A few weeks ago the Aids Relief staff came back from a settlement 90km away from here saying that they had had a very difficult clinic. A mentally-deranged women had set fire to the thatched roof of the New Apostolic Church, so they only had had one room for the clinic. The choir was also rehearsing where we usually met and patients did not want to collect their medicine from the back of the vehicle in case they were seen. One member of the Team felt that we should move the neighbouring clinic further south - more convenient for us, but further to travel for most of the patients. We discussed the problem at our monthly meeting but the staff was divided. As chairperson I came in and said that this was not our decision but the decision of the affected community. Our Adherence Counselor took the message back that they should hold a meeting and then we would come to meet the Community and hear of their decision.
Yesterday we set off late at 0930h in the pouring rain, for the two hour trip. The road is usually sandy but today it was just muddy porridge. The trucks picking up maize that had been sold to the Government had churned it up making it very treacherous. We arrived at 1130h with the sun beginning to peep through the overcast clouds. Today, we were given two rooms at the New Apostolic Church, a typical pole and dagga building. Four clients were already waiting for us, three as appointed and one who should have been the week before.
As we began the clinic more clients arrived. One lady came for her CD4 results. She was found to be positive when she delivered her baby recently. I began to fill out the forms with her for enrolling her. She gave her treatment supporter as her husband. When we reached the part that asked who she had disclosed her status to she answered no-one. We stopped and went back to the Treatment Supporter. No, her husband did not know and he would divorce her if she told him. Could she not persuade him to come for testing? No, he is difficult, was the reply.
I called the Adherence Counselor and together the three of us decided that when we come for the next clinic the VCT team would do Door-to-Door VCT in her village and hope to test all the family, including the husband, and also re-test the client so that they hear the results together as a couple.
It was now time for the meeting, the Community were sitting outside; people of all ages and the Headman seated in the middle. We greeted one another and went through the formalities. The Headman then explained that as a community they had held a meeting earlier and this is what they had decided.
The clinic would no longer continue in the New Apostolic Church but that they would build a new clinic. They had already started. Those who could, had donated a bucket of maize which was sold to the Government Agents who are purchasing relief maize. With this they had bought eight roofing sheets. The Headman explained that they had cleared the land and begun cutting poles. They felt that four rooms would be good but that that would take 20 roofing sheets in total. He explained that a few more people had donated but it is a difficult time of year as last year’s maize is finishing and they are all trying to purchase seeds and plant again now that the rains are here.
I thanked them for their efforts but explained that the Aids Relief program was unable to help. I said that I could not promise but I might find some help towards the roof but meanwhile they should keep on trying to raise the money. I also said that I was sorry that not only the church roof had been burnt but also the community school’s roof by the same woman.
From there we moved on to discuss stigma in the community. Why were people afraid to be seen receiving medicines? (A drunk man answered that he did not have a problem.) I said that this was a issue that they as a community should try and address and instead of hiding from each other they should be caring for each other and their needs. I then went on to suggest that they should be thinking of some form of Income Generating Program to help support the Community Health Workers and the clinic. They should also be considering beginning home-based Care.
We ended the meeting and waded through the mud across the road to look at the site that had been cleared for the clinic.
We have a lot to thank God for!
Wishing you all the best for Christmas and a Happy New Year
Glossary
ART: Anti-retroviral therapy, drugs used to suppress HIV virus
VCT: Voluntary Counselling and Testing (for HIV)
CD4 Count: the level of unaffected white cells in the blood.
Monday 20 December 2010
Tuesday 7 December 2010
A day in the life ...
On Tuesday morning I received a phone call from the Home Based Care (HBC) Coordinator. One of their clients who was bedridden was refusing to go by taxi to keep her Pre Art appointment at the Hospital. Could I help? I agreed and drove through the village, along the very narrow sandy road between pole and dagga houses with their thatch roofs. Young children came running out to wave and chase the car. I stopped and picked up Lilly the HBC carer for the clients in that area. We drove on together a very short distance.
I knew the client, Namatama, as we had had her in the hospital and recently discharged her. Namatama contracted TB four months ago and was also at that time tested for HIV. Because of the TB she could not start Anti Retroviral Therapy (ARVs). She had also recently been in the hospital suffering from PCP, a lung-disease linked to Aids. The usual dusty and ill-clad children greeted us excitedly. The family rushed around to bring chairs to her tiny mud and thatch house. I went in to a dim room with a metal bed in the middle with a thin mattress and chitenge ‘sheets’ (cotton wraps) barely covering the bed. In the middle was Namatama skeletally lying with her face to the wall. We sat down and gave the traditional Lozi greetings. I got up then and insisted on greeting Namatama. This broke the ice with Namatama. I think most people discuss her rather than include her.
She proudly said that the bedsores that she got in the hospital had healed thanks to Lilly. Then she told me that she was hungry but could not eat the food that the family prepared for her as they kept frying everything and the Nshima (thick maize porridge) the staple was too heavy. The bag of soya that she was given by the project remained unused, as it was too strong for her. We then tried to discuss what she could eat and the answer was nothing. Anything the family offered her just gave her diarrhoea. She said that the ORS which Lilly had given her was making her stronger. I then tried another tack if she could choose what would she most like to eat? I smiled at the answer, a boiled potato. We are probably one of the few homes in Mwandi that has potatoes!
I then broached the subject of her appointment. She said that to ride in the car would be too painful for her lungs. We continued our discussion for a short time longer but Namatama was adamant that she would die if she went back to the clinic. I then frankly told her that if she did not go she would die anyway!
I stood up and said that we would pray but before I prayed would she agree to come back with me to the Hospital? She agreed and then we prayed.
Namatama sat in the front to the Hospital with her younger sister and Lilly in the back. Her real fear was that we would insist that she was admitted to hospital yet again. When we arrived I fast-tracked her to see the clinician. She weighed only 33kg. She had lost 10kgs in a month.
I left Namatama with the Clinician and went home and found some potatoes, carrots and a litre of milk.
As I was going back into the clinic I was stopped by a nurse to say that there was a mother and baby waiting for assessment. Mum had stopped feeding the baby at six months because she was HIV +. The baby was now 8 months looked very small and anaemic. The nurse said there is a slight problem in that she is from Namibia. She had come across the Zambezi in a mukolo (wooden canoe). I still enrolled the baby in the formula program as the border is only a colonial border. The people are all of the same tribe and often have relatives on both sides.
Namatama had had bloods done the CD4 was now 22. The clinician felt that she might not manage to take the ARVs as Namatama had said that the family were going at the moment to their fields to clear and plough all day and they did not believe that she was HIV+. The clinician and myself went and spoke to the Doctor. I put forward my case that Lily could step in and give the medicine in Namatama’s home until Namatama could manage to take it herself. It was agreed that Namatama would start on ARVs. Lily went with Namatama’s sister to the Pharmacy for Adherence Counselling and to learn about the medicine. Lilly herself is HIV+ so she understands. Triumphantly after two and a half hours we brought a tired but serene Namatama home.
A lesson was learnt. The food on the project did not suit everybody. We will have to buy for our clients what is best for them.
I came home in time for my Lozi lesson. The Lozi teacher, a retired English teacher, was waiting patiently for me. We have been translating together a pamphlet in English about TB into Lozi. The teacher then has lunch with us as he too is in need of a meal.
Keith came home from school worried. Kandiana the old folks home has run out of food. The government have not sent any money since August. He had been eking it out since then but there was no money left. Can the Guild project help? Fortunately, over half of the residents are HIV+ so beans , kapenta(dried whitebait) and a few other things are purchased. The Mission Farm promises to supply maize ,eggs and meat. They have also run out of firewood. We had a storm the night before that caused a large branch to fall just missing our car, so at the end of the day there is the sound of axes chopping up the branch and the old people who are able dragging the wood away.
The day is another testimony to the grace and providence of God in our lives here.
(We changed people's names for confidentiality)
I knew the client, Namatama, as we had had her in the hospital and recently discharged her. Namatama contracted TB four months ago and was also at that time tested for HIV. Because of the TB she could not start Anti Retroviral Therapy (ARVs). She had also recently been in the hospital suffering from PCP, a lung-disease linked to Aids. The usual dusty and ill-clad children greeted us excitedly. The family rushed around to bring chairs to her tiny mud and thatch house. I went in to a dim room with a metal bed in the middle with a thin mattress and chitenge ‘sheets’ (cotton wraps) barely covering the bed. In the middle was Namatama skeletally lying with her face to the wall. We sat down and gave the traditional Lozi greetings. I got up then and insisted on greeting Namatama. This broke the ice with Namatama. I think most people discuss her rather than include her.
She proudly said that the bedsores that she got in the hospital had healed thanks to Lilly. Then she told me that she was hungry but could not eat the food that the family prepared for her as they kept frying everything and the Nshima (thick maize porridge) the staple was too heavy. The bag of soya that she was given by the project remained unused, as it was too strong for her. We then tried to discuss what she could eat and the answer was nothing. Anything the family offered her just gave her diarrhoea. She said that the ORS which Lilly had given her was making her stronger. I then tried another tack if she could choose what would she most like to eat? I smiled at the answer, a boiled potato. We are probably one of the few homes in Mwandi that has potatoes!
I then broached the subject of her appointment. She said that to ride in the car would be too painful for her lungs. We continued our discussion for a short time longer but Namatama was adamant that she would die if she went back to the clinic. I then frankly told her that if she did not go she would die anyway!
I stood up and said that we would pray but before I prayed would she agree to come back with me to the Hospital? She agreed and then we prayed.
Namatama sat in the front to the Hospital with her younger sister and Lilly in the back. Her real fear was that we would insist that she was admitted to hospital yet again. When we arrived I fast-tracked her to see the clinician. She weighed only 33kg. She had lost 10kgs in a month.
I left Namatama with the Clinician and went home and found some potatoes, carrots and a litre of milk.
As I was going back into the clinic I was stopped by a nurse to say that there was a mother and baby waiting for assessment. Mum had stopped feeding the baby at six months because she was HIV +. The baby was now 8 months looked very small and anaemic. The nurse said there is a slight problem in that she is from Namibia. She had come across the Zambezi in a mukolo (wooden canoe). I still enrolled the baby in the formula program as the border is only a colonial border. The people are all of the same tribe and often have relatives on both sides.
Namatama had had bloods done the CD4 was now 22. The clinician felt that she might not manage to take the ARVs as Namatama had said that the family were going at the moment to their fields to clear and plough all day and they did not believe that she was HIV+. The clinician and myself went and spoke to the Doctor. I put forward my case that Lily could step in and give the medicine in Namatama’s home until Namatama could manage to take it herself. It was agreed that Namatama would start on ARVs. Lily went with Namatama’s sister to the Pharmacy for Adherence Counselling and to learn about the medicine. Lilly herself is HIV+ so she understands. Triumphantly after two and a half hours we brought a tired but serene Namatama home.
A lesson was learnt. The food on the project did not suit everybody. We will have to buy for our clients what is best for them.
I came home in time for my Lozi lesson. The Lozi teacher, a retired English teacher, was waiting patiently for me. We have been translating together a pamphlet in English about TB into Lozi. The teacher then has lunch with us as he too is in need of a meal.
Keith came home from school worried. Kandiana the old folks home has run out of food. The government have not sent any money since August. He had been eking it out since then but there was no money left. Can the Guild project help? Fortunately, over half of the residents are HIV+ so beans , kapenta(dried whitebait) and a few other things are purchased. The Mission Farm promises to supply maize ,eggs and meat. They have also run out of firewood. We had a storm the night before that caused a large branch to fall just missing our car, so at the end of the day there is the sound of axes chopping up the branch and the old people who are able dragging the wood away.
The day is another testimony to the grace and providence of God in our lives here.
(We changed people's names for confidentiality)
Tuesday 23 November 2010
Anthrax: Gruinard to Magumwi
At the mention of that word most of us will think back to Gruinard Island on the North of Scotland where the British Government in 1942, as part of a biological warfare experiment, contaminated the soil in the island with virulent anthrax spores, making it uninhabitable for people and animals for over 60 years. Some poor hapless sheep were apparently tethered to a pole and anthrax bombs were detonated to gauge the effect on them and from that to assess the effects on the population: British, were the Germans to use it and; German, were the British to use it. Unsurprisingly, it was considered too dangerous to use because of its virulency and the durability of the spores. Thankfully the island was decontaminated after public protests around 20 years ago.
Here in Bulozi (Western Province), anthrax is still very much alive and killing. The Lozi are a cattle-keeping people and the cow has a very special place in their culture and mythology. In Silozi there are very few of what we would call adjectives. There are only about 30 words that English-speakers could term ‘adjectives’. To supplement this lack extensive use is made of relative clauses. Of these adjectives almost half of them are to do with the colour of cattle. What is also unusual are these cattle-skin colour adjectives have a male and female form!
So cattle are still very much used as symbols of affluence and prestige. 'Don’t put your money into banks, buy cattle' is the counsel given here. However, there is still a very conservative and reactionary reluctance to dip or inoculate cattle. There is also very little attempt at selective breeding to improve beef or milk yield or any other specialism; so nature is allowed to take her course.
Anthrax has broken out along the Machile floodplain and it is a struggle to contain it. The communities of Magumwi, Machile, Sankulonga, Bototo, Simenso and Mabumbu are all affected. The estimated cattle population of these areas alone is 15 000 and the human population in the region of 20 000. There have been 47 confirmed cattle deaths another 420 suspected. There are now 5 confirmed cases of anthrax in the Hospital. It is important to educate people that these diseased cattle should be buried and not butchered for consumption, as opening them up may release more spores and also allows the blood to contaminate the soil.
It is impossible to get the cattle vaccine locally, the major objective is to stop the disease spreading further in both the human and cattle populations. Fortunately Ida is in Lusaka to buy the vaccine and with a whip-round amongst American vets and supporting Churches, Ruairidh has managed to obtain the funding for the inoculation of the 15 000 cattle which will cost K6m (GBP850).
The Government Vet Department is grossly under-resourced, financially and with staffing. Ruairidh was told it would take the Government 6 weeks to get the inoculation programme organized and into action. Mr Siyafumba, the Chief Vet Officer here, was ordered into the field to collect samples without gloves, masks or overalls. It is in situations like this that the Church, you realize, is providentially blessed with the appropriate gifts, knowledge and skills and that it is able to partner with the Government and the civil authorities to meet the needs of the people and their communities, needs which otherwise would not and could not be met.
Since we are on an agricultural and human development slant this week the Jesuit Centre for Social Justice here issued a report on Zambia and progress towards Millennium Development Goals and it does not make for happy reading. In Sub-Saharan Africa only 3 countries (Democratic Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe and Zambia) now have a lower development index than they had in 1970 in the areas of health, education and income.
Some progress has been made with Primary Education but Higher and Tertiary remain a cause for concern.
Bulozi is the least developed province of Zambia. The following information came as a surprise to us and will give you an idea of how far the Province needs to go to develop in one area alone. Bulozi has a population of just under one million. The UCZ Mission Agricultural Project is the sole producer of farmed fish, one of two producers of layers and pigs and is the largest producer of broilers in the area. All organic and humanely raised.
