Work, Rest and Play

Friday, April 22, 2011

We’ve just returned from nearly two weeks on the road, spending the bulk of our time in Zambia’s Southern Province. It was a good trip, despite a few hiccups along the way.

We left first thing Monday morning to drive the 4+ hours to Choma. We were going to leave later in the morning, have a leisurely drive and stop at one of our favorite places for lunch along the way but plans changed when the car that Eric and Kathy were driving to Zimbabwe broke down. Eric came back to Lusaka Sunday night so he could buy a new fan belt and take it to the mechanic some two hours away on Monday. Since we were going that way, it made the most sense for us to take Eric to get the part then back to his stranded car. When we arrived where the vehicle was getting worked on, we proceeded to wait for another two hours for the mechanics to determine that the Toyota dealership where the part was purchased, had given Eric the wrong part. By this time, it was past lunch and Eric needed to get to Livingstone to join the rest of his group going to Zimbabwe, so we put him on a bus and continued on our way. We made the mistake of stopping for Zambian fast food (meat pies) on our trip from Kitwe to Lusaka and paid for it with ‘mud gut’ the rest of the drive. We looked around for something that was a bit more appetizing but finding nothing, decided to keep driving and just munch on the snacks I had brought along. We reached Choma late in the afternoon and settled into the Brethren in Christ guesthouse there. Gene and Darlene Wingert, hosts at the guesthouse, had invited us for dinner and we were so thankful for a delicious meal by then. Brendan had three heaping platefuls of spaghetti and Jason ate two helpings. I think Darlene was a bit surprised at how much food our boys could put away!

The Brethren in Christ Leadership Conference was being held Tuesday through Friday at Choma Secondary School, adjacent to the guesthouse where we were staying. Peter gave one of his talks in the morning session on Tuesday. The theme for the week was “The Living Lord Confronting Today’s World” and the text was from Mark where Jesus clears the temple. Peter used this to talk about how peacebuilding is not so much about “maintaining the status quo” but about working towards shalom or wholeness. Sometimes this means agitating or shaking up the systems that oppress. (He said a lot more and was well-received even though I can’t do it credit here.)

Meanwhile, I took the boys to the local grocery store and found enough for us to live on the next few days although it was slim pickings. As we were carrying our groceries into the guesthouse, Jason got stung by a huge wasp and was in a lot of pain. His hand remained swollen for several days afterward. I had a lovely visit later with Erma Herr, missionaries here who work on MCC sponsored projects. In the evening, I attended the evening session, listening to Gene Wingert’s sermon advocating servant leadership. Attending this conference were the bishop of the BIC church, the overseers, reverends, deacons, lay pastors, and their wives. As I looked around at the women, I noticed that they all wore head coverings. Afterwards, I asked Reverend Soko, whom I had met last year when I held a seminar in his church, whether it was necessary for me to wear a head covering. In this context, because it is a gathering of the leadership, he thought it best for me to do so, especially if I am speaking to both the men and women. I freaked out a bit, not having anything suitable to use, chuckling to myself that I could try making a head covering out of Peter’s boxers. But Erma and Darlene gave me a few options and so that hiccup was quickly cured.

