Life in Zambia

Rafting the Zambezi

2008-08-30T02:23:00.000-07:00

We were supposed to be at a MV Zambia conference this week but it got cancelled for various reasons, so the three of us (Mike, Stephanie, and I) decided to pack up and head to Livingstone for a few days. We needed a break so we packed the car and headed South. We have been to Livingstone many times and done almost everything there is to do there....except raft the Zambezi. It is one of the top 5 rivers in the world consisting of level 5 and 6 rapids. People, expert rafters among them, come from all over the world to raft this river. We have been talking about it forever so we decided to finally do it.
It was absolutely AMAZING!!! With the exception of one, Suicide Row, all 25 rapids were open and we tumbled through the whole thing. I have been rafting a few times before but it was nothing like this. We went with a total of 7 rafts in our crew. On the very first rapid 4 of them flipped, not us. That’s how crazy this river is. We never flipped our boat, but I fell out 3 times once getting pulled under the boat and praying really hard that I didn’t drown. I drank A LOT of water. I smacked my head on someone's paddle trying to hold on to the Oh Crap Line on the side of the boat and I have a nice bruise on my head and eye with a split lip to remember the trip by. Stephanie and Mike both lost their sunglasses and had their fair share of swimming experiences and tumbles out of the boat. We had so much fun and will defiantly be doing it again before I leave this continent.

You can click the link below to see more pictures of us falling out of the raft.

Rafting Pictures

House Boat

2008-08-12T22:24:00.000-07:00

As a mission we all took the day off to celebrate. It was Stephanie's 26th birthday, The Engelbrecht’s 25th Wedding anniversary, and the Myers (the VP’s of MVI who were here visiting) 31st Wedding anniversary. Mike made all the arrangements and he rented a house boat for the day. We went out on the lake and had a braii with lots of great food and good company. We talked about how all the couples met, they gave marital advice to the new couple, we played games, and ate till we were stuffed. There was a beautiful sunset as only Africa can provide and beautiful scenery. It was a great day and a lot of fun.

My House

2008-08-05T01:18:00.000-07:00

I realized that I posted a picture tour of the clinic awhile back but I never showed you what my house looked like. If you imagine that you are standing in the rafters of our thatched roof (cause that's where the pics were taken from) and make a clockwise circle or our room then you have a birds eye view of our loft.

How Many Can You Fit?

2008-08-02T08:26:00.000-07:00

We do a lot of strange things out her to keep our selfes entertained. It was one of those days that and we needed some laughs. We had borrowed sweaters from the guys because we were on the plateu and were frezzing. It crossed our minds that these sweaters are a little big, I wonder how many people could fit in here. So this is what happened.

Then we moved onto the bigger sweater and it got more interesting.

Then we thought to ourselves, we have other people here we should try and fit more...

Beauty

2008-08-02T07:14:00.000-07:00

An amazingly beautiful little girl

HIV Testing

2008-08-01T22:56:00.000-07:00

We have preached so many times that people need to be tested and about the importance of HIV education etc, etc, so we figured it was our turn. It had been awhile since either of us had been tested last so we decided to go and be tested again so we could set a good example for the people we treat.

Attack of the Bats

2008-07-26T14:26:00.000-07:00

We have a lot of little critters running around lately, some of them even fly. I was going to the clinic one day and noticed some spots on the wall. Upon closer inspection I was surprised to find bats hanging in the thatch under the clinic roof. We have a lot of bats, we see them flying around at night, and smell their putrid urine all the time, but I have never seen one during the day. They were just lounging around taking a snooze.That's what they thought. I went and got Daniel and he shot them multiple times. The first time to get them down and then again cause it was fun to watch their heads explode. A little advice to the creepy crawlers of Zambia, don't mess with our clinic and try to make your home there because I will kill you.

Cold Weather

2008-06-30T06:57:00.000-07:00

So I have heard through the grapevine that it is hot in most parts of the US right now due to the fact that it's summer. We on the other hand are freezing our butts off. Mike who has lived in Colorado does not seem to share this coldness with us, but the rest of us are uncomfortable. Stephanie and I walk around with sweatshirts, long underwear, socks, and gloves on. We look a little silly but as long as we are warm it's ok. Now once I tell you the temperature you are going to think we have gone crazy because it does not seem that cold, but you have t remember that our blood has thinned out to compensate for the heat so we cold a lot easier then we used to. As far as I know the coldest it has been yet was 40 degrees Fahrenheit. So as you lay out and bask in the sun remember that we are turning blue over here.

Mike in his cold weather garb

Even the kids are trying to dress warmer by using capes

Ice Cream to Drown your Sorrows

2008-06-16T07:12:00.000-07:00

Stephanie and I were having a BAD day. I had just lost my ring, we found out our car was broken...again, people were upset at us, we had tons of shopping to do, and we were tired. It was just one of those days when all you want to do is get into bed and crawl under the covers where no one can find you. That was not an option for us so we did the next best thing. We found the best ice cream that Lusaka has to offer (imported all the way from the US)and we ate the whole thing. Now I am not talking a cup or even two scoops. We each ate 1 pint of chocolate fudge ice cream each, in about 20 minutes. By me saying this I think you can deduce just how bad our day was going. An entire pint of ice cream on your own is no small feat and we downed it like nothing. It didn't change anything but were sure felt better.

2008-06-15T06:54:00.000-07:00

Naomi is a patient that we have had for the past year. There is nothing wrong with except that she is old and lonely. Every time we have a clinic in Mbole we find her sitting in line and all she wants is to say and talk with us. She is super cute and we love seeing her.
After the floods World Vision gave us a bunch of shoes to pass out to the victims that had lost everything and were really vulnerable. Naomi was one of those people. We saw here last week at clinic and she wasen't wearing her shoes so I asked her what happened to them, I wanted to make sure they didn't get stolen. She said they were at home in the box because she didn't want them to get dirty. I told her that she needed to wear them because it would keep her feet warm and help her back, she had been walking bear foot. At the next clinic she showed up wearing her new Nike tennis shoes and a huge smile on her face. I'm not sure what shinned brighter the shoes or her face.

My Blue Finger

2008-06-14T07:03:00.000-07:00

So I made a stupid mistake. I was sitting at the airport trying to claim a piece of luggage that the airline had lost 3 weeks earlier. They had called to say it was there but when Steph and I arrived they couldn't find it. I was so frustrated and not in the mood to deal with ignorant airline people that morning. I was waiting for them to check the different storage areas I started playing with my ring. Somehow I got it off my finger and jammed it onto my middle finger. It didn't seem that difficult at the time but I cause I was more mad than I though because my finger immediately began to swell and turn blue. Steph and I tried everything from lotion, oil, ice, and brute force but we couldn't get it off. I spent the night with my arm in the air thinking it would drain the blood and my finger would be small enough in the morning to get it off, but when I awoke it was only bigger. As much as I loved that ring I am more attached to my finger so we went to the jeweler and had them cut it off. I completely blame the airline because of they had just found my bag I would still have my ring.

Farewell Michelle

2008-06-01T05:15:00.000-07:00

Michelle is the daughter of Theuns and Karin the directors of Missionary Ventures Zambia. She has been here, grew up here, in Zambia for the past 7 years. It started with 3 of them and then their older sister, left to go to school. Then it was Michelle and Daniel. For a long time they were by themselves until they were joined by Mike, Stephanie, and I on the base.
Michelle was a huge help to Stephanie and I in so many ways. She came on Mondays to help run clinics, took care of things and patients when we left, and gave us advice on tons of things. In addition to being a help to us we also had a lot of fun. You could always catch her and Daniel making music videos, playing games, shooting things, and messing around. We spent many nights watching movies and playing Settlers of Catan, eating chocolate during power outages, and finding things to cut open.
But now it is time for her to move on from the bush. She has left to go to England to take a year and spread her wings. She will be staying with her sister while she looks for a job and gets ready to apply for college. She will be greatly missed!

At Michelle's goodbye party we had our first women come in labor!Michelle got to got out with a bang by helping us to deliever our first African baby.

My Fault

2008-05-30T11:20:00.000-07:00

While my parents here we went on a safari in Botswana. We were staying at this amazing hotel that had the best food so we left late because we were enjoying the breakfast buffet. We got to the border late and we fled the car so I just shoved the car keys in my pocket and didn't give it a second thought. We went on a boat tour of the Chobezi river and saw lots of animals. I remember feeling the keys in my pocket when we finished lunch and got ready to embark on our land drive. Somewhere on the land drive in between the giraffes and the lions the keys fell out of my pocket and into the great terrain of Botswana. I didn't know they were missing until we were on our way back to the border and by then it was to late to search for them.
Once we crossed the border we had a huge mass of Zambian around our car racing to see who could break into it faster to get the reward money from us. Mike made me very proud in the way that he handled things. He stayed calm for the whole 2 hours it took and didn't get pressured by all the drunks wanting to break our windows with a crowbar. He eventually pried the window out, without breaking it, and we got into the car. Luckily we had a spare key in the ash tray which we had been told to move weeks earlier. Good thing we didn't listen otherwise we would have had to hot wire the care as well. I told my parents to stick with me and things will never be boring :)

Home Assignment

2008-05-30T11:00:00.000-07:00

The time has come for a break. After 2 years of being in the field, I have scheduled my home assignment for October-December of 2008. I will be traveling to many places all of the United States both by myself and with my ministry partner Stephanie Brink. We would love to see you and share what God has been doing here in Zambia. If you would like us to come and speak and visit please contact me as soon as possible, as our schedules our filling up very quickly.

Visit from my Parents

2008-05-30T05:13:00.000-07:00

I was very lucky to have my parents come and visit me these past 2 weeks. We did tons of things! Stephanie and I bombarded them with work of all different kinds. They helped with the babies during our nutrition program, passed out medicine during clinics, and packed pill bags. Mom dad was a huge help by building us a bookshelf and ladder for our bed as well as mounting some shelves. My mom organized our room and the clinic and she couldn't get over how crowded things were.
After a week of work on the base my parents took Mike, Stephanie and I on vacation. We stayed in a really nice hotel down in Livingston. We went on an all day safari, hiked Victoria Falls, and ate some really good food. We had a great time just relaxing and talking.

Baby Collin

2008-05-19T04:59:00.000-07:00

Baby Collin Welsey was born on Sunday, May 18th at approximately 8:55am. Collin was 8 pounds 12 oz. and 20 1/2 inches. He his so adorable. Wes and Mary are on my Super Zambia Team and have been a huge support to me, they are both doing great. Please pray for them as they adjust to a new life as parents.

Trip to Los Angeles

2008-05-10T04:12:00.000-07:00

Stephanie and I were SUPER excited to be able to fly to LA for a few days where we were honored at the Care Now fundraiser gala. It was a lot of work getting ready for everything that we presented but we had a great time. For more information and the story about the fundraiser please click the link below.
In addition to working on things for the event we also found time to play and catch up with some friends and family. I was able to see my "Super Zambia Team" a small group of friends that I went to college with that have become my strongest support system while I have been here in Zambia. We ate A LOT of food, went to some really fun stores, and took advantage of being able to use credit cards. One of the biggest events that occured was Stephanie's trip to Ontario Canada. Her best friend just happened to be getting married the day before our event and flew up to surprise her. They had a great time and it was a special time for them to be able to be together.
It was a really fast trip packed with a lot of stress and work, but we had a great time.

