Hello there
As usual it seems, I have been having a really busy time of late! End of August I travelled to Lundazi with the Moderator, Moderator Elect and the General Secretary, for our GAC (General Administrative Committee) meeting. It was held in Mwase – an hours drive from Lundazi town in Eastern province, on what you might say was a challenging road for a driver!! Delegates at the meeting were Presbytery clerks, elders and Heads of Departments of the Synod. Most people stayed in Mwase but I travelled to Lundazi each day leaving at 6am and returning around 10 or 11pm, so as you can imagine it was really tiring!
On arrival at the venue, I travelled with Rev S Kabaghe our General Secretary and Rev Lovemore Nyirenda, the parish minister to choose a cow….for the food at the meeting!
The meeting was opened with communion led by Rev F Kapakasa our moderator elect, and Rev C Chunda then took control as the Moderator of the Synod. We had evening devotion each day and the choir from the congregation led the worship.
I go to the GAC to present a report on the activities of Early Childhood Development in the Synod. This year I had an extra duty as I had to do a presentation on the child protection policy we are developing – it was well received and there were many questions! We hope it will be ready for adoption as a policy next year at Synod.
Its always fun when it comes to the competition between Presbyteries to have a cup for a year! Presbyteries bring money and the one with the highest amount receives the cup! Its a lot of fun with Rev Meman Mwandila trying to encourage people to give more money so that they get the cup!
The moderator gave a special cup and a gift to Midlands East Presbytery in remembrance of Rev Gerald Phiri who passed away in January 2019. Rev G Phiri was a character and was always the life and soul of any function so his presence was greatly missed this year.
There were quite a few ministers transferred at the end of the meeting. In our Synod ministers are appointed, not ‘called’ to a congregation. This is always a tense time for everyone.
Coming home the day after the meeting ended, we stopped to buy some African sausage…or mice. I did not eat one!!
Zambia is facing a lot of challenges right now with electricity. We have very low rainfall this year with the result that our hydro power electric plants are not functioning to full capacity. Country wide we are experiencing severe load shedding and right now in Lusaka power is off 10-12 hours daily which makes any sort of computer work impossible. At my home it goes off around 5.30am and comes on around 22 hours! So unless I want to work at night it can be very frustrating.
Thanks to some friends I have been able to buy an inverter which means I can power a laptop, a lamp and charge a few small items. Unfortunately I have not found a solution to keeping the fridge on yet! I have solar lights which are a blessing and I have a gas cooker which means at least I can cook and boil water for coffee!! Victoria falls are completely dry already and usually that does not happen until at least December, so water is scarce! We are praying that rains will be better this coming season!
Last blog post I talked about the team from Hillsborough PC. They brought a lot of football strips and footballs and so I went to deliver them to some of our community schools when they came back after the holiday! As you can see they are very pleased with the gifts!
On 23 September, I set off for Lundazi in Eastern province again which is where I am writing this post from! I am here to visit our CCAP primary schools with Early Childhood classes. I want to see what the teachers are doing so that I can make a plan to support them better. Most of them are rural schools and the roads to reach them are not for the faint hearted! In all of the schools but one that I have visited so far children have been sitting at desks with notebooks and given tasks to do in their books! I have found this quite distressing as these teachers have been trained so now I am wondering what type of training is done in the teacher training colleges bearing in mind these kids are between 3 and 6 years!!!
Out of the four schools I have visited so far, I have been really encouraged by this teacher below. She is at one of the rural schools and is really innovative and creative. You see her sitting on the bus that she has made for the kids – she has a steering wheel to attach and then will have it painted!
She has cut out pictures from some of our major supermarkets sale leaflets and kids use them to sign in each morning – they know which picture is for them!
She made this lovely activity which is difficult to see from the picture, but she cut plastic bottles and attached a string to the inside of the lid. Then she attached another lid at the end of the string. Children have to try and catch the lid on the end of the string into the bottle! Such a fun game and great for development!
Although the roads are challenging, I love being out in the country and travelling around! Sometimes in Lusaka I feel very claustrophobic being surrounded by cement and tar roads!
Lundazi is a sleepy little town and yet in the centre is a castle! It is a National Monument and you can stay there but its really run down. The castle was built in 1948 by a welsh District Commissioner called Colonel Errol Button! There are a few such structures dotted around Zambia – left overs of the colonial era!
Its the time of year for Jacaranda trees – the lovely purple blossom! Dry season always amazes me with the abundance of colour in flowers and trees! Also the sunsets at this time of year are spectacular!
I am in Lundazi over the weekend and will see another two schools next week before I head to Chipata to visit another school on my way back to Lusaka!
Oh and I moved house just before coming here so I have to go and unpack boxes when I get back to Lusaka! Why did I move house? Because the new place has a water tank and with the water issues in Lusaka, it is necessary! Its also a bit more secure than where I was before!
Thanks for your support and for reading this – hope you enjoy my blog! If you have time please leave a comment!
Blessings,
Diane x
September 28, 2019
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