Peter was supposed to give his second talk on Wednesday morning but it was shifted to Wednesday afternoon. However, when he showed up to listen to the other speaker in the morning, he was told that he needed to give his talk then after all and I was to speak in the afternoon, even though I was scheduled to give both my talks Thursday. Peter arrived home for lunch and gave me the news that I was to speak in the afternoon, so I quickly gathered my things together, reviewed my talk, and headed out. I donned my head covering, so as not to offend the men and to make it easier for them to receive my talk, and gave it my best. The topic I chose to cover was forgiveness, repentance and reconciliation, three radical ideas which Jesus challenges us to practice as a witness to the world of the inbreaking of the Kingdom of God. I spread these lessons out over my two talks, the second one taking place Thursday morning. I think it was well-received by both the men and women. Gene commented that I had the men eating out of my hand and he heard a few “Amens” from the women’s section. The men even responded positively when I teasingly had them practice saying “I was wrong,” a difficult phrase for men in this traditional culture (perhaps for men everywhere). The issue had been raised regarding husbands who give gifts to their wives in lieu of a verbal apology and this exercise was helping to address it. I think this is when the women murmured “Amen” but probably not so loud as to identify themselves! I had two young men demonstrate how bitterness “ties” you to the wrongdoer and forgiveness unties your bondage to him/her. And in the second talk, I had these same two men demonstrate the four steps of both forgiveness and repentance that enable both the victim and the wrongdoer to arrive at the place of reconciliation. This helped us all to visualize the process and provided a bit of variation to my talk.

After each talk, there was a time for questions and I had to provide the answers. Some of these were tough, not only because I was getting the questions through the translator (whom I used for my talks as well), but because some involved hypothetical situations which are never easy to address because there are so many variables to consider. Several people asked for a copy of my talk afterwards so that was encouraging. One woman approached me after my first talk and told me, in a confidential whisper, that the women all liked my talks the best, which made me smile. I spent an hour listening to one deaconess share about the conflicts she faces with other women in her church who have wrongly accused her of things and even when she asks for forgiveness, they refuse to grant it. So it would seem that the lessons I was trying to impart were relevant to at least for this woman, but I pray it was so for others as well.

Ron and Erma Herr invited us for dinner Thursday evening and we enjoyed a tasty meal with them, including homemade ice cream for dessert. What a treat! They have lived here over ten years and they seem to be able to balance the frustrations of living here with the positive aspects. They are down to earth, not glossing over the pitfalls of this culture, remaining true to reality without becoming cynical. Our time with them was very refreshing.

With the conference over Thursday, we took Friday as a holiday. It also happened to be Jason’s birthday so we made a special day of it. He opened a few gifts from family first thing in the morning. We had bought him a World Cup wallet when we were down in South Africa and he was thrilled with the item. We gave both boys (for their “brothers gift”) large World Cup chitenges that they can hang on their bedroom walls in the future. Anything soccer related is sure to be a huge hit with Jason! Then we took to the road, continuing further south to Livingstone. Since our trip in 2008, the road has been repaired, making it a fast, smooth, two hour drive. When we drove this road previously with my family who came to visit, vehicles were forced to drive on the shoulder as the road itself was impassable due to potholes. The tricky part was when oncoming large trucks decided to drive on what we deemed to be “our shoulder.”

Our first stop was Mosi-o Tunya National Park, where we heard that there are now a handful of white rhinos residing. They were near extinct but now seven or eight have been re-introduced into this park, the only place in Zambia where you can find them. We had been tipped that you can drive to the game warden’s hut and ask if they will take you to where the rhinos are on 24-hour watch, to protect them from poachers and other dangers. Sure enough, a game warden agreed to take us to the white rhinos, in return for a bit of “appreciation” later. There is no way we would have ever found them on our own, but the warden took us straight to where the other guard was watching them. We got out of our car and walked to about forty meters away from two large white rhinos. We learned that both the white rhinos and the black rhinos are gray in color, but differ in their mouths. White rhinos have a wide mouth for grazing (apparently the Dutch called it a “wide” rhino, the English misheard it, and the name white rhino stuck), whereas black rhinos have a pointed mouth. It was exciting for us to see white rhinos on our last safari, and it was a good thing we found them because we saw nothing else in the park (besides vervet monkeys and baboons), having arrived too late in the morning to catch them wandering around.

After having a burger lunch at Steers, we headed to Victoria Falls, only our second visit in four years. We found a few bargains at the craft market then went to view the falls. Well, we attempted to view the falls but as it is the end of rainy season, there is an amazing amount of water going over the falls, creating a wall of mist that makes it hard to see anything. The local name for the falls is Mosi-o-Tunya, meaning “smoke that thunders” and that is an apt name as the mist rises up from the roaring falls.

