to Josiah

a white rino

Our young friend Josiah loves studying about animals, especially those that live in Africa. On Betsy's second day in Zambia, she and I visited the Mosi-O-Tunya game park in Livingstone so Betsy could see some real, live game animals. The park is popular for its eight white rino! (Rino are rare because they have been severely over-hunted).

It's interesting to note that white rino are not white! Nor are black rino black. In fact, there is no difference in color between white and black rino. Instead, their mouths are shaped differently. White rino's mouths are rectangular, and black rino's mouths have a point at the top!

These and other fascinating facts are things we learned on our mini walking safari.

At the rate Josiah's going, sounds to me like he might be a safari guide himself in twenty years!

the Zambezi

shopping

 Lately, we've been making our final gift selections for our Stateside family and friends.

drive by

Though it's fuzzy, I like the color and perspective of this 

drive-by shot Heather took as we left Lusaka in September. 

[ yes, I was driving :) ]

Introductions

outside the new Livingstone airport terminal

One week ago, my amazing, little (or, "young" as we say here) sister Betsy arrived in Zambia. The past seven days have been full of introductions as Heather and I show Betsy bits of our Zambian life. 

Following are a few examples from our holiday weekend in Livingstone.

Good thing there was one trickle of water for her to see at the Falls!

Betsy and I hiked down to the boiling pot together, which I think was the highlight of her time at the Falls. On the way, we met up with an Austrian gal visiting the Falls by herself, so we spent the rest of our afternoon together.

In the evening, Heather and I introduced Betsy to some good friends from Macha who happened to be in Livingstone for the weekend as well. We visited over tasty Italian food at Olga's.

Good times.

Breakfast after an early morning walking safari (must post pictures...).

We even went swimming together Saturday afternoon! 

Livingstone is known for being extra hot.

It's hard to beat the beauty of an African sunset.

Sunset cruise and dinner on the Zambezi River anyone?

anyone?

Sunday morning we walked to a nearby BIC church for Betsy's first Zambian church meeting.

Finally, we took a slight detour on the way home to visit some friends in the village.

They were delighted to introduce Betsy to nshima (the staple food made with maize flour and water) and a few other traditional foods.

*Thanks to Heather for shooting pics for/of Betsy and I*

surprise from Amy

If you have a sister, you probably know how amazing they can be.

Betsy brought suitcases bursting with countless gifts she's been collecting all year!

And last week before Betsy left, Amy packed a surprise to send me.

How special!

Guess what was inside?!?

Packaged carefully beneath rice krispy treats I discovered a Michigan mug with snowflakes

and some wonderful hot drinks (tea and cocoa). 

In fact, I'm enjoying a mug of Tazo cucumber white tea right now. 

5 Star Accomodation

Two of our guesthouse rooms. 

(I told you I manage the Nahumba Guesthouse, right?)

More pictures coming soon :)

Abundant blessing

loading/stuffing

Some generous friends shipped countless new linens to our guesthouse. The container left the States sometime in April and arrived in Lusaka in August. Heather and I collected the items on our last Lusaka trip. We weren't sure everything would fit in our truck, but it did!

the container

our sitting room!

We are SO thankful for these unbelievable gifts.

Our guests will enjoy them for many years to come.

Needless to say we've done a LOT of laundry lately!

And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of His glory in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:19

NOTICE

Today-- Lord willing-- after eleven-and-a-half months of being separated by a massive ocean, a couple of continents, and a crackly internet connection...

my sister and i will be

TOGETHER.

What's a word stronger than ELATED?

Pump Menders

borehole #1 for the day

Because financial analysis and reporting is the bulk of my accounting work here, I rarely get out to the field. That’s why I jumped at the opportunity to observe a day of pump mending out in the bush with our water and sanitation field officer, Ba Stebbin.

We drove about an hour-and-a-half to get to the three boreholes. The pump mending crew was ready and waiting. After their tea (40 large buns and 2 litres of juice concentrate!), they set to work under Stebbin’s direction.

grease me, please :)

attaching the inner rod to the bottom shaft

Pump #1 was repaired using new seals from a pump repair kit. After washing our hands at the pump, we enjoyed nshima and green vegetable under some scrub trees. Before leaving for Pump #2, Heather and I were each gifted two village chicken eggs. yum!

lowering one of the 11 three-metre pipes back into the hole
(I felt like one of Mike Mulligan and Mary Anne's helpers...)

and another...

with each additional pipe, the job gets heavier
pump mending requires teamwork

meal #1 being prepared

re-threading the inner rod

the chain

WATER!
(this borehole had been nonoperational for two months previous to this mending)

borehole #2

Pump #2 was a quick fix. Pipe #2 (there were originally 14 three-metre pipes at this pump) was worn through, so the pump was reassembled without the second pipe.

Once Pump #2 was repaired, we were welcomed into a nearby house for our second meal—nshima with vegetable and village chicken and guinea fowl (which is very tasty).

hallelujah!

borehole #3
pulling the pipes

Time was not with us (common phrase here…) as we made our way to Pump #3. We left after the initial diagnostics were completed. All of the pipes would need to be re-threaded on both ends! That’s a significant task, and the sun was already setting.

the mending crew

diagnostics.
how deep is the water here?

our trusty ride

re-threading a pipe on borehole #3 as the sun sets in the distance 

I’m so thankful I had the opportunity to observe a day of village pump mending.

Bush Walk

Heather and I took a little walk when we were out in the bush (Siagabanga to be exact) the other day.

Heather's foot path

the bank is around the bend

almost 90 degrees. almost.

Heather has a special connection to this steep incline...

As would be expected, the perspective of the steep incline of this bank is impossible to capture with a camera
(at least with our novice skills), but I figure some pictures are better than no pictures ;)

The story happened sometime back in May when Heather and two of the field officers rode out to Siagabanga on their motorbikes for work. It's best if you hear it in Heather's own words... so... here you are:

"At one point we came up on a stream that we had to cross. Stebbin told me that I should get off and cross using the foot ‘bridges’ that people had constructed so that I didn't have to risk getting wet when he drove through the water... After what felt like an eternity I managed to cross the muddy bricks and sticks that spanned the water, but when I came up the bank on the other side I was far dirtier than he was. I proved that going by foot across the stream did not in fact save me any. 

"So, on the way back we agreed that I would just stay on the motorbike this time. We got through the water with only the top of one of my shoes getting wet but what we didn't take into account was the bank on the other side. Since I had run down it to cross earlier I hadn't even thought of it until we were headed up, engine straining and me just staring up into the sky. The bank was so steep that we made it a bit more than halfway up when the bike just couldn't manage. 

"So we started to slide backwards, Stebbin and I both struggling to get some traction with our feet, and with that effort combined with the brakes we managed to stop right as the back wheel was at the edge of the water. I quick jumped off and ran up the bank, and as I reached the top I looked up to see that there was a soccer field right at the top of the bank and it was filled with young boys, each of which had stopped dead in their tracks as I came up from the stream and they were just staring. Staring at this white person who just emerged from the stream. They continued to gawk at me until Stebbin managed to get up the bank, I climbed get back on the motorbike and we finally set off on our way once more."

All in a day's work :)

It was great to finally visit the place Heather and I have laughed about numerous times... thinking of her picking her way across the water, sliding down the bank on the back of a motorbike, and finally emerging up the bank into the middle of a football game! 

the other side of the stream bed/steep incline
(it's completely dry right now as we're waiting for the rains)