have disappeared! The group prayed for me at our MCC Retreat and I have been headache free since then. I had a cold the past few days but recovered from that amazingly fast. Thanks God!