No Place to Lie
With the Advent season swirling about me, sometimes it’s hard to picture the circumstance and setting of my Savior’s birth. For instance in Luke 2:4-7 we read:
“And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
To be honest, it’s not often that I feel the weight of having no place to lie my head down or being the lowly one. But there are so many people around me this Christmas season that can relate. Just the other day, while stuck in traffic I saw this street kid sleeping precariously on the railing of the Church Rd flyover (bridge).
I was convicted… Who knows whether there will be “room in the inn” for him tonight? Which is worse: sleeping in the streets or sleeping in a cattle stall? When I first arrived here, these things distrubed me but over time the experience of the poor, homeless and orphaned begins to fade. It’s good to contemplate these things again…for them, they often have no place to go, no place to lie their head down in peace and security. 
3.5 Hour Oil Change for $125
When the rains come to Lusaka, one should expect everything in life to take a little bit longer. On the one hand, rains are such a blessing to a parched land that hasn’t received one drop for the better part of six months. But on the other hand many Zambians dread the rainy season – because of the mud, homes leaking and getting flooded, not to mention all the standing water in the streets that can easily swallow up your car. It’s the time of year that delays are expected and commonplace.
So, when I left for work this morning I thought I was prepared for whatever inconveniences Zambia might bring. I badly needed an oil change, so as I passed by Zambia’s premier auto store – AutoWorld. I pulled in to the 6 bay mega-auto-parts dealership before 8:30 and talked to customer service. They told me that an oil change would take 30 minutes. AutoWorld has a nice lounge area for customers so I thought I would sit and read for a bit.
Well, I waited…..and waited……and waited. When I went to check on oil change progress after one hour had passed, I found my diesel Toyota Prado with the oil drained, the fuel filter off, and the oil filter off. “We have a problem boss”, said the customer rep, “our oil filters are out of stock.”
I was then told to catch some “rest” up in the lounge and that they would come get me after they located one. The plan was to have the parts guy bring the correct filter from another AutoWorld downtown. It was supposed to take 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, as hour 2 passed, I started growing restless. Finally, at 11:30 the oil filter was delivered. It took them all of 15 minutes to finish the job. But then came the bill….560,000 ZMK ($125). The oil filter, fuel filter, air filter and oil came to $100 and the labor was $25. Needless to say, I left AutoWorld at noon in a foul mood. There’s nothing like African customer service… it’s something I’ll never get used to.
Boomslang or Green Mamba?
This morning I traveled out to Ciyanjano, Action Zambia’s campground, retreat center and income generation property. It’s about a 30 minute drive for me, but I love getting outside of urban Lusaka. I took a couple of pastors with me early to show them the leadership retreat center facilities. As we were peering inside each chalet we opened up the door of one chalet, only to find a massive snake slithering across the concrete floor. We quickly exited the chalet and slammed the door shut. Jailos Sakala was with us and reopened the door carefully and stealthily crept around until venturing into the bathroom. Looking up into the rafters he found the snake curled up. He quickly called for backup and several more of our Zambian workers came running with hoes and slashers. After a quick consultation, the workers decided that this snake was very dangerous and would have to be killed using a catapult (slingshot). Within ten minutes, the snake had been hit in the head and dragged down from its perch. A few slashes and it was dead. The workers believed quite strongly that it was a green mamba. At the time I believed them. Any green snake surpassing a meter was surely a mamba I thought. But after further investigation, I am certain this was a male Boomslang snake. Boomslangs are found around these parts of Southern Africa. They primarily live in trees and shrubs in savanna areas. Green mambas have a more slender head than a Boomslang and have front fangs. Boomslang are often mis-identified as green mambas. Unlike mambas they have rear fangs, enormous eyes and short stubby heads. What’s really interesting is that they can open their mouths 170 degrees. Males like this one, are bright green, sometimes with black-edged scales. We were extremely cautious handling the snake as it is “potently haemotoxic, causing severe bleeding internally and from the mucous surfaces. May result in fatal haemorhage if untreated.” Source: A Complete Guide to the Snakes of Southern Africa by Johan Marais Check out the following pictures:
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Chieftainess
A group of us from Action Zambia visited Chieftainess Mwenda who resides on the outskirts of Chikankata, Zambia. Her people are the Tonga people. There are approximately 98,000 people in her kingdom. Over the course of our 4 hour plus meeting with the Chieftainess she expressed: her commitment to Christ, the challenges that she faces, the need for the headman in her chiefdom (approx 300) to come to Christ, the need for more missionaries who will learn about and live with her people, the complications surrounding ancestral shrines, the need for education.
For me it was my first time to see the Chieftainess’ chiefdom area on a map. Showing us a map of her kingdom, she pointed out the most remote and unreached areas. She said that some in her land hadn’t seen a white man before while others rarely see a motor vehicle (every 4-5 years). Some of the areas can only be reached on foot. With an open invitation from the Chieftainess and what seems to be a still apparent need for Gospel proclamation, I feel like we have an unprecedented opportunity before us.
The above picture of me was taken with Her Royal Highness E. M. Kalichi Chieftainess Mwenda at the Bansanje Royal Establishment (a.k.a. her palace). You can also view a video of her pointing out areas of her kingdom that are unreached for Christ.
Street Parade
Every so often as you’re driving down one of the main streets in Lusaka traffic slows and as you’re looking for the reason, you see people marching down the middle of the road with a banner out front announcing what it is they’re raising money for. The idea is that you slow down and throw some money into their buckets…a little like firemen do in the States, except their in the middle of the road.
Today as we were headed into town for an inter-church social, we came upon one of these parades. The cause – raising money for a pre-school. To our shock, the people walking down the middle of Independence Ave were the pre-schoolers!! Ireen, my daugher, is 5 – the same age as many of the children walking in between the lanes of traffic. It horrified me to think of her risking her life in traffic to raise money for her education.
Waiting for the rain
Each day clouds gather and mount promising rain. The humidity is oppressive like a nagging headache. Some days I think I can smell the rain and can’t wait for the first good rainfall. Below is an excerpt from one of the kid’s books, Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain by Verna Aardema.
This was the shot
that pierced the cloud
And loosed the rain
with thunder LOUD!
A shot from the bow,
so long and strong,
And strung with a string,
a leather thong;
A bow for the arrow
Ki-pat put together,
With a slender stick
and an eagle feather;
From the eagle who happened
to drop a feather,
A feather that helped
to change the weather.
It fell near Ki-pat,
who watched his herd
As he stood on one leg,
like a big stork bird;
Ki-pat, whose cows
were so hungry and dry,
They mooed for the rain
to fall from the sky;
To green-up the grass,
all brown and dead,
That needed the rain
from the cloud overhead -
The big, black cloud,
all heavy with rain,
That shadowed the ground
on Kapiti Plain.
