Beyond

We returned home with grateful hearts a day earlier than planned from our latest Lusaka expedition. God blessed our errands and obligations in Zambia's capital city beyond what we could have ever anticipated. 

When we told a friend we'd be leaving a day early because all our errands were finished, she gasped and exclaimed, "I think that's the first time I've ever heard that story before!" 

Our list of to-do's in the City included visits to immigration, two auto dealerships, and an industrial plastics company. In addition to all the work errands, we enjoyed catching up with out-of-town friends over dinner one night, and managed a visit to Milky Lane (ice cream) at Manda Hill (modern shopping mall).

As we wrapped up every errand in record time, I kept breathing thanks to the One who gave us the gift of a safe, smooth, and successful journey that exceeded our expectations.

wedding day

Heather and I were invited to wedding in Choma recently.

Nevermind that I didn't know the bride or groom (the groom's mom invited us), we had a fine time.

Weddings are so cultural it's only natural there are many differences between an average wedding in the States and a wedding here in Zambia. Here are a couple examples:

• In the States, arriving late to a wedding is extremely socially improper. In fact, I'd say if you're going to be late, don't bother attending at all. In Zambia, guests plan to be fashionably "late" (as per the time listed on the invitation). Our invitation listed 13:30 as the start time for the festivities, so we arrived around 15:00 hours with time to spare before the bride and groom arrived.
• In Zambia, there is a knife child (boy or girl) who dances into the celebration with a large knife to cut the cake (the dance is pre-choreographed). In the States, the knife is just set out on the cake table.
• In the States, guests are only welcome by specific invitation. In Zambia... well, how are you going to refuse some distant friend or relative who shows up to join in the celebration of your special day?? impossible.
• In Zambia, gifts are announced and celebrated with a lot of hoopla. In the States, sometimes couples don't even open their wedding gifts themselves, or sometimes they open them after the actual wedding day.

Fun Fact for the Day

You might now know I’m a member of the Brethren In Christ Church of Zambia National Building Committee. A few times a year, the committee meets around our dining room table here at Nahumba. There are usually five men (deacons, pastors, church leaders) and myself in attendance.

As a committee, we discuss building projects, review use of funds reports and requests from various congregations, allocate any available funds, and always manage to laugh at a few jokes along the way. Before the meeting, we have tea and cake. When the meeting is finished, we eat lunch together.

More than once this year, the building committee meeting wound up on a day when Emma (our employee) was on holiday and Heather was out in the bush for work. It’s tricky to serve tea, answer the door, pull items from my office, check guests into the guesthouse, answer the phone, cook a meal, and participate in a meeting all at the same time.

Thankfully, this meeting Emma was home to cook lunch and Heather was around to welcome the first committee members. All I had to do was make copies, pull forms from my office, buy lettuce from the veggie man at my door, consult with Emma in the kitchen, prepare tea, take notes, serve water, wash hands before the meal*, set the table, serve the food, wash hands after the meal… and finally bid the committee adieu.

Our next meeting as a committee will be a trip to check on the state of one of our rural church buildings that’s been destroyed by termites. Promises to be another interesting adventure in the life of this accountant.

*Traditionally, a woman or girl of the house washes everyone’s hands before a meal, pouring water from a pitcher into a basin, moving from person to person until each person has been served. After the meal, the process is repeated, 

sometimes with soap to help remove bits of food.

Witness of New Life

It was a joy to witness our friend/coworker Conrad's recent baptism.

Each time I think of baptism, I think of the Ethiopian Eunuch's words to Philip in Acts 8:36, 

"Why shouldn't I be baptised?" 

celebration

Chrissy and Malinda's birthdays were the first week of September. Though we couldn't celebrate together, Heather and I observed our friends' special days with a miniature pumpkin cake. 

