Ramblings on the Past Week

For those of you who are reading the Enews and Updates, you are getting an almost daily account of what we’ve been doing.  This has been a roller coaster of an 8 weeks, with many days feeling very normal and not terribly different than what I (Holly) would be doing in the USA, taking care of my kids, laundry, shopping for food, cooking, cleaning, and other such regular activities.  Other days, though, have been so different from our normal routine, that it feels quite surreal to be on another continent living this life of faith and obedience to what God is calling us to do, and thinking occasionally about what our friends and family are currently up to.  When we lived in the US, Africa was this big unknown (even scary) place.  Now that I am here and have friends here and know so many kind Zambian people, that opinion has definitely changed.  Sure, there are still things that can make my legs go weak with fear, but those are fewer and fewer as more and more the reality of life here is more known and less guesswork combined with movies and books, and articles I’ve read.  In the US, I didn’t really know personally many people with tremendous need (meaning, no food, no money, and a little dark house with no electricity).  The few I did know like that, I helped to link up to public service groups that helped to provide services and food to those in tough places, of course, using tax dollars.  Here, in Lusaka, everything we purchase (no exclusions for things you need, like in some US States) is taxed at almost 17%, which is a ridiculous amount, after the higher cost of everything we are paying.  If it is difficult for us to purchase things we need, not just the things we want, then how much more difficult it must be for those who have even less than we have.  And, it seems those tax dollars aren’t used directly for needs of the people, except for medical clinics.  If you could see the lines at those clinics, you wouldn’t believe it.  Masses of people waiting in lines for hours for medical care they desperately need.  It also doesn’t seem the tax dollars are used for road improvement, or other things like car inspections, for car emissions, and fewer breakdowns, or for therapies for children who have special needs.  It certainly doesn’t seem like those tax dollars are used for any public classrooms for children who have intellectual disabilities. We’ll keep looking to see where those dollars are used, and keep you updated, if it involves children with needs.  On another note…

We moved, for the 6th time since we left our home in Charlottesville, VA on January 28th.  We are now in a very different style home than homes in the US, all on one floor, with bars outside of all the windows, and screens and glass inside those bars.  It is secure, clean, has new paint all over (a rarity), and a cement block fence around the perimeter.  If you have more than what you can carry on your body, you need really good security here, because people are in such need that the ‘things’ you have can provide for someone’s basic living, so robberies are always a potential.  A missionary friend of ours was robbed on the downtown street two weeks ago (everyone gets paid on the same day of the month, so there is one day when everyone around town has a lot of cash on them, the people who pay their staffs, and the staff who get their monthly allotment), so we are careful, and especially careful when it comes to the welfare of our own children. So, the wall is odd.  It feels very unwelcoming, but we have so many visitors, that we already have a revolving gate!  We have two giant palm trees just inside our gate, and right now I am sitting on our front porch while the sun goes down with a beautiful sunset over the gate.  It almost always smells of something burning, because people burn their trash, but right now, the smell is not too strong.  There is always a lot of noise, like when we lived in the low-rent area of Salem, MA when we were first married.  Always people talking, walking by, music drifting on the air, and sometimes a megaphone.  Right now I can hear the sounds of a game of some sort over a megaphone far away, adding to the cacaphony.  And, since it is sunset, people’s dogs are being let out of their crates and into the gated yards to do their guard work for the night.  Unfortunately our little Boerboel puppies are crying (not a very fearsome sound, I can tell you), because they can see me, and can’t get to me, and I am not producing their supper! If you haven’t read our Enews and Updates, their names are Toot and Puddle.  They are named after the children’s book series, a pair of best friends, who happen to be Maggie’s favorite animal, pigs!

So, we’ve made it through the moving, and are getting settled, which is both easier and harder with very little “stuff”.  I was embarrassed at how much stuff I had when we left Charlottesville, but now, as I cook, I am so wishing for my kitchen things to make it easier to live.  I have one 3 bowl set, and all three are constantly in use, or dirty.  Who knew you need more than three bowls?

Today is Beth’s birthday, so we’ve had some fun today, and will do a special trip to a new area outside of Lusaka tomorrow.  She was given some money toward furniture for her room (remember we have NONE!), and while we were out pricing a desk and chair, we met a Dad whose daughter is 11, and since she was 6 months old, hasn’t been able to use one side of her body.  She had meningitis.  She IS in school, which is wonderful, but we are still going to meet her this week, to see if there is any other way we can be helpful.  This man is also the man who wants to make Mollie a swing, and who helped us locate the unresponsive, first carpenter who went to jail for taking our money and another person’s money.  So, it took us seeing him at least 6 times before he mentioned to me his daughter, and her need.  When we think we are going to price furniture, or shop for food, or other mundane tasks, it seems God always has something else in store.  I need to go do the mundane, make dinner, but tonight, since it is a birthday dinner for our dear Beth, it is not to be mundane!  Some of her favorites, ending with a chocolate almond cake (almonds hand-carried from the US), and a few more presents.  Thanks for praying for us, we’ve really been thankful for each of you who write to encourage us, and pray for us daily or regularly.