Bernard Matthews eat your heart out!!
Monday 15 November 2010
Graduation Ceremony
On Saturday 30th October, Mwandi Mission Centre had its graduation ceremony.
The students were reminded that this was the beginning of something new and great in their lives after they had responded to the call to service. Engagement and involvement were paramount, because of their faith, kneeling before their communities in humility and with compassion, to support the weak and vulnerable, to seek the lost, to be company to the lonely and to welcome the stranger - all in the Lord’s transforming love.
The 10 students returned to the Mission Centre for their graduation after 4 months hard work and study, a balanced combination of the practical and theoretical.
It was a warm and meaningful occasion, a special day for the students and for all present. It was a well-deserved celebration; the culmination of 4 months of hard work and devotion. It was a day to be joyful and happy for what the Lord had done amongst them and for what each individual student had achieved. We sang and danced.
We are proud of these young men and women and send them back to their congregations with our love and prayers and with those of many others world-wide.
The students were reminded that this was the beginning of something new and great in their lives after they had responded to the call to service. Engagement and involvement were paramount, because of their faith, kneeling before their communities in humility and with compassion, to support the weak and vulnerable, to seek the lost, to be company to the lonely and to welcome the stranger - all in the Lord’s transforming love.What projects can generate income and improve the quality of life of those living in their villages? What are they, as believers, going to do about the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in their communities? What new patterns of worship, learning and teaching can they now bring to their Churches? All these are needed responses to the challenges of witnessing in their local areas.
This incarnational work that they would be undertaking is a reflection of the work of God in Christ in the Church and in the world. God in Christ is amongst us and sharing our life, so he may redeem and change us. No part of this world is untouchable because no-one and nowhere is untouchable to God. However awful humans make parts of the world, the world is still God’s and we as God’s people need to minister with wisdom. To do this work of love and worship we need to use our minds to think, our hands to work and our hearts to pray.
Why do you need to do all this? Because God has called each one of us here to be expressions of his love and to be his Body, a Church in Mission
These were just thoughts that jotted down in a spirit of love, joy and fellowship not a formal speech, just a pouring out of what was on my heart to friends and fellow servants of God.
After the presentation of certificates, Lemmy Milupi replied on behalf of the students, thanking all present and absent friends for their support. This was echoed in the closing speech by the Dean Pastor Percy Kawana Muleba. The students knelt and were prayed for by all the Pastors and Elders present. With a final song and dance, followed by the benediction, we retired to a celebration lunch of chicken rice and coleslaw and a time of further fellowship.
Friday 29 October 2010
Close to home
They are a vociferous minority, in truth a bit of an awkward squad in the eyes of the central authorities. They belong to a historically separate Kingdom, and are fiercely proud of it, along with their clans, traditions and culture. They make up less than 10% of the total population in the unitary state. Their indigenous language is gradually dying out and being replaced by that of a one-time conqueror. They were forced, it is now generally agreed, into a larger union by the political elites of the time against the general will of the people. However, a Treaty was signed to safeguard certain rights and national institutions belonging to the junior partner but over the years various central governments have, either driven coaches and horses through it, or have studiously ignored it.
No, this is not another self-pitying Scottish girn, it is the Lozi people I’m talking about and the Treaty in question is the Barotse Agreement of 1964 signed by the British, Kenneth Kaunda and Litunga Sir Mwanamwina III. Barotseland, like Lesotho and Bechuanaland(Botswana), was historically a British Protectorate, from as early as 1889, obtaining protection on special terms because of their connection with mission societies and their relative isolation from other settler and colonial interests.
October 24 was Zambian Independence Day but it was apparently not celebrated in Mongu, the Lozi Administrative Capital; in fact the ceremony of raising the Zambian flag at the Blue Gums’ Stadium was boycotted. Later in the night there were running battles with the police as Lozi demonstrators stoned them after they were tear-gassed, baton-charged and live shots were fired to disperse the crowd. Reports say that five police officers were injured and two demonstrators shot and killed. There has been criticism that the police overreacted by using live ammunition and tear gas without warning or ordering the crowd to disperse before taking such drastic action. Order has now been restored and reinforcements from the Paramilitary from the line of rail have been deployed to keep it. Warrants have now also been issued for the arrest of the leaders of the two groups allegedly responsible for the disorder.
So what brought this all about? Apparently two civil groups had been asking police permission for over two weeks to hold a meeting regarding the 1964 Barotse Agreement and its omission and in fact all mention of it in the new draft of the Zambian Constitution. The police had refused to accede to their request.
Had the police allowed the meeting to go ahead in the first place, it is thought that much of the violence, bloodshed, injury and destruction to property could probably have been avoided. The meeting would have come up with resolutions to present to the relevant authorities regarding the concern over the omission of the said treaty in the draft constitution. As often is the case in such matters, the perceived insult to the Lozi people was not necessarily a deliberate snub by the Central Government but merely a lack of sensitivity and empathy, and more a matter of indifference and ignorance on its part.
And yes, believe it or not, the men do wear kilts (liziba) as well!
No, this is not another self-pitying Scottish girn, it is the Lozi people I’m talking about and the Treaty in question is the Barotse Agreement of 1964 signed by the British, Kenneth Kaunda and Litunga Sir Mwanamwina III. Barotseland, like Lesotho and Bechuanaland(Botswana), was historically a British Protectorate, from as early as 1889, obtaining protection on special terms because of their connection with mission societies and their relative isolation from other settler and colonial interests.
October 24 was Zambian Independence Day but it was apparently not celebrated in Mongu, the Lozi Administrative Capital; in fact the ceremony of raising the Zambian flag at the Blue Gums’ Stadium was boycotted. Later in the night there were running battles with the police as Lozi demonstrators stoned them after they were tear-gassed, baton-charged and live shots were fired to disperse the crowd. Reports say that five police officers were injured and two demonstrators shot and killed. There has been criticism that the police overreacted by using live ammunition and tear gas without warning or ordering the crowd to disperse before taking such drastic action. Order has now been restored and reinforcements from the Paramilitary from the line of rail have been deployed to keep it. Warrants have now also been issued for the arrest of the leaders of the two groups allegedly responsible for the disorder.
So what brought this all about? Apparently two civil groups had been asking police permission for over two weeks to hold a meeting regarding the 1964 Barotse Agreement and its omission and in fact all mention of it in the new draft of the Zambian Constitution. The police had refused to accede to their request.
Had the police allowed the meeting to go ahead in the first place, it is thought that much of the violence, bloodshed, injury and destruction to property could probably have been avoided. The meeting would have come up with resolutions to present to the relevant authorities regarding the concern over the omission of the said treaty in the draft constitution. As often is the case in such matters, the perceived insult to the Lozi people was not necessarily a deliberate snub by the Central Government but merely a lack of sensitivity and empathy, and more a matter of indifference and ignorance on its part.
And yes, believe it or not, the men do wear kilts (liziba) as well!
Thursday 28 October 2010
Butoya retreat
After four days and five nights of melting in Mongu, we set off on Thursday for the 5-day Presbytery Retreat; this is an open air event now held every four years. The first retreat was held here in 1941. Butoya is about 15km SW of Mongu on the Barotse Plain. It takes almost an hour in a 4x4, through matapa and mishanjo (Lozi gardens cultivated at the edge of the flood plain), across fords with Monet-type water-lily pools, over mounds with palm trees, crossing rough burnt pasture and through banks of loose silver sand, We were fortunately guided well through all these obstacles by the Induna Mungambata who is the Headman in charge of the area and a Church member.
The name Butoya is derived from the Mutoya tree, a type of willow. These trees form a long thicket along the river bank and the lagoons there. It is the natural beauty of the site that makes it such as special place in God’s creation for retreat and fellowship, another ‘thin place’ as George MacLeod once described Iona. It is an ideal spot for both individual or solitary prayer as well as providing under its rich thick canopy a shaded cathedral for communal gatherings to hear the Word of God preached or to praise and worship God in Church services.
The place is also of local historical interest as the first aeroplane (fulai in Silozi) landed in the area in 1928 during the reign of Litunga Yeta III. Out of the 1998 Retreat attended by over 4000 people came a much needed and prayed for revival in the United Church in Western Province.
The theme for the Conference was “Living the Salt Life as a Witness for Christ” based on Matthew 5:13 and was made up of eight topics. You, the salt, witnessing as salt, saltless salt, a salt life in our stewardship, social responsibility, salt for healing, characteristics of empowerment by the Holy Spirit, living the life of prayer and maintaining our Christian integrity. These topics were dealt with by Ministers from various Churches inside and outwith the Presbytery. The day was interspersed with early morning devotions, praise and worship, Choirs and Praise Teams as well as the topics. In the evenings after devotions were more social occasions for singing, testimonies and sketches followed by prayers at the close of the day.
Each consistory looked after its delegates another 8 joined the 8 members from Mwandi who had attended Presbytery. On Thursday we bought all our perishable goods and set out for the site. There was no ice to be had in Mongu, so this meant that another trip would need to go into Mongu on Saturday to pick up more frozen fish and meat to see us through to Monday. On arrival we were conducted to our site with a sipapela (an open shelter with walls framed by branches and covered by grass mats); this was to sleep in. We had brought our tent so it made an ideal store and larder for our provisions. A latrine had also been dug for our convenience - so to speak. We were fed well over this time spiritually and physically.
Breakfast was bread and tea or coffee. Rice pudding was also served once, Mongu rice is a well-loved staple in Zambia. Lunch and supper was buhobe (thick maize-meal porridge) or rice with fish meat or chicken and as vegetables either cabbage or kail. We did enjoy Irish potatoes as a treat on Sunday.(In Zambia potatoes are given the sobriquet Irish to differentiate them from sweet potatoes.) We are very much appreciative of the efforts of six of the ladies who undertook to cook for us all at each mealtime.
Both Ida and I learned how to bathe like a Lozi. There were no bathing facilities at the camp site, other than the river, so we joined others to bathe in the late afternoon. The rules for bathing for both sexes are apparently the same. Keith took Mubita with him to the mens area. First mistake, bathing children is womens’ work!
We were accompanied by our local MCF Convenor. After undressing myself and Mubita we slipped in the river and sat down with the soap to work up a good lather for soaping us both, Second mistake. My companion was loudly told by an old man to tell the mukuwa (white-man) to stop sitting in the sand and either to kneel or squat like everybody else! You then may soap a part of your body after that you cup your hands and pour the water you gather in them over the soaped part. When I asked why this was required behaviour, I was told it was so that you were less vulnerable in case of a crocodile attack! It was all very reminiscent of Gideon, who separated those who lapped the water with those who got down on their knees to drink!
African tribal life is quite egalitarian in many respects but it also demands a much greater degree of conformity to cultural norms than we with our more individusalistic outlook would tend to find acceptable.
During our time at Butoya we also took time to visit Sefula Mission where a kinsman of Keith’s, William Thomson Waddell worked as an artisan carpenter for Rev Francois Coillard. After building a house for Rev Jeanmairet and his new wife Elise (nee Coillard) Coillard’s niece, at Mwandi, then called Sesheke, the group of Basuto and Europeans set out for Sefula where Waddell built Coillard’s house and the Church there. We visited the graveyard where Coillard was buried. ,Waddell became engaged to Louise Keck, the teacher at Sesheke (Mwandi) before he returned home to Scotland to die of the leprosy he contracted here. We also saw the Boarding House that is named in memory of him.
The bridge and Church he built at Lwatile and Lealui await another visit on another occasion.
On our last day Mubita contracted a high temperature and diarrhoa, so we took him to Sefula Clinic where he was seen and given medicine to treat his problem. The Clinic is drawing water from the river by drum and bucket at the moment as the pump for the borehole has died and there is no money to buy the spare part.
We set off on Monday morning, after packing up at Butoya and buying provisions for the journey home and fuel in Mongu we set off via Senanga and crossed the Zambezi again on the pontoon at Kalongela. Nine hours and a puncture later we arrived back in Mwandi tired and thankful.
It was good for us all, taking time out from our busy everyday lives and devoting it to God and listening to him. It was a time of challenge, growth, exchange and blessing.
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| Rev Sipalo and Rev Lubasi |
The name Butoya is derived from the Mutoya tree, a type of willow. These trees form a long thicket along the river bank and the lagoons there. It is the natural beauty of the site that makes it such as special place in God’s creation for retreat and fellowship, another ‘thin place’ as George MacLeod once described Iona. It is an ideal spot for both individual or solitary prayer as well as providing under its rich thick canopy a shaded cathedral for communal gatherings to hear the Word of God preached or to praise and worship God in Church services.
The place is also of local historical interest as the first aeroplane (fulai in Silozi) landed in the area in 1928 during the reign of Litunga Yeta III. Out of the 1998 Retreat attended by over 4000 people came a much needed and prayed for revival in the United Church in Western Province.
The theme for the Conference was “Living the Salt Life as a Witness for Christ” based on Matthew 5:13 and was made up of eight topics. You, the salt, witnessing as salt, saltless salt, a salt life in our stewardship, social responsibility, salt for healing, characteristics of empowerment by the Holy Spirit, living the life of prayer and maintaining our Christian integrity. These topics were dealt with by Ministers from various Churches inside and outwith the Presbytery. The day was interspersed with early morning devotions, praise and worship, Choirs and Praise Teams as well as the topics. In the evenings after devotions were more social occasions for singing, testimonies and sketches followed by prayers at the close of the day.
Each consistory looked after its delegates another 8 joined the 8 members from Mwandi who had attended Presbytery. On Thursday we bought all our perishable goods and set out for the site. There was no ice to be had in Mongu, so this meant that another trip would need to go into Mongu on Saturday to pick up more frozen fish and meat to see us through to Monday. On arrival we were conducted to our site with a sipapela (an open shelter with walls framed by branches and covered by grass mats); this was to sleep in. We had brought our tent so it made an ideal store and larder for our provisions. A latrine had also been dug for our convenience - so to speak. We were fed well over this time spiritually and physically.
Breakfast was bread and tea or coffee. Rice pudding was also served once, Mongu rice is a well-loved staple in Zambia. Lunch and supper was buhobe (thick maize-meal porridge) or rice with fish meat or chicken and as vegetables either cabbage or kail. We did enjoy Irish potatoes as a treat on Sunday.(In Zambia potatoes are given the sobriquet Irish to differentiate them from sweet potatoes.) We are very much appreciative of the efforts of six of the ladies who undertook to cook for us all at each mealtime.
Both Ida and I learned how to bathe like a Lozi. There were no bathing facilities at the camp site, other than the river, so we joined others to bathe in the late afternoon. The rules for bathing for both sexes are apparently the same. Keith took Mubita with him to the mens area. First mistake, bathing children is womens’ work!
We were accompanied by our local MCF Convenor. After undressing myself and Mubita we slipped in the river and sat down with the soap to work up a good lather for soaping us both, Second mistake. My companion was loudly told by an old man to tell the mukuwa (white-man) to stop sitting in the sand and either to kneel or squat like everybody else! You then may soap a part of your body after that you cup your hands and pour the water you gather in them over the soaped part. When I asked why this was required behaviour, I was told it was so that you were less vulnerable in case of a crocodile attack! It was all very reminiscent of Gideon, who separated those who lapped the water with those who got down on their knees to drink!