Packing

In the airport in Atlanta, Georgia

My first Starbucks in 2 years, it was so good!

My "Super Zambia Team"

Stepanie's mom and sister came down to visit with her niece

Mothers Day

2008-05-01T04:53:00.000-07:00

Because of the timing of our trip, we were going to miss Mother's day so we took our moms out to celebrate a little early. We took them to lunch at Red RObin after church and then we all went and got pedicures. We had a really fun day of relaxing and spending times with our moms.

Engagement

2008-04-21T04:07:00.000-07:00

While on our trip to South Africa Mike and Stephanie got engaged! They met here in Zambia when Stephanie and I joined MVI Mike was already working there. They have been dating for the past 7 months and plane to be wed on January 3, 2009 in the Seattle area. From there they will honeymoon and then return to the mission field for an unknown amount of time. Please pray for them as they try to plan a wedding from the bush and as they adjust to life together on the mission field.

Trip to South Africa

2008-04-20T03:22:00.000-07:00

Every year Missionary Ventures International has an all Africa conference somewhere on the continent. This year the conference was held in South Africa in a suburb of Johannesburg. The whole Zambia team travelled down to attend the conference (minus Karin). Mike, Stephanie, Elizabeth, and I went 2 days early so we could explore a little because we had never been there. If you are headed in that direction don't bother with Joburg,there is nothing much to see. We hung out at the mall and sat at a real coffee shop!
The con fence was attended by all MVI missionaries in Africa, the president of MVI Steve Beam, a MVI missionary from Nicaragua Eric Lafsguard, and some members of the Christian Motorcycle Association chapter in Georgia and South Africa. It was a great time of fellowship, learning, and community. I learned a lot about MVI as a whole and the different ministries going on around Africa. Some concepts were looked at and some old ideas revisited. We all had a lot of fun.

A machine that works and takes credit cards!

Our First McDonald's in 2 years. We didn't actually eat there.

We had dinner with some friends of Mike's

Our shopping experience

Blackouts ?

2008-02-29T06:04:00.000-08:00

I was astonished when I got into Lusaka and pulled up the BBC news to see what was going on in America and the front page article was that millions in Florida had been left without power for a few hours. At first I though I had read it wrong so I opened the whole article and read it twice to make sure that I wasn’t missing something. But alas, no. Really truly a mere 3-hour power outage makes front-page news for 4 days! Now maybe I’m just used to living in rough conditions but you have got to be kidding me. Just to show that I am not biased I will not even use our daily multiple power and water outages as an example. In South Africa, a place that is considered a 2nd (even 1st in some places) world country is currently having daily power outages. People are being stuck in elevators, traffic light malfunctions are killing many, food is spoiling by the tons, and work is being halted. Everyday for the past 6 weeks the power gets cut EVERDAY sometimes multiple times per day for at least 4 hours at a time because not enough energy is being generated through the dams. There are many other reasons but that is just one. This was not even mentioned on the BBC, but Florida’s 3-hour outage was on the front page. Food doesn’t even spoil in that amount of time. Are we really that spoiled in America that we can’t live without power for a measly 3 hours? Never mind I don’t want to think about it. Do me a favor and next time the power goes out in your area, think about the millions around the world who live without power everyday.

Here is a link to the article about the power outage in Florida Read Me!

New Baby!

2008-02-20T05:48:00.000-08:00

On February 20th at 1458 Marley Ann Taziona Whitfield was born to Luke and Elise. She was 5 pounds 14 ounces and 18 and a half inches long. Stephanie and I took and bus up from the base because our car is still broken so we could help with the schedule caesarean section. This is their 4th child but their first to be born in Africa. It is actually the first missionary child to be born in Zambia from either Action Zambia or Missionary Ventures. Because it was major surgery and involved a hospital stay Steph and I came up to watch the surgery and help take care of mom and baby afterwards. Here in Zambia, staff is not provided to care for you in the hospital like in the states. If you want anything besides medication you have to bring your own help.
God was faithful and provided everything that Luke and Elise needed. Elise’s mom flew in from America a few days before to take care of the other kids why mom and dad were in the hospital. Because of the power cuts we have been having there was some worry that the surgery would be messy without suction. Just as Elise was walking into the OR the power came on and just as she was being carried out in an army stretcher in went back off. The power was on just for the time of the surgery! I was very impressed with the doctors and the cleanliness of the OR. However you could definitely tell we were in Africa. As Elise had her belly wide open she saw a big spider walk across the ceiling and stop right over her. There were not as many comforts as American hospitals have and the service is nothing to write home about, but everything went very well.
The kids were very excited to see their new baby sister and love holding her. It is now one week later and mom and baby are both doing great.

More Flood Information

2008-02-15T05:20:00.000-08:00

The rains have subsided a lot and we have actually had quite a streak of heat. However, this has not changed the status of the destruction that the previous rains and floods left behind. All the crops that were already planted down in the valley where we are have been destroyed. This means that nothing can be harvested now and nothing will be growing in the next few months, which is the typical planting season. This is complete and udder devastation to the people. Not only did more than 1,200 families those their homes due to the rains, but now there is no food. When I say no food, this is not an exaggeration. No crops are growing or even have the hope of growing. All food products must be trucked in meaning that people must pay for them. Usually most family units would have at least a small garden and grow vegetables so they only had to pay for mealie meal, which is the corn based staple food here. Now that there are no crops and everything must be paid for, thousands will starve because they cannot afford to buy food. As it is the average Tonga family eats protein only once a week, now it will most likely be never. The Zambian authorities, World Food Program, USAID, and UNAID and projecting all of 2008 and even 2009 to be the biggest famine year in Sub Saharan Africa in the past 35 years due to the floods.

We have already started raising funds to purchase emergency relief packages of food and blankets to hand out to needy families. These packages will be put together by a local youth group this month and then distributed by Pastors we work with. Our malnourished program is busting at the seams with children that are severely malnourished and in need of medication and specialized diets. We are doing our best to feed them with the minimal funding that we have. In the upcoming months there is going to be an overabundance of need for food and no way for us to meet it. Please pray that our efforts, however small they may be, will be multiplied by God and that He would work through us to feed the Tonga people. Please also pray for funding and availability of food to be distributed.

Moving Day

2008-02-10T04:26:00.000-08:00

5 houses in 2 and a half years. I know that’s by no means any type of record, but it is a lot for me. Stephanie and I just moved from a nice cottage that had a wrap around porch with a lakeside view to a thatched cottage right next to our clinic at the base. It was done for logistical reasons. Changes in the mission required some shifting of people around so we could accommodate everyone. We have no room to complain, we have not had to pay to build a house. We will miss drinking tea and reading in our lawn chairs as we sit by the lake, but all things must come to an end.
Our new place is significantly smaller so we had to get creative on how we were going to fit. We originally thought have lofting both beds and placing our desks under them to maximize space but this was not meant to be. The cottage has windows on all walls and it was not structurally sound to loft both beds. Mike stilted one bed for us and we placed them in an “L” configuration so they didn’t look like we were in bunk beds. We hung a net from the ceiling to store some things up high that we don’t need to get to very often. We are planning to get a bookshelf made to store all our medical books and references. At first glance it looks great but if you look closely you can see all the boxes piled under the desks and bed. It’s a good thing we like each other cause now we have no space for alone time. Hey, at least we have a house right. It’s nice and cozy and we are enjoying it so far.

Our old house
Stephanie trying to put the mosquito net up
Our fort of bunk beds and netting
My desk in process of being organized
Our closet
Books and more books

Painting Class

2008-02-08T05:27:00.000-08:00

There is not a lot to do in the bush, so when Daniel found out that we had Gentian Violet, which stains purple he wanted to borrow some. He has asked before to play with some of our supplies like large syringes, adult diapers, and bulb syringes so of course we gave him some. What we found later was this.

This is a home schoolers version of painting class ☺ In the bush you have to come up with your own creative crafts and things to pass the time. Unfortunately most of the time this is all we come up with.

A Tribute to Shannon Storey

2008-02-05T06:05:00.000-08:00

I remember the day very well when Shannon Storey got off the plane to come and join the Action Zambia team. I had been told that she was "unique" and lots of fun. She was reserved at first , probably from jet lag and the fact that there were tons of new people in her face asking her lots of questions, but it didn't take long for me to encounter the whirlwind of Shannon.
Shannon is full of many talents and she is truly gifted in working with teenagers and young adults. She has more energy then a 5 year old on a sugar high and is never lacking in sarcastic hilarious remarks on any topic. She has this amazing knack for creating a song out of anything. My favorite memories are being stuck in blackouts with nothing to do and Shannon making up songs about food, the weather, and Zambian culture. I have rarely laughed as much as when I'm with Shannon. She was always willing to help with boring errands that I had to run and would keep me company in the car, even if she did always fall asleep.
Sadly, her time here is over and she is now back in Canada. Please pray for Shannon as she seeks where the Lord will lead her next. Visit her blog for her own stories on her year here. Below are pictures of how I like to remember Shannon :)

Shannon's Blog

California or Bust!!

2008-01-26T12:41:00.000-08:00

As most of you many know The Care Now Foundation based in West Hills, California have been supporters of the medical ministry here in Zambia for the past year and a half. Their love and support have allowed Stephanie and I to provide life saving treatment to hundreds of people both in Lusaka and in the Tonga Valley. With their help we were able to purchase medications, supplies, send patients for much needed surgeries, provide nutrition supplements for babies, and most of all offer hope. Those in the Tonga Valley are ministered to with love and care physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
The Care Now Foundation strives to provide healthcare to the world's least served. They currently have two projects in South Africa, one in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and supports us here in Zambia. Their annual fundraiser where they hope to raise money for all of these projects is May 4, 2008. Because Care Now has been such a huge supporter of ours and because this fundraiser is largely in part going to benefit us we would like to attend and be able to speak at the event. This would be an unplanned trip for us and therefore we need to raise the funds to purchase plane tickets. Instead of financial donations we are asking for donations of frequent flyer miles on major airlines. If you have any frequent flyer miles on the airline listed below that you are willing to donate please contact us as soon as possible. We will try to purchase legs of our trip separately to avoid any costs that may be incurred from donating miles. If you have any questions please let us know. You can reach us at longeziazm@amosconnect.com but please send only brief text messages. Thank you for your love and support.

Visit the Care Now Foundation

Airlines Needed:
KLM
Delta
British Airways
American Airlines
Kenyan Airways
Northwest Airlines
Or anything that partners with any of the above

It's a Boy!!

2008-01-20T05:00:00.000-08:00

Tim and Andrea went down to South Africa for the birth of their baby because Andrea's parents serve as missionaries there. We just got word that Ian Stanley Hilty was born at 1950 on Wednesday January 9 at 7lbs 3oz and 18.5 inches long. His name means God is gracious. Both mom and baby are doing fine and we can't wait to see them all when them return to Zambia in February.

