Ida and Keith at Mwandi

Food for thought

2012-01-18T14:28:00.000Z

Despite the world population reaching 7 billion, the slow down in the world economy and the resultant tightening of fiscal and monetary policy, it is suggested by the Economist that agricultural prices may fall in the coming year but will remain at historically high levels affecting inflation and the price we pay for putting the rice, buhobe, pasta, couscous or tatties on our plates. The Economist suggests agricultural commodity prices may fall on average by a weather-dependant 11%.

We hear of bio-fuels being grown instead of staples with accompanying climate change and concerns over greenhouse gas linked to increased and unnecessary transportation as well as worrying deficits in the supply of staples. This enthusiastic promotion of agri-business leads to a continuing decline in arable land, and not only due to increased urbanization. However, bumper harvests of wheat in Asia will ensure a plentiful supply. Fast-food is apparently making wheat almost as popular as rice in some of these emerging markets.

With us here in Zambia there will be a small fall in the price of maize, a bumper harvest last year and a complaints of a poor domestic price will see many Zambian commercial farmers moving from maize to soya, mainly to meet the demand for cooking oil, soya food and stockfeed. A domestic staple here in Zambia but elsewhere in the world, maize meets the demand for livestockfeed and ethanol to dilute petrol. This recalls Dr Johnson’s definition of oats. A grain which in England is given to horses but in Scotland supports the population and Lord Elibank’s riposte: and where will you find such (good) horses and people.

A recent report from the Scottish Agricultural College (Power in Agriculture) shows the UK imports 11% of the total amount of poultry traded - not exactly chickenfeed! America leads on beef and is the biggest wheat exporter while Japan imports most wheat. In the past North America and Europe generally controlled food trade, but this is changing. The Russian, Chinese and Indian governments want to protect their own smaller-scale and often subsistence producers by offering more stable prices.

As regards Europe the Common Agriculture Policy, the lack of raw materials for energy, fertilizer and, indeed, the shortage of land and water, make it impossible for Europe to feed itself without significant changes in productivity, efficiency and investment in new technology. This brings to the fore genetically-modified crops, and the role of the agri-business giants.

The US, Britain France and Germany still headquarter most of world's agri-business giants. There's Unilever, for instance, with the third biggest turnover of the world's food - nearly US$60bn in 2008. Kraft & Cadbury recently joined forces. There's Tesco as the world's second biggest retailer by turnover, but a long way behind Walmart, US-based owner of Asda and much besides. The Indian retail market not surprisingly is uneasy about ‘liberalising’ and opening up to such international companies.

The report also estimates that only 10 companies are responsible for more than 40% of the global retail market, four companies control 75-90% of global grain trade, seven companies control virtually all fertiliser supply, five companies have more than two-thirds of the world's agro-chemical market, and only three companies control nearly half of the proprietary seeds market.

But by being exposed to these few transnational companies for inputs and for markets, it makes farmers everywhere all the more vulnerable and dependant. A balance needs to be struck between those companies who have great lobbying power and the interests of farmer producers and of consumers. Our spending choices as consumers are important as it is we consumers that give these companies their market power, but their overwhelming power and position in the market place are such that in many cases, our power of as consumers and our choice are diminished. This too is the case with farmer-producers.

In contradistinction to the food and farming business in the more developed world the FAO and the European Union have recently announced a project aimed at helping Malawi, Vietnam and Zambia take a more "climate-smart" approach to their agriculture.

A majority of the population of these counties depend on agriculture for their livelihoods and food security. They are highly vulnerable to the impact of climate change. At the same time agriculture is a significant producer of greenhouse gases and contributes to global warming. "Climate-smart agriculture" is an approach that seeks to use promote and expand good climate-smart practice in subsistence agriculture itself as a solution to these challenges they are facing.

The project involves making changes in farming to fight against hunger and poverty and becoming more flexible in responding to climate change by reducing emissions; and increasing agriculture's potential to capture and use atmospheric carbon.

The EU/FAO project will integrate national climate change patterns with agricultural strategies to identify areas for climate-smart agriculture investments. They want to build capacity for planning and implementing climate-smart projects capable of attracting international investments and supporting crop diversity.

The problems of climate change are increasingly being felt on the ground, for example here in Mwandi the rainfall pattern this year again is irregular and erratic and the temperatures too are higher than normal. Actions to address these problems are needed, even as international negotiations continue in the search for a global climate agreement.

We are grateful too for the Guild with its support through New Hunger programme. An increasing number of patients and children in the hospital are showing signs of malnutrition as food runs out in the rural areas. The people here in Sesheke District suffer from chronic food shortage. Over one third of our children are chronically malnourished.

There are a number of NGOs who supply humanitarian assistance but there is need to address systematically local food-security. There are a number of Church-led initiatives in this area. In the meantime we continue to supply the beans, the HEPS and other foods suited to the person’s needs.

The search of nuclear man

2011-12-28T10:30:00.000Z

In Henri Nouwen’s ‘The Wounded Healer’, Nouwen looks at ministry in a dislocated and fragmented world and at nuclear man’s [he apologises for the male-dominated language] loss of faith in technology. In technology’s power to create new life also lies the potential for self-destruction by nuclear or chemical warfare or by pollution and contamination. Nuclear man can not only destroy life but also the possibility of rebirth. It is into this situation in the Zambian uranium mining industry that the Council of Churches of Zambia is speaking.

Earlier this month Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ) published its draft policy on uranium mining in Zambia suggesting how Zambia might use best practices from elsewhere to regulate its exploration, mining, processing, marketing and transportation and thereby establish a transparent, well- functioning and balanced uranium mining industry in Zambia.

The mining industry plays a crucial role in the Zambian economy and it is the recent boom there that moved Zambia from least developed to supposedly lower middle-income status according to the World Bank earlier this year.

An area of concern for many people here is the multinational-controlled uranium mining companies that have recently acquired uranium exploration concessions.

In order to protect people, the flora and fauna and the environment the report recommends training for those regulating the industry and for those monitoring the health of workers in the uranium industry.

There is a need to provide sustainable livelihoods that do not threaten the well-being of the workers or the people living in the area but these jobs should contribute to genuine poverty eradication through being economically sustainable. While uranium exploitation can bring benefits to communities in job creation, foreign exchange earnings and overall economic growth, there is also a need to protect lives and the environment.

Uranium is hazardous in water, food and air that we all drink, eat and breathe, to say nothing about its controversial use as a fuel for energy or the other immoral uses it is put to in weaponry.

The Report advocates better conditions of service for the local workers, and urges investors to use their social corporate responsibility to benefit the people in the areas they operate in and to do so but not just out of guilt, because of the considerable profits they were making.

CCZ Secretary General, Rev Suzanne Matale, said the Church, as the body of Christ, was concerned that the people to whom God had given the resources were being short-changed. She believed that the Church had a God-given mandate to be stewards of the earth, take care of one another and ensure life in abundance for all. CCZ was not against investment, but wanted to ensure that locals lived in a safe environment and benefited from the investment.

Reverend Matale said CCZ had commissioned a study on uranium mining in Zambia in early 2010 and that the findings of that study were published in a report, Prosperity unto Death: Is Zambia ready for Uranium mining? This can be googled

Rev Matale said for the Church there was no better way to preach the gospel than to act as a voice for the voiceless poor and clearly articulate their voices on issues that affected their livelihoods and put their lives in jeopardy, coupled with robbing them of their dignity.

"We believe that we have a God-given mandate to be stewards of the earth, to take care of one another and ensure life in abundance for all.” she said.

And on that uplifting note we wish you all the compliments of the season as we celebrate the Incarnation and look back with thanksgiving across the year which is passing from us now. May we in the words of Psalm 90, in the coming year, be taught to count our days and gain a wise heart. May the beauty of the Lord, Our God, be upon us and may he prosper and establish the work of our hands. Amen

Photos from World Aids Day

2011-12-02T16:08:00.000Z

Choir with traditional Instruments

Group of footballers Injectors (Hospital) were playing the Chalk breakers (Teachers) the Hospital won at football and the teachers won at Netball

High school pupils Traditional Dancing

Hosp staff and Teachers netball

Little girl from Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) Programme who later recited a poem

March past of the Girls and Boys Brigade with the drums from Houston

Doing More with Less

2011-11-29T12:15:00.001Z

INTERNATIONAL AIDS DAY - Getting To Zero

Zero new infections, zero discrimination and zero Aids related deaths
(this year's theme)

There is good news from a recent UNAIDS report released for World AIDS Day (1 Dec). www.unaids.org/en/resources/unaidspublication/2011/ New HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths continue to fall, and the number of people on treatment in the less developed world is almost 50 percent of those eligible. This has happened in spite of a decrease in finances.

Especially encouraging for us in Zambia is that access to HIV treatment has improved greatly in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), the region which has long been worst hit by the AIDS epidemic, making up some 68 percent or 22.9 million of all HIV-infected people.

Access to antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) has increased in SSA by 1/5 between 2009 and 2010 though 1.2m people still died of AIDS-related causes last year. Zambia has reported coverage levels of between 70 and 80 percent; nearing universal access (considered 80%).

The overall world statistics are encouraging too; while 2.7 million people contracted HIV in 2010. This represents a fall of over 1/5 since 1997.

6.6 million people are now accessing ARVs , an increase of 1.35 million in less than two years. With improved access to treatment, new HIV infections are also declining sharply.

It seems that ARVs play a role in reducing transmission of the virus to partners. Infection rates are 1/3 to ½ fewer than would have been the case without ARVs. This amounts to 2.5m people alive today who would not have otherwise been.

Changes in behaviour such as abstinence, condom-use and male circumcision are also contributing. Prevention of mother-to-child transmission is another success, where 400 000 new infections have been prevented.
To continue to do more with less, the UNAIDS Report suggests a 4- Goal Investment Framework to use funding more efficiently and effectively.

1.Maximise benefits of HIV Response

2.Use national epidemiology to ensure best allocation of resources

3.Implement programmes based on local context

4. Increase efficiency in prevention treatment care and support

This new approach in funding could prevent some 12.2 million new infections - including 1.9 million children, and 7.4 million AIDS-related deaths between now and 2020 says the report.

For universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support by 2015, an estimated US$22-$24 billion annually is required.

In the past two years donor funding has been cut by 10 percent from $7.6 billion in 2009 to $6.9 billion in 2010.

Without stable funding, opportunities to prevent new infections will be missed and there is a risk that the progress gained in the fight against HIV could be lost.

Our Aids Relief Programme at the Mission Hospital here in Mwandi continues with its static clinic based here at the hospital and the 6 mobile outreach clinics. The outreach is now undertaken weekly. There are 1478 people on ART, 164 of whom are children.

We are grateful to many people for being able to look after our clients in many different ways. Starting at the top we have PEPFAR and AIDS Relief with the funding and other structural and logistical support. On the ground here we have a number of Church Partners who help such as IPC with reagents, Aiken and Goldsboro and other individuals for their contribution to the Formula Programme. There are over 250 children alive today who benefited from this programme that uses WHO guide-lines. The Church of Scotland Guild ’s Food Support programme that brings nutritional support to the Hospital and Home-based Care programmes. There are numerous churches and visitors who by buying bags and craft items made by the Mothers’ Support Group give this group a small but steady income throughout the year.

This year in Mwandi the Community will meet as usual on AIDS Day Eve for a candle-lit service in memory of those who are no longer with us and who have been lost to HIV/AIDS. At the service we will have a large number or Orphans and Vulnerable Children, a visible legacy and testimony to the destruction caused to ordinary families by this appalling pandemic. It is a sad and moving occasion but also one of joy and hope in the presence of these children.
The next day, AIDS Day, there will be a march through the village, an all-age gathering for some speeches, songs and drama; a Fun-Run and Football Match are the sporting events planned.

Dedication of the new church at Mabumbu

2011-11-15T16:42:00.004Z

We were invited this Sunday to attend and take part in the Dedication Service for the new church at Mabumbu. I suppose we should be careful in using the word ‘new’. Mabumbu Congregation is a long-established church from Paris Mission times. Infact, Mabumbu meaning ‘the groves’, is named after an older Mabumbu to be found nearer Mongu.

Mabumbu is about 30 minutes from Mwandi. The road is still easily passable, though sandy and dusty. The daytime temperatures are fierce, around 40C, at the moment, as we await the frontal rains from Congo. There have been the odd few spits and drops but that has been convectional. The trees have shot new green leaves in expectation of the coming rains and most people have prepared their fields for sowing. A few courageous individuals have even sown a ‘lima’ or two, gambling on the arrival of the rains in the next week or so. Mubita’s Aunt last week came to say good-bye to us as she was leaving the cattle and fishing camp at the river and returning home to Kakulwani to prepare her fields.

After leaving the tarred road the first major settlement is the village of Namango. It is a typical rural village with daub and wattle houses, thatched roofs and reed-fenced lapas and is situated in a sandy clearing, scattered with baobabs, local palms and other indigenous, deciduous trees that provide wild fruit and shade. Traditionally Namango was the village where our Senior Chief had his fields. At this time of year the Palace moved to Namango for the sowing and the fields were tended by his wife. In the middle of the village we passed the ‘lutaitai’ the special thatch shelter built for the Senior Chief to sit in on arrival and hear submissions from local people needing his help. The Chief stays in Namango at his Kwandu (residence) for a week during the sowing, but his wife will stay longer if required. At Namongo there is also a full Kuta (Court) with its own Indunas.

The party from Mwandi arrived at Mabumbu to a warm welcome from the excited congregation. A beautiful and well-built daub and wattle sanctuary and vestry had been constructed and roofed by 70 zinc corrugated sheets. It had been completed in September taking about 12 months to build; the rafters costing K1.6m and the roofing sheets K4.2m (around GBP800/US$1200). The PC(USA) Church in Albemarle helped with the purchase of the sheets, and were thanked and remembered in prayer. The former thatched Church is being retained as a Church Hall. Future plans include the purchase of a new Communion Table and more congregational benches.

The Convenor, Lewis Banda, is supported by an Eldership of 8 men and women drawn from 3 Alume (MCF) and 15 Anamoyo (WCF). This lively and growing 215 member congregation is divided into 4 Sections and all live within a 10km of the Church. The Church is a focal point of the community and has a Sunday School attendance of around 48 most weeks and its Jericho Choir a membership of 18+.

There was a certain familiarity to the Dedication Service as it followed the Scottish Common Order to a great extent with the Opening of the Doors and ‘Ye Gates’ from Psalm 24 to begin with, then the Offering of the Keys. The prayers and readings were shared out amongst the eldership and Consistory visitors including us.

After the Dedication of the Church and its furnishings we moved on to the Proclamation, Scripture Reading and the Sermon based on Matthew 21:12-17, concerning the cleansing of the Temple by Jesus. Rev Manda said while it was important to keep the Church building clean, sweeping out the dirt and re-arranging the furniture was not enough, God’s House is to be a House of Prayer for all, not a den of thieves, we were not in Church to be in business for ourselves. Our bodies as Temples of the Holy Spirit needed to be kept clean too, so that all who entered the new building would be blessed. In other words our business as a Church is outreach to others.

After the Restoration of a Backslider we moved into Holy Communion, served in the French way in a horse-shoe formation round the Table. This was followed by the closing hymn and Benediction.

The Congregation gathered on reed mats under the trees in the Church yard to cook a bring-and-share lunch. The Rev and Mrs Manda, other Consistory visitors, the Uniting Church of Australia visitors and ourselves were served in the vestry. We enjoyed fried chicken, fish, gravy and buhobe. Outside the congregation cooked in their sections mainly reconstituted dried fish stew and mangambwa (pumpkin leaves cooked as greens). At the moment there is little grazing available so there was no mabisi (thick sour milk), only a small amount of fresh milk was available. Maheu from a plastic bucket was the drink on offer. Commercially-produced maheu and mabisi can be bought now in town for those urban Lozis pining for the rural food of their childhood. Maheu is made from left-over porridge to which water and flour is added and left overnight to make a refreshingly tart drink. Sugar can be stirred into it for those with a sweeter tooth.

Matters of Life and Death

2011-10-31T14:03:00.000Z

Banji ni lumbu, kuilu ni ku mundi (This world is a cattle camp, the homestead is in heaven.)

This old Lozi proverb emphasises the transience of life and demonstrates that is a universal theme. The ephemeral nature of human life on Earth with our short entry into and exit from this world is a matter all cultures seem to try to come to terms with.

A cattle camp is a group of temporary wooden and grass shelters built on seasonal pastures. The herdsmen live there while they are looking after the cattle. The closest Scottish rural equivalent from yesteryear would be the ‘bothy’. At the moment there are many of these camps at the riverside around Mwandi as the cattle graze on the islands and floodplains. With the onset of the rains these ‘bothies’ will shortly be abandoned and the herds and herdmen will return to the village or homestead -the permanent settlement. It is this transhumance that is being compared to dying person leaving this world for an eternity in heaven.