African tribal life is quite egalitarian in many respects but it also demands a much greater degree of conformity to cultural norms than we with our more individusalistic outlook would tend to find acceptable.
During our time at Butoya we also took time to visit Sefula Mission where a kinsman of Keith’s, William Thomson Waddell worked as an artisan carpenter for Rev Francois Coillard. After building a house for Rev Jeanmairet and his new wife Elise (nee Coillard) Coillard’s niece, at Mwandi, then called Sesheke, the group of Basuto and Europeans set out for Sefula where Waddell built Coillard’s house and the Church there. We visited the graveyard where Coillard was buried. ,Waddell became engaged to Louise Keck, the teacher at Sesheke (Mwandi) before he returned home to Scotland to die of the leprosy he contracted here. We also saw the Boarding House that is named in memory of him. The bridge and Church he built at Lwatile and Lealui await another visit on another occasion.
On our last day Mubita contracted a high temperature and diarrhoa, so we took him to Sefula Clinic where he was seen and given medicine to treat his problem. The Clinic is drawing water from the river by drum and bucket at the moment as the pump for the borehole has died and there is no money to buy the spare part.
We set off on Monday morning, after packing up at Butoya and buying provisions for the journey home and fuel in Mongu we set off via Senanga and crossed the Zambezi again on the pontoon at Kalongela. Nine hours and a puncture later we arrived back in Mwandi tired and thankful.
It was good for us all, taking time out from our busy everyday lives and devoting it to God and listening to him. It was a time of challenge, growth, exchange and blessing.
Wednesday 27 October 2010
Western Presbytery Council Meeting
Our group consisting of Rev Lubasi, the Mwandi Interim Moderator and Mrs Lubasi, Keith, Ida, Mubita and Dorothy Katenekwa set off for Mongu at 0800h from Mwandi on Saturday 9th October and arrived 10 hours later somewhat stoorie and shoogled at Lileleyo UCZ to a warm welcome and supper.
Mongu has a chronic water shortage, as does the accommodation at the Church, so we were booked into the Sir Mwanawina III Motel, an aging complex run by Mongu District Council where running water is available for cold showering and flushing toilets most of the time. With a growing demand for electricity and other utilities, a constant supply is a problem in urban areas, so you can expect a power-cut for several hours in the evening at least twice a week. This is called ‘Load- Shedding” and we had our quota in Mongu last week.
On Sunday we attended the Opening Service for Western Presbytery. Western Presbytery is the area historically covered by the Paris Evangelical Mission Society which later became the Church of Barotseland before entering the United Church of Zambia in 1965. It is all of Barotseland, now called Western Province, with Livingstone and the Zambezi Valley from East of Sesheke added.
The first business on Monday morning was the Financial Committee, with all too familiar items of business coming up: Church Worker Stipend Scales, Remittances, Manse maintenance and renovations, Youth Hall Roofing project and the like. So many needs to be met with straitened resources. Full Presbytery Council met after lunch and dealt with matters from Synod and the JAAR project at Kalabo which is in need of some organizational development with Church oversight. There are 25 widows and retirees from Church Ministries who are cared for as well.
A new General Secretary has been appointed by the United Church of Zambia, the Rev Peggy Kabonde. Rev Kabonde is the second woman to have held the post. She was also the Church’s first woman theology graduate, and was formerly Chaplain to the University of Zambia. She was an executive member of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches and was working for her doctorate on Female Ordination, until called to fill this important and challenging position. Rev Kabonde will be inducted at All Saints, Kabwe, on 14 November
It was also agreed to form an Estate Board to oversee the management of Church Property which had been inherited from the former Mission Society. These assets and property need to be properly documented as most land was given to the Church by local Chiefs in the customary manner with no title deeds. Properties and land are not being exploited fully enough as income generating opportunities.
The following day was taken up with Consistory (Parish) Reports. With the exception of Mongu and Livingstone the other 18 Consistories in the Presbytery are rural. There are a few towns with peri-urban areas like Kaoma, Mwandi, Sesheke Senanga Limulunga and Kalabo. The rest are predominantly rural and remote and have difficulties attracting and retaining Ministers. As in Scotland, the spiritual gifts to be found amongst the congregations are being increasingly used to good effect. Many of these consistories have the services of an Evangelist who is a lay person but a Church Worker with some theological training and tasked with Church planting and the care of souls out there. They receive a small allowance from the Church but have a secular occupation, usually subsistence farming, to keep themselves and their families. Nevertheless, it was a moving and encouraging time hearing about life, work and activities being carried out by congregations as they take the gospel and witness to our Lord in their respective communities. This is often done at great personal effort, sacrifice and cost, as true Servants of the Lord.
Other matters included the employment of a Presbytery Youth Worker, enhancing computer literacy for Church staff and workers, reports from the CEVAA Council in Togo, the Girls Brigade World Conference in Malaysia and Deaconess Training in South Africa. Keith was invited to report on the opening of the UCZ Mwandi High School
The main business next day was the election of the Bishop, Presbytery Secretary and Treasurer. The incumbent Bishop Rev LM Sipalo was re-elected for a second four year term and Rev S Banda of Sefula was returned as Secretary. The Treasurer was Mr M Lubinda, a Mongu Accountant. The electoral process was conducted and scrutinized by the Bishops of Lusaka and Central Presbyteries. For each post there has to be 3 nominations and there were 46 voting delegates. Rev Sipalo will be inducted in Mongu on 19 December.
On Wednesday Council came to a close with the Bishop’s Report and a Session of the Stationing and Appointment Committee. This deals with stationing of Church Workers, their transfers and requests from them and Consistories. Some transfers are at the request of Synod, one of our Reverends was transferred to cover a Church in Kabwe following a tragic RTA in which the Kabwe Reverend and Central Province Bishop were killed. It was at this meeting that a new Minister for Mwandi was supposed to be appointed. Despite several applications there was no clear sense of calling yet from any particular individual whose cases were presented to us, so that decision will be made at a later date when all the calls have been tested. However, there were 5 other recommendations that went through ‘on the nod’.
With a final devotion, some closing remarks and a prayer the Council closed and went for supper. Incidentally, Rev Chikwanda from Kaoma, was the chaplain appointed for these sessions and he delivered a wonderful and inspiring series of devotions before each session on Servant Leadership and building up the Church
Although there was much business to get through and much of it serious, there were times of good fellowship, laughter and fun as well. Enjoying yourself and having fun at Presbytery? Whatever next!
Mongu has a chronic water shortage, as does the accommodation at the Church, so we were booked into the Sir Mwanawina III Motel, an aging complex run by Mongu District Council where running water is available for cold showering and flushing toilets most of the time. With a growing demand for electricity and other utilities, a constant supply is a problem in urban areas, so you can expect a power-cut for several hours in the evening at least twice a week. This is called ‘Load- Shedding” and we had our quota in Mongu last week.
On Sunday we attended the Opening Service for Western Presbytery. Western Presbytery is the area historically covered by the Paris Evangelical Mission Society which later became the Church of Barotseland before entering the United Church of Zambia in 1965. It is all of Barotseland, now called Western Province, with Livingstone and the Zambezi Valley from East of Sesheke added.
The first business on Monday morning was the Financial Committee, with all too familiar items of business coming up: Church Worker Stipend Scales, Remittances, Manse maintenance and renovations, Youth Hall Roofing project and the like. So many needs to be met with straitened resources. Full Presbytery Council met after lunch and dealt with matters from Synod and the JAAR project at Kalabo which is in need of some organizational development with Church oversight. There are 25 widows and retirees from Church Ministries who are cared for as well.
A new General Secretary has been appointed by the United Church of Zambia, the Rev Peggy Kabonde. Rev Kabonde is the second woman to have held the post. She was also the Church’s first woman theology graduate, and was formerly Chaplain to the University of Zambia. She was an executive member of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches and was working for her doctorate on Female Ordination, until called to fill this important and challenging position. Rev Kabonde will be inducted at All Saints, Kabwe, on 14 November
It was also agreed to form an Estate Board to oversee the management of Church Property which had been inherited from the former Mission Society. These assets and property need to be properly documented as most land was given to the Church by local Chiefs in the customary manner with no title deeds. Properties and land are not being exploited fully enough as income generating opportunities.
The following day was taken up with Consistory (Parish) Reports. With the exception of Mongu and Livingstone the other 18 Consistories in the Presbytery are rural. There are a few towns with peri-urban areas like Kaoma, Mwandi, Sesheke Senanga Limulunga and Kalabo. The rest are predominantly rural and remote and have difficulties attracting and retaining Ministers. As in Scotland, the spiritual gifts to be found amongst the congregations are being increasingly used to good effect. Many of these consistories have the services of an Evangelist who is a lay person but a Church Worker with some theological training and tasked with Church planting and the care of souls out there. They receive a small allowance from the Church but have a secular occupation, usually subsistence farming, to keep themselves and their families. Nevertheless, it was a moving and encouraging time hearing about life, work and activities being carried out by congregations as they take the gospel and witness to our Lord in their respective communities. This is often done at great personal effort, sacrifice and cost, as true Servants of the Lord.
Other matters included the employment of a Presbytery Youth Worker, enhancing computer literacy for Church staff and workers, reports from the CEVAA Council in Togo, the Girls Brigade World Conference in Malaysia and Deaconess Training in South Africa. Keith was invited to report on the opening of the UCZ Mwandi High School
The main business next day was the election of the Bishop, Presbytery Secretary and Treasurer. The incumbent Bishop Rev LM Sipalo was re-elected for a second four year term and Rev S Banda of Sefula was returned as Secretary. The Treasurer was Mr M Lubinda, a Mongu Accountant. The electoral process was conducted and scrutinized by the Bishops of Lusaka and Central Presbyteries. For each post there has to be 3 nominations and there were 46 voting delegates. Rev Sipalo will be inducted in Mongu on 19 December.
On Wednesday Council came to a close with the Bishop’s Report and a Session of the Stationing and Appointment Committee. This deals with stationing of Church Workers, their transfers and requests from them and Consistories. Some transfers are at the request of Synod, one of our Reverends was transferred to cover a Church in Kabwe following a tragic RTA in which the Kabwe Reverend and Central Province Bishop were killed. It was at this meeting that a new Minister for Mwandi was supposed to be appointed. Despite several applications there was no clear sense of calling yet from any particular individual whose cases were presented to us, so that decision will be made at a later date when all the calls have been tested. However, there were 5 other recommendations that went through ‘on the nod’.
With a final devotion, some closing remarks and a prayer the Council closed and went for supper. Incidentally, Rev Chikwanda from Kaoma, was the chaplain appointed for these sessions and he delivered a wonderful and inspiring series of devotions before each session on Servant Leadership and building up the Church
Although there was much business to get through and much of it serious, there were times of good fellowship, laughter and fun as well. Enjoying yourself and having fun at Presbytery? Whatever next!
Monday 11 October 2010
Awaiting
Greetings from a dry dusty and roasting Mwandi as we await the rains at the end of the month, we hope. Duncan and Ina, our daughter Kirsten’s in-laws have been collecting pre-school equipment being disposed of in Edinburgh and taking it through to Kildrum to be stored until a container is organized. Our thanks go to Kildrum for putting their dunnie at our disposal. We are so pleased to have been given those wonderful toys and look forward to their being used here.
We are well but kept busy with duties at the school and hospital. The latest good news is that US$40 000 has been pledged by a US Foundation to build a classroom block at Sikuzu. This will save children a 10 mile round trip to school.
We are about to leave on Saturday for Mongu to the Western Presbytery Meeting where the new Bishop will be elected. Before the Covenanter in you chokes on your coffee, a Bishop here is in effect more of a Moderator than the priestly prelate of Presbyterian prejudice! The United Church of Zambia is actually an amazing and working mixture of Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Methodists, some Baptists and French Protestants; so there are several forms of baptism, child and adult believer, sprinkling and immersion depending on your 'tradition' and three forms of communion: the Scottish- passed around, the Methodist- on your knees at the front or the French - a series of horse-shoes around the Communion Table. Services too can be very liturgical, others are more like ours from the Common Order. Some services are more traditional and rather staid while others are quite charismatic. It is wonderful how all these manage to be accepted and welcomed by all. There is a lesson here for the Scottish Church(es).
The new Minister for Mwandi will also be elected there. Presbytery is followed by a 4- day Church Camp Retreat on an island in the Zambezi. So we have packed our camping equipment with our tents and sleeping-bags.
We will be using the inaptly named M10. Some of you, Scots of a certain age, will remember in 1970s and 80s, the A96 Aberdeen to Inverness road being referred to as the ‘goat-track’; well the M10 takes that place here in Western Province. Mongu is only 400km away but the tar runs out at Sesheke and it is sand dust and dirt to the pontoon ferry at Sitoti. After crossing the Zambezi, a dreadful drive ensues across the floodplain to Senanga., another pitted and pot-holed causeway with washed out culverts. At Senanga we enjoy tar again for the last hour to Mongu. There are only tarred roads in Western Province. We’ll leave at 0700h and get to Mongu at around 1600h
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| Unfinished building work |
Finally, Nick has asked us if we would make urgent enquiries to try and find an individual or a small team of builders who could come now or in the near future to work on the roof of the Church of Scotland house. He is desperately needing assistance to get the roof put on before the advent of the rains and before he goes on leave at the end of November.
If any of you know of anyone who might be able to help, please let us know and get them to contact us as soon as possible. This really is a pressing need.
Friday 17 September 2010
On home ground again
We are at present limping our way to Livingstone on a very worn front tyre due to continued suspension problems and after having the problem supposedly rectified in Lusaka. We are to pick up Jennie Chinembiri and George Lind (of the Church of Scotland's World Mission Council) from the airport while doing various items of business for school, manse and hospital.
The Reverend Silishebo has demitted office after 8 years at Mwandi and has been called to the Chaplaincy at the University of Zambia in Lusaka; the Reverend Derek Lubasi who is presently at Coillard Memorial in Livingstone will be inducted shortly as our new minister. There is a flurry of activity cleaning, painting and renovating the manse to welcome the new ‘family’ (Lubasi means family in Silozi.)
We have just spent the past week-end doing another flitting! We have moved into Hippo House – bit of a misnomer as far as size is concerned but we are fortunate to enjoy running water and electricity (most of the time) utilities denied to a large majority of the Zambian population.
Some progress has been made with the house that the Church of Scotland funded with a grant, and that Nick designed and is building. The wooden flooring is being laid at the moment. We hope we can move in before Christmas.
We are beginning to pick up the threads of where we left off. On the first Sunday evening we got back was a very moving service for the sending out of the 10 young people back to their congregations. They had been attending a 4 month Mission Course at the Church run by Percy, the Youth Pastor. They had slept in tents, cooked for themselves and freely contributed their talents and labour to various ministries to be found at the Mission. They had also has their faith challenged and deepened, intellectually and academically too they had a substantial amount of reading and writing to tackle, not just of a theological nature either but also other work needing life skills.
