More on Elifer, Wize and Westone . . .

Last week we shared the story of Elifer, Wize and Westone and how we were able to visit where they live, meet their grandparents and give them some badly needed clothing, backpacks and bedding.

This week, we were able to unpack our duffel bags of shoes. We had the three kids come to the house after school and we fitted them with new shoes and did they need them! Each had been wearing a pair that was barely holding together. I gave Elifer a pair of sandals and a pair of black leather school shoes. Again, there was barely a response from her. The boys each got a pair of athletic shoes, and even though his were pink & white, Westone thought they were great! We watched for their arrival the next morning and each one had on their new shoes! Even Elifer had on the black leather school shoes, and she has worn them every day since. A huge thank you to those of you who donated shoes! They are appreciated more than you can know, and here they get more mileage than they were designed to get! 

Boarding Students vs. Non-Boarding Students 

We asked the Krauses’ if there was an identifiable difference between the progress that the boarding students make as opposed to those who live at home. They gave a resounding “YES!” They shared with us that most of the vulnerable students have never been exposed to the English language. They learn it when they come to MICS, as all the classes are taught in English. The students that live at the boarding house are immersed into the language and progress much more rapidly. That means that they do better in school. When they do better in school, they have a much better attitude toward school, toward their friends, teachers, and others. They will test out with much higher scores and go on to high school. They have hope for the future!

 Here in Zambia, advanced learning is a privilege, not a right. That means if their scores do not meet Zambian Ministry of Education standard they will not go on to high school. Their employment opportunities are few, and low-paying at best. Their future would be bleak.

Our hearts, of course, are torn for all of the students that do not have access to boarding, but especially for Elifer, Wize and Westone.  “God is this You asking us to step up further and sponsor these precious ones in boarding as well as school tuition and fees?”

Will you stand with us as we seek God’s will in this?

The Day to Day . . .

Greg, Ronda, Gil and Kathy, saying our good-byes!

On Thursday, we got up while it was still dark, loaded Gil and Ronda in the vehicle, and headed to the airstrip. Guillermo, our bush pilot, followed a few minutes later. After loading their luggage, we said our goodbyes, promised to email everything that happens, made plans to see each other in Wisconsin in December. We formed a circle for prayer, asking God’s Blessing, Favor and Will while we are apart. Then, the prop started whirling, and the plane edged away. Greg and I looked at each and said “Are we ready for this?” All we can say to that is: “This is so about what God wants to do that we have no fear.”

So what do we do each day? 

First, we try to be up, showered, dressed and have eaten breakfast before the boarding kids begin to arrive in our living room. They read quietly while waiting for all the others to assemble. Then the boarding father, Justin, usually arrives around 6:30/6:45, and leads the kids in worship and devotions, then prayer; then they head to the dining hall for breakfast at 7am. 

We make our way to the activity room where all the teaching staff gathers for announcements and prayer. At 7:30am, it is chapel time for the whole school. We worship & dance, recite scripture, make announcements and the students are dismissed to their classrooms by grade.

"Me, me, me! Take my photo!"

The girls are not different!

Reception class, aren't they adorable? :)

Usually there is one or two school staff waiting to ask us something, often the cooking and cleaning staff have a question or two. We finally find our way back to our living room and it doesn’t take long for the constant activity to demand our attention! It could be a sick student, a teacher that needs to go to a funeral of a loved one, a visitor at the door inquiring about any number of things, a plumber or electrician with a question or comment about the construction on MICS 2: the new dorm project, or someone needing books or school supplies. We we are “on call” all day long! We may make plans for our day, but it never turns out like we may have thought it would!

Greg knows his way to the hospital, having made four trips so far! We have pulled thorns out of feet and hands, cleaned and bandaged skinned knees, treated stomach & head pains, and given out lots of hugs to those who are homesick.

After school, boarding students come to our veranda to do their homework, read books or do puzzles.  They come back again after dinner, for evening devotions and worship. It’s just about 8pm when our house is empty and quiet again.

We have realized that we have become Mom and Dad to about 130 adults and children!

The Weekend!

Before we came to Zambia, our daughter LeeAnn told us, “You will need to plan some getaway time. This will be crucial to your endurance till the end!”  LeeAnn had spent most of July 2010 here in Macha with the Krauses. She knew what she was talking about!She also gave us a gift to send us off with.

Since we needed to do some major grocery shopping we decided that a weekend get-away to Livingstone was in order. We did a lot running around trying to find a place to fill our propane tank for our boarding house kitchen. We heard, “come back tomorrow” many times, never did find the gas. 

We visited Victoria Falls, Zambia. We’d seen the falls from Zimbabwe in the past but never from the Zambia side. We walked with lions and cheetahs, and took a sunset river safari. Check out the photos. (We will add more on facebook.)

Before leaving we found Shoprite, a large modern grocery store where we bought 2 carts of food and 100kg of flour! (That's about 220#)

We are back safe and sound; we are ready for another week of being Mom and Dad @MICS!

