“Mubita”

We had only been here about 3 months when my dad came to visit with Alicia’s mother and my sister. Dad is an infectious disease doctor in the US and has done a lot of work with HIV during his career and when the hospital staff heard he was coming to visit they asked him to do a presentation about HIV and participate in the clinics in Mwandi. I hung out with Dad that day as he did his presentation and then we went on to see HIV patients coming in for medication and general check ups.

As I sat in the back of the room watching Dad work I saw a man I knew from the mission come in. Mubita (not real name) does almost every odd job (well) around the OVC and is the kindest man you will ever meet. He seems to do anything for anyone and is a joy to be around. I knew he was “positive” but I didn’t know if he knew I knew (follow?) and so I went to make myself scarce as he headed towards the exam room. He caught my eye though and he came in to give me the friendly Losi handshake and tell me he had come to pick up his medicine. I told him I was with Dad seeing patients and introduced him and then he went on. I was glad he thought nothing of it, but then if you know Mubita I shouldn’t have been surprised.

A little while later I left Dad and headed home only to run into Mubita again outside the clinic. We always greeted each other but now he had a look of excitement about him and a new interest in me as he approached.

“It is great that your father has come to help us that are positive,” he said, “I have been positive for 15 years and in the beginning was very sick. The mission hospital was able to bring medicine and now I am very strong.” It seemed knowing that he was HIV positive was somehow a new connection that peeled back one layer as people get to know each other.

“Yeah, that is what Dad does in the US, working with HIV patients so he has come to teach and learn about HIV in Africa.” I responded.

At this a look of amazement came over his face. “People in America are suffering just like we are in Africa?”

I realized then that he thought HIV was only an African disease just like so many other things that plague this continent and that he assumed that America had a solution and no struggles with it.

“Yes, lots of people. They suffer just the same as you do here, all over the world.” It took Mubita a while to digest this but it seemed to make him feel better somehow. Often America is seen as the promised land by people here and it is a surprise that people would struggle in the same way that a Zambian could.

Two days later I passed him painting at the OVC. “I want to meet people in America who are infected and be friends,” he said, “I want to know about their experience and share with them.”

“I will connect you with someone if I can,” I said, knowing my pool there was limited. Since then I have been around Mubita almost daily and he has mentioned this more than once. I try to wrap my brain around why it is so good for him to know that Americans suffer some of the same hardships Zambians do. I think it makes us feel like we are all in this together. Fighting the same battles and caring for each other. It feels good to know that people came from across the world to help you in your struggle. It is supposed to feel good- this is a joy that we receive and give when we do the will of the Father.

Sometimes I am challenged with the idea that I could just send money and that coming here makes no difference and may not be the most efficient thing. Many times God reminds me that we measure things in measurable things and that he is concerned with people and their hearts. When we come or send people to places of great physical need it shows a level of concern and caring that brings glory to God. 

John 13:34-35 says “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” When we live this out as individuals and as the Church people get cared for and the love of Jesus is in us and flowing to others through us. We cannot fix every problem but just obey as we know how and let Him work on hearts around us in ways we were never wise enough to see.

-paul

Alicia playing with kids in the bush

Celebrating Ethan's birthday in Livingstone

Rachel doing dishes (that's our entire kitchen/water filter on the wall)

Woman bringing dog to rabies clinic in the bush!

Great Update on the Congolese Kids!

Tomorrow morning the parents of the Congolese boys that we had been asking you to pray for, will be released from the jail. The boys will meet with them and be taken to a refugee camp in Zambia (about 4 hours from us). There they will be transitioning into their new life together and will be helped with housing and all other needs that go along with this transition. They can take visits to see their foster family who live here in Mwandi by getting a UN pass. Also, they can be visited by others while they are in the camp. We would really like to take a trip at some point to see them. Their foster family will visit them often. They are allowed 5 years to stay at the refugee camp. This will give them time to find a place to relocate. Australia, Canada, and Sweden (because they have other family already there) are all possibilities for them.

Our kids will really, really miss them. Paul and I will, too, but we are so happy that they will be reunited with their parents.

Please pray for Oneal, Omeal, Omeddy, Omari, and their parents.

