It has been quite some time since I posted....you better grab a coffee or a cup of bush tea for this one!

The greeting, “Mwabuka buti”, followed by “Kabotu” are some of my favourite words in in life. This is the simple morning greeting in Chitonga, the main language spoken in the Kalomo area. I got to say it a few times over the weekend because we were visiting dear friends in the Kalomo area at Namwianga mission. It felt great. It also felt great to walk along my old sandy roads on the mission. We didn’t venture too far because we were just enjoying visiting with friends but it was so wonderful to just be in that place. In Lusaka, the main language spoken is Chinyanja. I am getting braver with trying words, but when I have trouble remembering simple phrases because I usually default to French or Chitonga!

We wandered by my old thatch guesthouse—technically it is the Mann guesthouse, but I call it mine because that is where I lived for a year with Emily, Bill and Wendy. That was 10 years ago already—time flies! On our next visit I will see if I can go look around inside just to see what has changed since our last visit in 2006. It was comforting just to see it though—still feels like home when I walk past. I feel like I should be able to walk through the door and smell Mrs. Beel busy whipping up something delicious in the kitchen, Mr. Beel working at something on his mac (solitaire perhaps?!), Emily getting ready to head out and play volleyball with the college kids, and few people waiting on the step to see “the madame”. Those were the good old days!  

A lot has changed at the mission, yet much remains the same too. There are some new houses, some families have gone to work elsewhere and new families have come to stay. Of course there are new secondary and college students around—and it is strange for me to not know any of them! It was wonderful to see old friends. To pop by the staff-room at the secondary to find my old neighbour Kadonsi and surprise him! To find my dear friend Jennifer and give her a big hug. She is still so beautiful. I brought her a chitenge quilt that I made this summer—she loved it! We also go to see Josh, who has become a young man since we saw him last in 2006. So great to spend some time visiting with him and Rod this weekend too—we were even treated to South African Potje for supper one evening! (But we missed Sue, who was travelling up north for a week or so!)

Butchering some Sable antelope with Rod - meat is not my favourite thing in the world but Sable is yummy!

Jennifer and her quilt!

We stayed with our dear friends, the Mbumwaes. Ruhtt and Shepherd are just the same as ever—lovely and extremely active in helping many people. Their generosity overflows and it is contagious. We enjoyed a chance to catch up with them and to hear how things are with their family and work. We just love them to pieces! Also, their 3 kids were home for a short break from boarding school so we loved spending some time with them too and getting to know them again. Kids change a lot over 6 years! But, as in all things, they are still the way we remembered them in some ways—just older. They each have such sweet and unique personalities and all three made us laugh a lot! Of course, I had to tell funny auntie stories from when they were little and make them blush—what else are aunties for?! 

Taco supper at the Mbumwaes!

On Friday, Ruhtt asked if we wanted to help with some container stuff at Good Hope and of course we happily said said that we would—but did not realize the crazy-funny task before us! So we headed over to the container that Zambia Mission Fund sends every year, it is over at Seven Fountains Farm, which borders Namwianga, and grabbed the last of the clothing boxes and headed home to count how many clothing items were in each box to ensure that we had more than enough for all the students. During the year that I lived here I helped with countless clothing distributions and sorted countless bags and boxes of clothes. Many memories flooded back while counting, sorting and lifting boxes. In particular, I was grinning over the memory of a mountain (quite literally) of shoes that covered the bottom of the 2003 container. And none of the shoes were matched with their partner. None! That was the time that Emily’s mom and my mom had come to visit for a month; and so, we sorted shoes for a very. long. time. Anyway, this time, once clothes were counted, we headed off to Good Hope school. This is a school that I have visited many times—either with the nurses for the monthly under-five clinic or with Mr. Bill when he was the Education Secretary.  It was pretty much the same as I remembered it. This was the first time I saw Jack on this trip—he was six when I was first here and now he is 15 and a proud vice-headboy. I think I might have embarrassed him when I hugged him in front of his friends—but again, what else are aunties for?! He is so handsome and funny. I like that kid. Anyway, our task at the school was not just any old clothing distribution—it was a fundraiser for the school. Students and parents offer a donation for various clothing items. It was utter chaos, but oh so much fun! And a good amount of kwacha was raised for the school! It was a good day all around.

Good Hope School students

Collecting donations.

Ruhtt in action!

The chaos!

Jack! I didn't make him take a picture with me at school - I waited until we saw him in town!

