This morning we awoke much to our disappointment, no power, again. If any of you know me well, you would know I would not be happy going to church without being able to curl my hair, after having washed it with cold water on Saturday night. As I was fretting over this deal, I remembered I had left a butane curling iron here on one my previous trips. I dug through the box and found it, found a fuel cartridge and turned it on. It got somewhat warm, but never even close to hot. But…..it did smooth out some of the bumps and hairs sticking in every direction. This would have to do, put your pride in your pocket and get ready for church!
We went to Living Rock Church, where one of our 48 GEMS clubs meets. At 7:15 one of the GEMS CIT’s (counselor in training) knocked at our gate. She was coming to walk with us to church. It was raining very hard as we started off, I had brought a small folding umbrella that I used. Stephanie had nothing, but our CIT Cathy, was using a chitanga for her umbrella and shared with Stephanie. A chitanga is two meter piece of African fabric that the Zambian women use for everything. They cover their skirts with them to keep off the dust or rain, they carry their babies in them, they wrap them on their heads enabling them to carry packages on their heads, and they use them to carry things in. The chitanga is a very versatile piece of clothing for them. Today, I saw the chitanga being used as an umbrella!
I followed behind the girls, being very careful to watch every step, not to slip into the mud or walk where the water was the deepest. We arrived at the church just a little before 7:30. The church was empty, except for four men sitting in the front two rows, having a Bible study. We were ushered in and sat in the row behind the men, they continued on like we were not there. Shortly after we arrived several other people arrived and sat across from us near the front of the church and they had another Bible study going. All the Zambian churches I have attended are just one room, the sanctuary. So each group is talking loudly so they can hear each other, but the sound carries across the small room and it is difficult for me to catch anything that is being discussed. The Bible study goes on until shortly after 8 hours when the praise team begins to sing. They have drums and a keyboard, with four men and six women leading the worship. They sing, dance, pray and worship for well over a half hour. Then the offering is received and the pastor begins preaching. I was very excited that he spoke English and didn’t have a translator for the local dialect. The African pastors tend to shout, even with microphones and then when the service is translated, the translator shouts, and it is a little overwhelming for us North American visitors. This pastor did not need the microphone, he was very loud. After a two hour sermon, a gentleman comes forward to give announcements. The first is to ask the visitors to stand. Stephanie and I stand along with a few other scattered people. They welcome us and thank us for coming and are told we may be seated. The next thing he says, as the pastor’s wife is whispering into his ear, is that they are very happy to have members of the GEMS Girls’ Club team with them, and would we please come and bring a greeting. Stephanie looked at me and said, “You go girl! “ I brought greetings and thanked them for supporting their GEMS clubs and recognized their club coordinator and introduced myself and Stephanie, and headed for our seats. Now you have to remember how I was not happy with my hair that morning, and I find myself standing on the pulpit speaking to the congregation! How like the Lord to work on my pride! There were just a few more announcements and it was after 10:30 when we were ushered out of the church, it was still sprinkling, but we were told to stand in a line, and every person, man, women and child came out of the church and shook our hands, then joined the line and so by the time the church emptied the line circled the standing mud puddles and wrapped to the side of the church. OK, we are thinking, let’s go. Oh no, we ushered back into the church and seated with a group of other visitors. We are all served a glass of juice, Stephanie gives me the look! What do we do, we only drink bottled water when we are here, and we are both fairly certain that this juice was made with the local tap water. I smile reassuring at Stephanie and take the first drink. Silently praying, please Lord, don’t let us get sick. It would be considered very rude of us by Zambian culture to refuse such a gracious gift. We are encouraged to come and worship with them again and thanked for coming. Finally we depart the church, and head back to the Service Center, to still no power.
We are thinking about family. No one knows I have arrived safely; my last communication with home was from the London airport two days before. Stephanie had not blogged or emailed home since Wednesday, before the power went out. She knew her computer battery was totally dead, I knew mine was low, but thought it would be worth it to walk the couple miles to a small restaurant where there is internet access and hot food! Pizza to be exact! The rain had let up for the time being, so off we hiked! When we got there it was not easy to access the internet, when we had been there before it had been free, now after making several attempts, I learned I needed to purchase minutes. While Stephanie is ordering our pizza, I buy internet time, then I try to get on, it isn’t working. Finally Stephanie asks why we are having so much trouble, they tell us what to try. Hooray! We are connecting and then the screen goes black and the battery is dead. We ask if we can plug into one of their outlets, and the reply is “no!” Soon our pizza arrives and we totally enjoy and savor every bite. Being careful to save room for an ice cream cone for dessert! We are feeling very satisfied, as we head back toward home, carrying our leftover pizza and knowing that will be our meal later in the day. We are also thinking that maybe by the time we get back we will have power. We are wrong, still no power!
Later in the afternoon, Catherine and Getrude stop by to welcome me. Catherine said she just couldn’t wait until tomorrow to come and say hello. We are telling her about the power outage, and she says that she will stop at another GEMS counselor Maxhilda’s home on her way home, and ask if they have power, she too lives in Helen Kaunda. The outage was only in Helen Kaunda, not in Klingalinga or Mtendere our neighboring compounds on both sides of us. Catherine said she would ask Maxhilda’s husband to call Zesco (the power company) and complain for us. While I continued to visit with Catherine, Stephanie headed back to Living Rock Church to interview the CIT’s working with their GEMS club that afternoon. After Catherine heads off, I settle back into a chair outdoors, it isn’t really sunny, but it isn’t raining and it is much brighter outside to read. About an hour and half later Stephanie returns and she said she saw a Zesco truck near here, working on a transformer. Within the hour we had power, there was much rejoicing! Warmed up pizza for supper, warm baths and internet connections were made. Skyping home to Canada and to Michigan! When you have power the world doesn’t seem so big or you so far away! We went to bed rejoicing and praising God for power!
