Saturday, March 7, 2009

We are settling in to our smaller family lifestyle with just the four remaining students. It is very peaceful.

Last Sunday our pastor encouraged the congregation to visit one of their members that was in the hospital and has no family. When you are in the hospital here your family must bring you food because the hospital does not provide it. One student was touched by this and asked the pastor if she could visit the man.

The week came and went and nothing was done about it. We try not to make the students serve, but let them take the initiate. Friday the student called the pastor and found out that the man had been released from the hospital so today, Saturday the 7th, three of us went to visit him.

We cooked a hot meal and froze three more meals. Most homes do not have any type of refrigeration. We took him a 20 pound bag of mealy meal, their staple food. We also took two shirts and a pair of trousers. Many of the students that returned to the States left clothing behind. I found two shirts that were smaller and a pair of trousers that were a 34 Long. Most Zambian men are 5’10” or shorter and very thin. I figured he could roll them up and tighten his belt.

We took a cab to the church which is about 1½ miles, to meet the pastor who was going to take us to the home. We had planned to walk home since we would be empty handed. The pastor asked if we thought we could carry all of our gifts. We figured since the man lived in the neighborhood it wouldn’t be a problem. They consider the neighborhood to be larger than we thought. We were going to walk two miles to the man’s house and two miles back to the church and then the 1 ½ miles home.

He left to get his bicycle so he would put our load in the carrier. While he was gone I said, “Let’s pray that these will be the shortest two miles we have ever walked." So we stood outside by the church and prayed. When the pastor returned he corrected himself by saying it was 2km which is only a little more than a mile. Thank you God!

We barely knew it was a mile. As he pushed the bike, Pastor Munga talked about his life and asked us questions. We only stayed 40 minutes with Allan Shipunde, the man recovering from malaria. One student read a Psalm, the other read a prayer inserting Allan’s name into it while the Pastor translated. I prayed for him and we gave him our gifts. Allan happened to be a tall man so the trousers will not have to be rolled up after all. God thinks of everything.

We took a couple of pictures so we would remember to pray for him and we left. The walk back was over before we knew it. It was wonderful to get to know our pastor so well and learn about the history of the church.

The area where Allan lived is in the slums of Choma. Only a handful of Zambians own their own homes, so when they come out of the hospital they no longer have a home unless a family member takes them in. Part of this area is used what we would call a nursing home. There are five or six small one room homes in a cluster. The landlord lives in one of the homes and rents the others out to the sick. Our pastor said it would cost about $4.00 a month, but an average worker makes about $20.00 a month.

These homes are about four feet by eight feet concrete brick with flat tin roofs and dirt floors. No furniture, no water, no electricity - no nothing. They have the clothes on their back and maybe a blanket if they are lucky– that’s all. Allan used an old car battery for a step to his house which also doubled for a chair. The landlord cooks outside for the people who live in her/his huts. They share food which is usually one meal a day.

There were probably five square miles of these cluster homes. Sharing a room in a nursing home sounds pretty good.

I will be writing more since our life has settled down.

Brad is still feeling dizzy and tired. He read the labels on his medicines and found out that one of his regular prescriptions and the malaria pills cite dizziness as a common reaction which he was taking at the same time every day. He is going to try to take one in the morning and one at night to see if that helps. The chocolate and rest prescription was not helping; although, he has enjoyed it.

Thanks for your prayers.