Jill's Visit

2008-01-15T04:30:00.000-08:00

I was lucky enough to have my sister come and visit in January. There was not much that we could due because of all the rain and washed out roads, but we made the best of it. We hung around Lusaka and shopped, went to Botswana and searched out animals on Safari, visited Victoria Falls one of the seven natural wonders of the world, and had some medical clinics. Of course we also watched movies, ate some food, and sat in front of the lake. We had a really good time! She didn't like the bugs very much and freaked out that a tiny little frog found his way into our room. I positive that she wouldn't make it here long term but she adapted fairly well for the time she needed to. Click the link below to see more pictures of our trip.

Pictures of Jill's Trip to Zambia

Dangerous Roads

2008-01-10T04:25:00.000-08:00

Due to all the rain and floods that we have been experiencing we have had to make some changes in our plans. Originally Stephanie and I were going to go to Lusaka to pick up my sister the day before she arrived but because of the poor condition of the roads we were not able to do that. We got word that the road had been washed out and there was no way to get out of the valley. A few days later the road had been “fixed” which here is a pretty loose term. We found this out so packed up super quick and left not knowing when we would get another chance. We packed for three weeks incase we couldn’t get back to the base if the road fell apart again…which it did. The road was covered in water, full of landslides and HUGE holes. Trees had fallen into the way forcing us to find away around. It was slow moving but we made it.
We took it day by day keeping in contact with Mike who stayed at the base. It let us know the condition of the roads and if it was safe to come back. We eventually found another road that bi-passed the parts that kept washing away. It added a good 90min torturous stretch to the drive but we made it.
The rains continue to come and the roads continue to be dangerous. Not a day goes by that we don’t see someone that has gotten stuck in the mud. Luckily we have not gotten stuck so far and I hope to keep it that way. Everyday is an adventure and never boring.

Floods

2008-01-05T03:07:00.000-08:00

For the past few weeks we have had an enormous amount of rain. I didn’t know it was possible for it to rain this much. I had been warned that he rainy season here was a sight to see but people are even saying that this is the most rain the valley has had in 21 years. It’s not that it is a lot of rain per se it’s that it is all coming at once. For awhile it rained night and day straight without stopping flooding everything, tearing down houses, and washing away crops. It has been extremely destructive and until it lets up relief efforts cannot get started.
Because we live in a valley not much grows here in the way of food. Most of it, especially the staple nshima, is trucked in from surrounding areas. The rains have washed out and flooded the roads making them impassable and the food trucks cannot get through. We don’t have access to the news but our teammates from Lusaka have been calling from Lusaka saying that our valley is all over the news. The Chief is pleading for help, people are starting to starve, many are now homeless and help can’t get to us. It’s a crazy situation. Please pray for all those who have lost everything and for us as we try and help.
I have included some links from the BBC on this situation.

Deadly floods hit southern Africa **
Thousands are affected by flooding in Zimbabwe, Zambia and Mozambique, with at least 21 people dead.
Read this Article

* Zambezi floods expected to worsen **
More storms are forecast in the region of the Zambezi valley, where thousands have already fled their homes.
Read this Article

** Floods 'could be worse than 2001' **
The Mozambique authorities say floods could cause more damage than those of seven years ago.
Read this Article

New Years 2008

2008-01-01T01:58:00.000-08:00

We are the wildest party animals you have ever met. I am positive that we had the craziest New Years party of anyone anywhere. This is what we did.
We all slept in till almost 1030 and then stayed in bed reading till past noon. Crazy I know, it gets better. Then we were supposed to have people over for a BBQ but it was raining so hard that all the roads were unusable so we stayed in our pajamas and watched Mission Impossible 1-3. We tried to set off fireworks but there was to much rain so it didn't really work. We ate left overs because we couldn't BBQ due to the rain. When we got bored of watching movies we got really crazy and played Scrabble. I tried to go bed at 2100 but they would let me so I ended up sleeping through the movie and going to bed at 0015. If that isn't an out of control New Years party then I don't know what is. Happy New Years!

Merry Christmas 2007

2007-12-25T01:17:00.000-08:00

Making Christmas cookies

Opening Presents
This year was a very unique Christmas and one that I would count as the most fun. True my family was not there but we made the most of it. It was just Stephanie, Mike and I at the base so we choose to sleep in and then spend the morning in our pajamas. Stephanie made oyster stew which is a tradition in her family and we had that for breakfast with some special coffee that we got in a care package. I made Cimmakuka which is a tradition in my family and we had that for tea while we opened presents. We had been saving all the letters and packages that had been coming in the mail so we would have stuff to open. We sat in front of our Christmas tree and put on some Christmas music. Tears were shed as we went through the packages from home and read cards from friends. It was nice but also very lonely. It was just the three of us and although we live together 24/7 and are like family is still was not the same as being with family. Do you know what I mean. But it was still very nice.
After present and tea time we got ready and drove over to Henry and Teressa's house.They are other ex-pats living in our area working at the ZamBeef farm. They are not Christians and we thought it would be a good fellowship time to spend Christmas with them. We packed up and buch of food and went out on their boat and had a BBQ on the lake. It was a beautiful day and we saw crocs and hippos as we cruised by. We ancored off of one of the small islands and ate our food. We had a great time and lots of laughs. As we started back the sky turned dark fairly quickly. About half way back to the harbour the sky opened up and we were caught in a down pour. We were in an open pontoon boat with no cover and we got drenched. It was a lot of fun! We went home to dry off and warm up, put our pajamas back on, eat some more food and hang out. There is not much else to do in the bush. We sat around the Christmas tree and watched Christmas movies all night until it was time for bed.
Probably not the most exciting Christmas according to American standards but we had a great time.

Taxes

2007-12-15T00:53:00.000-08:00

Everybody I know, even CPA's hate April 15th. All the paperwork, the record keeping and all those numbers that have to add up just to prove that you owe the government money. No one ever told me that becoming a missionary would give me an honorary degree in financial planning, budgets, and all things money related. Don't misunderstand me I am in no way saying that I am good at this. I think Stephanie and I spent more time correcting mistakes then we do filling out forms, but we have definitely put in enough time to have graduated from any university.
For the most part we make our yearly budget, keep track of expenses for medical money, salaries, work funds, personal funds, etc. This is confusing enough because the US sees these categories different then the Zambian government so getting it all straight can drive you nuts. Yet a few weeks ago there was ringer thrown into this whole financial mess. It turns out that as an NGO (which we understood to be largely tax exempt on the Zambian side) we have not been paying our fair share of taxes. In the US all our taxes are taken out before our money gets wired over, then we get it here in Zambia and we payed a small amount and went along about our business. WRONG!! As a mission and as individuals we have all been guilty of tax fraud. Not intentionally of course, we had no idea but we have not been paying taxes for the past 4 years. But it wasn't just us, the majority of NGO's in this country are in the same situation.
The way things work here can be very confusing. In the very beginning of Action Zambia we went to the Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) and asked them how much as a mission we needed to pay and they told us. Everything is verbal and we took their word for it. Turns out that they are allowed to change their minds, change the rules, not inform us and then fine us for being delinquent. The ZRA is now cracking down on NGO's who were under the impression that they were following the rules but in reality have not been.
For the past few weeks we have all been going back through mountains of receipts figuring out what is tax exempt and what is not according to these new rules. What the mission can pay for and what we need to pay for as individuals. To be honest I'm still confused about a lot of it, but overall it seems to make sense. We owe money that we should have been paying each month and now we have to go back and rectify it. Annoying but necessary. With these new laws it changes how money is brought into the country and means that new policies need to be put into place. It has been a paperwork nightmare!! Graham and Sarah Melville have been spearheading this financial overall and are doing an AMAZING job. They are even helping Stephanie and I figure out how this effects us with MVI, something that they are not obligated to do.
As singles we have not been hit very hard because we lived on the mission base and therefore a lot of expenses were tax exempt. However all the families that do not have the tax shelter have be hit with large amounts of back tax that need to be paid. Please pray for AZ as all this gets worked out and that support increase for these families to be able to pay of this new debt.

Right after we started with all of this tax mess we found this sign in town and found it fitting.

Christmas Decorating

2007-12-11T02:56:00.000-08:00

To celebrate the Christmas season the girls and I decided to decorate. Even though Stephanie and I are only in town for 2 weeks and not even for the actual day of Christmas, we thought it would help us to get more in the spirit of the season. It is very difficult being here in Zambia to identify with the holidays. Christmas in the states, and the rest of the world for arguments sake is associated with materialism. Presents, decorations, parties, and festivities. Yet that is not what Christmas is about at all. Living in a place where all of the superficial fronts are stripped away makes you sit back and reflect on what the meaning of the holiday really is. It is the celebration of the birth of the Son of God. Our Savior who took on flesh to live as one of us, to feel with us, to hurt and minister to us and with us, to willingly trudge up a hill suffering a torturous death all to save us in the name of a love that we can never repay. That is a holiday that can be celebrate joyously no matter where you are or what you have. So keeping that in mind, we decorated a tree trading stories about our friends and family traditions.
Of course we live in Africa so not everything went as planned and we had to improvise and splint the tree with sticks and plastic bags because the poles that were supposed to hold the branches didn’t actually fit like the box said. But don’t worry we fashioned a great doohickey that holds the tree only slightly angled ☺

Motorcycles

2007-12-02T03:19:00.000-08:00

Recently we came ac cross another family that lives down in Sinazongwe. They are from South Africa and run a Kapenta boat business, they fish. They are also very much into motorcycles which peaked Mike's interest so we decided to get together for a BBQ (they call braii) one Saturday. You know me the daredevil :) was not very excited about riding a motorcycle so I was just going for a chance to get away from the base. Mike really wanted to go and ride and I was not going to pass up free food so I was just tagging along. We hung out for awhile and their house and then drove out to a course that they had built in the middle of this field. As soon as we got there tons and tons of kids started swarming the bikes. Apparently Kevin, the guy we were riding with, is very well known there and the kid love watching him ride. Mike and Kevin took off and had a great time with Stephanie and I watched. We got all the kids cheering and laughing as the guys rode by. After awhile they stopped for a break and asked if we wanted to try. I was just going to ride on the back like Stephanie cause I didn't really want to do it in the first place, but Kevin wouldn't let me. So I ended up driving the motorcycle! Or course he was on the bike too otherwise I would have crashed the thing, it was complicated, but it was a lot more fun that I thought. Stephanie and I have been considering getting another car that gets better gas mileage and I am totally convienced that we should get motorcycles, it would be a lot of fun!

Rain Drops

2007-11-30T00:13:00.000-08:00

Rain is something that I have always loved, and something that I have always taken for granted. I never realized how much people depend on it for crops, for sustenance, and for life. It’s amazing what you wish for and crave when you don’t have it. Rain is one of those things. Zambia has been on drought for many years. There has been rain but it has not been enough to produce good crops and it has caused massive starvation through the land. It is not something that you have heard about in the news because it is minor compared to the rest of Africa, but families are starving and children are dying. This year however God has seen the suffering of His people and the rains have come. It usually sprinkles in late November into December and the showers come in January. Yet the STORMS have come and it is only November. This past week (Dec 20th) it has rained every single day. This is a miracle in itself. It makes it miserable on the roads, everything is muddy, flooding, cold, and difficult to navigate. Sometimes the roads are completely washed out and you get stranded but no one is complaining because the rain means food.
Another plus to the rain is our roof. This sounds odd, but our roof is tin. When the rain comes it pours in buckets for hours on end as hard as it can. It makes an absolute deafening noise from hitting the tin roof. At first I didn’t like it. You have to yell to talk to someone and even then sometimes can’t be heard. It’s so loud you can’t even hear your self think. It took me awhile to get used to it and I stayed awake all night listening to it, but now I finding it very calming and soothing. I love falling asleep to the sound of rain on the tin roof. It’s funny the things you find comforting here, things you would normally take advantage off or write off in the states.

