Email Address

It has been brought to our attention that people cannot reply to the email updates you get from the blog- so if you have replied to the email and not heard from us it's because we didn't get the email- sorry!

You can communicate with us through email:
paule262@gmail.com

Love to hear from you!

-paul

Where Things Are Going

Hello Everyone!

It's been awhile and we have been back in the States for about 3 weeks now and there is a bit of a lull to catch up.

We will be in the US until early or mid February when we plan to head back to Zambia with CVM under a longer term commitment of 2-3 years at a time.  We sold our house in one day to the first person that saw it and are working on the details of selling out of the practice to a great veterinarian a few years behind me in the business.  The kids are enjoying a long break from homeschool while we are here and loving seeing their cousins and grandparents (and playing video games).  I have been working at Hillside a couple days a week and it has been fun catching up with clients and the staff.  Alicia has been mostly getting a million things done and spending as much time as she can with her mom and sister.

We plan to go back as soon as possible to continue the work we have started.  In March we plan to breed cattle again with a larger grant this time and do 400 cows in the area.  A classmate of mine and a friend from Canada are planning to come help with the dirty work and I am so thankful!  We also plan to help the newly formed cooperative with the purchase of a sprayer (large, mobile unit) for ticks on cattle that can be moved about the area for tick control.  This will be a huge help in controlling deadly tick diseases that threaten the livestock population there.  After breeding slows down we will get back to the rotating monthly education and devotions in the bush as our basic outreach ministry of the church.

In Mwandi we have been moved to another house on the river that is larger and can accomodate visitors more easily.  The house is owned by the Church of Scotland and must be used for ministry as well as a living place.  This was perfect for us as Alicia has been saying that she would love to have ministry opportunities she can do from home as that is so much easier with the kids.  When it was presented to us this way it was just...funny I guess?  God gave us exactly what we felt we needed and should have been praying for.  The things we don't trust Him with...  So Alicia will be helping out with a sewing club ministry, formula for HIV+ mothers of newborns, and gardening ministry from the house.  Amazing!

We are going to Seattle in January to meet with the CVM staff and hopefully get everything in order to become long term field staff there.  We would like to be part of this organization this way for accountability and support while we are in the filed.  They are great people and have helped to organize this last year with us as 'short term' participants so far.  Through you all and the organization of CVM, Mwandi Veterinary Project, and World Renew we were able to raise all of the support we needed to get through the year.  It came in in monthly support and one time gifts but in the end it all added up to just enough to see us and all the projects through the 9 months.  Thank you all!

This time going back we are expecting to stay longer term and CVM has wisely counseled us to get our monthly support in order before we go.  We need to organize regular monthly support from individuals who feel a desire to be part of this work.  We believe God has laid this work on our hearts and others in the Church and He is able to bring us together in it.  So, if you have been supporting us and plan to continue or if you have not but plan to this year coming up let us know so we can plan for the coming years.  Currently we still have our short term account you can give to (upper right of blog or cvmusa.org, short term, individuals and UCVSTM1768 is our account) or we will let everyone know once our long term account is approved and going.  You can also call CVM at 206-546-7574 to set up monthly support.

If it is your joy please let us know and know that we need you!  We would love to hear from you and are so encouraged by all the communication and interest in Mwandi we have received this year.  Look for another update coming soon as things hopefully continue to come together.  We would love to catch up with as many as we can this next month so drop us a line!

Ephesians 2:10

-paul

Rachel the professional international traveller.

Christmas fun with cousin Simon.

Coming Home

Very soon we will be coming back to the states for a brief stay to sort out some things before coming back to Mwandi to continue the work God has given us to do here.  When we came to Zambia it was for a 9 month commitment and to see if it confirmed that this was the way God was leading.  Figuring out where we are supposed to be and how we know it has always been a struggle for me in the moment  but when we step back and look at our lives things come more into focus and we can see where we have been and maybe some of where we are going.

Our time here started out rough with the bats and culture shock of coming into a new place and unfamiliar customs and there were a few nights we thought this would not last!  Over time though we quickly came to love the people here and feel at ease in the culture.  Sometimes it seems we even mesh better with life in Zambia than we did in the US!  We really feel our family is suited for this kind of work and life and that God has made us for a purpose such as this.  The kids still miss friends and we miss our families greatly of course and we are excited to be coming home for a couple months to see everyone!

We will be back on December 5th and staying until sometime mid-February.  While home we will be selling our house and my shares in the practice and getting things set up for a longer stay here in Mwandi.  We would love to catch up with as many of you as we can so let us know if you will be around and when we can get together!  We want to hear what we have missed this last year as much as share what we have been doing.  We will be going through IN, KY, TN, WI, and NC at least during our stay.

