Hello there! Sorry it’s been awhile- we lost internet. I love you.

9/17
We got our babies today! Each of us chose one or more children to work with as much as possible. My child is Kurt. He is possibly an AIDs baby. He was born December 2nd of last year, so the test isn’t accurate for him yet. His parents are both blind and have AIDS. He has an older brother that lives at Haven 2. I’m helping him with sitting up. He is a cute little one. He has big eyes and seems optimistic. All the kids love to just be held. It’s very fulfilling.
9/18
Today I went to the clinic. I went in the afternoon and there were not many people there. One girl came in complaining of a pain in her side. Ms. Bingham thought it was pneumonia, but the X-rays (yes, x-rays! We got to watch) showed that her lungs were fine. She prescribed some painkillers (I think they were over the counter but I’m not sure) and told her to go to the hospital if it got worse.

The Mann House

I forgot to tell you about where I live! I live in the Mann house, which is owned by the Mann Family. They visit once a year for a few weeks. There’s a spacious common area and four small bedrooms, each with a bathroom and a closet. We have mosquito nets over the beds. My roommate is Jordanne Case, and she’s wonderful. There is also a kitchen. The house has cement walls and a thatched roof. The doors and windows have bars on them. The tops of the walls have razor wire, just in case someone or something gets through the thatched roof. It is a fortress! There is a night watchman. I feel very safe here.
9/20
Rural Churches
Today we drove 2 hours to visit our brothers and sisters in a rural church. There was probably fifty members of the congregation. I sat down next to a girl about my age and she was immediately my friend. We’re penpals now! She gave me her address and her dad’s cell phone number. It’s really amazing that people that live in huts have cell phones and come to church wearing very nice clothes. She, like most people, knew English. Their pronunciation is different in a lot of words, though. For example, “Church” = ”Cheerch”.
We were told a story about two women and the Holy Spirit. At the mission here they had an outreach and baptized people all day. At the very end of this very cold day two women came to them and were baptized. They had been studying with them and decided that they wanted to give their lives to Christ. They baptized them and sent them home dripping wet on a cold day. They were from a very small village very far away, so they were probably the only Christians in the area. The missionaries looked at each other and wondered what would come of them. About five years later they found out that there was a small but thriving congregation in this small village. The women had converted their husbands and one of them became the leader of their small church. They also converted four other women who also converted their families. I think that the original two women and four of their friends started the church. Wow. We visited them on 9/27 and they were most welcome to us. We stayed after service and ate shema (cornmeal), goat, chicken, and (non-alcoholic) sweet beer made from corn.
9/24/09
I didn’t do much today at all. I was feeling lazy and a bit sick. I went out on a walk with my friend Sammi and we ran into a new friend named Kasam. We talked for hours! We saw a snake, a baby puff adder. He asked a passing car to run over it and they did. He told us about culture and about how some of the people in the last group were outgoing and would always be in the dormitories, having fun. I don’t do that. I keep waiting, half hoping it won’t happen, for someone to invite me over. I need to be more outgoing. At the same time I shouldn’t be hard on myself because I have a lot to do here. We travel all the time, I’m taking 18 hours of classes, and we visit the Haven, the Clinic, and Eric’s House (a house for orphans that probably won’t be adopted).
9/26
The Chief
Today Honorable Chief Sipatunyana T. Masaka came and spoke to us about culture, politics, and his life. We sang a Tonga song to him when he first arrived. He showed up wearing a black suit jacket and khaki pants and seemed to be a powerful man. He spoke with his hands in his pockets. In church if you speak with your hands in your pockets they say you are prideful. He started by talking about how he spoke to the group last year and he had hoped to prepare more things to say but he ran out of time.
He started off by giving us several definitions of culture. He then moved to the government here. There is a small group of elderly men that choose the next Chief. He became a chief at age sixty and is now sixty six. Chiefs never retire; they are a chief as long as they live. His death will be like the “end of the world.” He said that he will be willing to die when his time comes. He will have a funeral for seven days. He talked about three types of marriages: the traditional way of the boy’s parents looking to nice (good humored, well mannered) families and choosing a wife for their son. The second type is a young man chooses his bride and goes to the family with a gift. The mom always tells him no. Sometimes they ask him to build a barn etc. and see if he can properly take care of their daughter. Once the bride’s parents are convinced he would be a good husband they can be married. There is always a bride price that the family of the groom or the groom himself must pay. It is not barbaric; it is not like buying people.
He talked a lot about how westernization is replacing (destroying) their traditions. This is so true and it’s sad. He started talking about small things that were different: the use of coffins, men and women using the same toilet, ceremonies changing, marriages changing, and people becoming more time-conscious. Then he said that to westerners time was equal to money and that he was starting to waste our money. He was serious and I felt really bad about it. Most of us were slumping in our chairs and it was evident that we were ready for him to stop talking. He spoke for a few more minutes and then sat down in the back of the room with the other adults. We were allowed to ask him questions. In answering them he told us about his life. He had two wives, not at the same time. The first one went away I think. He had six girls, one boy, and one lost. I asked him what his responsibilities were as chief and he said that he is the traditional ruler. He sees that culture is observed and that people behave. He also works with the government for modern development. It was a treat that he came to speak to us. He is a very highly respected and busy person.