Thanksgiving 2007

2007-11-28T04:39:00.000-08:00

We were going to go to Lusaka for Thanksgiving but because we live in the bush we forgot what day it was and got our weeks mixed up and missed it ☺ So we had Thanksgiving on the base with the Engelbrechts. They are South African and don’t celebrate the holiday so it was different for them and it was really nice of them to let us go all out and cook. We Americans had to work so we gave John our cook part of the menu and he did most of it. I did the chicken (we didn’t have a turkey), Stephanie made the rolls, Karin made the mashed potatoes and desert, and Mike helped us eat it all. It was a lot of fun and I’m glad we did it. I have gotten used to spending holidays here without my family, but I am really glad I’ll be home next year!

CROC ATTACK (not really)

2007-10-20T02:47:00.000-07:00

It has been very hot recently and there is not much you can do to cool off. Stephanie and I waited until the temperature reached about 104 degrees Fahrenheit before we exercised for the day. By the time we finished our hour of cardio we were drenched with sweat and dying from the heat. As we gazed out over this huge lake we thought how nice it would be to jump in and cool off. In the back of our minds we remembered all the warnings about the crocodiles but at that moment we were not thinking of anything except how hot we were. We maneuvered the rocks and walked down to the lake where we proceed cautiously looking for any strange animals before we jumped in. It felt great! We were so glad that we did it and walked back up to our house proud of ourselves. The next morning Theuns and Mike woke us up saying something about swimming. We were still half asleep and didn’t really understand what was going on until we came out onto the porch. There right were Stephanie and I had jumped in just the day before was a 12 foot crocodile. No I am no exaggerating, this thing was huge! Nobody knew that we went in the lake and we kept our mouths shut, but I consider myself warned. I will not be going in that lake again regardless of how hot I get. If a croc that big doesn’t scare someone to the shore I’m not sure anything would.

CROSS Team Visits

2007-10-08T12:39:00.000-07:00

Last week the CROSS team came to Sinazongwe. The CROSS team is a ministry of Action Zambia’s that stands for Churches Ready to Overcome Silence and Stigma. They came to train at Komena, the Christian training school that MVI has. The curriculum for the CROSS team is a 5 month course addressing HIV/AIDS, the churches role in the disease, stigma, and a Biblical response to suffering. It is a great class and it has already has reached several churches in Lusaka. Due to the time constraints on the school, they were forces to condense their five months of material into 4 days. This led to an extremely intense emotion packed class. The topics raised a lot of issues, confronted culture, and challenged the pastors both professionally and personally. It was a great time of learning for everyone!
It was really nice to have the Hilty’s (leaders of the ministry) here to visit with. They are the first ones from Action Zambia to come and visit us here on the base since our move to MVI. We had a great time sharing experiences and talking about our teams. Though it was hot and stressful for many, it was a great week.

Cool Air

2007-10-02T15:01:00.001-07:00

Praise God!! After 3 weeks of increasing temperatures we now have the sir condition installed and working. Since our arrival here in the beginning of August, Stephanie and I have been trying to get the air conditioner up and running. This proved to be very difficult! Holes had to be plugged in the wall, the unit had to be mounted, and hardest of all we had to get someone here that could fill it with gas. MVI was only aware of one person in the whole valley that was capable of doing this, and he kept blowing us off. He didn’t show up when scheduled, and then left town for a while. Luckily Theuns found someone else that came the very next day. I am honored to report that it is a cool 65 degrees in the clinic right now. This is a big deal as it is over 100 degrees plus humidity outside. The heat melts our supplies, and cooks the medicines being stored in the clinic. It has been a huge blessing to get the unit working and save our stock. Not to mention the fact that when we are melting outside, we take breaks in the clinic ☺

Switching to MVI

2007-10-01T04:24:00.000-07:00

After lots of contemplation and praying I have decided to resign from Action Zambia Ministries and join Missionary Ventures International (MVI). It has been a long road since I first began here in Zambia in 2005 but one that I feel I have grown immensely on. These past two years have taught me a lot about myself, about what I expect from ministry, what I have to offer in ministry, and how I work on a team. Most importantly I have learned how I rely, or don’t, on God in all types of situations. I honestly believe that these two years with Action were necessary to build and strengthen me for what the Lord has prepared for me now. This is a new adventure that I am excited to embark on. Over the past 4 months that I have been with MVI I have felt more alive and in line with my calling then ever before. I love what I am doing and I love my team. Please visit this site for stories on the happenings of the MVI team and the Longezia Mission Base. For support information please go to the donation page.

My First MVI Team

2007-09-01T12:41:00.000-07:00

After a few weeks here with MVI, I had to be properly initiated by helping with a visiting team. A group from England came for 8 days to do a variety of things. Mike headed up the men that were helping with construction. They placed a roof on a pastor’s house as well as many fix it jobs here on the base. Theuns was in charge of the evangelism group who went door to door speaking with people in the community near a new church plant. I was involved with a doctor and nurse who assisted me with clinics. So not only was it my first team with MVI, it was also my first mini medical team. It went so well that I was actually surprised. We all had a great time working, and at night sharing different experiences around the dinner table.
It was an amazing team and I was really blessed by the time they spent here. I learned a lot about how MVI runs teams (which is drastically different from Action Zambia), and learned a lot about my leadership skills, or lack of! So I am now officially a member of MVI because I have been through “the team marathon”. I can’t wait until next year where there are 13 teams planned!!

Stephanie's 25th Birthday

2007-08-23T06:08:00.000-07:00

For Stephanie's Birthday we did nothing, in the sense that we relaxed all day. Karin made some really good meals even though we were supposed to be on a diet. We had pancakes for breakfast and baked potatoes for lunch. At Stephanie's request we had fish and home made potato chips complete with carrot cake with cream cheese frosting! It was so good! :) It was really special to have Stephanie's dad here visiting over her birthday. A low key celebration, but fun none the less.

Hearty vs Healthy

2007-08-20T06:17:00.000-07:00

For the past 2 weeks the entire base has been on a diet. Our cook, John used to be a chef at an island resort and he cooks the best food. The problem is we enjoy his food too much. SO we all went on a diet to prevent us from looking like the elephants. This has not gone over very well with Theuns and Mike. They enjoy their food and have no desire to cut back.
One day when Stephanie and I were at the Sinazongwe mall (a row of shops that all sell the same things, none of which you want), we found these plates that say "Hearty Portion" on them. We thought it would be funny to buy them these plates because they always eat 3-4 times more food than the rest of us and therefore they need bigger plates.
Out here you find the simple things funny :)

Animals Gone Wild

2007-08-07T05:43:00.000-07:00

There are many different animals here than what you would find in the city. Driving down the road you have to be extra cautious of goats, cows, pigs, and children darting out into the road. There are a few stray dogs, but very few compared to the goat population. Any village that you visit is overrun with goat and chicken feces. It's no wonder that they get sick all the time. There are no pens to enclose the animals so they just roam free spreading germs everywhere.
Theuns favorite animal is the monkeys. He hates them with a ragging passion, and for good reason. They come right up to our houses, eat our food and cause destruction. They are everywhere and are starting to become a annoying. The only thing Theuns hates more than monkeys is cows. Everyday, sometime more than once they wander onto our property and eat the grass and vegetation. There are supposed to have a herdsman, but we can never seem to find him. The have bells around their necks and make a lot of noise. Many times Theuns has had to chase them back down the road, sometimes even in the middle of the night.
I don't have pictures of them, but we do have lots of snakes, scorpions, and crocodiles. I have only seen one croc so far and it was in the water. We had a puff adder snake come up onto the porch but the dogs did their job and killed it. We have to walk around with flashlights at night to make sure we don't step on anything were not supposed to.
It's been lots of fun discovering all these new creatures, but I'm not sure I like all of them.

Church in Sinazongwe

2007-08-05T05:25:00.000-07:00

Now that we live far away from any cities it is VERY difficult to find a church. There are quite a few Zambian established churches here in the area, but our being white creates a problem in going there. Because this is such a poor area, if we were to attend a Zambian church, the congregation would feel like they own us. We would become a prize for that church and we want to avoid this at all costs. Since there are no other places for us to attend, we have created our own home church.
We sit on the porch overlooking the lake while Michelle leads worship with Daniels help. We discuss a various topics or scripture that has someone has read that week, and then we listen to a sermon. It's extremely simple and informal yet its more personal that church in the US is. So next time your sitting in a hard chair while you listen to the weeks sermon, just remember that I get to sit in a lawn chair and gaze over His creation while I worship :)

Arrival in Sinazongwe

2007-08-01T05:14:00.000-07:00

After lots of waiting, we have finally made it to Sinazongwe. It was a lot of work getting everything packed up and moved, but well worth it. The Hilty family and Shannon came down to help us move and get everything sorted out. We had a great time talking about the base and how things got started. Its amazing to hear the differences between the two missions, yet still have them be so similar in their goals.
Over the next few weeks we will focus on getting ourselves settled and organized. We will begin transforming an old store room into a clinic and getting ready to go mobile into different villages in the area.
Thank you for all your prayers and Stephanie and I embark on this new journey!

Goodbye

2007-07-27T08:02:00.000-07:00

Stephanie and I have a lot of loose ends to wrap up in our last few days here in Lusaka. We went around to all our ministry areas to say goodbye and see everyone one last time. We taught at Living Waters and threw them a little party to celebrate their progress and say goodbye. We went to church at Venter to see the pastor there, and we visited Emmanuel Family Home to say farewell to the babies. When I first got here the babies there were actually babies only 2 or 3 months old. Now as we were saying goodbye they were running around talking and playing. It was amazing to see their progress despite all the medical struggles they have had.
Even though we will be back for visits, we have also had to say goodbye to our team. We had a prayer and worship time on Monday night and them we all got together and had pizza on Tuesday. The Stein family gave us flowers and big hugs because they will be leaving for the States before we make it back for a visit. We wanted to do something special for the kids so we took all 12 of them bowling and out for ice cream on Wednesday. I love kids and am planning on having a lot, but never 12 of them all under the age of 10! It was a crazy time but full of fun and laughter.
It has been a bitter sweet time saying goodbye but knowing that there are great things ahead of us in SInazongwe.

Packing Up

2007-07-26T09:10:00.000-07:00

Packing up an entire ministry plus two girls takes a lot of work. Here are some pictures of everyone pitching in to help us move.

Nap Time

2007-07-21T08:59:00.000-07:00

Lately Stephanie and I have been doing a lot of driving around running errands. Shopping for the team, buying medication, and setting up for our move to Sinazongwe. Shannon has come with us on many of these trips even though they are extremely boring. We usually leave early and are gone ALL day long driving from one place to the next picking up various things. It came to our attention a few weeks back that no matter where we go Shannon always falls asleep in the car. I thought I would share with you a few of our pictures of the chronicles of Shannon’s naps. I need to add however, that everyone who is not driving usually fall asleep, not just Shannon.

