Chindelli (white person) in the bush!

So the answer to the question in my previous post’s title is no. I’m still here at Chitokoloki and shall be heading to Loloma for 3 weeks next Thursday – one has to be flexible about plans in Africa – I am happy to stay here for a little longer as I love it here as you shall see if you dare to read on!

Every Tuesday a missionary called Dorothy from the US drives through many remote villages on her way to a place called Mpidi and I joined her one of those days. As she drives through the villages - there and back - she picks up and drops off patients and/or students and gives out baby bundles in return for food farmed by people (maize/sweet potatoes/kasava) for the hospital and other people at Chitokoloki. She’s helped by one of her loyal workers called Joffrey who does a good job lifting and tying things on her car. I admire the work they do so much as it is a long day – usually around 13 hours, and it must be tough making decisions about who is in most need for bundles and lifts and food according to how much they can fit in her landrover. I so enjoyed seeing even more remote areas and how the people live there (we delivered a wheelchair to an old lady who’d had a stroke so I got a chance to see inside a little village hut as well). At many stops loads of excitable children gathered so it was fun saying hi to them and taking pictures of them, which they found hilarious when I showed them the photos. When Dorothy gets to Mpidi – her last stop before returning by the same road – she does a bible study with the women there. I asked where the nearest church was and she said that there wasn’t one a walkable distance away so the lessons are so important as these places are not reached much with teaching of the gospel. It was great hearing stories of how people had come to the lessons, how they ask lots of questions and give their lives to Jesus as a result. I unfortunately did not sit in on her bible lesson as I got distracted. I was playing a few games with a football in a circle with loads of kids who had accumulated where we were. They then said they were going to the field to play football so I followed them to a football pitch sized clearing in the crops. We played a brilliant game of football in the hot sun in my long skirt and no shoes on (which resulted in my feet getting a few cuts which I got some antibiotics for – my feet are not as strong as I thought – at least not as strong as Zambian feet). I enjoyed it so much – it reminded me of playing sport in Sudan!

The gathering of kids grew rapidly at each stop!

Dorothy and I enjoyed nshima for lunch

Our game of football - Will he score?

I’ve got some more experience of villages having gone out to the village meetings on a couple Sundays. A missionary family from Canada – Shaun and Rhonda who have 2 girls – do a great deal of gospel outreach to villages around Chitokoloki and one of their ministries is going out to one of 3 villages for a little gospel meeting each Sunday afternoon (they are joined and helped by a good Christian local man called Chimwanga). It’s so lovely sitting outside on grass mats with the village women and children, listening and singing along to their Sunday school songs and listening to a message – I just love the atmosphere. At the end they’re all given sweets so its fun watching them all scramble up and eagerly wait in line for their sweets.

Spot the Chindelli!

Sweeeets!

Another Zambian culture experience I’ve had was a fun little canoe ride on the Zambezi. Some of my friends took me out on a typical canoe which is a hollowed out tree trunk. It felt quite unstable especially with the 6 of us on it and my worried gasps amused them a little, but they still let me paddle for a while which was fun. I’m sure poor chakow was having to paddle extra hard to compensate and I was probably to blame for arriving back to shore as it was getting dark.

Everyone a little nervous on the right

Beautiful scenes on the river

I’ve continued to enjoy learning lots and seeing all kinds of things at hospital. A couple of specialist doctors have come while I’ve been here which means there are surgical marathons which go on till about 10pm so they can help as many patients as possible during the couple days they are here. It’s so good they come to do these surgeries for people in remote areas who need more specialised procedures and reduce the load for Dr McAdam. It was interesting seeing the difference between the two surgical ‘arts’, with delicate plastic surgery transforming cleft lips to a normal shape and brutal orthopaedics dealing with fractures.

Sometimes some nurses do outreach clinics (usually for children and pregnant women) at remote villages, which saves many lives as vaccinations and check ups are vital in preventing illnesses and/or complications. I got the chance to join Tanis and a few local nurses on one of those trips. So we set out on our epic journey to Pungu. The journey involved crossing over the Zambezi on a pontoon then braving roads very rarely travelled – which resulted in another bumpy ride. On many occasions the tracks had to be checked by ‘the human GPS’ Charles Chindola (he knew we went down the wrong road a few times when they all looked the same to me) who would get out and walk in front of the landcruiser – driven very well by Tanis – till we thought it was ok to continue. After 4 hours of bumpy off road craziness and getting stuck a couple times we arrived to find a huge crowd of ladies and children waiting. It was encouraging to hear that even on such a hectic day (for example Tanis did 48 ante-natal check ups), the opportunity to share the gospel to a crowd who may not hear it much is taken and a little message was shared as they waited. It was very interesting seeing what happened in the little clinic on such a day. I was looking after Tanis’ girls most of the time so enjoyed playing outside with them and the other kids who were there.

Charles checking the ground under the lake was ok to drive on

Nearby villagers came to help us get unstuck

The crowds waiting in the sun

Playing with the kids

Last weekend Tanis, Rebekah (who is an ultrasound technician, she is my new house mate and will be coming to Loloma with me) and I got the chance to go to Loloma girls’ camp, which is for the rural Zambian teenaged girls. It was a brilliant few days camping in a lovely spacious tent with Tanis and her two girls with freezing outdoor showers and squat loos – I would even call it glamping (glamorous camping)! I felt immersed into the culture as for every meal we had nshima and local relishes including caterpillars – another first time experience for me which wasn’t too traumatising – actually quite good! I really enjoyed seeing and helping out on a different kind of Christian camp compared to ones in the UK. Rebekah and I were assistant counsellors for a little discussion group so I loved joining in and encouraging them. I also very much enjoyed more Zambian singing – 111 Zambian girls make a great sound!

Campfires and quizes 

Thought I'd show you all the camp facilities

Caterpillars waiting to be eaten

Our wee discussion group

I’ll leave you with a verse, it spoke to me when I wanted to motivate the girls at Loloma girls camp with it then a friend from home encouraged me with it – I hope it will do the same for you. God has challenged me in many ways while I’ve been out here. One thing has been about prayer, which I’ve learnt more about in the First Serve discipleship course and which has been spoken about a few times at meetings at Chitokoloki. I’ve realised my prayer life needs vast improvement and that if one commits to it; ‘Fellowship with God, trust, confidence, peace, relief – these wonderful feelings will be yours as you learn how to pray.’ (Too Busy Not To Pray – an quote from a chapter which was included in the discipleship study pack)

‘Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus’ Philippians 4:6-7