Zambia/Malawi camping trip: Intro

This past month I haven't blogged.  The first two weeks of it I didn't blog because we were traveling.  These past two weeks I haven't blogged because I didn't know where to start.  :)  So this is me starting to write about our camping trip through Eastern Zambia and Malawi!  This will just be an introductory post.

Why did we go?  We wanted to take a family holiday and Malawi is really close.  You reach the Zambia/Malawi border within 2 1/2 hrs of our house.  We decided to take a few days of holiday around Lake Malawi, and then we extended the trip to take advantage of the opportunity to visit 3 of our more distant students -- 1 who lives in southern Malawi, and 2 who live in Eastern Zambia.  It would be difficult to visit these men during term time so it made sense to do it during the term holidays, in conjunction with an already-planned trip in that direction.

Why do we camp?  Believe me, it's the affordable way to travel with a family!  We bought our tent in 2011, our first year in Zambia, so that we could join our colleagues on a 10-day camping trip through northern Zambia.  At that point Elijah was 1 year old.  We bought a large 6-person tent, figuring it was an investment which would last our growing family for a long time and would make affordable travel possible.  Then last year we camped as a family for 10 days in Livingstone, visiting Victoria Falls, with nearly 2-year-old Elijah and 6-month-old Ketzia.  This time Elijah was nearly 3 years old and Ketzia was18 months.  We find that camping is an excellent way to travel with kids because kids love the outdoors, and because staying in the same familiar tent every night is easier on the kids than staying in a strange hotel room every night or two!  And it is so cheap!  I don't know how much camping costs in the USA, but most places here in Zambia don't charge more than $10 a night (2 adults) and some are even less.  Since you're saving money on accommodation, you then have the flexibility in your budget to eat out a bit more, or to make it a really cheap holiday by cooking all your own meals (we did a bit of both).

But... camping?!  What about laundry? And drinking water? And hot showers? And bugs?  :)  Hey, camping isn't everyone's cup of tea, but if you are relaxed AND prepared, it can be a fabulous low-key inexpensive way to 'get away.'  You do need to be prepared though... especially camping in Africa.  Not every campground will have clean drinking water available, so some places you will need to bring your own. (In 2011 we had to bring our own water - it was real off-road camping in wild and remote spots; this year all the places we stayed -being more 'touristy' - had safe drinking water.)  I washed laundry by hand, trying to keep up with it throughout the trip.  Since there are 4 of us, I didn't manage to actually keep up with it, but I at least kept it under control so that we did have clean clothes to wear throughout the trip and I didn't have 6 loads of filthy things to wash when we got home (only 2).  :)  Hot showers?  Not necessarily guaranteed... even in places which advertise hot showers. Sometimes the hot water has been used up already by other campers.  :)  I certainly had my share of uncomfortable showers during the trip.  But it just makes you more thankful for your shower at home.  :)  Bugs and other undesirable camping buddies?  Well, be prepared, but not freaked out.  Bring insect repellant, citronella candles, and Doom.  Don't leave food or dirty dishes out for them to find and bring all their relatives to the feast.  We camped with our fair share of ants, and not just bugs as camping buddies -- monkeys, too! (Nothing as worrying as having hippos, warthogs, and elephants in close proximity to our camp in Kasanka National Park in 2011, though!)

Do you have other questions about camping?  Share them with me!

I will be continuing my blog posts about our trip, so keep checking back.  They will be posted in date order (beginning 20 May 2013) below this post.

Camping, days 13-15: weekend in Chipata, Zambia (and visit to a student's church - 10)

Day 13 - Friday 31 May 2013
Travel from Senga Bay, Malawi to Chipata, Zambia

Our holiday was ended!  We got up, took down our camp, and even had time for everyone to get showered before we  hit the road around 9am.  A nice early start for a not-too-terrible day of driving.

We drove almost due west from Senga Bay to Lilongwe.  It was nice driving through yet another scenic area we'd never been through before.  I didn't successfully get any good photos through the window of our moving vehicle, though!

From Lilongwe (where we stopped briefly to let Elijah use the toilet and so that I could buy bread to make sandwiches in the car for lunch) it was slightly over an hour to reach the border of Zambia!  The border crossing was quicker going out than coming in (as was to be expected).  Crossing on the Malawian side took about 10 minutes and crossing on the Zambian side took a bit longer - but everything went smoothly.

We reached Chipata around 1pm and we were back where we had started!  We set up camp at Mama Rula's for the weekend again, right in the same spot where we had put up our tent before.

Day 14 - Saturday 1 June 2013
Camping at Mama Rula's, Chipata

We didn't do much today!  Just enjoyed being settled in camp at Mama Rula's with nowhere to go.  We took the kids into the swimming pool in the late afternoon.  It was REALLY cold so we didn't stay in long.  :)  Afterwards we had to run into town to get some fuel for the next day's drive to church in Lundazi.

Day 15 - Sunday 2 June 2013
Visit to a student's church (10) - Lundazi, Zambia

This was another big day for us.  Another visit to a student and his church - but this time we would be driving a significant distance north, to the town of Lundazi.  Lundazi is a small town located about 2 hours from Chipata.  It is in a very rural area.  Our student Peter (whom you might remember from this post - during his studies at the College he has planted a church in a nearby village and we have visited him several times) comes from this town where he is supported by a large Pentecostal congregation, and we arranged to visit him in his home church at the end of this trip.

When we contacted Peter he asked us to meet him in Lundazi at 9am.  We didn't know how long the drive would take us (reports of the road conditions were varied) so we left around 6:30am.  In the end it took us just about exactly 2 hours to get there and Peter was already waiting for us when we arrived.  We picked him up and waited a few minutes for his bishop to meet us.  He pulled up in a brand new Toyota Hilux (funnily enough, a newer model than our own).  That was when we realized that this church visit would be unlike any of our previous ones.  :)

The first thing Peter did was introduce us to his 'bishop,' a kind middle-aged man who is the leader of the local sections.  The first thing the bishop did was tell us to follow him in our vehicle while he went to confirm arrangements for our lunch, which would be served at the hotel in town!  We were shocked, but what could we say?  We were given no choice in the matter.  Most churches that we visit will provide a meal after the service - it is a common gesture of courtesy in this culture - but this was the first time that it had been served in a restaurant instead of in someone's home.  The bishop informed us that the local congregation was having a 'prayer and fasting' event so they had made these arrangements for us to be served a meal even though the bishop's family could not host us.  These sorts of situations are very difficult to deal with delicately and with cultural sensitivity!