We have had a good and useful couple of days with Jennie and George who were able to get a taste of what we do at the Hospital and School as well as the wider Church work we undertake here. We saw them off on Saturday to Kitwe and Lusaka.
We are now back to ‘auld claes and porridge’. Ida is back to work at the AIDS Relief Programme, she has done the first scrubbing for a Caesar and has been returned her keys and asked to tackle the Central Stores which was neglected in her absence. She is a Also working with the Consistory, helping to establish a home-based care programme.
As for me I have been allocated Grade 8C for Maths and Science and 10A for History. I am at present drafting a proposal to submit to a Church Aid for teacher housing at the High School. We are still putting the finishing touches to the second classroom block and student latrines which were not finished despite efforts on my part to ensure that things should continue in my absence.
Another exciting development hoving into view is the possibility of a Community School at Sikuzu. Sikuzu is a rural community about 8km downstream from Mwandi. The children are prevented from attending school at Mwandi until they can walk the return journey each day. They are usually 8 or 9 years before this happens. So a Grade 1-4 School will be a great boon for them. At present there is a UCZ Pre-school run from the Church.
The Reverend Silishebo has demitted office after 8 years at Mwandi and has been called to the Chaplaincy at the University of Zambia in Lusaka; the Reverend Derek Lubasi who is presently at Coillard Memorial in Livingstone will be inducted shortly as our new minister. There is a flurry of activity cleaning, painting and renovating the manse to welcome the new ‘family’ (Lubasi means family in Silozi.)
We have just spent the past week-end doing another flitting! We have moved into Hippo House – bit of a misnomer as far as size is concerned but we are fortunate to enjoy running water and electricity (most of the time) utilities denied to a large majority of the Zambian population.
Some progress has been made with the house that the Church of Scotland funded with a grant, and that Nick designed and is building. The wooden flooring is being laid at the moment. We hope we can move in before Christmas.
We are beginning to pick up the threads of where we left off. On the first Sunday evening we got back was a very moving service for the sending out of the 10 young people back to their congregations. They had been attending a 4 month Mission Course at the Church run by Percy, the Youth Pastor. They had slept in tents, cooked for themselves and freely contributed their talents and labour to various ministries to be found at the Mission. They had also has their faith challenged and deepened, intellectually and academically too they had a substantial amount of reading and writing to tackle, not just of a theological nature either but also other work needing life skills.
We have had a good and useful couple of days with Jennie and George who were able to get a taste of what we do at the Hospital and School as well as the wider Church work we undertake here. We saw them off on Saturday to Kitwe and Lusaka.
We are now back to ‘auld claes and porridge’. Ida is back to work at the AIDS Relief Programme, she has done the first scrubbing for a Caesar and has been returned her keys and asked to tackle the Central Stores which was neglected in her absence. She is a Also working with the Consistory, helping to establish a home-based care programme.
As for me I have been allocated Grade 8C for Maths and Science and 10A for History. I am at present drafting a proposal to submit to a Church Aid for teacher housing at the High School. We are still putting the finishing touches to the second classroom block and student latrines which were not finished despite efforts on my part to ensure that things should continue in my absence.
Another exciting development hoving into view is the possibility of a Community School at Sikuzu. Sikuzu is a rural community about 8km downstream from Mwandi. The children are prevented from attending school at Mwandi until they can walk the return journey each day. They are usually 8 or 9 years before this happens. So a Grade 1-4 School will be a great boon for them. At present there is a UCZ Pre-school run from the Church.
Tuesday 24 August 2010
Getting there
On Sunday 15 Aug, Gregor, Mum and Dad accompanied us to Edinburgh Airport and bade us farewell. Our 4 months furlough has passed so quickly, yet we feel that much has been accomplished. It was a cloudless and sunny summer afternoon and it was fun sitting in the window seat on the flight to London matching the landscape below to the screen chart showing our flight path.
The onward flight to Lusaka was crowded and full with the usual universal flurry of returning families heaving and humphing, probably overweight, hand-luggage up the aisles and then carefully stowing it away in the overhead bins before everyone finally settled and relaxed.. A Carry on carry on, indeed!
We flew over a dry, red and khaki-coloured Lusaka, before landing in the early morning at the airport, Mubita was now wearing my sweater with rolled up sleeves to disguise the fact he had no trousers on. They had been removed during the night following a major spillage of apple juice!
We processed without difficulties through the Immigration and Customs formalities, luggage in tact (though now minus a pair of Mubi's shorts), and found a taxi that took us to a warm welcome back at Synod. After greeting the staff, the first thing on the 'To Do' List was to pick up our Entry Permits. After 16 years in Zambia we no longer need a Work Permit. This will save much time effort and money as these had to be renewed in Lusaka twice every five years. A visit to Immigration HQ was required, not an appealing prospect, as it is always hot, overcrowded with long queues there. However, we were fortunate as the officer dealing with our case we had got to know when he was stationed at Sesheke. He greeted us warmly with an 'Ah, my family!' So the issuing of the Entry Permits was done in under an hour.
The next problem to solve was to get our cell phones to work again. Being out of the country for 4 months meant that we needed to buy a new SIM card as our phones had been deactivated. K30 000 later to keep the same number, I was told the phone should work again after two hours. However nothing here is ever that simple and another visit to the ZAIN shop (Cell Phone Company) was required on Tuesday morning to rectify the failure of the new SIM card to operate the phone and to buy another new SIM cars for our Internet dongle. Another major inconvenience is that you lose all the numbers saved on the previous SIM card. Consumer rights and customer service are unfamiliar concepts here. You just have to learn to be grateful that ZAIN condescends to take your money!
We stay in a self-catering guest-house at the Beit CURE Hospital when we are in Lusaka so we were able to catch up with Harold and Susan Haamumba who are chaplains there. Mubita stayed with them after he was denied the visa to visit the United States. So it is like meeting up with family. Likewise we had afternoon tea with the Sitalis, other dear friends.
In the course of Tuesday afternoon we started to try and track down our 7 suitcases of unaccompanied luggage containing baby clothes, medical supplies and other donated goods that we had been given during our furlough. There was paperwork and e-mailing to be done for this. We also met Grant who was up from Mwandi to collect computer supplies that Fred Coates had sent from the States earlier on. Fred was now waiting for them at Mwandi. The day ended with shopping for supper then home to the Beit.
Wednesday morning started with a trip to the barber's for Mubita and me and the hairdresser for Ida. The car too was put into Autoworld for some much needed TLC after being parked for 4 months.Time was then devoted to visiting various retail outlets to price goods and materials for the house. The day was rounded off with a special Mwandi supper and fellowship evening graciously hosted by the Rev and Anne Sitali with the Sitali family, us and the Bangladeshi Mission Partners, Sulota from Mbereshi,and Leya Liton and Akash from Chipembi all of us first getting to know one another at Mwandi.
On Thursday the car was delivered again to Autoworld for wheel balancing and alignment and to correct the pull to the left that NISSAN is unable to fix. Both our Zambian driving licenses had expired during our furlough. Driving licenses need to be renewed here every 5 years..A medical examination and an eye-test are also required as part of the process. We had tried to have them renewed prior to our leaving but the computerisation of the process made this impossible. It was too soon! We could not drive back to Mwandi without valid licenses. So a day at the Road Traffic Department was envisaged , generally another place of officious bureaucrats ,crowds, heat and long lines. So, it was refreshing to meet Mr Mulongwe who listened sympathetically to our story, and when we explained that all the renewal paperwork was in Mwandi and ready to be processed at Livingstone on our arrival, suggested that the renewal be done in Lusaka. He was incredibly helpful in pushing this through and issuing us with temporary licenses which would last for a month, though this will mean another trip to Lusaka within the month to collect them.
We had been in touch regularly with Bridge Cargo who were clearing our suitcases and Fred Coates's computer supplies. At 1500h we were told that we could go to the Cargo Village at the Airport to collect our suitcases. Customs were releasing them early as a special delivery. The computer supplies were at the company warehouse on the Great North Road. Grant had been hoping to catch the night bus but this was increasingly a forlorn hope. We drove out to the Airport and joined the queue with the clearing agents to pay the handling fee and collect the goods. There was only one long-suffering and stoical female cashier to deal with the queue of mainly male agents and their cheeky and good-natured banter. The conversations switched easily from English to vernacular and back again. The agent from one of the major embassies was coming in for some stick as he was clearing tax free! We also met a lady we sat opposite to on the plane who was also in the queue to pick up some goods. We finally paid and picked up our suitcases. The agents from Bridge Cargo had arranged for us to pick up the computer supplies after hours. We arrived at the warehouse and squeezed the 3 boxes and the large dish into the back of our pick-up along with Grant as we had to drive with the tail gate down so the dish would fit. The two Bridge Cargo employees whom we dropped off on their way home were in the backseat along with two suitcases..
We had missed the evening Mazhandu bus to Sesheke so we left the dish in the care of the guards at Synod and arranged for Grant to be picked upby Eddie, a Synod driver, at 0600h and taken to the bus station with the over-sized dish to return to Mwandi on the first morning bus. Grant was staying next door with the Bangladeshis at the YWCA Hostel.
We then picked up Mubita who had been cared for by Mercy Sitali the whole day, allowing us to do what we had to without having to worry about him, otherwise we could not have achieved so much.
After that we bought an Indian carry-out meal and went home to watch the programme commemorating the second anniversary of the death of President Mwanawasa. So ended our 32nd Wedding Anniversary.
The onward flight to Lusaka was crowded and full with the usual universal flurry of returning families heaving and humphing, probably overweight, hand-luggage up the aisles and then carefully stowing it away in the overhead bins before everyone finally settled and relaxed.. A Carry on carry on, indeed!
We flew over a dry, red and khaki-coloured Lusaka, before landing in the early morning at the airport, Mubita was now wearing my sweater with rolled up sleeves to disguise the fact he had no trousers on. They had been removed during the night following a major spillage of apple juice!
We processed without difficulties through the Immigration and Customs formalities, luggage in tact (though now minus a pair of Mubi's shorts), and found a taxi that took us to a warm welcome back at Synod. After greeting the staff, the first thing on the 'To Do' List was to pick up our Entry Permits. After 16 years in Zambia we no longer need a Work Permit. This will save much time effort and money as these had to be renewed in Lusaka twice every five years. A visit to Immigration HQ was required, not an appealing prospect, as it is always hot, overcrowded with long queues there. However, we were fortunate as the officer dealing with our case we had got to know when he was stationed at Sesheke. He greeted us warmly with an 'Ah, my family!' So the issuing of the Entry Permits was done in under an hour.
The next problem to solve was to get our cell phones to work again. Being out of the country for 4 months meant that we needed to buy a new SIM card as our phones had been deactivated. K30 000 later to keep the same number, I was told the phone should work again after two hours. However nothing here is ever that simple and another visit to the ZAIN shop (Cell Phone Company) was required on Tuesday morning to rectify the failure of the new SIM card to operate the phone and to buy another new SIM cars for our Internet dongle. Another major inconvenience is that you lose all the numbers saved on the previous SIM card. Consumer rights and customer service are unfamiliar concepts here. You just have to learn to be grateful that ZAIN condescends to take your money!
We stay in a self-catering guest-house at the Beit CURE Hospital when we are in Lusaka so we were able to catch up with Harold and Susan Haamumba who are chaplains there. Mubita stayed with them after he was denied the visa to visit the United States. So it is like meeting up with family. Likewise we had afternoon tea with the Sitalis, other dear friends.
In the course of Tuesday afternoon we started to try and track down our 7 suitcases of unaccompanied luggage containing baby clothes, medical supplies and other donated goods that we had been given during our furlough. There was paperwork and e-mailing to be done for this. We also met Grant who was up from Mwandi to collect computer supplies that Fred Coates had sent from the States earlier on. Fred was now waiting for them at Mwandi. The day ended with shopping for supper then home to the Beit.
Wednesday morning started with a trip to the barber's for Mubita and me and the hairdresser for Ida. The car too was put into Autoworld for some much needed TLC after being parked for 4 months.Time was then devoted to visiting various retail outlets to price goods and materials for the house. The day was rounded off with a special Mwandi supper and fellowship evening graciously hosted by the Rev and Anne Sitali with the Sitali family, us and the Bangladeshi Mission Partners, Sulota from Mbereshi,and Leya Liton and Akash from Chipembi all of us first getting to know one another at Mwandi.
On Thursday the car was delivered again to Autoworld for wheel balancing and alignment and to correct the pull to the left that NISSAN is unable to fix. Both our Zambian driving licenses had expired during our furlough. Driving licenses need to be renewed here every 5 years..A medical examination and an eye-test are also required as part of the process. We had tried to have them renewed prior to our leaving but the computerisation of the process made this impossible. It was too soon! We could not drive back to Mwandi without valid licenses. So a day at the Road Traffic Department was envisaged , generally another place of officious bureaucrats ,crowds, heat and long lines. So, it was refreshing to meet Mr Mulongwe who listened sympathetically to our story, and when we explained that all the renewal paperwork was in Mwandi and ready to be processed at Livingstone on our arrival, suggested that the renewal be done in Lusaka. He was incredibly helpful in pushing this through and issuing us with temporary licenses which would last for a month, though this will mean another trip to Lusaka within the month to collect them.
We had been in touch regularly with Bridge Cargo who were clearing our suitcases and Fred Coates's computer supplies. At 1500h we were told that we could go to the Cargo Village at the Airport to collect our suitcases. Customs were releasing them early as a special delivery. The computer supplies were at the company warehouse on the Great North Road. Grant had been hoping to catch the night bus but this was increasingly a forlorn hope. We drove out to the Airport and joined the queue with the clearing agents to pay the handling fee and collect the goods. There was only one long-suffering and stoical female cashier to deal with the queue of mainly male agents and their cheeky and good-natured banter. The conversations switched easily from English to vernacular and back again. The agent from one of the major embassies was coming in for some stick as he was clearing tax free! We also met a lady we sat opposite to on the plane who was also in the queue to pick up some goods. We finally paid and picked up our suitcases. The agents from Bridge Cargo had arranged for us to pick up the computer supplies after hours. We arrived at the warehouse and squeezed the 3 boxes and the large dish into the back of our pick-up along with Grant as we had to drive with the tail gate down so the dish would fit. The two Bridge Cargo employees whom we dropped off on their way home were in the backseat along with two suitcases..
We had missed the evening Mazhandu bus to Sesheke so we left the dish in the care of the guards at Synod and arranged for Grant to be picked upby Eddie, a Synod driver, at 0600h and taken to the bus station with the over-sized dish to return to Mwandi on the first morning bus. Grant was staying next door with the Bangladeshis at the YWCA Hostel.
We then picked up Mubita who had been cared for by Mercy Sitali the whole day, allowing us to do what we had to without having to worry about him, otherwise we could not have achieved so much.
After that we bought an Indian carry-out meal and went home to watch the programme commemorating the second anniversary of the death of President Mwanawasa. So ended our 32nd Wedding Anniversary.