9/29
St. Mulumba
Today we went to St. Mulumba’s school for the blind, deaf, and mentally retarded. It was my favorite thing we’ve done this whole trip. They all came out to meet us at the fence around the school, waving and making other welcoming gestures. It was pretty intimidating for some reason. Still, it was wonderful. Deaf people are so expressive. Those kids are so beautiful. There was one mentally retarded girl that was overjoyed to see us. She probably hugged all 25 of us at least once.
The headmaster took us into the staff room and told us about the school. The school was started by a Catholic Nun from Ireland who, visiting villages came across many disabled people that had no access to education. The children would literally stay at home all day every day. She raised money to start a school in 1991. Originally it was just for the mentally retarded, but it grew to include the deaf and the blind. The Catholic Church has stepped back and the government runs it. The facilities were built by the Catholic Church and the government pays the teachers and others that work there. The parents of the children pay only for their children’s food. It seems like it was the equivalent of 400-500 USD. The government has given the school land to expand on. Someday they hope to raise money and go up to grade seven or nine.
Their students move at their own pace through the grades, so they finish at different ages. It’s a huge adjustment for them to go from sitting in their house all day to living with dozens of other children and sitting in a chair at school. The new kids stay in one class until they decide that they would like to learn. From there they go from grade to grade at their own pace. They are divided in groups according to their disability. The teachers are government workers and they seemed to be very capable people that are doing a good job. The kids also live at the school. They have big rooms with tidy little bunk beds. There are 32 kids that live in each room. It’s kindof overwhelming. They have no privacy. The classrooms are simple: concrete floors, chalkboards. The deaf children had insulation on the walls because the vibrations in a room really bother them. They had a lot of handmade drawings and posters on the walls in the rooms for the deaf and mentally retarded children. The blind children had some pieces of paper with shapes pressed into them (the kids probably made them) on the wall.
The headmaster had so much pride in his students and his school. I could count on my hands the number of people I’ve met who seemed to enjoy their jobs as much as he does. He was especially proud of his students excelling in sports. “They do better than ordinary children! They are serious about their sports.” Two of his students flew to America in 1991 to participate in Special Olympics and each brought back a silver medal. He took us into his office and showed the medals to us as well as several others.
We got to meet the kids! They are so energetic, especially the deaf children. They were like normal kids when they were all together- lovingly picking on each other etc. They really loved to have pictures taken of them. I sat on a sidewalk and four deaf girls came and sat beside me, signing to me and pointing and everything else!
*****
Zambians don’t think of disabilities in the same way we do. Everything is tied to something spiritual. They probably think that a witch caused them to have a disability or that their ancestors were offended. It reminds me of the question Jesus was asked “Rabbi, who sinned: this man or his parents?” They believe they are disabled for a reason. Interestingly, we have heard from the missionaries that those with disabilities are largely accepted by the community. When we attended the funeral there was a man that spoke to us but not in English. We assumed he was speaking Tonga but we found out that he wasn’t speaking any language at all. We were told that he is crazy but harmless. The community didn’t put him in a special home or distance themselves from him. They just let him be who he is.