Dance Class

2007-07-20T08:52:00.000-07:00

Last week we had a neighborhood BBQ and invited some of the key people that live in our area. We cooked tons of food and had a good time getting to know everyone. Before the BBQ was over some of the Zambian ladies said that they wanted to teach us how to dance. We thought it would be fun and a good experience to learn this part of their culture. We went into my hut because they said we were not allowed to dance in front of me. Everything started out great and we were having a lot of fun. Some of the ladies were playing the drums and everyone was singing. After awhile though the started to show us how to dance for your husbands. If you know anything about the African culture you know that it is very sexually based, which has lead to the rapid spread of HIV. Their display of dancing made it very clear why this culture has a hard time stopping the spread of STD’s and HIV. We politely excused ourselves using the excuse that we were not married and therefore did not need to know how to dance like that. It was a glimpse into another side of the culture and defiantly an experience I wont soon forget.

Pig Slaughter

2007-07-18T08:17:00.000-07:00

We had a BBQ for some of our neighbors last week. To give the team that was here an “African Experience”, and to get some extra food to feed people we decided to buy a pig and some chickens and slaughter them ourselves. It sounded like a good idea at the time but when we actually had to do it, it was disgusting. The major problem was finding a pig that wasn’t malnourished and scrawny. We got it home by putting it in the back of one of the land cruisers where it peed all over the back ☹ Wilbur as the kids named him, ran around the yard with the dogs chasing him for awhile before the guys caught him and tied him up. He made a real racket but was soon silenced when Josh Burchfield slit his throat. As he did Wilbur made the strangest sounds as his windpipe was cut yet he was still trying to squeal. It took a lot longer than I thought, and blood was everywhere. The girls killed some chickens and let the kids help pluck their feathers out. The guys spent the next 2 hours butchering the pig and chickens so we could BBQ them. In the end there was more fat than anything else, but the meat that we did get was pretty good. I don’t think I would ever do it again because we didn’t get that much out of it. I definitely do not envy butchers, but I appreciate them doing the gross stuff for me. It was fun and graphic and an experience I’m glad I got to be a part of. I have the dissecting of Wilbur on video but I thought it was too graphic to post ☺

West Hills Team

2007-07-11T08:25:00.000-07:00

For the past three weeks we have had a team here from San Jose California. They did numerous things and filled our team with energy and excitement. It is always fun to have a team here because it allows us to see things through see new lenses. Its easy to become accustomed to life here and begin to see things as “normal” after awhile. When a team comes with fresh experiences and a naivety to the things of Zambia it helps us to appreciate the way of life here. To remember the poverty, the suffering, and the joyfulness of the people here. It helps us to not forget while we are really here.
During their time in Zambia they were able to hold dental clinics, play soccer games, evangelize on the street, visit with the sick, play with street kids, and experience church. They were all very missions minded and strived to see opportunities in everything. We all had a great time and hope that some of them will return soon.

Youth Ministry

2007-07-10T08:29:00.000-07:00

AZ has a lot of ministries in various places all over Lusaka. One that is based out at the farm is youth work. Shannon Storey is the lone ranger in this ministry because at this time there is no one else to help here. She works with a church in the area to organize VBS and different events for kids in the neighborhood. She holds Bible studies, choir practice, net ball games, and home visits. The children really seem to respond well to her and she is making a big impact in the area where we live. Please pray for strength and more opportunities for Shannon and this ministry to share Christ with the children.

Little Mary

2007-07-05T07:42:00.000-07:00

As a lot of you may know, Megan returned early to help with adoption of Mary to the Hupp family. The intention was to return for 2-3 weeks to finish the paper work and then go home. This is Africa, so nothing went as planned and they ended up staying 6 weeks! There was trouble getting a court date and then the courts went on strike prolonging things even more. After four frustrating weeks of going through the Zambia side of things and getting the proper documents they thought they were home free. When the y got to the US Embassy to get Mary’s visa to the States they learned that some policies had changed and they needed additional documents that were impossible to get. After a lot of praying and persistence on Megan’s part, her visa was approved at 1000 the day they were set to leave, only 3 hours later. They had already postponed their tickets 3 times and were prepared to leave Mary here and return at another time. This is not the first time that God has proved His power through adoptions. Megan has facilitated over 8 adoptions and each time there has been a snag somewhere. It is obvious that Satan does not want these children to find loving homes and is pulling out all the stops to prevent it. Yet Megan is seeking Gods heart for these children and pushing through despite all the obstacles. Mary is now home with her new family in the States. We got to spend a lot of time with her while they were going through the process and it was hard to say goodbye, but she belongs with the Hupp's in Illinois. Please pray for Megan and the adoption ministry as more children and families are identified to answer the call of adoption.

Shannon's Birthday

2007-06-13T05:06:00.000-07:00

Her celebration dinner. Shannon is in the middle with the black sweater on.

For Shannon's 25th birthday we did a few things. Her favorite TV show is 24, so we watched the entire first season in 5 days. We were all living town for 2 weeks for various reasons so we were crunched on time. Besides we had to finish 24 before she turned 25. It was a lot of late nights, but we did it. We also went to dinner at the best Indian restaurant in town and probably made way to much noise. Stephanie filled Shannon's mosquito net with balloons while she was sleeping, and we made cupcakes and say along with the musical candles. HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHANNON!

Tanzania Vacation

2007-05-27T06:54:00.000-07:00

For Easter break the girls and I decided to go to Tanzania. We flew to Dar es Salaam and then took an extremely small plane to the island of Zanzibar. For the first few days we stayed in a resort on the beach. It was beautiful! Every morning the tide would go out so far that you could walk at least 2km into the ocean without the water going above your waist. We watched the locals farm and harvest kelp in the shallows. In the afternoon the tide would come in a few people who were not paying attention got caught in the rip tide that formed. There were not a lot if waves but it was fun just to wade in the warm water.
We did a lot of activities while we were there. We went snorkeling and got stuck in a sea urchin colony because the tide was residing. We swam with dolphins, went on mopeds, and laid in the sun until we all looked like lobsters. There was also a spice tour where we toured a farm of all the spices grown in Zanzibar. Every spice I can think of is grown here and we got to taste a lot of them. We had tons of cheap fresh seafood. Lobster was only $6.00 a pound. It tasted amazing and luckily none of us got sick.
For the last few days we moved to the other side of the island and stayed in Stone town. It is a city full of culture and beautiful architecture. We went to some slave ruins and learned about the claves that were kept there and tortures before being shipped to the West and to England. We shopped in antique stores and walked around the narrow streets admiring all the doors and buildings. They have different types of doors there. Indian style, which has large studs to protect them from charging elephants, Middle Eastern doors, which had intricate carvings, and Zanzibar doors that were plain.
For Easter we sat on the beach at sunrise and had our own time of praise and worship. It was a great trip with tons of things to do, but also a week of relaxing. If anyone needs somewhere to go vacation, Zanzibar should be on your list.

New Car

2007-05-13T06:59:00.000-07:00

We finally found a car!! After 7 months of looking EVERYWHERE we have bought a car. It's a 1998 landcruiser GX. It comes complete with A/C, radio, cassette and CD player, 2 alarm systems, a roof rack, and a very clean interior. Stephanie and I are in awe that we can get in without climbing, we can listen to music, and that it's clean. Our other car was nothing but trouble for us. It consumed 5-8 gallons of oil a month, burned gas like it was going out of style, and no matter how hard we tried it was filthy. We used to drive around with the windows down because it was so hot, and within 5 minutes dust would be sticking to us. We would show up places filthy and gross. Now we can sit back and drive down the road with the windows up and not have to listen to the loud engine or worry about when it's going to break. It's a fabulous car that is in really good shape, and yes dad it has nice tires :)
We still need a name for our car so if you have any ideas let me know!

It has a nice big back area, 2 jump seats, and its clean. The doors actually close so dirt won't get in when we drive!

Beautiful A/C and stero system

Nice Tires

Isn't she a beauty!

Horrible Cars

2007-05-09T06:58:00.000-07:00

We spent forever looking for a car. All we found were junk heaps and laughable excuses for cars. Here are just a few of the better ones that we found.

Victoria Falls

2007-05-05T06:54:00.000-07:00

This past week Shannon C, Shannon S, Stephanie and I packed up and took a road trip to Livingstone. The purpose of our trip was to visit a missionary fistual hospital that was half way between Lusaka and Livingstone. We were going on to Livingstone to see Victoria falls and go on a safari before Shannon C goes back to America. Unfortuanetyl we could not get into the fistual hospital so it turned out to be more of a vaction trip than a wroking trip. Oh Well, next time.
We saw the falls and even went at night to see rainbows created by the mist and the moon. It was an amzing sight. I wish I had more pictures of the falls but there was to much water and it would have ruined the camera. Victoria Falls is one of the seven wonders of the world and all you have to do is look at it to understand why. We hiked to the bottom, got soaking wet, and Shannon C bunji jumped off the bridge.
On our second day there we crossed over into Botswana and went on safari. It was amazing how many animals there were. It's to bad that in the city we don't get to see all things. Being out there reminded me that I actually live in Africa.

There were tons of hippos and the make the funniest nosies.

Even more than hippos were the amount of elephants. We saw them fighting, playing in the water, and swimming. They are huge and came close to our car without even caring that we were inside.

A view from the boat

The falls

The bridge and falls from the bottom of the gorge

In the middle of the river 4 countries converge. This picture was taken when we were in Botswana, Zambia, Angola, and Namibia all at the same time.

Drought on the Farm

2007-04-16T06:16:00.000-07:00

At the farm we have our own well and pump where we access our water from. There is 2 spickets outside of our wall fence that the community uses for their water supply. A lot of people depend on this water (especially us), so when our pump broke for 10 days we were in trouble. At frist it was a small issue that was in the process of being repaired. Then someone used a hack saw and stole the spickets outside. The water was overflowing from them and because it was the middle of the night gallons and gallons of water was spewing out all over the place. Because our pump was broken and now due to the overflowing spickets, our tank ran dry. We had no water for 3 days. Now that may not seem like a long time to you, but it was a challenge for us. We dug a hole in the back yard and built our own porta-potty. No one took showers, we cooked and cleaned with buckets that we pre filled with water before the pump broke, and we all did our business outside. It was quite an adventure especially for the visitors we had at the time. Luke worked for three days straight driving back and forth to town trying to get parts and fix the problem. Now it is fixed, but the lack of water blew out all the elements in the water heaters so we are still showering in freezing cold water. Ah the joys of Africa!

Luke trying to siphen water out of the barrels so we can wash the dishes.

Our very own porta-poty!!

We had a toilet seat donated to the medical ministry, so we used it so our "hole" would feel more like home.

Shannon and her excitment about peeing in a hole.

Luke in the water tower trying to fix things.

Farewell

2007-04-15T06:49:00.000-07:00

Megan my roomate, who has been here for a year and Lydia who was here for 3 months have now departed for the states. Lydia will be getting a job as a LNP and Megan is on home asignment and will return in 3 months. If you are wanting to hear about the work that the Lord is doing in Zambia let me know and maybe I can arrange for you to meet up with Megan while she is there.

ANTS!!