On Wednesday evening we received news that Rev Manyando’s father had passed away in Mongu. Rev Manyando is one of our Livingstone Ministers. His father, Mr Green Sitali Manyando, was a former teacher, a former Council Chairman for the District and Village Headman. He was 80 years of age and had been ill for the last 8 months. So on Thursday lunch-time we set off for the Manyando homestead in rural Bulozi, at Litoya, about half-way between Mongu and Senanga. Rev Manda, Getrude Kambole, the Consistory Secretary, Ida, Keith and Mubita were the Mwandi Representatives. We picked up Rev and Mrs Nyambe in Sesheke and drove up the back road, reaching the pontoon in good time and then visiting the manse in Senanga. We finally arrived at Litoya at around 2200h.

We were welcomed into a dim and crowded lapa. (courtyard surrounded by reeds). As is the Zambian custom, a substantial marquee, made from a large tarpaulin, had been erected in the yard, and in front of it, the usual three-logged campfire was burning. The sofas and armchairs and any other extra seats from the home or borrowed from neighbours were placed outside for the use of visitors, mourners and those coming to pay condolences.

The lapa, at this time, is traditionally split into male and female areas. The men generally sit on the seats under the tent and the ladies in chitenges, legs straight and out-stretched on reed floor-mats. On arrival at the mourning-house (Zambian-English: the dead person’s home) you are expected to shake hands with all present, then enter the main house where the widow and her entourage of female relatives and neighbours are again sitting on mats. There you shake hands and express your sorrow and this is the time for tears. If the bereaved are Christian, you may be asked to offer a prayer of consolation here. You then return outside and sit with the other visitors who have also come to express solidarity with the family in their time of grief. You may now chat and discuss lighter matters with the people around you.

We were offered some of those ubiquitous white plastic garden chairs in front of the main house and a wooden coffee table was placed in our midst. A daughter of the house brought water, soap and a towel to wash our hands before eating. Then we were offered chunks of stewed beef and liver cooked in gravy and buhobe ( thick mealie-meal porridge). Eaten with your fingers, this was most welcome after our day’s journey. Cool drinking water is always served after eating. It is a breach of etiquette to drink with your meal as Europeans would tend to do.

It was exceptionally atmospheric after eating to sit and look up at a clear night sky with its tiny electric blue spangles of glittering stars in their constellations, smell the whiffs of woodsmoke and listen to singing of hymns and choruses accompanied too by the rhythmic cadences of the drumming of youngsters from the Church choir.

Most people wrapped themselves in blankets or chitenges and settled down to sleep after midnight, others kept watch and dozed on and off throughout the night. The night-time temperature at this time of year does not fall below the mid-20s Centigrade. We three were very kindly given the privacy of an igloo-tent pitched in the lapa; inside too was the luxury of a mattress. Our middle-aged bones are no longer as good as they once were for sleeping directly on the ground! Incidentally we used our bath-towels as bedding and were perfectly comfortable.

By 0530h next morning most people were up and about. And the choir had started to sing again. Hot water was being prepared and lugged to the ablutions for visitors to wash themselves. Again kind neighbours put their toilets and bathrooms at the disposal of visitors at the mourning-house. We bathed en famille at the neighbour’s bathing area, a reed-screened rectangle with a plank to keep your feet off the sand and an old maize sack served as the bathmat. Buckets of hot and cold water, an empty basin and jug were available to make a simple shower.

After washing and dressing, a breakfast of bread, marge and cocoa was served in the main house. In the corner stood a magnificent polished wood coffin with two pictures of Mr Manyando, one as a young man and the other just before he died. After breakfast we were presented with a printed burial programme, as other members of the family and dignitories kept arriving. There were representatives from the Government including the Lady Mayor of Mongu and the Barotse Royal Establishment. During this time the choir and the congregation gathered in the lapa and sang hymns and choruses.

The main Church Service started at 0930h after the arrival of the Presbytery Bishop, Rev Sipalo from Mongu. The Funeral Service followed the Lozi Liturgy with Hymns, Scripture Readings, a short Sermon, Prayers and a Blessing. I was asked to read Job 1:17-22 and Philippians 4:12-13 in Silozi. This is what brought me to ruminate about the transient nature of life and think about the Lozi perspective on this.

At the end of the service is the body-viewing. This is when all present take leave and say farewell to the deceased. It is the Lozi custom that one should be self-controlled in the Church during the funeral service with no noisy outbursts of emotion but it is permitted to grieve freely at the body-viewing. If you cannot contain yourself in Church, you go outside till you have composed yourself then return. Once everyone had filed passed the body the coffin was closed and the bearers carried it to the burial site. Normally this would be the local cemetery.

However, as the founder of the village Mr Manyando was buried next to the special tree in the middle of his village. The Headman’s house is usually about a dozen paces to the east of that tree. This tree symbolizes the existence of that particular village and its people. The area “under the tree” as it is called, serves as a meeting place to resolve disputes. Traditionally too the tree serves as the village shrine and the founder is buried in an unmarked grave at its foot. The dead body next to the living tree is a symbol of the continuing interaction between life and death and the area where the living commune with ancestral spirits when necessary. The village headman is the go-between. It was interesting to witness, to our eyes, this example of animism and syncretism.

Talking about graves I recently learned a new idiom. When Mr Kapui from Kandiana died a few months ago, I asked Julius if he could arrange for some young men ‘kuyepa libita’ literally ‘to dig the grave’. Now to the Lozi ear that sounds incredibly direct, harsh and callous, they use the euphemism ‘kulukisa ndu ya mutu’ literally ‘to prepare the person’s house’.

The congregation gathered round the grave and again the choir sang. The coffin was lowered into the grave and some sticks as tradition dictates were thrown in as well. Mourners may also come at this stage with a handful of earth and throw it in the grave.

If you are unable to go to the grave a young man will circulate with a shovelful of earth that you may touch instead. The young males of the family continue to shovel in the earth, often spelling each other and taking turns on the shovels, until there is a rather untidy heap on top. However, the four corners of the grave are marked with sticks.

The female relatives then come out and ‘pat the grave’. They use their hands to make a truncated rectangular pyramid. When that is done people present at the graveside; family, colleagues and visiting dignitories are called out in order of precedence to place flowers on the grave. These are provided by the family. You take the flower, go to the grave, kneel, stick in the flower and then say a prayer of thanksgiving. There appears little concern here regarding “Prayers for the Dead” that seemed to exercise many of the reformed persuasion in the past!

Then came the eulogies. There were speeches from the Local Authority and the Barotse Royal Establishment then a male family member gave a short biographical life-history of Mr Manyando and thanked all who attended for their care and support. The Minister closed the proceedings with The Grace and Benediction. Visitors then proceeded back to the home to say farewell to the family and set off on their way home.

Visiting a Lozi cemetery comes as a bit of a shock to Europeans who are used to carefully manicured and tended graves with lawns, flowers, shrubs and individual stone gravestones. These you will find in the urban areas of Zambia but not in the rural areas. Mwandi is a typical rural example. Wild, natural and unkempt rural cemeteries tend to be found to the west of the village roughly a mile away from the village centre. Traditionally the bush starts here and the graveyard is found right on the border between the village and the bush and so those who die are buried near to their living relatives. That is why so many bodies are brought home to Mwandi at great expense from all over Zambia to be buried here.

A Lozi village is a shelter for both the living and the dead and animistic belief says they should be able to communicate with each other. The graves are a clear demarcation of where the village begins and where it ends. To some extent you could say the living are placed between the dead at the shrine and the dead at the cemetery. The fact that you have the dead so close to the living perhaps makes death something less to be feared by the living and more recognizably a process on the journey to heaven as the Lozi have traditionally seen life as a metaphorical journey to a heavenly paradise called Litooma .

TEEZ

2011-10-25T10:55:00.000+01:00

Last week we had a visit from a team from TEEZ (Theological Education by Extention in Zambia) who ran a three-day Tutor Course for 18 Church members from Mwandi Consistory, at the Church. This had been arranged by our Minister, Rev Wezi Manda.

TEEZ is an ecumenical project which came into existence in 1979 based at the Mindolo Ecumenical Foundation Campus. Its main function is to equip Church members in socially relevant and biblically–based coursework to better serve the Church. “To prepare all God’s people for the work of Christian service….” Ephesians 4:12

Participating Churches are: African Methodist Episcopal Church, Anglican Church, Church of Central Africa Presbyterian, Community of Christ, Lutheran Evangelical Church, Reformed Church in Zambia, UCZ, Uniting Presbyterian Church of Southern Africa and United Methodist CChurch

Since it started, over 12 000 people have successfully completed courses and over 5000 tutors have been trained. The TEEZ courses are taught in a group by local tutors and this involves individual home-study, weekly group learning discussions and practical work.

The courses are available to anyone who needs them and subsidized so that they can be afforded by most people. Prisoners and rural women are provided with free courses as well.

TEEZ offers Basic Certificates in Church Ministry in the areas of Preaching, Counselling, Teaching, Worship and Leading Church Meetings in six different languages. For those with a stronger background in Bible and with Basic Certificates Advanced Certificates in Church Ministry are offered. Each course has 24 weekly lessons and covers the areas of the Gospels & Acts, Old Testament, the Epistles of Paul, Biblical Doctrine, Psalms and Bible Study and Church Administration.

A good time of learning and fellowship was enjoyed by those taking part in this useful and challenging course. It was well organised by capable and committed staff who willingly bring these courses to the rural areas as well. TEEZ is a Zambian organization belonging to Zambian Churches and is doing a commendable job. It is worthy of material and prayer support in order to help it carry out and expand its ministry.

The three members of staff, Rev Kangwa Mabuluki, Rev Banda and Rev Rebecca Jones who came are testimony again to how interconnected the Christian family is. The Director of TEEZ is Rev Kangwa Mabuluki. His son, Kapamba, was a student of ours and a classmate of our children at Chengelo. He is also a friend of Rev Alex Slorach, another family friend and former Zambian Missionary. Rev Rebecca Jones is from PC(USA) and is on a year’s secondment with TEEZ. There is a Mwandi posting on her blog at http://www.mapc.com/outreach/blogs/a-year-in-zambia/

The Mwandi tutor group (photo by Rebecca Jones)

Elections 2011

2011-10-04T14:18:00.000+01:00

We are delighted that the will of the electorate was eventually permitted to prevail and Zambia has continued in her democratic tradition of a peaceful handover of power from the ruling party to the opposition. It is good that political leaders were able to put the national interest before party advantage. "Now the Lord is Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is present, there is freedom." (2 Cor 3:17) - an appropriate verse for Zambia at this time we think. This blog is compiled from notes made over election day and the count afterwards.

Election Day dawned on Tuesday 20 September and there were three long and orderly queues at Mwandi. Pastor Percy and the Reverend Mwanda were there as Church Monitors for the Mwandi Constituency. The
Returning Officer for our Constituency is another old friend, the former and now-retired District Director of Health, another Church Member and Anamoyo. Before 0700h we were visited by a brother from the Mens Christisan Fellowship (MCF) who had been queuing since 0430h with many others to vote as soon as the polls opened at 0600h. He showed us the indelible purple ink on his thumbnail. He reckoned that if voting continued like it was doing then most of Mwandi would have voted by lunch-time. There were no results that night but Electoral Commission promised the final results in 48 hours from the close of polls.

Next morning on 21st we hear that Sata is doing well in Northern, Luapula, Copperbelt and Lusaka. This is by Parallel Tabulation of Votes (PTV - counting of votes by observers before official declaration, used as a check) not official results. One of the strengths of the Zambian system is that the votes are counted locally with locals verifying the count at each polling place and the results posted outside for all to see. These results are then texted to all the Parties’ Constituency and National HQs. The Zambian National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC - state broadcaster and mouthpiece of the governing party) is playing solemn music and vainly advising people to listen to it and not to social networks or the private media as only the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) can officially declare results. Zambian Watchdog, Lusaka Times, Tumfweko and the Zambian Economist are the best sites for us living in the bush with dongles. They cover a wide spectrum of political opinion. Bantu Watch is being jammed at the moment as is the Post. Muvi TV and QFM Radio in Lusaka and the towns are apparently doing a commendable job in keeping the nation informed on what is actually going on.

The Patriotic Front (PF) are likely to pick up Mongu Central in Western. With us, United Party for National Development (UPND) (Hakainde Hichilem) won Mulobezi and Sesheke. It is suggested Banda will hold on
in Central and North West Province but with a reduced majority. There may be a few PF gains in Eastern but (the ruling) Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) should hold on there too. It is still too close to call.

There have still been no results from the Electoral Commission so it is suspected that there may be some rigging going on. There has been some rioting in Solwezi, Kanyama and John Laing in Lusaka. The rest of the country seems quiet. There have been a number of electoral malpractices exposed so that is good. At Lusaka Civic Centre there were reports of electoral officers altering results. Zambian Watchdog is the best site. Bantu Watch is being jammed at the moment as was the Post yesterday. The ECZ finally announces that the results for president in 33 seats out of 150 which gives Sata 140 000 lead over Banda.

After this the ECZ website is hacked into, PTV Presidential results for over 100 seats were posted. This was closed down and so the ECZ website became inaccessible.

On Thursday at 1800h after 116/150 constituencies have been verified the Electoral Commission announced Michael Sata had 44.4%, Rupiah Banda MMD 36.1% Hakainde Hichilema UNPD 15.5% Of the 34 left 19 were being 'verified' at HQ and the other 16 results were being awaited. As usual Godfrey Miyanda, Edith Nawakwi & Kenneth Kaunda's son are also-rans.

Last night the MMD went to court and got an injunction to prevent the private media from publishing results until they are announced by the ECZ.

There has been unrest today (Thursday) in the Copperbelt (mainly Kitwe & Ndola) Kasama and Nakonde and some compounds in Lusaka but things have quietened down again this evening. The main fear from the opposition is that there will be rigging to ensure the MMD stays in office. The MMD are refusing to concede till the fat lady sings. There are also complaints that the ECZ is being too slow and allowing the ruling party to massage and manipulate the results. On the whole the elections have been free but not really fair as the ruling party has mobilised many of the resources of the State in their party campaign.

In Western Province many of the former MMD seats are now in the hands of the UNPD. An exception is Mwandi where the former Social Welfare Minister Michael Kaingu was surprisingly returned with a 2000 majority.

The next ECZ Intimation is to be at 2200h. In the meantime more solemn music and finally a cheesy film from our national broadcaster. However, there was great activity behind the scenes. The Chairwoman of the Electoral Commission was put under great pressure by the ruling party not to announce the result. She threatened to resign. The other Presidential candidates stormed the Mulungushi National Counting Centre and insisted that the final result be declared as their results showed that Michael Sata had won.Also from the social networks we learned that at 2030h President Banda had left the Presidential Palace for State Lodge and that State Security had passed to Michael Sata.

This appeared to be the case as there were reports of a PF Victory Cavalcade headed by Silvia Musebo and company winding their way through the streets of Lusaka. Again from these sources we heard at 2130h President Banda had formally conceded defeat. We read a post that at 2255h the Chief Justice as Returning Officer for the Presidential Elections was called to Mulungushi Centre. Two hours late the Electoral Commission announced the final results for the Presidency. 143/150 seats Michael Sata received 1 150 045 votes (43%) Rupiah Banda 961 796 (36%) Hakainde Hichilem 489 944 18.5% There are 7 seats remaining but their numbers will not affect the final outcome. Sata wins the presidency but a hung parliament seems likely from the National Assembly results.

The success of this election depended on hundreds of professional and reliable hard-working people who were committed to the democratic process, who diligently checked through, sorted and counted all the ballot papers and with others ensured that an honest job was done despite attempts by a few to spoil this. We are grateful too for patriotic Zambians of integrity who kept the people informed of what was going on behind closed doors. And our thanks as well to the millions of Zambians and friends of Zambia worldwide who prayed for this nation and for the Lord’s peace and presence to felt and to be close to all especially at this time.

Blousing

2011-09-08T18:08:00.000+01:00

On the 25 August we set off to the Annual Women’s Christian Fellowship Western Presbytery Conference. It was held this year at Sefula Mission using the dormitory, dining and conference facilities provided by the UCZ Secondary School there. As well us Keith Ida and Mubita, we travelled with Dorothy Kataknekwa, Mwandi Consistory Choir Director and two other choir members from Mabumbu Congregation, Prisca Sinamu and Georgina Mutuluti.

We picked them up at the Celtel Tower on the outskirts of Mwandi and headed for Sesheke for fuel and to drop off some milk formula for little Liseli at the Social Welfare Department. On leaving we learned by text that the Reverend Mandi and wife had just been blessed with the gift of a little daughter, Taonga (Thanks)

We made good progress along the M10, the Livingstone-Mongu Road, also called the Nakatindi Road. The tar runs out at Katima Mulilo, but the Chinese who are rehabilitating the road have built a well-graded temporary road all the way to Sioma; it is harder going through Nangweshi and across the Matabele Plain to Kalongola using the untouched old road. Saying that we reached the pontoon ferry 2 hours earlier than our previous trip to Presbytery in November.

The recently acquired Church of Scotland vehicle has made travelling such distances on such surfaces much easier too. The pontoon costs K56 000 (GBP7) for the one-way crossing of the Zambezi. The causeway to Senanga on the other side is still in need of some repair. An hour later we reached Sefula, the whole journey of 375km taking just under 7 hours.