We followed the bishop's vehicle through town - he stopped briefly at the hotel (more about that later) to confirm lunch and then led us to the church building.  It was a large building on a small hillside.  The name of the church is 'Comforter Ministries' which is a Pentecostal group supported by Pentecostal associations from the West (not sure exactly where).  This church is connected with an NGO (non government organization) which helps orphans and widows.

We were given seats at the front - there were 2 sofas and I chose the one that was not a rainbow of colors.  :)  There were even seats for the children!

We got to the church around 8:45am and the praise team started 'warming up' within a few minutes.  David was in the back of the church meeting with the bishop and I was sitting with the children.  The praise team was alternating between starting to sing choruses, and giving the microphone over to a woman who was leading the gathering congregation in what they called 'intercessions.'  She was talking about prayer - at a feverish pitch - and about God's promise to answer prayer - and then they would morph into a 'chaos prayer' for 5-10 minutes and then she would move on to another item for prayer ('And now we are going to pray that the Lord will, right now, answer every prayer that we ask Him - that before you leave this church you will find that your prayer has been answered, RIGHT NOW!....') and they would morph into chaos prayer.  You get the picture.  This went on for 30-45 minutes...

What made it REALLY difficult is that there were THREE people on the stage with microphones - and all three of them were praying aloud, simultaneously, into the microphones!  Now, basic common sense would indicate that this was a recipe for headache-inducing noise.  But that didn't seem to deter them one bit.  :)  It was... ahem... EXTREMELY loud.  How did this become a way to 'pray'???

After the time of 'intercessions' ended, they transitioned into a time of 'praise and worship.'  This church, unlike others we have visited, not only had an amplifier but also a drum set.  Yes.  So you can imagine it got pretty loud.  It was like a rock concert, honestly. 

They sang choruses - each individual chorus went on for more than 10 minutes.  Literally just repeating over and over again, 'Jesus, you are wonderful...' and so on. 

After close to an hour, the kids were having trouble sitting still, and I couldn't blame them, because half the congregation was wandering up and down the aisles in ecstasy.  So I took them outside to give them some distance from the earsplitting noise.  :)  While I was outside, they transitioned into a time of testimonies - I didn't manage to really catch what was being shared (by various individuals in the congregation who came to the front) because a lot of it was in the local language.  In between the testimonies there was a lot of drum-rolling and excitement and breaking into song randomly!  The time of testimonies lasted close to 30 minutes and then they had more praise and worship - for more than 30 minutes!

They finally welcomed David up to preach - poor man, he shared that every time we are in a congregation with such a loud service, he really struggles to be mentally ready to preach.  His head is just reverberating from the noise!  It takes him about 10 minutes to re-acclimate so that he can pitch his voice correctly (and he gets vibes from the congregation that they can't hear him properly at first, either because they are all half-deafened, too!).

David preaching with student Peter translating

I managed to catch part of the sermon, but my poor hungry, tired children couldn't sit through another hour after what they had already endured... so we ended up finding a shady place to sit outside, part way through the sermon, where Elijah and Ketzia entertained the crowd of children.  Interestingly, this congregation didn't have a single child (except nursing babes) in the worship service.  All the children had a separate 'children's service' outside which lasted until just before the adults' sermon, and then the children were all released and spent the rest of the time goofing off and playing wildly outside the church!  I think quite honestly that the worship service was considered too loud for children!

After the sermon ended, I took the kids back in for the last bit of the service, and then our family was asked to come up front! They prayed for us as a congregation and then presented us with a gift.  This is the first time that we have ever received a monetary gift from a congregation in Zambia! 

 visiting after the service, a church member, Peter, David, and the bishop

our family with the bishop and his wife

After greeting us, the bishop and his wife got into their car and accompanied us (with Peter) to the hotel, where they made sure we were served our food.  And then they left us to enjoy our meal, with Peter's company!  They went back to church for the fasting program.  ;)  Funny things. 

Lundazi Castle Hotel

 This hotel where we ate is 'the' hotel in Lundazi, renowned because it is a castle!  It was built by an Englishman (if I remember correctly) who wanted to have a proper castle in Zambia.  It's seen better days by now, but it still has a lot of character.  It did not seem to have a lot of business - the dining room was very quiet when we were there and we were practically the only people eating.  Tasty lunch of nshima with chicken and cabbage.

didn't get a photo during the meal - but this is Peter with the remnants of our lunch :)

We were very disappointed that we were not given the opportunity to visit Peter's family.  Unfortunately they attend another church, so we didn't even have a chance to meet them during this church visit.  And they live in a village outside Lundazi, so it would have added another hour of driving to our already long day to go out to their home.  We hope that this will be possible in the future.  It was nice to see Peter in his home environment and we pray that the teaching he is receiving in the College would benefit him and his acquaintances as they seek to serve God - we pray with 'reverent fear.' 

Camping, days 1 & 2: Weekend in Chipata, Zambia (and visit to a student's church - 8)

On Saturday the 18th of May we finished loading up our camping equipment and stuff into the back of our truck and headed out.We aimed for leaving the house at 8am, but ended up pulling out right at 8:40.  Packing the vehicle took some extra time.  In the end we were loaded 'to the gills'!

We hit the road to Chipata, 2 hours east of where we live.  On our way we received a call from our student, Levy, whose village congregation we would be visiting the next day. He was in Chipata waiting to meet us. So when we arrived, around 10:45, we drove into town and met him by the side of the road to discuss arrangements for the following day’s visit.  Here we found out that another student, Sangwani, would be joining us for the church visit as well.  They would both meet us by the side of the road at the same supermarket at 8:30am the next day so that we could drive to Levy’s village together.  

