Inward Renewal

Luke Whitfield and I have been scanning the country-side looking for alternative building materials to treated wood.  Prices of any steel scrap or composite materials turn out to be quite expensive.  We are in the process of pouring slabs of concrete for five chalets that will be available for camping out at Ciyanjano.  Because termite action here in Zambia is so bad, we were looking for a material for the chalet uprights that would be termite proof.

After getting a few leads from locals involved in the construction business, I visited TAP Zambia Limited which is based in Chilanga.  They manufacture asbestos roofing sheets as well as other concrete based composite products like drainage pipes, culverts.  The plant is massive and has been around for years, serving the infrastructure needs of Zambia.

What I discovered was that the plant has a lot of discarded product in their sewer-main piping division.  Because each pipe needs to be coupled with another pipe, each segment has a male and female end.  When one end is deffective then the product is discarded as scrap.  It turns out they were willing to sell these otherwise intact products at a significantly reduced rate.  Being 6 inches in diameter, and manufactured out of reinforced concrete, these  4 meter long pipes are used by construction crews for carport, chalet and porch uprights. Getting the material was an absolute fiasco, requiring several trips back and forth – not to mention many hours of waiting.

When we first navigated our way through the maze of access roads to the rear scrap yard we could see that much of the product was covered with vegetation.  Within two minutes of getting out of our lorry (truck) a security guard who was shadowing us killed a black mamba who was emerging out of the stacked product just meters from us.  As we loaded the product onto the flat bed, we encountered a second snake.  The Lord was definitely protecting us in that snake infested area.

All in all, it took us close to three days to secure these 30 pieces of material.  We’re very grateful however for the savings…  as well as a quality product that should last more than 60 years in a termite environment.  I look forward to posting pictures of these uprights installed.  A team from Illinois will be coming in a month’s time to mount header boards onto these as well as trusses for a roof.  Please pray that all goes according to plan.

Three Zambian families are living on site at our Ciyanjano Ministry Centre.  The families help maintain a presence there as well as do regular maintenance and help with our development initiatives.  Jailos (right) is our “go-to-man” and has an impeccable reputation.  He’s honest, humble and a hard-worker.  He functions as the spokesman for Ciyanjano to the community right now – and people seem to really respect him.  Because the development work that is happening out there wouldn’t have materialized without them, I’ve posted a recent picture of Boniface, Richard and Jailos holding their “slashers”.  Slashers are swung back and forth to cut grass.  In this picture, they just finished clearing an overgrown grassy area where we hope to install a playground for kids if we can find donors.  Oh, here’s a side note…Zambians don’t call them “playgrounds”, they call them “playparks”. We would appreciate prayer that God would continue to provide the funding that’s needed to pays for their labor costs.  It is hard for me to conceive of the ministry centre operating without them.  Their attitudes and resilience are always a big encouragement to me.

Thanks to Steve Allen’s hard work on this video, you can now catch a clearer picture of how Ciyanjano is set to be used.  These kids had such a blast!  With a football field now complete and a playpark for youth campers to be installed in the near future, Ciyanjano is ramping-up for kids.  Children who come for camps will have an exciting atmosphere where teaching and games are conducted in a beautiful, peaceful, secure setting.  Start the video by clicking the pic below!

Work is now finished with the four-seater pit latrine we’ve installed for Campground 1.  It’s a concrete block building with a finished exterior.   I figured AZ should try to make our own earthen stucco using concrete mix and red clay dirt found on the property.  Locally available resources are the way to go – as we try develop the campground to be appropriate in scale to it’s surroundings.  Thank you to those who donated funds to make this unit possible.  We’re slowly but steadily building the infrastructure needed to bring groups of kids and churches to the property.

One of the great things about my current responsibilities out at Ciyanjano is the fact that I have to fix things myself.  Hands-on, practical things really get me excited.  Here I am fixing the leaking shower in the leadership retreat center in preparation for an AWANA Zambia leadership booking.  I’ve learned to never throw anything away in Zambia, because it’s more than likely that yesterday’s junk will be today’s solution.  That’s exactly the case here.  I fixed the rubber gaskets on this shower using ones I recycled off a residential plumbing disaster.

I hired a graphic specialist to paint the Ciyanjano logo on the wall fence out at the mission’s retreat center.  The graphic designer said that he had the ability to make an exact copy of the logo.  Of course, we’ve learned never to take a salesman literally, but the font that he used was so completely different than the font that Andrea designed the logo with.  The risk that we take when a “mom and pop” establishment is hired to do the work is both unnerving and comical at the same time.  One thing is for sure, we really needed to repaint the sign at the property’s entrance so that visitors could easily identify that they have now arrived at their destination.  After pulling up to the sliding gate they can see a larger Ciyanjano logo painted on the wall fence.  I’m curious what others think?

Later this afternoon we will have a little cake celebration for Ian’s birthday so we hope that he’ll enjoy that.  I thought I would start his B-day off by taking him out for a ride to Ciyanjano – which he always loves.  Ireen was so excited she came along with him.  As usual, he and Ireen love to play with Katherine Sakala while I was tending to other things.  This morning I needed to repair a leaking shower.  Then I heard Ian screaming.  He and Ireen were covered with mpasi (red ants) that were biting them all over.  The ants had crawled into his socks, up his pant legs, and into his diaper.  Ouch!  These biting ants are notorious for stinging really bad.  I quickly stripped him down to his birthday suit and pulled off all the ants that had burrowed themselves in.  He screamed and screamed!  Eventually, Ian calmed down and the stinging subsided.  I scoured his clothes looking for any remaining ants.  Unfortunately, it was a traumatic birthday morning for him.  He slept like a baby all the way home.  When back at home, I gave him wheel barrow rides around the yard which helped him forget everything.

Late last year, Action Zambia undertook a project to put a perimeter fence around Ciyanjano (our campground and retreat center for Lusaka churches).  It was a big step forward for the ministry center as preparations are being made to run youth camps and church retreats on site.  With vulnerable children present, the ministry felt that some level of security needed to be ensured.  The work for that project is now complete.  For more information and pictures about the perimeter fence, download the presentation by CLICKING HERE.

Here are a few pictures of progress made on the first of two drainage ditches we’re installing out at Ciyanjano.  The drainage work will be a vast improvement so that the new fence line doesn’t get damaged with heavy rains.

December is the month for Action Zambia to officially kick off its Leadership Retreat Center.  In preparation for our first group (who will be on site for two weeks) Megan, Tracy and I have been working hard to get things in order.  We purchased 7 more sets of bunk beds to give us a total capacity of 30 beds.  Each bed needed a mattress, so I borrowed a lorry to transport 14 of them.  Mosquito nets, plastic mugs, plates and chairs were also purchased so the initial setup became costly very quickly.  But the investment made is worth it because of the need that local pastors have for retreat facilities.  Most pastors that we work with feel tired and long for a place of tranquility where they can meet with their church leadership.  More pictures of the bunk house facilities are below.