There we greeted old friends and we registered, then left to find accommodation in Mongu, as we were tasked with bringing ice and daily provisions. A bus had been hired by Sesheke congregation and around a dozen Mwandi Consistory members had travelled on it. Livingstone had used an overlander truck, they passed us having lunch en route.

Friday and Saturday dealt with Topics based on the theme of Seeking a Transformed Church. The speakers were Ministers from within the Presbytery.

It was moving and humbling to be welcomed ‘home’ by the Provincial Secretary and District Commissioner as descendants of William Waddell who was the artisan Missionary who accompanied Coillard.

Since it was a woman’s conference Keith met up with Rev Mubita, the former Moderator of the Church of Barotseland before it joined the UCZ. The book ‘The Spread of the Gospel in Barotseland” by the former Paris Mission Missionaries which is a chronological history from 1885-1965 has been warmly welcomed as a valuable contribution to sources for early Church History in present-day Zambia. The Western Presbytery Bishop has tasked a Committee with doing a similar job from the genesis of the UCZ till the present day.

The next day 15km a drive was taken down the K1.3Trillion Mongu to Kalabo Road, still under repair, to the former Royal Capital at Lealui, once a thriving and busy settlement but looking rather drab and run-down. The Royal Palace is now little used, the King (Litunga) lives most of the time at Limulunga. This was a flying visit to Lwatile, a small island in the wet season, where the Paris Missionaries built a Church a clinic and school to serve this area. William Waddell built the church here, though now it is decaying and crumbling but the roof timbers are still in good condition.

On Sunday morning a huge congregation gathered outside the Dining Hall under the shade of a grove of stately trees for the ‘Blousing Service’. The Women’s Christian Fellowship are a uniformed group of women who play an important role in the life of the Church, helping to foster unity and oneness. They encourage and help those in difficulties as well as witnessing. They are also an important wing in the social and welfare work of the Church.

After receiving the invitation to join at last year’s Presbytery Meeting, Ida has undergone training and was bloused with 110 other women from all over Bulozi (Western Province). She was helped into the blouse by the Rev Akafekwa’s wife and Mrs Mubita tied her headsquare The Bishop Louis Mubita Sipalo gave the charge and welcomed the new members. The benediction was given the Former Moderator the Rev Mubita.

After a photo session and farewells we set off for home, meeting 3 cavalcades of campaigning politicians between Senanga and the ferry.

Election and reprobation

2011-08-03T11:35:00.000+01:00

Earlier this week the President, Rupiah Banda, dissolved Parliament and set September 20 2011, as the date for presidential, parliamentary and local government election. In response three Church bodies - Council of Churches in Zambia, Zambia Episcopal Conference, and Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia have issued a joint pastoral letter called, ‘A call to vote in peace, truth and justice’.

It is a Christian duty, they said, for citizens to chose their leaders freely and peacefully and to build for peace and avoiding violence. ‘ Do everything possible on your part to live in peace with everybody.’ (Romans 12:18)

They also said that Christians should realise that they had a moral responsibility to vote for candidates who followed the example of Jesus Christ. They suggested too that only leaders with demonstrated integrity, a concern for social justice and with the courage to speak the truth should be elected so that clear and convincing political, economic and social programmes are implemented to reduce poverty and human suffering. This is a timely reminder that politics everywhere are about offering service to the people, especially the needy in society. Politics should not be self-serving or about self-enrichment. Political leaders, the letter continues should respect the needs of fellow human beings and works towards addressing them. This at times calls for personal sacrifice and the realisation that one is serving God's children

In the same letter, the Church criticized the Electoral Commission of Zambia for its refusal to accept parallel vote tabulation (PVT). This position says the Church is undermining ECZ’s independence and reputation as being free from manipulation but there was still time for all parties to reach an amicable solution regarding parallel vote tabulation. We have since heard that CCZ has asked for election monitors from the WCC to help to ensure a free fair and transparent electoral process

The Church urged the media to be fair and courageous in its reporting, the police to be impartial in policing the elections and called for issue-based campaigns.

However, the Church was saddened that these elections would be held still using archaic and discredited laws following the failure of constitutional reform. The Church, therefore, hoped that whoever won the 2011 elections they would commit themselves to revisit and conclude the constitution-making process.

Taking a break ...

2011-07-01T12:03:00.002+01:00

We've no access to update this blog or approve comments for the next few weeks – sorry! Back soon.

Summer update & prayer requests

2011-06-27T14:15:00.001+01:00

We had a special celebration on Trinity Sunday, the induction of Deaconess Given Nanyangwe at Mwandi. It was a joyful time with the presence of the Western Presbytery Bishop, Secretary and Ministers from neighbouring Consistories of Livingstone and Sesheke and their wives.

There were three combined choirs from Mwandi and the outlying congregations who provided a wonderful musical accompaniment to the proceedings. After the service and charge by the Bishop, Deaconess Nanyangwe was presented with gifts from various bodies in the consistory to welcome her, these included an electric stove, a mattress, cooking pots, mealiemeal, chickens (live) and blankets. Deaconess Nanyangwe served at Senanga prior to coming to Mwandi. Deaconesses in the United Church of Zambia often take on the role as Social Workers. A celebration lunch of fried fish, chicken, stewed beef, cabbage buhobe and rice was then served to over 100 invited guests.

This year’s Mission Centre Programme continues at Sooka Church. This is the church that was roofed by Houston and Killellan. Fourteen young people are living there by faith for four months of hard work and study, a balanced combination of the practical and theoretical. It is a call to service, equipping them for incarnational work that is a reflection of the work of God in Christ in the Church and in the world. They are called to be expressions of his transforming love and to be his Body, a Church in Mission, through engagement and involvement in their local communities.

Two weekends ago the Anamoyo met at Sikuzu for a weekend of prayer and fellowship. Ida and the Deaconess and other ladies from congregations through out the Consistory walked there. Keith was drafted in to transport all the supplies and baggage that was needed there and back. It was a memorable occasion holding devotions in the dark round the campfire and sleeping in the church. There was nowhere to hang a mosquito-net so it was a new experience learning to sleep under a blanket with it covering your head. This is what is done in many rural households where there are no mosquito nets. Fortunately at this time of year, the cold season, the mosquitoes are fewer than at other times.

Gregor has just got engaged to Sarah, a lovely Welsh girl he first met at Mwandi where she was a volunteer. Mwandi is gaining a growing reputation as a place where matches are made. To our knowledge there are at least five couples who have married after meeting each other at Mwandi during our time here.

Finally, following the death of the Second President of the Republic of Zambia Frederick Chiluba on Saturday 18 June there are seven days of national mourning. The former President was a strong Pentecostal Christian and came from a background in the Trade Union Movement. He stood against President Kenneth Kaunda in 1991 in the first multi-party election held as the period of the one party African Socialist State, called Humanism in Zambia, was coming to a close. Under his presidency, freedom of expression was guaranteed for the first time, and more controversially the structural adjustment plan to liberalise the economy was implemented and Zambia was declared a Christian nation. On leaving office he was troubled for a long time by allegations of corruption.

We leave you with a number of prayer points:

- We give thanks for Deaconess Given Nayangwe and pray that she and her dependants will settle down and she will be blessed in her role as deaconess ministering to those in need.

- We give thanks for the young people at the Mission Centre at Sooka and ask God’s blessing on them and on Pastor Percy Muleba as he runs the programme.

- We give thanks for provision of funds to build the Community School at Sikuzu and ask God to bless its construction and keep the workers and members of the community working there safe from any injury. We pray that the Lord will continue to meet the other needs to complete the project.

- We pray for continued peace in Zambia as we head towards the election campaign

Mabizo-Names

2011-06-15T12:02:00.000+01:00

I think it is easier to answer each of the most recent enquiries in a special posting. (I have tried to reply using the comment box but my replies to Kalumiana and Etambuyu, I see, have still not arrived.)

Firstly, the meaning of Kalumianna it means a small, slightly-built man. It is Siluyana.

It is made up of the diminutive prefix Ka-, the root is –lume (ie mulume - man) and –ana the Sisotho diminiutive suffix.

Etambuyu: I am sorry I can’t be of more help here. I happened to find by chance a copy in Bookworld at Manda Hill about a year ago. It was the only one there at the time and although it had some pages missing I, nevertheless, hastened to purchase it. Amuzume hande!

Thirdly, Grace: Musa is the direct Biblical translation. Nasishemo is another Siluyana equivalent close in meaning to Grace.

Several variants are available for “listener”. The first set of names is derived from Itwi, the Siluyana for ears; therefore, a good listener. Other possibilities are Kamatwi or simply Matwi.

Another related name is Muleteetwi (Muleta-itwi) literally ‘ear-bringer’ so a good listener.

Humble: Noocana (*c is pronounced ‘ch’ and oo is a long o) or Noobu

(Na-ubu) both mean associated with small things so born of a humble family.

Another variation is Ikaacana

Matwi is found in the Siluyana proverb: Matwi a mwelwa luyupela kuule. The ears of pauper hear from afar.

Nasishemo: Lya sishemo ku mutala, lya ng’ole ku moyo. A kind one at home but a cruel one in government.

Another useful little book is Silozi Se Lu Bulela by YW Mupatu first published by NECZAM in 1978. It gives a simple Siluyana conversation and explains other more difficult idioms and proverbs.

I hope this is all of help - Keith

Doughville

2011-05-31T09:52:00.001+01:00

Following the G8 Summit in Deauville in France, we hear the promise of more transparency by these Governments with their aid. This will involve the quality and outcomes of their aid. There will apparently now be a two-pronged approach: the quantitative reporting of disbursements and also a qualitative approach based on effectiveness, the measurement of results and best practices.

While this is encouraging, Oxfam have accused the G8 of manipulating figures to cover up shortfalls and ignoring inflation. To improve matters it is suggested Governments sign and implement the International Aid Transparency Initiative which provides a common standard for defining and disclosing aid information. This would make it easier to compare aid budgets and projects.

Transparency is vital to ensure that aid reaches where it is supposed to go. It is useful for taxpayers, NGOs and donors to be more efficient and could help expose corruption. It would help ordinary people to track the money – from the donor down to the jotters delivered to the school, or the vaccines to the rural health post. It will also make it difficult for donors not to give what they have promised in the fight against poverty and injustice. In Zambia it would be good to know how much aid the government is receiving, and how it is disbursed. Aid information needs to be comprehensive, comparable, current and accessible.

This week we learned the Zambian government has just received funding of about US $300 million from the Global Fund after the government returned part of the money and promised to pay back the rest of over K9.1 billion that was mismanaged by recipients. These funds were meant for the fight against HIV/AIDS, Malaria and TB.

The re-imbursement of misappropriated funds has been justified by saying Zambia would not have received this new funding had the refund not been not done.But the refund of the misappropriated K9.1 billion to the Global Fund has not come from those who had originally misappropriated the money but from front-line cuts to the Health Budget.

Recent statistics showed that the formal employment sector in Zambia employs only about 10% of the available workforce. With so few formal jobs, small informal businesses such as tailoring, hairdressing or a small grocery stand or tuck-shop known locally as a ‘Kantemba' are run by many families here. Other outlets in Mwandi provide firewood, furniture, vegetables and fishing-nets. Profits from this kind of trade are often small and offer little opportunity to expand the business.

Zambian banks take little interest, though they earn great interest, in lending. The present annual Interest Rate is around 50%. Our nearest bank is in Sesheke over 70km away. The required minimum opening balances range between $150 and $300 depending on the type of account. This is far beyond the reach of most Zambians. Even monthy servicing fees are more than $10. A retired Headmaster we know is charged a K20 000 ‘service fee’ each time he withdraws his monthly pension of K90 000!

With most of the people living on less than a dollar a day, these minimum balances are designed to prevent most people from having access to basic banking services.

More people are instead turning to microfinance institutions (MFIs) which are increasingly becoming more accessible. Two groups, have with American church help, started this month at Mwandi. Unfortunately most people here have still have little choice but to turn to loan sharks.

There are only 25 MFIs registered in Zambia, and the total number of borrowers it is reckoned at less than 100,000. How to make banking services and reasonable credit facilities available and affordable to a majority of Zambians is a problem, but necessary to solve if the economy is to continue to grow and the country develop.

After all this talk of Mammon perhaps a little related linguistic levity is in order, especially for Scottish readers in particular - threats of banker super-injunctions forby. We sometimes get our messages in Katima Mulilo in Namibia which is just across the Zambezi from Sesheke. The two main Banks there rejoice in the names, believe it or not, of ‘FNB’ (Apologies to Matt McGinn!) This officially stands for First National Bank. I leave any locally suggested alternatives to your imagination. The other is called Nedbank! We wonder if this name is a reflection of the corporate leadership or of the clientele

And finally the Chinyanja for ‘No’ – the main language in Eastern Province, is 'Awe' pronounced: Away.

As in away ye go!

Sharing the Burden

2011-05-26T10:52:00.002+01:00

25 May is a continent-wide public holiday, Africa Freedom Day. It was chosen by the African Union then (the OAU) as a celebration of the African people’s determination to free themselves from colonialism and foreign exploitation.

Yesterday afternoon we set out for Sesheke. That is the District HQ which is about 70km upstream on the border with Namibia. As usual we were killing two birds with one stone but more about stones later

Our first concern was the father of the little baby girl, Liseli, whose mother had died in childbirth. He had phoned us to let us know she needed more milk formula. We agreed to meet him at the Social Welfare Office for the hand-over. We arrived to the family waiting for us. Liseli, is now no longer sickly, but a healthy, active little two month old baby. After giving the milk Liseli’s asked if we could drop his son at Simungoma as he was being sent to the wife’s family farm to bring back food that they needed. God’s provision in all this was evident as we had been sent a gift for him which had arrived this week.

We also caught up with the District Social Welfare Officer. He would arrange the payment for some bags of maize purchased for Kandiana next week. The heavily-pregnant woman being held in prison had been released by the Magistrate and was back at home in Masese. This is near the Health Centre that we are working with an Irish Jesuit organisation to rehabilitate. We were able to report that Mubita’s mother too, is responding well to the monthly visits and treatment at the Psychiatric Wing at Livingstone Hospital. Ida reported too on the most recent baby to be put on formula as the mother has become psychotic and was refusing to feed the baby.

After some organisational teething troubles on the ground, work on the UCZ Sikuzu Community School has finally commenced. The Steering Committee is now in place and assuming its role to ensure effective and efficient use of resources, human and material in the construction process. Our suppliers had difficulties with a bearing on their truck and were reluctant to deliver to such a ‘remote place’! After much negotiation and assurances that they would not get stuck in sand, they came to Mwandi earlier in the month to pick up the 200 pockets of cement they were to deliver to Sikuzu earlier but could not because of the truck difficulties. There were steel bars and conforce to move as well that we were storing for them.

The first tranche of funding came through the IPC in March and all the cement and materials were bought then and have now been delivered to Sikuzu. There will need to be another three deliveries to bring all the cement that has been ordered. The 704 pockets are enough for the slab and superstructure to ringbeam level. The other 286 bags will be ordered later for the floor screed and plastering.

As you can see from the photo, brick-moulding is progressing apace and work has now begun on foundation footing. 60 tonnes of stones are required for the concrete for the foundations, the slab and ringbeam and our nearest quarry is on the farside of of Sesheke. Hence our trip yesterday. The stones by themselves cost K8 142 000 ($1800 or GBP1200) but the six trips to deliver them will cost much the same K8 051 400!

This morning we have just had a rather distressing visit from a teaching colleague. His nephew, one of our Grade 8 boys, went fishing on the river the day before yesterday in the afternoon to check the nets set earlier. The mukolo (dug-out canoe) he was in, was smashed by a hippo and he fell into the water. All that has been recovered is his jacket. The Uncle was asking if the Mission boat could be used to look for the body....

Figuring things out

2011-05-06T16:13:00.000+01:00

A belated Happy Easter. It is often very difficult in Zambia to get official statistics and so very often estimates are the only things you have to go on so it is good now and again to get some official and approved figures.

According to the Times of Zambia the population of Zambia has increased from 9,885,771 in 2000 to 13,046,508 according to the 2010 Census. 61 per cent (7,978,274) live in rural areas while 39 per cent (5,068,234) live in urban areas. 6,394,455, representing 49 per cent of the total population, were male while 6,652,053 (51 per cent) were female.

Lusaka Province had the largest population with 2,198,996 people, followed by the Copperbelt with 1,958,623, Northern Province with 1,759,600, Eastern Province at 1,707,731 and Southern Province which had 1,606,793 people. The region with the least population was North-Western Province with 706,462 while Western Province had 881,524 and Luapula Province at 958,976 people.

The census results showed that there were 6,069,753 eligible voters - people aged 18 years and above - representing 47 per cent of the total Zambian population.

Zambia now has 2,635,590 households of which 1,607,267 are rural areas while 1,028,323 are in urban centres. According to the Ministry of Finance, 700000 people are in formal employment. The labour force numbers around three million giving an unemployment rate of 77%

The Central Statistic Office states that 67% of the nation lives below the poverty datum line with 46% living in abject poverty.

It is not only in Britain that there has been a recent interest in elections. Although the Zambian elections due to be held later in the coming year and have not yet been called, campaigning by the ruling party and opposition carries on apace.