We hiked down to the “Boiling Pot” where water churns around in a giant whirlpool, having flowed down from the falls and making a curve in one of the many gorges.

We had been told it would take 30 minutes going down and an hour going back up the nearly 700 meters but it took us only 12 minutes going down and 20 going up again later. The boys argued that they would have made it up faster but their old parents needed to stop occasionally and “enjoy the view” (i.e. catch our breath). We were hot and sweaty from our hike so we decided to go over “Knife’s Edge Bridge” just opposite the falls so we could see the Boiling Pot from the top.

We were completely soaked from the mist and as we were going over the bridge, it felt like a fire hose spraying at us from the side. There was not an inch dry on any of us by the time we made it back. I thought I was very clever that I had brought a change of clothes for all of us, until I realized I hadn’t thought to pack dry underwear.

We wanted to make it home before dark, as it is treacherous driving at night on Zambian roads, so we left in the late afternoon. We happened upon a pizzeria in Livingstone that made fabulous wood-fired pizza so we ordered it to go and ate in the car on the way home. We ended the day by watching the kids movie, “Despicable Me,” Jason’s birthday choice. Peter and I struggled to stay awake after a full day but we made it and Jason declared it a good birthday.

Our MCC Mini-retreat this weekend was being held in Southern Province to accommodate many of the team members who were already in the vicinity. So Saturday morning we packed up all our stuff, much of the food for the mini-retreat, Ron and Erma Herr and two SALTers, into the BIC van and drove the three hours to the Kariba Bush Club, situated on the southern tip of Lake Kariba. The last hour and a half was on a bumpy dirt road, making us very thankful when we finally arrived. It is always a bit crazy when first arriving, to figure out rooms and unpacking the food and such but we got things sorted. Peter and I were on dinner duty, and having made the spaghetti sauce for 28 people and froze it ahead of time, we thought we had things under control. Who knew it would take FOREVER to boil water for the pasta? I had made a birthday cake for Jason that morning in Darlene’s oven and so we celebrated his birthday with the team after dinner. Febby, a Zambian who served with the YAMEN program in Indonesia last year, poured water on Jason to show the Zambian tradition. He was lifted in a chair eight times and received eight “bumps.” At the end, he crawled through the longest paddy-wack tunnel in history, and survived!

Our Palm Sunday church service was postponed until the afternoon because the crocodile farm tour suggested it would be better in the morning when the crocs were being fed. I elected to stay back having “been there, done that” last time we were at the Kariba Bush Club in 2008.

While the others watched crocs fight over chickens, I nestled into a hammock overlooking the lake, where I read and rested for nearly two hours. At one point, I watched a handful of impala bound across the lawn between me and the lake. There was a gentle breeze to take the edge off the heat, and that gently rocked me in the hammock. Perfect.

Following lunch, several of us played a game of volleyball on the sand court. We had five on five for most of the time and the caliber of play was definitely better than “jungle ball,” making it all that more enjoyable. Others jumped in the pool afterwards to cool off, while I stuck my feet in and drank an icy cold Fanta. It was a stress-free afternoon until some of the kids found a baby boomslang snake in a nearby tree. Yesterday, the kids found a python shedding its skin. Not being a huge fan of reptiles, I was one of the few not taking a closer look. If I had a choice, though, I would rather have my kids around a constrictor than a venomous snake such as a boomslang, for which there is no anti-venom in Zambia. Some think the baby snakes are less deadly but they are not as good at regulating their venom and so can be just as dangerous. There was much excitement as the boomslang was killed, and I was able to breathe a bit easier.

In the late afternoon we had a wonderful worship service, coordinated by Kathy, with seven stations depicting the passion week. Everyone participated in different ways. For example, our family created a tableau of Jesus clearing out the temple. There were impala lingering on the outskirts of where we were worshipping on the lawn overlooking the blue lake, which only added to the beauty of it all.