(Some of you will remember Levy from this post -- during his time at the College he has started a church plant in the nearest village to the College which was without a church.  This was our opportunity to visit him in his home congregation.)

By the time we had finished sorting all the arrangements with Levy and Sangwani, it was after 11am, so we headed a few kilometers out of town to Mama Rulas, a bed & breakfast where we would be camping for the next 2 nights. Then it was time to survey our surroundings and decide where to put up our tent. We have a large 6-person tent, tall enough to stand up in.  We bought it the first year we were here in Zambia, to take a10day camping trip through the north of Zambia with our colleagues, and it has been worth its weight in gold to us!  Camping is by far the most affordable way to travel around Zambia. 

the camping area - showers and toilets on the right, restaurant in the center

 While David was deciding where to put our tent, I walked up to the open-air restaurant, just at the edge of the camping area, and ordered lunch so that it would be ready for us.  We got the tent set up in a shady, grassy area which seemed to be the best spot in the camping pitch.  Lunch was chicken pizza for David and me and cheese toasties for the children.  We got the air mattresses inflated and beds put together, and all went down for an afternoon snooze!  It was a good way to get our holiday started!  

setting up our camp at Mama Rula's (photo taken before we put the rain cover over the tent)

 When we got up from our snooze, we headed back into town to do some shopping for our upcoming travel into Malawi.  We went to the main supermarket and spent almost an hour getting what we needed.  Then it was time for our dinner engagement.  We have never had opportunity to meet any of the other missionary families in Chipata, but recently we met the only other expat family in our area (Petauke) and they gave us a couple of contact details for families with young children in Chipata.  When we texted to say that we would be passing through and would love to meet up, one family responded and invited us for dinner on Saturday night!  So we drove up to their house and had a lovely evening with them.  Kevin & Savannah have two little girls (aged 3 and 9 mos.) and Elijah and Ketzia had a great time playing with them.  Savannah spoiled us with a tasty meal of lasagna, salad, green beans and bread, and homemade icecream (with pumpkin bread that I had brought) for dessert!  It was so tasty, and the fellowship was very enjoyable.  They are southern Baptists working with church planting in the Chipata area. We enjoyed visiting with them until the children’s bedtime.  On the way back to the campsite we filled up our tank with diesel for our big trip on Monday.

the kids enjoying camping :)

Day 2 – Sunday 19 May

Visit to a student's church (8)

This morning we woke up to see monkeys swinging from the trees around the campsite! They didn’t approach our camp, but it was fun to see.  (The dogs keep them mostly in the trees.)  I fixed a breakfast of eggs and bacon, with pumpkin muffins I had baked to use up a pumpkin before we left.  We carry a 2-burner gas stove and a small bottle of cooking gas while we are camping.  This helps cut down on our expenses by cooking our own food when we are able.  This particular campsite was well equipped with toilet and shower facilities (although the showers kept running out of hot water!) and the water from the taps was safe to drink.

We left the campsite around 8:15am to meet Levy and Sangwani in town. They were supposed to meet us at 8:30, but only Sangwani was waiting there when we arrived at the designated spot.  We waited for quite a while for Levy, who finally showed up at 9am!  Unfortunately his wife (who was at our recent women’s conference) had to suddenly travel out of town for her father’s funeral far away in Kitwe, so she wasn’t around for our visit.

Ah well, Levy's late arrival just showed us that the day’s events would be off to a flexible start. :)

We drove back up the road, past the campsite where we were staying, and took the turn-off towards Lundazi which is 2 ½ hours north, up the road.  But we didn’t go that far – we drove maybe 10 kilometers, or maybe a bit more, and then turned off the main road.  And that’s when it got interesting.  :)  The first part of the drive wasn’t bad -- the dirt road was quite good as we wound past villages.  We were driving through a beautiful valley surrounded by very scenic hills with large buttresses of hills made of stone boulders cropping up randomly in the plain.

what parts of the road looked like

 But soon the road became very interesting.  :)  Levy was quite funny because he gave us no warning at all – just suddenly said  very calmly, ‘and now there is a bridge.’ Which we quickly learned did NOT mean there was an actual bridge, only that we would have to cross some form of water – with or without a bridge!  We forded streams something like 5 or 6 times – 3 of which had bridges and the rest didn’t.  The road was EXTREMELY bad – very rutted, very narrow, very bumpy.  We were all bruised afterwards – especially those of us in the back seat because we kept smashing into Elijah’s car seat, which is not very comfortable!  Sangwani was sitting on the left, Elijah was in his car seat in the middle and I was on the right, holding Ketzia on my lap.  Levy was in the front passenger seat directing David.  We drove further and further and further into the bush and the road just kept getting worse and worse!  We kept thinking we must be almost there, but nope… At one point we turned a corner and suddenly came upon a stretch of road which was entirely under water/mud.  The only thing to do is to keep driving, as steadily as possible, always moving forward, and DO NOT STOP so you don’t get stuck!!

the road under water

 Finally we reached Levy’s village, around 9:40 or 9:45 (so it took slightly over an hour to get there).  On the right side of the road were two simple church buildings.  The first one didn’t seem to be in use at all.  I think they told us it is a Roman Catholic building and they have meetings on a different day of the week.  Levy’s church, of course, was empty.  No one was there for church yet.  Levy directed us to park behind his house, which was just across the street from the church, and then welcomed us into his home.  His home is in the process of being renovated, so only 1 ½ rooms are currently livable!  He welcomed us into his ‘living room’ which was a tiny, tiny room with a small table, 4 chairs and a couple of mats on the floor.  There was a small rickety shelf in one corner with some tin dishes on it.  The front door was very low so we had to duck to come inside, and there was no window.  He told us that he had bricked up the window because of thieves who had come before and stolen everything – his T.V. and other possessions.  There was an even smaller doorway into a sleeping room which was also doubling as a storage room.  The front door opened in what was currently a courtyard, because it was without a roof.  Eventually it will be the main living area of the house, but there is no roof, floor, windows, or door at present.  It is always sobering to see the very simple, impoverished living conditions of most of our students, but some of them in particular are in very poor surroundings.