We had a Presidential election in 2008 following the death of President Levy Mwanawasa. Rupiah Banda (MMD) was elected on 40.09% Michael Sata (PF) gained 38.13% and Hachilema Haakainde (UPND) 19.4% and Godfrey Miyanda (Heritage) 0.8%. The presidential elections are FPTP as well though it has been suggested in the new constitution that the French system of 50%+1 should be adopted.

A bone of contention is that the Government has threatened to arrest anyone undertaking 'parallel voting tabulation' (PVT) as it is considered illegal. According to the Government only the Electoral Commission of Zambia may publish election results. However PVT can be a useful monitoring tool for ensuring free and fair elections, so this is likely to be challenged in the courts.

Mwandi on Facebook!

2011-04-21T15:43:00.000+01:00

Did you know .... Mwandi Mission has its own Facebook Group - Friends of the Mwandi UCZ Mission

short break ...

2011-04-06T14:49:00.002+01:00

This blog is taking a short technical break - back in a week or so!

Missing Money, Missing Drugs and Missing Jobs

2011-03-18T14:48:00.000Z

One of the consequences of the suspension of funding to Zambia by the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, has been an increasing number of stock outages and drug rationing that has affected all hospitals nation-wide, Mwandi Mission included.

Stock outages at clinics and hospitals have been so far fairly short term, but Central Medical Stores have sometimes run out of stocks for a considerable period as they wait for emergency shipments to arrive. In cases of low stock levels, drugs are rationed.

Regular readers will remember in an earlier blog the covering of the allegations of corruption at the Zambian Ministry of Health (MoH) uncovered by an investigation by the auditor general. The audit found that the ministry could not account for more than US$7.2 million. The repercussions from this are still being felt.

Another audit undertaken by the Global Fund* reported on poor financial management at the MoH, Ministry of Finance, the Christian Health Association of Zambia (CHAZ) and the Zambian National AIDS Network. These bodies used to receive Global Fund monies directly for programme implementation and then pass funds on to other organisations called sub-recipients. The audit found that $10.7 million of Global Fund money was not passed on and, to date, none of it has been repaid. The alleged financial mismanagement includes the purchase of vehicles for personal use, inflated salaries - sometimes more than double the going–rate locally, and funds disbursed to sub-recipients who could not provide auditors with financial records.

The Global Fund only funds CHAZ directly now; the MoH no longer receives funds, its responsibility in this area has gone to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Zambia. Teething troubles with these new procedures have brought delays for us on the ground in receiving funding for our AIDS Relief Programme. We have also suffered two major stock-outs of antiretrovirals (ARVs) recently. Fortunately we had a Hospital vehicle in Lusaka at the time that waited for one of the drugs to arrive in the country. We are relying on UNICEF and USAID who are scrambled to bring in more expensive emergency supplies until the new bodies get their procurement procedures properly functioning. TB drugs have also been in short supply. A week’s supply of the children’s ARVs was borrowed from the District Hospital.

The knock-on effects from this was that we could only give a week’s supply which meant the children and parents having another walk in a week’s time to the Clinic to receive the rest of the month’s supply. This meant further unbudgeted transport costs for the rural poor with an increased risk of defaulting and subsequent resistance.

Those responsible for the misuse of funds are still not being held accountable. It will be up to local courts to prosecute those suspected of fraud or the misappropriation of funds. Civil Society and some NGOs are pressing for this. Patients and clients in this area rely on these funds to provide their medication; if there are no drugs available or they are in short supply they need to know why. They have a human right to universal and equitable access.

Linked to this we have four workers facing immediate redundancy. The Government has recently been recruiting mission workers and has put on their payroll some who were formerly paid by CHAZ through a grant from Government which came originally from outside donors. The Government is keeping that grant to pay workers directly. CHAZ workers who are under 45 years of age and in possession of a Grade 12 School leaving Certificate were eligible to apply. The grant to the Hospital to pay the CHAZ workers is being cut in proportion to the number of workers put on Government payroll and linked to the ‘on paper’ establishment. So we now have four over-aged or under-qualified workers with many years of good experience and loyal service who are about to be thrown on the scrap heap as surplus to requirement. The change-over was supposed to be done over time and using where possible natural wastage. The Hospital cannot at the moment generate enough independent income to pay them or pay their retrenchment package.

Like our clients and patients living with HIV and Aids, these four people are another set of victims of the world’s greed and injustice, their dignity in work destroyed. Wealth that has been given generously is not shared fairly but kept in the hands of a few and misused to promote inequality and injustice.

*The full report can be found by googling 'Global Funding Country Audit Zambia'

Women's Day photos

2011-03-11T17:02:00.000Z

Half the sky?

2011-03-08T17:14:00.002Z

Women hold up half the sky – Chinese Proverb. Pie in the sky more like! Of course they do, but it is still a glass ceiling!

On Saturday evening Ida received the following text from the Nursing Officer:

'Good afternoon, how are you and the family? I am asking for cleaning materials which you can spare. Women’s Day is on Tuesday and women will come and clean the hospital but up until yesterday I have not been issued with anything. Please, cleaning is on Monday morning at 0830h. I won’t be around, as I will be on the salary trip. If possible women are supposed to work on Monday, freeing men then, so that the women will be free on Tuesday for their activities. Contributions for Women’s Day is K50 000 Thanks.'

Not a lot of warning, but we managed to get a driver who was on an airport run to buy some mops, Windolene, and Surf on Sunday in Livingstone. On Monday morning we cut up some rags for cloths. Early in the cool of the morning regiments of women, Zambian Molly Weirs to a woman (sic), from various Church and other Associations clad in chitenges and headsquares and shouldering rakes and hoes marched onto the Hospital premises and immediately got down to much needed and appreciated business of tidying up the grounds, washing windows, mopping floors and cleaning beds and lockers.

There was none of the annoyance that women from more developed countries may have felt at undertaking such ‘demeaning and menial’ work but there was a pride in doing this women’s work for the common good. The fundamental divisions of labour apportioned to the two sexes here are not yet a great issue. Women still are expected to do most of the child care and tidying up after their menfolk.

Women’s Day on Tuesday will begin with a March from the outskirts of town to the Basic School. The theme: Equal Access to Education and Training: Science and Technology: Pathway to Decent Work for Women. A speech from the MP’s wife will open the programme . Next will be some ice-breaking activities followed by traditional dances, a drama, a tug-of- war and an educational talk for women and girls,. After lunch a netball tournament will be held, comprising of teams of teachers, hospital, OVC staff and women stallholders from the market.

The ideal girl in Zambia is passive and submissive, serving others and speaking only when spoken to. This is not to say that girls are especially maltreated they are loved and treated humanely within the family. It's just that cultural norms are different. It is not that she doesn't count, it's just that she counts less than her male relatives. This is reinforced at initiation ceremonies.

A problem in rural areas are young girls being 'married off' at an early age despite this being illegal. There is a local case at the moment of a 12 year old being pregnant. There are also a number who fall out from school because they get pregnant. This is allowed to happen because insufficient value is given to girls' education. Why waste your money, she's only going to get married and be a housewife anyway? Your boys'll - (actually their wives!) -look after you in your old age.

Much status for a woman comes from being a wife and mother. After the birth of your child you no longer publicly keep your childhood name but become someone's mother, i.e. Fiona is Bo-Ma Sepo (Mother of Sepo).

Girls of school age are often their Mother's right hand and are burdened with childcare and household chores and duties such as drawing water, fetching firewood, cooking, sweeping, washing clothes and gardening. Many have worked 2-3 hours before they turn up for school, so it is no wonder they are often late. They may have had to walk a considerable distance as well. When they get back it's not homework that is a priority but more housework. With HIV and Aids prevalent, they may be the head of the household or be living with an elderly granny so again a large load falls on the young shoulders.

Many parents, and sadly teachers (male and female), continue to have the expectation that girls will not do well. They, by their attitude, encourage the stereotypical behaviour: the male teachers through prejudice and their perception of what makes a good girl; the female teachers as well because they were brought up in the same way also tend to perpetuate the system. You find this typically in Maths & Science. Home Economics after Grade 7 is purely a girls' subject while the boys do woodwork! Unfortunately too, a number of male teachers also see their female students as fair game.

40% of Mwandi households are woman or child-headed. A lack of economic opportunity and any other alternative make many of these local women look to selling fish, beer brewing and unfortunately these activities often go hand in hand with casual prostitution. Education, training and decent work is certainly a must.

When you can see all this coming through culture and the education system, it is not surprising that you end up with rather a negative self-image and inferiority complex from the attitudes of parents, teachers and the wider community.

There are a number of organisations in Zambia attempting to address this issue, such as GEMS(Gender, English, Maths & Science) and FAWEZA (Forum for African Women Educationalists of Zambia).

Mubita’s great-aunt, resting on her hoe met and greeted me on the way back from school. The maize crop will be a disaster this year with dry periods and rain at the wrong times.

We saw that on our visit to Kamusa Church on Transfiguration Sunday. It was harder to get to than normal now that inland flood water has started to spread. We were invited after the service for lunch. The people have little maize left from last year so the portion of buhobe that was served was much smaller than usual, the green vegetable was pumpkin leaves. There was sour-milk as dessert and warm milk to drink but no tea-leaves…

International Womens' Day, 8 March 2011

A Fairly Civil Disorder

2011-03-04T12:54:00.000Z

I was in Livingstone again yesterday visiting the bank. I was paying the next instalment on the new High School furniture and in the interests of economy I went in by bus.

I was surprised to see on alighting from the bus, police in riot gear squatting on the backs of pick-ups and patrolling up and down the main streets. Had the turmoil in the Middle East now reached Zambia, I wondered?………. Not quite.

At 0930h there was still a tense atmosphere in town, and the noisy altercation was being observed from a distance by engrossed spectators, offering commentary on the proceedings despite the occasional whiff of teargas wafting through the air; a vain attempt by the police to disperse bus conductors, drivers and taxi operators who had blocked town centre roads in protest against a rumoured rise, in various fees and fines by the police and Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA).

As I passed the Post Office the Police were somewhat prematurely and optimistically starting to remove stones and other street debris that had been used by the protesters to block the roads in the town centre. The Livingstone Police, unlike their Mongu colleagues, thankfully only fired tear gas at the mini bus and taxi drivers. This resulted in retaliation by the protesters with rocks being thrown and rolled to block the road, and a tirade of insults and catcalls launched at the Police, prompting bystanders to scatter and take temporary shelter in less exposed areas. Things were now getting serious; even business at the Zimbabwe Market in the town centre came to a standstill.

Meanwhile officials at the RTSA office denied knowledge of any hikes in fees, saying the agency was still charging ‘old prices’. The police then asked the drivers who had gathered along the main street, Mosi-Oa-Tunya Road, to disperse and go back to work as this was an illegal assembly but that the Government would address their concerns.

It was a blessing that that common sense prevailed in the end and no-one to my knowledge was beaten by truncheons nor was any police officer hit by stones. Irene and Dorothy both have relatives who are women police officers in Livingstone.

A by-stander informed me, as we crossed the road together, on the way back from the Finance Bank, that the main gripe was the cost of renewing PSV licence, the fees were to be increased to K1 million (GBP140 or US$220) from the previous charge of about K200,000 (US$45 GBP30). There were also loud complaints from two taxi drivers behind us that the Livingstone Police allegedly pursue and fine motorists unnecessarily to help supplement their low pay. No other city in Zambia it is said is subjected to the same number of ephemeral roadblocks mounted by the Livingstone Police within the city limits.

Taxi drivers the world over are an opinionated and independent-minded group of people. Zambians are no different. Most drivers that we have met are decent and honest family men, very willing to help and trying very hard to scrape a living in order to feed, clothe, house and educate their family. The drivers are not usually the owners of their vehicle and competition for trade is stiff, so life is not easy. They are also expected to raise a minimum amount each day for the owner. The proposed rises were unreasonable and would have been almost impossible to meet. Some street wit suggested because it is election year and because of all the trouble caused, it looked like RTSA (a Government Agency) was ‘decampaigning’ the MMD, the ruling party!

As regards Livingstone City Council charges, apparently taxi drivers were paying K2,000 (45c or 30p) per day while mini-bus drivers were still paying K5,000 per day with large long distance coaches paying K80,000 per trip. These charges have not increased for some time.

It all seemingly ended later in the morning with the Southern Province Permanent Secretary Gladys Kristafor asking the Ministry of Home Affairs to direct the police and RTSA to revert to old fees charged to motorists.

Business was back to normal as we left Livingstone on 1430h bus to Mwandi.

*Decampaigning – a Zambian English neologism meaning to campaign against political opponents.

Awaiting further developments

2011-02-18T10:09:00.000Z

I have asked for my teaching be compressed into 4 days so that I can use a Wednesday if necessary to travel on business to Livingstone. On returning from there yesterday I noticed at Makanga, a settlement about 15km away from Mwandi, a long gang of piece-workers shovelling sand and digging out a long trench. This is to contain the Chinese-sponsored fibre-optic cable that will eventually be laid from Livingstone to Sesheke once the Lusaka-Livingstone stage is complete.

I was struck by the stark contrast there: the inhabitants of a daub and wattle village digging the trench for 21st century technology to be made available to a fortunate minority in Mwandi and Sesheke, who will be part of the much vaunted global village, but which like the electricity pylons on the other side of the road, will pass the inhabitants of rural Makanga by.

On the other hand, we have made good progress with the Sikuzu Community School. The Bill of Quantities has been calculated and to build the three classrooms; materials and labour included, comes to K233m, $51,850 or GBP32,500. On Tuesday the Committee signed the contract and we hope to start work very soon.

We have at the moment a group of medical students and tutors staying with us at Simba. They come from Eastern North Carolina which too, like this part of Zambia, has a number health issues directly related to poverty. There is an important community aspect to their training and it is good for them to get to see matters from the perspective of a developing country. Most of them are paediatricians, so they have been happy to visit the Orphan and Vulnerable Children Project.

With the moving of the Labour Ward to the Maternity Unit that has freed up the second theatre, so Ida is working on organising the operating theatres and Central Stores. She is looking in particular at infection control and the possible establishment and future workings of the two theatres. They are also preparing for Quarterly District Assessment. Another task in hand is the repair of the leaks in the hospital roof.

We are expecting the return of Ruairidh from Australia in early March and Fiona and Lucy a month or so later when Fiona is given the all clear from with her thyroid from the Doctors there. We have missed them, Lucy has taken her first steps and now has her front teeth.

On Friday fuel was raised by over 11 per cent, the rise in global crude prices and the depreciation of the Kwacha against the dollar being given as the reasons. This will have an adverse affect on prices, food prices in particular and on the annual inflation rate. It takes 40 litres of diesel for a return trip to Livingstone. This will now cost K320,000 instead of K280,000. (GBP45 or $70)

The Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ) has urged President Banda in a meeting with him to deal urgently and constructively with the contentious matters raised by Barotseland Agreement of 1964 and the issues arising from the recent sad turn of events in Mongu. The difficulty is that although Zambia is a unitary state, the Agreement brought about a quasi-federation between Northern Rhodesia and Barotseland which has in effect brought into being a state within a state, Western Province within Zambia. This is evidenced by the President of Zambia having to pay a courtesy-call on the Litunga (King) any time, he visits Western Province for any reason.

The underdevelopment being complained about is also being blamed by the Central Government on the traditional Lozi custom which forbids the purchase, selling or freehold ownership of land. It is being argued that no investor will invest in an area where they will not own the land. This argument, I imagine, is not unconnected to the fact that a number of multi-national companies have been recently allocated by the Central Government, blocks to prospect for oil, gas and other minerals.

This is election year for President, National Assembly and Local Government and so the CCZ also urged the Government to restore confidence in the Electoral Commission whose Director was suspended and did not have his contract renewed. The Chairwoman, widely viewed as a woman of integrity, resigned because of outside interference.

The Church expects a free, fair and violence-free election to be held on a level playing field and that people found abusing, stealing, diverting or misapplying hard-earned taxpayers money or other donor or government money be prosecuted without fear or favour. The Church also requested that the Government help to gather in and store the bumper maize crop too much of which is now rotting and going to waste in rural areas.

Finally, the Human Rights Commission in Mongu has been criticized by a Catholic body CARITAS for being ineffective in defending local people’s rights. In fact, the Commission is on record as supporting the police in its ‘noble’ efforts to maintain law and order, thereby defending the use of live ammunition to kill people. Arrested suspects were imprisoned and kept in containers along with injured people for 4 days without food or access to medical care. There are still 106 detainees incarcerated at Mumbwa and 22 people charged with treason in cramped conditions in Lusaka.

Jesus is good / big / important

2011-02-10T14:22:00.000Z

This (above) is embroidered onto the pulpit drop at Luanja Church. Silozi uses the same word “tuna” for big, good or important. (You can usually work out the meaning from the context.)

Gertrude Kambole (the Consistory Secretary), Mr Museisei (an Elder), Ida, Mubita and I set out on Sunday. Percy Kaleba, the Youth Pastor stayed to introduce the newly-arrived Minister to Jerusalem Congregation at the Mission. We five went to Luanja on a Consistory visit to encourage the local congregation and offer some outside input. We have been visiting all the rural congregations in turn in the absence of a permanent Minister.

