It’s all change for me! I’ve now left Chingola, have been to an orphanage my church in Manchester supports and am now in Lusaka for a couple of nights before heading south to Livingstone for a week and then...it’s time to come home!
The last couple of weeks in Chingola were different, but great in their own way. Everyone else had packed up and gone so I was on my own tying up a few lose ends. If I’m totally honest, I was a little worried about being on my own - what if something happened, what if I didn’t know the way somewhere, what if I was lonely and wanted to talk to someone...oh yeah, I’d just talk to myself like I normally do!!
As is usually the case, I shouldn’t have worried! Things did happen...the car got a slow puncture; one of the pastors had slipped during the conference and as his leg wasn’t getting any better I took him to the hospital - turns out he’d broken it; I drove down possibly the worst stretch of road I’ve ever driven, and loved it (once I reached the other end and knew I hadn’t got stuck in any mud!) But, in all these things, provision was made and God proved faithful. Not once did I feel alone! I was well cared for with every need being faithfully met, from a car to follow along the rough road to someone to help me change the tyre!
The days were so full that I didn’t have chance to feel lonely at all really. Following on from the conference a number of small groups are beginning in local villages. Between them, Joel, Vincent, Ponde, Ranger and Caspa are going to try to visit each group once a month to encourage and support them. We all felt that it would be good to try and visit these groups in their first or second week to help them get going and as some of the “local” villages aren’t really local at all, I ran the jo-taxi service to help the pastors travel around them all. Whilst they can get there on their bikes, it can take hours to cycle the distance, so being able to take them in the car meant they could visit many more in the time they had.
During the two weeks, I decided it really would have been handy if my Bemba was better as I spent about an hour or two most days sitting in a room full of people all talking in Bemba!!! One day, we had started a group outside and the rains started so we all dashed inside. We had to stop talking for a while as the sound of the rain on the iron sheet roof was so loud you couldn’t hear each other speak. Before you know it, I was busy day dreaming...it occurred to me that I was sat in someone’s house, pretty much in the middle of nowhere, with a group of Africans in a torrential rain storm...and I just though, hmm, how amazing that I’m here! Beats sitting at desk in an office in Manchester city centre on a grey and wet day!
Other than my daydreaming, it was great to be able to see the number of people beginning to come along to join the small groups. It is so exciting to see what God is doing here unfolding before our eyes and I feel truly privileged to have been able to be a part of it all in some small way and be a witness to it! I really hope I can return some time in the not too distant future to see what God will no doubt continue to do here...
I also had a few other jobs to fit in, mainly packing up all the stuff that we are leaving behind here, which was quite a task. Sorting through everything seemed to take for ever, but it’s all sorted now! The hardest job by far was helping the pastors open a bank account. It just seemed impossible, although, it isn’t as we managed it! It was a close call in the end as, unbeknown to us, you have to provide all the information one day then return the next day to deposit some money and officially open the account. Thankfully, we went on the Thursday before I left and discovered we were missing a letter of reference. We then spent the rest of the day trying to sort this out and quite literally ran to the bank to hand it in to find they were locking the doors to go home, but kindly they let us in, which meant we could return on the Friday and deposit the money! Talk about cutting it fine...
Of course, I also found some time to have fun and took myself on a day trip to visit the chimpanzee orphanage about 40km outside of Chingola. I’d been meaning to go ever since I arrived here and never quite got round to it...typical! It was worth the visit, despite it being a long and bumpy road! The chimps were ace!! They were well cheeky and far more intelligent than I’d expected. Amongst others, there was a grumpy chimp called Nina who threw lettuce at my head and a camera shy chimp called Max who hid behind a load of hay whenever I tried to take his photo. A little randomly, there was also a massive hippo called Billy who is free to roam around the place (a little scary as hippos are dangerous!)
Quite a few times during the two weeks, I made some plans, but as the day went on, it became clear that my plans weren’t going to happen and that God had the plan for the day in his hands! My favourite example was the last Friday before I left. I’d got up and was annoyed that the puncture I’d had “mended” clearly wasn’t mended as the tyre was flat as pancake. So, the day got off to a slower start than it was meant to as I fitted the spare tyre (with help from Lazarus!) and then took the tyre back to the garage. Then I set off to meet Joel and as I was driving along the road I was thinking it was a shame that I hadn’t had a chance to say goodbye to Vincent. We were supposed to see each other the day before, but the plans had changed and it didn’t happen. As I was thinking this, I noticed a bike left at the side of the road and 200m down the road, there was Vincent! His chain had broken and he was stranded so looking for the missing link from his chain to try and mend his bike! So, Vincent and bike joined me in the car and we went to collect Joel. Also waiting with Joel was Caspa. His wife had had to go to a funeral in town and he wanted to go and meet here there, so I was able to give him a lift as I was going that way anyway. It also meant I got to say good bye to his wife!
