friday fotos - zambia

Well we have just returned back to South Africa after about a month in Zambia.  We drove until about 11:00 last night to get back to our place.  A month in Zambia is way too short.  I am always left feeling that we need more time. 

One of the big reasons we went was to be a part of the Hands at Work annual celebration.  We had people from Canada, USA, England, Australia, Nigeria, DRC, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, South Africa and Swaziland; as well as people from all over Zambia.  I am not exaggerating when I say it was such an incredible, deep, challenging and emotional time.  To see so many different cultures coming together is such a beautiful thing.  It is an honor to speak to the people who lay their lives down for the children; people who could be out trying to search for a better paying job, rather than surviving off their little gardens.  They have chosen a certain path, and sacrificed a more comfortable life for the sake of others.  Just to write that blows my mind and seems incomprehensible.  I mean, really think about that.  What is real sacrifice?  What could mean more than putting aside everything for the sake of a child.  For us living in the western world that is something we think about and push aside.   I pray that we all grab hold of this.  Giving isn’t just sending $20 once in a while when someone brings a collection jar to work.  It is sacrifice.   It is so huge and so foreign to most of us that we just can’t grasp it.  These people are real heroes in my life, and in the world we come from that is ridiculous because why would I look up to a person, who has purposely chosen to not pursue wealth, a bigger car, a bigger house, or a better title at work.   I’m not better than anyone and I’m not pointing fingers here, I think you can just see what I am wrestling with in my own mind.  Two worlds colliding.

As you can imagine it was an incredibly busy time.  The celebrations went so well, and Alicia and I were so encouraged.  Mixed in the craziness, we did have some time to spend time with old friends, although not enough. 

After celebrations finished we did a community stay in a very rural and extremely poor community.  I think Alicia will write a post about her community stay (which was a different house than mine) so I won’t get into it too much.  Other than to say it was unreal, amazing and heartbreaking.  Another volunteer, Tommy, and I stayed with a family of a little girl who had been very sick for the last while.  We slept on the ground, under mosquito nets, with rats running all around us.  The day after our sleep over at the house, we went to the community school to play with the kids for a few hours.  One little boy, maybe 5 or so, was clinging to one of our visitors from Canada and wouldn’t let go.  When it came time for us to leave as the truck drove away we waved to all the kids as they stood in front of their school.  All of a sudden the little boy who was clinging to the Canadian visitor broke out into a sprint after the car.  I just watched out of the back of the car, my heart has only felt that low a few times in my life.  The look on his face was desperate.  Oh man, it brings me to tears just thinking about it.  What is going on in his life, does he have anyone?  Devastating.  But then I saw the coordinator for the Community Based Organization come running around the corner and grab the child by the hand to comfort him.  It was such a perfect picture for me.  Just the feeling totally and utterly helpless, absolutely crushed, then to see this man dedicated to these children run around the corner and catch this little boy, protect him, give him hope that I cannot give because I do not come from where they live.  Man that was deep for me.

I cannot possibly write about every amazing experience we had, spending time with different families in Zambia.  We had such incredible times with Towela and Henry, as well as James and Sukai; the list goes on.  But I will have to just focus on one family here. 

At the end of our visit we went down to Kabwe to stay with our friends there Trina and Saul and their two little girls Sibo and Tapiwa.  This was something you dream about when you are sitting at home, trying to imagine what your African experience could be like.  Staying in the community, sharing a room, with a family that you have come to admire, respect and love.  They are more than friends to us, much more, and I hope that they feel the same way.  They live just on the outskirts of the village, so it was very quiet and the moon was huge so it lit up everything when we would sit outside at night, just talking. There is no electricity in the house, so we did a lot of talking, playing with the kids, playing guitar, singing songs and walking around the community.  It is an honour and a privilege to have such people in our lives.  Trina and Saul gave us their big bed and we slept with Sibo between us.  Then Trina and Saul slept next to Tapiwa on a single mattress.  We bathed outside in the bath house with a bucket of water and we loved the moments when we felt like Zambians.  These moments usually interrupted by a little child staring at you as they walk by, with a look that says, “How did you get out here?”, and probably wondering if you are lost.  I cannot put this time into words very well, but it is something I will take with me forever.  It is not every day you meet friends from such a drastically different culture and feel such a strong sense of family.  We love those guys. 

Tapiwa and Sibo showing off their new clothes and coloring together

Saul playing guitar with his new strings and Trina carrying the water for our bath

Tapiwa's many faces

Sibongile, trina and I being elephants