July 09, 2008 - I realize that I'm calling July 09 our first day in Zambia, but for us, Tuesday never happened. We got on the plane at 11:50 am on Monday and arrived at 9:15 pm on Tuesday. Therefore, when we awoke at 6:30 am Zambia time on Wednesday morning to begin our God-guided African adventure, we were slightly disoriented. That said, the jet lag was minimal. We were in bed and asleep by midnight, and ready to go the next morning!
At 7:30 am we all met in the "West Wing" (the room in the village furthest west) for songs and a message from David Writebol about Psalm 65. Afterwards, boys and girls were seperated to do their tasks. The girls were immediately thrown in Rafiki's GAMES (games, art, music, enrichment, sports) to get to know the kids. Todd and I went to David and Mike to help them build - yep - a playground! Armed with our handy tools, we went to work... cutting and measuring. Mike sure is good at both. My skills in carpentry were feeling rather worthless at this point, but Mike kept us busy while David made a trip to Lusaka to retrieve milk for the next week (about 60 liters of it!).
Lunch was (and always is) at 12:15, and we had Nshima - a white, thick cornmeal that is a staple food for Zambians - and relish - a combination of cooked rape, carrots, and onions. I can eat anything, so I imagined the Nshima to be something else, and it was great. I'll let everyone else tell you what they thought :-P I got to sit with Mama Margaret and her adopted children [Immanuel] Chanda, Shadrack, Luka, Richard, and Lackson. All of the children were very polite, very cute, and very, very quiet. Lackson was the oldest at 6 years old.
After lunch, the kids stayed with their families for activities while the girls went to Nancy's house to prepare meals to be frozen for the future. Todd and I had to leave the playground as a pile of now freshly measured and cut piles of wood to be drilled and screwed together tomorrow. For now, we let it lie.
David and Nancy invited us to their house for dinner. We ate spaghetti, a salad, and rolls, and all of it was delicious! Definitely a departure from lunch. Afterwords we all sat in the living room and shared stories, talked about Rafiki and the children in the village, and our travel stories. They are all wonderful people - David, Nancy, Mike, Vicki, and Linda. I am looking forward to spending the ensuing days with them!
I'm so thankful and amazed to be in Zambia! I knew that God wanted us here to help these people, and upon leaving it was so difficult to imagine how God could use someone like me to be anything to anyone, let alone a servant. I met Everisto Moyo (moyo means both 'life' and 'heart' in Nyanja), a local who has been working at Rafiki since January 2007. He works hard, attends worship every morning... and he doesn't even live in the village. He's dedicated where he doesn't have to be, which says to me that God has given him a humble heart.
If I've learned nothing else in one day, it's this: I have way more objects, have learned, have experienced, and am more knowledgable of world affairs simply from living in one place in Kentucky, yet I will have an impossible time ever appreciating a meal, a safe and restful night's sleep, or friendly word. I hope that I will appreciate those things with time.
Still lots of time to go, and many blogs ahead... stay tuned!
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