Friday 13 August 2010
The French Connection
We left Vienna early on Saturday morning and traveled comfortably to Zurich where we were to change trains for Geneva. We were met at the station by Philippe and Nadine Buerger. We had been in touch with Philippe by email but had never met. He was born at Mongu, the son of Missionaries to Barotseland, and he grew up in Zambia. He has been working with others on the chronological history book, 'The Spread of the Gospel in Barotseland. From the Paris Mission to the United Church of Zambia.' This will be printed and published next month. His father's notes from 1885-1935 have been used as a primary source. They saw us off, after coffee, on our way to Geneva.
It was a nostalgic journey for Keith. We passed through Feldkirch in Austria where his grandfather, Hugh, a Cameronian, was detrained as a prisoner of war by the Austrians during WW1 and marched upstream to the POW camp in Liechtenstein. We saw the castle at Vaduz in the distance as we passed. A little further on, we went through Walenstadt where Keith had a summer job as a Council Worker as a student in the mid-70s.
We were booked into a comfortable Christian Hotel in Geneva. We worshipped at St Peter's (Calvin's Church) on the Sunday morning and met with Ann-Lise Chatelin (Sibeso) for lunch, a chat and a stroll through the old town with a visit to the Reformation Wall for us and the play park for Mubita. In the late afternoon Jean Fischer who oversaw the building of the Basic School at Mwandi while he was head of the Senanga Trade School took us up into the mountains for a delicious fondue and to enjoy the view from the summit down to the Lake and the city.
The next day we took the TGV to Nimes via Lyon where we met another old friend, Rev Francois Escande, who was formerly a Minister at Mwandi. Mwandi Mission is actually the oldest Mission in Zambia, being opened by the Paris Evangelical Mission Society in 1885. One thing you are always conscious of at a Mission are those who have lived and worked on the station before you, whose work, in a way, you are continuing, so we have enjoyed the fellowship in meeting up with some of our predecessors at Mwandi. Francois, like Philippe and Jean, has been busy with the book.
In Nimes, a beautiful town with a well-preserved Roman arena and temple, we spent a great afternoon and evening with Lucienne Lawton Girard who was a Missionary in Western Province for many years and retired home to France just last year.
The following morning we were welcomed at the HQ of CEVAA (the Community of Churches in Apostolic Mission) in Montpelier by Celestin Kiki the Secretary General and Philippe Girardet, the Projects Secretary. The French Church has been very helpful and supportive of our work at Mwandi and so this was a good opportunity to visit them to say thank you for recent support with the classroom block which they had helped to build for the High School. It was a good meeting with a pledge for further aid towards the Admin Block and the Youth Centre. After a stroll through the town centre with its impressive Arc de Triomphe and Roman aqueduct and a good lunch we set off for a few days break with Keith's brother at Perpignan.
We wanted to visit friends in Normandy on our way home on Friday but were prevented from moving out of Perignan until Monday because of the French August Holidays starting at the weekend. On Wednesday we travelled back to London by Eurostar. Interesting that the Metro-fare from Gare Ste Lazare to Gare du Nord cost 1.10 Euros per ticket, a similar journey on London Underground, in spite of British taxpayer subsidy, from St Pancreas to Marylebone costs GBP4.00!
Finally another French Connection nearer home: Le Monde Diplomatique for August 2010 has a good article on what they call ‘social apartheid’ in Glasgow by Julien Brygo entitled Living the Good life in the Midst of Poverty. He says that in a de-industrialised Scotland the wealthy suburbs of Glasgow enjoy an incongruous prosperity in comparison with the decay found in the poorer housing schemes. Brygo believes the situation is reminiscent of the 19th Century where the lower orders were kept firmly in their place, and toffs thought that a bit of charity and philanthropy was enough to salve their conscience and maintain the status quo.
Are we surprised, in today’s Britain where 18 of 23 members of the 'Austerity Cabinet' in the Westminster government are millionaires and whose collective wealth according to the Sunday Times amounts to over 59 million Euros? As Robert Burns appositely points out in 'To A Louse', it is good sometimes to see oorsels as ithers see us.
It was a nostalgic journey for Keith. We passed through Feldkirch in Austria where his grandfather, Hugh, a Cameronian, was detrained as a prisoner of war by the Austrians during WW1 and marched upstream to the POW camp in Liechtenstein. We saw the castle at Vaduz in the distance as we passed. A little further on, we went through Walenstadt where Keith had a summer job as a Council Worker as a student in the mid-70s.
We were booked into a comfortable Christian Hotel in Geneva. We worshipped at St Peter's (Calvin's Church) on the Sunday morning and met with Ann-Lise Chatelin (Sibeso) for lunch, a chat and a stroll through the old town with a visit to the Reformation Wall for us and the play park for Mubita. In the late afternoon Jean Fischer who oversaw the building of the Basic School at Mwandi while he was head of the Senanga Trade School took us up into the mountains for a delicious fondue and to enjoy the view from the summit down to the Lake and the city.
The next day we took the TGV to Nimes via Lyon where we met another old friend, Rev Francois Escande, who was formerly a Minister at Mwandi. Mwandi Mission is actually the oldest Mission in Zambia, being opened by the Paris Evangelical Mission Society in 1885. One thing you are always conscious of at a Mission are those who have lived and worked on the station before you, whose work, in a way, you are continuing, so we have enjoyed the fellowship in meeting up with some of our predecessors at Mwandi. Francois, like Philippe and Jean, has been busy with the book.
In Nimes, a beautiful town with a well-preserved Roman arena and temple, we spent a great afternoon and evening with Lucienne Lawton Girard who was a Missionary in Western Province for many years and retired home to France just last year.
The following morning we were welcomed at the HQ of CEVAA (the Community of Churches in Apostolic Mission) in Montpelier by Celestin Kiki the Secretary General and Philippe Girardet, the Projects Secretary. The French Church has been very helpful and supportive of our work at Mwandi and so this was a good opportunity to visit them to say thank you for recent support with the classroom block which they had helped to build for the High School. It was a good meeting with a pledge for further aid towards the Admin Block and the Youth Centre. After a stroll through the town centre with its impressive Arc de Triomphe and Roman aqueduct and a good lunch we set off for a few days break with Keith's brother at Perpignan.
We wanted to visit friends in Normandy on our way home on Friday but were prevented from moving out of Perignan until Monday because of the French August Holidays starting at the weekend. On Wednesday we travelled back to London by Eurostar. Interesting that the Metro-fare from Gare Ste Lazare to Gare du Nord cost 1.10 Euros per ticket, a similar journey on London Underground, in spite of British taxpayer subsidy, from St Pancreas to Marylebone costs GBP4.00!
Finally another French Connection nearer home: Le Monde Diplomatique for August 2010 has a good article on what they call ‘social apartheid’ in Glasgow by Julien Brygo entitled Living the Good life in the Midst of Poverty. He says that in a de-industrialised Scotland the wealthy suburbs of Glasgow enjoy an incongruous prosperity in comparison with the decay found in the poorer housing schemes. Brygo believes the situation is reminiscent of the 19th Century where the lower orders were kept firmly in their place, and toffs thought that a bit of charity and philanthropy was enough to salve their conscience and maintain the status quo.
Are we surprised, in today’s Britain where 18 of 23 members of the 'Austerity Cabinet' in the Westminster government are millionaires and whose collective wealth according to the Sunday Times amounts to over 59 million Euros? As Robert Burns appositely points out in 'To A Louse', it is good sometimes to see oorsels as ithers see us.
Wednesday 11 August 2010
Sturm und Drang in Vienna: Our diary
Saturday 17 July: The Multi-Faith Pre-Conference of the International Aids Conference met at the Technical University. The opening religious ceremony was excellent, with all the various faiths found in Vienna taking part. It was also good to see that WHO are giving due recognition to the work of faith-based institutions on the ground but sad to hear that PEPFAR have 'straightlined' their funding. Ida found it a good forum to raise two major concerns she had on the unsuitability of some of the paediatric ARVs and the lack of variety in comparison with adults. The pharmaceutical companies need to be lobbied on this issue. Returning to PEPFAR, if budgets continue to be reduced, then universal access will fall by the wayside and faith-based institutions will end up having to play God which is not their role. Those two points were picked up and used during the conference by more authorative speakers.
Sunday 18 July: The Opening of the Conference with the 18th Life Ball which was being held out of doors at the Rathaus was washed out by a tropical thunderstorm called Petra just as Whoopi Goldberg dressed as Mother Earth started to sing. The great and the good including Bill Clinton, Mette-Marit, the Crown Princess of Norway and various other prominent German-speaking politicians and celebrities rushed for cover including 50 black Promenade Dancers dressed in white and 50 white dancers dressed in black, while those in fancy dress including avatars, fauns, elves and pixies plunged into the fountains. Other prominent personalities present were Boris Becker, Patti Labelle, Prussian and Austrian Princesses plus the Mayors of Berlin and Vienna. Unsurprisingly, there were no Scottish peasants invited.
Monday 19 July: The first Plenary Session of the Conference and Bill Clinton's keynote speech was a highlight. Regarding funding Faith-based Institutions should lobby Congress to make the right choice by supporting, continuing and increasing funds for care, treatment, infrastructure and systems. Greater care and stewardship was also a pre-requisite for a dollar wasted puts a life at risk. Jobs need to be done faster, better and cheaper, in other words doing more with less. African governments need to keep their part of the bargain and devote at least 15% of their national budgets to Health Care. As regards prevention, scaling up should be done with what works. Large sums of money of money can be raised through small amounts given by many people. Education and advocacy are priorities.
Ida presented her poster entitled The United Church of Zambia Mwandi Mission Hospital Voluntary Counselling and Testing Strategy for Hard-to-Reach Populations. This dealt with a mobile outreach program that visited social events and rural and fishing settlements to increase the number of people who know their HIVstatus, so that they can access the HIV Programme before they are ready to start anti-retroviral treatment and become sick.
Tuesday 20 July: The main event was a peaceful but noisy demonstration through the streets of Central Vienna by 15 000 people on Tuesday evening to show solidarity with the campaign for human rights throughout the world and especially for those living with HIV and Aids. It also called on Governments around the world to increase funding for fighting the disease. An interesting fact: the Church of Scotland has given much more money to the worldwide fight against HIV and Aids than the Austrian Government, who to its shame gave a paltry single contribution of E1m to the Global Fund away back in 2002 for condoms for Africa..It was pointed out that the city of Vienna would be benefiting to the tune of E45m going into the local economy from hosting this conference alone. The Demo closed with a live concert given by Annie Lennox, the former Eurythmics singer, who is now the United Nations AIDS Goodwill Ambassador.
Wednesday 21 July: Marjorie Clark's Presentation of the Church of Scotland's HIV/AIDS Project at the Global Village. This was also another good opportunity for networking. Marjorie explained that the Church of Scotland”s Programme started in 2002 and its position was reiterated in 2006. It is to bring life and hope by breaking the silence on HIV and Aids and standing with partner Churches to offer practical support and to speak up for the voiceless, involving all Church members. This year the project becomes an integrated programme of the World Mission Council.
One of the most successful fundraising ventures had been Souper Sunday. Congregations had a simple soup and bread lunch after a Sunday Service in January. Last year over GBP100 000 was raised in this way from over 300 individual Churches. These congregations' generosity was a good example of many smaller sums of money adding up and together making a considerable amount. Mony a mickle maks a muckle.
Thursday 22 July: A good day for hearing about the new WHO PMTCT (Prevention of Mother-toChild Transmission) and Feeding Guidelines. The mothers will in the future be covered by ARVs until they stop breastfeeding. This will mean that more babies should be able to be breast-fed. This is a step in the right direction but in an ideal world all pregnant HIV+ mothers would be able to access long-term triple therapy anti-retrovirals.
The integration of palliative and home-based care at a workshop was another useful meeting and contacts made for future-training. This is an area that is lacking at present in Mwandi but steps are afoot to work at this through the Woman's Christian Fellowship in our 13 out-of-station preaching points.
Another interesting talk was given by a Dutch doctor based in Mozambique who has formed his ARV patients that default into cell-groups that help support each other, provide a form of mutual accountability and pick up ARVs for each other. This is a simple and effective way of cutting down waiting time in queues and transport costs for these patients. This can only happen with stable patients but is another good idea that can be adapted for use by the Mwandi Programme.
Friday 23 July: The closing day. The Global Village is being packed up but nonetheless excellent presentations on the maltreatment of prisoners living with HIV and Aids in Eastern Europe. It has been good to see how HIV and Aids affects other areas of the world and not just Africa.
We have also managed to visit Schoenbrunn Palace and the Spanish Riding School. Keith Catriona and Mubita also toured the Zoo, went to a Gustav Klimt Exhibition and did a cycle-tour of the Wachau are where the imprisoned Richard the Lionheart was found by Blondel, the inconclusive Battle of Duerenstein between Napoleon and the Austro-Russian Coalition in 1809 and the Anti-Freeze in the White Wine Scandal of 80s.
On Saturday 24 July we set off by rail for Geneva via Zurich.
Sunday 18 July: The Opening of the Conference with the 18th Life Ball which was being held out of doors at the Rathaus was washed out by a tropical thunderstorm called Petra just as Whoopi Goldberg dressed as Mother Earth started to sing. The great and the good including Bill Clinton, Mette-Marit, the Crown Princess of Norway and various other prominent German-speaking politicians and celebrities rushed for cover including 50 black Promenade Dancers dressed in white and 50 white dancers dressed in black, while those in fancy dress including avatars, fauns, elves and pixies plunged into the fountains. Other prominent personalities present were Boris Becker, Patti Labelle, Prussian and Austrian Princesses plus the Mayors of Berlin and Vienna. Unsurprisingly, there were no Scottish peasants invited.
Monday 19 July: The first Plenary Session of the Conference and Bill Clinton's keynote speech was a highlight. Regarding funding Faith-based Institutions should lobby Congress to make the right choice by supporting, continuing and increasing funds for care, treatment, infrastructure and systems. Greater care and stewardship was also a pre-requisite for a dollar wasted puts a life at risk. Jobs need to be done faster, better and cheaper, in other words doing more with less. African governments need to keep their part of the bargain and devote at least 15% of their national budgets to Health Care. As regards prevention, scaling up should be done with what works. Large sums of money of money can be raised through small amounts given by many people. Education and advocacy are priorities.
Ida presented her poster entitled The United Church of Zambia Mwandi Mission Hospital Voluntary Counselling and Testing Strategy for Hard-to-Reach Populations. This dealt with a mobile outreach program that visited social events and rural and fishing settlements to increase the number of people who know their HIVstatus, so that they can access the HIV Programme before they are ready to start anti-retroviral treatment and become sick.
Tuesday 20 July: The main event was a peaceful but noisy demonstration through the streets of Central Vienna by 15 000 people on Tuesday evening to show solidarity with the campaign for human rights throughout the world and especially for those living with HIV and Aids. It also called on Governments around the world to increase funding for fighting the disease. An interesting fact: the Church of Scotland has given much more money to the worldwide fight against HIV and Aids than the Austrian Government, who to its shame gave a paltry single contribution of E1m to the Global Fund away back in 2002 for condoms for Africa..It was pointed out that the city of Vienna would be benefiting to the tune of E45m going into the local economy from hosting this conference alone. The Demo closed with a live concert given by Annie Lennox, the former Eurythmics singer, who is now the United Nations AIDS Goodwill Ambassador.