visiting in Levy's house - Levy in center, Sangwani on the right

 Then Levy took us over to see the church, but there was still no one there. So he sent someone to start rounding up the congregation, and meanwhile he took us back to his house and insisted on serving us tea and bread!  The tea was made with milk fresh from the cow – a first experience for us.  Levy had a loaf of bread and some margarine specially for us, and some homemade peanut butter.  It was very kind of him to extend such hospitality to us.

a view of the church building from Levy's house

inside the church

After finishing our snack, we went back over to the church where people were beginning to gather and the service eventually started.  By this time it was 11am!  (Reminiscent of the previous week’s church visit…)  Levy is the pastor of a Pentecostal congregation.  (In his absence, when he is studying at the College, the congregation is under the oversight of an elder.)   

women pounding maize in the village, oblivious to the idea of stopping work to attending church

 They began the service by singing choruses with lots of clapping.  A woman from the congregation came up and led a song which then morphed into a ‘chaos prayer’ – which seems to be in the identifying factor of ‘Pentecostal’ congregations here (although it is also done by other denominations as well).  An offering was taken, there was another time of choruses, another time of chaos prayer.  In the midst of all of this I had to take Elijah to the toilet something like 3 times – back at our truck which was parked at Levy’s house.   

Elijah sitting in the doorway of the church

 Then they had the Scripture reading – from Matt. 28 – and David preached the sermon.  I had to take Elijah out again for another potty break, and basically struggled to keep the kids settled. 

 

 

 

David preaching, with Sangwani translating (Levy seated in the back)

When David was on his last sermon point I had to take them outside.   

 

what the surrounding area looked like

 By that time it was past noon and the kids were exhausted AND hungry.  Ketzia had had no morning nap so… she was crying again, inconsolable.  I couldn’t get her to go to sleep, so we just found a place to sit in the shade by Levy’s house.  Ketzia started chasing the goats and went into the thornbushes, because she wasn’t listening to me, so then I was picking thorns out of her little cardigan.  And then Elijah, for whose sake I had missed large portions of the service on ‘potty runs,’ decided that he was going to MESS IN HIS PANTS during a church outing for the first time since he was potty trained!!  Arrrgh.  So I had to get him cleaned up, and his clothes changed, and by the time we were finished, the service was over.  Sangwani came over to fetch the camera on David’s behalf.  When I got myself and the kids back over to the church, the congregation was outside singing while David was getting a congregational photo.

Then they did something we were NOT expecting – they asked us to come back inside the church.  We sat down, not knowing what the plan was, and then they started singing again. And Levy said something about ‘time for the gift.’  Since nothing happened and everyone kept singing, I started getting worried that he meant that someone was going to claim to have the ‘gift of the Spirit’ and start speaking in tongues or something.  :)  But after a bit of singing suddenly we realized  that they were going to give gifts to us!  People from the congregation started coming forward with parcels—bags of groundnuts (peanuts), huge stalks of sugar cane, huge bunches of green bananas, it was incredible.  They were SO generous.  In the end we had a big pile of huge sugar cane stalks, two big bunches of bananas, 3 or 4 bags of peanuts, a large bag (10 kilos maybe) of sweet potatoes!

Ketzia with the gift from the congregation

 After presenting us with the gift, the congregation carried everything over to our truck and loaded it into the back.  Then we were taken back inside Levy's house for a meal of nshima with chicken, rice, potatoes and veg.

Levy outside the back of his house

After the meal Levy told David that there was a man in the village who was extremely sick and his relatives had asked the visiting preacher to come and pray for him.  So David went along with Levy and Sangwani to the house of the sick man, and I waited with the kids.  While we were waiting, Elijah cut his lip with a stick, and Ketzia was so tired that she literally screamed the entire time David was away until she finally fell asleep in my arms from sheer exhaustion.  :)  David was gone for about 30 minutes.  When he came back he reported that the man he had prayed for looked really, really bad -- he had a huge growth on his neck and looked like he would die at any moment.  When we came back through Chipata 2 weeks later we learned that this man had been taken to the hospital in Lusaka and passed away there.

Then it was time to head back to our camp.  A girl from Chipata asked for a lift back to town, so Sangwani took the front seat and we all squeezed into the back again.  Ketzia still asleep on my lap.  And back down the horrible road we went lurching and bumping.  :) 

 

 

 

 

 

one of the 'bridges' we had to ford

another portion of the road

At last we were back in the town of Chipata, where we dropped off Sangwani and the girl from the village and then headed back to our campsite, tired after a long day full of new experiences.

The end of the story is... remember how I said that the back of our truck was chock-full with camping equipment?  :)  Well, we came back from visiting Levy's church with this huge gift of massive stalks of sugar cane, loads of bananas, etc. and our first concern was 'Where on earth are we going to fit all these things??'  We had absolutely NO space.  So in the end, we asked around at the campsite where we were staying and found out about a local school for deaf and blind children, and donated all the food to them!  It was nice to know that even though we couldn't benefit from the generosity of these villagers ourselves, we could at least pass the blessing on to others who would really appreciate it.

home again, home again, jiggity jog...

This past week has been rather a blur because we got back from 6 nights away in Lusaka on Tues the 23rd, and returning in the middle of the work week always makes things feel a little hectic.  :)  Our trips to Lusaka (the capital of Zambia) are always crazy, so I thought I'd describe it a bit for you.  We left on Wednesday the 17th, around 10am, along with Rev. Allan who would be flying home to Scotland the next day.  That was our primary reason for going to Lusaka - to take him back to the airport.  It's about a 5-hour drive (can be done a bit faster, but not with 2 small children!).  Elijah is toilet-trained now, and doing fantastically well.  In the car we use a small plastic potty which he can even use while we are driving - but then he's a bit jammed on the floor between his seat and the back of the front seat and it's hard to maneuver him back into his seat without potentially spilling the contents of the potty - so that 'on the go' maneuver is saved only for dire emergencies, and we found a place to pull over whenever he felt the call of nature, so that he wasn't having to balance on the floor of a moving vehicle!  :)

a common sight along the Great East Road

The road to Lusaka (there is one road - the Great East Road which runs through the entire province) is not too bad, but not wonderful either.  At least it is a paved road...  But it is very dangerous because of the heavy traffic of trailer trucks (lorries) and large buses hurtling up and down this road, so we do not take safe travels for granted.  Nearly every time that we travel up and down we see an accident or break-down along this road.

