I think I must have blinked and missed it!

So one minute, I was lying in a tent in Zambia...and the next I find myself back in Manchester and back in to the swing of all that entails. I know I've definitely been back a while because today was the last day I had to take my anti-malaria tablets...which I take for 28 days after I get home. Realising I'd been home for a month made me think I really should sit down and spend a few minutes telling you about the second half of my time in Zambia this year before another year goes by!

Last time we spoke, I was telling you about Dignity's fifth birthday and what a special day we had had with both the Zambian and the UK leadership meeting in Kalweo. That feels like a life time ago already....

Shortly after that, the volunteers who had joined us for two weeks returned home to the UK and 3 other superstar volunteers came to give of themselves to help us. The two weeks that followed were pretty full on. We set off "up north" to Luapula and spent time in 2 villages, Chipili and Mbilimamwenge. In both places we were supporting Cornelius, one of the Impact Team members, as he provided training sessions for groups of villagers.

Chipili and Mbilmamwenge are so different to each other. Chipili was actually more of a town that a village. Years ago, an Anglican mission station had been built there and a town had grown up around it. People had come to find work, or aid and as the town grew, so too did the church. There is now a massive cathedral in Chipili...it's not a cathedral like you would expect to see in a British city, but when you've driven 35km past the end of the tar road and turned up a tiny little dirt track, you don't expect to find a grand, double height cathedral looming above the trees, complete with stained glass windows at one end! Not only were we meeting in a big church, we were also a big group...about 50 people in all, and we were rattling around.

Mbilimamwenge on the other hand was much more the type of village church I'm used to and, if I'm honest, feel more comfortable in! A small mud building with a thatch roof and low benches also formed out of the locally made bricks and mud. With 30 of us meeting in there, we were packed to the rafters...and for the tallest amongst us, banging our heads on them!

So what were we doing in these villages? Well, Dignity who I volunteer with, believes that it isn’t a question of what WE do. In fact, it’s not even a question of what the people we work with do...

Rather it is a question of WHY people feel unable to do anything in the first place.

If we can help people break free from the things that hold them back, then they will be free to do amazing things.

And that understanding is key to the way in which Dignity works. We seek to give people a chance to hear the good news of Jesus. Because, as it says in John chapter 8 v 36,

“...if the Son (that is Jesus) sets you free, you will be free indeed."

About 80% of the population of Zambia go to church. For many their experience of church is limited to a sunday morning. In rural areas, many of the church leaders have not had the opportunity to receive training. They are doing the best they can with limited resources. I have met church leaders who have become the leader simply because they were the only one with a Bible. Some church leaders have such old and battered Bibles, they are missing whole books of it.

It’s in this context that we are working and planting what we call Life! groups. We want to create places where people have the opportunity to explore what being a Christian means in their day to day life. We want to provide on going support and encouragement to people as they grow in faith.

A Life! group is a very simple idea really. It is what you and I would call a small group, a home group or a grow group. So many of our churches have these structures in place already that we often don’t see them as out of the ordinary. But in rural Zambia, they are an unusual concept.

The set up is so simple...we provide Life! group leaders with a discipleship course and teach them some of the skills needed to run a small group. They can then arrange for a group to meet once a week at a time and in a place that suits them. Maybe under a tree, maybe in a school or at someones home.

We are seeing that as Life! groups are established, friendships are growing, networks of support are building and people are discovering a new sense of hope and freedom. And the wonderful thing is, when people discover the freedom Jesus gives us, they can’t keep it to themselves!

Where people were previously held back by the belief that they could not make a difference because they had no money, all of a sudden, we are seeing them step up to serve and love others.

We have seen alcoholics break free from their addiction.

We have spoken with prostitutes who are finding the strength to be honest about how they support their families and are beginning to take steps to change this. The paths these people are taking are not always easy, but they lead to a new life, a new hope for the future.

There are very practical and visible signs of people being changed from the heart out. (You can read about things happening in lots of different villages on the Dignity website if you'd like to know more... www.dignityonline.org.uk)

So, to this aim, we learnt together about the skills needed to begin and to continue a small group, the work of the Holy Spirit, the way that the church needs to work together as one body rather than fight against itself and the need to rely on God and ask him for more.