We went to Living Rock Church, where one of our 48 GEMS clubs meets. At 7:15 one of the GEMS CIT’s (counselor in training) knocked at our gate. She was coming to walk with us to church. It was raining very hard as we started off, I had brought a small folding umbrella that I used. Stephanie had nothing, but our CIT Cathy, was using a chitanga for her umbrella and shared with Stephanie. A chitanga is two meter piece of African fabric that the Zambian women use for everything. They cover their skirts with them to keep off the dust or rain, they carry their babies in them, they wrap them on their heads enabling them to carry packages on their heads, and they use them to carry things in. The chitanga is a very versatile piece of clothing for them. Today, I saw the chitanga being used as an umbrella!
I followed behind the girls, being very careful to watch every step, not to slip into the mud or walk where the water was the deepest. We arrived at the church just a little before 7:30. The church was empty, except for four men sitting in the front two rows, having a Bible study. We were ushered in and sat in the row behind the men, they continued on like we were not there. Shortly after we arrived several other people arrived and sat across from us near the front of the church and they had another Bible study going. All the Zambian churches I have attended are just one room, the sanctuary. So each group is talking loudly so they can hear each other, but the sound carries across the small room and it is difficult for me to catch anything that is being discussed. The Bible study goes on until shortly after 8 hours when the praise team begins to sing. They have drums and a keyboard, with four men and six women leading the worship. They sing, dance, pray and worship for well over a half hour. Then the offering is received and the pastor begins preaching. I was very excited that he spoke English and didn’t have a translator for the local dialect. The African pastors tend to shout, even with microphones and then when the service is translated, the translator shouts, and it is a little overwhelming for us North American visitors. This pastor did not need the microphone, he was very loud. After a two hour sermon, a gentleman comes forward to give announcements. The first is to ask the visitors to stand. Stephanie and I stand along with a few other scattered people. They welcome us and thank us for coming and are told we may be seated. The next thing he says, as the pastor’s wife is whispering into his ear, is that they are very happy to have members of the GEMS Girls’ Club team with them, and would we please come and bring a greeting. Stephanie looked at me and said, “You go girl! “ I brought greetings and thanked them for supporting their GEMS clubs and recognized their club coordinator and introduced myself and Stephanie, and headed for our seats. Now you have to remember how I was not happy with my hair that morning, and I find myself standing on the pulpit speaking to the congregation! How like the Lord to work on my pride! There were just a few more announcements and it was after 10:30 when we were ushered out of the church, it was still sprinkling, but we were told to stand in a line, and every person, man, women and child came out of the church and shook our hands, then joined the line and so by the time the church emptied the line circled the standing mud puddles and wrapped to the side of the church. OK, we are thinking, let’s go. Oh no, we ushered back into the church and seated with a group of other visitors. We are all served a glass of juice, Stephanie gives me the look! What do we do, we only drink bottled water when we are here, and we are both fairly certain that this juice was made with the local tap water. I smile reassuring at Stephanie and take the first drink. Silently praying, please Lord, don’t let us get sick. It would be considered very rude of us by Zambian culture to refuse such a gracious gift. We are encouraged to come and worship with them again and thanked for coming. Finally we depart the church, and head back to the Service Center, to still no power.
We are thinking about family. No one knows I have arrived safely; my last communication with home was from the London airport two days before. Stephanie had not blogged or emailed home since Wednesday, before the power went out. She knew her computer battery was totally dead, I knew mine was low, but thought it would be worth it to walk the couple miles to a small restaurant where there is internet access and hot food! Pizza to be exact! The rain had let up for the time being, so off we hiked! When we got there it was not easy to access the internet, when we had been there before it had been free, now after making several attempts, I learned I needed to purchase minutes. While Stephanie is ordering our pizza, I buy internet time, then I try to get on, it isn’t working. Finally Stephanie asks why we are having so much trouble, they tell us what to try. Hooray! We are connecting and then the screen goes black and the battery is dead. We ask if we can plug into one of their outlets, and the reply is “no!” Soon our pizza arrives and we totally enjoy and savor every bite. Being careful to save room for an ice cream cone for dessert! We are feeling very satisfied, as we head back toward home, carrying our leftover pizza and knowing that will be our meal later in the day. We are also thinking that maybe by the time we get back we will have power. We are wrong, still no power!
Later in the afternoon, Catherine and Getrude stop by to welcome me. Catherine said she just couldn’t wait until tomorrow to come and say hello. We are telling her about the power outage, and she says that she will stop at another GEMS counselor Maxhilda’s home on her way home, and ask if they have power, she too lives in Helen Kaunda. The outage was only in Helen Kaunda, not in Klingalinga or Mtendere our neighboring compounds on both sides of us. Catherine said she would ask Maxhilda’s husband to call Zesco (the power company) and complain for us. While I continued to visit with Catherine, Stephanie headed back to Living Rock Church to interview the CIT’s working with their GEMS club that afternoon. After Catherine heads off, I settle back into a chair outdoors, it isn’t really sunny, but it isn’t raining and it is much brighter outside to read. About an hour and half later Stephanie returns and she said she saw a Zesco truck near here, working on a transformer. Within the hour we had power, there was much rejoicing! Warmed up pizza for supper, warm baths and internet connections were made. Skyping home to Canada and to Michigan! When you have power the world doesn’t seem so big or you so far away! We went to bed rejoicing and praising God for power!
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