2007-04-12T06:30:00.000-07:00

In America we have red fire ants. When the bite you there is a slight burning that makes you want to get up and leave. It’s uncomfortable and might make a child cry but nothing to bad. Her we have what we call take off your pants ants. They have this name because they make you take off your pants literally. Their bite is strong that they have been known to kill an elephant, no joke. Once our director was awakened by our wall fence alarm going off in the middle of the night. He went out to investigate and stepped on a few of them. Well…the attacked and he stripped naked and ran hence the name take off your pants ants.
The way they attack is very unusual, just as is the way they travel. The travel in thick pacts and they walk with a purpose. You can’t miss them because they are huge and they travel is such large groups that it is not uncommon to see thousands of them at one time. If by chance you come upon them say in the grass and you can’t see them, they will crawl all over you and then bite all at the same time. That is how the kill their prey, somehow they know to attack all at the same time. Let me tell you it hurts like no other.
So now that you know what were up against, let me tell you what happened. One night at about 2am Doc was crying. I thought he had to pee so I climbed down the ladder to let him out but he wouldn’t go outside he just kept jumping around. All the lights were out so I couldn’t see anything. I decided to go the bathroom since I was downstairs and as soon as I sat down they started biting. I jumped up turned on the light and screamed. The entire floor was a moving black sea of ants and now they were all over me and all over Doc. I jumped up on the couch and off course took off my pants to get them off of me. It took me about 5 minutes to get them off of me and out of my pants so I could put them back on and go outside. They were covering the entire walkway; we had no choice but to walk through them. Megan went to get the guard, we thought we would have to spray and kill them but he said no. Apparently if you wait a few hours they just leave. I was thinking ya right their just going to leave. We wait in the main house and continued picking ants off of Doc and each other for the next 45 minutes and then slept on the couch. At 6am when we returned to our house all the ants were gone. Who knew?
Not one week later they did the same thing to the medical room and Stephanie and Shannon’s hut. We had had enough. We could take the bites but it was too dangerous for the kids. So we declared war on the ants. We grabbed everything flammable we could find, nail polish remover, gasoline, butane, hairspray, and bug spray. We created blowtorches and mini bombs and we lit those suckers on fire. We had tried regular bug spray but it didn’t kill them. We had to go serious and use fire. I wish I had video of our pyrotechnics because it was a beautiful site. The butane worked the best except we almost burned the water hose. It was a lot of fun and we haven’t seen them since. I think they got the message not to mess with us. They are not welcome here.

Tanzania or Bust!!

2007-04-10T06:57:00.000-07:00

New Arrival

2007-03-27T06:56:00.000-07:00

Shannon Castillo arrived today and will be staying here for 3 months. She has started nursing school and wanted to come see what medical missions was like. She will be shadowing Stephanie and I during her stay. Because we still don't have licenses and are not able to fully practice yet she won't get to see tons of medical stuff. We are teaching and she will be helping us with that, as well as a few trips we have planned. It should be fun!

My New Puppy

2007-03-15T06:25:00.000-07:00

One of the things that I have missed the most is to fall asleep with and my dog Charlie snuggled at the foot of my bed. He would always climb up on the couch while I was watching TV and lay down right next to you. He was a great dog. I love having someone get excited to see you when you come home. I know it sounds super silly and your probably all laughing at me right now but Oh well. We have 2 dogs here, Manuando a big mutt and Chika a small jack Russell terrier. Manuando (it means trouble) is very sweet and loves to be pet but she doesn’t play and won’t cuddle. Chika is the most annoying yappy dog you have ever met. We got here to kill the rats but every time she sees one she pees and runs away. Last week we gave her away because we couldn’t stand it anymore.
6 weeks ago Manuando had puppies. We gave them away because we couldn’t have that many dogs, but I decided that I was going to keep one. I got some slack for it because I’m not alwys home and they didn’t want another Chika type of dog. I completely understand why everyone was concerned, but it was the best decision. Doc, the new medical mascot is my new best friend. He goes everywhere with me. He is now official potty trained (thought we had some trouble at first), he eats all the bugs I don’t like, he plays and makes cute noises, and the best part is every time I sit down he crawls in my lap and lays down. He loves to cuddle and he is super cute. Granted he is still a puppy and he is going to get a lot bigger and wont fit in my lap for very much longer, but I still like it. He follows me everywhere, and races to my car when I get home. Were in the process of learning some tricks and the kids adore him. Just a word to the wise…don’t leave your laundry where puppies can reach it.

Farewell to the Powells and Ripleys

2007-03-05T06:06:00.000-08:00

In the recent weeks there have been many changes occurring within Action Zambia. One of these changes is that the Ripley and the Powell families will be leaving on early furlough. They will be leaving shortly for a period of 6-9 months to the states. The Powell’s will be going to North Carolina to visit family, enroll in some local Bible courses, support raise, and rest. The Ripley’s will be heading to Northern California to see family, work with Pastor Burchfield who is on the board of our international office, and rest. They will all be greatly missed and we look forward to hearing their adventures of the west and await their return at the end of the year.

The Ripley Family

The Powell Family

Changes in ACTION

2007-03-02T06:11:00.000-08:00

As some of you may know Action Zambia is in the middle of a huge transition right now. Everything is being reworked, reevaluated, and our ministries and leadership are being overhauled. Despite all this change the one thing that has no changed and never will is the foundation for all of us being here, and that is to be the light in the darkness. We have all been called here to spread the Gospel and to love the Zambian people. We all do this in different ways in our different ministries but our love for Christ and our desire to see others brought to Him is what unites us as a body and as Action Zambia.
Thank you for your prayers and for your concern. As our team continues to prayerfully consider our next steps I will do my best to keep you informed.

New Arrivals

2007-02-10T07:29:00.000-08:00

Recently we have had 2 new units, as we call them, join our team; the Whitfield family and Shannon Storey. The Whitfields who have 3 children are here for pastoral development and orphan care while Shannon is here to lead youth programs. The Whitfields will be staying at a house in town closer to the office but Shannon will be staying with the rest of the single gals at the farm. Please pray for them as they go through field orientation and the adjustments of life here in Zambia

New Years

2007-01-19T10:01:00.000-08:00

For the holiday the gals at the farm decided to go away to a hotel for the night. We got all dressed us and went to a nice dinner, got to use our web cams to call our families, and watched actual real time news on the television. We had a lot of fun and ate some really good food. We can't wait until next year when we have the chance to use our web cams again, it was a riot getting to see our families.

My Birthday

2007-01-13T12:05:00.000-08:00

For my 26th Birthday the girls took me out and we all got pedicures. For the first time since being here I had clean feet, it was great! Then the farm crew got together and went out for Indian food which was delicious. Jeanette and her husband, who are here visiting from MN and adopting 2 children, made me a cake. I got to talk to my parents on the phone which was nice. It was a great day and a lot of fun. Happy Birthday to me.

Birthday Cake

Clean Toes

Merry Christmas

2007-01-13T10:47:00.000-08:00

Just like most things here in Zambia, Christmas is just a little bit different. Even though Zambia is declared a Christian nation and most people will say that they are Christians, you will find that only a small percent know what that term even means. Even less than that actually have a relationship with Christ and more often than not peoples life's here do not reflect their walk with the Lord. Christmas here is just another day, and is conducted as business as usual. A few more people might go to church, but it is more about a party for themselves than celebrating the birth of our Saviour. It reminds me a little about all the materialism that we have in the states, except they compact it into one day. Needless to say we tried to make the best of it. We had our first annual open hut and invited the team to come to the hut. The price of admission was a paper snowflake and a jolly attitude :) We played games, sang carols and ate lots of cookies. On Christmas day we incorporated every ones family traditions from home ate oyster stew for breakfast, cimikuka for tea, pot roast for dinner, and Christmas pudding for dessert. In the afternoon we took homemade cookies to the kids at orphanages around the city wearing Santa hats. It wasn't home and we all cried because we missed our families, but it turned out alright. After all it's not about us right.

Stockings hung with care along our ladder

We stole the Christmas tree from the main house to put it in out house for the open hut but it fell apart on the way.

Even though it was 95 degrees outside the snowflakes made it seem like a winter wonderland

This kid dosen't look very happy, but the kids were excited to have Santa's helpers bring them cookies for Christmas

Santa's little helpers, Megan, Stephanie and Me.

Shipping Container

2006-12-10T10:16:00.000-08:00

A loonnngggg time ago the ACTION USA office made a plea to churches in America for goods to fill shipping containers to be sent here to Zambia. There were sent and arrived here in early November. Well, because this is Zambia we had quite a few problems getting the goods released to us. Customs lost the containers, then sent them to the wrong place, then took forever with the paperwork, etc. Well, we finally got them released and we now have the containers in our possession. It was quite a production watching them unloading them onto our property. We can't wait to open them and find out what is inside.

Keith reloading the container after the company made a mistake and unloaded our containers and sent them away.

Boxes and suitcases being carried by a forklift.

Keith helping unhook the container from the crane.

Stephanie and John helping to lift the container :)

The first reveal of what's inside.

Thanksgiving in Zambia

2006-12-03T08:59:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving in Zambia is almost the same as Thanksgiving in the States. Except for we don't have the same foods, there is no live football, and the whole thing about Columbus never discovering Zambia thing. Other than that it's kind of the same :) We ate tons of food, had a great time of prayer and giving thanks to the Lord, and a talent show. The kids sang song, did skits, and recited verses. Brenda demonstrated a typical New Zealand warrior dance and then we had a dance off for a chocolate bar. It was hysterical and I wish I could show you the video but the picture will have to do. Tim made me work for it, but I enjoyed that chocolate bar very much :) It was a great Thanksgiving.

Stephanie and I mashing potatoes for dinner

The adults dinner table

Heather,Julie and Grace showing us their talent

Tim and I battling it out for the chocolate bar

New Addition to the Family

2006-12-02T13:57:00.000-08:00

As you may know, every family here on the Action Zambia field has adopted children. That is no exception with the Hilty's. They arrived here almost a year ago and just this past month adopted Irene, a double orphan from Emmanuel Family Home. She is the newest addition to the Action Zambia family a brings our kid total to 23 and adopted children to 12.

Baby Irene and Andrea

Andrea opening presents and Irene's baby shower

Susan and Stephanie's Horrible Terrible No Good Very Bad Day

2006-12-02T09:56:00.000-08:00

Just Kidding. Maybe I should start from the beginning. My car, Ingabor, has always had problems. Over the last 6 months however she has taken a turn for the worst. Stephanie and I was driving Glenn's car while he was in Egypt, so Inge was ingnored for a week. Well of course we broke his car along with everything else. His battery kept dying so we had to push start it every morning. This was not to bad because his car is light and we have 3 guards on our property to help. It is a newer land cruiser so it is easier to push and by now we know the routine and parked at the top of the driveway to make it easier.
Well, by now Glenn and Liese returned and Glenn suggested jumping his car with Ingabor. And hence the beginning of our horrible terrible no good very bad day.
Stephanie and I had a very busy day planned getting ready for a team to come. We had 2 meetings planned and a lot of errands to run all over town. It was a packed day and we needed to leave early. We were all ready to go and got up to go in a bright and cheerful mood. Right off the bat Ingabor would not start. We had parked at the top of the driveway in case this happened so we got everyone together to push her down the hill thinking she would start with one push and we would be off. We were dead wrong. 2 hours later we were still pushing. This car is gigantic, weighs at least 1000lbs, and does not move easily. We pushed it up the hill, rolled it down the hill, and repeated this process over and over. Eventually it started and we got it into town to the repair shop. They didn't believe me when I told them it wouldn't start and they made me turn it off, so then they had to push it.
We had to leave the car there and do all our errands all across town on foot. We got ready for our trek across Lusaka and we took pictures everywhere we went. See the next post for the rest of the day.