As a result of the 2 conferences, people went away with the hope of starting 17 groups around Chipili and 11 around Mbilmamwenge. That is so amazing! If only 10 people go to each group, and it's often more, that means 280 people being given the chance to find the real freedom that Jesus gives.

Of course, the whole time was full of the ups and downs of life in Zambia! The low points had to be the mega cockroaches, which in the words of Debs were "the size of your head"; the point of utter exhaustion you reach after spending a whole month camping and moving every few days; the massive distances travelled - about 5000km - around Zambia and the lack of a hot shower and a supply of cold drinking water.

The high points, which, as they always do for me, outweighed the lows massively, included seeing people I've not seen for a year or two; meeting new people and having loads of brilliant conversations; seeing people grasp something new about how Jesus cares for them and what that means in their day-to-day life; watching people growing in faith and teaching others; seeing numberous stunning sunsets and the very occasional equally beautiful sunrise (when I was awake in time); facing new challenges and finding ways to overcome them; getting to know volunteers who have travelled with us; returning to Victoria Falls and being blown away by them all over again; finding delight and comedy in some of the simple things in life as the complicated things are stripped back; stepping aside from the busyness of my life in Manchester and pausing; the delight of discovering a proper toilet that has a seat and flushes and everything after a few days with long-drop toilets only and getting engaged to my lovely boyfriend who asked me to marry him as the sunset over the lake at Nsobe. (I can't quite believe I've just mentioned long drop toilets and getting engaged in the same sentence, but that sort of shows the extremes of my life when I'm in Zambia and how some simple things become big things!)

Alongside the ups and downs, there are so many superbly "Zambian" moments that will stick in my memory...

The evening before we were due in Mbilimamwenge Cornelius called to say he had a flat tyre on his motorbike and didn't know if he would make it by the morning. He made it by 1am and the next day showed me how he had "repaired the puncture" - as the interube had totally blown he had stuffed the rear tyre full of old clothes and rags that people had given him and riden 100km or so on a solid back tyre....no wonder he wasn't feeling too good in the morning and decided to go and rest for a few hours! (Thankfully we were able to find a new inner tube so he could travel home in comfort...)

Many of the local buses have slogans plastered across the front and rear windscreens...these are normally something to do with God, football or a general comment on life. My favourite this time had to be the bus we saw in Samphya (and then kept passing for the next couple of days" that proudly announced "Behold the Terbanacle"...although the slight sleep deprevation I was suffering may have made it funnier than it actually was!

It's not everywhere you find crocodile tail curry on the menu...

A car is never full in Zambia as proved when we left Lumpampa, the village we went to in the first week of our trip. There were already 6 of us squeezing into the car for the return journey with all our luggage and camping equipment. The car was looking pretty full... The guy who had organised the training asked if we could possibly give him a lift as far as the town. We said yes. He then asked if we could maybe squeeze in 2 ladies who had helped prepare the food. Feeling that these ladies really had given a lot of themselves to help us we said yes, we'd squeeze them in to repay the favour. What we didn't account for was their children who needed to travel as well and all the extra luggage! In we all piled, luggage and people on the flat bed at the back as well as in the cab and off we went along the local dirt roads and, I'm very pleased to say, made it safely to the town. Everyone piled out and the car felt much happier again but 100m up the road we had to pause again as the road was being graded and we couldn't pass. The guys kindly moved the trucks out of the way and we managed to drive over the half flattened, half mounded piles of grit and grave; waiting to be spread and then we were on our way back home!