Rev. Andrew Allan seizing the moment to photograph the huge baobab tree on the way to Lusaka

I packed a lunch and we made fairly good time along the road, arriving in Lusaka around 3;30.  There are 3 big shopping malls in Lusaka now and we stopped quickly at one of them on the way through town, to buy nappies as our supply was finished.  (We can buy nappies locally, but not size 5's! -- why? because the Zambians who can afford disposable nappies would never keep a child in nappies until they are that size!) 

It is hard to find an affordable place to stay in Lusaka, but we've been blessed to find a small guesthouse run by a missions organization called Flying Mission Zambia, which is affordable for our family to stay, and a REALLY lovely place, besides!  It's located on the FAR side of town from where we're coming from, so it actually takes a extra hour to drive all the way across town and out into the countryside where FMZ is.  So we didn't reach the guesthouse until 4:30, just missing rush hour which would have delayed our arrival significantly.   Traffic is always a problem in Lusaka, but certain times of day are an absolute nightmare, especially if you're trying to get from one side of town to the other!

The FMZ guesthouse is a very peaceful and relaxing place to stay, and they take such good care of you.  Breakfast is free and lunches and dinners are available at a very reasonable cost, so I was very thankful to have a few days' break from cooking and cleaning.  :)  The guesthouse serves all meals at the big dining table, so all guests eat together, and you never know who you will meet during your stay.

Every time we're in Lusaka, there is always SO much we have to take care of while we're there.  And this time was NO exception!

Our first day in Lusaka, Thursday, didn't exactly go as planned.  Our vehicle was due for a routine service, so David left early (by 6:30am) to take it in to the shop.  Services here are annoying, because you have to make an appointment, but then when you turn up, it's first come first served on the day.  So David left as early as possible in order to be in the queue before it was terribly long... and it was still terribly long.  He ended up waiting there the ENTIRE day for the truck to be attended to!  In the past we've always gotten the vehicle back by midday, but not this time. He finally got the truck back at 4pm and then had the 40 minute drive back to the guesthouse from the center of town.  It was a long day.  I was at the guesthouse with the children the whole day, thankful that they have toys for the kids to play with which kept them happily occupied.  After dinner, we put the children to bed, and once they were settled, David took Rev. Allan to the airport for his flight (which left just before midnight).  It was an hour's drive each way, so a late night for us.

playing under a nice shady tree at the eye hospital, waiting for the eye drops to take effect

The next day, Friday, Elijah had an appointment in the morning with an ophthalmologist at the Lusaka Eye Hospital run by the Seventh Day Adventists.  This doctor had been recommended to us.  We wanted to get Elijah checked out because he had experienced sudden crossing of his eyes on the 1st of April - just to make sure there was nothing wrong.  We were extremely pleased by the care we received at this eye hospital.  It wasn't too far away from where we were staying - the same side of town, which was really convenient.  The doctor was very good with children, and had clever ways of making them think she was playing a game with them while she was really examining their eyes!  We stayed there for quite a while because after the initial examination, Elijah needed to see a second doctor to check if he needed glasses, which involved a series of eye drops and then waiting 1 hour for his eyes to dilate.  The poor guy was really struggling at the end - not able to see properly because of his dilated eyes - but he was very brave, and very obedient, and we were so proud of him.  The results from their very thorough examinations showed that there is nothing wrong with his eyesight, for which we are very thankful.

Poor little guy... you can tell his eyes were really bothering him by this time!

After his appointment we took Elijah out for icecream to reward him for his excellent behavior at the doctor's office!  We had gotten a packed lunch from the guesthouse (we did this most days that we were in Lusaka so that we could use our time most effectively with all the errands that needed to be run) and ate it in the car on our way into town.  We went first to the KLM ticket office to speak to them in person and find out whether we could change our tickets to allow us to travel to the UK before the baby is due in October (our original tickets were booked for 22 October).  We were told that this was no problem at all, and that we could get a flight out on the 3rd of September, which was really good news.  We decided to come back to the ticket office on Monday after my antenatal appointment, once we had the due date confirmed and knew how things were going with the pregnancy, to book the tickets at that time.  After the ticket office, we stopped at UTH - University Teaching Hospital - one of the biggest hospitals in Lusaka, to meet up with our colleague Rev. Zulu's wife, who has been in Lusaka for weeks for medical tests, and give her something from her husband.  It was nice to see her.  We also stopped by the Immigration office to check if our renewed work permit was available yet.  They wouldn't serve us because it was before 2pm and that is still 'lunch break' -- and we weren't willing to wait around in the car with tired kids.  At that point it was mid-afternoon so we decided to head back as it was still close to an hour's drive to get back to the guesthouse and we didn't want to wait too long and get stuck in horrid traffic.  When we got back we let the kids play in the guesthouse swimming pool - they didn't actually swim, but they had fun splashing around.  It wasn't the warmest day so neither David and I went properly swimming either, but we had promised Elijah we'd let him get into the pool!  (Funnily enough, Elijah is scared of swimming pools and kept telling us there were 'sharks' in the water -- Ketzia, on the other hand, is extremely brave and would jump right in knowing her daddy would hold on to her!)

Ketzia learned how to eat with utensils on this trip!

On Saturday morning we headed out after breakfast, back into town.  David had some errands to run for the College - like going to the hardware store, and filling up the gas cylinder which we use for cooking at home - which we didn't want to drag the kids around for, so he dropped me and the kids off at a new place in town called Bump Birth and Beyond.  Basically it is a center run by a retired midwife which offers all sorts of antenatal classes, birth preparation classes, and support groups for breastfeeding, child safety classes, etc. to help, support, and inform parents.  A great place.  I wanted to meet her because I've been trying to make as many contacts in the Lusaka area as possible, since we were originally thinking of having the baby.  Margot, the lady who runs it, was in a class but she told me on the phone to just hang out in their cafe area and let the kids play, and she would be finished at 11am to come meet me for a chat.  So I spent a couple of hours in their pleasant garden area, which has been turned into an outdoor child-friendly cafe, and the kids had a great time playing with the toys and on the swingset.

