Day 3 - Back to the Bush

In January 2013, the first literacy class was held for 18 adults who are members of Big Tree Baptist Church.  Click this link from my blog post last year that describes in greater detail how the class was started: http://www.sisterhoodspeaking.blogspot.com/2013/09/day-four-sweet-sound-of-literacy.html

Savannah Jalowiec and me as we left the airport

Just a few days before I was to leave for Chipata, I received an email message from Jan Jalowiec.  Jan said that Kevin, Dan, Robert and Doreen Zulu were planning to have a graduation ceremony to celebrate the milestone of the students from Big Tree Baptist Church’s literacy program.  The students would be receiving a certificate of achievement for completing the Breakthrough to Literacy curriculum, and a big, village-wide celebration was planned.  The Chief, village headmen, and other government dignitaries had been invited.    I was overjoyed by the news!   Just nine months prior, the majority of these dear folk were learning to write for the first time.  I was actually going to witness them receiving their first grade diplomas.  God is incredibly gracious to me.

The Jalowiec’s were so hospitable.  Savannah, Dan and Jan’s 12 year old daughter, had given up her bedroom so that I could have comfort and privacy during my stay.  I enjoyed her company so much, and I’m thankful for her spirit and spunk!  In truth, she confessed that I was a little overwhelming when I greeted her at the airport with my very best ‘mama bear hug.’  The laughter, conversation and fellowship that I experienced with Savannah and her older brother, Micah made me feel right at home.  They are great kids – wonderfully respectful and fun to be around.  Ben and Eddie could learn a lot from them! 

I slept like a dead woman that first night but managed to resurrect myself bright and early on Wednesday morning.  Dan was instrumental in coordinating the logistics of my itinerary for this trip.  On Wednesdays, he and Kevin teach an afternoon bible study for the members at Big Tree.  I would accompany them and have the opportunity to visit Chinunda Rural Health Clinic, see the progress that had been made since the renovations of the past summer, visit with Mable Phiri (the head nurse/midwife), deliver the baby layette items that I brought with me, and attend bible study at Big Tree.  It would be so wonderful to see everyone again. 

Jan was busy all morning cutting out and sewing matching shirts that would be worn by the men as part of the bush-style graduation regalia; the women would be adorned in matching chitenge skirts.  One of the male graduates was a 15 year old boy named Dani Zulu.  He is small for his age, and Jan wanted his shirt to be distinctive from the men.  She asked if I would help her create a shirt pattern for Dani and cut it out.  I was delighted with my morning task and went to work visualizing, marking, and cutting out a pattern.  Jan stayed home to spend the afternoon sewing, and Savannah and Micah stayed home to do schoolwork and participate in a homeschool co-op activity later that day with the Tsoukalas family.

Jan, hard at work on the shirts

Dani's shirt pattern in the making

 I rode with Dan, and we stopped to pick up Kevin on our way to the Bush.  It was wonderful to see him, his wife Savannah and their daughters, Analiese and Gabriella.  Savannah is expecting their third child, so little Gabriella is going to be a big sister.  The last time I saw her she wasn’t yet walking, so it was a treat for me to see her run and play.  We stopped at the Zulu’s house to get Robert and Doreen.  Again my heart leaped as I greeted Doreen, Robert, and their children.  My goodness, how I have grown to love these people, and I am smiling as I type. 

drawing water at the clinic.  Praise the Lord!

