So, already another week has gone by, and I’m not quite sure where it went! I know it took me a few days to get round to posting my last blog, but it feels like yesterday I wrote it!
The last week has been busy and jam packed but great. I do feel a bit like I’ve not had time to sit down and catch up with myself though which is why I’ve taken the opportunity to escape this afternoon. I’m sat in the shade overlooking the pool at the local Protea Hotel. The temperatures are reaching 40 degrees in the middle of the day at the moment so it’s far too hot to be out in the sun most of the time. Everyone walks so slowly here because it’s too hot to go fast (apparently) but I go with the walk-fast-and-get-in-the-shade-quicker option so that I don’t burn and die. For those of you who haven’t ever seen me in the sun, half an hour in our English sunshine can leave me looking rather pink, so I’m sticking to the shade and factor 50 combo! Seems to be working so far...not burnt and peeling yet!
Well, lots has happened this week again and it’s started of some interesting thoughts in my head that I’m trying to get straight. I thought I might take the opportunity of trying to explain them to you to try and figure them out properly for myself as well...so if it seems like I’m rambling, then, I probably am! I’ll sort of tell you about what’s happened as that will lead me on to where my thoughts have wandered through the week.
Since I last wrote we spent Sunday and Monday having our weekend (as we lost Saturday to the conference). I went to the anglican church near our house. It was really really similar to what I’m used to at St Margaret’s in many ways, but then it had a few bits that were slightly different and threw me totally! The ringing of bells for communion well made me jump!
I think Tuesday was spent at home - I have the joyous task of doing the team accounts so spent some time getting that up to date - Woo-hoo! It’s fine really, just a little tedious. I have to log all the money spent and file all the receipts so every penny (well, Kwacha) is accounted for. It’s a spreadsheet of joy I can tell you!!! (Sadly a little part of me enjoys the maths!)
On Wednesday we returned to Kapeshi to paint the second classroom and see how the people had got along with ideas for a community project to support the school. We had lots of fun painting again and then sat down for the meeting - I had to leave at this point as I was off somewhere else, but Andy & Ruth filled me in on what had happened at the meeting. Lots of people had had ideas, which was great! Sadly though lots of them relied on a large sum of money being injected to get them going...this is sort of what I touched on in my last blog. We want to encourage the people of Kapeshi to do something realistic for themselves - we only want to be the catalyst rather than becoming something they rely on. This isn’t because we mean and tight...it’s because for something to be sustainable, the community needs to be able to manage it themselves. Also, if we were to give one community a load of money, we couldn’t keep doing it for another community and another. However, if we can encourage people to work together and take ownership of a situation they can do the same for their neighbours and their villages. Sometimes though we all get stuck in a rut and can’t see a way out and we just need a helping hand and a gentle shove to get us going!
In the end, I think it was agreed that the community could start and sustain a small garden (when they say small garden, don’t think your average semi-detached burnage garden - think little farm garden!) to grow food to sell with the proceeds going to the school. The village is going to appoint a committee to run the scheme and once the ground is cleared and prepared, I think it was agreed that we would provide a bag of seed and fertiliser to help get them started and then all being well they should be on their way...time will tell! I don’t want to sound sceptical, but they have a long way to go. They have to begin the work which is often the hardest part. Hopefully they will grab this opportunity with both hands and see what they are able to achieve for themselves and their children!
While the meeting was going on, I had to go over to Mibila where the clinic that Dignity helped build is. I had the opportunity to meet George (the doctor) and his wife Mercy who’s house plans I am supposed to be looking at. Sadly, the making of the bricks required for their house has not yet begun for various reasons. This means that there is not time to build their new house before the rainy season begins and it is likely that this project will now have to wait to next year. I’m disappointed about this as it was something I was really looking forward to getting involved with and something I felt I might actually be able to bring some knowledge too - everything else we’re doing feels new to me and I feel like I’m just learning and being a pair of hands but not necessarily bringing much wisdom to anything. On the flip side though, as it has been becoming clear that the building may not happen this year it has also been becoming clear where there are things that will need my time so I think that once again, God’s pulling together plans in his own special way!
Back to the clinic though, it was great to actually be there. I’ve heard so much about it and seen so many pictures of it, it was a real privilege to be there in person! It’s now serving 2300 people and it sounds like George and his helpers have their work cut out! I’m going to take a look at the plans for the new building still and see whether I think there is any ways they could be improved on There is also an issue with the fridge that needs ventilating properly that I have to solve...
Thursday was spent out in the bush in Joel’s village, Ipafu, meeting with the five pastors. We are looking to use a discipleship course a bit like Alpha, but specifically written for people living in rural Africa so we spent the day having a look at this and seeing what they thought. It seemed to get the seal of approval from them so were going to give it a go in Joel village tomorrow. He’s spreading the word and we’re all gathering at 3pm tomorrow (that’s 2pm in England) to support him as he leads the session. We’re then staying the night (my first experience of night time in the bush...very exciting...and I get to pitch my tent...one of my favourite things to do!) so we can spend some time discussing stuff on Friday morning before heading home.
It’s particularly important that the pastors are happy with the proposals and the content of the course as it is them that will be running it over the next few months. As with the Alpha course, the idea is that you don’t have to be a fully qualified super knowledgeable vicar-y pastor type person, but just someone who knows God to be able to run the course with a small group. This means that others can take on the course to run in their own village over time...a bit like the domino effect but when you split one row of dominoes into two and they each branch out and keep toppling the next dominoes over.
We are also discussing ways that the pastors can free up some of their time. They are not like English vicars who get a vicarage and salary...they still have to work in their “gardens” (farms) and support their families so it’s important that we don’t ask too much of them causing difficulties in other areas of their lives. We are therefore trying to work through ideas with them of very practical and realistic ways they can free up some time.