 

watching the man who came to paint the rest of the lines for hopscotch

trying to do a chin-up...

succeeding with the chin-up! what a big boy!

 Margot was finished right around the time that David came back to pick us up, so we both got to meet her, and that was really encouraging.  We drove straight back to the guesthouse for lunch, and the kids got a proper nap (not in the car) that afternoon!  After they got up from our naps we drove back out as far as the main intersection (20 minutes away) where there was a supermarket, to pick up a few things for Sunday.

On Sunday we drove 40 minutes and went to the morning service at Kabwata Baptist Church, a Reformed Baptist congregation which is pastored by Conrad Mbewe, an internationally-known preacher and speaker who also happens to be one of the Trustees for Covenant College.  His church is conservative, friendly, and has good Gospel preaching, so we often worship there (or at one of the KBC church plants in the Lusaka area) if we are in Lusaka over a weekend.  After the service we met a few more people - it's nice that every time we seem to meet a few more folks, so we're getting to know people bit by bit - and chatted for a little while.  Then we drove to our friends the Williamsons', an American family with 6 children, who had invited us over for the afternoon.  We had a yummy lunch with them, and enjoyed a relaxed visit.  Around 4pm we all headed out together to an international Bible study which meets at the Baptist Mission of Zambia guesthouse.  The Williamsons had started attending this Bible study, which was really benefiting themselves and their children because of the fellowship and teaching, and so we had heard about it from them and decided to go, hoping to make some new contacts.  I knew that there were different classes for different age groups, and was hoping that Elijah would be in the youngest group so that I could enjoy listening to a Bible study without wrestling a 3-year-old for once... but alas, he was still too young.  They were talking about what it means to 'meditate on God's Word' and I could see his eyes just glaze over!  So that was that.  I stayed out in the small tots' play group with Elijah and Ketzia with a few other moms and babies, and David stayed in the adult Bible study and really enjoyed it.  We didn't meet too many folks but it was nice to get out and see a diverse group of expats meeting to study God's Word together.  The Bible study didn't finish until about 6pm, and then it was a long drive back to the guesthouse, so we were back QUITE late... I had bought some sandwich fixings at the supermarket the day before, so we had a light supper and put the kids to bed as quickly as possible!  A full but enjoyable day with God's people!

Monday was also full.  :)  We left early in the morning, again, fighting some rush-hour traffic to get back to the Williamson family's house, where we dropped off Elijah.  Their oldest daughter, Sarah, babysat Elijah for us while I had my antenatal appointment.  We thought about leaving Ketzia, too, but she is still not comfortable with Mommy leaving her, so we decided to keep her with us. So we dropped Elijah off and he never even looked back -- he was so happy to be back with the friends and toys he had played with the day before!  Then we drove the rest of the way to Victoria Hospital, a small hospital which I had heard a good story about from someone who had a baby there, so I decided to try it out by having an antenatal appointment.  My appointment went smoothly apart from an office mix-up which meant I waited longer than I should have to be called back, but that wasn't a big deal.  Once they called me back, everything went very smoothly and promptly, and I felt like I got good care.  I saw a female gynecologist who was from Slovenia, and seemed to be a competent doctor.  She did a basic check-up first, and we listened to the baby's heartbeat, and then she sent us for labwork - blood check and urinalysis.  At her advice we decided to get David's bloodwork checked at the same time, to make sure he wasn't anaemic or anything.  I struggled so much with anaemia in my pregnancy with Ketzia in 2011, as a result of the malaria I contracted in the second trimester, and we've been really really hoping that my hemoglobin levels would have recovered since then.  And they HAD!!  My bloodwork came back looking perfect, and David's as well.  It's also nice to know that we haven't contracted any horrible diseases from living in Africa.  :)  That was good news.  While we were waiting for the lab results, the doctor did a scan and we got to see the baby -- healthy, happy, moving, growing baby.  :)  Everything looks great.  At the time I was about 16 weeks along.  The scan gave an approximate due date of 5 October.  We were so thankful to have a good doctor's appointment and that the Lord has blessed us so far with another healthy pregnancy.

After the appointment we picked Elijah back up, ate lunch in the car again, and headed straight for the KLM office again where we could officially rebook our tickets now that we knew everything was looking good with the baby so far.  I went up to the office and took care of the tickets while David stayed in the car with the kids.  Everything was processed smoothly and we are scheduled to leave Lusaka on 3 September, arriving in Glasgow on 4 September!  I will be almost exactly 36 weeks which is the airline cut-off for flying in pregnancy.  :-p  Please be praying with us that the Lord will allow this pregnancy to continue healthy and without complications.  At KLM's request, I will be seeing a doctor at the beginning of August to get the required clearance to fly. (I will have other antenatal appointments between now and then, but that one is required so that I have the medical paperwork to allow me to fly in September.)

After getting everything sorted with KLM, we went to the big Manda Hill shopping center to do some of our dry-goods shopping.  That didn't take too long, thankfully.  Then we had another stop to make to buy some office supplies for the College (like printer paper, and pens and binders for the students) at a wholesale supply place.  And then it was time to drive all the way back to the guesthouse again... having accomplished a lot!

eating breakfast at the guesthouse

 On Tuesday morning we were up early (as always... our children don't often sleep past 5:30am!) and getting the truck packed for our trip home.  We left right after breakfast, needing to make a couple stops first, and aiming to leave town around 11am.  Our first stop was Immigration (again) and this time they told us they couldn't serve us because there was a staff meeting scheduled for that morning.  So we weren't able to check on the status of our renewed work permit, but in the meantime we have gotten another temporary extension from our local immigration officer.  Then we went back to Manda Hill, to the big supermarket there which is called Shoprite.  That's where I do my shopping for things I can't get where we live.  :)  Thankfully I was able to get everything on my list this time - including mozzarella cheese!  :-D  My wonderful mother-in-law has sent us pepperoni so I think homemade pizza will be coming up sometime soon.  :)  On our way out of Manda Hill, we ordered takeaway pizza as a special treat for lunch - on Tuesdays they had buy 1 get 1 free! - and also got small icecreams as a farewell treat.  Then it was time to hit the road. First we took a small detour to pick up our colleague Rev. Zulu who had come to Lusaka unexpectedly to be with his wife during some invasive medical tests over the weekend, and who would be riding back home with us.  Then we got on the road -- right around 11:30am, with pizza for lunch.  :)  After a long day of travel, we reached home around 5pm which meant we had time to unload the car and make some dinner, and then we could get the kids settled in for the night after 6 nights away from home!

