Thoughts from Sally on her way home
As I write this it’s almost noon in Johannesburg and we are going to hang out at the hotel until it’s time to leave for the airport, around 3. Our flight leaves at 6:55pm for Frankfurt (an 11 hour flight) then a layover in Frankfurt and then our last leg! It’s truly been a wonderful trip but it’s so nice to know that we are on our way home.
Here are just a few random thoughts:
The worship in Lusaka was so wonderful — all voices as they have no instruments (and no power to play them, even if they had them). There is beautiful harmony and rhythm. It is such a different way to attend church than we are used to with the dirt floors and rough benches – and a minimum 2 hour service!
We found flip chart paper for the seminar in Lusaka in the strangest place. It was a local “mall” and there was an open air market selling unwrapped beef and chicken right next to it — all out in the open. So as you can imagine, there were also a lot of flies. Also at this market was a “delicacy” – fried mice! They are served on a stick. I will try many things but not that!!! We met a darling woman at a neighboring stall who wanted her picture taken with us and told us we could call her “Auntie”
We learned from Simeon, our Lusaka contact, that he does not like going up to the mountains for prayer as he believes it is bewitched by those who practice witchcraft. They gather for prayer and fasting every Saturday and meet at a local house or church — but not on the mountain! He too believed that he had been cursed by God before the Empower seminar.
Our interpreter in Lusaka, Milton, worked as an electrical contractor and was in the middle of a job wiring an orphanage. He worked all night so he could attend the seminar. He came straight from the jobsite and apologized for not being better dressed. He was an excellent interpreter and his energy never flagged. I simply do not know how it is managed! I hope he managed to grab a few hours sleep each day. Some days his wife brought clothes for him to change into. It is amazing how well dressed people look. I do not know how they manage to have clean and pressed clothes without running water and electricity! It’s obvious their clothes are western cast-offs and it’s very rare to see a suit that matches but they have pulled together outfits that work very well. We learned that Lazarious, who managed the registration, and his wife, Victoria who led fabulous worship, sold western cast-off clothing. They would take them home and wash them and sell them in the market and this was considered a good job as it ensured enough money to eat that day. Simeon worked in construction, so he might have to work for several days without pay and which meant he would not have money for food so he would have to work all day with eating. It is very difficult to truly understand just how painful and hard their lives are.
Almost none of the pastors receive money for their pastoral work – and those who do are considered to be “milking” the system. The beautiful bishop of the church we used in Lusaka makes buckets to provide for his family. This man just radiated the Spirit and it breaks my heart to think of how he lives. I realize he does not have the western standards to compare his lifestyle to but it seems wrong for such a man of God to have to use a communal outdoor toilet and live without running water or electricity and make buckets to make a living.
Bonface, our Malawian contact and go-to guy, realizes that job creation is the way out of poverty — that his people need to change their understanding of the relationship between men and women AND create jobs that will lift them out of poverty. As a result, he has a driving school that teaches people how to drive both cars and trucks – truck driving seems like a very good job as it is the primary way of moving goods in country and in the surrounding countries. He is a visionary thinker and I can only imagine what his next venture will be!
Yesterday, we attended the David Livingstone Memorial Church in Livingstone. It was a regular building with tile floors and a sound system and keyboard and drums. It was closer to a 3 hour service and we had to leave before the service was over in order to catch our plane. We became friends with a darling young man who drove a taxi and he became our personal driver! While we were waiting for him to pick us up at the church, the deacon/greeter came out to check on us and when he heard we were waiting to be taken to an internet cafe (which are all closed on Sunday we learned), he offered to drive us himself. The Zambian people are so welcoming and caring.
Zelita, Bonface’s wife, took a group of women to attend the Bible Study Fellowship leaders meeting in South Africa. For all the women (except Zelita) it was their first time out of the country – we can only imagine how exciting the trip must have been for them! Bonface, while being a “single father” during Zelita’s trip had planned to take the kids out for pizza and ice cream, their favorite treat.
I have to laugh at myself — as soon as I was back in a nice hotel in Joburg, my attitude changed. I have graciously accepted roach-infested accommodations with intermittent power and only a trickle of water but put me back in western standards, and I find myself becoming demanding! This is something I’ll be reflecting on in the weeks to come!
While in Lilongwe, we visited the African Bible College (commonly known as ABC). It is a beautifully landscaped area. It offers a 4 year program. It has a very good reputation as one of the finest Bible schools and is considered very expensive – $2000 for one year. There are other Bible colleges that are half that amount, and even $1000 per year is considered out of reach.
Malawi has a flat tax on all goods and services and out of that tax provides free medical care. If you go to the hospital, there is compulsory testing for HIV/AIDS. It continues to be a problem but the government has been successful in slowing the rate of infection. Zambia has no free medical care (it is all self-funded) and we imagine the rate of HIV/AIDS to be much higher. Simeon told us of one family in his church where the granddaughter died of measles. When she became sick, the family came to him and said, “Pastor, what shall we do? We have no money for the hospital.” Simeon found the money and they admitted her to hospital but it was too late to save her. Then they had no money for a coffin and Simeon took apart a display unit to build a coffin. A week later, the daughter (the mother of the granddaughter) became ill with cerebral malaria. Again, no money – somehow they find money to admit her to hospital but because it is malaria, she must go to a teaching hospital far away. She dies in hospital and the family has to find money to bring her body home to bury.
We stayed again at Chichiri Lodge in Blantyre, a lovely oasis. The owner’s son, a young man with a beautiful smile, asked us to help him with money for his dowry. He hopes to have enough money collected so he can marry next year. We heard that monthly income might be the equivalent of $20 per month and the dowry might be $206 – which means that the couple may spend the rest of their lives trying to repay that debt — and the resentment on the part of the husband for incurring this debt is part of the problem contributing to domestic violence.
In Malawi, a big news story was about a stepfather who had AIDS. It’s a common belief that if you have sex with a young girl, you will be cured. He had sex with his stepdaughter from the time she was about 5. She died at age 11 and the man had just been sentenced to 11 years in prison.
Despite these sad stories, the people are so wonderful – their smiles warm my heart and their endurance gives me hope for the future. There is change happening here – and I feel blessed, humbled, privileged to be a part of it.