Chief Bunda Bunda passed away

This morning when we arrived in the office we heard the news that chief Bunda Bunda had passed away on Saturday. Chief Bunda Bunda has been instrumental and very helpful in getting Every Orphan's Hope some land in Nyangwena (Chongwe) for the orphan homes as well as for the GEMS to be able to build the Esther School.

About a year ago we met chief Bunda Bunda on a visit to the Esther School. It was quite something to have a chief come out and visit. It doesn't happen that often that the chief would go out and visit places. Normally people always would come to him to discuss matters. He visited us in the teachers' quarters and had a tea with us. As one of the gifts Kristin gave him was a Florida Gators cap which he immediately put on and didn't take off.

 

 

The chief visited us with his nephew (his potential successor) and personal assistant Charles. It was a unique experience to have someone like chief Bunda Bunda at the Esther School and see how interested he was in the development of the site. The only unfortunate part for the Esther School was that the chief kept mixing up the Esther School with Every Orphan's Hope.

 

This afternoon we went to his 'palace' to bring food for all the expected guests that will be arriving over the next few days. The burial is set for this coming Saturday which means that no one is allowed to work the land till after the burial. Given that chief Bunda Bunda was a well respected chief with many connections in and even outside Zambia they allow for sufficient time for people to come to the burial.We are not sure whether it would be appropriate or expected of us to be there. We will wait for the staff to guide of in this but it is certainly a loss for the local area and the Soli people.

 

He was a driving force behind the development of the area and he understood that things needed to be done in due time. He also welcomed education, especially high school education through the Esther School. The prospect of having a high school in the area was a hugely important factor for the chief, the local headmen and local committee to donate the land. Right now children have to go to boarding school in the village of Chongwe or even Lusaka. With the Esther School started and the next construction project lined up, there is hope for a bright future in Nyangwena and surrounding area.

 

Chief Bunda Bunda will be missed by many since he was a very supportive person in regards of the initiatives of both Every Orphan's Hope and the Esther School. He welcomed Christians to help his people with providing for their basic needs. I don't know whether the chief had accepted Christ as his personal savior but I hope and pray that his soul may rest in peace. We hope and pray that his successor will be as supportive of the on-going and hopefully expanding activities of the Esther School as well as Every Orphan's Hope.

 

 

 

 

God Almighty

This morning when we were doing our devotions in the office from the book "Experiencing God" we talked about the names of God and what God meant to each and everyone of us. For me over the last couple of weeks I have come to see God as God Almighty.

It is hard to explain the feeling you have when you know that God has arranged things in such a way that it all works out for you. Or that He protects you from harm and danger while traveling. It makes you realize that indeed we serve an amazing God. He is more than worthy of our absolute trust but often we want to keep in control over the things we think we need to do or accomplish. But God shows us over and over again that He has His own plan and timing and He wants us to be obedient.

On Tuesday morning we had to call our private CAA, being Humphrey, who came with Willy and Phil to help us out. The Noah van didn't want to start and as it turned out the battery was too low to get the engine going. After taking one of the batteries out of the Landcruiser and hooking it up in the Noah, it started without any problems. While still running, the put the "old" battery back in the Noah and told us to keep the engine running till we would be at the office. In the afternoon a new battery was bought and installed in the Noah and it has run perfectly fine since then. It was a good thing that we were not somewhere along the road or far away. And Willy earned a new nick-name: CAA - Can Almost Anything when it comes to cars.