Hopefully I haven't bored your socks off by writing about this... I thought some of you might enjoy reading about our 'big trip to the big city'!  We hadn't been to Lusaka for 3 months, and we won't go again for 2 months, so this is a big deal for our life here.  :)  We are thankful to the Lord that we are able to go somewhere to have doctor's appointments and do shopping which is not possible where we live.  He provides so many blessings and encouragements for us!

the Pre-Journey: the Girls go to Livingstone

We wanted to do something special to thank super-nanny Sarah for coming to help us for nearly 3 months.  :) Sarah and I had tossed around the idea of taking her to see Victoria Falls, which is about 6 hours south of Lusaka (11 hours from where we live).  In the end, it worked out for us to arrange a whirlwind trip to Vic Falls at the beginning of the week that our family was scheduled to fly out of Zambia!  We couldn't afford to drive down as a family because of the cost in fuel, so it was decided we would travel to Lusaka together (since we had to go anyway that week) and then Sarah and I would travel by bus the rest of the way to Livingstone.  Here's how it worked:

1) Pack everything by Saturday night, 13 October 2012, and get it loaded into the car.
2) Clean the house frantically for weeks leading up to this weekend, so that everything is finished on time.
3) Eat all the remaining food in the house on Sunday.
4) Load everyone into the car, close up the house for 3 months, and leave at 6am on Monday morning!

So we drove to Lusaka on Monday morning the 14th of October.  It's about a 5-hour drive so we were there just before lunchtime since we left first thing in the morning.  We drove straight to the bus station so that Sarah and Ketzia and I could catch the afternoon bus to Livingstone.  Unfortunately, we got there too late to catch the 12:30 bus (because they required you to buy your ticket 30 minutes ahead of the scheduled departure) so we had to wait for the next bus which left at 2:30.  This meant that we had time to get back into the truck with David and go to the nearby shopping mall for a bite of lunch and a spot of air-conditioning!  :) 

We went back to the bus station to board our bus around 2pm.  We were sitting together at the back of the bus, which had no air conditioning.  But it wasn't dreadfully hot with the windows open!  And off we started for the trip to Livingstone.  Since it takes between 5-6 hours to drive in a car, I was expecting the bus journey to take about the same amount of time.  So imagine our surprise when we realized it was about an 8-hour bus ride!  :)  Because of the number of times it stopped in the towns we passed...  Anyway, that was fine.  We were flexible.  :)  Ketzia was perfectly content because she was traveling with her mommy, who was an unfailing source of nourishment.  (It's so much easier to travel with children when you are breastfeeding!)  A large portion of the trip was after dark, and we dozed.  There was a bit of rain and a thunderstorm at one point, but overall the trip was uneventful and we arrived in Livingstone in one piece, although a bit stiff... and much later than we had hoped.  It was after 10pm!

Sarah and I were planning to stay at Fawlty Towers, a backpacker's place in the center of town, not too far from where the bus stopped.  But since it was after dark and we were 2 girls traveling alone, we couldn't walk there, so we had planned to take a taxi.  But we were not expecting the greeting we received when the bus stopped.  As we disembarked from the bus, we were met by a pushing, shoving, shouting swarm of men at the bottom of the bus steps - mostly taxi drivers shouting for fares, but also some hangers-on.  It was after dark, and I was unsure of myself, and quite frightened by their behavior.  Just desperately wanted to find a taxi driver who would take us to Fawlty Towers! The first man I asked acted like he didn't know where Faulty Towers was, so I asked another man because I did NOT want to get into a car with a man who didn't know where he was going.  We collapsed into the car feeling very anxious but the man assured us he would take us to Fawlty Towers.  He zipped us up the road and we were there in 2 minutes, to our great relief.  But imagine our consternation in the morning when I was speaking to the receptionist at Fawlty Towers and describing our experience!  She asked, 'Was it a blue taxi?'  I said, 'No, it was just a normal looking car.'  She said, 'Yes, those are illegal taxis!  Only the blue taxis are legal.'  So, that was that.  Now I knew something I hadn't known before.  I was just so thankful that we arrived safely the night before, and still a bit shaken by the experience!

So anyway, here we were in Livingstone -- Sarah, myself and Ketzia who was about 10 months old.  We had only 2 nights there and our schedule was as follows: Monday - travel and arrive; Tuesday - see the Falls; Wednesday - travel back to Lusaka.  We were so tired after traveling the whole day on Monday that we pretty much went straight to bed.  We were staying in one of the dorm rooms since they were the cheapest option, I think they were $10 per person per night.  Basically it was just a big room with three sets of very tall bunk beds, a dresser with individual locking compartments, and a very noisy fan mounted on the wall. We were alone in the room, which was nice.  Ketzia shared a bed with me.  There was a communal bathroom with showers and toilets which we shared with the other dorm occupants but there were only a few other folks around.

On Tuesday morning we got up and had some breakfast and then headed out for our visit to the Falls!  We decided to be as economical as possible, which meant taking a minibus to the Falls.  So we had to walk maybe 10 or 15 minutes to the town market, where we found the taxi and minibus area.  It was a crowded, noisy and busy place but someone immediately put us on board to the correct minibus.  I was very nervous after our bad experience with the taxis the night before, but this went blissfully smoothly and the people were friendly and helpful!  We only had to wait a couple of minutes before the minibus was full and ready to depart. The Falls are about 8 kilometers down the road from Livingstone.  The minibus stopped a little bit up the road under a tree, and from there we had to walk across the road to the park entrance, where we paid the entrance fee and went in. 