Wednesday 21 July: Marjorie Clark's Presentation of the Church of Scotland's HIV/AIDS Project at the Global Village. This was also another good opportunity for networking. Marjorie explained that the Church of Scotland”s Programme started in 2002 and its position was reiterated in 2006. It is to bring life and hope by breaking the silence on HIV and Aids and standing with partner Churches to offer practical support and to speak up for the voiceless, involving all Church members. This year the project becomes an integrated programme of the World Mission Council.
One of the most successful fundraising ventures had been Souper Sunday. Congregations had a simple soup and bread lunch after a Sunday Service in January. Last year over GBP100 000 was raised in this way from over 300 individual Churches. These congregations' generosity was a good example of many smaller sums of money adding up and together making a considerable amount. Mony a mickle maks a muckle.
Thursday 22 July: A good day for hearing about the new WHO PMTCT (Prevention of Mother-toChild Transmission) and Feeding Guidelines. The mothers will in the future be covered by ARVs until they stop breastfeeding. This will mean that more babies should be able to be breast-fed. This is a step in the right direction but in an ideal world all pregnant HIV+ mothers would be able to access long-term triple therapy anti-retrovirals.
The integration of palliative and home-based care at a workshop was another useful meeting and contacts made for future-training. This is an area that is lacking at present in Mwandi but steps are afoot to work at this through the Woman's Christian Fellowship in our 13 out-of-station preaching points.
Another interesting talk was given by a Dutch doctor based in Mozambique who has formed his ARV patients that default into cell-groups that help support each other, provide a form of mutual accountability and pick up ARVs for each other. This is a simple and effective way of cutting down waiting time in queues and transport costs for these patients. This can only happen with stable patients but is another good idea that can be adapted for use by the Mwandi Programme.
Friday 23 July: The closing day. The Global Village is being packed up but nonetheless excellent presentations on the maltreatment of prisoners living with HIV and Aids in Eastern Europe. It has been good to see how HIV and Aids affects other areas of the world and not just Africa.
We have also managed to visit Schoenbrunn Palace and the Spanish Riding School. Keith Catriona and Mubita also toured the Zoo, went to a Gustav Klimt Exhibition and did a cycle-tour of the Wachau are where the imprisoned Richard the Lionheart was found by Blondel, the inconclusive Battle of Duerenstein between Napoleon and the Austro-Russian Coalition in 1809 and the Anti-Freeze in the White Wine Scandal of 80s.
On Saturday 24 July we set off by rail for Geneva via Zurich.
Thursday 29 July 2010
On track again (adventures in Germany continued ...)
In the morning light of the next day we saw our hostel in Berlin in Prenzlauer Berg which was still dominated by the Alexander Square Tower, an iconic symbol in the former East Berlin. Now the Wall has gone, it is often difficult to know which side you are in. A clear difference is still in public transport, then as now, trams in the East and buses in the West.
Again, we had not been in Berlin for many years; in 1982 in the then DDR. Memories and objects from that repressive era and way of life have rightly been consigned to a museum as history. We visited that on our tour round the now reunified Berlin. The route of the wall can be followed by parallel lines of dark stones set into the pavements. The Red Town Hall is still red as the city administration is a coalition of Social Democrats and former Eastern Socialists. Some interesting political demolitions and reconstructions have taken place over the past century.
The Reichstag, called uncharitably but not without some reason by Kaiser Wilhelm, 'that Monkey-House' is now back in use and restored as the Parliament of the Federal Republic, after being burned down in 1933 by the Nazis and lying empty until reunification. The Town Palace of the Hohenzollen Emperors was demolished as a symbol of German imperialism and militarism by the East German authorities after WW2, though it always amused me that they failed to see the irony of having a regular changing of the guard by a goosestepping Prussian regiment at the monument to Victims of Fascism and German Militarism. Nonetheless, the Berliners have a great sense of humour and enjoy puncturing pomposity. They have a series of alternative names for modern buildings, statues and works of art. This is worth a blog in itself! It was replaced by a copper glassed concrete monstrosity called the Palace of the Republic. AKA: Eric's Light Shop because of the expensive and numerous and tasteless modern chandeliers that hung there there. This in turn has been demolished by the new Federal Authorities and it is suggested that the old Imperial Palace be reconstructed.
In the evening we had supper in the now fully restored Nicolai Quarter opposite the Church where Paul Gerhardt was pastor. We had 'Now thank we all our God' as one of our wedding hymns. The next morning we set off for Prague from another new steel glass and concrete ediface, the New Central Station.
Again, we had not been in Berlin for many years; in 1982 in the then DDR. Memories and objects from that repressive era and way of life have rightly been consigned to a museum as history. We visited that on our tour round the now reunified Berlin. The route of the wall can be followed by parallel lines of dark stones set into the pavements. The Red Town Hall is still red as the city administration is a coalition of Social Democrats and former Eastern Socialists. Some interesting political demolitions and reconstructions have taken place over the past century.
The Reichstag, called uncharitably but not without some reason by Kaiser Wilhelm, 'that Monkey-House' is now back in use and restored as the Parliament of the Federal Republic, after being burned down in 1933 by the Nazis and lying empty until reunification. The Town Palace of the Hohenzollen Emperors was demolished as a symbol of German imperialism and militarism by the East German authorities after WW2, though it always amused me that they failed to see the irony of having a regular changing of the guard by a goosestepping Prussian regiment at the monument to Victims of Fascism and German Militarism. Nonetheless, the Berliners have a great sense of humour and enjoy puncturing pomposity. They have a series of alternative names for modern buildings, statues and works of art. This is worth a blog in itself! It was replaced by a copper glassed concrete monstrosity called the Palace of the Republic. AKA: Eric's Light Shop because of the expensive and numerous and tasteless modern chandeliers that hung there there. This in turn has been demolished by the new Federal Authorities and it is suggested that the old Imperial Palace be reconstructed.
In the evening we had supper in the now fully restored Nicolai Quarter opposite the Church where Paul Gerhardt was pastor. We had 'Now thank we all our God' as one of our wedding hymns. The next morning we set off for Prague from another new steel glass and concrete ediface, the New Central Station.
Wednesday 21 July 2010
By car, train and plane
We (Ida, Keith, Catriona, and Mubita) left Edinburgh a week ago last Sunday on an overcast morning in a wee smirr of rain and drove down the A7 to Carlisle through the Borders; a trip we had last done in 1979! Our first night we were spending with friends from Zambia at Ulverston in the Lake District. Locally the road from the M6 to Barrow is called the 'cul de sac'.
Later that evening we went for a run, in the road traffic sense, along the side of Windermere. The Lake District is reminscent of some areas of the Highlands but it is surprisingly compact and a bit more manicured and overdeveloped than we are used to.
At the risk of sounding a 'here's tae us, wha's like us note here' or 'whaur's yer Willie Shakespeare noo?' (well, we did pass the MacDiarmid Memorial at Langholm on route after all!), but I don't think the Bard of Avon is standing on the platform at Stratford Station waiting for a train - any train to London! Stratford-upon-Avon is another cul de sac as far as the railway is concerned. We spent our second night there with my youngest brother's family. It was good to see them after four years. We had missed them on our previous furlough.
London and the Methodists
The next day we taxied to Warwick to catch the 0719h London train as we were due at Methodist House at 1030 on Tuesday to meet with a series people. Our Mission Partner appointment is an ecumenical one between the Church of Scotland and the Methodist Church and they help with our support.
An hour and a half saw us 'detraining' at Marylebone and after depositing the luggage at reception in Methodist House we then breakfasted on a croissant and coffee in Baker Street opposite Sherlock Holmes' flat. We next got Catriona safely installed in the queue for Madame Toussaud's and crossed the road to Methodist House for our first meetings where we were introduced to some people in the World Church Office.
It was good to meet with Jan Deakin with whom we had communicated extensively by email but without ever meeting. We then had the opportunity to share with Tom King, the Team Leader of the World Church Relationships, and we made a interesting connection there. Tom's son had worked at Beit Cure Paediatric Hospital in Lusaka with Allan Norris, a surgeon we got to know when he came to operate at Mwandi.
Jane Cullen, the Discernment and Selection Officer, was especially interested in how the linking of Mission Partners to Presbyteries worked in the Church of Scotland. The Methodists may be thinking of doing something similar with Mission Partners and their Districts.
George Luke from the Press Department interviewed us both about our life and work at Mwandi.
We finished off with a pizza lunch with Bunmi Olayisade, the Partnership Coordinator for Africa, a good time of fellowship and conversation covering amongst other things HIV Advocacy, African Politics and Women's Empowerment.
Berlin at Midnight
We then took the tube to Earl's Court to catch the airport bus to Gatwick. We arrived in good time and joined the good-natured queue at the bag drop-off counter, went through security, had supper and waited for our flight. It was delayed so we landed two hours late in a still sweltering Berlin at midnight. We managed a bus and two underground trains finally trundling our luggage the last 500 metres to our Hostel, where we relished the cool shower and drinks, despite the late hour, before retiring.
The tabloid newspaper headline in the hostel lobby exclaimed: 'WAS FÜR EINE HITZE!' - the German for 'COR WOTA SCORCHA!' I presume.
Later that evening we went for a run, in the road traffic sense, along the side of Windermere. The Lake District is reminscent of some areas of the Highlands but it is surprisingly compact and a bit more manicured and overdeveloped than we are used to.
At the risk of sounding a 'here's tae us, wha's like us note here' or 'whaur's yer Willie Shakespeare noo?' (well, we did pass the MacDiarmid Memorial at Langholm on route after all!), but I don't think the Bard of Avon is standing on the platform at Stratford Station waiting for a train - any train to London! Stratford-upon-Avon is another cul de sac as far as the railway is concerned. We spent our second night there with my youngest brother's family. It was good to see them after four years. We had missed them on our previous furlough.
London and the Methodists
The next day we taxied to Warwick to catch the 0719h London train as we were due at Methodist House at 1030 on Tuesday to meet with a series people. Our Mission Partner appointment is an ecumenical one between the Church of Scotland and the Methodist Church and they help with our support.
An hour and a half saw us 'detraining' at Marylebone and after depositing the luggage at reception in Methodist House we then breakfasted on a croissant and coffee in Baker Street opposite Sherlock Holmes' flat. We next got Catriona safely installed in the queue for Madame Toussaud's and crossed the road to Methodist House for our first meetings where we were introduced to some people in the World Church Office.
It was good to meet with Jan Deakin with whom we had communicated extensively by email but without ever meeting. We then had the opportunity to share with Tom King, the Team Leader of the World Church Relationships, and we made a interesting connection there. Tom's son had worked at Beit Cure Paediatric Hospital in Lusaka with Allan Norris, a surgeon we got to know when he came to operate at Mwandi.
Jane Cullen, the Discernment and Selection Officer, was especially interested in how the linking of Mission Partners to Presbyteries worked in the Church of Scotland. The Methodists may be thinking of doing something similar with Mission Partners and their Districts.
George Luke from the Press Department interviewed us both about our life and work at Mwandi.
We finished off with a pizza lunch with Bunmi Olayisade, the Partnership Coordinator for Africa, a good time of fellowship and conversation covering amongst other things HIV Advocacy, African Politics and Women's Empowerment.
Berlin at Midnight
We then took the tube to Earl's Court to catch the airport bus to Gatwick. We arrived in good time and joined the good-natured queue at the bag drop-off counter, went through security, had supper and waited for our flight. It was delayed so we landed two hours late in a still sweltering Berlin at midnight. We managed a bus and two underground trains finally trundling our luggage the last 500 metres to our Hostel, where we relished the cool shower and drinks, despite the late hour, before retiring.
The tabloid newspaper headline in the hostel lobby exclaimed: 'WAS FÜR EINE HITZE!' - the German for 'COR WOTA SCORCHA!' I presume.
Tuesday 13 July 2010
Bonnie Dundee in 2010
Oh, Bonnie Dundee I will sing thy praise
A few but true simple lays.........
It's tempting to go on but I won't........ Our family has a longstanding affection and appreciation of the poetic gems of William Topaz McGonagall. I spent Friday and Saturday of last week in his native city, formerly known for the 3 Js (Journalism, Jam and Jute), still the city of the Oor Wullie, Dennis the Menace and the Broons, but also now of Computer Games and medical research.
The Church of Scotland was holding an Enquirers' Conference at the West Park Centre. This is the start of the process used by the Church to test the calling of individuals to ordained or commissioned ministry.
There is the story told of Spurgeon that a young man came to him saying, 'The Holy Spirit is telling me that I should preach at the Tabernacle on Sunday evening.'
'That's strange,' replied Spurgeon, 'He's not told me.'
So, such a conference is a useful way to for those with a call to reflect and see what areas of Christian service that the Church offers and where God might want them to serve. We had two keynote speeches from parish ministers outlining their work, then a series of shorter presentation from the Ministry of Word and Sacrament, moving on to the Diaconal, World Mission, Social Care with Crossreach and finally Readership. There were practical sessions on how to take the Enquiry further and the session closed with a final keynote speech about responding to the call.
A point made during this was that Our Lord, himself, because of amongst other things the questionable company he kept and the radical theology he espoused might have found it difficult to get through the Church's selection process! I believe the Congregationalists turned down Campbell Morgan.
We finished with a warm and informal Communion Service. It was a good two days, well organised by staff from a variety of departments at 121 and drawing from frontline troops who were happy to share something of their lives and work in the part of the vineyard they had been called to. There was also wonderful fellowship with an astonishing variety of people of all ages, backgrounds, gifts and talents. Particularly striking were the number of young people who were also saying: Here we are God, in the spirit of new life we want to share that limitless life we are offered, and see this breaking through in that mystical body, which is made up of those called to be faithful brothers and sisters and his disciples. God is certainly not finished with the Church of Scotland yet.
A few but true simple lays.........
It's tempting to go on but I won't........ Our family has a longstanding affection and appreciation of the poetic gems of William Topaz McGonagall. I spent Friday and Saturday of last week in his native city, formerly known for the 3 Js (Journalism, Jam and Jute), still the city of the Oor Wullie, Dennis the Menace and the Broons, but also now of Computer Games and medical research.
The Church of Scotland was holding an Enquirers' Conference at the West Park Centre. This is the start of the process used by the Church to test the calling of individuals to ordained or commissioned ministry.
There is the story told of Spurgeon that a young man came to him saying, 'The Holy Spirit is telling me that I should preach at the Tabernacle on Sunday evening.'
'That's strange,' replied Spurgeon, 'He's not told me.'
So, such a conference is a useful way to for those with a call to reflect and see what areas of Christian service that the Church offers and where God might want them to serve. We had two keynote speeches from parish ministers outlining their work, then a series of shorter presentation from the Ministry of Word and Sacrament, moving on to the Diaconal, World Mission, Social Care with Crossreach and finally Readership. There were practical sessions on how to take the Enquiry further and the session closed with a final keynote speech about responding to the call.
