Inward Renewal

I woke up at 4:30 Saturday morning to check the height of the water coming up our front steps.  To be honest, I thought the water would be receding.  Instead, I was alarmed to find that  the water had advanced during the night.  By 6:30 Andrea and I decided we weren’t going to wait any longer.  We had to move.  The stench from the open sewer was reason enough to empty our house but the thought of moving everything was so overwhelming.  We had nowhere to move to and the skies were threatening to unleash even more rain.  I called Luke and woke him up to inquire if he could organize the team to help us vacate the house.  Within an hour, the AZ team had a game plan and everyone started to make their way to our place on the outskirts of town.  Meanwhile I put on my gumboots (rubber boots) and started dismantling the house.  Because of the contaminated water, I had to put on and take off my boots every time I entered and exited.

The team were delayed due to the bad roads in Makeni.  Reports were that the traffic was backed up for kilometers due to vehicles being stuck in the several crater water-holes.  Eventually, the team made it to Makeni.  With help from the Roberts, Whitfields, Allens, Megan B., Charles M. and a crew of guys sent from our home fellowship group at LBC, Andrea and I were able to get the whole house dismantled and moved out by 4 pm.  For not having planned this move, we are simply amazed at the amount of help and support from all those around us.  We are so grateful to the Lord for this provision, though we are immensely tired and emotionally frazzled.  Ian is very distressed about the move and has fallen ill with a fever of some sort.  We’re just praying he has picked up something from the contamination.

Our stuff is spread out in three different locations, which will present a significant challenge to find things when we need it.  But it’s so much better than losing our posessions!  We were able to work out a deal with our landlady to move into a one-bedroom flat just down the lane for a few weeks until we know where we’re going.  Please pray that the Lord might provide a place for us to live… soon.  One thing that we feel great about is that the Lord has put us in a position where we’re completly dependent on him for provision.  Whatever the reason for God’s hand being worked out this way, we know that we will be built up.  In that sense, all this is a bit exciting.  It’s just like Him to do good to his children in such an unconventional way.  Also pray for Andrea, as she lost her grandmother two nights ago.  On top of being pregnant, having a sick son, moving out of a house and not knowing where to call home, she is also grieving.  All we can do is look to the Lord right now…

Ireen kept exclaiming, “this is the best day ever!”  Perhaps that’s because it was the first day we had sunshine in about a week – we were all beginning to get cabin fever.  Saturday morning the kids got on their bikes and started tearing down the lane.  It wasn’t long before Ian found “his spot” – a lovely little mud hole.  He stayed in this spot for well over 30 min driving in and out of it, dragging his poor scooter around and around.  Even though I had just put new clothes on him and had just washed and dried the shoes he was wearing, I couldn’t bear to pull him away from his joyful bliss.  At one point he accidentally fell into the mud on his bottom giving us all a good laugh.

When he got tired he desperately wanted us to push him.  Tim humored him for a while and then came up with the idea of tying a rope to the bike and pulling him up and down the lane.  Every time Ian passed his mud hole, he steered straight into it – no matter which side of the lane he was on.  It was a good time for all of us and yes, I was able to get all the mud out of his shorts, pullover, socks and shoes.

Lusaka is well into its rainy season now.  The heavy rains, which were supposed to come in late December have now arrived.  They are becoming more predictable now, with daily rains coming at around 14:00 hrs.  The ground has pretty much reached its saturation point and that means that driving gets a lot more interesting.

Most of our missionaries have 4WD because getting in and out of the townships means passing through deep water holes.  Seriously, some of the low spots in the road fill with water threaten to swallow up even the most equipped vehicles.

I took some pictures last week as I drove around.  Notice in the first picture how high the water is coming on the tailpipes of sedans.  This photo was taken on Great East Rd. which is one of Lusaka’s busiest rds.  It’s not unusual to see motorists submerge their exhaust systems completely.

I had to speak at a church in Kanyama, and boy was that journey interesting.  The road into Kanyama felt more like a roller coaster or mud rally than a main road.  Even at Ciyanjano, the creek is roaring.  The bridge is now impassible because the creek has cut out around one side of the bridge.

So far, Lusaka’s townships aren’t experiencing any cholera outbreaks but with the ground reaching saturation point, pit latrines will start filling up and boreholes might be threatened with surface water contamination.  Life here is a delicate balance.  Transportation for locals is fraught with delays, mud and getting drenched.  Most people can’t wait for this time of the year to be over.

But the rains also sustain life here.  The majority of Zambia drains into the mighty Zambezi and Kafue Rivers which course their way throughout the land bringing much need water and fertility.  They are now very full.  The life cycle of many plants and animals here depend on the extremes of knowing plenty and feeling want.

In our neighborhood, any time we get rain we almost certainly will have a blackout.  It’s just an expected reality of living here, so the quicker one learns to accept it the more tranquil life becomes.  I can say that our family has long ago accepted the frequent power outages, but we still have to have a backup game plan for cooking, baths for the kids etc…  For the better part of a week we haven’t received the predictable afternoon rains, but late this afternoon that all changed.  What started as sprinkles turned into a downpour.  Stan (my father-in-law) and I prepared the grill under a tree and suspended card board above the hot coals until they were glowing hot.  The chicken wings went on and sizzled in the early evening rain to perfection.  By the time Donna (my mother-in-law) and Andrea cooked green beans and mashed potatoes over the petrol camping stove, the house was dark.  But that was okay because we have a huge supply of candles that are ready to go for evenings like this.  The dinner was nice and the food was hot.  Candle light dinners are so commonplace for Andrea and I that we’re not that interested in a candle-lit romantic dinner like we used to be. They’re just another component of evening in Africa.

In several posts now we’ve mentioned how the seasonal rains affect life here.  Electricity power outages are a lot more frequent for us in our area.  So, we’ve pulled out our candle supply and have everything ready to go so that we can see what we’re doing at the drop of a hat.  Ian is interested in the candle glow and we’ve caught him more than once approaching the candle to touch it.  When we reprimand him, he thinks it’s a game as you can see in the pictures below.

When it’s overcast and raining, Ian and Ireen get into their book moods.  This morning, Andrea and I walked into the living room and found Ireen “narrating” the book Are You My Mother? to Ian in her own words.  When Ireen tells the story her own way – it usually gets increasingly loud and expressive, further captivating Ian’s attention.  He absolutely adores her (most of the time) and rests his chin on her shoulder as she tells the story.  Andrea and I are getting tired of pointing out the dog…but Ian is intent on adding his contribution…”woh-woh-woh”.  He is such an intense little guy when concentrating on the story line, completely immersed.  We took a few pictures of the two-some before our Sunday morning breakfast.

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.