And THANK YOU to so many of you who have kept up relationships with us by e-mail, facebook, phonecalls, and cards!  The wonders of technology can make you feel close to your friends even from around the world!  Thank you also to so many who have prayed for us and given to support us and the work here- you are such a vital

Dog surgery in the village.

Rachel and her friends- Missionary kids from Bangladesh and Zambia

Our cat, 'Kaze'.  In english- our cat, 'cat'

part of what we are doing and I hope you feel the impact of that as much as we do.  Several people are planning trips to come help with the work next year and we look forward to another great year of working together with all of you to love our brothers and sisters in this world the way God desires.  It is for our joy and His glory.  Love you all!

-paul

Orphan Funeral

Today

A thirteen year old has passed away

HIV

TB

Thirteen

An orphan boy, no mom, no dad,

Today has made me very sad.

I did not know him, name or face
Only heard of life twice displaced
Secondly from earth erased.


Confused emotions torn,
At death no one is there to mourn
Who heard his cry when he was born,

They have both gone before.


Questions come of when we die-
Do we hear our Father cry?
Only if it is goodbye
And not welcome home forever

No more an orphan child.

Report On The Last 6 Months

I know numbers are not all important but they do give an idea of what is going on and recently I had to complete a report to renew a grant and I thought I should share.

We have artificially inseminated 170 cows in the district with a 58% pregnancy rate expecting about 100 calves this December/January. Our hope was a 50% rate. This was spread out among 57 families in the bush.

The new cooperative started by Dr Toby Hudson has grown to almost 100 members and is now bringing medicine and supplies to farmers in the bush in an ever-increasingly independent manner from outside help.

329 men and women have attended educational meetings in the bush on topics including artificial breeding, anthrax, blackleg, lumpy skin disease, and giving injections. This education is continuing in each of 10 areas monthly and attendance is growing.

@400 dogs have been vaccinated for rabies in an area where human rabies cases are not out of the ordinary.

45 dogs have been spayed or neutered on our dinner table to keep populations under control. A spayed or neutered dog is not multiplying and is a more loyal animal to the family that will keep other animals (unvaccinated dogs) away from the home and children.

Through individuals in the US we have been able to send or assist 4 individuals through educational programs in teaching, medicine and trade school. This has been a wonderful example of the Church helping brothers and sisters who are so less fortunate to be able to help themselves and become a blessing to others in their community and families.

We have started morning devotions on the farm with all the workers and it has progressed to being mostly Zambian led now and even continues on days when I am not around. I learn so much from these humble servants and praying with them about how to reach their community each morning.

The Church in the bush has been strengthened through the programs and we are discussing with UCZ about areas where new church plants are needed that we are working in. During each teaching or workshop we discuss that it is the love of Christ flowing through His people that brings us to each other.

Many relationships have been born and grow here. We have had hard conversations about adultery, alcoholism, dependance, faith, witchcraft, child abuse, and wonderful conversations about people growing in their faith, learning skills and trades, becoming educated, loving children, and leaving patterns of destruction. God has used these relationships to grow us, other missionaries, Zambians and Americans alike.

Thank you for your prayers, interest and support this year. We have not done any fundraising ourselves and yet all of our needs have been met here though our friends and family back home. The things that are happening here are a result of the whole Church following Christ. We feel we are where God wants us for now and we are planning on coming back after a short stay in the US this winter. Often it just feels like such a simple assignment of connecting people with each other or with information or ideas. Truly it is that God does all the work and we are just obedient to what small part He has for us to do. Such a joy to be doing this work. We miss you all in the States though and look forward to being with you soon!


Love,

Paul and Alicia

Ephesians 2:10

Teaching in a bush church

Alicia playing with kids during a rabies clinic

‘Here on Earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart because I have overcome the world.'  

John 16:33

About a month ago, 2 girls and 3 boys from the Congo were rescued from being trafficked to buyers in Namibia. They were caught in Mwandi. A Zambian man who works for the mission hospital was on the bus with these children. He knew that something didn’t seem “right” with these 5 kids and their guardians. He called the local immigration officer and police, and they investigated the matter. These traffickers make a lot of money selling these children. They offered the immigration officer a $40,000 bribe for him to let them leave without reporting them, but he does not love money more than these children’s lives. The police arrested the traffickers and put them in jail. The children were sent to the only foster family in the western province, our missionary friends who took care of the previous 4 Congolese boys that I have mentioned before. I am so thankful that these children were saved from being trafficked. Our reverend spoke about this issue at church this morning. He said that Mwandi is a prime area for human traffickers because of the unregulated border of the Zambezi River that we share with Namibia. Traffickers can cross the river here easily without having to go through immigration - so, no legal documents are needed to cross. These traffickers come to Mwandi and take these children to Namibia because it is a country where there is a market for these children. Our reverend and many people here have said that kids are often sold in Namibia and South Africa for witchcraft rituals. A common practice used by witch doctors is to cut out the hearts of these children and use it for shark bait in order to receive demonic/mystical blessings. Other times, they are sold into slavery or for the sex trade. Evil does exist!