The next couple of hours were spent wandering all over the Falls.  David and I had visited the Falls in May with the kids - we camped in Livingstone for a week and had a fantastic time. So I could show Sarah around a bit.  We hiked down to the Boiling Pot which is always worth seeing.  Because we were visiting Victoria Falls in the very height of the dry season (it hadn't rained since March) there was no water coming over the Falls and it was remarkable to see the difference from when David and I were there before.  But lest you wonder if it is worth visiting Vic Falls during the dry season - YES, it certainly was still worth the visit because the view of the canyon into which the falls flow was stunningly beautiful!  You could get such an idea of the scale of the falls.  It was really amazing.

Because there was no water going over the falls, you could actually climb into the riverbed and walk around on the rocks.  I took photos of Sarah who insisted on sitting on the edge of the falls.  She had one rock between herself and the edge, I will give her credit for that! 

While wandering around the top of the falls, you see lots of baboons.  They are quite used to all the people around and are attracted by the food.  It was pretty incredible to see how close we had to walk to them as they just sat around on the walking paths scratching themselves!  Thankfully they were completely uninterested in us.

We had gotten an early start that morning, and within a couple of hours we had done all the hiking and sight-seeing we wanted to do at the Falls and had wandered to our heart's content.  It was getting close to lunchtime so we headed back into Livingstone. This time we decided to splurge and get a taxi - it was SO hot outside we didn't feel like walking back to the minibus area and waiting in the sun for it to be ready to leave.  We got the taxi to drop us off at the Italian restaurant in town, where we got some lunch.  This restaurant, Olga's, is awesome!   The pizza is genuine Italian and cooked in wood-fired ovens.  But best of all, they have homemade GELATO -- for real!  It is exquisite!!  Words cannot describe the pleasure of a bowl of smooth gelato on a blazing hot day!

So that was us having seen the Falls, which Sarah pronounced a success, to my delight (I had already seen them before so I was hoping for her sake that it was worth the trip to her!).  Now we had the rest of the afternoon to relax and enjoy ourselves.  There was a pool at Fawlty Towers so Sarah went swimming and relaxed by the pool for a bit.  I went off to the private Fawlty Towers salon where I had seen hair plaiting advertised!  I had gotten my hair plaited back in 2008 while I was in Uganda, and David has always said that he liked the photos of me with my hair plaited a lot, and thought it would be fun for me to do it again sometime.  Well, here was my opportunity! I was on a girls-only holiday, I only had 1 child to juggle while having my hair done, and I had a free afternoon!  And it really doesn't cost very much at all to have your hair plaited!  I think it cost slightly under £10 - about £2 for materials (I had to get 2 swatches of hair extensions) and the rest for labor - but considering that it took two ladies 3 hours to plait my hair, I think that's very, very cheap!  The girl in charge of the salon walked with me down the street to the beauty supplies shop where I had to buy the hair extensions.  Then we walked back and got settled in and she started braiding my hair.  Ketzia nursed and went to sleep in my arms and slept through most of it!  The rest of the time she played happily on the floor and ripped an old magazine apart!  :)  As I said, it took more than 3 hours for the 2 girls to finish my hair.  It turned out really nicely though, and well worth it. I was so glad I had decided to get it done, and now I had something to surprise David with when we got back to Lusaka the next day!

After my hair plaiting, I decided to get a neck and shoulders massage.  Again, I had a wonderful opportunity and only one child to worry about!  Ketzia went and played with Sarah for half an hour during my massage. Then it was Sarah's turn for a massage!

At the end of such a relaxing afternoon, I had a few minutes to take Ketzia into the swimming pool to cool off.  I can't say as I remember much more about that evening.  I think we had a quiet evening and went to bed early, trying to catch up on rest after our late night the night before.  We had an early morning start-off.  Our bus was scheduled to leave Livingstone at 7:30am, so we had to be there at 7 to board.  This time we had an air-conditioned bus! However, this was to prove to be a real shame, because the bus broke down an hour or so into the journey and the air-conditioning stopped working -- and the windows didn't open!  So, moral of the story: pick a bus with natural air-conditioning (working windows)!

Yes, our trip home was the biggest part of the adventure by far.  Our bus broke down.  And then it broke down again.  And again. And again. And again.  We spent hours on the side of the road waiting for more replacement parts. We left at 7:30 and we were scheduled to be in Lusaka 7 hours later.  Instead, we got to Lusaka at 5:30pm after 10 hours of travel!  At the end, the bus broke down for the final (probably the 7th time, though I'd lost count) time in Kafue, about 20-30 minutes outside Lusaka.  Thankfully it broke down directly in front of the taxi and minibus stance in Kafue.  At that point there were only about 10 passengers left on our bus - most of the other passengers had already gotten off at their stops, or had run for another bus when it became clear earlier in the day that this bus was doomed.  I was concerned because it was starting to get close to sunset and I didn't want to be stranded - two white girls traveling alone, in an unfamiliar town with no money left, after dark.  There was another group of 'azungus' (white people) on the bus with us - a young man and his parents - and they agreed that we should stick together.  In the end the bus employees agreed that the company would pay for two minibuses to take us passengers the rest of the way to the Lusaka bus station.  So we got into the minibus with the other American family and headed off! It wasn't too far to Lusaka.  David had been in touch with me the whole day by text message, so he was at the bus station waiting to meet us, and be surprised by my braided hair.  :)

What a day!  We were so thankful to be safely back in Lusaka, especially after a near-accident occurred to our bus when a lorry ran us off the road as our driver was overtaking.  (The bus nearly flipped.)  It hadn't been an easy day, but what an experience!  We will have many things to chuckle over and remember for years to come.  It was a whirlwind 2 nights away and a  fun and memorable way to end our 2 1/2 months with Sarah as a member of our household.  David and Elijah had survived without me, and we had 1 night together as a family in a guesthouse in Lusaka before we flew out the next day to Europe... :)