We were warmly received by the congregation, though they had been struck a bitter blow earlier in the week. A young father of five children, and a Church member, who was still under 30 had collapsed and died on the roadside while herding his cattle. It is assumed that it was a heart attack but there are no facilities for a post mortem to be done. Luanja is about 40 km into the bush from Mwandi. They had buried him on the Friday but were still all reeling from the shock, but it is amazing how the Holy Spirit works, and the sermon Keith had prepared on prayer and withdrawing to spend time with God spoke into the situation.

After the Service we were able to visit the home of the young man’s parents and spend time with the family, neighbours and friends who had gathered at the house to offer their support and comfort. We were touched by the quiet, loving and dignified atmosphere in the house, there was sorrow but also joy, not generated by our human effort but as a direct result of the grace of God in the lives of his people.

On Thursday afternoon our new Minister and family arrived in a truck with all their belongings. He is the Rev Wezi Mwanda, and newly graduated from Mindolo Theological College, so Mwandi is his first charge. He has come with his wife, Mary, and young son, Kondwani. He has had a busy time getting to know everybody and visiting all the different ministries of the Church here. This weekend we have a Consistory Meeting where the Interim Moderator, Rev Lubasi, will hand over. All the various Consistory Departments will give their annual report. The meeting will close on Sunday with Morning Worship.

We are at present working to try and reduce the Hospital’s electricity bill. ZESCO, the national energy company, has increased electricity prices for consumers by substantial amounts over the past two years. There was a 40% rise in August this followed an earlier 35% hike in the same year and they will be permitted to raise them again. We are trying to get all areas of the Mission metered separately. The school has already been done and this week the first classroom block of the High School will be electrified.

We know that carbon emissions and global warming are linked, and there are worries here that the rising cost of electricity will force many more people to start using the cheapest source of energy – charcoal. This already is a curse and is being produced on too large a scale and is leading in many areas to serious deforestation. It is totally unsustainable as there is no re-afforestation to replace the trees cut down. You can clearly observe the effects on our road from Livingstone to the Western Province border at Kasaya, where recently a number of settlements have been established. The forest alongside the road is being cleared at an alarming rate and the resulting sacks of charcoal are piled high at the roadside for sale. Fotunately, our Chief is enlightened and has banned charcoal production in his District.

We are now in the middle of our rainy season and there appears to be a more extreme rainfall pattern emerging according to local people. For 10 years from the early 90s our area suffered from regular droughts. For the past five years we have had more than average rainfall for the area. The Zambezi too has reached record levels over the past few years suggesting that there has been more run-off rather than the rain sinking through the ground cover into the groundwater. Deforestation would certainly have contributed to this.

Saying that, we need to remember that alternative forms of energy need to be offered and made available to both the rural and urban people. The biggest market for charcoal is in the high density townships in the towns and cities where there is still no widespread electrification. Over 60% of the population of 13 million lives on less than a dollar a day. Formal employment stands at around 25% of the population, so even were electricity available many simply could not afford it anyway.

Please continue to keep Western Province in your prayers. The 92 year-old former Prime Minister of Barotseland and alleged treason suspect, Mr Maxwell Mututwa, has been discharged from custody. There remain another 22 in remand in Lusaka. 106 detainees who will now, it is said, be charged with breach of the peace and riotous behaviour have been moved from Mongu to Mumbwa Prison 400km away. There are concerns about their continued detention without trial and their being detained so far away from home and their families.

There has been disquiet expressed too about the police use of live ammunition to disperse the crowds resulting in two deaths and a number of gunshot wounds. The local independent Radio Station is still closed though the Roman Catholic Oblate Liseli station has been permitted to continue.

Moments about Life

2011-01-27T10:58:00.000Z

A belated good new year to you all. Just to bring you up to date. We saw Gregor and Catriona off in Lusaka at the beginning of the month and then returned to Mwandi with a consignment of Milk Formula. We stopped off to shop for the monthly basics in Livingstone for Kandiana, the Old Folk’s Home. In the past we were able to provide a monthly bag of individual necessities for them. We have received no subsistence grant from the Government since August, so we are feeding them through the generosity of individual Churches. We are about to receive another mouth to feed, an old man from Simungoma who is partially paralysed from polio. There is also Julius, the cook to pay as well as Catherine, the carer who is covered until August by the Church of Scotland.

The Silozi for January is 'Sope' which means the first month when some food is available. This season is reminiscent of Alexander Gray’s lines: “With want an attendant, not lightly outpaced.” What is true for food is also true for the other of life’s necessities. This is also the start of the academic year and we are helping a student, a widow’s son at Banking College a girl at teacher training and two others at Technical College. Keith’s Kids still sponsors 8 pupils who started Grade 10 at Sesheke High before the opening of our High School in Mwandi. 5 Grade 8 pupils have been helped with PTA Fees and 8 vulnerable Grade 1s from Sikuzu with a contribution towards school uniforms. The new Grade 10s will be starting next month.

We are having desks and chairs made locally to seat 120 pupils, thanks to the generosity of a Milwaukee Church. Both staff latrines are now complete and we are waiting to hear about applications for staff housing from Norway and Switzerland. We will require another 3 classroom block if we receive 3 Grade 10 classes this year, as seems likely.

We have now received permission from the Provincial Education Office to proceed with the UCZ Community Classroom at Sikuzu.

Yesterday a Pre-school was opened for the first time at Simungoma, this is the most recent Church to be roofed in corrugated zinc. Grace, an Anamoyo (Woman’s Christian Fellowship Member) and a former pre-school teacher at Mwandi is heading this up. With the Teaching and Learning Centre Pre-School at the Mission and Sikuzu opening 18 months ago and now Simungoma this is the third UCZ Pre-school group to open the latter, two being in fairly remote rural situations. This means that opportunity to attend pre-school is being offered to over 180 three to five year olds who would not otherwise be catered for.

This is all part of a wider strategy for rural development involving the Mission, comprising of the Church with its Health and Education Ministries. Attempts are being made to prompt the reinstatement of defunct Community Health Committees so that the communities works together to make small but incremental steps towards making health care and their children’s education better for all. The community itself is taking the action but the Church and Mission is there to help the community help and develop itself.

We have assisted with the building of a new Community Health Post at Kangugu and are working on similar plans at Simungoma as funds have recently become available. Two Churches should be re-roofed this year. The Australian Church has pledged to help Simenso and Magumwi is next on the list when a sponsor is found. It is hoped that the Home-Based Care that presently serves Mwandi Village can be extended to the rural areas of the consistory. A first pilot programme is being planned for Simungoma.

The foundations for much of this has been done on our visit each Sunday to the rural congregations. The journeys to these places are becoming more difficult with the regular rains we have been having, but it has been good to visit these communities and encourage them in their Christian witness to their communities. These Churches are run by the lay Eldership with only the occasional presence of a minister, yet they are mostly lively and busy congregations with many facets of Christian service.

We still need your prayers for peace in this part of the world. The Paramilitary Police who were dispatched to Mwandi following the riots in Mongu earlier in the month have been withdrawn, but there was renewed unrest in Sesheke on Friday. There have been 23 arrests and detentions those arrested being charged with treason. They appeared in court earlier this week. There have been a number of causes for concern as regards freedom of expression. Radio Lyambai, a mainly Silozi local radio station has been closed down by the Government and one of the management arrested for allegedly broadcasting an advert for a banned meeting to discuss the Barotseland Agreement of 1964. The Government has banned all phone-in programmes on the BA of 1964.

Mr Mwala Kalakula, a Post reporter has been detained for allegedly speaking about the situation to Voice of America.

Finally the National Minimum Monthly Wage has been raised from K268 000 (GBP40/$60) to K419 000 (GBP60/$90) It should be borne in mind that the Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection’s Basic Needs Basket for a family of 6 living in Lusaka for October 2010 was K2 877 830 (GBP410/$640). For food-stuffs alone which includes mealie-meal, vegetables, dried fish K895 000 is required (GBP130/$200).

In our comings and goings here with the people and the chain of intense moments meeting together with the visitors to the door we are aware of Jesus drawing near in their eyes, voices and hearts and we pray that we may respond with his kindness, tenderness and compassion. We continue to learn what life is about. With the people here it is not about possessions or accumulation of wealth to store in barns.

It is not about enriching oneself at the expense the soul. Life here in all its poverty is more than just all the things necessary to sustain it. More than money, clothes and food, necessary as these things are. You learn to treasure the things our Lord treasures, despite the greed and avarice of the elite - those who already have; and seeing and living with the needs of those who literally don’t know where the next meal is coming from. We bring nothing into this world and all we take is what we have given to others in need.

As my granny used to say –there’s nae pooches in a shrowd! (A winding sheet has no pockets!)

Trip out for the Mobile ART Clinic and Community Meeting

2010-12-20T11:41:00.001Z

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.

A day in the life ...

2010-12-07T10:41:00.001Z

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)

Anthrax: Gruinard to Magumwi

2010-11-23T12:27:00.000Z

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!!

Graduation Ceremony

2010-11-15T17:44:00.000Z

On Saturday 30th October, Mwandi Mission Centre had its graduation ceremony.

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.

Close to home

2010-10-29T10:02:00.000+01:00

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!

Butoya retreat

2010-10-28T14:12:00.002+01:00

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.

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 but also saw the grave of Elise Kiener, a teacher to whom Waddell was engaged, 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 Limilunga 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.

Western Presbytery Council Meeting

2010-10-27T10:30:00.000+01:00

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!

Awaiting

2010-10-11T11:15:00.000+01:00

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

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.

On home ground again

2010-09-17T11:15:00.000+01:00

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.

Getting there

2010-08-24T14:08:00.000+01:00

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 French Connection

2010-08-13T16:17:00.000+01:00

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.

Sturm und Drang in Vienna: Our diary

2010-08-11T17:31:00.000+01:00

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.

On track again (adventures in Germany continued ...)

2010-07-29T15:16:00.000+01:00

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.

By car, train and plane

2010-07-21T09:34:00.004+01:00

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.

Bonnie Dundee in 2010

2010-07-13T17:06:00.000+01:00

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 Country Wedding

2010-06-18T11:42:00.000+01:00

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

Church of Scotland General Assembly

2010-06-03T11:31:00.009+01:00

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.

Home again

2010-05-11T14:00:00.002+01:00

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.

Eruption disruption: Notes from last week

2010-05-04T10:03:00.002+01:00

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.

Blog down for 2 weeks

2010-04-01T15:55:00.002+01:00

Please Note: This blog will not be updated for the next 2 weeks. Normal service will be resumed on 20 April.

For the fourth week of Lent 2010

2010-03-16T13:16:00.002Z

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…

It's a girl!

2010-02-26T09:50:00.003Z

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

UCZ Mwandi High School

2010-02-23T11:28:00.002Z

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.

Mene Mene Tekels and Parsins

2010-02-05T14:58:00.003Z

Our first visitor each morning usually calls at around 7 hours. It is Julius, the cheery cook and purchaser from Kandiana, the old folks’ home. He comes with a list of what he wants to buy. Today it is dried fish. Fresh fish is not available at the moment. There is a two-month ban on catching over the breeding season. The dry fish will be simmered and reconstituted in water to make a stew. Onion, tomato and cabbage are needed to make a vegetable relish. A case of cooking oil for frying and a case of sugar, mostly used to sweeten tea and the cold nshima* and sour milk pudding that is regularly eaten are also on the list. Money for firewood was also requested and some money to buy some spare parts for his bicycle. Julius uses his bike to transport the maize, meal and all the other purchases. It is quite a work horse and has seen better days.

The Government allocates K2m per month to feed the residents GBP 285. There are approximately 7000 Kwacha to the Pound at the moment. That works out at 60p per day. The fish costs K100,000 about GBP15 and that does two meals for 16 people. The vegetables cost K70,000 around GBP10 and lasts the same length of time A case of cooking oil 12 x 750ml bottles and 20kg sugar costs around GBP30. That lasts about a month. Firewood costs K30,000 GBP5 for a scotch-cart load (sic). Generally two are needed each month. All cooking is done over an open fire.

The 16 residents, 12 men and 4 women, are looked after well in comparison to other destitute and vulnerable old people who are increasingly being left to ‘the care o the craws’ as HIV and Aids takes its toll on the traditional extended family care structure. The Church of Scotland helps by giving towards the salary of Catherine, a UCZ WCF member, who works as a more than full-time carer. Churches in Scotland and the US also contribute to giving the residents a monthly bag of necessities to top them up and allow them a bit of independence.

After signing for the money for today’s shopping list, Julius and Keith then make sure that the receipts from yesterday’s purchases match the list of requests and the account balances.

Yesterday, 20 ‘sacks’ of maize were bought for K1,100,000 and the Reverend Silishebo asked me to check this out with Julius. It is cheaper and better for the local economy at this time of year to buy maize and mill it at the hospital rather than buying commercially produced mealie-meal to make the staple - thick maize porridge called nshima* in Zambian English and buhobe in Silozi.

We entered the store-room and there was a chaotically untidy stack of bags of assorted sizes and colours, holding the purchased maize. I counted the ‘new’ bags and my heart sank as I counted only 13 ‘sacks’. There were two extremely long ones which would hold about 90kg each I guessed.

So before I tried again, I asked Julius if he knew what the total weight was? No, he replied, they used a bucket to measure, and he pointed to the old-fashioned galvanized ‘Oor Wullie’ bucket standing in the corner. This is the standard measure for maize in rural Zambia. These buckets are ubiquitous, most households still use one to lug water around in, so the bucket makes more sense to people here than stones, kilos or bushels. It is only Government officials and over-specific Westerners who bother about the exact mass of anything. Very few people have scales, Weights and Measures staff who check calibration are few and only found in the urban areas. Various sized containers are used to measure different things for sale. For example, tins are often used to sell beans and kapenta * like dried whitebait, tomatoes are bought by the crate and dried fish by the negotiable bundle! So there are conventional and socially-agreed standard measures and prices for most commodities on sale at the markets, but don’t expect scales or many pre-packed and priced goods from the stalls.

Some quick mental Arithmetic was required. There were 8 sacks holding 4 ½ buckets, 2 sacks holding 10 buckets each and 2 sacks of 3 buckets plus the sack of 3 buckets he had milled earlier this morning. This gave a total of 62 buckets. I then used long division - no calculator was available - to calculate the cost of a bucket. This is one of the few times I’ve needed to use this practically, after all the blood, sweat and tears spilled in Primary 6 & 7! The multiplying and dividing brought me back to all those Wheaton’s Arithmetic’s Social and Commercial Problems we ploughed through!

Anyway, it worked out that we paid almost K17,750 per bucket. We got discount apparently for a bulk order as the going rate at Mwandi Market is K20,000 per bucket.

And no, I still don’t know the weight of a bucket of maize because I don’t really need to know. A bucket of maize weighs a bucket of maize!

Lozi Names, Part 2

2010-01-22T15:05:00.002Z

It is always good to read at the beginning of the year the list that Register House publishes of the most common children’s names in use in Scotland for the previous year. I thought, as a follow up to the original article on Lozi nomenclature from last year, it might be useful and interesting to list some of the more common Lozi names to be found in the Mwandi area with their meanings. As a class teacher marking the daily register I have come to recognise Mwandi family names.

Lozi names, the Siluyana ones, fall into two main categories, nouns and verbal constructions. Notulu and Amwalana, from the previous article, are two good examples. Most noun-type names consist of a prefix and a stem. If we split up the name “Mu-bita”. Mu (means a person) and ‘bita’ means to pass or wrestle, hence the meaning the passer-by or the wrestler, think of Jacob/Israel..

So all Lozi names have a meaning. Mukelabai (one born at a bad time), Muyunda( the peeper) and Sitali (one who came on a bad day) are good Mwandi examples.

Below is a list of some other more common names in Mwandi with their meanings.

Akabana (one who doesn’t rise ie. bedridden)

Akalemwa (one who can’t be seized)

Akeende (one who won’t go)

Alisinda (the reliable one)

Imataa (bad-tempered)

Inambao (lion)

Indala (famine)

Ingutu (well-wisher)

Kufekisa (to resemble)

Liboma (the smasher)

Likando/Manyando (sufferings)

Lisulo(royal hunting party)

Lubinda (stubborn)

Lutangu (a tale)

Masiye (orphan)

Mubiana (one who misses someone or something)

Mundia (one who deserts me)

Munjita (one who calls me)

Mukatimui (bad woman)

Mutafela (one who is finished)

Musowe (throw away)

Monde (born in the 1st quarter of the moon)

Mwangala (joy)

Naluca (f) (the wee one)

Nalukui (f) Ilukui (m) (fierce one)

Namakau (many hoes)

Namatama (big cheeks)

Namukolo (born in a canoe)

Nawa (good company)

Ngonda(peace)

Nyambe (God)

Mutondo (tree, medicine)

Sanana(pertaining to children)

Sianga (euphemism for crocodile)

Silishebo (one born during famine)

Simasiku (m) ,Namasiku & Nosiku (f) born at night

It is difficult to categorise Lozi names definitively but they can be arranged broadly and somewhat thematically. We can see many are concerned with the transience of life, its sufferings and the surrounding circumstances at the time of birth.

