A Special One Year Celebration

 

This past week we enjoyed celebrating our first year wedding anniversary in one of the best-rated National Parks in Zambia. Needless to say, it was amazing. However that doesn’t mean we didn’t hit any bumps on the way. The park is about 6 hours away from our village. We needed to arrange for transportation thru the common “mini-busses”, which are very well packed vans. Our first “mini-bus” was arranged by one of the local brothers and came and got us early Saturday morning. Thankfully they let us be keepers of the front seats. Throughout the next hour the van became filled with lots of people, chickens, large bags containing charcoal, cotton, potatoes etc. The ride was fairly pleasant and we arrived safely to our first stop, Chipata (The largest city from where we stay, about 200 km).

Next we boarded another “mini-bus” and when Kalila asked “so what time do we leave?” the answer was “When it gets full.” We spent a few hours just waiting for people to board, and finally we were off to the small village of Mfuwe, Zambia. Just outside the National park. This road made us realize how luxury our first ride was to Chipata. The road has been under construction, so the road is extremely uneven ground with lots of large rocks and potholes (and there are no rest stops along the way).

About 4 hours later though we were dropped off at our camp- Flatdogs, just on the border of the park. We were greeted by the managers, and given a safety talk for the camp. The rules are: 1) Do not approach the animals 2) Always have a watchman with you at night when you walk to your tent 3) Do not feed the animals

Sounds pretty simple…

Our lodging consisted of a heavy-duty tent, with a bamboo fenced in outside shower, toilet and sink. We were spoiled with the view of the hippo-infested river just outside our tent.

The first night we decided to enjoy ourselves by the fire. Not five minutes later we were greeted by a larger-than-expected hippo right across the fire from us. That’s when we realized that the safety talk did not include “What to do if you are approached by the wildlife.” Later on that night when we went to bed we were awakened by the Elephants feeding on the trees just above our tent. Like little kids, we were poking our heads out the tent trying to see the Elephant as close as possible.

Over the next few days we did game drives throughout the park early in the morning and in the evening. Some of our highlight sightings included: Elephants, Giraffes, Lions, Baboons, Leopards, Impalas, Puku, Kudu, Waterbuck, Bushbuck, African Fish Eagle, Water Buffalo, Civet, Genet, Zebra and even Hyena, among many species of birds.

The Elephants were always impressive. We were able to even drive right up and next to the Elephants. Almost able to reach out and touch them. We saw many of large herds with there calves cross the road right in front of us. This was a daily sighting.

The Giraffes and Impala’s were very beautiful animals. They were often in close quarters with each other along with Puku and Baboons. All of them helped each other stand guard against the carnivores. The park was so full of these animals, was started just driving past them like they weren’t even there. On one occasion we were able to walk towards the Giraffes and appreciate to true size of the animals. Riding in a truck you forgot how small we really were compared to the animals.

We were able to drive right up the pride of Lion resting peacefully in the bush. Many of the Lions were passed out with large bellies full from a kill just a few days earlier. The male Lion gave us quite a show, walking right up to the truck and then resting along side us, with a female rolling in the dirt behind him.

One of our favorite sightings was the Leopard. We came across a young Leopard in a tree with his breakfast with him. He was munching on an Impala, which was killed probably the night before. While watching him we discovered that a Hyena was waiting for anything from the Impala to drop down for an easy meal for himself. The young Leopard’s mother and sibling were not far off and had already had there fill on the Impala. Eventually the Impala fell to the ground and the Hyena quickly dragged it off. Meanwhile the Leopard slowly came down the tree and rested within 10 feet of the vehicle. Soon he was joined by his mother and sibling. While watching the 3, the mother soon saw more Impala walking towards them and quickly went back into hunt mode. Though the Impala noticed her efforts, it was still very exciting to watch.

We enjoyed our stay at Flatdogs camp very much.

People of Petauke

We have been here for a little over a month now. We are starting to know the brothers and sisters, and they are becoming more and more like our family. We have been greatly upbuilt by the attitude and experience of these ones so we're hoping that we can pass on the encouragment!