A point made during this was that Our Lord, himself, because of amongst other things the questionable company he kept and the radical theology he espoused might have found it difficult to get through the Church's selection process! I believe the Congregationalists turned down Campbell Morgan.
We finished with a warm and informal Communion Service. It was a good two days, well organised by staff from a variety of departments at 121 and drawing from frontline troops who were happy to share something of their lives and work in the part of the vineyard they had been called to. There was also wonderful fellowship with an astonishing variety of people of all ages, backgrounds, gifts and talents. Particularly striking were the number of young people who were also saying: Here we are God, in the spirit of new life we want to share that limitless life we are offered, and see this breaking through in that mystical body, which is made up of those called to be faithful brothers and sisters and his disciples. God is certainly not finished with the Church of Scotland yet.
Friday 18 June 2010
A Country Wedding
We are now in Dunblane at the World Mission Council Meeting after having had 10 days in St Andrews. We moved to a rented self-catering house there at the beginning of last week for the wedding, though we have had a number of trips in and out of Edinburgh for medical appointments, picking up and seeing off family and friends at the airport including Ruairidh Fiona and Lucy from Zambia
Our celebrations really started on Friday afternoon with a braai (BBQ) for over 40 guests 'frae a' the airts' who had arrived early and were staying in St Andrews. From our family's point of view it was wonderful to have four generations gathered together under the one roof. Saturday dawned, a beautiful day, the house a buzzing hive, with cosmetics and costumes galore.
St Salvator's was the venue for the marriage ceremony, filled with guests from near and far; all the way from Zambia, India, Canada, Switzerland, Denmark, France and even as was said, 'exotic Dunfermline'. We talk about globalisation and living in a global village, Kirsten and Stuart's wedding was living proof of that; a global wedding with a global family and friends. It was special too, that the Minister officiating was James Walker, the brother and brother-in-law of Donald and Judith, who have strong Zambian connections and have just been called to St Columba's in Mutare where we worshipped when we were working in Zimbabwe.
After the wedding breakfast, toasts and speeches, the reception continued with a ceilidh till midnight. Photos of the wedding can be viewed on line at: www.alastairstephen.co.uk then go to Online Albums
Our celebrations really started on Friday afternoon with a braai (BBQ) for over 40 guests 'frae a' the airts' who had arrived early and were staying in St Andrews. From our family's point of view it was wonderful to have four generations gathered together under the one roof. Saturday dawned, a beautiful day, the house a buzzing hive, with cosmetics and costumes galore.
St Salvator's was the venue for the marriage ceremony, filled with guests from near and far; all the way from Zambia, India, Canada, Switzerland, Denmark, France and even as was said, 'exotic Dunfermline'. We talk about globalisation and living in a global village, Kirsten and Stuart's wedding was living proof of that; a global wedding with a global family and friends. It was special too, that the Minister officiating was James Walker, the brother and brother-in-law of Donald and Judith, who have strong Zambian connections and have just been called to St Columba's in Mutare where we worshipped when we were working in Zimbabwe.
After the wedding breakfast, toasts and speeches, the reception continued with a ceilidh till midnight. Photos of the wedding can be viewed on line at: www.alastairstephen.co.uk then go to Online Albums
Thursday 3 June 2010
Church of Scotland General Assembly
After seven days of meeting, the General Assembly closed on Wednesday last week. It was a good time listening to the debates and meeting up with friends from all over the country. As the Church continues to share and spread the Gospel throughout the world, it is amazing the diverse interests, concerns and needs that this brings to light as people speak and we hear often prophetically about passions shared or pain that we attempt to understand and address.All this feedback and information is living proof of Paul's metaphor in Romans 12 that in Christ we form one body belonging to each other all with different gifts depending on the grace given us with the further development of that in 1 Cor 12 that we are made up of many parts and as a body there should be no division but we need to show equal concern for each other in each of our own joy, pain and sorrow.
Business started appropriately with the Scottish Bible Society and we heard how the Word of God shapes lives here and overseas, contributing to the work of the Church: we have a vested interest here as Ida's mother worked for the Bible Society for many years.
Friday was another interesting day with the 'Third Article Declaratory' being debated concerning parish-based ministry bringing the ordinances of religion to people nationwide. It was interesting and sobering in the World Mission Council Report to hear from minority-status Christians who suffer for the faith. There were deliverences to raise awareness of this amongst elected politicians from Holyrood, Westminister and Brussels. Another echo of 'If one part suffers........' This was also mirrored at home by the work of Crossreach which includes counselling, addiction help, assisting prisoner families and the care provided for the young the old and the infirm of all ages, - the frail and the rejected.
Morning Service at St Giles' Cathedral was followed later in the day by a special service marking the 450th Anniversary of the Scottish Reformation. A wonderful time of reflection on the influence of the reformation on education and on wider Scottish society. It was a medley of Psalms, Prayer and other Scripture cleverly interwoven with monologues, dramatisations and presentations on the theme.
The overall message similar to that delivered from George MacLeod celebrating the 400th and resonating from 16th century - A Reformed Church is forever to be reformed. In other words to make God alive and relevant for people today. Interesting too that there is no longer the same contraversy over the morality over the possession of nuclear weapons. The Church's position on them and Trident is thankfully unequivocally clear.
Monday was good with a report from the Children's Assembly, not just the future Church but part of the Church here and now. A reform of the Presbyteries is envisaged to make them more responsive and better able to deal with the changing needs of the Church. The Guild and their support of HIV and Aids at home and beyond. Ida spoke here wanting to raise awareness of the impact of HIV and AIDS locally at Mwandi and asking the Church to advocate on their behalf to continue to make a difference to the lives of many living people worldwide with this disease.We heard the report from the Armed Forces Chaplains who look after the spiritual needs of members of the armed forces and their families wherever they are serving. Not an easy job. There is also need of a ministry for forces personnel once they retire to help them adjust back to civilian life again. Safeguarding children and other vulnerable people and the safe inclusion of sex offenders in Congregations came in the report 'For such is the Kingdom of Heaven.'
The Assembly closed on Wednesday with amongst others the Iona Community Board Report, again another area of personal interest to us, Ida's father helped to roof the Abbey just after the War. It was good to read of the good work being done countering sectarianism and working with young offenders.
Finally, another highlight for us was the address by Mona Siddiqui.
Looking back on all this, the Church at this Assembly has identified its task as not only to get out there and talk about Jesus but also to be someone to speak for the poor, those who are marginalised socially, politically, economically, educationally and medically and in doing this it needs to engage in effective advocacy in partnership with civil society and other faith communities.
Tuesday 11 May 2010
Home again
We have had a pretty full diary since our return to Scotland. We have settled into the furlough flat in Leith, a lively and cosmopolitan part of the city. It has been modernised and gentrified in areas over the past ten years or so but fortunately has not lost its own special atmosphere.
We have been overhauled follicularly, medically and dentally and given the all clear. Our booster vaccinations are all that remain. We have caught up with Kirsten and Stuart; and Catriona is able to live with us as a day pupil for most of the time. It is good to be able to do again the normal things parents do for their children here. We hope to see Gregor after this weekend. Sartorially, too, we have ditched the more dowdy items from our 'salaula' and 'mish' box wardrobes in preparation for the wedding. Kirsten, our elder daughter, and Stuart are to be married on 12 June in St Andrews.
These past two weeks have been taken up with deputation work in the Presbyteries of St Andrews and Stirling, preaching at Sunday services and speaking to various Church groups at different times and places through the week. It has been good too to visit hospitals and schools and see the latest developments in health and education. The new St Andrews Community Hospital is a striking and beautifully equipped modern complex, with excellent and committed staff to go with it.
We have enjoyed visiting old friends in the various churches that support our work and raising awareness of the work and needs of the church, school and hospital at Mwandi. We have travelled from St Andrews in the east to Balfron in the west and have been struck by the warmth of the welcome and the hospitality and kindness we have received from the congregations we have visited.
Although it has been cold we have been fortunate that it has been dry with little rain and even some sun. Spring is a good time to be at home with the lengthening days, the daffodils, anenomes and bluebells in the woods and above the gean, haw blossom and the budding leaves. There are still patches of snow on the Ochils and new grass and lambs in the fields. All signs of grace in the springtime and the renewing of the roots of life.
*salaula (lit: choose, take your pick): Second-hand clothes sent to Africa from Europe and sold everywhere in Zambia. Salaula clothes about 95% of the nation.
We have been overhauled follicularly, medically and dentally and given the all clear. Our booster vaccinations are all that remain. We have caught up with Kirsten and Stuart; and Catriona is able to live with us as a day pupil for most of the time. It is good to be able to do again the normal things parents do for their children here. We hope to see Gregor after this weekend. Sartorially, too, we have ditched the more dowdy items from our 'salaula' and 'mish' box wardrobes in preparation for the wedding. Kirsten, our elder daughter, and Stuart are to be married on 12 June in St Andrews.
These past two weeks have been taken up with deputation work in the Presbyteries of St Andrews and Stirling, preaching at Sunday services and speaking to various Church groups at different times and places through the week. It has been good too to visit hospitals and schools and see the latest developments in health and education. The new St Andrews Community Hospital is a striking and beautifully equipped modern complex, with excellent and committed staff to go with it.
We have enjoyed visiting old friends in the various churches that support our work and raising awareness of the work and needs of the church, school and hospital at Mwandi. We have travelled from St Andrews in the east to Balfron in the west and have been struck by the warmth of the welcome and the hospitality and kindness we have received from the congregations we have visited.
Although it has been cold we have been fortunate that it has been dry with little rain and even some sun. Spring is a good time to be at home with the lengthening days, the daffodils, anenomes and bluebells in the woods and above the gean, haw blossom and the budding leaves. There are still patches of snow on the Ochils and new grass and lambs in the fields. All signs of grace in the springtime and the renewing of the roots of life.
*salaula (lit: choose, take your pick): Second-hand clothes sent to Africa from Europe and sold everywhere in Zambia. Salaula clothes about 95% of the nation.
Tuesday 4 May 2010
Eruption disruption: Notes from last week
On Thursday last, Ida, Mubita and I arrived expectantly at Lusaka Airport at 0630h in the golden light of dawn, the bus carrying us out was throbbing to Lozi music as this weekend is when the Kuomboka Ceremony takes place, where the Litunga (King of the Lozis) moves from the flooded plain to the drier and higher ground – a wonderful and colourful traditional ceremony. We checked in our luggage and went on to Immigration. There was a slight complication here, as we are moving from Work Permits to Entry Permits in July Mubita is not on our present work-permit, however, we showed the Adoption Order and were allowed to proceed but advised to visit Immigration HQ on our return. We escalated, much to Mubi’s delight, to the Departure Lounge and awaited our flight to Heathrow to be called. 0850h came and went. We were not really concerned as punctuality and exact time-keeping here is the exception rather than the norm. At 0900h came the astonishing announcement that BA had cancelled our flight because of volcanic activity. We were told to proceed through Immigration again and collect our luggage. In the baggage hall we were met by a BA Rep, who arranged for us to be transferred to the Taj Pamodzi, Hotel where we would be accommodated until we were able to fly again. We are grateful to BA for taking care of us so well.
We have been allocated a very comfortable double room on the fourth floor. We have a satellite TV whose variety of news channels(BBC SKY & ALJEZEERA) keep us constantly updated on developments or the lack of them concerning the flight ban. We have our little Celtel modem which allows us to e-mail and keep in touch with family and friends. We went to Synod HQ to let them know our departure had been delayed. At the same time we took the opportunity to submit our entry permit, this process being expedited by Synod staff, and pleasant and helpful Immigration officials. They issued us with a Report Order and our receipt so we enter Zambia and pick up our Entry Permits in August on our return.
It has been unusual but enjoyable for us to be in Lusaka with so little to do. We bought Mubita a swim vest and have been enjoying a daily dip in the hotel swimming pool. On Saturday afternoon we caught up with some much-needed sleep with an extended siesta. On Sunday we worshipped at Holy Trinity, just round the corner. It was a wonderful time as we met up with two former pupils from Chengelo. Nawa is in his final year at UNZA doing a BSc and we were there to witness Kazynski’s Confirmation followed by Communion. This made up in some way for our missing the Sunday Service at Kildrum.
This time of frustration and waiting has been a good lesson for us, it shows that despite Western civilisation’s much vaunted pride in its technology and sophistication, thankfully they have still a long way to go before ‘nature is tamed’. We need still to use our God-given skills, gifts and talents to live with and overcome these challenges in a rational and moral fashion that glorifies God. It also underlines the danger in relying on one form of transport, even for long haul journeys, and points to the necessity of having a more balanced and integrated world transport network. It also points to the lamentable underdevelopment of alternative terrestrial modes of transport in Africa. Finally it is a clear demonstration of how interrelated and interdependent we all are in this world. To reduce it to a Sunday Post headline: Icelandic Volcano strands Scottish Family in Zambia…….. but the difference this time is there are millions of other similar personal stories world wide.
We have been allocated a very comfortable double room on the fourth floor. We have a satellite TV whose variety of news channels(BBC SKY & ALJEZEERA) keep us constantly updated on developments or the lack of them concerning the flight ban. We have our little Celtel modem which allows us to e-mail and keep in touch with family and friends. We went to Synod HQ to let them know our departure had been delayed. At the same time we took the opportunity to submit our entry permit, this process being expedited by Synod staff, and pleasant and helpful Immigration officials. They issued us with a Report Order and our receipt so we enter Zambia and pick up our Entry Permits in August on our return.
It has been unusual but enjoyable for us to be in Lusaka with so little to do. We bought Mubita a swim vest and have been enjoying a daily dip in the hotel swimming pool. On Saturday afternoon we caught up with some much-needed sleep with an extended siesta. On Sunday we worshipped at Holy Trinity, just round the corner. It was a wonderful time as we met up with two former pupils from Chengelo. Nawa is in his final year at UNZA doing a BSc and we were there to witness Kazynski’s Confirmation followed by Communion. This made up in some way for our missing the Sunday Service at Kildrum.
This time of frustration and waiting has been a good lesson for us, it shows that despite Western civilisation’s much vaunted pride in its technology and sophistication, thankfully they have still a long way to go before ‘nature is tamed’. We need still to use our God-given skills, gifts and talents to live with and overcome these challenges in a rational and moral fashion that glorifies God. It also underlines the danger in relying on one form of transport, even for long haul journeys, and points to the necessity of having a more balanced and integrated world transport network. It also points to the lamentable underdevelopment of alternative terrestrial modes of transport in Africa. Finally it is a clear demonstration of how interrelated and interdependent we all are in this world. To reduce it to a Sunday Post headline: Icelandic Volcano strands Scottish Family in Zambia…….. but the difference this time is there are millions of other similar personal stories world wide.
Thursday 1 April 2010
Blog down for 2 weeks
Please Note: This blog will not be updated for the next 2 weeks. Normal service will be resumed on 20 April.
