Ok, I'm trying to think of things that would interest you about driving out into the bush. There are, of course, no public restrooms, so if you have to go you just find a bush and assume about 50 Zambian children are watching you. There are no rest stops or picnic tables, so for lunch we just pulled over, Laurie made sandwiches, and then we got back into the car to eat. Ok, now for the good stuff. :)
Our first reunion was with Mapanza Baptist Church. Maxwell was the first one we saw-he is the pastor of the church.
The church has grown since we have left and Maxwell has even started another church that is larger than his own in a nearby village!
Maxwell walked us to his hut where he pulled out his new guitar and played us a welcoming song.
His wife, Priscilla joined us and gave me a big hug!
Their daughter, Lwiito (means "call" - Maxwell named her that because of his call from God to preach) had grown so much and was very shy around us. Their 2nd daughter, Cibotu, passed away in 2007. God then blessed them with a son, who they named Blu! They call him Bluboy and we got tons of pictures with him!
Then we hiked to Margaret's house. At this point, Cason was sweating and starting to turn red. It was humid, flies were swarming us, and it was quite the hike to Margaret's. Right about then I was thinking, "why me, God? I can't do this again..." We show up to Margaret's house, and she comes running out of her house and gives me a hug. She was pouring sweat and our faces were touching, and for those of you who know me, you know I am not a very "touchy" person. So I was trying to stay calm when she starts singing and spinning me around to dance with her! Whatever she was singing was a LONG song, and I was thinking "whoever has the camera better put it down NOW!"
Blu thought it was hilarious of course and was yelling "Dance Darbi!" Margaret then backs up and gives me a huge chest bump! I quickly get out of the range of the camera and tell Blu it is his turn!! Seriously though, Margaret is my favorite Zambian woman. She just radiates joy and she loves Jesus so much. She kept saying "It is as if it is a dream!" See, she was sick and was about to leave for the clinic for a few days. We actually weren't supposed to arrive until the next day, so she was frantic that she was going to miss us, and all of a sudden, we arrived! God worked all of that out for sure. I love that woman!
We then tried to meet with the chief, only to find he was out of town. I guess "meet with a chief" sounds vague. Typically, you would get someone to take you to the chief to introduce you. He probably is very educated and very well-dressed. It is customary for you to present him with a gift when you visit him. He lived in a nice home out in the bush with a private fence. Anyway, since he wasn't around, we talked to the town councilman about land for an orphanage. We had recently found out that the term "orphanage" is not a good term to use in Zambia. Many Zambians feel that it is the job of the extended family to care for orphans. While we can see their point, it's just not happening in Zambia. Too many orphans are shipped off to uncles who abuse them in various ways and are treated like slaves. So, anyway, we were more careful with our terminology and talked more about "a home for orphans where they would get a good education." The councilman seemed very excited. Honestly, most people in the bush see a white person with a dream like ours and think "money, electricity, water, development." They want to know what we can do for them. And that is ok--we do want to bring development to a rural area. So this councilman said that he would meet with the headmen (the men under the chief--compare a chief to a governor and the headmen to mayors) and they would select some land for us and they would present it to the chief. We left a little discouraged, thinking "that's it? that's as far as we got?" But we got a call the next day saying that the headmen had all picked a spot for the orphanage and that they were already ready to present it to the chief! That is moving at lightning speed in Africa! More updates on land to come.
Still not finshed with Day Two--it was a busy day! I'll conclude Day 2 tomorrow with a blog about Macha.
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