With love,

Alicia

Random Stuff

I think it has been awhile since we have posted anything.  Tonight I am writing not because I have any interesting story of mine or someone else’s to tell but because I am not in the shower and I can’t sleep.  I don’t know why I can’t sleep but I’m not in the shower because the water is out.  Alicia had hers before that happened and is asleep now.  I’m not and there’s no water.  This has happened before, once for a couple days- some guys dug a hole to bury some trash from the hospital in the wrong place and hit the water line.  That time I had forgone a shower the night before to find no water in the morning (36 hrs post shower).  The next day there was still no water and I was supposed to meet with the chief (60+ hours post shower).  I was getting fairly nasty by that time so I had to at least double up the deodorant and get in the shower with some water buckets from outside to wash my hair.  I pulled it off okay but then the meeting was cancelled so no worries anyway!
Anymore this is not so much a problem as I shaved my head awhile back and it is amazing.  You don’t look so greasy and your hair looks the same in the morning.  I have grown out my goatee and really just have not shaved at all in a month or so and kinda have what beard I can manage.  I look a lot different I think and maybe not really good.  But this is okay because I wear a hat most of the time and we only have one tiny mirror in our house which I never look in unless checking out a bug bite or sunburn I cannot see otherwise.  That sounds terrible, but really it is great!  No one here cares much what you look like and even if we dress funny one day people just think it is normal American stuff.  They don’t know we’re not cool Americans, just American.  The kids wear whatever, doesn’t have to match, and they fit right in.  Everything is accepted, kinda nice.  Even crew-cut-bad-facial-hair-smelly guys.
So, I hope the water is back soon because tomorrow we go to Livingstone to pick up my Dad, my Sister, and Alicia’s Mom.  I also pick up new parts for the bathroom sink (we actually have 2 sinks), the shower, and the toilet (we do not have 2 of these).  All three of which decided to have decently big issues a few days before they arrive and all 3 cannot be fixed from here but require parts from Livingstone.  Seriously, I can’t make that up.
We have finished up the AI program and bred about 175 cows or so.  Hoping for good conception rates in a couple months.  Been doing a few dog surgeries on the dining table here and there.  Seeing sick cattle in between and treating various random things in dogs, offering management ideas for pigs, etc.  Lost a wheel on our trailer we use to haul the head gate for the AI.  It came off in the bush thankfully, the bearing went out.  Made for a crazy day with the head gate in the back of the truck again and people on top.  After a week I finally was able to get out there with the parts to fix it (not easy to find especially with my mechanical knowledge of bearing repair).  Now I am working on finding some replacement wiring for the lights that was clipped out at some point as it sat out there.  Another errand for Livingstone.
The kids are super excited about seeing Alicia’s mom (sorry Dad and Megan).  They are sure she is going to buy them a coke every day in Mwandi and can’t wait to go out to eat with her in Livingstone.  More than one night they have stayed up talking about which places they will take her during our 2 nights there when they first arrive.  It will be big stuff tomorrow!  Rachel remains tougher than ever (to parent and in real life).  She is working on being kind and not getting in fights with other kids during church so she can get her knife back.  She lost whittling privileges for 2 weeks after hitting a kid who did something (?) at church.  Trying to get her to focus on the issue of loving people but she is focused on whittling again.  I think we are pretty good parents most of the time…?
All 3 kids are loving life really and enjoy doing so much here.  Isaac has a friend now, Moses, who hangs out with our family all the time and that has been really good for him.  Ethan gets along with everyone (even Rachel often!) and is always in such a good mood (except homeschool).  He loves shopping in the market and buying things for others.  I was having a bad day once and he came back with Alicia and had bought me a Coke to cheer me up.
Alicia is super excited to see her mom and we have been fixing up the house a little more these last couple days in preparation (hopefully this will make up for having no working utilities nor water possibly).  She loves Africa and hopes her Mom will like it too.
Hopefully this blog entry can make someone laugh, life is good and we are doing well here.  The things above are not complaints, just funny things about life here that we didn’t have to deal with before.  Each time Alicia and I laugh (most times I should say) and it seems to be okay anyway.  There is a sense of purpose about being and a joy in overcoming challenges and meeting the people they put in your life when they happen.  God can give us our purposes (Eph 2:10) wherever He chooses in this life but for some reason we have found it easier to see from here.  I don’t know how long until He calls us to another vantage point, but for now it is a good view.

-paul

James 1:22- Kids memory verse the last couple weeks.

Isaac helping out in the bush, drawing up injections.

Calves in the yard

Ethan playing at church

Mission Community- Austrailia, USA, Bangladesh at church

Dead puff adder in the road

The Least of These

In Africa we have a trash pit. Each night one of the kids has the chore of taking out the garbage and every few nights they have they joy of setting it on fire. It is about 4 feet by 4 feet by 6 feet deep in the back corner of our yard.