The Phiri's: Ackson and Chishimba Phiri were our original contacts here in Petauke. Ackson is a MTS graduate and serves as an elder. They've been married for 4 years. They live right on the assembly hall grounds, and here in Petauke for the last 3 and a half years. Both Ackson and Chishimba are regular pioneers. We admire them a lot because they work so hard.  The house they are staying at on the assembly hall grounds is very humble, and does not have running water or electricity.  This calls for added chores such as fetching the water from the nearby well, and cooking everything outside on charcoal.  They are very zealous for the ministry. Come the 1st of September, however, we will be bidding them farewell for they are going to help in a smaller village a few kilometers from our congregation.   

The Banda's: James and Albertina Banda are our neighbors down the street. They have 3 childern, Taonga (which mean Natasha), Abigail, and Barnabas. James is an elder in the congregation. We spend much of our free time with this family, and have enjoyed many meals with them. They are teaching us the Zambian way of life. If we need any help, we can count on this family. James is a hard-working elder in the congregation. Kalila finally fulfilled her commission to teach Albertina how to bake a cake!  This was quite the experience because the cookbook we were using had all the measurements in oz, and grams. Plus- we didnt have any thing to use to measure the ingredients! We managed, and it turned out quite well! All of us, especially the children had a lot of fun. Several in the congregation made a special point to stop by and taste the yummy chocolate creation when we finished.

The Pioneer Boys: Timothy and Godwin Banda are cousins. Both Timothy and Godwin are regular pioneers and Minesterial Servants in our congregation. Timothy is completing his 5th year pioneering, and Godwin is starting his first though still being in the 12th grade.  Godwin has a very zealous spirit towards the ministry, and is a wonderful teacher.  A few nights ago there was a need for substitutes on both #2 and #3 talks in the Theocratic Ministry school.  Godwin not only volunteered to do both of them last minute, but did an exceptional job developing the information. We were really impressed.
Timothy Banda has a great love for bethel, and has always desired to work there. Unfortunatly health circumstances will not allow him to stay at bethel, the branch lovingly allows him to come and visit every year after the convention to stay and enjoy time with the bethel family.  We enjoyed a family study of the watchtower with Timothy just a few nights ago which we thoroughly enjoyed. It is very encouraging coming together with ones we barely know, and talking about spiritual things.  Its amazing that its even possible! Only with our brotherhood...

Top Left to Right: Kalila, Rhoda, Dorothy, and Albertina
Bottom Left to Right: Abigal, Taonga, Barnabas, and Chishimba

The Timbo Family: Justin and Dorothy are a couple in our congregation.  Justin is the one who drove us 200 miles from the branch in Lusaka, Zambia here to Petauke, Zambia. Dorothy, his wife is a pioneer in our congregation.  We have enjoyed getting to know this couple very much. 

The Daka Family: Samuel, Christina, and their two children Sheila, and Jairus.  Samuel is the school overseer in our congregation.  This family has helped us immensely with getting to know the village, and answering any questions we may have.  Sheila is in high school, and Jairus is 11 years old. Both children are such hard workers, and very loving. We enjoyed sharing a lunch on the grass with this family at the recent Chichewa convention held here locally. 

Elita Mwanza:  Elita is a single sister in our congregation who works as a preschool teacher in the area.  She is 24 years old and has a very zealous spirit for the ministry.  The past month she has been on holiday (school break), so Elita and Kalila have enjoyed nearly every day together in the ministry. We admire this sister very much because both of her parents have passed away, and her siblings are not in the truth. She has taken a very strong stand for Jehovah.

Recently Kalila gave her first talk in the Theocratic Ministry School with Elita as her householder.  Kalila and Elita were also asked to do the other school talk because the one assigned was unable to give it.  So they enjoyed giving two talks in a row together in the same meeting! 

A Special Weekend

This last weekend was the Chichewa (The native language spoken here) District Convention. Our village Petauke hosted this event. (If looking at a map Petauke is 400km east of Lusaka, Zambia, and 200 km west of Chipata. Near the Mozambique border). The Convention was held at the local Assembly Hall. A slightly inclined hill outside a Kingdom Hall, with a brick fence to one side and a wooden on the other, with a stage at the bottom. They planted a few trees for shade for during the all day events.
Up to two weeks before the convention started, there was Brothers arriving ahead of their families to make grass shelters in a nearby field. Most consist of 4 walls of grass. 4-5 feet tall; a few brothers have built a grass roof. Others are wood frames with plastic bags or a tarp as shelter. Most families came the Wednesday or Thursday before the program started.

