After getting back from Chingola and meeting with all the guys in Mkushi I was soon back on the road. This time Jon and I were heading up north to visit our friend Cornelius. We met Cornelius last year and he joined us for some of the work we were doing in Chingola. (Cornelius is a very clever man who amongst many other things is part of a team busy translating the Bible into modern Bemba! We met him as he translated the Rooted in Jesus course we are using into Bemba as well...) Since then he has begun to plant the seeds of the type of work we are doing in his home area of Nchelenge.
We had promised to visit him and meet those he has spoken with about starting small groups in and around Nchelenge. So, off we went at stupid o’clock in the morning (at least it felt like that!) to face the seven hundred kilometre journey. Having done some research, Jon thought most of the roads were going to be okay, with just one rough patch in the middle, but you never can tell with African roads. Setting off early is always wise, just in case it takes forever due to more pothole than tarmac in some places - you want to do as much of the journey in daylight and it goes dark here around 6.30pm. Anyway, turns out the information Jon had found was pretty good as were most of the roads. There was the occasional humongous pot hole which, as it was solitary, took you by surprise and there was little you could do to avoid it, but apart from the one stretch we were expecting to be bad it was generally okay.
We broke the journey for lunch in a place called Samphya, which was beautiful. We ate our lunch on the shore of Lake Bangweulu which was simply amazing. It’s a massive lake that feels more like the sea (you can’t see the other side), with white sandy shores and the sun belting down...a definite perk of the job! It felt more like I was in the Caribbean than in the middle of a landlocked country in Africa.Anyway, onwards. We made it to Nchelenge just fine and stayed in a rather, umm, well, we stayed in a place that was a guest house. The scenery was again spectacular as we were right on the shores of Lake Mweru, a huge lake on the border of Zambia and the Congo. Watching the sun set over the lake in the evening and listening to the waves lap on the shore made you feel like you could be on an exotic holiday...but waiting two hours for your tea and then heading back to your slightly (ok, very) musty room, buzzing with mozzies and a bathroom equipped with no running water soon reminded you where you really were! But, it did the job and was home for a few days so I really shouldn’t complain...
We had a packed schedule while we were in Nchelenge as there was lots of people Cornelius wanted us to meet and share the vision of “Life!” with. It was really encouraging to arrive in an area and find that people are already interested and eager to hear about what we are up to (we normally start from the very beginning, selling the idea to people!) On the Sunday morning we spoke to about one hundred people from various church denominations and villages around Nchelenge. We spent the afternoon with a smaller group of people who Cornelius has been working more closely with and meeting with to pray about the work in their area. We spent Monday running example groups in a couple of villages to help give people an idea of how the small groups may work.
Overall the time was encouraging and it was great to see people, other than us, seeking to begin work in a different area. We are limited in the number of places we can be and the amount of time we can spend in a place and I think we have always acknowledged that we want the “Life!” project to be bigger than us. In order for this to happen, it has to not be about us. It has to be about the people who live and work in the villages where it is taking place. So far, in Chingola and Mkushi, we have kick started the work alongside a number of people however, in Nchelenge, a number of people have got the ball rolling and we came along to help give it a bit of a shove. There are of course a whole different set of issues to face and deal with when things get going in a different manner, but it’s really exciting that someone we have met has taken what we are doing seriously enough to decide to go and start it where he is from. May he be the first of many...
One attitude that we really came up against was that of “the rich man must give us money”. Money is always an issue here. Despite being fairly broke by English measures, I am actually very rich when compared to the average Zambian villager. Generally there is a definite divide with white people being richer than black people, although these boundaries are beginning to become more blurred, particularly in the big cities. I don’t see myself as a rich person, but I have to accept that when I turn up somewhere I am judged as someone with money - I drive a car, I have a camera, I have my own Bible, I have...well, you get the picture. As a “rich” person, people are drawn to you to ask you for money. One man demanded that I give him 10,000 Kwacha (about £1.50 or a days wages here) because I have “money like beans” (beans being very common!) Now, this is one of the ongoing struggles I have while I’m here - sometimes it is right to give money to somebody in need but this can then enforce the attitude that the white person has “money like beans” and all someone has to do is ask for it, not go out and find a way to earn it. Personally I prefer to give people food if they are asking for things (particularly with street kids as I know it can’t be spent on glue) but each time someone asks you have to make a choice. I don’t like to not help people but sometimes the repercussions of our actions are bigger than we understand...I’ll try to explain...
