So I always knew that 12 hours on a bus to the far north east of Zambia was going to feel like a long time...but now I really, really know! I can't complain though as Frank, Bernard and I arrived safely in Mwinilunga for the bargain sum of £18 each. Not bad for what I think was a 450 mile journey.
The reason for our journey was to meet the new Impact Team working in and around Mwinilunga and help them run a village training session.
The training was held in a village called Kamfumbu, about an hour and a half drive outside of the town. Our transport was a 2 hour late, beaten up, old Canter truck (with an interesting sounding gear box) which we all piled into along with our luggage. Dorothy, the Impact Team member who had organised this training session, had packed everything but the kitchen sink.. quite literary I think. Well, actually as her kitchen sink is a plastic bowl she did take it with her! There were plates, flasks, chickens, maize, bamboo mats for sitting on, tents, blankets... for once I was the one who had packed light!
Once we arrived in the village I understood why Dorothy had come so well prepared...we were really, really deep in the bush. The village we were in was a very spread out area. Four churches and a school formed the centre of the village where we were based and the houses were spread far apart. Those coming to join us were walking or cycling for an hour or two.
Dorothy had arranged for us to met in one of the four churches in the centre of the village. As there is often division between churches she had purposely checked whether people from each of the churches would be happy to meet in this particular place. Despite being assured that this church was agreeable to eveyone it became clear that actually disagreements between the churches meant that a number of people stayed away. That, along with a rummour being spread around the village that the training was satanism due to the involvement of white people, added up to mean that we didn't quite get off to the start that was hoped for. Just over half of the 40 people invited to join us turned up. As an "outsider" it is hard to understand how village "politics" work but experiences such as this are common here. There is often a fear of anything new. Christianity is mixed with witchcraft or other religons. Many people are not given the opportunity of education beyond infant school and most learning is done by rote. This means that many people are unable to read well, few have Bibles or other books to study and even fewer have had the opportunity to learn critical thinking skills. Therefore word of mouth is powerful. What is spoken is repeated widely and often accepted as fact. This isn't to say that this isn't the case in my own culture, but I was reminded again that cultural understanding and wisdom are so needed wherever we may find ourselves. It was also a very clear example of some of the challenges the Impact Teams regularly face.
Despite the obvious issues we were encouraged to see how well Dorothy, John and Edina, the Mwinilunga Impact Team, had planned for the event. They had invited people, come well prepared, appointed volunteers to prepare the food and even decided who was going to present each of the training sessions. Throughout the training we supported them in delivering some of the sessions they were struggling with, encouraged them to try some of the things they were shying away from and generally helped out in whatever ways we could.
It was great to see the 3 team members speaking confidently for the sessions they had prepared well. Each in their own way could capture and hold the attention of those listening.
Dorothy is a mother of 6 and all but 2 have grown up and left home. You might think her life would be quieter now, but her household currently includes 12 people. Dorothy and her husband have taken in her sisters 5 children as well as some of the spouses of their kids and now their grandchildren. It's no small undertaking to provide for and run a house of this size but you can see that both Dorothy and her husband are entrepreneurial and welcoming.
John also has a large family with 10 of his own kids and 5 grandchildren already. He's a quiet man, not pushing himself forward, but clearly a thinker and he's been designated record keeper by the team. He has been given the task of keeping track of the money spent on food for training sessions and knowing what is left to spend. He enjoys walking and once the plannned sessions for each day were over he would quietly set off for a walk before the daylight went.
Edina, the third member of the team, works as a tailor to support her family of 8. She also volunteers at the local hospital providing advice for pregnant ladies. This has made her a confident speaker and a capable leader. Although nervous at first she did a great job of translating from English (for me), American (for Frank) and Bemba (for Bernard) to Lunda, the language spoken in Mwinilunga.
It was great to watch these 3 people, all very "normal" in Zambian terms, stepping up to do something very unusual for this culture. They have understood that the key to real hope for their communities is for their country men and women to discover a living and active faith in Jesus. They see that through this faith people will be set free from mindsets currently holding them back and will bring real and lasting hope to the people and communities around them...and they are choosing to stand up and be the ones to do something different to everyone else around them.
It was also fantastic to see Bernard, who became an Impact Team member a few years ago, helping this new team with some of the challenges they are facing. It's amazing to see how he has grown and matured in leadership since he began working with us.
And that sort of sums op our trip to Mwinilunga. All that remained was the bus ride home. 4am start,14 hours, £16 each and 1 flat tyre pretty much says it all!