Chrissy and Malinda's cake was so yummy Heather has requested I celebrate her upcoming birthday with a pumpkin cake too. (We won't be together this year for Heather's birthday! .sob.). I assured Heather my family will be happy to join me in celebrating her birthday, which conveniently falls on a Sunday this year. With a dozen of us, we can make a full-size cake to enjoy.

ps- if you want to join in the birthday festivities, please contact me to reserve you own special piece of Heather's upcoming pumpkin chocolate cake!

bi-color

the promised photos of our half-painted kitchen

yep, the still life lemons are actually real life lemons from our lemon tree :)

River Crossing

Where the Chobe and Zambezi rivers come together there are two private boat ferries for vehicles (mostly large transport trucks) passing between Zambia and Botswana. Trucks line up and wait a week or two at the border until their turn comes to drive onto the ferry and ride across the river (though the channel is pretty small, there is no bridge over the water). This is a fun place to cross, because it is the point where four countries meet. When leaving the Zambia side, Zimbabwe is across the river to the left, Botswana is to the right of Zimbabwe, and Namibia is further to the right of Botswana.

Did I ever tell you I love elephants?

Watching elephants in the wild is one of the funnest things to do!

If Choma Had a Dollar Store...

Spar, our local grocery store, in the middle of town on the main road

Each of the following items would cost approximately $1 USD 
using the current Kwacha/Dollar exchange rate:

• 1 loaf of standard white bread
• 10 buns (bread rolls)
• 10 finger bananas
• 1 small bag of carrots
• 1 head of lettuce (when available)
• 2 small bags of miniature green peppers
• 2 large or 3 small cucumbers
• 2 heads of cabbage
• 2 giant avocados
• 1.5 cups snap peas
• 1 colored pepper (red/yellow) if available
• 20 young onions
• 1 small bag of freshly shelled peas
• 1kg of fresh tomatoes
• 2 bunches of 5-year (a popular leafy vegetable)
• 5 eggs
• 2 bakery scones
• 2 packages of the cheapest instant noodles (like Ramen)
• ½ can tomato puree or diced tomatoes
• 2 small bags of crisps (American chips)
• 1 large Snickers bar
• 3/4 of a small Cadbury bar
• 1 small bag of South African peanut m&ms (sometimes available)
• 125 grams of raisins
• 250 grams of freshly ground peanut butter
• 0.75kg Zambian cane sugar
• 1kg flour
• 1 small tin (1/4 cup?) cocoa
• 2 (300ml) of any of the following drinks: Coke, Fanta, Sprite, Mirinda
• 2 litres bottled water
• 500ml shelf milk (UHT processed)
• 1 box of tea (~25 tea bags)
• 1 small yoghurt
• 1 250ml juice box (100% juice)
• 1 air freshener
• 1 sim card (for your phone)
• Talk time to send 40 sms messages
• 1 newspaper
• 1 monthly news magazine
• 1 roll of toilet paper
• 1 large bar of soap
• 1 small bottle of dish soap
• 1 4x6 photo
• 10 freeze-its (like popsicles, but in plastic bags—a popular street treat)
• 1 small ice cream cone(!)

or...

• less than one-seventh of a gallon of diesel fuel!

heading out of town toward Lusaka (North)

one of the many shops in Choma town

(just for clarification-- we don't have a dollar store :) )

goodbye green

the kitchen in December 2012

Anyone who's stepped foot inside the back door of our house for any length of time in the past decade would probably describe our kitchen in one word: GREEN 

(unless, perhaps, said person were color blind!)

Heather and I have been working on some home repair projects, and we decided to tackle the huge job of repainting the 30+ kitchen cupboards and drawers. The mint green paint was very old and worn, but the job was very big and daunting, making it quite understandable why the kitchen hadn't been repainted previously.

We began one Friday (actually we began many days before... buying the paint, etc... but that's too long of a story to share today...)

Heather is a trooper when it comes to painting. I, on the other hand, am a wimp.

Heather enjoys painting; I do not.

Heather can stand painting with oil paint for hour after hour of the tedious task; I can barely breath, and wind up with a headache about 3 minutes after a can of oil paint has been opened.

Heather painted not one, but TWO entire coats of white, oil-based undercoat (primer) to cover the old, green paint.

