So, I said I'd try to keep my blog posts shorter but maybe more regular...and I think I've found a way...having sorted an internet connection on my phone it saves me the 40km drive to town to the internet cafe...but it does mean I'm typing this on my phone!! That means it's bound to be shorter...and probably full of spelling mistakes!
So, here I am! Back in Zambia. We're living "close" to where we were last year, close being about 25km away! The house we're in is much bigger than before, but Jon and Jude have had their work cut out reclaiming it as it had been empty for a while and was fast becoming a bit of a wreck.
It's strange to think that just a week ago I was at home running out to church, with packing still to do, friends still to see and what felt like not enough time to do it! But somehow or other it all got done and I left Manchester behind once again. As ever, I'm sad to say goodbye, but the looming sense of adventure helps me be excited rather than homesick!
Saying goodbye to Manchester means saying hello to Zambia (via a few airports!) and it's been straight back to it. Abenaa, who works in our UK office, has come out to Zambia for 10 days and with some help from our friend Angela, who lives in Lusaka, we're looking into starting a magazine to circulate around the village groups.
Oops...I wrote the above a week ago and ever since have been meaning to finish this post off, but, well, haven't done it! So now you find me sitting at a friends garage in Lusaka, the capital city, waiting for my car to be mended...I was supposed to head home to Mkushi yesterday, but the car had other ideas and I've ended up staying an extra day.
I've spent a lot of time at the garage during the last week - our friend, as well as giving our car some general tlc over the last few days, has let Abi, Angela and I borrow some space in his office to use as a base.
Together, the three of us have been putting together a proposal for a magazine we are hoping to begin publishing. The nature of the work Dignity is planting is very spread out, in rural villages that are remarkably isolated. Last year we were discussing how it would be good to encourage the different village groups with stories from other groups, helping build a wider identity and also sharing ideas from the work people are beginning to do in their own vllages.
A while after our initial discussions, some of the guys we are working with came up with the same idea, totally independant of us. So...six months on, here we are trying to make it happen!
We began by spending some time out in rural areas...before we create anything, we need to understand the lives of those who will be reading it. For me, it was good to be reminded of life in these areas, for Abi and Angela, it was their first trip out with us...so a bit of an eye-opener I think!
I was struck again by how poor people in rural areas here really are. There is such a contrast between the city and the country - Lusaka is continually developing and seeming more affluent, although this is for the privileged. Within the city are also huge compounds where masses of people are crammed into tiny spaces in slum-like situations. Out in the bush, people at least have space...but they also have to travel long distances to sell anything they grow, get medical assistance or simply get to school.
I had forgotten how dry the land is here. It hasn't rained for four months and the sun is baking every day - the land is parched and dusty. When the rains do come, much of the water will run straight over the hardend land making streams of mud for us all to slip around on! You can smell the dust in the air and even a few minutes in the sun is enough to make your skin tingle!
Anyway, we spent some time in Mkushi going out to various villages and brainstorming. Then last Tuesday we headed down to Lusaka so we could do some research into actually printing a magazine and also putting together a proposal, looking at timescales, distribution and costs. Things are so different here - at home you would just bundle stuff up and post it, here you have to take it the intercity bus station (at 6am!), pay to put it on the bus and arrange for somebody to meet it at the other end and then get them to send it on its way, sometimes on a second bus journey before it even gets near the areas we are reaching. It makes you begin to reliase how isolated some villages really are!
It's been really interesting tackling a new task here - I was beginning to feel like I knew how things worked...but that is of course only the things I've been involved in so far! As soon as I try something new, it a whole new ball game with a totally different set of challenges! But you know me...I love it!
So, we now have a mock up of the magazine and a rough idea of costs and timescales. It needs a bit of polishing up and then we can evaluate whether it is feasible and if we can raise the money needed to produce it!
On Saturday, I sadly sad bye to Abi who was heading back to England and I'm leaving Angela back at home in Lusaka, so, when the car is mended, I'm heading back up to Mkushi on my own...it will be good to get back to Jon and Judes though and feel like I'm home again! I feel less like a guest there than I do where I'm staying at the moment, maybe because I lived with them last year as well!
So that's my life at the moment. There is so much more to it that makes it richer...its hard to explain but it's all the little random things that happen and that people say to you. Being a white person walking along the road draws so many comments - "don't get bashed" as in, run over, being one of my faves! Someone told me they were impressed when they saw me doing my own washing up! People constantly shout "mzungu" (white person) at me and say they want to speak to me, or ask me what I'm doing. Normally it amuses me, but when it comes from a drunk bloke hanging around it makes me feel uneasy! I still find it impressive how many languages people here speak, they switch between English, Bemba, Nyanja and Tonga, to name but a few! Best of all is the way people always have time to stop and talk. Everyone always greets you when you go somewhere - conversations never get straight to business, time is spent asking each other how you are, asking after your families and what not before anything else! So, in short...it's great to be back! When I finally make it back to Mkushi, I'm going to sit down with Jon and Jude and talk about the rest of my time here...I know it'll fly by!!
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Thank God for:
- all the work he has continued to do here and the way village groups are growing and becoming stronger.
- safe travel from home and that the car broke down before I even got out of town, not while I was miles and miles away from help!
- Abi and Angela being able to join us for 10 days and get involved in a very hands on manner!
Please pray for:
- me to get safely back to Mkushi (maybe even today!)
- more people to be involved in the work, both zambians from town and rural areas and volunteers from England who can join us for periods of time.
- wisdom and clarity of purpose! Every situation is unknown and there are many things that could distract us from what we have been brought here to do.