The day before we had to get the battery jumped. We thought we had just left the lights on but actually the alternator wasn't charging the battery properly.

Don't laugh, you would be making faces too if you had been pushing this car for the past 2 hours!

The staff at Auto World should have listened to me cause then they wouldn't have had to push the beast.

Susan and Stephanie's Horrible Terrible No Good Very Bad Day Continued

2006-12-02T08:55:00.000-08:00

Walking through town you see a lot more things than you do when driving. The smells are more overwhelming, the people are nicer and meaner, it's hotter, and the distance seems a lot farther. It really was not a horrible day. It was exhausting and overwhelming, but we had a great time and had a lot of time to talk, laugh, and in the end we got everything done. Here is all the stops we made.

First Stop the Pharmacy to pick up some medication.

Stop number 2= Passport Photos. Stephanie needed photos to finish her application for the nursing council. We were going to go to a store, but on the way there we saw a little stand on the corner. It was a man with a Polaroid camera, but that's all we needed.

3rd Stop Nursing Council. We needed to turn in our applications for the nursing test. We didn't realize how far it was until we walked it, but it was good 2 mile walk.

Our next stop was Game (like Walmart) to pick up some office supplies. We then had to carry all those supplies with us the rest of the day

In preparation for the team that was coming we needed to print and make copies. We were there for almost 2 hours and had 25 pounds of paper to carry with us and the walk to the office. Even though we tried not to, we kept accumulating things to carry.

I just wanted to prove that we really did walk the whole way :)

Before our meetings we stopped off at the Stranbergs to put our feet in the pool because we were so hot. We wanted to jump in but we thought it would look unprofessional if we showed up to our meeting soaking wet.

These are a few of my broken things

2006-12-01T09:52:00.000-08:00

My director and his wife went to Egypt for their 25th wedding anniversary so Stephanie and I became surrogate parents for 2 weeks. Now don't get my wrong, Gift and Grace are some of the cutest 5 year olds ever, but there were some added responsibilities added into those weeks. We had visitors come, employees to supervise, a house to run, meals to cook, and to top it all off a few things broke. Not to mention the medical ministry continuing at the same time. Our team has a running joke that when ever our director leaves the country things always seem to break. Here is a list and a few pictures of the many things that fell
apart.

This lightbulb symbolizes all the power outages that we had, lights that we broke and the fuses that blew. We have an excess of surges at high wattages so it causes lights to randomly explode or things like the toaster to blow up. Oops!

Not 1 but 2 sinks had waterfall size leaks that left us with minor floods and limited access to water. Not only that, but our water pump for the well that supply's all our water blew a fuse and gave us a big scare. Praise God that we were only without water for a few hours and that it wasn't more serious than that.

The heating element on the oven went out. This is our main source of cooking other than the stove top so this was a big deal. Since neither Stephanie or I know anything about fixing ovens (at least we have learned to fix some plumbing things) we had to adapt our cooking skills until it could be fixed.

Of course the toilet had to break too. Toilets are not made the same here so they are not as easy to fix. Luckily this time we just had to change the pump in the back and got it fixed without to much trouble.

The kids are running around, things are breaking, and the dinner is burning so what do you do...take the pot of the burner and place it on the counter. Except we forgot to put a hot pad under it. Oops! We burned a perfectly round dark brown circle into the counter top. Fortunately we were able to sand it down and varnish it so now it's not as obvious.

Mathihi

2006-10-19T11:51:00.000-07:00

Even though our hut (tahutu) has been completed for awhile now, we have not had running water and therefore no toilet, shower etc. The price that we were quoted to put plumbing in our hut was outrageous to say the least. We have resolved to trekking the 25 yards to the team house to go to the bathroom and take showers. Usually not a problem at all except in the middle of the night and you have to crawl out of the loft and across the yard, then it gets annoying . Well, Megan made a friend as she usually does, Reggie, who is here in Zambia working with the assemblies of God Mission on a farming project. He is a plumber from Brooklyn and Megan helped Reggie and his wife in adopting a little girl. He offered to plumb our hut....for free. Praise God! Today we got running water. It has taken awhile and many lessons have been learned about the differences between American plumbing and Zambian plumbing (don't ask), but it was an interesting experience. We still have to place tile in the bathroom and let the cement set, but we have water...including a waterfall shower (mathihi). Reggie and the waterfall shower
Yeah a toilet!
Do you think she's happy?
David helping to place the pipes
Running Water

Homeless Boxes

2006-10-19T08:50:00.000-07:00

The ACTION USA office has spent many pain staking hours fundraising, collecting donations, going over inventory, and packing 2 twenty foot containers to be sent to the Zambia field to be given out. They contain everything from school desks, ziploc bags, lawn mowers, wheelchairs, and Bibles to name just a few. There are so many things in these two containers that I can't even print the inventory list for fear that my ink cartridge will run out. We have been anxiously awaiting their arrival for months, and 2 weeks ago they finally came...sort of. Keith Stranberg and I are in charge of donations. He handles the customs and logistical side of things, and I simply take inventory and organize it. Well, after we made all the arrangements for getting the containers to the farm and in place, we were informed that they were missing. As in someone at the company did not read the paper work correctly and unload the containers and took them AWAY...all the way to Tanzania! Containers are an extremely valuable commodity here as they are used for shops, offices and even homes. So here are some pictures of all these donated items in a warehouse that we can't get to, because we have no containers to put them in. Please pray that we can get our containers back ...soon.

Action Zambia's Ladies Retreat

2006-10-12T09:49:00.000-07:00

This past week the AZ ladies were blessed to be able to go away on a retreat. Bobbie Chance and Carrie Gaul have been here for the past three weeks holding classes for ladies in the Lusaka area. This week it was our turn. We packed up our things and went to a resort called Lilayi, which means place of rest. We had three days full of fellowship, laughter, chocolate, and amazing lessons. They took us through the book of Ruth, showed us similarities between women in the Bible and our lifes today, revealed to us what it meant to be truly intimate with God, and how we can draw nearer to Him by breaking barriers of sin and hurt in our life. It was an amazing few days and I learned a lot. Not only did we delve into the word, but we went on safari, did aerobics, laid in the sun, ate tons of food, and got attacked by monkeys. It was a great chance to get to know my teammates better and to get away from the ministry and remember what it's like to laugh.
There are a lot of people that helped Bobbie and Carrie get here and put this retreat together for us. They brought more presents than Santa Claus and more chocolate than the Easter Bunny. We can't wait until next year when we get to do it again!! We stood 50 yards away from giraffes! I had to remind myself that I live here.
We got to sit around and talk everyday with a beautiful view of an open landscape where animals would just walk by. Bobbie and Carrie brought us presents everyday and we were never short of chocolate.
We were given a lot of time to reflect on our relationship with God and our relationship with each other. We had the opportunity to sit an pray with one another which we don't often do.

So many people gave items and money to help Bobbie and Carrie put this together that we wanted to take a picture to say thank you.
This is the place of rest, Lilayi, lodge.

FIRE!!

2006-10-06T09:48:00.000-07:00

Burning brush is a common occurrence here. It happens every year around this time and it is nothing to be to alarmed about. The Zambians light controlled fires to burn down the brush around their houses, in the fields, and along the roads. There is even an official time of year when burning brush is legal...and when it's not.
The first time you see a brush fire it is a pretty amazing site, but after you have been here while it becomes common and ordinary. It is well known to our workers and the neighbors around our property that we do not want our land burned. We have a huge orchard of fruit tress, coffee plants, bee hives, and other plants that we want to see flourish and not burned down.
We are currently in the "burning season" so the smell and sight of smoke did not concern anyone yesterday, but you can imagine our surprise when we sat down to dinner and saw flames leaping up over our brick wall fence (which is 12 feet). God blessed us with our first ever fireman Anthony, here visiting for just a few days. The men were outside shoveling dirt, while Megan sat in the tree with a house watering down the buildings (which have grass roofs). Our workers were helping to set back fires hoping to steer the flames in the opposite direction. It was quite a site to see this huge fire burning all the way up to our wall yet not reaching the branches of the tree that hung so close to it. While we lost a lot of our vegetation and trees, we did not loose any of our buildings and no one was hurt.
My favorite part of the evening was when one of the new missionaries Gerry (who has been here 3 1/2 weeks) said, "Can't we call the fire department?" Our response to that is of course, there is no fire department.

New Zambian President

2006-10-04T09:46:00.000-07:00

After almost a week of election madness.....we have a new president. Actually he has been the president for the past 5 years, but he has been re-elected. Levy P. Mwanawasa was sworn is on Oct 3rd at 10 in th morning winning with 42% of the vote. There were 4 other candidtes but only 2 that were really considered condenters for the position. Even though there was violence and riots in the city, Zambia has displayed itself as a model democracy for Africa. If you look at other African countried and how their elections are conducted, Zambia should be commended. There was a 70% voter turn out, the highest ever and only 2% of the votes were rejected. Despite allegations of corruption and fraud in this election from the other presidential candidates, it seems that this electoral process was fair and just. Here is what BBC had to say about it.

"Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa has appealed for unity after being sworn in following disputed elections.
"This is not the time to settle scores. Let us all be united to build Zambia," he said after his re-election.
His closest challenger Michael Sata has claimed massive fraud and said he was the rightful winner.
Mr Sata's supporters have staged two days of violent protests, mostly in poor districts of the capital, Lusaka, where the army has been deployed.
Mr Mwanawasa gained 43% of the vote, while Mr Sata got 29%.
The other main candidate, Haikande Hichilima, won 25% to come third.
Speaking in the National Assembly, Mr Mwanawasa said the people had spoken with a clear voice.
"They want a general improvement of their lives... We have to fight poverty and we have to fight all vices that are affecting our country."

Upcoming Elections

2006-09-21T09:45:00.000-07:00

Elections are only 6 days away and politics are everywhere. As you know corruption is huge in this country and it seeps into every aspect of life. Politics here are nothing like the states. There a many candidates and it has only been within the past month that 2 have come to the front in terms of popularity. The current president who is running for re-election and another candidate are the 2 hot picks to duke it out at the polls on the 28th. In America we have commercials, rallies and press conferences. In Zambia they have commercials, parades (more than 5 people walking down the street with flyers) and riots. This is the warning that the embassy issued to us today,

"There is significant traffic disruption in downtown Lusaka in the area
of Cairo Road and Freedom Way. There is a fire in the city market and
we have reports that a crowd is attacking passing vehicles. These are
election related incidents. Similar incidents have been occurring
spontaneously for the past several days. The downtown area of Lusaka
and neighborhoods surrounding educational institutions appear to be the
focal points."

These "incidents" have been going on sporadically over the past month put have become very frequent in the past few days and are only expected to intensify. Today over 400 shops were burned, yet they have not said if it was election related, it was in the same area as the other riots. As a mission we have generally stayed out of the busy town and kept to the back roads.
I am not posting this to scare anyone (mom), they are not targeting us...I am posting this to make you aware of the situation we are facing. Please pray for the safety of this team, the safety of Zambia, and for a unified country that can be brought together for the Glory of God through this election.