Heather painted and painted and painted. She painted so hard that she quirked a nerve in her back and could hardly move the next day.

{insert sad face}

meanwhile... while Heather was busy in the kitchen, I was tackling my [seemingly never-ending] curtain project-- updating the four sets of curtains in the dining room and sitting room.

Thankfully we had no disasters with the wet paint + new fabric combo! 

whew.

exhibit #1 (sitting room)

exhibit #2 (sitting room)

Finally it was time to begin painting the top coat.

Our kitchen is so full of cupboards and drawers (which I absolutely love!) that the kitchen will BE whatever color those cupboards and drawers are painted (as opposed to whatever color is on the bit of kitchen walls that are showing).

coat #1

Thankfully, the top coat was water paint (acrylic), so I helped Heather with some of the painting.

coat #2

coat #3!

And... I just realized we never took photos of the bottom half of the kitchen now that it's put back together! 

sorry!

I'll have to post those soon.

P.S. If you don't like the color, please keep your comments to yourself :).

Heather and I think the new shade (tan/beige/brown... call it whatever you like) is pretty fantastic.

wheat bran

I acknowledge I am an odd creature.

Lately I’ve been organizing lists of ideas and notes I have jotted in different places over the past 10 months—things I want to do with Betsy when she comes to visit, items I wish I had brought from home, places I want to visit in Michigan, stuff I need to buy when I’m in the States, etc.

Pens, deodorant, tea, gym shoes, dish rags, muffin liners, Swiss pins… the lists go on and on…

The other day I opened three separate notes on my iPod… the first item on the first list: wheat bran muffins, the last item on second list: wheat bran, and first item on third list: wheat bran (followed by “wheat germ, flax seed/meal, black beans, and dried fruit – cranberries”)

Oh my.

I didn’t realize how nutty I really am. My wish lists from Zambia are full of wheat bran.

my bag of re-purposed animal feed :)

Now that I’ve made my initial love-of-wheat-bran confession, I must also tell you the next part of my Zambian wheat bran story. A couple months ago, a Canadian friend showed up at our door bearing gifts—bags (and bags!) of freshly milled wheat bran (the bran was originally intended for animal feed, but she was able to purchase some 25kgs for a mere $3… it’s a long story). “I’ve been baking wheat bran muffins like crazy,” she said. “Could you use some wheat bran?”

Could I use some wheat bran?

Could I use some wheat bran?

Could I use some WHEAT BRAN?

Yes.

Yes I could.

Yes I did.

Yes I love it.

Yes, I thanked my Heavenly Father who knows not only my needs, but also my little heart’s wishes (no one else read those three notes on my iPod!)… and who so graciously provides me with good and perfect gifts…

like wheat bran.

photo compliments of Google.
My muffins turned out looking like this, though

And if you like wheat bran muffins as much as I do, I’d be happy to share one next time you stop by for tea. (And if you don’t like wheat bran muffins as much as I do, I’d be happy to hoard mine in the freezer and eat them all myself!)

Kathy's Wheat Bran Muffins

(with Julie's minor adjustments)

1/4 cup margarine
1/2 cup brown sugar (I use less)
1/4 cup molasses or honey
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1 and 1/2 cups wheat bran
1 cup flour
1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
cinnamon (optional)
raisins (optional)

Cream margarine and sugar. Add molasses/honey and eggs; beat well. Add milk and bran; stir thoroughly. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, soda, and salt (and cinnamon if desired). Add dry ingredients to liquid ingredients. Stir just until combined. Add raisins if desired. Spoon batter into 12 greased muffin tins. Bake at 210C (400F) for 15 minutes or until done. Share and Enjoy!

New

In honor of the huge tourism convention in Livingstone last week, 

we now have a new airport terminal!

Hospitality

The paradox of hospitality is that it wants to create emptiness, not a fearful emptiness, but a friendly emptiness where strangers can enter and discover themselves as created free; free to sing their own songs, speak their own languages, dance their own dances; free also to leave and follow their own vocations.

~Henri J.M. Nouwen Reaching Out, the Three Movements of the Spiritual Life