When I last visited Chipata in July/August 2013, the landscape was completely brown, winter was in full swing, and there hadn’t been any rain in the forecast for months.  On this last day in April 2014, I was so pleased to see so much green still remaining on the horizon from all the foliage and grass that had yet to die.  I had arrived at the end of rainy season.  The heavy rainfall brings everything to life (including the termites and mosquitos), but it really takes a toll on the bush roads that Dan usually drives to get to Big Tree.  We took a different route.  The view was definitely more picturesque, and I just gazed out the window at the mountains in the distance and talked with Doreen about harvesting the fields of maize and sunflowers that we passed.  We arrived at Chinunda clinic, and the scene before me was familiar.  Dozens of men, women, and children were lined up on the back porch of the general medical building waiting to see Mable, hoping she would provide some relief for their ailment and some reassurance that all would be well.  The one scene that wasn’t familiar but that caused my heart to swell inside me was seeing the women and their children pumping water right on the clinic property.  Last summer I was blessed by the generosity of many Sisterhood Of Servants donors and was able to bring a large monetary gift with me to support the work that Kevin and Dan are doing in Malongwe Village.  A portion of the money that we received was used to provide layette items for the babies that are born at the clinic.  The bulk of the funds were used to install solar lighting in the clinic buildings, pay for contract labor to dig a bore hole, and have a solar well pump installed on the property.  S.O.S. along with two other private donors provided the bulk of the funding for the project.   Complications with the contractor had delayed the installation of the well last Fall, but finally the patients had easy access to fresh water.  No longer would clinic patients have to walk a mile and half to the nearest available bore hole to draw water for their needs.  I was so happy for them and for Mable, especially.   Dan told me that most of the water that comes from the bore holes in the area contain a bit of salt.  Our well had been dug deep enough so that the water the comes forth is really clean and sweet.  Dan called it “holy water.”  I just laughed and smiled at God’s gift to us. 

(click this link to see the pictures of Chinunda Clinic before the renovations: http://www.sisterhoodspeaking.blogspot.com/2013/09/day-five-painting-singing-and-solar.html

Mable Phiri, angel of mercy

Mable exited the building that we had refurbished last summer; it was now being put to full use as a maternity/recovery ward (click this link to see the before pictures: We greeted each other warmly.  It was WONDERFUL to lay eyes on here once again.  We chatted for a few minutes, and she escorted me inside.  Two women lay on recovery beds having just given birth the day before.  I smiled at them and offered a simple greeting, feeling the need to be discreet and not intrude on their privacy.  I walked into each room thinking about the transformation that had taken place just a few months earlier, and thanked the Lord again for the opportunity to minister in such a practical way.   I spoke privately with Mable about her needs, her family, and asked if she had any prayer requests.  I would have loved to stay and visit, but the bible study participants at Big Tree were waiting for Dan and Kevin to arrive.  I gave her a warm goodbye hug and told her I would be praying for her.  Thank you God for that woman and her unselfish, servant’s heart!  

There was much excitement in the air around Big Tree Baptist Church.  Everyone was anticipating the graduation ceremony that would take place the next day.  It was wonderful to see so many familiar faces and step foot on that property once again.  I even commented to Kevin just how nice and “modern’ the bush potty was (I know that is a relative term ☺).   Atnes and Irene greeted me warmly.  They kept looking me over up and down and made an African motion with their hands.  They were indicating that I had gotten fat and stout in 9 months!  I could only laugh while my heart sank!  I think they were telling me in their own cultural way that I looked well (at least that’s what I’m going to keep telling myself…wink. Wink.)  So much planning had gone into having a successful graduation celebration, and Doreen was the foreman.  She was going to stay in the village overnight to make sure every detail was addressed properly. 

We left later than usual and nightfall was quickly upon us.  Dan had the unenviable task of trying to maneuver through the dark, twisty, pot holed, people and animal filled bush roads.  This was the first time I had been driving in the bush at night, and it was a REAL experience.  The night sky is black as pitch, but somehow Zambian eyes can see well enough to walk the roads and not fall in a ditch.  Without the headlights on Dan’s vehicle I wouldn’t have been able to see two feet in front of me.  Dan was doing an expert job of avoiding the obstacles along the way:  ox carts, goats, pigs, and people.  There would be a slight turn in the road, and before he knew it, an ox cart would be right in front, and we would have to swerve to miss it.  No one who walks the bush roads at night wears reflector clothing.   The only advance warning we could give to the people on the roads was the sound of our engine coming straight toward them.  Praise the Lord we didn’t hit anything or anyone or wind up in a ditch.  As we drove back toward town that night, the loveliest sight to me was driving past Chinunda clinic and seeing the flicker of lights inside the buildings.  Perhaps Mable was in the process of delivering another baby.  I didn’t know.  I was just glad that there were solar lights available to help illuminate the rooms so that the work of ministering to the sick could take place in a more hospitable setting.  I said a prayer of thanksgiving in my mind, thanking the Lord once again for allowing to have a little part in ministering to the people.

 
That night I lay awake thinking about the events of the day and how exciting graduation would be on the morrow.  I couldn’t wait.