Pirate Day

2006-09-20T11:44:00.000-07:00

September 19th is National Talk Like A Pirate Day, and we take it seriously. All the kids got dressed up and even went as far as putting tattoes on each other. We had all sorts of activites such as watching pirate movies, treasure hunts, and best costume contest. This is a picture of a few of the kids in their costumes. We had a blast....and no one had to walk the plank :)

My New Castle

2006-09-20T09:44:00.000-07:00

During my last term I stayed in a small hut with Mari, another single female misssionary. It was made out of concrete and had a tile floor with a grass ceiling and a wooden door. It came complete with a toilet and a shower and it was more than enough room for just the two of us. I was truly priveledged to be able to live in such a nice place. Even though the housing was typical (minus the running water and electricity) I still saw it as very nice and beter than what a typical Zambian would have.
My second term here is a little different. I now live in what I have named the "castle hut", becasue to me it is a castle. Just from the outside you can tell that it's big, but once you walk in you are blown away. It looks like the African version of Pottery Barn. Not that I'm complaing one bit, it's extremely nice, but for all of you who thought I was roughing it...consider yourself proven wrong.
I share my castle with Megan who is another single femal missionary who is here doing child advocacy. We get along very well and even complete each others sentences. Her desk is set up on one side of the room, and my desk is situated on the opposite side. We have a small sitting area with a couch and coffe table made out of a drum and a piece of slate. There is a giagntic hand made quilt hanging from ceiling to floor that was made by the ladies at Mount Morris Church in the USA. We have a bathroom, which right now has nothing in it because there is no water in our castle.

Safe Arrival

2006-09-19T09:42:00.000-07:00

After a very long plane ride I have finally made it back home to Zambia. Due to the fact that I only had a one way ticket I was stopped at every security check point there was, and even some there weren't. I was personally escorted to through security and to my gate where the national guard went through my bag and searched me for a 4th time before allowing me to board the plane. The flight was uneventful but I arrived in London about an hour and a half late. By the time I got through security and switched terminals at Heathrow which entailed going outside and taking a bus, I only had 1 hour till my flight boarded. I waited and waited and waited until 5 minutes before the plane was supposed to leave when they made an overhead announcement for the last call for my flight at a gate all the way across the terminal. I found myself running with about 15 other people for gate 22 (we were at gate 2) so we would not miss our plane. I got to my seat got all settled in and ready to take off when the pilot announced that we were having engine trouble and would be delayed a mere 15 minutes. Well...2 1/2 hours later and a new landing tire we were off, finally.
I arrived only 45 minutes late and cruised through customs and immigration with no problems. My whole team was there to greet me with a traditional Zamabian celebratory call. It was good to see everyone and find that things had no changed that much since I left. I'm excited to see where the Lord is going to take me and this medical ministry, and if my trip getting here is any indication of what it will be like....I can't wait!

Leaving on a Jet Plane

2006-05-25T09:39:00.000-07:00

A few days ago my father arrived along with a team from Bethlehem Baptist Church in MN. We were very busy and saw many things. It was a full 2 weeks and we had a lot of fun. Now its time for me to return to the states. It took me 2 days to pack up all my junk to either send home with me or to remain here. Here is a picture of Megan helping me get everything organized. I am writing this 4 hours before my plane takes off, so......see you all soon!

$$$$$$

2006-05-07T09:38:00.000-07:00

Many people believe (myself included once) that living in a third world country is cheap. How wrong they are. Especially in Zambia, because it is landlocked and everything must be imported, prices are high. When I first arrived here in July 2005 the exchange rate was 5,200K to every US dollar. This was good and we were able to live without spending an arm and a leg for things. Now, due to political competition and the World Relief Bank, the exchange rate is 2,910K for every US dollar. Now you might be saying...you still get almost three times as much then you would have in the states. That is true, but you must take into consideration the cost of things. Some things we can get much cheaper than the states but the majority of things we deem as necessities are very expensive. This problem has been compounded by the rise in prices in food and diesel. Let me give you some examples:

1 gallon of milk = $7.10
1 gallon of diesel = $6.00
1 block of cheese = $6.70
1 box of cereal = $8.00
1 black printer cartridge = $85.00

This is only the tip of the iceberg. There are many things we can't even get here, and the ones we can we can't afford. A local newspaper just printed an article that said a family of 6 needed 1,650,000K per month for food. That's $550.00. That doesn't include rent, clothing, school fees, or medical bills. The majority of people in this country make less than $1.00 per day. No wonder this country is so afflicted with poverty, starvation, and violence...people can't even afford to feed their children. So yes, times are difficult for us right now because of the increase in costs, but we are still eating. Please pray for all off those who will go hungry tonight because of the lack of money and food.

Offsite Retreat

2006-05-05T10:37:00.000-07:00

For the past three days the entire Action Zambia team has been at an off-site retreat to hash out some things. We discussed philosophy of ministry for the mission, goals and strategies for individual ministries, and what our plans for the future are going to be. It was held at the city zoo which has the most beautiful gardens I have seen in Zambia. We got a lot accomplished and ate some really good food while we were at it. It was mentally draining, but I think some really great decisions were made. This mission is quickly evolving and God is doing amazing things through all he people He has brought here. What started as a family mission has grown into a large undertaking. Please continue to pray as we spend the next few weeks finalizing documents and as these ministries continue to blossom.

Goodbye Blake

2006-05-05T09:36:00.000-07:00

Our teammate Blake has left us to go back to the states. He was here for a year working with street kids, sports evangelism, and leading prayer and worship for our team. In addition to that he had many jobs that didn't exactly fall into his job description. He was a model for us all in how he dealt with difficult situations and he could always make you laugh. He was a HUGE asset to our team and will be greatly missed.

Moving Day

2006-05-05T08:35:00.000-07:00

Camp Timothy, the main site for Action Zambia Ministries, is now officially closed! For the past three and a half years Camp Timothy has been the center for all activities and housing for the mission. It was a great place for holding classes, church retreats, or just walking through the gardens. It's sad to see it go...but it was time to expand. During that time many many teams came through and stayed at CT and the few long term missionaries lived there. Now that Action Zambia has 34 in our group we needed a bigger place and one that was more accessible to the community. Camp Timothy has not yet been relocated, but the hub of Action Zambia is now at the FARM. The Ripley family 2 singles and myself live there, while the rest of the mission is spread out in houses across the city.
Moving was a HUGE undertaking. The entire team, 1 flatbed truck, 4 cruisers, and 7 days later we were moved in. You never know how much God has blessed you with until you have to move it to another address. How true we found that to be. Megan and I were in charge of getting everything organized and at the end of the week we both collapsed. It was a lot of fun, but I never want to do that again!

Painting the New Library

2006-04-30T09:34:00.000-07:00

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love painting. I am always coming up with these great ideas to paint and redo rooms. The plans are amazing for about the first hour or so until I relaize how much work it is and remember how much I hate to paint. Well this time it was not my idea. Over the past few weeks the Farm has been underconstruction for a new library and medical store room. With the closing of Camp Timothy we needed a new place for all the books. Here in Zambia, nothing is made out of wood because of termites so it's all cement. Painting cement is from the devil. It took Megan and I three days to paint the room, including the floor and windows, and then wax it all the prevent the paint from peeling. 3 cans of primer and tons of it on us, we were finished. I'm proud of the way it turned out and I have sworn off painting forever...well at least for the 2 weeks until the next building is done and we get to paint that one :)
Before
Before
Does anyone have any turpentine?
AfterAfter

Street Camp

2006-04-10T09:33:00.000-07:00

This past week ACTION Zambia had it's first ever street kid camp. This camp is an effect of the past 4 years ofministry in this area. We took 14 kids to the Chikankata village for three days for an evangelistic fun in the sun safe haven lets be kids for awhile camp. All of these children live on the streets for one reason or another, mainly due to abuse. We made T-shirts, played games, had some health classes, sang aound the camp fire, and talked a lot about God. At the end of three days one kid remarked, "Everything was fun, but most of all I learned how to accept Jesus into my heart". What more could you ask for! Currently all these children are in the process of being placed back in their homes or in centers depending on their situation, but Praise God they are all off the streets. For those of you who have been involved in this ministry, you know what a blessing this is. You planted the seeds and now the harvest is beign reaped. It was an amazing few days that almost makes all he run in with police on the way there worth it...almost. God's Children!
Brenda and I got to help at a mobile health clinic
Painting T-shirts
A health class at a near by village
All the leaders

Carpentry Ministry

2006-04-06T09:32:00.000-07:00

For the past 2 years Camp timothy has had a mini carpentry shed that local churhs can send their carpenters to use. Lately a friend, Aubrey has been using the center to work and earn money for his family. He is an amazing carpenter and does great work. This past week Keith and Tim were able to take 30 desks that he made for Alpha Destination School in Ng'ombe compound. The money was donated and these desks were built to benefit the children. Previously they had been sitting on the floor using their laps to write on, now they have brand new desks and a place to sit. Praise God for all the workers here that are helping children get a good education and for all the prayers and donors back in the states who make it possible.

Village Trip

2006-04-02T09:30:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago the whole team went down to Chikankata which is 2 hours south of Lusaka. 3 years ago ACTION was given some land that we used to build a mini village. A well was placed on the property that now allows the entire community to have clean water. This is a huge deal because the ladies used to have to walk 2.8km to get clean water. They head of the village came a spoke as well as many of the other workers and missionaries in the area. They killed and BBQ a goat which tastes like dirty shoes and sang songs and danced in celebration. Some of us stayed the night and hiked up the mountain to watch the sunrise. It was BEAUTIFUL! Of course the day would not be complete without one of the cars breaking down. So to get home, the whole team plus some villagers had to push the cruiser up the hill so it could be push started. Never a dull moment.

How Many Missionaries Does it Take to Change a Lightbulb?

2006-03-13T09:27:00.000-08:00

4.... one to climb, two to hold the bed, and one to take the picture! This is not really important but I thought it was funny. Since we put the new roof in we have never had to change the lightbulb until now. We don't have ladders so we had to improvise and turn the bed on end to make something tall enough to climb on. Only in Africa :)

Our New Team

2006-03-03T10:26:00.000-08:00

Our HIV Team
Tim and Andrea Hilty, Susan, Eta, and John

The Action Zambia Team

Now that our team has expanded we needed a new picture. These are pictures of our HIV/AIDS team and our Action Zambia team complete with Zambian workers. I would name them all but we have to many; 3 families, 10 kids, 1 couple, 7 singles, and 9 Zambians. Our team gatherings are huge but were one big happy family :)

Cooking Class

2006-03-03T09:25:00.000-08:00

In the last HIV class the topic was nutrition. There were many questions on how to cook healthier and how to use less salt and oil. Zambians cook with enormous amounts of oil and they put salt on everything including fruit. In an attempt to help them eat better I brought food to one of our meetings and we had a cooking class. It was a lot of fun to learn how they cook and they were very excited to learn how to make it healthy. So now I have a reason to put less salt on my food....If I make my church learn to eat without it than I have to learn to eat without it.