Thanks again for standing with us and praying for us! We love and miss you all!

Kathy & Greg

Greg walks Nellie, a 15 mo. tawny lioness.

This is what a hippo looks like when he's annoyed by a boat full of tourists!

"I want this cheetah to stopping licking me 'cuz it hurts! But OMG, there's cheetah licking me!"

Evening on the Zambezi River, time of day when elephants come to drink.

Vic Falls, Zambia! One of the Seven Wonders of the World!

Naughty, naughty baboons everywhere at Vic Falls! This one wanted his photo taken!

We’d been waiting for this day!

Elifer, Wize and Westone

On Friday afternoon when school got out at 1pm, Grace (house manager and Krauses’ personal employee) had the 3 kids that we sponsor come to the Krause's. They had no idea what was going on. They came in and sat down, and they may have thought that they were in trouble! :(

Using Grace as our translator we revealed that we were their sponsors. We told them that we’d brought some things from the States for them, and we wanted to see where they lived and meet their grandparents. There were smiles from the boys, and all three said "thank you". We gave them each a backpack and a large black plastic trash bag. filled with goodies, and we set out.

Elifer led the way. It was about a 10 minute walk. She is the oldest of the three and she kept a pretty quick pace. She never looked back at us like the boys did. She was quite emotionless.

When we got close to their home we could see Grandma was watching us. We were sure she was afraid that the kids had done something wrong and were being sent home for the term with all their school belongings in the bags! 

She invited us into the round, grass hut, pulled out Tonga stools for us to sit on. The space wasn't much bigger than our bathroom! We explained that some time ago we had been talking with the Krauses' about sponsoring students, and shortly after that their grandfather came to the school asking to enroll the kids. We also told them that we had prayed about this and felt God wanting us to send their grandchildren to school.  

We also explained that we were here to take over for the Krauses for the rest of the term, and since we were coming to Macha we had brought gifts for the children. She couldn't stop thanking us. Then Wize (pronounced Weez) poked his head in and we invited him in, then Westone did the same and he came in. Then after a few minutes Elifer came in. They still had their backpacks on their backs. They pulled them off and had their fingers on the zippers. We said "go ahead, you can open them." They tore into them like it was Christmas!

One by one they pulled each item of clothing out of the backpacks! When they got to soccer shorts and shirts, the boys cheered! Quietly Elifer looked at each item, paused to look at and run her fingers over the graphic t-shirts with Tinkerbell, sequined stars and butterflies.

We opened the plastic bags and showed them the towels, fleece blankets and sleeping bags and they were all grins. We later found out that the children most likely sleep on the ground without any kind of bedding. 

We took photos outside the hut with the kids and Grandma. The kids immediately went back in the hut, to look at their gifts! We chatted with the grandmother for a few minutes. We said “good-bye” to them, and Greg leaned into the hut and said "we love you!" They shouted back "I love you!" It was quite a moment. The boys were all smiles, and Elifer let a "half-smile" crack her face, and there was a bit of softening in her eyes.

So, now we watch and look for the Lord to give us opportunities to get to know them, speak into them, and love them.

As we were leaving we saw the grandfather off sitting under a tree in the shade. We stopped by and spoke to Grandpa. He looks very old and frail. Greg explained who we were and why we’d come to his home. With tears pooling his eyelids, he said “thank you” in a very quiet, raspy voice.

We had asked the Krauses if they knew how the children's parents had died. Ronda hadn’t confirmed the story that had been circulating, but she’d heard that one parent had killed the other and then killed them self.  Whatever the manner, the children have suffered a great loss and clearly have been traumatized. Ronda told us that in the time they have been coming to MICS they have already improved 100%!

This is their home. The kids likely sleep in the tent or the flat roofed hut.

Greg, Elifer, Westone, Kathy, Wize & Grandma

Grandma's kitchen

Greg with Grandpa

Our hearts are wrenched; there are so many vulnerable children that we could become overwhelmed. While we can’t help them all, we can help those that God presents to us. So that’s what we are doing.

Survival is the Name of This Game!

As of today we have been in Zambia for one week. We would love to report all the things that we have experienced and accomplished, but we mostly are learning “survival”. 

The first thing we were lacking was a good internet signal. We learned that we must wait and check every so often to see if it has improved.  Sometimes the connection was restored shortly, and sometimes not.  Even when the signal is a strong one, only one person or laptop can be connected at a time. There is no loitering when there is a connection. We must each hurry to check our emails and then log off so the next person can get to their business. We never know when we will have an opportunity to check our messages again.

Then, when water is not flowing from the tap we learned the importance of keeping the reserve bottles and containers in the kitchen filled, and how to fill the clay filtering system for clean drinking water. In the bathroom there are five big pails that are kept filled at all times to be used for bathing and flushing. Since we arrived a week ago, the temps have been anywhere from about 95 to 110 degrees so drinking water and bathing water are vital! The Krauses’ have told us that since the beginning of July they have had only 5 school days with water. Can you imagine 150 people on the campus and no water?

