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.
Tuesday, 27 October 2009
Wednesday, 14 October 2009
A family and church update
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.
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.
Friday, 18 September 2009
Press leaks
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.
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.
Monday, 24 August 2009
Down to the Water
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.
Friday, 14 August 2009
Blessed are you among women
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)
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)
Wednesday, 22 July 2009
What's in a name?
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.
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.
Thursday, 16 July 2009
Mubita
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.
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.
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