Our Canadian friends, Favour and Fiona are running the Seven Fountains orphanage for a year. Favour grew up here and Fiona has spent a significant amount of time here over the years. I met Favour originally in 2003 when he travelled here with Fiona’s mom to meet his family. In 2006, Favour and Fiona and their kids were here with the education team and we have seen them a couple of times in Canada too—once at our wedding and once in their home in Alberta.  They are just lovely! And their kids have grown so much since we saw them last. They are all SO cute and little Raina has sparkly eyes and a giggle that is just contagious! They stopped in to see us in Lusaka when they had to come here a few weeks ago and then this weekend we enjoyed seeing them briefly at the orphanage, once for supper at Mbumwaes, and then to watch Chipolopolo beat Uganda in a sudden death shoot-out in the qualifying game for the Africa Cup. Go Zambia!! We look forward to holding some babies at the orphanage when we are there again in November and December. The day we stopped by the guys were hoisting a new water tank up onto the tall stand. It was looking if-y for a few minutes, but they got it!

Favour and Fiona and kiddos

Church at the mission was classic: amazing acoustics—awesome Chitonga songs mixed with some old hymns and contemporary-ish worship songs, a looong sit through the service, and several things I could not hear from the back of the auditorium during the sermon. It was great to be there though. After church I found the lovely and beautiful Cecilia as well as our old friend Denis. I saw a few other familiar faces too but didn’t get to greet them all. But, boy there was a lot of students!

Other than our weekend away, things are still going well for us in Lusaka. I have had one interview. It went very well. I was nervous before it began, but once it got going I felt pretty natural actually. I am getting a little anxious about not having more interviews lined up, but I am waiting to hear back from people that I have contacted. I just need to trust that it will all fall into place….but that is much easier said than done!

We walk most mornings at 5am with the Dutch Reform minister who lives next door. It is a great way to start the day and enjoy some coolness before things heat up for day. Speaking of heat – we got a reprieve while we were down south this weekend because it rained for the first time! And as I type this, it is starting to thunder again. The rains normally start closer to November, but it is kind of nice to have them come a little early because they really do cool things off beautifully. The only downside that I can remember is that rain normally means more frequent power cuts—we’ll see if that is true in Lusaka too. Rain also means that everything will start to grow like crazy; soon it will be green everywhere!

Today when we got home from the market the little dog slippers was attacking and biting at a large lizard that was hanging out of a lavender bush. It was hissing back at him and not enjoying Slipper’s extra attention. At first I thought it was a snake and I was worried it would bite slippers. So we called Adam the maintenance man over and he laughed and said it is only a lizard and not dangerous. In any case, I wasn’t getting too close.

Oh yes, and I forgot to mention that the oldest girl from the orphanage when I worked there in 2003, Misozi, came to visit us last week. She lives on the extreme other side of Lusaka with her 3 children and husband, and she is 7 months pregnant now. It was so great to see her.

In the evenings we have been enjoying South African t.v. programs because our guesthouse has satellite. We’ve found a few regular funny shows, like the “soapie” called Isidingo and another sitcom that I can’t remember the name of and—one classic from home, The Cosby’s is on every evening. This is a bonus over living at home—where we don’t even have cable t.v. because we are too cheap to get it!

Well, I think this is quite long enough for today. Sorry to be so chatty, but I hope you've enjoyed the update. I’ll try to stick to shorter posts most of the time. Many blessings for you today!

Teaser post

I know it has been a week since I posted anything.....sorry! And this one is just a teaser, so sorry again! I am working on a big post with pictures, but it is not ready yet.

Just thought I'd share two links from the Globe and Mail earlier this month. They are about the Development and Activism class that I was a teaching assistant for last fall semester. It is really the coolest class ever. Check these links out to see why - and look for me in some of the pictures that are shown during the video!

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/time-to-lead/robert-huish-a-course-in-changing-the-world/article4582210/

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/time-to-lead/what-if-creating-social-change-was-your-school-assignment/article4586581/

Giving thanks

It is easy to breeze through my days without noticing the many blessings I am given minute by minute and hour by hour. I don’t mean grand-sweeping obvious blessings like a loving husband, national peace, family, house, etc. I mean the teeny-tiny blessings that I am bombarded with daily: the pretty whistle of the bird outside my window every morning, the cool air of the morning on my face, the way the first bite of a juicy apple always squirts the end of my nose, the hug of  niece around my neck, a long hug, a smile, a “thank you madame” when I buy some fruit, red dust on my feet, small curtsies as Zambians greet one another, hot sun on my face, painted toe nails, the sizzle of an egg when I crack into the pan, the sound the kettle makes when the water is ready for making tea, a smile from an old friend, the smell of pumpkin spice tea steaming from my cup……you get the idea. The seemingly small stuff in life combine to create the larger life-picture. If I don’t live my life in a way that acknowledges the continual small gifts of grace, and give thanks for them, I miss out on living a full life. A life of joy.