Tuesday 16 March 2010
For the fourth week of Lent 2010
Create in me a clean heart, o God and put a new and right spirit within me. Psalm 51:10
In the Lozi dictionary the word for ‘Lent’ is given as Karesima. This word is used mainly by the Roman Catholic church; the other denominations that recognize Lent, tend to use the circumlocution, ‘the time to prepare oneself for Easter’. As Advent prepares us for the Incarnation and Christ’s coming again, so Lent prepares us for the coming of our risen Saviour.
As a whole in Zambia, Lent focuses more on the Church community rather than on the personal and rather private piety that is the case amongst Western believers. Christians here do use Lent as a time for personal introspection and examination but this is also combined with a greater sense of communal reflection and outreach. It is interesting that both cultures do both things but the emphasis is different, perhaps reflecting the nature of our respective societies and our respective general attitudes towards the individual and the communal. However, both would agree that Lent is a time to make a special effort to love others more.
On Sunday, for example, the members of the Mens’ Christian Fellowship rededicate themselves to their duties and work as they do annually. This is reminiscent of the passage in Acts 14:23 where Paul and Barnabas with prayer and fasting entrust elders to the Lord.
So what’s been happening on the ground recently? Well, we’ve had two American Medical Teams, the first group were paediatricians who did some good work at the Orphan and Vulnerable Childrens’ Day Care Centre. The second group were on their annual visit. They are the eye surgeons who do mainly cataract operations. They left today. We have another annual group of general surgeons arriving mid-month. They undertake hernias, fibroids and other such work.
We have also had two visitors to stay with us in our home recently. Alice Strittmatter, from the Gossner Mission, a German sister-organisation and partner to the UCZ. Alice also served in Zambia with the German Aid Service in the late 70s and early 80s. Alice was followed by Cathy Crawford who came to visit the Mwandi Aids Relief Project and a women’s support group in Livingstone. We look forward to catching up with them both when we are home on furlough.
Yesterday the 92 roofing sheets for the second classroom block were ordered and paid for - a cool K24m (almost GBP4 000). The steel trusses (24 x12m) for the roof are now ready. They have all been welded locally and to a good standard, so I bought red oxide paint (Forth Railway Bridge colour) and thinners to apply to and seal the metalwork . We are grateful for the Swiss-French Church’s financial contribution towards this part of the building. In the following weeks I will be purchasing glass and putty, electrical conduits, wires, light sockets, plugs and switches, paint and cement for the plastering and drainage. This should mean the block should be completed by the end of April or early May.
Work on the High School latrines has come to a stop. We received earlier this week new plans from the Ministry of Education District Officer. The pit has now to be increased in length by one metre. I have been assured this should not affect the Bill of Quantities but I’m not holding my breath!
We have two public holidays this week: International Women’s Day was on Monday and Youth Day on Friday. There will be sports, football and netball tournaments held on Friday at school to celebrate the Youth Day Holiday.
Mubita and I are ‘bothying’ at the moment, Ida left on Tuesday to attend the UCZ Synod Council of World Mission Committee Meeting in Lusaka and should return on Saturday. Saying that we are being well looked after by Dorothy, Florence and Stella. Dorothy has just returned to work; her eldest daughter died in hospital at the beginning of February. She is bearing up well considering, and has the consolation of her strong faith.
Ida has enjoyed meeting many of the other partners stationed elsewhere in Zambia and we were delighted to learn that Marina, one of the Bangladeshi nurses, gave birth to a little girl earlier in the week. Mum, Dad and baby are all well and recovering. This will be another grandchild for us along with Lucy and Akash, Liton and Leya’s little boy.
Finally, we’ve been reading ‘Salt and Light’ - The Letters of Jack and Mamie Martin in Malawi 1921-28. This book gives a warm and loving insight into the lives of a missionary family 90 years ago and of the people they served and stayed with at Livingstonia. All the joys and sorrows, the difficulties and triumphs and the wonderful variety in the work are all there. Despite the passage of time and life in a different era with different attitudes, there is still much that we, as workers for the same Kingdom, recognize and can empathise with in it. Plus ca change…
In the Lozi dictionary the word for ‘Lent’ is given as Karesima. This word is used mainly by the Roman Catholic church; the other denominations that recognize Lent, tend to use the circumlocution, ‘the time to prepare oneself for Easter’. As Advent prepares us for the Incarnation and Christ’s coming again, so Lent prepares us for the coming of our risen Saviour.
As a whole in Zambia, Lent focuses more on the Church community rather than on the personal and rather private piety that is the case amongst Western believers. Christians here do use Lent as a time for personal introspection and examination but this is also combined with a greater sense of communal reflection and outreach. It is interesting that both cultures do both things but the emphasis is different, perhaps reflecting the nature of our respective societies and our respective general attitudes towards the individual and the communal. However, both would agree that Lent is a time to make a special effort to love others more.
On Sunday, for example, the members of the Mens’ Christian Fellowship rededicate themselves to their duties and work as they do annually. This is reminiscent of the passage in Acts 14:23 where Paul and Barnabas with prayer and fasting entrust elders to the Lord.
So what’s been happening on the ground recently? Well, we’ve had two American Medical Teams, the first group were paediatricians who did some good work at the Orphan and Vulnerable Childrens’ Day Care Centre. The second group were on their annual visit. They are the eye surgeons who do mainly cataract operations. They left today. We have another annual group of general surgeons arriving mid-month. They undertake hernias, fibroids and other such work.
We have also had two visitors to stay with us in our home recently. Alice Strittmatter, from the Gossner Mission, a German sister-organisation and partner to the UCZ. Alice also served in Zambia with the German Aid Service in the late 70s and early 80s. Alice was followed by Cathy Crawford who came to visit the Mwandi Aids Relief Project and a women’s support group in Livingstone. We look forward to catching up with them both when we are home on furlough.
Yesterday the 92 roofing sheets for the second classroom block were ordered and paid for - a cool K24m (almost GBP4 000). The steel trusses (24 x12m) for the roof are now ready. They have all been welded locally and to a good standard, so I bought red oxide paint (Forth Railway Bridge colour) and thinners to apply to and seal the metalwork . We are grateful for the Swiss-French Church’s financial contribution towards this part of the building. In the following weeks I will be purchasing glass and putty, electrical conduits, wires, light sockets, plugs and switches, paint and cement for the plastering and drainage. This should mean the block should be completed by the end of April or early May.
Work on the High School latrines has come to a stop. We received earlier this week new plans from the Ministry of Education District Officer. The pit has now to be increased in length by one metre. I have been assured this should not affect the Bill of Quantities but I’m not holding my breath!
We have two public holidays this week: International Women’s Day was on Monday and Youth Day on Friday. There will be sports, football and netball tournaments held on Friday at school to celebrate the Youth Day Holiday.
Mubita and I are ‘bothying’ at the moment, Ida left on Tuesday to attend the UCZ Synod Council of World Mission Committee Meeting in Lusaka and should return on Saturday. Saying that we are being well looked after by Dorothy, Florence and Stella. Dorothy has just returned to work; her eldest daughter died in hospital at the beginning of February. She is bearing up well considering, and has the consolation of her strong faith.
Ida has enjoyed meeting many of the other partners stationed elsewhere in Zambia and we were delighted to learn that Marina, one of the Bangladeshi nurses, gave birth to a little girl earlier in the week. Mum, Dad and baby are all well and recovering. This will be another grandchild for us along with Lucy and Akash, Liton and Leya’s little boy.
Finally, we’ve been reading ‘Salt and Light’ - The Letters of Jack and Mamie Martin in Malawi 1921-28. This book gives a warm and loving insight into the lives of a missionary family 90 years ago and of the people they served and stayed with at Livingstonia. All the joys and sorrows, the difficulties and triumphs and the wonderful variety in the work are all there. Despite the passage of time and life in a different era with different attitudes, there is still much that we, as workers for the same Kingdom, recognize and can empathise with in it. Plus ca change…
Friday 26 February 2010
It's a girl!
We received a telephone call yesterday morning at five to six from Ruairidh telling us that Fiona had safely delivered by caesarean section a little girl. We are delighted to have our first grandchild and are grateful that all is well with both Fiona and Lucy
Later in the day Ruairidh sent this email to family and friends:
Dear Everyone,
Just a quick note to let you all know that God has blessed Fiona and me with a beautiful baby girl.
Lucy Sepo (Hope) Waddell. Born: 25th February, 2010 (1345 Adelaide Time) Port Lincoln Hospital, South Australia. Weight: 7lb 1oz. Length: 49cm.
Mum and Baby are both fine and doing well. We would like to thank you all for the help, kindness and prayer directed towards us, we have greatly appreciated it and are so blessed by it.
Take care
Love to you all
Ruairidh, Fiona and Lucy
xx
Later in the day Ruairidh sent this email to family and friends:
Dear Everyone,
Just a quick note to let you all know that God has blessed Fiona and me with a beautiful baby girl.
Lucy Sepo (Hope) Waddell. Born: 25th February, 2010 (1345 Adelaide Time) Port Lincoln Hospital, South Australia. Weight: 7lb 1oz. Length: 49cm.
Mum and Baby are both fine and doing well. We would like to thank you all for the help, kindness and prayer directed towards us, we have greatly appreciated it and are so blessed by it.
Take care
Love to you all
Ruairidh, Fiona and Lucy
xx
Tuesday 23 February 2010
UCZ Mwandi High School
After 3 years of pushing and patiently waiting, the High School opened on Monday for lessons. Last week registration took place and we now have our complement of 43 girls and 41 boys (2 Day Classes) plus a class of ‘externals’ who will attend afternoon lessons. The cost is K170 000 per term about GBP25 and GBP30 for the externals, similar to what is being charged by the other High Schools in the District for Day Tuition.
As I taught my first lesson to Grade 10A on Monday, History –“ Bantu Migrations before 1800”, I was thinking a more appropriate local history lesson might have been “Mwandi Children’s High School Peregrinations before 2010”!
If children were fortunate enough to have parents who could afford it or could find sponsors for a variety of reasons, the three main options were 70 km away to the west at Sesheke, 120km in the bush to the north at the RC Mission at Sichile or Livingstone 140km to the east. Many of the better-off Civil Servants based at Mwandi sent their children to Mission Boarding schools in Southern Province, Lusaka or even further afield as there were few places and schools available in Western Province.
Some of the other educational statistics for this year are encouraging. For the first time in many years, the Western Province Grade 9 Examination results were higher than the National Average: 54.3% to 51.96%. All girl pupils who passed were also offered places in Grade 10. On the other hand in 2009 there were only 22 High Schools to serve a population of over 800 000. The termly grant allocated by the Province to each High School was also below average in comparison with other Provinces.
We offer at present these subjects: English, RE, Geography, History, Silozi, Mathematics, Biology, Science, Civics. We are at present using 2 of the classrooms, the third is still being used as a store by the builders of the second classroom block and we are using the presently-unused second laboratory as an administration building.
The community last weekend helped to dig two emergency latrines while the more permanent structures are being built. The pit for the first double one has been dug and the bricks are now being moulded. We are unable to make use of the borehole well that has been sunk as the parts are not available in Zambia and have to be imported from India! The teachers have also approached the local MP to see if the school could qualify for help as part of the rural electrification scheme. Electricity and running water would make our lives and those of the pupils and builders so much better and easier.
We have also spent time on other matters as important in their own ways as the infrastructure. A Code of Conduct for the pupils has been drafted and approved, the uniform –maroon shirts and blouses and black skirts or trousers for the day pupils and green blouses and shirts for the externals have been chosen.
Time was also taken to design a badge and motto. The blazon is gyronny argent and gules: in other words, a skewed to the right red maltese cross on a white background in an African shield. Red and white are the Lozi colours but also liturgically they stand for the Holy Spirit and the redemptive work of the Church. The arms of the cross are also like rays of light, the light and life we receive from Christ.
Superimposed on this is the Ichthus symbol, appropriate as both a symbol for Christianity and Mwandi. Mwandi means the fishing place and ICHTHUS the Greek acrostic is also a good reminder of who Jesus is and what he did for us. Underneath is the Motto: Mamonyi Aman’ata, Liseli Lililin’wi (Many lamps, one light)
A High School should disseminate light. God’s revelation is often portrayed as light or illumination. Each individual lamp contributes to the one light as witnesses to that light. It also points to the individual pupils with their individual and their collective identity as part of the school. Finally the motto also speaks of the many different parts of the Body that have contributed to the building of this school to God’s glory.
As I taught my first lesson to Grade 10A on Monday, History –“ Bantu Migrations before 1800”, I was thinking a more appropriate local history lesson might have been “Mwandi Children’s High School Peregrinations before 2010”!
If children were fortunate enough to have parents who could afford it or could find sponsors for a variety of reasons, the three main options were 70 km away to the west at Sesheke, 120km in the bush to the north at the RC Mission at Sichile or Livingstone 140km to the east. Many of the better-off Civil Servants based at Mwandi sent their children to Mission Boarding schools in Southern Province, Lusaka or even further afield as there were few places and schools available in Western Province.
Some of the other educational statistics for this year are encouraging. For the first time in many years, the Western Province Grade 9 Examination results were higher than the National Average: 54.3% to 51.96%. All girl pupils who passed were also offered places in Grade 10. On the other hand in 2009 there were only 22 High Schools to serve a population of over 800 000. The termly grant allocated by the Province to each High School was also below average in comparison with other Provinces.
We offer at present these subjects: English, RE, Geography, History, Silozi, Mathematics, Biology, Science, Civics. We are at present using 2 of the classrooms, the third is still being used as a store by the builders of the second classroom block and we are using the presently-unused second laboratory as an administration building.
The community last weekend helped to dig two emergency latrines while the more permanent structures are being built. The pit for the first double one has been dug and the bricks are now being moulded. We are unable to make use of the borehole well that has been sunk as the parts are not available in Zambia and have to be imported from India! The teachers have also approached the local MP to see if the school could qualify for help as part of the rural electrification scheme. Electricity and running water would make our lives and those of the pupils and builders so much better and easier.
We have also spent time on other matters as important in their own ways as the infrastructure. A Code of Conduct for the pupils has been drafted and approved, the uniform –maroon shirts and blouses and black skirts or trousers for the day pupils and green blouses and shirts for the externals have been chosen.
Time was also taken to design a badge and motto. The blazon is gyronny argent and gules: in other words, a skewed to the right red maltese cross on a white background in an African shield. Red and white are the Lozi colours but also liturgically they stand for the Holy Spirit and the redemptive work of the Church. The arms of the cross are also like rays of light, the light and life we receive from Christ.
Superimposed on this is the Ichthus symbol, appropriate as both a symbol for Christianity and Mwandi. Mwandi means the fishing place and ICHTHUS the Greek acrostic is also a good reminder of who Jesus is and what he did for us. Underneath is the Motto: Mamonyi Aman’ata, Liseli Lililin’wi (Many lamps, one light)
A High School should disseminate light. God’s revelation is often portrayed as light or illumination. Each individual lamp contributes to the one light as witnesses to that light. It also points to the individual pupils with their individual and their collective identity as part of the school. Finally the motto also speaks of the many different parts of the Body that have contributed to the building of this school to God’s glory.
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