I awoke early today and took advantage of the extra time to listen to some worship music, read my devotion and spend some quality time in prayer. So many times I am fighting for time in the mornings and it was great to be leisurely about it.
Breakfast was strawberry pop tarts that Joan Wallace received from her father and so selflessly shared with me. Thanks Joan!
Today was the last day of the Maternal Child Health Week and the outreach was in Makoli and Makunso. Once again I was the designated driver and accompanied the team. This was a very different experience from yesterday.
We dropped two staff members in Makunso and then traveled to Makoli. Makoli is right on the main road and our “clinic” was under tree. The program was pretty much the same as yesterday but the mothers were more literate and talked to me more. Most of the children were frightened of me though (because of my skin color) and that made it difficult for me to be of much help.
Joyce, the nurse who was in charge, started the outreach with a message from Luke 9:2 where Jesus sends the disciples “ out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick”. It was an opportunity to show that what we were doing was not just providing health care but sharing the good news of the gospel as well. I saw several women who nodded their heads and were really contemplating what she heard.
The shipping company handling the delivery of the “container” contacted me while we were in Makoli and the network connection was very bad. I didn’t want to take a chance on missing any delivery information so I drove to the nearest Celtel tower (about 15 minutes away). I found out the container has left South Africa. Santa Claus is coming to Zimba!
Once we finished at Makoli we headed to Makunso to pick up our friends and head back to Zimba. Unfortunately, when we arrived we found that they were quite busy and no where ready to leave. The building they were working in was a two classroom schoolhouse with an office in the middle. They were treating the mothers and children in the office while the teachers continued to conduct classes.
We all pitched in to try to help clear the crowd but found that it was just too many people in one small room. Since I was a distraction to the children being treated and the children in the classrooms, I chose to wait outside. There I found other children who began to follow me and chanted “makua”, the tonga word for white man. I just laughed and teased them by acting like I was going to chase them.
I remembered that I had some beads that were left by Bob, Laura and Hannah Whitsitt earlier in the year and thought it would be a great way to distribute them. Was I ever wrong!!! The children were afraid to take them from me but the women mobbed me. I had to ask them to back up and to stop grabbing. I explained that I wanted to give them to the children but then they all began to grab for their children. It was difficult to keep my cool… I wanted to tell them how rude they were being and to let the kids enjoy… but then I realized the beads were very attractive to the women and that they would probably enjoy them more than the kids. I made it a game to match the bead colors with the chetenge colors the women were wearing.
As soon as that was done I walked to the vehicle and sat in the front seat to drink some water. All of a sudden the children from the classrooms appeared and surrounded me. They just stared at me. It was mealtime and each one washed their hands and took a bowl of sump (similar to hamony). They sat on the ground outside the truck facing me and began to eat and stare at me. Now I know what it is like to be an animal in the zoo.
Not really knowing what to do I asked them to sing to me. Either they didn’t understand or they didn’t know any songs. I’ve been in Zambia long enough to know that it was because they didn’t understand. Since they didn’t sing to me I decided to let them join me in a song. They were great at imitating me. First, I sang Jesus Loves Me because I just knew they would know that one. Wrong! We sang it several times and they never seemed to catch on. They we sang Row Row Row Your Boat. At least that one they repeated after me.
Mealtime was just about over when a teacher walked by and I asked her to get them to sing me a song. She had them sing Head and Shoulders Knees and Toes! It was fun and I touched my toes right along with them. Once we finished the song, the children were ushered back into the classrooms. The medical team was still working….
We finally arrived back in Zimba around 530pm and I rushed to a hospital meeting I was late for. It went on for 1 ½ and I was finally able to go home. Since I had no lunch I immediately pulled out the pot roast prepared last night and began to warm it. That was good planning on my part!
Jennifer, Kestone and Nathaniel came to play. They love the Lego blocks and were excited when I consented to let them stay for a while. I ate my dinner and checked my email while they played in the floor.
I’m home by myself now and it’s time to end another day. Thanks for all the comments about the daily blogs. You really read them!