As this was our last time all together with the MCC Zambia team, they had a farewell time planned for us. We received very encouraging words from teammates and a scrapbook with pages from past and present team members. Jonathan shared the caption from a demotivational poster he once saw and that he often thinks of when reading my blog: It could be that your sole purpose in life is to serve as a warning to others. I guess we make them thankful that they aren’t us! Maybe our role on the team will be taken over by Philip and Anje Cassel, new members to our team that were unable to come to our mini-retreat due to two members of the family being sick, in a string of sicknesses that haven’t stopped since they arrived in December.

Most of the team is relatively new so as a family, we put together something like a game show, where the four of us hold up our written answers to ten “Fill in the Blank” questions. We had fun coming up with the questions and the answers, which served as a way of reflecting on our four years here. Peter had me in stitches on one of our long drives, as we used the time to think up questions and he always had crazy answers (most of which got nixed in the final form due to the general audience that would be present).

In case you are curious and want a recap of the past four years, here it goes:

1. My favorite MCC moment was .

Jason: our regional retreat in Zambia in 2007

Brendan: our regional retreat in South Africa in 2010

Cheryl: Eric in Kathy’s swimsuit with mangos to fill out the top (during a retreat activity in 2008)

Peter: the impromptu soccer game after team meetings one year

2. In terms of sickness, I am the champion of .

Jason: Boils

Brendan: Giardia and Malaria

Cheryl: Mumps

Peter: Hangnails

3. My most significant play/work experience was .

Jason: the Football World Cup of 2010

Brendan: safaris in Chobe and South Luangwa

Cheryl: the trauma workshops in Meheba Refugee Camp

Peter: hearing about successful peacebuilding by a MEF student following Easter break one year

4. My favorite Zambian animal is .

Jason: lion

Brendan: leopard

Cheryl: giraffe

Peter: white rhino

5. What I won’t miss about Zambia is .

Jason: not drinking water from the tap and bad soccer pitches

Brendan: poverty and theft

Cheryl: receiving marriage proposals from drunk men on my weekly market trips

Peter: the MEF road

6. The Zambian I most admire is .

Jason: Coach Mumba, because he explains things well and taught me good skills in football

Brendan: Chola (a kid at MEF), because he stays cool, doesn’t lose his temper, and doesn’t take revenge

Cheryl: Esther, founder of Needs Care Community School, because she saw a need and worked hard to successfully meet it

Peter: Mukunto, my colleague in the MEF Peace Center, because he practices what he preaches in peacebuilding

7. When I return to the USA, I am looking forward to .

Jason: seeing cousins, soccer camp, and being in a soccer camp

Brendan: Camp Keola

Cheryl: a good mattress and a church community

Peter: organized sports

8. My favorite vacation during our MCC term was .

Jason: Cape Town

Brendan: Cape Town

Cheryl: Cape Town

Peter: Cape Town

9. My most memorable wildlife encounter was .

Jason: the wild dog hunt we saw in Chobe

Brendan: seeing a leopard with his kill in a tree

Cheryl: the cockroach attack soon after we first arrived, when cockroaches were swarming out from under our cupboards and flying down from the top cupboards

Peter: the rat break-in (when we used our field hockey sticks to get rid of the rat which we thought was a burglar)

10. What I will miss most about Zambia is .

Jason: always having kids around to play with

Brendan: having a square kilometer of play space

Cheryl: avocados and pineapples, reading family books by candlelight during power outages in the evening

Peter: thunderstorms

At the end, the team surrounded us and prayed for us. We felt encouraged and blessed by the team. Later, when Jason was going to bed, he admitted to feeling sad that we were going to be leaving MCC. He is usually so focused on all the good things that will come when we move back to America, so this helped him get in touch with the good things that we have experienced here as well. I think this is true for all of us.