We have kids that come to play on the swing the boys and I made in front of our house. They come from the village and many of them are orphans or vulnerable children that are looking for entertainment on the swing or from the odd white people who built it. They are kids, sometimes sweet, sometimes mean, they play with things, things break, they are kids.

I am not a kid person, things break and I get frustrated. Kids do things they should not and I get irritated. I love, but it is so conditional that kids have a hard time living up to the conditions.

A few days ago the kids were in the trash pit. I yelled out, “Uh-uh! Get out of there!” They laughed and ran away from me to the swing in the front. I knew they were just playing around and I was frustrated as they caused the side of the pit to collapse, allowing dogs and other critters to get in and out. Thinking it was time to seriously limit kids access to us and our home I went out front.

One boy stuffed something in his pocket quickly, another under his shirt. They laughed.

“What do you have? Show me.” I said. If they thought they did something wrong we were going to correct it and I did not like them running from me.

“I won’t be mad,” I said, not totally honest.

After several minutes of denial I resorted to patting down the smallest boy, I had to let them know they could not come into our home and take what they liked or damage things that I had to fix. I pulled an apple core out of his pocket.

I asked the next boy what he had. “Nothing.” he said.

I tapped his shirt, “Show me, I won’t be mad,” with a new tone of sincerity now. He produce an empty open peanut butter jar he had been licking out.

“What are your names?” I asked.

I spent the next 10 minutes finding our their names, where their homes were, who had moms and who didn’t. Then I went and brought them a bag of dates and a package of Ramen noodles each. Then they asked my name.

Now when they see me today in the market they smile and call out, “Paul, Paul!” and they come back to our house to play. They have not asked for food again, but we will give them things as we can.

When I came in that day to relate the story to Alicia I could not tell it without tears. I struggle to find a big job for me to do for God. Lord do they need me here? Is poverty here? What can I do? I was punched with the reality that these kids will pick through my trash to get food.

I do not love as I should. I have my big cattle AI project to do, plans to make. No time for kids in the trash pit.

I can be so blind and so not what I want to be. God reminds me to focus on Him and what He brings each day. When I focus on Him and not my projects He shows me such simple ways to love the least of these in my own yard. They become to me the people they are to Him with their names and homes and stories. When I love I become a person to them and relationships form and that is the most beautiful thing of all.

I guess I tell this story because it was a big learning point for me and those are good to share. Maybe God has put something right in front of you but you are so busy with the big stuff that you just get annoyed. The ‘least of these’ Jesus talked about often get treated this way in our world.

Lord, give us your heart and eyes to see…Matthew 25:31-40

Oh how we need You!

"I am the good shepherd.  The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep."  John 10:11

Paul and I have come across so many needs!  Today, I found out more about my kids’ best friends, here - the Congolese refugees. Eighteen months ago, they and their parents were put in prison because they crossed into Zambia without passports.  They were fleeing their country out of desperation for safety.  The father was a driver for the opposition in the Congo.  They fled to the Rwandan border where the corrupt leaders found and captured them.  Their mother was 9 months pregnant.  They raped her and beat her.  Her baby in the womb did not survive.  The father was badly beaten.  The kids witnessed all of this.  The family fled to Zambia.  Once they crossed the border, they were put in prison because they did not have passports.  The children were put in prison along with the parents for 3 months. (The parents are STILL in prison. This is unjust!)  After the 3 months, the social services department called the missionaries about the 4 boys, and they began fostering the kids.  Not only did the kids have the emotional difficulties to deal with, they were also physically neglected.  Because of the terrible prison conditions, the kids had tapeworms, ring worm, and were not cared for properly.  The parents are scheduled to be out of prison in a month.  As of now, the Zambian government is wanting to send them back to the Congo, where the father will be executed.   The missionaries here are trying to go through the UN to keep this from happening and the magistrates in this country.

This morning after I heard about this, I went to my living room and got on my knees and prayed!   There is so much need in this world!  So much heartache and pain!  I prayed for this family with so much sadness and so much awareness of how much I need a Savior in this dark and desperate world!   Please pray for this family, that they will not be sent back to the Congo but to a safe environment. 

Also pray for this region with the upcoming dry season after the drought.  There is no maize crop and the people will be depending on food aid this year.  This is especially hard on HIV patients already struggling with poor health.  It is not for lack of effort, the people work so hard to sustain life here, but food does not grow without rain and whole maize fields stand withered and dry.  Pray that God's people will love and help each other and that more will be drawn to Him and drawn together in this time of need.  

