Storm Damage

A storm with straight-line winds roared through Namwianga on Saturday. The roofs were torn off the secondary girls dorm and one of the secondary classroom buildings. Several trees were uprooted or blown over. Thankfully, no one was hurt. The strangest thing is that the electricity stayed on through the entire storm. On a typical day the first drops of rain and hint of wind cause a blackout!

One section of the secondary girls dorm lost a roof

Roofing sheets from the girls dorm ended up in a nearby tree.

A section of secondary classrooms also lost a roof.

A fallen tree missed the buses by a few feet.

Update - 7 November

I'm blogging from Texas. I flew in last week to have some medical tests done. I had surgery on Wednesday--two biopsies-- and got the pathology report yesterday showing no signs of malignancy.

In between numerous appointments with a variety of doctors, I have had a great visit with family and friends. I am very thankful that I was able to come back here for the tests. We looked into the possibility of going to South Africa, but the timing wouldn't work for both of us to go, and it turned out to be about the same cost for me to travel by myself to Austin. I have been blessed by the prayers and support of so many here, and it was a great relief to be seen and advised by the same doctors who treated me last year.

This is a quick trip; I'm headed back to Zambia on Tuesday. I've missed lots of excitement at Namwianga, so I'll blog some of that as I have time.

Mumena Trip - Zambikes

Our last stop on the Mumena trip was a visit to Zambikes in Lusaka. Dustin McBride, one of the founders of this unique development project, showed us around and explained the history. Dustin and his friend Vaughn came to Zambia for a summer mission trip in 2004 when they were in college. They went back to Azusa Pacific University and dreamed up a project for their international business class. Their idea was to provide sturdy bicycles that would stand up to the rigors of the African bush and to provide jobs for Zambians who would build the bikes.

Lots of prayer and hard work produced Zambikes in 2007. The bicycle parts are shipped to Zambia where local workers assemble the bikes. We met the enthusiastic employees who proudly showed us around their workshop and introduced us to their newest product, the Zambulance. The Zambulance is a lightweight two-wheeled cart that can be pulled by a bicycle and used as an ambulance in rural areas too remote for cars and trucks. Some of the Harding students tried it out both as “patients” and drivers,

I had planned just a quick, one-hour tour at Zambikes, but Zambian hospitality overwhelmed us once again. The Zambikes staff invited us to stay for lunch and shared their nshima, beans, and cabbage with us. We closed our time by singing to them and listening as they sang to us. We reluctantly said goodbye to our new friends and headed back to Namwianga, and the end of our wonderful trip.

Sheralee rode as the patient in the Zambulance.

Daniel joined the Zambikes crew and learned to put bike wheels together.

Lunch with the Zambikes staff 

HIZ Group at Mumena

The HIZ group posed in front of the yellow bus at Mumena. The bus was broken down at this point, so right after this photo was taken the students boarded a rented bus and went on to Chimfunshi. This bus was repaired a couple of days later and managed the return trip with no problems.

Mumena Trip - Communication Detail

In the last blog about going to the soccer field for cell phone service, I left out a piece of information. Innocent, the Chimfunshi manager who escorted us to the soccer field, told us that during the rainy season from December through April the soccer field is under water. Innocent paddles a canoe to the field when he needs to make a phone call.

Mumena Trip - Communication and Transportation

Transportation and communication are the constant challenges of life in Zambia. And on a trip with 30 people into an isolated and remote area of the country, those challenges become even more daunting.

During lunch at Mumena on Sunday, our driver Donald came to us saying that the bus would not start. He had been working on it for some time and knew he needed a mechanic. We consulted with Brian Davis and got some leads and phone numbers for diesel mechanics, and Donald made phone calls. At Mumena there was only one spot where our cell service would work. As Sondra Davis explained, “You have to go stand under that jacaranda tree over there.” So Donald did just that and tried to find a mechanic. No luck on this Sunday afternoon.

The next step was to rent a bus to get us three hours down the road to our next destination at Chimfunshi Wildlife Refuge on Monday morning. Donald made the arrangements, and the rented bus with its driver got us there in time for Monday lunch. Meanwhile Donald was in Solwezi trying to get a new starter for the bus and find someone to install it.