This afternoon Gert went with Machteld and Caison, the accountant, to Ross Breeders to buy and pay for feed and 3,500 chicks. The chicks will be delivered tomorrow morning and the feed had to be delivered still this afternoon. When we got there and ordered the feed they told us that the price of the feed had increased by KR5 per bag (about $1/bag) and we needed about 185 bags. Furthermore, she told us that our discount was no longer 7% but only 2.5%. This would increase the costs for raising the chickens significantly so we called one of the managers from Ross Breeders that we met a few weeks ago. In talking to him we found a willing ear and he asked to hand over the phone to the lady we were dealing with in Sales. After he talked to her she handed the phone to Charles, the Sales manager. After a short while Charles handed the phone back and we were told that Charles who would explain to us what would happen. So Charles explained to us that the prices had increased as of January 1, 2013 and that there was little he could do, especially since the General Manager was not around. But he could give us 5% discount. We told him that in October 2012 (after their last price increase) we had a 7% discount and that there was no real reason to change that. Charles went back to the office and paperwork and came back and confirmed that we had received 7% discount so he would give that to us again. At the same time, we were given a 5% discount on the chicks that we didn't have before. When everything was said and done we only paid about $25 more than we would have with the old prices and discount on a total amount of about $8,000. Again God was at work in a miraculous way and provided for us by basically neutralizing the increase in feed prices.

After that we went to Zamtel, the phone company that provides the landline for the office. The invoice that we received on Monday was about three times as high as usual, which was a great shock. In taking a closer look it turned out that there were a lot of line items that were charged twice and at the same time Zamtel almost doubled the rate. So yesterday we went to the Zamtel office and the manager there told us to write a letter to Customer Care with our complaints. And that is what we did this morning and after we had been to Ross Breeders we delivered the letter to Zamtel. Now we'll have to wait and see what their response will be.

When we got home after work we were talking and relaxing a bit and saw the sun slowly set and put the sky on fire. It was an amazing sight to see the colors changing around the house.

 

 

God showed again His splendor and we were quiet for a while. I certainly reflected on one of the names for God that I start to appreciate more and more; God Almighty. He surely is an amazing and almighty God, who created us in His image and He gave us the earth to work on and enjoy. And what a joy it is see the wonders of His hand!

 

No CAA to help but God provides

We have been in our new home for exactly a week and it really starts to feel like home. It is nice to go to work in the morning and to come back home in the evening. It gives you a real feeling that you are doing something other than just changing rooms.

This past week was a pretty busy week with 4 children from Chongwe going to a high school in Luangwa where they start on Monday. Mareta went on Tuesday to visit several schools and was able to find a school that would accept the 3 girls and one boy. On Wednesday and Thursday a lot of shopping had to happen and on Friday they were brought to Luangwa by Willy and Mareta. After they were dropped off and Willy and Mareta started on their way back to Lusaka (about a 3 1/2 hour drive) but shortly after they left Luangwa one of the fuel lines bursted and the car came to a stop.

At the same time Gert was with Caison and Phil in Chongwe with Lucky to discuss some things regarding the chicken farm. Around 3pm on Friday afternoon we got a call from Mareta telling us that the Landcruiser had broken down and that they didn't know whether they would be able to get it repaired. We decided to quickly get in the car and head back to Lusaka in case we needed to get some spare parts. While driving back to Lusaka we got a call that Willy had been able to find someone who was willing to sell him the spare part. He quickly got it and installed it and about an hour later they were on their way again to Lusaka.

Something like this makes you realize that here in Zambia things are clearly different from Canada or the US. When a car breaks down there is no CAA or AAA that you can call and that they will be there in less than 30 minutes. No, you're on your own and you have to be able to help yourself. Luckily it happened while Willy was there and he has a magic touch with cars. I don't know where and how he learned it but he is able to get pretty much every car running again in no time. A week ago he helped Machteld and Lucinda when they were stuck with a vehicle with a dead battery. In relatively short time her was able to figure out the issue that caused the battery not to charge and got it fixed (had to change the battery though). I wouldn't want to be on a far-away road with a broken down vehicle and night-time approaching. But in all this, God was present again and showed us that we can trust Him in all we do. Thankfully Willy and Mareta made it back almost before dark.