As all writers tend to say, by way of a cop out, this is not a comprehensive list, but is merely indicative and somewhat subjective, I know that I am bound to have caused local offence by some grave omissions but thankfully on this occasion the blog readership in Mwandi is mercifully small in number!

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

2010-01-15T14:14:00.002Z

You are witnesses of these things. (Luke 24:48)

This year’s theme was chosen in Scotland, in honour of the hundredth anniversary of the 1910 Edinburgh World Mission Conference. It is in answer to that conference’s theme "Witnessing to Christ today” that the above verse was chosen. Edinburgh 1910 really marked the start of the modern ecumenical movement.

The United Church of Zambia, like many of the other United and Uniting Churches worldwide, stems directly from this watershed conference. The London Missionary Society, the Church of Scotland Mission, the Union Church of the Copperbelt and the Copperbelt Free Churches came together in 1965 as the UCZ making their unity in Christ more visible.

In the Copperbelt, Christians from many different places went to work in the mining towns, and interdenominational worship began in both the African and European housing areas. The Church of Scotland, the Methodist Missionary Society, and the London Missionary Society were working together already in education and welfare, so they came together in African areas to form the Union Church of the Copperbelt. Shortly after this, the congregations of the European areas came together in the Copperbelt Free Church Council..

The London Missionary Society and the Church of Scotland Mission along with the Union Church of the Copperbelt, joined to form the Church of Central Africa in Rhodesia in 1958.

In 1965, this church united with the Methodist Church and the Church of Barotseland to form the United Church of Zambia. It is the largest Protestant church in Zambia today and continues to grow rapidly.

The UCZ, therefore has special links with the Methodist Church in Great Britain, the Church of Scotland, the United Church of Canada, the Presbyterian Church (USA), the United Church of Christ (USA), and CEVAA which is the successor to the Paris Evangelical Mission Society.

PEMS underwent a tremendous structural change in the 70s which led to the creation of a community of churches in mission, called Cevaa. This new body involved partner churches having shared power in decision-making, regardless of the resources put by each into the kitty.

In Cevaa, and later in other similar mission communities such as the Council for World Mission, similar structural changes emphasised transformative justice, and changed the balance of power and decision-making on the sharing of financial and human resources between churches of North and South.

This is an attempt to realise in some small way the dream from Edinburgh that we may become one body, brothers and sisters in Christ, responding to each other in love and building a community so that God’s will is done here on earth as it is in heaven.

Happy New Year

2010-01-06T16:36:00.005Z

We have just been up in Lusaka for a couple of days. After bringing in the New Year at Livingstone we motored up with Catriona, Gregor and Mubita. On the first of January we also saw Ruairidh and Fiona off to Australia for Fiona’s maternity leave. The baby should arrive all being well at the end of February. Catriona had some dressage and jumping to do for her PE Course Work which she did on Saturday. We also did a bit of school shopping for them, mainly clothes and toiletries.

They left on the early Monday morning flight with a number of other ‘children’ they knew, who had been home for the Christmas holidays as well. We said goodbye with the usual tearful eyes and lump in the throat, and from the other family farewells taking place at the same time, you can see and hear it is an emotional time for all concerned. Mubita cried all the way back into town from the airport.

We had educational commitments to pay for other members of our extended Zambian family and did Aids Relief business for Ida and then visited UCZ Synod Headquarters. We have been in Zambia for 15 years so should now qualify to receive an entry permit and will no longer require a work permit. We were lodging the paperwork for that through Synod.

It is fair to say that in Zambia the concept of a civic citizenship is not allowed for in the present constitution. Citizenship is difficult to acquire and comes really only through descent. Dual citizenship is not permitted at present. The new constitution to be enacted this year partially addresses and partially modernises some of these issues. But some old-fashioned restrictions will remain - holders of dual citizenship cannot serve in the army or police for example.

The UCZ Educatiol Secretary had been in touch with the Western Province Education Authorities to try and arrange the round table talks concerning the Mwandi UCZ High School that the Ministry of Education suggested but the Province were being puzzlingly elusive. She was determined to try and nail them down. Yesterday out of the blue she heard in a phone-call from the Provincial Education Officer, that provincial opposition to the High School was being lifted and that a Grade 10 could commence this year after all.

This is wonderful news. Our thanks to you all for your prayers in this matter.

Christmas Eve 2009

2009-12-29T09:17:00.002Z

It’s Christmas Eve, not yet 0900h and the temperature is 84C. The ducks are defrosting on the verandah. Ruairidh and Gregor have gone into Livingstone to collect animal feed for the farm and the cream that we’d ordered. Earlier in the week. They spent yesterday slaughtering a pig and smoking a ham for tomorrow.. Here it is, Christmas from scratch!

Earlier the ladies from the Sewing Support Group arrived with Dorothy and raked and cleared our yard of weeds. At this time of year it is difficult to keep on top of this. This was their thank you and their present to us. Ida, Catriona and Florence are now busy rolling out dough and baking traditional Danish cookies, while Mubita is happily watching and accompanying an old schmaltzy Muppet Christmas video.

We will gather as a family at around 4 in the afternoon, read Luke’s account of the Nativity, sing some carols. We remember friends and family in different parts of the world, those in trouble or suffering or those no longer with us. This is especially poignant because Mwale, Mubita’s half-sister, has been missing from her home for over a week now.

We will then sit down to prawn cocktail, (the ingredients were bought in Lusaka 800km away earlier in the month when we picked up Catriona and Gregor) roast duck, red cabbage, sugared potatoes followed by ris a l’amande.

For our friends and colleagues here in Zambia the main celebration takes place tomorrow. Most Zambian children will receive new clothes tomorrow. This is the new outfit, or Sunday-best for the coming year. These will be worn to the Christmas Service that begins at 0830h. Later in the day the family will eat fried chicken and boiled rice with a cabbage, onion and tomato relish. Drinks would be non-alcoholic maize beer (maheu), Mazoe (Orange Squash) or a Coke or Fanta. For pudding there may be a cake or some buns.

All this description of food underscores once again how privileged we are and should remind us that God gave us the resources of the earth to meet human needs, including food and as a gift from God it is intended for sharing. It has been given to the whole human race. But Proverbs 13:23 observes that people go hungry not because of a shortage of food but from a shortage of justice. This is what lies behind the reference to this in the Magnificat - God filling the hungry at the dawn of the Messiah’s birth. If this is seen just as a future hope, then it is not a true vision. It is meant to challenge us here and now into practical action, working for justice and the elimination of hunger – marks of genuine love and faith. Here in Mwandi, 40% of households are women-headed and over one third of our children are chronically under-nourished.

As David Blanchflower prays:

Holy Child of Bethlehem,
In you the eternal was pleased to dwell
Help us, we pray, to see the divine image
In people everywhere.

Advent

2009-12-03T16:41:00.001Z

With the start of Advent we begin to celebrate the coming of Jesus and his birth at Bethlehem. It is a time of hope.

This has been made especially real for Ida and me as we have experienced over the past year God’s faithfulness to us and our reliance on him. No matter what the prevailing circumstances have been and the restlessness caused by the delays we have felt while waiting for him to answer, we have learned time and time again that, in fullness, he will keep his word.

The Incarnation reminds us that God keeps his word and it is a glorious fulfillment of his promises. As a visiting friend said while waiting for the last container containing much needed medical supplies and artificial limbs to arrive, in every respect God is faithful and he’s never late. We have received two containers this year one from CART in Huddersfield and one from North Carolina. We want to thank you all for your hard work, contributions and effort with the containers. The contents will continue to bless many people now and in the near future. For example in the CART container we received made-up relief boxes containing lots of useful household articles. These we have given to flood victims and those who have suffered houses fire and lost their belongings.

Ida chaired the Mwandi Committee for World AIDS Day and is trying to encourage more community participation and make it a less hospital-driven event. The milk formula programme still continues with 40 babies at present. A Grandmother regularly comes for formula for the triplets who were born in October.

At school it is exam time so I’m trying to keep up with the marking of the Grade 8 Maths and Science papers. The pupils are tired and looking forward to their Christmas Holidays. As regards the construction work of the classroom block, after I pay the contractor for the ringbeam there will be no funds left for the roof, plastering, glazing, wiring and painting. So work will come to a standstill now until we get further clarification from Synod and the Ministry.

We as a family appreciate the furniture that was sent for us. It has made our sitting room much more comfortable and homely. We actually sit there now, before that it was just a room we used to see people in. Mubita's room too is looking wonderful. Mubita loves his bunk-bed, we have a trunk for his toys to be stored in and the chest of drawers for his clothes. It is good too that we now have enough bedding now to change the linen and not have to do the washing, drying and ironing all in one day.

We are feeling at home, even although the house is small and we will only be in it temporarily. Nick is beginning work again on our new house. We are looking forward to having Gregor and Catriona to our home and celebrating a Danish family Christmas Eve with them and Fiona and Ruairidh. Something we have not been able to do for many years.

We close by wishing you all a very happy Christmas with all good wishes for the New Year.

Keith, Ida, Gregor, Catriona & Mubita

Follow-up stories

2009-11-19T09:04:00.001Z

As follow-ups to past postings on this blog...

Transparency International’s 2009 report says Zambia’s ranking has improved on the Corruption Perception Index. Zambia scored 3 above Argentina, Egypt and Indonesia and jumped from 11th to 17th place. (The higher the number the worse in terms of perceived corruption.) New Zealand, Denmark and Singapore, top the list as the least corrupt countries while Zambia is on a par with Bosnia and Jamaica. The nations at the bottom of the league include Haiti, Afghanistan and Somalia.

Lusaka Magistrates' Court recently freed The Post’s news editor, Chansa Kabelwa whom you may remember was charged with circulating obscene photographs of a woman in labour during the health workers’ strike earlier this year. These, it was alleged, would be liable to corrupt public morals. Ms Kabwelwa did not publish the photos but sent them to the Vice-President, Minister of Health, some women's organisations and a Church leader, hoping to move the Government to end the strike. The Court found no case to answer. This verdict is an important one as far as freedom of expression is concerned in this country. However, the Editor of the Post, Mr Fred Mmembe is still facing contempt of court charges for an article commenting on the case that he allowed to be published during the trial.

Meanwhile at the Mission we have had another eye team in doing cataract surgery earlier in the month. They come from Hickory, North Carolina every second year. With the Hickory Team for a second visit, were also a couple who supply amputees and other people with mobility difficulties with artificial limbs. Others were able to beef up the maintenance team and the hospital computers were overhauled by an IT expert. All good and useful work.

After much prayer and with perfect timing, a container with amongst other things parts for the prostheses, medical equipment, school supplies arrived while the team was there. The Hickory Church were major donors and had helped box and pack many of the items, so it was good that they were able to personally distribute donated materials to the designated recipients.

The Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) programme through AIDS Relief is entering another phase with teams going round communities from door-to-door and offering this service to the entire family. More about this later.

At the school, the classroom block is progressing and has now reached ring-beam level. The steel and concrete will be poured next week after I purchase the shuttering in Livingstone tomorrow. All the window and door frames are being made locally this time, this is a good development as with the first block there was no-one making these frames and they had to be purchased and transported from Livingstone. Please continue to pray that we receive permission from the provincial education authorities to open our Grade 10 in 2010.

Prayer requests

2009-10-27T11:03:00.004Z

The Government has started restructuring at District and Hospital level now and we are affected too. The authorities have sent a Hospital Administrator to take over that position here (the post that Ida is currently 'acting' in). As a result, the Memorandum of Understanding between the Government and CHAZ in which Hospital Administrators are Church-appointed positions, is being revisited. So please keep us in your prayers. We keep in touch with Synod and the Church of Scotland regularly to update them on our situation.

Prayer:

- We give thanks for the successful Church Retreat and the blessing it was for many people.

- We give thanks for the provision of three new doctors for the Hospital and the 15 new nurses and Clinical Officers promised to help increase staffing levels here.

- We pray for wisdom for ourselves and all the parties involved in the Health Restructuring, that righteousness and justice may prevail.

A family and church update

2009-10-14T17:26:00.007+01:00

We’ve learned that we will be grandparents in the new year! Ruairidh and Fiona are expecting their first child at the end of February or beginning of March. We are delighted. That is another milestone in life. We are fortunate to have them so close at hand.

Church highlights here have been the opening of Sooka Church (left), built in six weeks by the active congregation there. They are grateful for the help received from Houston Church with the roofing. This follows the reroofing of Sikuzu by IPC Birmingham earlier in the year and the agreement by Cambusbarron to help to do the same at Simungoma this coming quarter.

A very successful retreat in the middle of September was held in the bush at Kasaya. We are also planning a Church Mission School which will start next year in June. This will involve young people of both sexes from rural congregations in the Mwandi Consistory who will camp at the Mission Church for three months and participate in a number of activities. There will be some theology and reflection to deepen their faith, there will also be skills taught such as book-keeping, report and letter writing, chairing and running meetings, all useful skills for those in leadership positions in congregations. Practical building, agricultural and rural development skills will also be covered with work at the farm, school, hospital, old folks home and in the local Church.

The wall and concreting in of the well at Mwananono B is complete. The chains and padlocks for the grill gate have been purchased and handed over. So it is now finished. At the High School the second slab for the 1x3 Classroom block which is being funded by CEVAA, the French Church Mission Council, is laid and bricks are being formed now for the superstructure. At the Church of Scotland Mission House the earth has been packed into the foundations and the slab is now being laid.

We had a wonderful 9 days in Milwaukee in the U.S. when we visited at the end of September. We went to the Wisconsin Aids Resource Centre where we saw the holistic care offered to those in the States living with HIV and Aids. We then visited St Joseph’s hospital, a world famous centre for neonatal care We talked and shared experiences with staff and students there.

Press leaks

2009-09-18T13:34:00.003+01:00

From Ida and Keith 3 September 2009:

Two stories hitting the headlines here.

During the recent health-workers strike, a photograph was taken of a woman given birth, unattended, in the grounds of the University Teaching Hospital. It was sent to ‘The Post’ newspaper where Ms Chansa Kabwela, the news-editor, though it too graphic to publish but decided to send it to various government officials, women’s organizations and the Catholic Archbishop of Lusaka to let them see some of the effects that the industrial action was having on the general public and hopefully prompt the Government to take action to take resolve it.

The picture roused the fury of the Government and Ms Kabwela was charged with ‘circulating obscene materials’. This case is now sub judice but to compound matters ‘The Post’ recently published an article calling the prosecution and harassment of Ms Kabwela, a ‘comedy of errors’. This resulted in the entire editorial staff being summonsed to appear before the court yesterday and a warrant being issued for the arrest of the Editor-in-Chief, Mr Fred M’membe, who is at present on study leave!

While President Banda was giving a press conference in the garden at State House recently a monkey up a tree had the temerity to urinate on him. Executive justice and retribution have been swift, it is reported earlier in the week that 61 monkeys have been captured ‘humanely’ in the grounds of State House and dispatched to the Zoological Gardens at Munda Wanga in Chilanga..

Meanwhile, we finally received the Adoption Order and new Birth Certificate for Mubita from the Registrar-General. We have an interview now with the American Embassy in Lusaka on 9 September, applying for a Visa so he can come with us to Milwaukee at the end of the month for the Mission Week we have been invited to attend.

This week Ida has gone to Mongu via the backroad for a week’s course of Quality Assurance. It is apparently quite challenging for them, but not as great as the mosquitoes at the guest-house where she and Sister Neemo, the administrator from Sichili, are staying.

I am at home. This is the last week before school starts. We’ve just had the car worked on in Lusaka but the bolts holding the diff shaft fell out and the shaft hit the gear box casing, thankfully not too much damage. The nuts were probably not tightened properly with a spanner at the Nissan workshop. Of course the replacement bolts were not available in Livingstone but we managed to get them in Namibia yesterday and they have been fixed and tightened under supervision. I have written expressing our concern to Nissan and await their response.

Work is progressing well with the slab for the classroomblock. It has been backfilled, rolled and the concrete is now being mixed. This is hard physical work. There is no electricity or running water. The water is rolled in drums for almost a kilometre from the river to the building-site. The cement and stones are hand- mixed by shovel to make the concrete.

At the School Board Meeting I was asked to continue to spearhead the development of the High School and to start to formulate with others necessary policies, timetables, curriculum and syllabus. I have started drafting and collating the various papers we will need. Our objective is to open the Mwandi UCZ High School in January 2010.

Down to the Water

2009-08-24T11:02:00.007+01:00

The Zambezi plays an important role in the lives of all the people in the Mwandi area. The river is called ‘Lyambai’ which alludes to its unpredictable and stormy nature. During the floodtime it is a constant source of danger but it is also addressed affectionately as Yunene – the big one! This is because of the abundance it yields to farmers and fishermen. The cold season is coming to an end now and the day and night time temperatures rise as the level of the Zambezi falls.

Each year after harvest, many families who live inland, after having gathered in their maize and having stored it safely in the stick-woven bins on stilts and covering it by a thatch roof to keep out the rats, pack up their belongings and move down to the riverside. The elderly folks rather than face the journey and roughing it in a fishing camp often prefer to stay behind to watch over the other deserted properties.