Another need that has come up three times so far is the need for scholarships for education.  Many people here have a genuine desire to do for themselves and help their community but lack the funding for school fees.  One young woman dreams of becoming a teacher in Mwandi and two others of getting an education in agriculture and coming back to help Mwandi cattle farmers.  With better education, these families can improve their livelihood and help their community.  By our standards, their tuition costs are inexpensive - about $600 per year for a teaching degree.  We are going to get some advice on how to help people with university tuition.  This is a very big need here and could easily be met through either loans or scholarships.  We are interested in this because it seems it would build lasting changes here in the community.  Of course, let us know if you have any interest in being involved with this.  Please pray that we can help with these needs in the best way for them.

-Alicia and Paul

Life Going On

Sorry for not writing for a couple weeks! Things here are going well and we have been very busy. The cattle AI program is in full swing with trips nearly every other day into the bush to work cattle in places that have been difficult to reach at times with the rain. Home school is in a good routine and Alicia and the kids are starting to get more involved in the OVC. We have a wonderful couple from Canada in for a couple weeks to help with the AI project also that we have been spending time with. Life is slower here but only because it has to be- there is no shortage of the work or things to do!

Isaac has been staying up late to get his school done so he can go with me to the bush to work cows and has been so very helpful drawing up vaccines and being a runner for the team. “Isaac, Isaac!” the men call out and keep him busy. He wears his huge Bear Grylles knife and someone always needs to borrow it. I am so proud of him and he seems much happier now that he has been helping with the project. This morning as we headed out he and I saw a huge croc in the river by our house- the first we’ve seen in Mwandi, pretty awesome!

Ethan is always happy and has been perfecting his donut recipes with Mom. He and Alicia have made donuts a couple times that rival anything at Crispy Creme. The rest of us are in heaven- we all benefit from Ethan’s sweet tooth sometimes. He has been on a couple close to home farm calls with me and loves the work and animals.

Rachel is doing well too. She had a close encounter with a dog one morning and has been a little nervous around them since. There are dogs everywhere here and they are generally nice, but intimidating to a very short 5 year old. She is whittling now all the time with a small knife and has not cut herself yet. The things she does at 5 that we would have never let the older ones do…

I am starting to see a scratch beyond the surface of the culture and people here. I am seeing the needs around me and slowly beginning to think about how to be part of solutions. The drought is so bad that there will be people dying this year with the combination of malnutrition and HIV. Anything we can do to help the animals survive the people are extremely interested in and thankful. The men I have been able to work with have been great and getting to know them has been wonderful. As I get to know individuals I see more ministry opportunities open up talking about family and issues that affect them physically and spiritually.

The other day coming back from the bushes we picked up a lady who had been in labor for 2 days with her first child. As we drove for 2 hours in the potholes and river beds of the bush we often had to stop for her to vomit out the window. I felt so bad for her but the only thing we could do was drive on. We dropped her off with her mother at the hospital in Mwandi and I heard the next morning she had her baby and both were okay. I am thankful for daily simple opportunities like this to be a blessing to someone. When we have so much it is so easy to help in major ways. Ephesians 2:10!!

I think I will end there- look for an addition from Alicia soon!

-paul

Isaac at his vaccine station in Mugumwy

The family walking to church

Kids in Mugumwy in school?  I told them to do the pose, nothing cultural here.

-Cats update…I had a dream the cats lost and I was giving Cal a hug in the parking lot and he wouldn’t let go. I woke up at 4:30 am and turned on my phone and they had lost, weird huh? Can you really bleed blue? Glad we are here, it was depressing but easier to forget about. Sorry to all my cat fan friends in the states- I know it was harder for you, no one here reminds us about it.

Muzuhile cwani!

That means good morning in Silozi. We just had a language lesson from a young man at the OVC that we have coming over twice a week to teach us how to be Lozis. Alicia made him nshima tonight which is like grits in our country. It is corn meal that you boil and thicken up and the main staple food here. Since it was Elias’ favorite food we were taking a big chance and he did give us some pointers on how to improve it!

As I write the family is in bed and it is dripping rain outside as it has been on and off all day. The clouds and rain are so welcome here as it has been a drought year and the crops are failing in the region. Food shortages are predicted later in the year and it is expected that government assistance will be needed if there is to be anything to eat later on. It is a different feeling to stand outside in the rain and feel life coming from the sky for the people. We pray that it will continue- we have now had a little rain for a few days and the clouds and lower temperatures are great also!