I can’t really remember what happened on Friday, but I think I was at home as I know Andy was out with the car all day...Oh yeah, I was at home beginning to look through some of the discipleship material and get to grips with it all myself...it was good to have a day at home and not out in the sun!
Saturday was a really interesting day. A friend of Jon’s called Mark was here last week just for the week. He’s a photographer and has been photographing some families and projects out here for the last few years. On Saturday I was his chauffeur for the day, taking him around some wells that Dignity have been involved with getting constructed in some villages, along with a guy called Bill who is the local councillor. These aren’t yet finished, but are all dug and have reached water. There is just to top bits to build now and the winding mechanisms (no small job!) I got to adventure to some villages I haven’t been to previously which was great and meet some people who’s lives have been affected. Bill was given a very warm reception when he met us at one village with some villagers running over to give him a huge hug....but wouldn’t you hug a man who had made it so you didn’t have to walk 5km every day to fetch water!!
On Sunday we all went to a baptist church in a local “suburb” of chingola. The whole service was mainly in Bemba apart from Jon’s sermon (which was translated for the congregation) so I didn’t catch that much of what was going on, but it was an experience!
Monday was a pretty amazing day...and I think it was the day that has sparked off all the thoughts in my brain when it’s taken with what I’ve seen and experienced so far in my time here. We visited a christian training institute which was an amazing place! They provide training in teaching, agriculture, primary care and other very practical areas then send their students out to live in villages, passing on the knowledge to those around them. They see the building of relationships as essential before it is possible to win the trust of the people. Everything they were saying and doing was fantastic and really inspirational and throughout everything they are doing they interweave a belief in God and the need to disciple people rather than just go and evangelise then leave.
The buildings they are currently using as a base are on loan from the government and could be repossessed at any time. They are therefore in the process of building a new base for the college and, well, if you saw it you wouldn’t think it was in the middle of an African bush village! It looks more Scandinavian and it really is a beautiful place (check out my pics on facebook if you can...) What’s incredible about the whole thing is that it is being built by local villagers. The college has trained a number of locals in thatching, brick laying, carpentry and other practical skills and are now employing them to construct the new base. Throughout all this process they are building relationships with the people and having the opportunity to talk through everyday life with them and disciple them, teaching them a very practical christian faith that they can understand and relate to their everyday lives.
I came away from the centre amazed by the practical achievements and the dedication of the staff. However, the thing that struck me most was the feel and atmosphere of the place. It’s hard to explain, but the people working their carried themselves in a manner quite different to the people in most rural villages. There was a sense that the people had been empowered to help themselves to achieve something, to push themselves and really go for it. All the materials used for the buildings were sourced locally and this has lead to many others being involved in really simple ways, providing the materials and earning some money in the process.
In most villages people ask for money, for nothing! Personally I have been asked to fund a well in a village and also sort out a bridge (and not a small one!) and that was just on Saturday. As I mentioned before, people see white people as rich and themselves as poor. Generally there seems to be no hesitation from people to ask for handouts, to expect help for nothing. The difference I felt at the centre we visited was that people were helping themselves and were able to feel a sense of achievement because they were helping themselves.
This all led me on to thinking about what we are aiming for and what we can achieve. The plans we have for our time here are very similar to those at the centre in terms of discipleship and spending time with people rather than going somewhere, preaching and leaving. We are also looking to interweave the spiritual and the practical, which in Africa are generally much more closely linked anyway than in a western culture. However, there is no physical way we could reach the level of training and financial investment they have currently achieved...that’s come from 12 years of hard work!
So, my thoughts have been going something like this...in the time we have, what can we actually give the people that is of worth? How can we possibly help and make a difference to their lives? And how on earth can do we stand any chance of reaching any of the masses of people that are in desperate need of help? Well, when I think about all that, I realise that there is no way we could do practically make their lives better. As I think everyone knows it would take millions and millions of pounds to practically help all the people in Africa. However, somebody said something interesting to me...poverty isn’t what you have, it’s what you do with what you have. A villager may tell you they are poor, they have no food or money, they can’t afford to live....but the truth is, they have land, they have families, they have skills...actually they are blessed! If they can understand this and take a different view on life, I am beginning to think that this could be the key to them transforming their life. Now, I realise that some of this may not sound very sympathetic and that it may sound like I’m just saying - huh, they should do it themselves and stop moaning, but that’s not what I think at all!
To change the way we see our lives and think is one of the hardest things we can possibly do. If we can help people with this, then I think the rest, although it will no doubt be hard work, will follow. Now, I can’t go out and change peoples hearts and perspectives, but I do believe I know a God who can! The best I can do for the people I meet in real need, is to help them to come to know a God who really cares for them and wants to be involved in their everyday life. Most people here are acutely aware of the spiritual world, many are nominally christians who go to church. However, there is very little teaching and support. Religion stays in church and people return to their every day lives and begin to get buried by the every day pressures again - much the same as back home sadly. If we can begin to put in place the beginnings of a network that can expand of its own accord, that will help people to understand that God is bigger than Sunday mornings, and help them to grow real living relationships with a God who transforms...then I am beginning to understand, he can transform their view of their own life and in turn effect real practical change as well.
Add to this the basic understanding of Christianity that we are called to serve those around us, not ourselves and you have the basis of a transformation that can grow and grow....
Now, I haven’t got time to read all that through before I have to go, and I have no idea if any of it makes much sense, but it is what has been churning over and over in my brain. It’s something that I know people have said to me before, but I think I am finally beginning to get it for myself. By telling you the honest ins and outs of my thoughts, I hope it helps you begin to grasp it as well...I can tell you, my brain and fingers are now worn out! This was meant to be a shorter entry than last time, but once again...turns out I had a lot to say!!!! I guess that’s nothing new!