Electricity is another unreliable commodity. It comes and goes, but mostly goes. This past week we only had power a few hours a day, and one day we no power at all. Yesterday we had to cook up all the meat that had thawed and moved it to a home that had power. This morning we cleaned out the rest of the spoiled food from all the freezers & refrigerators and burned them in the refuse pit so that no one would eat it and get sick. We learned that a transformer had burned up and after many conversations with those in charge, found out that a new transformer was arriving soon. 

This is how life works here, or should we say doesn’t work? We spend much time and energy keeping things working that many other things don’t get attended to.  Fortunately all this has happened while Gil and Ronda are here so that we can learn what to do, who to talk to, and how to make life go on at the school and boarding house. 

So, if you don’t hear from us for a while you will know that we do not have power or internet or both. That should be a clue that we need your prayers more than ever!Thank you for sticking by us, praying for us, and sending us encouragement! We need you!

 

8:00pm Thursday—UPDATE!

The transformer arrived at approximately 6pm, and amazingly was installed immediately! As typically guys, Greg & Gil dashed off to watch the process. (See photo.) And just as we were concluding devotions with the boarding students the few, dim lights that we had went out—we all groaned—and then . . . all the lights came on, the refrigerator started up AND the toilet started filling! We have full power and water! Thank you, LORD!

We Made It!

We arrived in Macha on schedule with all our bags in tow! That was a miracle in its self.

You see, once we left Minneapolis every leg of the journey seemed to get us a little bit behind. By the time we would arrive at each destination on our flight itinerary we found ourselves literally running to the gate to catch the next flight. Each time we would flop into our seats and pray “Lord, please have favor on our bags, that they would make it to this plane.” When we arrived in Lusaka (capital city of Zambia) we were surprised and delighted that all of our checked bags appeared on the carousel!  God’s Favor was so evident.

Once we located our bush pilot, Guillermo, with Flying Mission, we were back out on the tarmac and soon on our way to Macha. Visibility was diminished by the smoke from many wildfires. We’d found out that there hasn’t been much rain since April and most of the landscape is a dry, tinderbox. From the air we could see the fires and their damage. At night the glow of fires can be seen off in the distance. This is something that everyone is aware of but until it is close enough to threaten, no one gets too worked up over.

Adjusting . . . Takes More Than You’d Think

For the past two nights we have found ourselves sleeping 12-14 hours each night! It’s crazy that you can wake up in the morning well-rested but just a couple hours later need a nap. We really never even saw the students on Friday as we’d slept through most of the school day.

By 1:30 we were off to Choma to buy groceries for the next week. It’s now a one hour drive to Choma, now that there is a blacktopped road for two-thirds of the journey. When first arriving in Choma we immediately went to a small convenience store to buy beverages. It is difficult to find public restrooms, so by purchasing our drinks we were entitled to use their facilities. Then off to Spar, the local food store chain. Much smaller than what we are used to, and packed with people, made it difficult to manage three filled-to-overflowing grocery carts. It was a good thing that there were seven of us to help push and then load. This is just one of our responsibilities for the next two months. Clearly we will be recruiting help for the weekly shopping trips.

Today, in about 100 degree heat, we have toured the school and boarding house facilities, taken a good look at the new dorm building that is targeted to open in January with the new school year. We also visited the Redicopps that live just a couple hundred yards away. Guillermo Redicopp was our bush plane pilot.

We are learning our way around the house, the kitchen, how to find water when none comes out the taps, and internet. We’ve become friendly with Zaka and Boya, the Krause’s two house cats. We are babysitting Merrel and Elmo, two Dutch students while their parents are in South Africa for a conference.

We have yet to go to the local market to buy tomatoes and other vegetables today. As I have been writing to you, the others have slipped away for a nap. Looks like I need to get moving and get mine before we are off again!

This is a Great Way to Leave

We are feeling so loved. 

On Sunday, our church prayed for us at all three services. Friends are telling us how exciting this is.  My co-workers are taking on some of my work so my mind can be on the tasks at hand. The support we have received personally, and church-wide is so encouraging. This is a great way to leave. 

Last night in our overseer meeting we talked about how Valleybrook Church is going to Macha, and will leave a part of who we are, as a church there. Valleybrook will mark Macha, and Macha will mark our church for the future. This has settled deep in me. I can’t wait to see what God will do to mark both Kathy and I, and we will carry that into our daily lives.

God has prepared our path. We really don’t know what is ahead of us, but we are ready for the task. We have decided our faith is not in our ability but in God who is faithful to take us step by step. 

Well, our bags are packed, we are changing our out-going voicemail and email messages, last minute work details are complete, we are ready. This truly is a great way to leave.

A friend told us that they were having trouble leaving comments on this blog. If you have trouble or would prefer, email us. We’d love hear from you.

gregoryallensmith@gmail.com

kjhazsmith@gmail.com