As soon as we arrived at Chimfunshi, I asked whether they had cell service. The answer was, “Well, yes and no.“ There was no service at the spot where we were staying (dorms at the education center), but there was service on the soccer field. Innocent, the director of the Chimfunshi program, invited us to jump in his pickup for the half-mile jaunt through the woods and past the workers’ compound. Sure enough, on the edge of the soccer field my cell phone came to life and we were connected with the world.

I called Godfrey Lemba at Namwianga and discussed Plan B—he and the head mechanic from the mission would drive the other big bus from Namwianga on Tuesday. They would drop the bus off at Chimfunshi and Donald would drive us on home. They would proceed on to Mumena and repair the broken down bus. But Mr. Lemba had a new complication—Zambia’s one refinery was shut down, and the news stations were reporting diesel outages around the country. He wasn’t sure they could get diesel for the trip, because the Kalomo station had none.

I told Innocent about the diesel issue. He knows people in towns up and down the main highway through Zambia, so he got on his cell phone and started making calls while I kept up conversations with Mr. Lemba about possible scenarios for getting enough diesel. Within a few minutes Innocent had called enough people to reassure us that at least for now there was diesel between Lusaka and Chimfunshi, and I had located enough diesel to get them to Lusaka.

Amazingly, the plan worked. Mr. Lemba and Buster, the mechanic, set off from Namwianga at 3 a.m. on Tuesday morning. Donald left from Chimfunshi at 7 a.m. and went by public bus into the nearest big city, Kitwe, and bought a starter for the bus. Mr. Lemba and Buster met him there late Tuesday afternoon and brought him on out to Chimfunshi. They arrived at 8:30 Tuesday night. Donald stayed with us while Mr. Lemba and Buster went on to Mumena. I tried to talk them into spending the night at Chimfunshi, but they were determined to get the job done as quickly as possible. Mr. Lemba’s words were: “We are men. We will do what we have to do!”

We left Chimfunshi on Wednesday morning in the working bus and continued our trip without interruption. Buster and Mr. Lemba had the other bus at Mumena working by 2:00 on Wednesday afternoon and started their homeward trip. They spent the night in Lusaka and actually made it back to the mission a few hours before we did on Thursday.

Transportation and communication—conquered once again.

Mumena Trip - Sunday at Konkwa

On Sunday our students divided into three groups and visited some of the churches that were planted in the last three years. David and I traveled with Don and Rita Boyd and several students to Konkwa, about 2 kilometers from Mumena. I had been reading about Konkwa in Don and Rita’s monthly newsletters, as they planted this church and continue to work closely with its members.

Konkwa is in the forest; the building is surrounded by tall trees. On this Sunday we sat outside and enjoyed the beauty around us. The Konkwa choir presented several songs, David preached, and Derek Molina led the Lord’s supper. Some of the students taught the children’s classes. It was a delightful morning and another experience to remember from our time at Mumena.

Rita Boyd with one of her little friends at Konkwa

The Konkwa choir

Jordynne Case and Niki Hitt teaching the Konkwa children's class.

David preaching at Konkwa

Mumena Trip - Meheba Refugee Camp

On Saturday we drove to the Meheba Refugee Camp to worship with the Congolese congregation. Meheba is the largest refugee camp in the world in terms of size and was once the largest in population as well. The chaos in the Congo during the 60s sent refugees streaming across the nearby border and prompted the area’s chief to offer the land to the United Nations for the establishment of the camp. Later, refugees from Angola arrived, and during the war-torn years of that conflict the population of Meheba swelled to over 150,000.

Organizers attempted to form stable communities for the refugees, settling them together with people from their own country and area who shared the same language and similar customs. The UN provided housing materials, land, and seed for each family with the expectation that the family would be self-sufficient within two years. Clinics and schools provided health and education services, and the Meheba camp became home to a generation of children who were born there or cannot remember their homeland.

The Road 68 congregation of Congolese refugees was formed because Namwianga sent Leonard Mujala to work with the people in the camp. Leonard has a gift for languages and was able to communicate and teach effectively, planting new churches at several locations, including Road 68.

We spent a spirited four hours with the Congolese, who welcomed us warmly and led us in enthusiastic singing and praise. Ross Cochran and Derek Molina preached, as well as one of the Congolese church leaders.

The congregation fed us a wonderful lunch of goat, chicken, and rice. We were humbled when Brian Davis told us about the sacrifices that were made for that meal. Brian and Sondra drove to Meheba the Saturday before we came to make the final arrangements, but found none of the members at their homes. They investigated and found that the church members were all out hoeing fields to earn money to buy a goat and chickens for our lunch.