On the day we travelled back to Mkushi our food supplies were low as we'd been camping for about 10 days, but I figured this would all be ok as we were driving through Samphya where there are some shops. The plan was simple, stop off, get some bread and drinks and then make some sandwiches and hit the road. What could possibly go wrong?! Well, turns out, of the 20 or so shops there, only 1 sold bread. It took me some time to track down which 1 shop sold bread but as I pootled over, my heart began to sink. The doors were shut and padlocked. A lady was sitting outside and she told me the owner had gone home for lunch and would be back at some point...that could mean in two minutes or two hours. I looked through the gap in the door and there indeed was some lovely looking rolls of bread.... Helpfully, the shop owner had painted his phone number on the door of the shop, so I rang it to see if he was around...but it turns out, his phone doesn't work at the moment. So, deciding we didn't want to wait for an unspecified amount of time we decided to give up on the bread and find something else. I felt really bad...I'd promised the team some food and now here we were, with a long journey ahead of us and no real food. I set off and tracked down another shop that had ice cold drinks and also some yummy biscuits...although it took about 5 minutes to dig the cold drinks out of the freezer! Thinking this was better than nothing but a poor lunch I took these back to the car and everyone put a brave face on and said that would do. So, we all cracked open our drinks and took a very satisfying first sip of a beautifully cold drink after days of drinking luke warm water. It was wonderful! We piled in the car and just as we were about to set off, a guy on a bike swerved in front of us and said "I heard you wanted bread? I'm back in my shop now if you still want some!" Woohoooo.....the delight at the thought of not only a cold drink but also a sandwich! So, within 5 minutes we were in the car, making a picnic and feasting on jam and peanut butter sandwiches. They tasted amazing!!!

Well, I think I've said more than enough now! I hope you've enjoyed my tales of Zambia for this year and feel like you've got a flavour of what I get up to... As ever, I hope to return before too long, but that's up to God. I'll be praying about it and trying to work out where he wants me to be when and then I'll try to walk that path...

Thanks for sharing my adventures with me!

Happy Birthday Us!!

This time you find me lying in my tent thinking that I really should get up soon... It's only 7.30 in the morning but already its beginning to get hot in my tent. I can also see the silhouettes of a number of creepy crawlies taking their morning walk across my tent...I'm very grateful for a well zipped up door that keeps them out! I should mention that one of them is a rather handsome preying mantis...but I'd still rather he stayed on the outside of my tent than coming in to visit!!

I can see the sun rising through the thin skins of my tent and feel its heat on my legs...yep, I'm going to have to move soon. But as ever, I'd just like to lie in bed for a few more minutes... I thought I'd use them to tell you a bit about yesterday.

Yesterday was a pretty special day. It was exactly 5 years since Dignity was inaugerated as a charity! I wasn't involved then, but in 2008 I first met the people that make up Dignity in the UK before heading out to Zambia for the first time. Yesterday, I had the priviledge of meeting with the UK Dignity team and the Zambian leadership team (minus a few who couldn't make it) in Kalweo, Bernard's village.

We sat in one of the school rooms of the small nursery Bernard and his wife run. We spent the day looking at the importance of good character and how God works is us to make us more like Jesus - filling us with the good characteristics his Spirit brings (love, joy, kindness, self-control...) in place of those characteristics that run so strongly in our nature that are destructive (jealousy, anger, immorality...). We discussed the need to get a good balance of the many responsibilities we juggle and explored teamwork and communication through some commedy games.

My "fun" highlight of the day had to be the sight of 8 people on the third stage of the 3 legged race...by this time they were racing 3 legged, carrying eggs on spoons in one hand and a bowl of water on their head!

My "serious" highlight of the day was all the conversation and discussion we had around learning how to support and encourage each other, even when we are in different countries, hearing stories of lives changed through the work we are all a part of and having the opportunity to pray with these men and women who are giving of themselves daily to bring true and lasting hope, the hope that Jesus gives, to their own nation.

Ok, so I'm going to have to get up now...it's getting too hot in here already. I can also hear everyone else up and about so I'd better get up so I'm not keeping everyone waiting to set off in a bit. Today we're off to help Jon and Jude with some practical jobs at their new house - currently still a building site!! A very different day to yesterday...

I'll be sure to sit down again soon and share with you some of the stories we heard yesterday and some of the challenges faced here by those amazing folks we have the joy of working with. They are encouraging, inspiring and thought provoking! But for now...that's all folks! x

one week later

So this time last week I was in Heathrow waiting to fly out to Zambia...I'd written to you in the morning from the comfort of my bed in Manchester. It's been quite a busy week since then...