The Wednesday night before the Convention, it had rained and was surprisingly cold-leaving most of the families clothes, blankets, and other packed belongings wet. We couldn't even imagine what it was like to sleep outside during the rain,especially for the ones without roofs!  The uncalled for cold and rain seemed much like home, Oregon weather.


The convention started 8:20am Friday morning.  Brothers bring chairs, reed mats, and blankets to sit on in the grassy area.  The brothers have put up a few shaded areas around the border of the property, for some to sit under.  Many bring umbrellas and other items to shade themselves from the intense sun.

Sunday we made a brief visit to take pictures and see part of the drama. There were over 10,000 in attendance! We are more than anxious to attend our congregation's English convention in Lusaka September 14-16!

For more pictures go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/terrellmk/

Daily Diary

Of course every day is slightly different here in Petauke but we thought we would give everyone a better idea what the average day looks like.  (With pictures!)

6:30- 7:00 am- Start collecting our daily water in tubs. We usually collect about 6 large containers of water to get us thru the day's activities such as drinking, bathing, cooking, and washing.  ( We gather water every morning very early, because for some reason that is the only time it comes on)  Oh, and eat breakfast. 

9:00 am- Meeting for service - We are paired into twos and head off into the field walking to territory or return visits and bible studies.  At times the walk to a study can be a ways, so to get our time started we'll stop someone along the way and teach them God's name from the Bible.

12:00 pm- Come home and take a short rest for lunch. Usually lunch consists of hard boiled eggs and sliced tomatoes on bread and a piece of fruit.  And lots of water!! Being in the sun for so long can be very tiring! At this time we will also start boiling some water for drinking later.

12:45-3:00 pm- Head back into the ministry for some bible studies.  We have a few studies that are about 15-20 minutes walk from our house at the "hospital compound",  so we like to do them together.  

3:00 pm- From the "hospital compound" we will walk to the market to buy some meat for the evening's supper.  There is a good meat market called "Zambeef" where they sell fresh sausage, chicken pieces, ground beef etc.  Also, not far from there is a local shop called "Zonse" (Meaning "everything"- but dont get the idea that it is Fred Meyers. More like 711 with a steroid boost) where we will buy yogurt or fermented milk.  The best food though is probably found in the open-air produce market where they have lots of fresh fruits and vegetables.  We like to buy our produce from the local sisters. 

4:00 pm - Clean up the house, and start pouring the cooled boiled water from earlier into the plastic water bottles for the next day. Sweeping inside and outside is a must here every day because the roads through the village are so dusty. We start preparing dinner, given the electricity is on.  If it isnt on when we get home, it usually will come on between 6-7 pm. 

5:00 pm- Eat dinner. After dinner we do our family study and dishes!  To do the dishes, we fill up one smaller flat tub with water and soap and the other with clean water.  One of us will do the washing and the other takes care of the rinsing and drying. 

6:00 pm- Beautiful sunset is on the horizon!  We love to watch the sun set here..its absolutley beautiful.  Especially on meeting nights we tend to get distracted because we have a perfect view of the sunset through the wooden windows in the Kingdom Hall. 
Other nights we will sit outside and we usually have a good amount of brothers and sisters from the hall stop by throughout the rest of the evening. Because there isnt much to do as far as recreation here, randomly stopping to visit brothers is a must!

7:00pm Onward- Finish any chores around the house and start warming up water for bathing!  To bathe we pour the hot water into a tub, and add cool water to get it to the desired temperature.  Our bathroom is basically just a concrete room with a spill way (hole out the wall to the outside).  So we take a used yogurt container and just pour the water on ourselves and rub-a-dub!  Washing hair is slightly more of a chore now than before. 
Washing feet every night is a must because they get so dirty walking out in the ministry all day!
One of our favorite things to do in the evening is check our email and finding a message from our friends and family! 

About 9:00 pm- Ready to hit the sack!  We had a long enjoyable day...and need our sleep for the next one!