Today we went to Chongwe to play a volleyball tournament. On our way there we got a call from Kevin to tell us that the starting time was postponed till noon due to the rain that we had overnight. We went anyway and had a great time of fellowship with the DeKam and Roelofs families. In the early afternoon we were told that the tournament would start at 3pm so in good Zambian style we showed up about 45 minutes late. After a nice dance show of some of the kids of the local school that one of the Japanese girls had taught them we went over to My Father's House to play our tournament. There were 4 teams, one for the Esther School, one from Nyangwena (mostly from My Father's House), one from the Chongwe high school and a team of Japanese volunteers that help at some of the schools in the area. We had a great time and after all the games were played the Chongwe high school team won and the other three team ended in a 3-way tie for second place. After counting the scores our team ended as third. Not bad for a team that had never played together before. I am sure that there are some old muscles that will be sore the next few days. But it was a lot of fun and the plans are to organize this more frequently and we challenged the mamas in the homes to have a team as well to next time.

We left Chongwe around 6:45pm with the daylight fading quickly. The sky was a beautiful range deep purple and in the distance we could see some lightning in the sky. On our way back, close to Lusaka, we saw a couple of police cars at the side of the road and it appeared that there had been an almost head-on collision/ There were two cars on both sides of the road and just as we passed the ambulance came from the opposite direction. It was another reminder for us that driving in the dark is a dangerous thing here in Zambia. Many cars have bad lighting which causes them to use their beams which then blinds oncoming traffic. Inexperienced drivers will do strange things when this happens to them and regularly this will cause accidents. We hope and pray that the people involved all survived and that there are no casualties. By the same token, it could have been us because often westerners get into accidents not because of their mistake but because of bad driving by Zambians.

We are thankful to be home again safely. God is our strength, our comforter and guardian. He goes before us and is beside us and behind us and above us and underneath us. He is omnipresent and always there to protect us wherever we are. We serve a mighty God and we have seen that this week. We are thankful for His presence.

We have a new home - praise be to God

After a week with power outages and being without water for almost 3 days we decided that it was time to move into our new house. The house was basically ready last week but we didn't have an internet connection yet and we felt that we would need that before we would move out of the office and into our new house. Since we got our wireless internet connection on Monday we figured that it was time to move this weekend.

We had a bit of a scare last night when Machteld and Lucinda went with the Toyota Noah van to Manda Hill mall for some shopping. At a little after 6pm Machteld called to see that the car wouldn't start and what to do next. Luckily, Margaret, Mareta, Patricia and Willy were still in Chongwe and just about to leave. They would swing by on their way home to check things out. After about an hour and a half the got to Manda Hill mall and Willy tried to start but with no success. So they decided to all jump in the Landcruiser and head back to the office where they arrived around 9pm. Willy, the mechanic with the golden hands, later went back to the van and got it to start and brought it back to the office. The battery was dead because of a little lose circuit that prevented the battery from charging while driving.

This morning Willy changed the battery and fixed the issue with the circuit so the van was in tip-top shape again. Around noon we packed most of our stuff in the van and headed to Justo Mwale Theological University College. Once there we started unpacking our suitcases with mixed feelings.

 

 

After we got most of our stuff out of the suitcases and into the closets Machteld did some laundry. It all worked well and it feels good to be able to do your own laundry whenever you feel up to it. After that and some small clean-up we had our first dinner at out new house. It was a simple one with chicken samosas but it tasted great and we had custard for dessert. That's not bad for a first dinner in a new house.

 



The new house really starts to feel like home. We spend some time hanging the first few paintings on the walls which really makes a difference. And of course, we have the giraffes already in place since those are Machteld's favorites.

I think that we can say that we have found our new home. We hope to enjoy our stay here and our first night in our new beds. We feel very blessed that we have been able to find this home. It feels a bit strange to know that we moved in Canada about 7 months ago and now, after being exactly one month in Zambia we moved again into another home. This home is a nice place to be together with family and friends. We really can call this place our home.

Right now it is about 8:30pm here and we're all excited to be here. We just talked about maybe having our first real shower in a month tomorrow morning! It are the little things that you start to value more than ever before. The last 3 days we have been without water at the office and we even had power outage during the day on Wednesday besides the usual evening outages. Tonight we haven't had a power outage (yet) so maybe we are now in a better place for that as well.

