misswarder: April 2009

Last minute school assignments and readings... check.

AM clinical session... check.

Packing... check.

All I had left to do on Thursday, March 12th was get on that plane! The 6 of us (in order below: Leland Rose, Chad Baker, Micah Bayles, Britni Johnson, Nathan Goodnight, and myself) met at the DFW airport, said a group prayer, and loaded on to a KLM flight around 5:00 pm Thursday. And so it began...

Thank you so much for supporting me on this trip! I pray that you are blessed by the words that follow, which are an attempt to describe some of my group’s experiences while in Zambia.

March 12-14^th: We started our trip with about 22 total hours in the air: Lubbock to DFW to Amsterdam to Johannesburg to Livingstone. David and Linda Gregersen greeted us on Zambian soil and gave us a 2 ½ hour (bumpy!) ride to the Namwianga Mission near Kalomo, Zambia. It was a long trip, but a safe one with no complications.

Sunday, March 15^th: This was our first full day in Zambia! We drove out into the bush to the village of Kasibi where we joined our Zambian brothers and sisters in worship, Bible class, and communion. One of our own group members led the sermon while a village church member translated for their 100+ member congregation. A woman in the row ahead of me gave four eggs as the basket was passed for the offering. Their singing was spirited and beautiful! Our group was humbled when the church members asked us to sing some of our own songs of worship. That was probably one of my favorite moments of the entire week because of the way I was able to experience God’s love and power from a whole new perspective. Afterwards we ate a tradiational Zambian meal of fried chicken, tomato soup/sauce, and nshima (flavor of a corn tortilla, appearance of grits, consistency of playdough). Mmmm!

After we ate, the village band (made up of teenage boys with homemade instruments) performed for us under a tent as it rained. It was so neat to see how they had constructed their instruments with wood, wire, metal, plastic bottles, etc. and hear the upbeat tunes they had prepared! It definitely was, as we liked to call it, a "National Geographic moment." So fun!

That evening we had dinner with David and Linda Gregersen (seen on the left below) as well as Don and Laura Oldenburg (on the right) who are another couple living at the Namwianga Mission long-term. We had such an enjoyable evening and stayed up pretty late with the Gregersen's talking about what their lives have been like these past four years while in Zambia.

Monday, March 16^th: On Monday we drove a few hours to a place where a man named Supper (pronounced “Soo-pah”... the 2nd man in the picture below along with his brother-in-law and Britni) lived in a hut far removed from the nearest village. He is currently in the inactive stages of leprocy and was brought to Namwianga’s annual medical mission in a wheelbarrow last summer to receive care. Soo-pah was able to hear the Word of God while at the medical mission and responded by becoming a Christian that summer.

He has lost half a leg and several fingers as a result of the disease and has very little to his name other than a few mango trees growing outside his hut.

We were able to till the soil around the trees and clean up some of the area for him. Soo-pah was very quiet, but very gracious. As I watched Soo-pah crawl to his hut, it was the neatest thing to realize that the next time I see him, it will be in heaven. I imagine him running through those streets of gold with laughter and praise! That’s huge.

Tuesday & Wednesday March 17^th & 18^th: Tuesday and Wednesday were spent at the Haven 1 and Haven 2 orphanages, which are designated for orphaned infants and toddlers. I remember first walking into the buildings feeling so excited to love on, hold, feed, and play with these sweet little babies. I fell in love with two particular rooms and spent most of my time with Stella (in the picture below), Gift (2nd picture), Yvonne & Yvette (the twins), Julia, Andrew, William, Scott, and Daisy.

While I loved being there at the orphanage, part of me grew more and more sad as the day progressed along with the growing realization of who these babies were and why they were there. That feeling was only magnified as I walked in the rooms designated for the HIV positive babies. Eyeopening and heartwrenching, indeed. While the “Aunties” of each room do a phenomenal job with the constant care these babies and toddlers require, there is only so much they can do. Any of you who are parents can attest to the amount of diaper changings, feedings, bathings, and supervision these little ones need! Lunch time was crazy!! Needless to say, Tuesday and Wednesday were filled with many laughs and great memories.

Thursday, March 19^th: Thursday we helped organize and transport a large amount of donated supplies to the Namwianga health clinic. Afterwards, we went with a Zambian minister to the main hospital in Kalomo to visit, pray with, and encourage the patients who were there. Walking into their rooms with rusty beds, bare mattresses, dirty floors, and an obvious lack of supplies was sobering, to say the least. Because of the language barrier, any one-on-one communication was done by holding a hand or offering a smile, which spoke volumes.

Friday, March 20^th: Friday morning we packed up all our things and headed to the orphanages to say our goodbyes to the little ones. After we took some group pictures and fought back a few tears, it was time to go. The addition to our group in these pictures seen below is Meagan. She has lived at the Namwianga Mission for the past couple of years and is an absolute blessing to these children.... there is no doubt that she is doing exactly what she was made to do at this point in her life. The 6 of us were blessed by her humility and compassion.

David and Linda Gregersen arranged for our group to have a day of Zambian “city life” (aka shopping and bargaining in the markets) and other tourist attractions. We road in a boat down the Zambezi River and then went to Victoria Falls to enjoy the gorgeous views. What an AMAZING way to tangibly see the power of God.

We did a small amount of souvenir shopping outside of the falls and then headed back to our hotel in Livingstone for dinner. We shared our meal with both the Gregersens and the Oldenburgs. We spent a great evening together eating good food and “debriefing” from the week. What a blessing it was to hear their words of wisdom and faith. They encouraged us to always “go with the story” of Christ in wherever life takes us. We are called to be different, and to always go with the story of grace, hope, and love: the story of Christ.

Saturday and Sunday, March 21^st & 22^nd: Saturday was our last day on Zambian soil! We spent the early morning at Mosi-O-Tunya game park to get a glimpse of some African wildlife including baboons, giraffes, impalas, hippos, warthogs, and zebras (my favorite!). Afterwards, it was time to catch our flight and head west.

Truly, none of this even scratches the surface of our trip and what it meant to all of us. Definitely the "Reader's Digest" version. I'll post my impressions and some of the things I took away from this experience soon.

Blogging is time consuming!! But believe me, I'd much rather be blogging than researching evidence based practices for my classes!

Until next time...

-Kathryn