Monday morning dawned and we knew we were going to have a long drive, all the way back to Lusaka. If all went according to plan, it should have taken us about seven hours. But all did not go according to plan. The MCC van that Eric was driving, loaded with seven passengers, broke down about two hours into the trip. The BIC van we were in came upon them on the side of the road so we stopped to see if we could assist. There was a huge crack in the radiator but it was high enough that it could hold some water, as long as it kept being refilled along the way. There was a creek nearby so they filled a cooler full of water that would hopefully last until they could get to a mechanic, at least another hour away with a working vehicle. All the passengers, save two, and their luggage crammed into our van, so that we had 13 passengers squished together. We dropped off two SALTers along the way. Then we left three Zambian YAMENers at a busstop so they could get to Lusaka faster (but it turns out their bus ran out of petrol along the way so they had a late night as well). Two more SALTers were deposited at a clinic in Choma so that an infected foot could receive treatment. We finally made it back to the BIC guesthouse in Choma, attempted to load everything we could into our car, then drove off to meet up with Kathy, who had stayed with Eric and the ailing vehicle. They had managed to make it almost to Choma when we caught up with them two hours later. Eric got the van to a mechanic and hopped on a bus to Lusaka. We squeezed Kathy in with us, and proceeded to drive to Lusaka. The boys were troopers once again, not complaining with snacks for lunch and a delayed schedule. Thank God for the only Western fast food joint south of Lusaka, Debonair’s Pizza, which we found in Mazabuka around 5:00. We stuffed ourselves back into the car and ate on the road, because we knew it was still three hours to Lusaka and we didn’t want to be on the road after dark any longer than we had to. Our final two hours were scary in the dark, as the lines marking the lanes and the shoulder are non-existent, and people like to drive with their brights on or no lights at all (to save the battery, go figure). Trucks in oncoming traffic can’t see where their lanes either so they drift into our lane, forcing us to move onto the shoulder, where there are still loads of people walking in the dark. Our seven hour trip took ten hours in the end. But God answered our prayers for safety and we made it back in one piece.

We spent Tuesday in Lusaka, taking care of last minute business with Eric and Kathy, who were departing for their two and a half month home leave the next day. Because we won’t see them before we leave, there was paperwork to fill out and issues to discuss. We made a quick visit to Esther at Needs Care Community School to make a donation of several dozen children’s books that the boys are leaving behind. She was selling jewelry as an income generating project for the school so I bought a pair of earrings that will remind me of Esther and her ministry there. In the afternoon, we met up with Amy Erickson (an old MCC friend) and Krystel Porter (a Fuller grad who is a friend of a friend), while the boys took in a movie at the theater.

Eric and Kathy were flying out Wednesday and needed a ride to the airport so we waited around several hours to see them off. That was a sad goodbye for us because we really like Eric and Kathy and will miss them much. As we were getting ready to embark on the last leg of our trip home, we received a call from Esther who asked if we could leave an hour later. We couldn’t, not only because by that time we were really itching to leave, but also because we had a 4.5 hour drive ahead and didn’t want to get caught in the dark again. She insisted we couldn’t leave without seeing her so we met up on a nearby corner on our way out. She had been working on traditional African shirts for Peter and the boys and a dress for me. If she had more time, she could have finished them all but she gave it to me unfinished, and I will have to try to find someone who can put a collar on Jason’s shirt and finish a sleeve on my dress and sew up the sides. She must have been sewing nonstop after we met the day before! What a thoughtful gift for all of us.

We made it back to Kitwe just as darkness was falling, having had a very late lunch at Fig Tree Café to break up the trip. The good thing about arriving at dusk was that there were no kids on our porch to greet us! Now I have loads of laundry to do but am limited by the amount of drying lines available. It will get done eventually, little by little. It is good to be home, especially since our fridge was repaired while we were away, and our water situation has stabilized a bit. Only six weeks left and then I will be complaining that life in America is boring. Bring it on!