Thursday Visits

Thursday January 22, 2009
Today we started out in a fairly comfy bus headed to a village to work and eat along side our new Zambian friends. The roads were rough and wet. The closer we got, the worse the road became. Finally, the bus could not tackle the next swimming pool in the middle of the road. A Land Rover swam by, stopped on the other side of the pool and took us in 2 loads to the village. When we pulled up the village was there to clap and cheer for our arrival. We are having the hardest time being served so warmly. We feel we have so little to give. We were told tonight that the Zambians have a saying, “It is better to receive a guest than to have gold.” Moreen, the WHIZ staff working with us, and our friend, said that anyone can give money, but for us to come to Zambia gives encouragement. That is why we are treated so well.

The women, including me, stood in a long line from a building to a new piggery being built. Bricks were passed like a bucket brigade. I’m sore, and I didn’t do it with a baby on my back. One woman had a bare breast so that her baby could get milk while she passed bricks. These women are amazing. I should mention that the men stood by and watched.

Other women were cooking the goat, chicken, cabbage, and shema. Everything was prepared outside, flies and all. It is one of those times that you pray, “Lord, protect me from what I am about to eat.” I have to say, the food was wonderful.

After we ate, we climbed back into the Land Rovers and bounced to the middle of nowhere. Even the bad roads had disappeared. Just like always, a few small huts came into view. We were each greeted individually, as is the custom, and offered a very small stool or a place on the make shift mat. We met a little girl, age 7. She has T.B. and they are waiting for the results of her HIV tests. We listened as the WHIZ staff asked questions to check on this little angel’s health. I was allowed to ask a few questions. Does she have siblings? Is there a father in the house? Someone asked if she was attending school? I could not, however, ask the one question I really wanted to ask the mother. How are you coping, and are you afraid? These would be inappropriate questions in a place that must cope. We prayed for the family as we left and presented them with our gift of corn meal and sugar.

As I turned to walk away, I realized that I was having a hard time breathing. Not from sickness or asthma, but because that child may not live to be a troublesome adolescent. I could not breath because she was only 7, and hungry, and sick, and sad. She was not in a hospital bed, but sleeps on a dirt floor each night. As we walked through the corn towards our Land Rover, I wanted to cry to relieve this miserable feeling, but tears would not come. It was if the tears were in my throat blocking off a large percentage of my air.

Our next visit was with two children that lived with their mother. The mom had just come back from the hospital 3 weeks ago because she hemoraged after losing her third child. Her husband died recently also. They are without food. They have only one blanket between them because she wrapped her dead child in the only thing she had to give her. The worker brought us to this family because she thought we might encourage her. She hoped our visit would help the mother get well faster. I told her I was sorry that she had lost her baby. After meeting her two other children, I told her they were beautiful. I asked if the hospital had given her medicine to bring home or vitamins, since she had lost so much blood and was experiencing dizzy spells. The interpreter did not give me her answer. I think she was too upset with the response. We prayed for this family and presented them with a large bag of corn meal and sugar.

I wish I had some funny story to end with today, but there just isn’t one. Hug your children and grandchildren, and thank God that tonight they will sleep on a mattress under warm blankets with full tummys.