Hello everyone,
Time is flying past this year and yet I seem to be getting so little done!
A youth team from Hillsborough Presbyterian church is coming to Lusaka in August. I am part of the organising team here and so I have been running up and down with the Youth Director, trying to get things sorted! I visited Matero CCAP Sunday school as they will be doing a kids club there! There are still a lot of logisitics to arrange but I am hopeful that everything will be organised before their arrival (so if any of the team are reading this…don’t panic!!).
I continue to monitor our ECD centre at Kabwata in Lusaka, but unfortunately I haven’t managed to visit as often as I would like this term. I was delighted to find this child busy looking at a book (in a culture where we do not have many available books for children).
As a Synod we are trying to develop a Child Protection policy and so we had a two day workshop to begin this process. I am leading the team and I outlined the reasons for the policy and we had a lot of discussion about what was applicable in Zambia and what was not! Now, I have somewhere to start and hope to have a draft available soon..so watch this space!
The team developing the CP policy are in the picture below..Rev A Kanyinji (Sunday School Co-ordinator, Mrs Mabuchi Dokowe (Community Schools Co-ordinator), me, Rev L Ng’ambe (Youth Co-ordinator) and Rev N Mkwayi (Education Secretary)
The Regional Liaison for Central and East Africa for the Presbyterian Church of USA has been based in Lusaka for some years. The Liaison is involved in 4 countries in the region – Zambia, Malawi, Rwanda and Kenya. Mrs Nancy Collins has just retired as Regional Liaison and her successor Rev Paula Cooper was inducted in Chawama CCAP in May. I had the privilege of taking some photos for her! As you can see she is a very bubbly and happy person and I wish her well in this new challenging position!
I took the first two weeks of June off to have some rest and relaxation which I really needed! I spent one week in Namibia, a large country in South West Africa. It was good to be back – I visited Namibia about 20 years ago and although Windhoek, the capital city, has developed somewhat, the rest of the country is much as I remember. Its a fascinating country with a very interesting (and brutal) history. I visited Etosha National Park which was extremely dry as they have had a drought for about 5 years now! Animals are suffering from lack of water and therefore lack of food too, but we still had some pretty cool sightings!! Etosha salt pan is a stunningly beautiful lake of whiteness but you do need sunscreen and a hat even in winter!
After Etosha, we travelled to a coastal town called Swakopmund. We stopped with some of the local tribal groups on the way where I was able to take some photos after I bought a couple of small items which they sell. They have a hard life, living in a remote and very dry area of Namibia.
Swakopmund is a coastal town on part of what is known as the Skeleton coast! This is because there are a lot of seal skeletons found in this area! It is also an area known for shipwrecks due to the fierce tidal currents! This is part of the latest shipwreck at Henties bay where birds seem to have made a home!
After Swakopmund, we headed off to the Namib Nakluft park..the desert…. where we spent a couple of nights in a desert camp! The landscape changes from white and brown to the red dunes which is quite stunning! I just love the desert and although we had a really strong wind, it did not disappoint! My skin is so much smoother after the experience!!
The largest dune is called Big Daddy dune at Sossesvlei – one of our team tried to climb it but the wind was too strong and he didn’t manage to get to the top!
On the way back to Windhoek, we stopped in a small place called Solitaire where we were able to go and visit a reserve where there was a cheetah female and her 6 cubs. Solitaire also has a coffee shop which sells amazing apple pie….
Before I left for Namibia, a friend from my early years in Malawi in Zomba, contacted me to tell me that her Mum (in her 70’s) was coming to Lusaka on a Tearfund team. They arrived the day before I left so I went quickly to greet them! It was lovely to meet them all. Susan was definitely the oldest – the others were all in their late teens and early 20’s! They had a wonderful month and at the end of this blog, there is a picture of the team the day before they left Zambia!
Back from holiday and straight into work again! I left to go to Lundazi in Eastern Province, with Rev Albert Kanyinji who is our Sunday School Co-ordinator. We were going to meet some Sunday school teachers from two Presbyteries – Lundazi and Lundazi East. Our Synod have produced a curriculum for Sunday school and it has been translated into 3 of the 72 Zambian languages! So..we are going to ask these teachers to review the Chitumbuka and see if it makes sense. They will also be showing us how they teach some of the lessons in the curriculum! Part of my role is to do some lessons with the teachers about how children learn and how we can effectively teach them better! The next few pictures are a snapshot of what went on for the two days!
After the workshop, I was staying until the next week to visit some ECD classes in schools. On Saturday Rev K took me to his home village where I had a lot of fun with the kids! The little one hiding behind was really scared of me. They don’t see too many white people!!
On Sunday I attended worship at David McConaghie congregation in Lundazi. This was one of the choirs in good voice with the parish minister Rev A Kunda behind!
Monday morning I met with the Education Secretary who escorted me to visit some schools in the area. The following day I went with Moffat, one of the project officers! It was great to see what is happening in primary schools with the ECD classes. Some teachers are trained, some not. Some have teaching materials to use, some not! But all of them had a welcoming smile and were very helpful in telling me their challenges so that perhaps in the future I can help them in some small way through training! ECD is relatively new in primary schools – some have only had a class in 2019, some in 2018 and they are still learning how to run them! Space is an issue as classrooms are small and numbers tend to be big!
When we went to Chasefu, we found the class was on mid-term break. Education department are constructing a classroom block so we went to see the bricks being made and see how construction was progressing. There was a lot of activity…
I left on Wednesday morning from Lundazi (to brave the potholed road to Chipata)! I arrived in Chipata and went immediately to one of our ECD centres there which meets in a small CCAP church. I found teachers busy doing rote learning – no play materials or any other materials in sight! Am looking forward to going to spend a few days with them and give them some ideas of learning through play!
That afternoon, I drove as far as Petauke and stayed overnight before going home to Lusaka! Distances in Zambia are long… and sometimes it is not the distance that matters but the state of the road!
I was home just in time to meet the Tearfund team again before they left on Sunday. They have had a great experience and learnt a lot, not only about Zambia but about themselves which is great! Was lovely to meet them and their driver who I think you can spot in the picture below!
Was great to have Fidelis come to visit in May from Malawi. He is with Miguel, one of the PCUSA Young Adult Volunteers (YAV’s) who came for lunch one day! Two brothers of different colours!! Migeul is a fabulous pianist so he kept us entertained all afternoon!
And to finish this blog…a few photos of the amazing creation that I find myself surrounded by in Lusaka!
As always I am humbled by the people I meet in Zambia. When I was in Eastern province, I met some amazing people who have a lot of hardship in their lives and yet they thank God each day for his provision. It is a real privilege for me to serve here and I am so thankful for this challenge that God has given me! I hope you enjoy my blog and please feel free to leave a comment! Its always a great encouragement!
Blessings and love,
Diane x
July 1, 2019
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