One of the things that seems to hold people back here is a spirit of dependancy - the amount of times I’ve heard “well, we would have done something but we had no money” or “I can’t do anything about it, I have no money”. True, things can be much harder when there is no money but that shouldn’t be the be all and end all of the matter. If I had waited until I had what I saw as “enough” money for this trip, I’d still be at home working now. As it is, I made a choice to set of with what I had and trust God to provide for all the shortcomings as and when they arose. (So far, I have to say, He’s coming up trumps and it’s quite a lesson for me that I have to learn step by step every day!) We are so used to seeing things in one way and sometimes we have to look outside of our normal way and try trusting God...there are things people here can do with little or no money that will begin to make a real difference in their lives and the lives of their neighbours. The point I am trying to get to (and not doing very well) is that many people seem to wait until an outside organisation, such as us, turns up, then ask them for money to enable them to do something. Now I can understand why this happens and may well do exactly the same if I was in their situation, but if you are always waiting for an outsider to come and give money before you even think about doing anything, you are saying you can’t do it on your own and you can end up waiting for ever. Now, being me, I like to get things done! I also think that the people in the villages are actually really capable of getting things done...without me or money. The biggest challenge is helping people see that they can do it. If people can see past “waiting for money” and start to do things on a small scale they will begin to see change, they will see that they are capable of making a difference and then bigger things will change...and so on. Do you see what I’m getting at? I feel like I’ve waffled a bit and not really explained myself very well!
Anyway, I digress! Back to Nchelenge...this whole attitude that “we need you to give us money” was really prevalent. (When I spoke to Cornelius about this he attributed it to the large number of refugees escaping across Lake Mweru from the Congo bringing with them different attitudes and ways of doing things). This made it quite a challenging weekend as we really had to tackle the issue head on...difficult to do but good. One of the sessions we ran on the Monday was about prayer and we asked whether anyone had ever prayed for something and God hadn’t given it to them. One man ventured “money” and the whole room agreed that they too had asked God to give them money but nobody had become rich! Nobody could give us a reason why God hasn’t answered these prayers for money when it says in the Bible “ask and you will receive”. I was quite impressed that people were still willing to give God the time of day if they had no idea why he hadn’t answered these prayers! Alongside the verse that says “ask and you will receive” there are also verses that talk about us asking with wrong motives, or harbouring sin in our hearts while asking...these are stated as reasons why God may not listen to our prayers. (Sometimes, I do think there are prayers that God doesn’t answer, or answers in a way we don’t understand and I have to confess I have no idea why this is. It’s prayers like these that really test my faith.) It seems to me that if we are asking for money simply so we can be better off when actually we are doing okay as we are, then we need to ask ourselves what our motives are. In my own experience, while I have been away this time, the money that God has provided for me has always followed my giving something away to someone else in almost equal measure. It’s like God is saying, yeah of course I can provide, but not just so that you can have a comfortable life where you don’t have to trust me for money, but so that you can bless others around you with what I give you. Again, I digress. Point was, that it was a challenging weekend but also really good.
Amidst all the money talk, Jon made me do something that I’m actually really scared of doing. I am terrified of standing up in front of a group of people (of any size) and being expected to say something sensible and useful! I can waffle on about rubbish for hours, but to come out with words of wisdom is a whole different kettle of fish, especially when there’s loads of people staring at you. As there was only Jon and I to lead the sessions, it was either him or me that had to stand up and do the talking bit. So he asked me to do it a couple of times, which is fair enough but promptly turned my tummy into somersaulting butterflies. Knowing me well enough to understand that I’d worry about doing it, Jon gave me minimal notice which was both good and bad - no time to worry, no time to prepare! Each session I did was from the Rooted in Jesus notes so it wasn’t like I had to write anything, just go through the material. I think it went okay and it was good for me to be pushed to do something new, but I was definitely relieved when it was over!
So that was our time in Nchelenge, sort of. I’m aware that I’ve gone off an a tangent a bit but it was one of the main themes of the weekend that I guess I’ve unpacked here as I’ve been telling you about the weekend. I think we met with people from 20 or 30 villages who were all interested in possibly starting a group in due course. We have asked a few guys to try to start it in their village and see how they get on and then, when the time is right, help others to get it going in their villages as well.
We travelled safely back home from Nchelenge - the only thing worth noting about the journey was that after about two hours there was an almighty squawk from behind my seat which made me jump out of my skin. Turns out, a friend we were giving a lift too, had been given a chicken so brought it along in a plastic bag, as you do!! Oh and that the first few hours of the journey were characterised by emergency stops to avoid want-to-be-kamikaze goats and chickens that kept dashing in front of the car.
