Today, I awoke not to the sunshine lighting my room, but to a buzzy old fly circling my head! As I peeked at the alarm, 5:10 and no sun, lifting the curtain I peeked out, it was very overcast and cloudy, but it wasn’t raining. When I walked outside this morning, there was a black tub behind the house and it had over three inches of rain in it from last night’s storm.
So, much for sitting outside for my quiet time this morning. About 6:30 I head out to the kitchen and office. Click on the computer, and hope to see that Bob is on; he is a real night owl when I’m away. He is not, so I send him off a quick email greeting, and just as I am about to walk away. The Skype begins to ring, and he is calling! Hurray! We talk about the last few days, and upcoming events. What a way to begin my day, first with my God, and then with my hubby! He wasn’t as much as a night owl as I thought, he had been sleeping, and set his alarm to be able to call me before I got too busy in my day.
Today, we planned another trip to Kamwala for more fabric. Steph and I left with Siwali and I needed to stop at an ATM machine and get some money. This hasn’t worked for me in the past, so Bob had talked with the Credit Union last week, to make sure that I would be able to draw from our account with my debit card. He was assured it would be fine, and they sent the paperwork in to be sure it happened. I tried three different ATM’s for three different banks and left without one penny! So spent much of the afternoon on Skype with Bob, with the Credit card company and with my daughter Melissa, working as go between! Crazy, but everyone says it will work, try again and go to a bank that has an ATM machine in the bank and if it doesn’t work, a teller should be able to access the account and get me the money. OK, I’m game and we’ll see what tomorrow brings.
Anyone who has been to Kamwala, won’t have a hard time picturing this, but for those who haven’t I don’t think there are words to express it! After the three plus inches of rain last night, there was water everywhere in Kamwala. Steph was ready with her big rubber boots, I not so much, I left with my sandals on, but could pretty much stay out of the mud. Siwali parked right up on the sidewalk, so I didn’t have to step in a puddle to get out of the car. Made our purchases and headed back out. Last August when Jan and I were there furnishing the Service Center, Siwali took us to a store in Kamwala to get lots of the household things we needed. We needed to buy some additional mugs for coffee and tea so we can serve the counselors when they come for prayers on Friday. I asked Siwali if he thought we could get back there, the roads were awful in August, just how would they be after all the rain, unbelievable! That was Steph’s word, I just can’t believe this, I can’t believe they are like this, ruts and holes and rocks in the road, trash and more trash everywhere. We pulled in front of the store made our purchase and returned to the main road. Unbelievable!
You know how when you take wonderful pictures of mountains, and you say they really don't do the beauty justice. The same here, the pictures don't do justice in capturing the scene.
Then we made a quick stop in Kabata at the Cultural Market. Stephanie wanted to get something to bring home for her oma. She found the perfect gift!
We did another stop for some WD-40 or the African counterpart. All of the padlocks are getting rusty from the rains and are becoming very difficult for Steph and me to get locked and unlocked. Steph and Siwali went inside, I sat in the car. While I sat there I noticed a faucet on the side of the building, women and children came with the yellow jugs, pails and various pans and bottles to fill up with water. Once again I am amazed at the strength of these women and children, as the women hoisted the filled containers unto their heads and walked away. Do you know how much a gallon of milk weighs? These were many more gallons than one.
Soon Steph and Siwali were back with the WD-40, and we headed over to the EOH offices. I wanted to greet Mrs. H it was so good to see her again. She is such a special lady! I wanted to get the names of the children in Juliet’s family. When we visit with the kids in the House that GEMS Built, both sets of children come to be loved on and receive our hugs. We brought cards and letters from girls in North America, but only addressed to the kids in our house. If I had the names of the other children, I can have some of our clubs write notes to all the children. For our next visit, in April.
Came back and dropped Stephanie off, we had borrowed Catherine’s flash drive to download some papers from Jan, so Siwali and I headed over to the PostNet by Steers to get copies.
This afternoon, I spent a lot of time trying to see why I couldn’t get my debit card to work. Calling Bob, and he going to the Credit Union, and calling my credit card company to try and get a pin to use that to draw some cash. Finally after a Skype call to Melissa, giving her the information, she was able to get me a new pin and the CU assures me that my card will work! We’ll give it another whirl tomorrow!
I did some laundry when the sun came out after lunch. Then I cut batting, into pieces. There were three rolls of king size quilt batting in the cupboard, so I unrolled it and cut one roll into 8” squares. How many pieces of 8” batting from a king size quilt…..210! So that will be an additional 600 pieces of batting for 600 more potholders!
Steph made a wonderful chicken stir-fry with rice for dinner. Baths in, and time to journal this day and reflect on the contrasts that I’ve seen here in Zambia.
This isn’t a new revelation, but as I was praying in color yesterday, that is what God brought to my mind. Zambia is such a land of contrasts. Look at the pictures from yesterday; the neatly manicured yard here at our house and the beautiful flowers, now look at the pictures of Kamwala today. Not just the puddles, but the trash and garbage everywhere. How does it exist side by side?
These were some of the contrasts that came to my mind. -
Blue skies - Dark skies
Sunshine - Rain
Beautiful flowers - Dry, cracked hard earth
Green grass - Dirt
Well maintained yards - Piles of garbage abandoned everywhere
Tar streets - Bumpy, potholed dirt roads
Plenty of food - Starvation
Health - Illness
Families - Orphans
Power - No power
Water from a faucet - No water
Education - No education
Private schools - Government run schools
Stoves and ovens - Braziers
Good husbands & fathers - Drunken, abusive husbands and fathers
Secure homes - Shelter of walls without a roof
Bathrooms - Out houses
Jobs - No jobs
Doctors - No doctors
Private hospitals - Government clinics
Clean water - Dirty water
I could go on and on, these are what I have observed, and it makes my heart break, at the injustice in these contrasts. I am very aware of these contrasts, but I really wonder how many of the Zambian people even think about it. They are happy, content, and resilient and never complain about any of these things. Father, help me to remember how little they have and what thankful hearts they possess. When I leave here, I’ll go home to celebrate Christmas with my family, to great meals and bountiful tables of treats, presents and gift giving, and how quickly will I get wrapped up in all the “stuff” of Christmas and forget what I have seen here.
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