We are thankful for a busy week but especially for the fact that we can now really settle down. We can find our own rhythm and ways. It was a good time at the office but sharing a bedroom and bathroom en-suite with the three of us starts to test some nerves and patience. And on top of all this we have been able to purchase a vehicle this week that hopefully will show up in about six weeks. It is amazing to realize that we have been here only one month exactly to the day and what we have been able to get done. From here on the focus will shift more and more towards the orphans and the mamas as well as the operations. We have had a first few steps in those areas and from now on we can focus on it full force God willing.

Blessings from all of us in Zambia and for those of you in Ontario, Canada all the best with digging out from under the snow. That is one thing that we don't miss!

Changes to our blog and a leap of faith

You might have noticed that we made some changes to the layout of our blog. We added the Zambian flag to the page as well as the fact that Lucinda will be with us for the first year and a half. We also the possibility for people to sign up for email updates from our blog so that you won't have to go to the actual blog to read what we're up to. Finally, we added some Suggested Links that has links to the websites of Every Orphan's Hope, our supporting church: Bethel Christian Reformed Church of Acton, the Esther School (GEMS) in Zambia and finally John Murray's website. We hope you like the changes and I am sure that in the future we will continue to make improvements to the blog. If you have any suggestions for that, please let us know.

John Murray and his wife Rita are very close and dear friends to us and John is the author of an amazing little book for people who want to understand what the Christian faith is all about and what it means for our daily lives. As the former executive director of Eurovangelism he has a wealth of experience and examples of how God is at work in our world today and also how we as Christians have to play our role in His plan. Check out his website to learn more about the book and its content. I can recommend reading it since it challenges you to beyond believing and to get to living out your Christian faith. As it says in James 2:26 "As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead." so we have to live out our faith through deeds that reflect the fruit of the Spirit.

Today we took a huge leap of faith by purchasing a vehicle from Japan (actually it will come from the UK). The process they follow is that you select a car and once you agree on the price they want you to pay the whole price before they even start shipping the vehicle. Today we got the confirmation that the money was wired to Japan and now we are waiting for the receipt of the money on their end. After that we will get more information about the expected shipping date and arrival date in the port of Dar-es-Salaam (Tanzania). Below some picture of the Toyota Hilux pick-up truck that we bought.

The company is called Trust Company Ltd. and we hope and pray that they will honour their name. Based on reviews they appear to be a reputable company so we hope that the money that we sent will be converted into a real vehicle in about 6 weeks or so.

Yesterday morning we went to Immigration to check on our work permit. Since the permits were not ready yet (as expected) we got an extension on our visa for another 60 days. However, on the way back to the office we discovered that the officer had stamped Gert's passport twice and forgot to stamp Lucinda's passport. So we figured to be safe and went back to Immigration to get Lucinda's passport stamped. When we got there, the same officer first apologized when I explained the situation but then she suddenly asked how old Lucinda was. When I said 18, she said that Lucinda would have to apply for her own permit and that she couldn't stamp Lucinda's passport. Since we had one day left on our visa we asked her what we should do. She said to come back the next day and talk to her manager. So this morning we went again and after talking briefly to the officer we were directed to the manager. He heard our story and asked to other officer what the case was. After having heard the officer he explained to us that Lucinda would need a temporary permit. He couldn't do anything for us but told us to go to the Supervisor and explain our situation. So we did and after having talked to her she said the same thing but could not extend Lucinda's visa. For that we had to go upstairs to room 107 and explain the same story again. Once we got there we were pleasantly surprised by a very helpful man. He explained exactly what needed to happen (Lucinda can only apply after I have my work permit) and extended Lucinda's visa for another 60 days. Thank God for this man since we got a bit worried when almost every officer we met did not want to extend Lucinda's visa. So now we'll have to go back early April to check on our work permits again.  Chances are that it will not be ready and then we need extensions again. Hopefully they will do it right the first time that time.