Right now I'm sat in Loza lodge, a nice little place with a pool and some yummy food... Team 1 and 2 have just got back together after going on separate adventures and have been busy swapping stories.

For my part, I've spent the last week in a village called Lumpampa just outside Serenje. We were helping Gervais and Margaret run a 3 day training conference helping people understand what life might look like when we love God and love our neighbour.

I've really enjoyed getting back into the swing of things...it's been a bit of a baptism of fire...straight off the plane, lots of driving for a day or two and then into a village! Much of it was as I remembered...long drop toilets, chickens wandering by while you have a wash and lots of little kids asking "how are you" closely followed by "I am fine!" before you've had chance to answer. I'd forgotten most of the Bemba I knew (which never was much) but I've had fun trying again!

So, we've been staying in Lumpampa, camping out in the village and running some training sessions. Our focus is on helping people understand that their life is no mistake, that God has placed them in their village for a purpose and it's through them, not outsiders, that real change will come to their community. We talk about the church as a body, we discuss how each of us has an important part to play, no matter how small we may feel. We try to help people understand how God loves them and is calling them to be his people in the places they live. It always amazes me how some of the things I take so for granted, having known them for so long, are a new revelation for many we talk to. 

I'm excited to hear how the people we have spent the last week with will grow over the coming weeks , months and years. Some may go home and take no action - that's fine, it's up to each of us to chose how we live our life. We cannot tell anyone what they have to do. Others will go home, gather some people in their village and make some plans to start a Life! Group in their village. This is simply a group of people, meeting on a regular basis to study the bible, pray and share their everyday lives. As they do so, it is our hope that they will grow in faith and in their love for God and their love for their neighbour. As this happens, we believe lives will be changed, both now and for eternity. It sounds like a simple idea, and really it is, but it's a new thing for the places we work. I hope and pray it will lead to a new hope in many villages around Lumpampa.

from the comfort of my bed...

So it's Sunday morning and I'm awake much earlier than I was hoping to be. I wanted to get a good sleep as I was up until stupid o'clock packing my bags... Because once again, for the 5th time now, I'm off to Zambia....

That's not the only thing happening again in my life...a few of you have asked if I'll be dusting off my blog and writing again...and thanks to you I have a new bout of determination to do just that! Who knows if I'll manage it. Last time I went I was so rubbish I didn't even write once while I was away...although I was only there for 2 weeks. Here's hoping for better this time...

So, I'm off. This time, there's a lovely bunch of people coming out with me as well...10 of us in all in a couple of smaller teams. We will be spending October working alongside Dignity's Impact Teams as they help village groups begin discipleship courses, similar to the Alpha Course. We will be working across Zambia, visiting people in their villages. We’ll stay in each village for 3 days and help facilitate training courses. The Impact Teams will continue to provide support for the groups over the coming months.

Whilst there we will be getting stuck into Zambian village life, eating enshima and having “bucket baths” - you can never be sure a chicken won’t wander in while you’re washing! We'll also be taking on some super long journeys and some seriously hot weather!

Please pray for safety, an outpouring of God’s spirit and for lives to be changed! Thank you!!

Well I'd better get up and finish packing my bags, enjoy a long hot shower (possibly the last one for a while) and hit the road...

If you would like to know more about Dignity who I'm volunteering with, you can find out loads at www.dignityonline.org.uk

Or, if you just want to stay put...here we are in a few words...

Dignity believes in the God-given potential of people. We work with some of the poorest and most vulnerable people in the world, and we are seeing them be more and do more than they ever thought they could.

Across rural Zambia we are working to help lift the weight of poverty, both physical and spiritual, off people. We work to bring communities together and help people discover a living faith in Jesus and  their God-given potential.

We are seeing people find a new sense of hope and purpose in Jesus. As they do so, they are bringing this hope to their communities in simple and life-changing acts, such as taking in orphans, caring for an elderly neighbour or helping an alcoholic break the cycle of addiction.

What we do is not about what we ourselves can achieve. It's about people discovering, and then sharing, who God has made them to be and the joy, peace and freedom that can be found in him!