All the belongings necessary for the 5-6 months away from home are packed into a two-wheeled scotch-cart that is drawn by oxen. The children generally do the packing. Cast-iron cauldrons, blankets, clothes, fishing nets for the men, conical basket traps for the women, paddles, even some caged hens. A variety of tools, axes, hoes, mortar and pestles, sacks of maize, pumpkins, the ubiquitous supermarket plastic bags filled with groundnuts and some 20l plastic containers for making sour milk and fetching water. Sleeping mats are left at home as new ones will be made from the reeds at the riverside.

The extended family now gathers in a circle in the yard to bid each other farewell. “Come back with the rains so we can prepare our fields,” Granny will remind them. “Go well,” is the blessing the parents and grandchildren receive. “Stay well,” is the reciprocated wish from the children and grandchildren for the grandparents. We’ll see each other- is said by all in a final farewell.

The womenfolk and younger children climb into the cart and sit at the front padded by the maize and the bundles of clothes. The father shoulders his axe and tugs the inside ox by the halter to set the cart in motion. The boys pick up their sticks which they will use to drive the cattle and they whistle and shout to push the herd forward. They travel ahead of the cart. Lurcher-like dogs assist the boys, nipping at stragglers’ heels and running up and down, barking self-importantly. It is a day’s journey to the riverbank, a journey choked by the dust stamped up by the cattle, jolted about in the unsprung bone-shaking cart and plagued by swarms of thirsty flies.

The last three kilometre stretch southward to the river is done at a trot. People and animals get excited as they near the river which will be their home and will supply most of their needs for the next half of the year. The cows smell the water and rush expectantly to slake their thirst.

The Zambezi spreads out before them. In front is a channel with a slowly flowing stream, like water in a lake. Across the water lie the grassy island pastures they know so well, fringed by the reeds they will use to weave sleeping mats and to build the fishing camp huts that will become their home. The moored dug-out canoe is unchained, bailed out and filled with belongings. They paddle over to the island pasture. Once the family and their possessions are safely landed on the other side, the cattle - directed from the canoe by the men and boys - are swum across. Fish - the bream, the catfish, the squeakers, the tigerfish and fry - are all available here. All good and necessary things and dynamic forces originate from the North according to the Lozi. The southward flow of the river; the South, the riverbank is the terminus where the journey ends.

Blessed are you among women

2009-08-14T09:19:00.004+01:00

We have recently had another annual visit from pre-Med Students attending Davidson College, North Carolina. About 10 young people arrive for a three week stay with their tutor. While they are with us they keep a journal and reflect on a particular aspect of the hospital and its work with the Community which is of interest to them and later write it up as a paper. Once it is corrected and printed the hospital receives a copy.

However, it is not all academic work for them; they also generally turn their hand to something more practical and creative in an artistic sense. Some good artwork has been done over the years and they have decorated various wards and walls in the Hospital and Out-Patients with murals.

This year we have been building a new Maternity Ward, to help meet the Government Development Goal of having more babies delivered in hospital especially where there is substantial risk to either mother or child. Money from the Beit Trust was received for this and the building is now nearing completion. In the Coptic and Ethiopean Christian traditions, Mary is honoured as the black Madonna, applying an image from the Song of Solomon (1:5) “I’m black and beautiful, O daughters of Jerusalem…..” So it was suggested that a Black Madonna and child be painted in the ward of the new Maternity Unit.

We are painfully aware that it is only really fairly recently that those of us from the Reformed tradition began to appreciate Mary for her faithfulness, her purity, as the Mother of God and for her suffering as the Mater Dolorosa. However, the key ideas, we think, that are contained in the undisputedly stylised painted image of mother and child is that God’s Spirit blesses women of faith and God’s Spirit is active in the creation of new life.

Mary has been portrayed on our wall as an icon but for our women and mothers here she is much more. They share much of Mary’s identity as an impoverished peasant woman, living in a patriarchical and tribal society, a typical wife and mother of the time in an often drought- stricken, and politically and economically unjust society. We all tend to have a partially true image of Mary being quiet, humble and self-denying but from her appearances elsewhere in Scripture, Mary also emerges as a strong woman of ability and wisdom. Through her God brought down the proud and lifted up the lowly.

Woman are often seen here in Zambia as silent servants but their ministries reach out and touch many. As daughters, mothers and grandmothers they will agree with Mary that: "Surely from now all generations will call me blessed.” Luke (1:48)

What's in a name?

2009-07-22T13:59:00.003+01:00

Lozi personal names are interesting and you can also see similarities and parallels with Gaelic and English nomenclature in Scotland. Most names in use come from SiLuyana the name given to the dialects that were originally spoken along the Zambezi and fairly widely in Western Province. It is generally agreed the people now called Lozi are of Congolese origin and established a Kingdom in this area in 17th Century. They were then called the Aluyana.

The name Lozi was acquired in 19th Century when in 1840 the Makololo an offshoot of the Southern Sotho under their leader Sebitwane overran the Luyana Kingdom after fleeing from Chaka the Zulu King during the Mfecane. The Makalolo ruled till 1864 when they in turn were overthrown by an Aluyana uprising. The Makololo men were wiped out but their women and children became part of the Luyana people. This made Sikololo, the language become the linga franca in Western Province. Sikololo then became Silozi which is a hybrid language, about 75% of the vocabulary Sotho in origin and 25% is Luyana

Names of Sotho origin are small in number but are widely used. They tend to have been inspired by the Bible. Below are some of the more commonly used:

Lifela - Vanity; Likezo -Deeds; Liseli -Light; Masiliso -Consolation; Musa -Mercy; Muhau -Grace; Pumulo -Rest; Sepo -Hope; Sepiso -Promise; Tabo -Joy; and, Tabuho -Thanksgiving. They can be used by either sex.

The Senior Chief here at Mwandi is called Inyambo Yeta. These names are pure Siluyana and not Sisotho. Inyambo means a helper and Yeta is one who makes a vow.

Both Luyana and Sotho names are part of the cultural heritage of the Lozi people of which they are proud and use both feely.

Mubita

2009-07-16T15:23:00.003+01:00

We received good news last week. Ida had been in Lusaka helping Trevor Parr, the New Zealand Missionary Doctor and his wife, Helen, to jump through the various bureaucratic hoops necessary to register and to work here. But earlier in the week Ida handed the ‘Consent to Adoption Forms’ in to the Ministry of Social Welfare as part of the process for us to adopt Mubita.

It has taken since January to get this far. We had managed to get the paternal and maternal sides of Mubita’s family to complete the forms, and were greatly helped in this matter by Brian the District Social Welfare Officer. He’s the only social worker for a population of 90 000. The forms had then been signed and stamped by the Magistrate at a hearing with all concerned present at the end of June, and given to Ida to submit in Lusaka.

On Thursday morning she was given a letter by Social Welfare granting permission for the Adoption Hearing to be held at Sesheke at the Court’s convenience. Hopefully it will not be too long before we are granted a slot at Court. Once the Adoption Order is granted all that remains is a trip to Register House in Lusaka for an amended Birth Certificate, showing us as parents. We were granted the initial Committal Order for Mubita in October 2007. We had to foster him for a year before we could start adoption proceedings. So it is wonderful now that finally we are beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel.

Church and State

2009-06-16T09:37:00.005+01:00

On Sunday we visited Mabumbu Church, a bush congregation about 25km from Mwandi. The Church is another traditional daub and wattle and thatched affair. We went with Dorothy, the Consistory Chair for the Woman’s Christian Fellowship. Ida was preaching, it was Mothering Sunday and she talked about Women in the Life and Teachings of Jesus (Gen 1:27 & Mark 16:9). She closed by exhorting the men to love their wives as Jesus loves the Church and to encourage and help their wives to participate fully in ministry throughout the Church. This was met by a loud and heartfelt 'AMEN!' - from the women’s side of the Church!

We were invited to lunch in the vestry afterwards. Another traditional building with sacks and buckets of maize stacked around the walls. It had been Harvest Thanksgiving last week and from the amount that has been offered it is clear that there has been a good harvest this year. The meal was village roasted chicken, kail and inshima, followed by sour-milk, the leftover inshima and sugar mixed together to make a favourite Lozi pudding. It is an acquired taste admittedly but nonetheless we enjoyed wonderful hospitality. We were sent on our way spiritually and physically fed and with the gift of a pumpkin as well.

Such generosity from some the most materially poor of this earth, but some of the richest spiritually.

As regards school the most recent pre-occupation has been the preparations for building the next 1x3 classroomblock for the High School under construction and funded by CEVAA, the French Church. Work should start on that next week, as we will sign the contract with the builder on Wednesday. Through the help of Synod we have procured the cement at factory prices and minus VAT which has helped to reduce our costs.

Last Friday there was the trip to the quarry to order the 30m3 of crushed stones for the foundations and slab. This was paid for with a brick of cash withdrawn from Livingstone the day before. There is not a stone to be found at Mwandi and nothing between Kazungula and Sesheke. The quarry is 87km away from the school and the cost of the fuel to transport the load is twice as much as the cost of the stones! On the other hand builder’s sand is much less of a problem in Mwandi!

The investigations at the Ministry of Health rumble on with more arrests and court appearances. Both the teachers and nurses nationwide have been on strike in a pay dispute. The staff at our Hospital and School continued to work. While they supported the actions of their colleagues in the urban areas because of the greater effect industrial action taken there would have, they felt striking here would only harm our people.

The Hospital itself continues to survive financially by the Grace of God. There has been no Government Grant for the Hospital since April, but by careful stewardship and eking out our meagre resources we have managed to run the hospital, feed our patients and run the ambulance up until now. In these financially straitened circumstances the Hospital is gratefully accepting payment in kind from patients: maize, beans, chickens, etc.

Theekin Nests and Snouts in Troughs

2009-06-03T14:23:00.004+01:00

Recent headlines from both Zambia and Britain have had a depressingly similar ring to them. Politicians and other public servants allegedly stealing or misusing public funds and engaging in activities that enrich themselves at the expense of ordinary citizens.

You’re all probably scunnered by the surfeit of reports of the jougerie-pawkery at Westminster; we are being treated to the spectacle here of operations coming to a standstill this week at Ndeke House – the Ministry of Health. Over 30 civil servants employed by the Ministry of Health have been suspended while a K27 billion scam is investigated, this is seemingly not the only one either, but could be the tip of the iceberg. Charges are expected to include obtaining money by false pretences, abuse of authority and forgery. This all really came to light and the alarm was raised when it became apparent that too many civil servants, public officers and government officials were living at levels far in excess of their earned income and many of the lodges, farms, houses, plots and businesses in the Lusaka area were owned by people working for the Government. Questions were asked how all this wealth was accumulated on modest civil service salaries.

The wonderful thing is that this investigation into matters at the Ministry of Health has apparently been given the go-ahead from the highest level. In the past the culture of plundering and looting by officials and politicians was entrenched and there was little accountability at any level of government, so asking citizens to account for their wealth is a relatively new concept here. The consequences has been to deny millions of needy Zambians access to healthcare which they desperately need but which at the best of times is limited and frankly inadequate.

How has all this affected Mwandi Mission Hospital, then, you may ask? Well, the grant from the Government has fallen from K16m (GBP 2000) in the Halcyon Days of President Mwanawasa to K4.5m (GBP500) for the past 4 months. In December we received nothing – obviously Christmas bonus time for someone somewhere but not for our patients here! We have been told to expect nothing for this month and next month.

The CHAZ (Churches’ Health Association of Zambia) Mission Workers (ancilliaries), paid but not employed by the government, went unpaid from September to February. We learned by investigation that the salary money in January was approved by the Ministry but was ‘diverted’ internally, so it never reached CHAZ – the Mission Hospital's Body. They will not be paid again until this mess is cleared up.

We could not appoint another Doctor in our establishment as the positon for Mwandi was being filled by the notorious Dr Michael Mouse. The Government had officially allocated 11 government Health Worker posts to Mwandi. We ended up with an allocation of three cleaners, two of whom drive our ambulances and the third is our cashier! The payslips for the other eight deployed elsewhere inadvertently arrived at our office.

Another contributing factor to hastening this action may be that Sweden and the Netherlands have frozen funding to the health sector until investigations are concluded. Naturally we have had the usual crocodile tears begging the two countries to reconsider their freezing of financial aid because ordinary Zambians are the ones who will suffer. But ordinary Zambians are likely to continue to do so if funding is resumed without a comprehensive audit being done to ensure those suspected of corruption are prosecuted and safeguards put in place to ensure better governance, accountability and transparency.

Our TB patients, the HIV+ mother and baby, the chronically malnourished children suffering from dysentery and malaria and the lowly paid ancillary staff who attend them, suffering here and elsewhere nationwide deserve no less.

Changes and Challenges

2009-05-25T10:49:00.001+01:00

Since our last update we have lost Mrs Kapenda Mwangala Matamola. She died in childbirth two weeks ago from a ruptured uterus; the baby was still-born. It is at times like this when you realise how remote and isolated you actually are and how poor the medical facilities are in developing countries and how dangerous for women in these places childbirth can still be.

Kenny, her husband, is a colleague at the school; the family are devastated. She leaves three young boys and a number of related orphans they look after. She is not only a great loss to the family but she is also sorely missed at Church and in the Hospital. Mwangala was in her early thirties and an Anamoyo with a beautiful singing voice. She worked hard and quietly behind the scenes and always went the extra mile. Mwangala was assigned to the Out Patients Department as a cleaner and helped and supported her colleagues there. She also was a much-loved and respected Psycho-Social Counsellor at the AIDS RELIEF Centre.

The school term has just started again after Easter, so there is the thrice-yearly rush to try and scrape the school fees money and the other requisites together for those pupils at High School (K300 000 or about GBP40.00). So as our cold season approaches, two heart-warming stories related to this.

Last Thursday we got up and as Ida drew open the curtains, there was a hunched female figure happed up in a hood and jacket against the cold, steaming breath and raking the sand in our yard. She had already piled and cleared the fallen leaves from under the guava trees. This is the first task a dutiful Lozi daughter/wife undertakes first thing in the morning – The Cleaning of the Lapa (the yard). It was Mubuyaeta, one of my girls whom I first taught in Grade 7, now in Grade 10. All she said was - I wanted to thank you for helping me.

Later the same day, another auld acquaintance, Oliver, turned up on the doorstep with some mysterious object under his arm and wrapped up in a supermarket plastic bag. After being ushered ben, he proceeded to reveal this grotesque, half-smiling, half-yawning carved wooden crocodile and invited me to buy it. The only use for it I could conceive of, was perhaps at a Javanese shadow puppet performance of Peter Pan. So I asked Oliver what he needed the money for. To buy school shoes was the answer. Well, we have just received a container with amongst other things shoes. I told him to wait and went over and naughtily selected two pairs – a hard-wearing and sensible Doc Martin type shoe and another long pointed modern affair, they call them ‘modern’ but to my mind they are a regression to the Middle Ages in style. He looked dubiously at the Doc Martins but his eyes lit up and smiled as he coveted the other pair. Ah, we call these shoes, pointers, in Zambia…………….. were his words.

Today early in the morning I was out burning the rubbish at our pit in the garden. I was suddenly aware of two small chittering, bare-foot figures, clad only in shorts and T-shirts watching me. I greeted them. They were a Grade 5 & Grade 6 boy and both orphans. They had been raking through the coups at the Mission to see what they could find. They were now wanting permission to pick guavas and lemons, only because I was there, I assume. I confess, at their age, I used to go raiding for apples in the autumn but not for my breakfast.

The container with its store of winter clothes, shoes and blankets came to the rescue again.

High Days and Holidays

2009-05-01T16:13:00.002+01:00

It’s been a busy few weeks since Easter. We were delighted to have an overnight moderatorial visit. It was a pleasure to be able to show David, Maggie, Catherine and Eileen around the Mission and let them see the various ministries in action.

The local community too were delighted to have such a high-profile official visit. The local Boys and Girls Brigade Companies marched from the Orphan and Vulnerable Day Centre to the seat of the Senior Chief Inyambo Yeta where his Royal Highness and the Moderator inspected the assembled youth. This was followed by a march-past. The parade marched to the beat of the drums originally from Houston, Renfrewshire. Now, how would the Lozis take to pipes…?

Today is May Day so it is a public holiday. There is only a skeleton Hospital staff on duty but as I write a cow is being slaughtered outside the kitchen for the celebrations which will take place later this afternoon at the Hospital Chapel. There will be the official speech then the serious business of having a party will start.

Beef stew is on the menu, with bean stew for the vegetarians. This will be served with kale and since it is a festive occasion both nshima (thick maize porridge) and boiled rice will be available.No worse than serving Yorkshire pudding and roast potatoes together, if you are worrying about your ‘carb’ in-take.

On Sunday, the local SDA Church has invited us to their Social Sports Day. Another happy occasion, taking us both back to childhood Sunday School trips usually to places like Millport or Largs. The school playing fields where this will take place is ankle-deep in silver sands too. There will be serious track and field events but also the fun races as well; the sack and three-legged race, tug-of-war and even an eating competition. Though another striking difference is I’ve been invited to give the opening devotion on ‘Sports and Spiritual Warfare’!