This Saturday we plan to move into our new house. We hand some more curtains this afternoon and it starts to look like home more and more. We'll take some pictures soon and put those on the blog so you can get an idea what it looks like. We're very excited about it and we're ready to move out of the office and into our home. Hopefully there we will have water all the time because since yesterday morning we have been without water and were out of power most of yesterday. The power came back late afternoon and we had a little bit of water this morning but none right now. On top of all that it poured pretty much all night so the end of the road where the office is looks like Lake Ontario almost. The forecast is predicting more rain the coming days and the risk of flooding in Lusaka. People keep saying that the rains came late but once they came, they came as a torrent. The advantage of all the rain is that it is very green and lush at this moment. Some trees start blossoming and nature looks revived. In a few months that will all be different again. We just have to trust God that he will provide at His time for whatever we need, whether that is a work permit, rain or sunshine.
We have to follow His plan and do His will so that we can be a blessing to others.

We send you our and God's blessings from a (now) sunny Lusaka, Zambia.

There is thunder in the air

While I am writing this blog there is thunder in the distance. We've had some thunder earlier today but we haven't had any rain yet and it has already been like that for almost a week. Things are starting to get dry and dusty again. Yesterday was a very hot and humid day, even the Zambians were complaining about it. We almost started to feel sorry for ourselves but then we checked the Weather Network and saw that it was -16C in Acton. In that case we prefer the hot weather over the cold.

We had a very nice weekend which included a church service on Sunday morning at the Lusaka Community Church. We went there with Kevin, Tina and the kids since they were in town for the weekend. The church is at the Lusaka International Community School, close to the Arcades shopping mall. The service started at 9:30 and all visitors were asked to stand up and to be introduced. Kevin did the honours to introduce us to the people who were gathered there. I guess that there were about a hundred people. Many of them are expats but there are also a lot of "foreigners" who have been living in Zambia for many, many years. It was a nice service (with some technical difficulties between a Mac and a PC, what's new!) with a dedication of a baby at the end. It was very nice to see that the grandparents from Belgium were able to be present for this just before they are scheduled to go back to Leuven. It also gave us a chance to speak some Dutch.

After the church services we had a nice time of fellowship and got to know a couple of people and we also met some more people that we already knew, like our former neighbour at Justo Mwale who just moved out. We were close to the last people to leave and after that we went quickly to Food Lovers for some groceries. We heard from Tina and Kevin that they have a lot of good stuff at reasonable prices. After that we went back to the office and changed into some more casual clothes. Then we went to the craft market at Arcades again. Some of the vendors start to know us and realize that we are "locals" now. Machteld saw again her giraffe that she didn't buy last time and the vendor came up to her to continue where they left off last time. Well, Machteld did it again and now we have two giraffes for our house. We also bought some more paintings to brighten up the house a little bit.

We brought from the office a wireless internet modem to try out at our house, just to see whether it would work and how well the connection would be. As it turned out, the connection was actually pretty good, so today we went with Humphrey (the IT manager) to iConnect to buy the in-house wireless modem and to get a subscription. It went pretty quick and we are now the proud owners of a wireless internet modem which also serves as a wireless router. So one more thing accomplished and with the internet connectivity secured we might move into the house sometime this week. On Friday last week, Machteld confirmed with Brian from Training Center Mpanshya our dining set with 2 cupboards to be delivered on February 23. Then we have pretty much everything, except for some beds in the spare bedroom. I am sure that they will come at some point as well.

This morning we started with devotions with the staff and we will start reading the book Experiencing God. We certainly have experienced God's presence and provisioning in many ways. It's hard to believe that it has been 4 weeks now since we left Acton. It seems like an eternity on one hand and like yesterday on the other. While still living in the office, it still makes it feel like a mission trip and not something more permanent yet. Once we have moved it probably will feel more like "permanent" and a bit more like being at home. It also means that we will have to "commute" from home to work but that also makes it a bit more real. We're looking forward to this upcoming change for ourselves as well as the change in weather. I am sure that God will reveal Himself in many more way to us and that we have to be open to changes, and not only in the weather.

