the gift of Gab

The primary function of Flying Mission’s existence is to support those who are already doing God’s work in rural parts of Zambia and Botswana. That involves a lot of flying of people and their stuff. I love flying in small planes. You’re far enough off the ground to get a great birds eye view of the landscape and not so far that you feel like you’re on a roller coaster ride.

So imagine my excitement when Bryan (FM Zambia director) told me that I could fly along to Macha while I was there. I was standing at the airstrip bright eyed and bushy tailed at 7:00 AM! Those of you who know me well know what a feat that is for me!

Macha is a village of about 200-300 people. It takes six hours to cover the bumpy dirt road between Lusaka and Macha during the dry season. However, we flew the distance in just under an hour in our six-seater plane. An airplane landing at the airstrip is quite an event! So a fair crowd had gathered in Macha to see who was arriving.

Many wonderful things are happening in Macha.

Gil and Rhonda have established Macha International Christian School (MICS). They have just completed the first year with one grade. Each year they anticipate adding another grade.

The Brethren in Christ mission established a hospital there about 100 years ago. It is still going strong and people from miles around come for physical healing, including from TB and Leprosy. While they are there, they also get a dose of Christ’s compassion.

Gertjan and Janneke (from the Netherlands) are so on fire for God. Janneke is a researcher at the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Center in Macha. Gertjan maintains the computer servers for the research center. He also heads up the Vision Community Center. Vision includes a worship center, Internet café (really!), data entry work room where people can earn money for their families in Macha while doing work for companies in other countries, an computer workshop, a radio station, a restaurant, and a gift shop. Many, many Macha residents are involved in operating and maintaining Vision Community Center, and it is wonderful to see the impact God is having in their lives!

As I sipped my orange Fanta and nibbled on a cinnamon and sugar doughnut at the Vision retaurant, I marveled at the way God is moving in Macha. This small village is a magnet for those in other nearby villages, casting a very wide light of God’s truth.

Posted by Gabi at 09:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Wednesday started out pretty normal. However, as the morning wore on, I realized that I was starting to feel the heat and humidity. I was also getting a little tired of all the bugs. I worked in the office a bit in the morning and then had lunch with Rick and Tracy.

After lunch the three of us left for downtown Lusaka. Rick dropped Tracy and me off in a shopping district of town called Kumwala. The streets are lined with stores selling everything from rugs to appliances to household items. Many of the stores sold fabric used for the wrap skirts. They are called chitenge in the local Nyanja language. I bought several while I was there. They are quite comfortable to wear and incredibly versatile. The sidewalks in front of the stores were lined with vendors. Shoes. Tomatoes. Cell phones. Fish. Bananas. Whatever you wanted, you could find it. The streets in Kumwala were dusty and hot and crowded.

In order to sell her car, Tracy had to fill out a ream of paperwork. We found that at the police headquarters. Canadian imigration (for when she marries Rick) required her to get fingerprinted and a background check. We went to InterPol for that. The interesting thing about both of those places was the working arrangement. The offices generally just had several long tables and 3-8 people working in each office. There was no airconditioning, so the windows were open and everyone was hoping for a cross-breeze. I saw no computers anywhere and if there was a phone, it was one phone for the entire office. And somehow the work still gets done.

By this point we were all pretty tired and hot. So we took off for Manda Hill Mall, a very western style mall. We went to Game. At Game you can get all the same things you can get at Wal-Mart. Household items, flat-screen TVs, Christmas decorations. Turns out all the cheap stuff we get from China is the good stuff. The really cheap stuff gets sent to Africa.

When we finally stopped in a restaurant for some cold drinks, I was just thrilled to have ice cubes in my glass. Normally, I don’t care so much. I often drink water at room temperature. However, room temp in Zambia was translating into 95 degrees. Not so tasty. As I sat down, Tracy said, “You look like you’re going to cry.”

I knew I wouldn’t actually cry, but it was meltdown. A mini culture shock. Seeing the extremes that day (and throughout the week) certainly were a bit overwhelming. I am very glad that I had the meltdown. When I move there next year, I will have to deal with full-fledged culture shock. I will have to work my way through it in order to get over it. And having this mini culture shock gives me an inkling of what I’ll have to deal with.

Posted by Gabi at 07:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

On Monday morning, I drove the 13 kilometers (about 8 miles) with Bryan to Chilongolo. It took us about 30 minutes because of the conditions of the road. Chilongolo is the name of the farm where the Flying Mission airstrip and office is. Makeni Road started out paved in Lusaka. As we drove out of town, there were more and more potholes. Eventually, it was just a very bumpy dirt road.

During this week, about 20 men were on the farm being trained to build with Hydraform blocks. The blocks are made with only 5% cement and 95% local soil (dirt). The soil is very clay-rich in Zambia, so all of the blocks were a beautiful shade of red. Hydraform blocks are interlocking and therefore don’t require any mortar. It’s a wonderful and inexspensive way to build in rural Zambia. By the end of the week, the men had completed a toilet/shower building for the new worker housing.

Bryan gave me a tour of the Farm and I met Roger and Sally Green, a lovely couple from England. Roger and Sally are in charge of the physical projects. Sally also runs a soccer ministry with the children in the area. We had lunch with the Greens on Monday.

I saw where future missionary and guest housing would go, as well as the future hangar/office. I also saw the current office that I’ll be working in. It’s a converted storage shed and has no airconditioning. But – it does have high speed internet!!! On both Monday and Tuesday, I spent time in the office chatting with people as they came in and working on little projects. I cleaned up the office some and moved some of the furniture around. Bryan had me working on some documents that he’s been wanting to create for months but hasn’t had time to complete. It was great to be useful right away.

Tuesday was much of the same at the farm. I got to chat with Rick and Tracy some more. Doug and Deb Hammes, along with two short-termers from Germany, had arrived late the night before and we were all very happy to see them. They had driven up from Jo’burg to Lusaka. It took them two days to get there.

On Tuesday evening we all went to Bryan and Diane’s for dinner. Deb and I drove in early with Bryan so that we could help. Diane figured the best way for us to help was to play with her children while she fixed dinner. Just fine with us. We had a great time playing with Charis (2 months), Ross (19 months), and Toby (4 years).

That night I went back to the farm with Doug and Deb and slept in the house of one of the other pilot families, the Breuningers, who were out on vacation. I had a square mosquito net there, which worked out really well, especially in keeping the spiders out of my bed.

Posted by Gabi at 06:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Blog silence has been broken!

I’ve been back from Africa for nearly four weeks and have been unable to get back onto the blog. The side effects of the malaria medicne made me so sick that I stopped taking it three weeks early. I am just now starting to really recover from that. Between that and trying to get caught up at work and with my classes. Some things have just fallen by the wayside.

With that said: I’m back! Off we go! Wheeeee!

Posted by Gabi at 11:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)