This truly was a love feast.

Mumena

We spent three days with the missionary families at Mumena.  On Friday Brian Davis held some classes for us, explaining the theology and missiology behind the work they are doing.  The work at Mumena began only four years ago, and hearing about the initial efforts and struggles was very interesting.   Mumena was once a development project run by a Danish non-government organization.  After 15 years of unsuccessful attempts, the project was abandoned. The buildings stood empty for five years before the Hillcrest congregation in Abilene sent Brian and Sondra Davis, along with Sondra's parents Don and Rita Boyd, to start a new work there.  

Brian reported that their first task was to FIND the buildings in 12-foot tall grass.  Then renovations and repairs had to be done.  A team from Hillcrest spent the summer of 2006 camping out in tents as they worked on construction and other projects.  

Rick and Karen Love and their three children joined the Mumena team two years ago.  Rick and Karen are Harding grads (class of 2004), so they had an instant bond with the HIZ group.  We all enjoyed interacting with the Loves, Davises, Boyds, and Sullivans (a couple who had been at Mumena for a short-term work).   In fact, I gave out a survey after we returned and asked the students to rate their experiences on the trip.  The top-rated activity was "Interacting with the Mumena missionary families."  We were truly blessed by our time with them.  

On to Mumena

Our first day of travel ended at Fringilla Lodge, a gorgeous inn and working farm just north of Lusaka. The dinner buffet was delicious and our lodging very comfortable.


The next morning we had an early breakfast and were about to get on the road when the bus had a SECOND flat tire. The students had already cleared out of their rooms, so they patiently lounged on the lawn as our driver Donald, with help from Ross, changed the tire.


The tire delayed us an hour at Fringilla and another hour in the next town where we had to shop for a new inner tube.

We had hoped to get to Mumena and get settled before dark, but that was not to be. We pulled in about 7:00 in the inky black of the African bush at night. The missionary families had chili and cornbread waiting for us. We feasted and then settled into our quarters. The students stayed in unfurnished dorm rooms, using sleeping bags on the concrete floors, while we sponsors had beds in the missionaries' houses. (Will it surprise you to know that the students LIKED roughing it? Some listed this as one of the highlights of their trip. They're amazing!)

Our Mumena adventures had just begun.

Making Friends

These ladies run a store that opens onto the parking lot where we had our impromptu picnic in Mazabuka. They saw the Namwianga logo on our vehicle and were proud to point out their connection to our community, telling us that they were in the first class of students to graduate from Kalomo High School in 1970.

We were glad to meet them and glad to find out that they had soft drinks for sale. We cleaned out their inventory of cold drinks before we moved on.

Mumena Trip - Day One

We got off to an early start on our first travel day. The students arrived EARLY for breakfast, loaded their luggage, and were on the bus and ready to go five minutes before our scheduled departure time. I was gloating to David as we headed toward the Land Cruiser we were going to drive behind the bus. "Well, you haven't left yet," he reminded me.

Sure enough, just then the carpenter dropped by to pick up his payment for a new bed. We couldn't find the keys to the house and were searching for those when Ross called from the bus saying that a passport had been left behind in the safe. He was coming back to get it, so we were to wait for him. About forty-five minutes later we had gotten into our house, paid the carpenter, gotten the passport, and Ross was with us as we set off. We were still quite sure that we would catch up with the bus quickly.

An hour later we were cruising along when I remembered that we hadn't packed the 25 sleeping bags that would be needed for our stay at Mumena! We turned around and headed back as we made frantic phone calls to try to find someone who could pick up the bags and meet us halfway. Roy and Kathi Merritt were just about to leave for Choma when we caught them, and they graciously agreed to help us out. They got the bags and started north as we drove south. We met them and did a quick side-of-the-road transfer and were off again--now about two hours behind schedule!

We called Janice Bingham and Sara Kathryn on the bus and told them what had happened. Since we had the food for lunch with us, we advised them to stop in Monze and get everyone some snacks to tide them over until we caught up.

They had traveled about an hour after their snack stop when the bus had a flat tire. We managed to find them in Mazabuka a little past 1:00. We broke out the sandwiches and chips as the students found places to sit in a parking lot under the tree and had our lunch together.


Through it all, the students had great attitudes--no whining and complaining from this group! The tire was repaired and we traveled on as some of us wondered what would happen next . . .