The start of a new month - do not worry

It is hard to believe that it is already February. It feels like we just had Christmas and New Year! At the same time we realize that we have been in Zambia now for a little more than 3 weeks. It doesn't feel that long but at the same time it feels like we have been here much longer. Things are started to feel familiar and "normal" when we are in the office and work with the team here. Also "normal" is the power outages almost every evening from about 7:30pm till 8:30pm or so. We also seem to have weekly water outages for about a day or so. These are things that in Canada we didn't have to think about too much since most of the time the utilities work. But here, people just get on with their business even when there is no water or power. Back home, things grind to a halt when there is no power, here people just find a candle or a flashlight and keep attending their business.

This week we spent time getting into the normal activities of the office. Gert got into some financial stuff and worked on some budgets for the year and is trying to figure out a way to hopefully improve the financial reporting and forecasting of the activities. There is a lot going on and there always seems to be a shortage of money. There is always a need for more money given the needs there are so they always assess the immediate and most urgent needs and pay those first. Other things deemed less urgent will be left. Sometimes it means that there is less money for food which really breaks your heart knowing that they have already so much less than we do.

It is very important for Every Orphan's Hope to fill its sponsorship program so that there is enough funding for all the expenses in regards of the orphan homes. Right now the program is just under 50% of its final goal. It would be a great thing if we could raise the number of sponsorships to a full 100% by the end of the year. For $27 per month you become one of the 12 sponsors of a child. All the money raised is sent to Zambia for the support of the orphans and their mamas. We can testify to the good use of the funds, since we see it every day with our own eyes. Visit www.everyorphan.org and go to Sponsor an Orphan to sign up. For Canadians we are working out some final details to have donations go through our church. More details to follow soon. Help us get the word out about this great cause. We see with our own eyes the difference your money makes in the lives of these children.

This week we also started with the first preparations of Camp Hope, the bible camps that will take place this summer. It is still a long time away but there is also a lot that needs to be done and as we have experienced, things take time here in Zambia. There are often just physical obstacles that prevent things from being done quickly. Whether it is a vehicle that doesn't run or a child that breaks an arm that suddenly comes up and needs to be dealt with, there are often many reasons why things that longer than we would expect. We have to get used to that since we are such a high-paced society. Here most people don't have internet at home and there is no functioning mail system. So you either have to call someone (hopefully they still have talk time on their phone) or go and visit them if you want to discuss things. Buses have given routes but no fixed schedule so you just have to wait till it shows up and then hop on. Things are just different here because the infrastructure in place is not the same as what we are used to. As a result, life goes at a different pace and doesn't seem to have the stress that we know in North America. We hope to be able to find a middle-ground between the two cultures and lifestyles. It would be nice if things could go a little faster (like applying for a work permit) but at the same time it doesn't have to be as strict and measured as in North America. It is important to make time for other people and their immediate needs regardless your schedule.

The Bible tells us to focus on our neighbors. I realized this morning that it never says in the Bible that we have to complete our tasks. Seeking God's Kingdom and righteousness first and loving our neighbors as ourselves is what we are called to do. There is no mentioning of getting your "to-do" list done. Maybe we have gone a little too far in the Western world in putting tasks and actions before people. Something to keep reflecting on the next little while.

During our devotions we talked a lot about "do not worry" and we concluded that worry is the opposite of faith. A strong faith will take away worries about our daily lives. We often look at people who live a "do not worry" lifestyle as irresponsible and don't take them seriously. Something more to keep in mind and reflect on.

Maybe you can help us through some comments and provide us with some of your insights. We love to hear from you and wish each and everyone of you God's guidance and protection in everything you do.

May God bless each and everyone of you richly.