Hosanna to Hallelujah

2009-04-29T11:05:00.006+01:00

Blessed is the one who comes in God’s name. Psalm 118:26

We missed the Palm Sunday Service this year. We were saying farewell to a group of surgeons who had spent ten days doing general surgery at Mwandi. These operations were mainly very necessary hernias, though there were other life-saving procedures done as well. Peggy, the leader of the team, came to Mwandi as a young medical student over 10 years ago and pledged to return annually once qualified. This she has faithfully done.

Peggy’s team has been followed by Ozzie’s, who specialize in eye surgery and cataracts. This too is a wonderful blessing to the community here. There are almost 500 people now able to see who could not. It is always a very moving time when the eye-patches are removed and the patients realize they can see. It is a joyous occasion expressed by singing, dancing and ululations.

These operations put quite a strain on the staff and infrastructure of the hospital as they are over and above the usual referrals and other emergency cases. However, the American Board of Trustees make a generous contribution, assisting financially to help us to defray the cost of the extra food, cleaning materials and some of the overtime of the staff. Extra fuel is also required to screen patients, pick them up and return them home after the operation. This ministry could not be done without this support.

This work carried out by these doctors and the other hospital staff is a witness to, a reflection of and a response to the love of our servant Lord as we think today about the foot-washing and the ministry of the towel with the embracing of all in need, the sinner, the outcast and the healing beyond the physical. Tomorrow we move through the agony and passion of Good Friday and into the darkness of Holy Saturday followed by the dawning of the light of Easter and the announcement that: Christ is risen, He is risen indeed.

We wish you all a blessed Easter,
Keith, Ida, Catriona & Mubita

Worst flood for decades

2009-03-30T16:00:00.002+01:00

The Zambezi River rises in the Kalene Hills in north-west Zambia and flows north through Angola for about 280km and then re-enters Zambia, flowing south through the Barotse plain. In south west Zambia the river becomes the border between Zambia and Namibia for about 130km. Mwandi is about half way along this border.

The water level on the Zambezi continues to rise past its highest levels ever. The National Milling Shop at Mwandi looks like Noah’s Ark with a sandbag causeway to reach it. Houses in the lower lying parts of the village have been flooded.The flooding is destroying crops and blocking roads and threatening food security for the coming year. There are likely to be low food stocks with shortages of maize and mealie meal on local markets for some time.

Heavy rain has also caused smaller rivers like the Kasaya and Loantja to flood, cutting off access to settlements, destroying homes and schools and displacing people in Namibia, Zambia and Angola. With floods come also the danger of diseases like malaria and cholera. Shang'ombo, the District to the East of us is completely cut off and has been for over a week. Yesterday the Zambezi crossed the second highest level ever recorded since 1969. Heavy rains are continuing to fall upstream

Across the river in Namibia the Zambezi has risen above its highest recorded level because the rains have persisted longer than usual. It is reported we have received more than 200% of our normal rainfall in February. The floods have so far claimed 92 lives and will affect the food security of Namibian subsistence farmers too. Our part of the border between Zambia and Namibia is a colonial invention. There are Lozis on both sides of the river. During the floods, people who die across the water are usually buried in Mwandi as their cemetery is under water for three months of the year.

Finally to give you an idea of what we could expect, God forbid: in 2007 an estimated 285,000 people were affected and 29 were killed in the Zambezi River basin during the worst floods to hit the country in six years.

Flooding and fishing

2009-03-17T10:46:00.000Z

The rains have been good this year, the maize tasseled and the cobs are growing. White-thorn branches have been cut and placed round the maize fields to keep out marauding cattle and a constant battle is being waged at the moment against the monkeys who keep coming to raid the fields as well. Green cobs are being plucked and boiled or roasted and enjoyed at the moment. The ground nuts too are beginning to form in their shells and will be ready in a month or so.

In the country behind Mwandi, March is the month when the flood waters begin to spread and Magumwi and Mushakula, our two furthest outposts are cut off. Today’s rains flooded the fields and roads surrounding Situlu 25km away.This means vehicles cannot reach patients at these places. People on regular medications have been given a three month supply and pregnant mothers nearing their time are urged to come to the Mothers Shelter at the hospital at least 2 weeks before their due date. Clinics will be held at the tar road in a tent and people will travel by dug-out.

The Zambezi at Mwandi is rising and with us is now only a metre below lawn level. The fish - mainly bream, catfish and tiger - have all spawned and the fishing ban is now over. This should help the food situation. Most people in the area are subsistence farmers but those near a river turn their hand to a bit of fishing as well. Catfish are harvested a good bit inland from the river because of the flooding. So the men are now preparing their nets and fishing spears as they return in their dug-outs (mukolo sing. / makolo pl.) to the fishing.

Thanks for keeping in touch through this blog. We thank you too for the letters and the e-mails we receive that from you all. We are sorry that we are not able to answer you all individually!

Take-home pay

2009-03-13T12:07:00.000Z

This is what God requires of you: only this, to act justly, to love tenderly and to walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6:8)

Below is a table that you might like to look at. It’s some recent comparative ‘Take-home pay’ from the Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection. The Zambian Kwacha (K) is approx 8,000 to the GBP and K 5,500 to US Dollar.

TEACHER: Max K1,485,000
NURSE RG: Max K 2,624,000
RURAL PIECE WORKER: Max K 15,000 per day
SECURITY GUARD: Max K 750,000
SECRETARY (CIVIL SERVICE): Max K 1,480,000
AVERAGE MONTHLY INCOME: K 645,326

The Centre also monitors a monthly basic needs basket for a family of six in Lusaka comprising of food items and other essential non-food items. A total of K 1,914,450 was required to meet these costs (around GBP 250).

In April the tax threshold goes up to K 700,000 (GBP100) before you pay 25% basic level tax, which is good as that will help most of our lower paid workers.

For those of us enjoying fairly secure and affluent life-styles it is not always easy to understand the degree of poverty and deprivation endured by the overwhelming majority of the Zambian population. We are saturated by statistics and inured to the impact of once-shocking photographs portraying various aspects of the bare existence of suffering people.

Despite so-called ‘donor fatigue’ ( 2 Thess.3:13 should put an end to that anyway!) the Church needs to be concerned continually with social justice and morality, the relief of hunger, economic development and the equitable use and distribution of the resources of this earth entrusted to humankind by God. The Church here to highlight and deal with the sinfulness of the greed and self-interest of a few at the expense of the many.

Accusations of playing politics are often levelled when you speak about such things but these matters are part of Ida’s and my personal experience of living here. The arguments we hear from Europe and the US about the credit crunch, that ‘we have troubles of our own’ does not relieve us of the responsibilities to other brothers and sisters whose human rights and dignity are being denied.

So it was good to learn in the the Church of Scotland’s World Mission magazine of the response to Fairtrade Fortnight. The activities and events taking place are a beginning to rectify the situation where the unjust world trading systems still work for the benefit of the rich and powerful.

A Modern Tower of Babel

2009-03-05T15:54:00.000Z

It has been said that the English and Americans are peoples divided by a common language. I think that can be said of any of the English-speaking peoples. Here at Mwandi there are various varieties of English in everyday use, the most common being naturally Zambian-English.
Other common dialects heard are Australian, Scots, English-English and U.S. English (Yankee & Southern).

It is not just pronunciation that presents difficulties as you would expect but vocabulary is problematic too…. In Zambian English there are many words that have come from the 7 major indigenous languages. These are common everyday words used by everyone. The most common being chitenge (a cotton wrap) and inshima (maize-meal thick porridge). Another lovely onomatopoetic word is patapatas (flip-flops). The names of trees, plants, birds and animals are another source of these. Dambo is a geographical expression. From South African English come takkies (sandshoes) and robots (traffic lights). Zambian neologisms include to foot (walk) and moveous (elusive and up to no good). And from the mines come malegeni (inner-tube rubber used to repair all manner of things) and b*ggered. The last term for many English speakers causes your jaw to drop on first hearing it, but is used by many Zambians in fairly formal contexts.

So what has brought us to musing over language this week? Well, two amusing misunderstandings really. Fiona, our Australian daughter-in-law living in Zambia, had borrowed some cake-tins to bake a cake for a farewell tea for an Australian colleague. She forgot to bring the tins over to wash them, and return them, so she asked Beauty, her PA, if she would please go to her kitchen and bring the cake-tins over to be washed. Fiona did say that Beauty had looked at her in a puzzled fashion, but said nothing and had apparently gone to do as she was asked. Fiona arrived home in the evening to find bare windows in the kitchen and sitting-room and the still unwashed cake-tins! The Australian pronunciation of cake-tins to the Zambian ear sounds like curtains! The neatly-laundered items were delivered the next day.

At sundown on Monday, Kelvin came in and asked us if we wanted him to lock up our beds. We were unsure which beds he meant, our own or the hospitals, and why did they need to be locked up? After further questions and answers that clouded the matter more, the penny finally dropped. Ah, our birds - the geese and ducks were what Kelvin meant! There is a rather large variation between the Scottish and Zambian English pronunciations of birds, but thankfully the written form of Standard English is fairly homogeneous and stable. (See below.)

GLOSSARY
Chitenge: a cotton wrap
Takkies: sandshoes (cf. Scots gutties)
Inshima: maize-meal thick porridge
To foot: to walk
Patapatas: flipflops
Moveous: elusive & up to no good (cf. Scots sleekit)
Dambo: a wet marsh area
B*ggered: in need of repair
Malegeni: inner-tube rubber used to repair all manner of things.
Robots: traffic lights

Light their path

2009-02-24T11:37:00.000Z

Yesterday at Church was another significant service with the rededication of the Anamoyo (Women’s Christian Fellowship) and the Blessing of Percy and Muyunda’s marriage. This was finally solemnised earlier in the month after protracted negotiations between Percy and Muyunda’s family. Percy is the Youth Pastor here and has been reaching out to young people in the community for the past year, though his role was only formalised in December 2008. We are delighted that he has found his wife and a helpmeet in Muyunda.

Sunday dawned bright and fresh after a heavy shower on Saturday. Brothers and sisters in the Church family had baked and decorated the cake, arranged the flowers, shredded the coleslaw, cooked the chicken and beef and prepared the Simba lawn for the lunch with furniture; and the benches from the chapel and tables from the Conference Room were set under the shade of the river-bank trees. Many hands were busy arranging the bougainvillea, hibiscus, roses in a profusion of delicate shades into dainty baskets, together with scented lavender and golden rod. Our family tent was pitched and its verandah used as a shaded pavilion for His Royal Highness Senior Chief Inyambo Yeta, who graced the occasion with his presence. The Anamoyo organized a group to prepare the rice and buhobe.

The service was held outside at the Church and Percy and Muyunda walked together hand in hand to the front of the congregation where the Reverend Silishebo blessed the couple with prayer and Scripture. They both promised to be faithful, loving, comforting, protecting and honouring life-long to each other this was followed by the exchange of rings and the Aaronic Blessing. Finally the congregation had the joy of embracing and congratulating the two of them and presenting them with gifts as tokens of love and esteem.

The celebration was a delightful mix of the Zambian and Christian.The first guests together with the couple arrived soon after the service for photographs in the garden.

Lunch followed, washed down by iced water and the ubiquitous bottles of Coke, Fanta or Sprite. (The bottle tops are a handy teaching aid for demonstrating square and triangular numbers to Grade 8!) The accompanying music was from the CD produced by the Mwandi Choir.

Percy and Muyunda have faced a tough time physically and spiritually, but they know who is leading them. At the end of the lunch both said they felt full of energy and ready to face the task God has set before them. They know they have been strengthened from God’s boundless resources and were able to pass through the difficulties that beset them earlier and to endure them with courage. As they start married life together we pray for God’s grace to light their path as they construct a ministry together that will bless and transform their life together and the lives of others.

A Trip of Coincidences

2009-02-16T14:33:00.000Z

We have been musing recently what a good collective for coincidences might be. This is a game that we as a family often used to play on long car journeys! And we've had a long trip. We returned on Saturday evening to Mwandi from a busy week of meetings and doing business in Lusaka.

On Tuesday in the city we were conscientiously working our way down the ‘To Do’ list (at our age the written list has become a necessity) and to be honest we were becoming a bit smug about the good progress we were making. We had purchased tyres for the Aids Relief vehicle and various spare parts and were dropping them off at the Beit Cure Paediatric Hospital where Harold and Susan are chaplains. Susan is the former Minister at Mwandi and Harold, a Pastor as well, is the twin brother of Heath, who runs Mwandi’s Lab. A driver would later collect the tyres and other purchases and drive them back to Mwandi in the Government vehicle.

As we were leaving with the purchases, we saw two rather forlorn figures: it was Gladys and her Mum from Mwandi. I had taught Gladys two years ago in Grade 7. Unfortunately she had been attacked by a crocodile at the river and her foot and leg had been very badly deformed from the bite. Mother and daughter had come up to Lusaka for an operation and Gladys had just been discharged. Mum was delighted to see us. She is a self-confessed country-woman who does not know Lusaka. She had been told to go with Gladys to the Italian Orthopaedic Hospital on the other side of the city for a wedge and she was told also to buy a pair of strong lacing shoes (there are no medical boots available for purchase in Zambia). She did not have money for the shoes and did not know where to start to look for them anyway. A taxi-driver had cheated her earlier with a fare. She was dispirited and at the end of her tether. Gladys was in flipflops and carrying a stick, and without the shoes any good done by the operation would be undone.

This is where it is necessary to listen to God’s small voice. It would have been very easy to say, “We’re sorry, we’re on Mission business, we’re too busy doing other important work to get involved in this.” But this was a time we both felt God had put us here to help Gladys and her Mum. ‘Efter muckle focht and ding’ we got the shoes and arrived at the Orthopaedic Hospital to be welcomed unexpectedly by other friends who just happened to be up from Mwandi. They were able to take Gladys and her Mum under their wing. Confirmation through another ‘coincidence’

Other former pupils we bumped in to on the trip: Michael, now Logistics Manager at the Nissan garage where our car is being repaired; Khetiwe, Project Manager at ZNAN, able to help LIMOVADI women with applications for grants; Phatiswayo, working at his father’s Fire Extinguisher business, able to help at the hospital; and, Kanyanta, now a graduate Doctor hoping to come to Mwandi for rural placement.

Bring light to the people

2009-02-06T14:53:00.000Z

Muiseze batu liseli
(Bring light to the people)
Kai ni kai mwa lifasi
(Throughout the world)
Muise taba za bupilo
(Bring the Gospel)
Kwa batu ba mishobo
(To all of humankind)

These words come from a powerful hymn in the Lozi hymnary, a hymn that is often sung by the Men’s Christian Fellowship when they meet. Last Sunday was such an occasion at the Mwandi Mission’s Jerusalem Church, where the Annual MCF Rededication Service took place in front of the congregation. The MCF individuals promise to set a good example of Christian love. The MCF, also called the Alume, was formed in the early 70s to encourage male communicants to share the Gospel with others, to become witnesses and to pray and encourage one another. The Jerusalem Church Choir was there in support. It was a busy time of worship with a visiting Minister, Reverend Lubasi from Livingstone preaching and celebrating Communion.

Jerusalem Church stands symbolically in the middle of the Mission between the school and hospital, showing that the Church is central to all that we do here as an institution with our various ministries – teaching, learning, nursing, healing, providing care of various sorts and spiritual formation. If we forget that or neglect that, then everything we are about loses focus and perspective. All our differences and diversity find their unity and fundamental meaning here.

So on Sunday we offered up everything we are and do to be used by God for God’s purposes in the world. Our Lord calls us to participate in the work of salvation here on earth, so we pledge ourselves and our labour to be used in his service according to his will and to bring his light, life and love into the dark places of this world.

A New Year in Mwandi

2009-01-21T10:15:00.000Z

During our absence over Christmas in Australia, a new borehole was drilled and a hand pump mounted at Mwanangono B. This is a section of the village, a ward if you like. This was organized at long-distance by e-mail from Australia and was funded by Aiken Church, South Carolina. However, it was not sited where we expected, so there is a disgruntled Committee at Mwanangono B East but a delighted one at Mwanangono B North!

The school have asked Keith to take another Grade 8 class for Maths and Science. We are waiting patiently to hear from the Ministry of Education as to whether we can open a Grade 10 this year. The local carpenter is making stools and benches for the Science Laboratory at present.

The Milk Formula Programme continues. It is administered well on the ground by Irene and Kufakisa. There are now 60 babies being fed. We have made contact with the distributer in Lusaka in an attempt to cheapen the cost. They have agreed to supply us at import cost and even deliver the powder to us every three months if we can order enough at a time.

As Paul asks, who indeed is sufficient for these things? Looking back at our lives we can see that God doesn’t necessarily call us because we are fitted for the job. He calls us, then equips us as we obey him. Philippians 4:13 is a great comfort here in trying to deal with the natural doubts and feelings of inadequacy - I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

We thank you all for your cards, letters, e-mails and best wishes over Christmas and the New Year and for your continued prayers.

With love
Keith Ida & Family