People live with their extended families here. Instead of calling their aunts, uncles, and cousins by the titles we do they call them mother, father, sister, or brother. To not do so would put space between them. That’s just how they do.
*****
I can imagine from re-reading this that it seems like I think this is a great culture. I think it is great but it’s not perfect and it’s not better than ours. Neither is best, they are just different. They can’t be compared. I’ll try to share more of the harder things about this culture.
The church here struggles with witchcraft and polygamy. One of our teachers warned us (as many of us will likely be missionaries in Africa) that we would be very frustrated at African Christians. They will appear to be very faithful Christians, but they go back to their roots in times of trouble. For example, if someone in their family gets sick they will likely pray for them and also call in a witch doctor. Sometimes they don’t see a problem with it- they’re just covering their bases. “If praying doesn’t work then maybe the witch will.” Witch doctors put cuts on people, give charms, and do unspeakable, disgusting things- definitely demonic. Super evil.
African Christians probably wouldn’t want to talk to us about those struggles, either. Makuas (white foreigners) don’t take witches seriously. They’re the cute old ladies that ride around on brooms. We’ve made something that is disgustingly evil into something that is comical. Personally, Hocus Pocus was one of my favorite movies growing up. I also dressed up as a witch on Halloween for 4 or 5 years. I had a lot of fun. Is that wrong? It’s certainly unwise. Ignorant. It opens up a way to be deceived. It makes it hard for us to relate to our African brothers and sisters.
We went to this museum and I read some articles about witchcraft. They fell into two categories: articles against individuals publicly calling people witches and articles about the activities of actual witches. One of them was about the confession of two women who were eating a corpse to gain magical powers. One of them also confessed to taking a hand- she was saving it for later. Satan does not hide here. He is so disgusting. I’ve been learning a good bit about Satan since I’ve came here. He is so real and he is the complete opposite of God in every way.
I’m learning about the Holy Spirit too. One of my favorite thoughts is the fact that we are all connected to God and each other. We are never, ever alone. We’re more together right now (yes, now!) than we could ever be with other people, even if we are physically sitting right next to them. We are the body! He is establishing a nation. We are scattered throughout time and all places but our hearts beat as one. His Spirit transcends all boundaries! When we drive away from rural little churches I can rejoice in the fact that I will see them again. Probably never again with my eyes, but that’s ok.

That’s the thing with investing yourself in people. You start to love them. We’re going to be very sad when we leave.
*****
I write like being here’s great and fun and it is, but not all the time. It’s always a blessing but I don’t always want to be here. A lot of days I’d really like to just be absorbed into a book or a movie. I was really convicted about that today. (10/01) I haven’t been giving myself completely to this experience and these people. I’ve been kindof holding back- emotionally, spiritually. I give my time but not always myself. I don’t want to live like that. Only God can change this and I need to give up bad attitudes daily.

9/30
Today I stayed home (I’m germy from my cold) and did homework. I don’t want to get any babies sick. I put my jeans on under my skirt! I feel very myself. They’re like my security blanket.
I’m being ridiculous.

We’re going on a trip this week! We’ll be gone from october 7 to october 15. We’re going to Mapepe Bible College, to visit missionaries at Mumena, to Maheba Refugee Camp, visiting new churches, and Chimfunshi Wildlife ophanage trust (chimpanzees are rescued and cared for there). We’ll be in Northwestern Zambia. I’m really excited.