The bad side of the rain it what it does to the roads. Even though we have not had much it fills up the potholes and makes for some dicey driving. Yesterday I took the Land Cruiser out on the first day of our AI project and got stuck only once, which was not too bad for the 2 hour one way bush drive through swampy roads and sandy patches of water. In the truck we had a head gate (huge metal thing) and 7 men in a car that should seat 5 without a head gate in it. This would be comical for the US, but is normal here. They even had me stop to pick up a passenger. When I got stuck the men filed out, surveyed the mud up around the axels and in less than one hour had cut trees and chopped them into 4 foot lengths, dug the tires out and I backed out in 4 wheel drive. I got a little Africa driving advice- “stay on the road no matter how deep or bad it looks, the bottom is hard.” I did and it worked, sometimes fishtailing for a couple hundred yards through a foot or 2 of water, but I didn’t get stuck again. Later however, I was driving across a grassy field with no road and 7 men in the car when we suddenly came upon a 6 foot deep 2 Land Cruiser size hole (difficult to see in the tall grass). When I stopped I had the front driver side tire in the hole. Like the classic movie scene where you don’t want to move to fast with your car hanging off a cliff. All the men got out except me- I couldn’t take my foot off the brake- and they grabbed the front of the vehicle as best they could while I slowly slid my seatbelt on and then quickly shifted into reverse. It went okay and there was a lot of praising God that no one was hurt, although when everyone piled out of the car I think their chances went way down and mine went up slightly as the weight shifted to the front…

The cattle work went well- we started 32 cows on the AI program and had a good talk with the men about the cattle and how good God is to bring us together in Africa. I am worried about our conception rates though as we had to use cows that were not in the best of shape. There just simply is not enough for them to eat and I think it will be difficult to get them bred.

Neutered a couple dogs on the kitchen table this morning and besides that have been treating things here and there but still mainly focused on the AI. I do have a farm call in the morning to go on, we’ll see how that goes!

Last week I had to go to Lusaka, a night bus ride of 10 hours, pick up some stuff for the AI program and then 10 hours back the next night. It was not really so fun and kinda crazy- another whole side of life in Africa with night bus rides and stations. While I was gone Alicia called saying our neighbors house was on fire. Turns out they were just burning their leaves and things but when she sent me a picture I could see her concern. Flames were everywhere and almost higher than the house. It looked totally out of control but it all turned out alright in the end and no property was lost. The kids were also a little under the weather and overall Alicia did not have a relaxing time while I was gone, To be fair I didn’t either on my trip, and it is a toss up who got the worse end of the deal. Let’s see what else I can complain about in this blog!!!

We continue to get to know more people here and do really love Mwandi. The kids are talking more about missing Indiana as the newness wears off. There have been some tiring home school days and some amounts of frustration by the teacher, but she is a good one. We have been letting the kids play in the morning when it is cooler and then starting school during the heat of the day when you can’t really do much outside.

The kids are building a treehouse of sorts in the front of the house. We have lightened up on our fear of snakes, I think that just happens with time (?). Now we just say as they run out to play in the morning, “Watch out for snakes!” and it has worked so far. Alicia built them a table from some left over blocks and wood and they have been having a great time hammering and building out there. The boys and I built a swing that all the neighbor kids love too. At one time I counted 21 kids playing out there, have not figured out how to control this yet. Everyone still loves lighting the trash in the trash pit- sounds terrible, but really it is kinda fun.

Today we were in the market and I lost Alicia and Rachel- turns out they stopped to tie Rachel’s shoe. As I looked for them and Ethan frustratedly tried to point them out he said, “Dad, really, you can’t see those two white people over there? We are never hard to find here.” He is right and you do feel it in such a homogenous culture. At times it would be nice to blend in more but no chance of that happening even with our increasing tans. “Makua” is what they call a white person and the young kids shout it out as you walk or drive by. It’s not derogatory but you get a little tired of it and Rachel will shout back, “Muzuhile cwani, makua!” sometimes a little agitated. They don’t know how to take her at that point but they usually stop.

Oh, basketball- we were awakened at 4:30 am here by some people marching down our street, another odd story, but point is Alicia turned on her phone to see that KY lost to Notre Dame, no wait- the game was still going on! So we watched the score tracker and caught the end! Non UK fans FYI- Ky won a nail biter to stay in the tournament. It has been fun to check in on the games.

Anyway, enough for now- we head to Livingstone Thursday to pick up a couple from Canada that will be helping at the hospital and with the AI. It will be nice to stay a couple nights there in air conditioning and a pool for the kids to swim! Hope all who are reading this are well and we do miss you so. Stay in touch please!!

Ephesians 2:10

-paul

Yes, yes I am.  (Pregnancy checking)

Education and devotion with farmers (Pastor Sikute)

Rachel's set up at night.