My dear friend Sarah and I have been reading though “One Thousand Gifts” by Ann Voskamp. Although we only managed to squeeze in one official book club dinner before I left Halifax (although it was several hours long!), I know this book is shaping us both in significant ways. It is not a fast read - you must ‘chew’ on it as you go. The extremely short and cliché summary of the book would be to say that it is a book about learning to live with an ‘attitude of gratitude’ – or the SJ-cheese version would say, that it is about learning to have a “thankful tankful”! Neither cliché is wrong but they just scratch the surface. Voskamp tells of her journey to a fuller life by looking to scripture to learn what it means to live fully in Christ. She focuses on grace and learning to humbly accept grace with thanksgiving. She focuses on the meaning of eucharisteo (a greek word), which breaks down to mean Charis. Grace. Eucharisteo. Thanksgiving. Chara. Joy. She poetically tells of her journey to understand these concepts and of her struggle to really live them.  One of the most important concepts I took from this book is, that thanks always precedes grace – and joy comes from grace. These three concepts are intricately intertwined. A kind of eucharisteo-trinity. From this, Voskamp embarked on a journey to learn to see the extraordinary in her ordinary life. To note the little blessings, the little graces, and to give thanks. She started a list of a thousand gifts – noting the little graces of her days. I have also started a list. As in anything, learning to see blessing in the minute moments of my days and to give thanks for them is a work in progress - but it is a journey worth taking because it leads to a fuller, joy-filled, life! 

Happy thanksgiving weekend, Canada!

 

Here are a few snaps of the guesthouse we are staying at. It is quite perfect!

Bedroom

From the bedroom

Living room

Kitchen

Our door.

Family pics and fruit stand. We don't actually know if the micro works - but it is helpful storage space!

Minister's house. Our place is to the right.

Dutch reformed church in front of our place

Off like a herd of turtles!

 Well, it might be an exaggeration to say that we are off to a turtle-ish start, but it is taking us longer than I thought it would to get situated and get going on research. That being said, I realistically knew that I wouldn’t waltz in a start interviewing on day two or three. The first thing I am anxious to sort out is getting my mobile configured so that I can get emails to my phone. The day we tried to set it up, the battery died right in the middle of it! We are hoping to get back to Airtel today to get that sorted. Also, the latest technology-rage is portable modems so that you can have internet-connection almost anywhere! To a non-techie like myself, this sounds pretty sci-fi….but we are going to try to get one. We used Rod’s while he was here and it is pretty slick! We’ll see how successful we are at finding one of those. What a crazy difference from when I was here a decade ago and Mr. Beel would spend hours and hours trying to connect to the internet to send and receive messages. 

Cell phones and internet connections are not the only changes that amaze me. Lusaka does not even look like its former-self! Construction sites around every corner, growing suburbs, an amazing number of cars jamming streets full, shopping malls and women wearing jeans/pants. So very different! I am told though that outside the city remains basically the same as before – with the exception of regular cell phone use in small towns and in the bush. The contrast between rich and poor is striking.

This morning we walked to the office that my research is affiliated with. I met some incredibly kind and knowledgeable people. I am looking forward to working with them – I can learn much from their experience and expertise. Tomorrow I will meet with my main person and then hopefully schedule some interviews! We shall see…..

The location of our guesthouse is really quite perfect. It is a about 20 minutes from the office, 5 minutes from groceries and a nice café, and 25 minute walk from a grocery store that sells soy milk (!!) and another café that even sells soy lattes!  I think there might be something wrong with me: everywhere I go, I scout out coffee/cafe options. My line to Matthew is that “my happiness is relative to my proximity to coffee.” A little over the top perhaps, but true to a certain degree because I continue the same scouting pattern wherever I roam.

I love the heat. I say that now, because it is a few degrees cooler today with a beautiful breeze, but really I do love the heat. I’m pretty sure that my body is programmed to live in the sub-tropics. It just feels right. Heat makes some people grouchy, but for me it is cold that does that. It just makes me growly! I love walking on dusty sidewalks too. And it feels good to wash my dirty feet several times a day. So refreshing! Walking in the city is different though, because you don’t greet everyone along the way. I am used to saying “morning, morning, morning….” as I pass people on journey – but here you only get the occasional greeting. I suppose this is just a classic symptom of urbanization: lack of a sense of community. It is to be expected I suppose.

One of my favourite pastimes as I walk along is to note the unique names of shops or to giggle at the shops that are called Zam______. For example, Zambeef, Zamloaf, Zamtel, etc. And one particularly clever marketing campaign for Airtel ends several phrases with “Be Zambitious!” Catchy, eh?  Another fun game is to randomly add Zam- as a prefix to my words as I go about my day.  You should try it - it is Zamtastic!

Well, I think that is quite enough from me for today. Can you tell that I haven’t quite got over the jet-lag thing? I am not a good sleeper at the best of times, but this being  wide awake at 2 or 3 am has got to stop soon! It is out of control. I wake up and I’m ready to go for the day – I usually fall asleep again around 5 or 6am – and that’s with Chamomile tea. Sheesh.

Hope all is well in your neck of the woods! Much love, from Kabulonga!