After getting back to Mkushi I had one day at home to get a load of washing done and repack my bags before setting off again, but this time for a little holiday! Yey! A friend Lisa has also been working out in Zambia for a month so we had decided to meet up for a couple of days before she flew back home to Manchester. Our destination...Livingstone “the tourist capital” according to the happiest taxi driver ever, Webster! Webster’s not wrong either...Livingstone is the place to go if you want to bungee jump, white water raft, go on safari, ride an elephant or simply see Victoria Falls. As both Lisa and I were on a budget, and far too sensible/boring to bungee jump, we opted for seeing the falls. Even though I visited them last year there were spectacular all over again. Having walked around the park lots we decided to treat ourselves on our second day to a walk right across the top of the falls. I went part way across last year, but never made it to Livingstone Island. You can only walk across the top of the falls during the dry season and the island only becomes an island during the rainy season! Anyway, having been chuffed to get residents price for entry to the falls (about 25p rather than US $10!) thanks to having a temporary permit (that I needed to stay and volunteer here and cost me £120) I was even more delighted to find that I could also get residents price to the island...about £7.50 rather than US $40! Yey!
Anyway, the adventure was well worth it! As we walked along the top of the falls our guide stopped to show us some amazing views, sit us right on the edge of the falls at one point and help us through the parts where the water was flowing avoiding all the really slippy rocks so we didn’t fall over! From Livingstone Island the main falls can be seen much better than anywhere else on the Zambian side (you have to go to the Zimbabwean side to see them otherwise) so it was all new for me. The power of the falls was, well, it shut me up! There is a pool, known as Devil’s Pool, where you can go for a swim right next to the very top of the main falls - our guide did say before letting us get in “stay to the left, it you go to the right you’ll get caught in the current and you’ll be over the edge!” Hmm, now that did sound worrying, but having looked at where the water was flowing and the bank of rocks visible under the water at the edge of Devil’s Pool I figured it’d be ok (and I know people who have done it before and lived to tell to tale) so hopped right in! It was incredible!! The water was surprisingly warm, I’d expected it to be freezing, and you could feel the rush of the water over the edge but it was nowhere near strong enough to push you over. Our guide promptly walked right along the edge in order to take photos of us from every side (making me feel really safe simply sitting in the pool - at least I wasn’t balancing on rocks where one slip would see me falling over 100m!) Watching the water rushing over the edge of the falls about 5 meters away did make you sure that you definitely didn’t want to venture too close to the current.
We finished the day by eating a lot of cake! There's a really posh hotel nearby where you can go for afternoon tea and there is a cake buffet...it's like heaven!! We ate far too much cake and then laughed for the rest of the evening due to sugar overload!We spent what was left of our time in Livingstone relaxing by the pool at the hostel where we were staying. As I was sat there I was trying to think of the last time I really stopped for a break. It occurred to me, that the last time I properly stopped and relaxed was when I had been sat by the very same pool a year ago when I was last in Livingstone - no wonder I’ve been feeling tired! As soon as I got home last year I started working, then worked pretty much solidly until I left again, was pretty much flat out for 4 months in Kenya and before I know it, I’m back to work in Zambia and in desperate need of a lazy day by a pool wondering why I feel so tired!
Since getting back from Livingstone on Monday I have had our house to myself. The Witts are having a break too so are away at the moment. Although the house has felt very quiet without them, it’s been really good for me to have some time and space to take things at a slightly slower pace and catch up on some work I needed to do. It’s also given me a good opportunity to get to know our neighbours/landlords better as they’ve been looking out for me a bit while I’ve been home alone, inviting me over for tea! Oh, and I’ve been practising my Kenyan cooking skills making mandazis (the nearest thing we have is probably doughnuts) while I’ve had more time...yummy!
And that’s about it really. The next couple of weeks will be fairly full on as we have a team joining us from home to help out with a conference we are running in Chingola. I’ll be heading to Lusaka on Wednesday to meet up with them and then I’ll spend the next couple of weeks with them organising their time and the conference. Should be fun!!
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Thank God for:
- all the people who He is bringing into contact with the “Life!” initiative.
- a lovely holiday and a friend to go with!
- continued safety on the many long journeys.
Please pray for:
- no hiccups with the plans for the short-term team and the conference.
- wisdom in responding to requests for money.
- God to make the next step clear to me as the time to come home is getting nearer!