So, we pootled into town, sorted all the jobs we had to do (mainly the bank account!) then I took Ponde home - with his broken leg he’s not really able to ride his bike at the moment! We had a lovely time with his family and his wife Mary nearly reduced me to tears when she gave me a proper african outfit made from chitenge that she had made for me! I was so amazed!!
All in all, it was a great day!
Well, all good things come to an end...and my time in Chingola was at it’s end. I finished the packing on Saturday, our friend who had kindly lent us all the furniture came and collected it and first thing Sunday (well, by 10am!) I set off on the 400km drive to Lusaka. It took quite a while and I’m now truly fed up of the one very cheesy tape we have in the car, but I arrived safely. I was particularly pleased that I didn’t get a puncture on route as I had no spare tyre, the mystery puncture still not being properly fixed. I would normally have delayed the journey by a day to sort it out, but I had a flight booked on the Monday that I couldn’t miss...so I prayed (as I know many of my friends here did) and travelled!
The next day I set off on my adventure to the Falconer Home, for those of you not from St Margaret’s, this is an orphanage my church in Manchester has supported for many many years. The home is a long way from where I was staying and I had heard that the road there was in pretty bad condition. As I was travelling alone and there’s no AA breakdown service here I decided it would be a little foolish to set off on my own on a long long journey to somewhere I didn’t know on roads that could be in any state, so I had managed to sort out flights with a small mission that fly doctors and missionaries around Zambia. It was very exciting getting in a tiny plane - I got to sit in the front and see all the crazy dials and controls as well as wearing comedy headphone-ear-protector things and a microphone to talk! Hee hee!! Felt a little strange though turning up in the middle of nowhere to be met by a group of people all standing far too close to the runway, waving and smiling!
It was lovely to be at the orphanage and they looked after me very well, although they kept insisting that I must be tired and need a rest! As I only had a short time there, I didn’t want to spend it resting!!!
Lilas Falconer who opened the home many years ago is a truly inspirational person - you can read the story of the home here http://www.thefalconertrust.org/page2.html The work at the home continues to this day! There are currently 135 children there from babies to teenagers. Many of the staff who work there now, grew up at the home and have gone away to train as medics, agriculturalists and what not, then returned to work there. Other staff come from the surrounding village each day to help with the day care of the children. All the female staff are called Mama What-Ever-There-Name-Is, so I became Mama Joanna for the duration of my stay!
It was quite intense being at the home - there are probably about 50 children under the age of 10 who are all well looked after and cared for, but still desperate for some attention and love from anyone who will give it. The staff do an amazing job, but they simply cannot give lots of one-to-one time to each child! Just walking down the corridor I would find at least one child hanging onto each hand before I knew it, if I sat down there would be one or two children climbing onto my knee and generally I had a crowd following me around! I remembered all sorts of stupid games and clapping rhymes to provide entertainment and generally had a great time playing with all the kids, but I can see how it would become quite hard to be there for a long time - however much “tlc” you give to one kid, you can be sure there is another one who will also need some! Although I’m sure I shouldn’t have made any favourites, there was one little boy called Gary, although he always spelt it wrong when he wrote it, so was generally called Gray...he was an absolute star and kept me entertained for hours and gave me a tour of the home! The older children live a little more independently in houses surrounding the main home. Here they cook for themselves and begin to take more responsibility for their own lives, but staff continue to live in with them to take care of them (and prevent any mischief!)
The overall running of the home now falls to Simon and Miriam, both of whom grew up their. Simon is the “handy-man” and general doer and overseer of all practical jobs. Miriam trained as a nurse and now works 3 or 4 days a week at the health clinic adjacent to the home and spends the rest of her days, evenings and weekends being mum to all the kids! She manages all this with an amazing sense of calmness and seemingly endless energy. I also had the joy of meeting Luke, the first child that was brought to Lilas Falconer about 60 years ago. He volunteers at the home and mans the reception desk and seems to make time to talk to anyone who wants to talk to him. He has a great sense of humour and a keen interest in what’s going in in the world and is frequently found listening to his radio to keep up to date.
Generally, I think it’s safe to say that the Falconer Home is a place of refuge for many needy children and it was a privilege to see a group of very dedicated people working together, putting in hours and hours of their time and lots of energy to selflessly love and care for children in real need. I’m so chuffed that I got to visit them all!
And on that note, I’m going to love you and leave you. It’s 11.20pm and I have to be up at 5am to get into town super early to get the bus to Livingstone. I’m making a return visit to see Victoria Falls with a little more water and hopefully spend some time in a game park, before returning home. My flight home is a week on Monday and I’ll be back on home turf on Tuesday 9th December. Although I knew my time here would go quickly, I still can’t quite believe I’ll be home in less than two weeks. Whilst I’m eager to see you lovely folks and look forward to spending time catching up with you, I am also really, really sad to leave here. The last few months have been a very special and I know I’ve learnt a lot and experienced many things that I never would back home. I consider myself very blessed!!!