These kids are very different from the last group of Congo kids. They do not listen, they physically fight, steal, run away. They are a lot of work for the other missionary family who both have full time jobs. The missionary couple that is caring for them has done a great job with them in a really short amount of time. Their behavior is improving greatly everyday. They can even sit still and quietly on the front row at church for 3 or more hours at a time. I have volunteered to help watch these kids for a few hours each day. They have been difficult at times, however, I feel so blessed to get to be apart of their lives. I feel so blessed that God has saved these children from being trafficked and that I get to show them love. I hug and kiss each one each time that I see them. Since they only know French and Swahili, if I forget to hug and kiss them, they come to me and point to the top of their head for a kiss and motion for me to wrap my arms around them - even the 9 and 10 year old boys. Oh, this makes me feel so special!

Please pray for these children. Tomorrow, the International Organization for Migration (a UN organization) will be taking these children to Lusaka to be sent back to their home and to be cared for. It is a complicated matter, especially since they come from a volatile country and they may not even have parents looking for them. Pray that if they have parents looking for them, that they will find them, and if they do not, that they will be placed in a loving home. Also, praise God for the hospital worker doing God’s work and reporting their captors to the police.

Terrible evil does exist in our world. Sometimes I take my sin (my evil) way too lightly. Seeing this obvious evil, though, always makes me hate my sin, and reminds me of how desperately we all need a Savior. The good news is that we have hope in Christ. This hope is what moves us to care about others, to fight for justice, to love the helpless, to be the people that God wants us to be. Without it, we will get bogged down with the overwhelming needs in this world. With it, we can trust that God’s beautiful glory will be revealed and all things will be reconciled.

-Alicia

Samuel

Samuel is a young man in his early 20’s that we met when he was employed by the OVC to do some carpentry work in our house. He recently completed carpentry training at the OVC and is just getting started in the workplace trying to find “piecework” around the village as he gets himself established. When we moved here he would spend many hours at our house working and often eat dinner with us and play with the kids. Maybe sometimes he spent as much time playing with the kids as doing carpentry work! Anyway, Rachel loves him and he is possibly her favorite person in Mwandi. Other than carpentry Samuel spends his time playing football (soccer) for the Mwandi team and is very good. 

Recently Samuel came to see me and I knew something was up. People only call ahead and make appointments when there is a need so I was wondering what was up when I saw him coming down the road. I had loaned Samuel 700 kwacha (less than $100) for his sister’s education and he was working to make the money to pay me back. His almost embarrassed look when he arrived made me suspect the visit was about this. 

It was, kinda. There had been a fire and the house that Samuel and his two younger brothers lived in had burned to the ground. The embarrassed look I had picked up came form the fact that the money Samuel had been lost in the fire and so there would be a delay in paying me back. It is painful to watch someone struggle with the telling of bad news that you can tell they would really rather not be bearing. He had not come to ask for something except patience and forgiveness really.

Alicia has such a heart for these things. She had decided to give him a blanket, mattress, mosquito nets, and clothes while I was still thinking we would be short a blanket and mattress that night! My heart finds the right place, but not as quickly as hers. We also told him to not worry about paying back the loan of course.

We loaded up the things in the truck and I drove Samuel “home”. No one knew how the fire started, but the thatch roof and stick and mud walls caught during the night and there was nothing left. 

The next week Samuel came by again and asked me shyly if I could give him a loan to start a small business in town so he could raise the money again to help his sister go to school. After discussing we loaned him 600 kwacha ($80) to buy goods to sell in a stand he would make himself. We made a plan to pay back 200 kwacha a month for 3 months and that has been a couple weeks ago. His stand is up and running and seems to be doing well. HIs sister runs the shop while he is in Livingstone doing small carpentry jobs.

Anyway, I tell this story to let everyone know what is going on and also to let you know that those of you who have supported us here support Samuel and others like him that we know. It is a joy to be able to give material blessings like this and tell Samuel that we are only able to do so because of Christian brothers and sisters in the US who are in support of the work we are doing here. So Samuel is loved and knows this love comes from the Father through His Church. I want to share that joy with you as it is yours also!

1John 3:17-18 says ‘If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can God’s love be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and truth.’

God brings people to us He wants to love through us. Let us all pray we will walk close enough to Him to recognize the opportunities He gives us to be His hands and feet!!

-paul

Outside the house

Inside the one room mud hut.

The only picture of Samuel I had!  Doing the ceiling work with Ethan when we first came here.  He was so patient and encouraged the kids to "help" him!