Arise Visits

One of my favourite times of the week is Thursday afternoon, when I go and visit some of the families in the community that are supported by Arise. It is great to be invited into people’s homes and made to feel so welcome. We are always treated with honour and respect which makes for a humbling experience. For example, we're always given something to sit on – be it an old sofa, a water container or a log - although guardians themselves often sit on the floor.

Kamalasha, one of the nearest villages

Sometimes we bump in to children from school!

Although it is a privilege to be invited into peoples’ homes and to chat with them, it can also be heartbreaking to hear their stories and understand the difficulties they face. After the visits, I can go home to my house with a proper bed, running water and plenty of food. I know that if I get ill, my health insurance will cover the cost of treatment. And if I was really struggling here in some way, I know I have friends and family who can help me. And this is simply because I was born in a different place. It seems so unfair when you see the contrast but I've come to the conclusion that there are just some things that we can’t understand.

Eleanor with Elena, who is a very cheerful guardian :-)

The main purpose of the visits is to build relationships and encourage the guardians. We often ask them questions about how they and the children are, how their crops are growing or how the children are getting on at school. Our conversation is through translation as my Bemba only includes greetings and basic words! We listen, chat, encourage and pray.

Psalm 121 says:

I lift my eyes to the hills

Where does my help come from?

It comes from the Lord

The Maker of Heaven and Earth

We can’t provide for all of the orphans or the guardians’ needs, or end their struggles. However, I believe in a God who can. Many people here appear more aware of the spiritual side of life than we sometimes do in the West. It is both provoking and inspiring to see such faith in difficult circumstances. Lots of people here can testify to knowing peace and even joy in the midst of sorrow or pain. 

Gift and her Grandpa

Beautiful Gift

  

I’m not sure who leaves our visits feeling the most encouraged– them or us? I suspect it might be me! I will share some of their stories in another blog post so that you can all be inspired too. J

Arise

I can't believe I haven't written more about 'Arise' earlier! It's definitely one of the things that drew me to Kaniki and a real privilege to be part of, because you get to see the difference it makes in people's lives. 

Kaniki Orphans Project (KOP), as it was originally known, was renamed last year to more accurately reflect its purpose. According to Google (the very reliable source that it is!), ‘Arise’ means ‘to get or stand up’. The purpose of the charity is to empower orphans, vulnerable children and their guardians to rise out of poverty. It works to try and break the dependency syndrome that is often rife in Africa.

Some of the orphans with a guardian

Support is mainly focused through providing education - covering the cost of school fees, books and uniform. The youngest children in Arise are sponsored to attend our school, Kapumpe Christian Primary School (as we only have Grades 1 and 2 at the moment) and older Arise children to attend community and government schools. Sponsors include individuals, mainly from the UK, and a fabulous charity called ThreeEighteen (www.facebook.com/ThreeEighteenUK). 

Alice, who is sponsored to attend Kapumpe Christian Primary School

Each week the Arise Office opens on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, where guardians are able to come and ask for help if they are struggling. This is run by two Zambian volunteers. Rosie and I run a homework club one afternoon a week each too, which is open to any children in the surrounding area.

Homework Club

A lot of time is spent trying to get to know guardians and children so we can build meaningful relationships and trust. We visit families in their homes on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons - some in surrounding villages and others in quite remote areas out in the bush. In addition, there is a children's gathering that takes place on Wednesday afternoons where the children have a meal, play games and hear Bible stories. Guardians are invited to gather on Thursday mornings to chat and pray so that they can be encouraged both emotionally and spiritually.

Lunch at the Wednesday children's gathering which the children call 'Nshima Day'

At the moment, whilst Tim & Gemma (who run Arise) are back in the UK for a month, I am overseeing Arise. It means I am learning more about what is involved every day! So far it has involved co-ordinating the payments of school fees, transport money and making decisions about help we can give…or consulting Gemma over email! There is lots more to share about Arise so future posts may well follow.

Nsobe Arise Camp 2015

The plan was to take twenty Grade 10 Arise orphans (15-16 year olds) to Nsobe for three days of camping. However, when the day arrived, the rain came which meant we had to change our plans. What?? In Africa the sun is supposed to shine!

Due to a day and a half of heavy rain, what was meant to be camping in tents changed to camping at school! Unfortunately not all of our tents would have been waterproof, activities would have been restricted and the roads would have been bad. Not only that, but the rain put some children off and most ended up arriving pretty late.

We fit as many activities in on Monday as we could - playing team games, talks and Bible study, singing round the campfire, toasting marshmallows, watching a film with popcorn, and even decorating t-shirts (which my friend Ang had kindly brought all the way from Asda in the UK).

The funniest moment of the day came when I was trying to teach all the kids how to play rounders. We'd set up a pitch and I believed I'd managed to explain the rules quite clearly. It then became apparent that I'd missed one small detail out, when the first batter hit the ball and the whole team ran around the pitch! It looked so funny, I wish I'd caught it on camera. However, they picked up the game quickly and I was impressed that many of them were very good at it - we seemed to have lots of natural sportsmen and sportswomen!

There were several talks during the day which provided a good opportunity to encourage the children. (Even I did a talk! My grandpa Howard, the preacher, would have been proud!) We taught the children that the Bible says they are loved, they are important and they are part of a family, which is different to what many of them have experienced in their lives.

I really enjoyed looking after the children and spending time with them. They were extremely polite, helpful and appreciative. They didn't have to be asked to wash up but would just get on and do it. I was also amazed that when I announced it was bedtime, none of them made a fuss and they all went straight to bed. I am pretty sure I didn’t used to do that when I was a teenager!

One of the days was a bit drier so we piled into two minibuses and headed to Nsobe for the day. The kids absolutely loved it. There were so many new experiences for them. At the end of the trip we asked them to tell us what they had enjoyed. Hearing their responses made me shed a tear or two! Most of them enjoyed seeing the lake because they had not seen such a large expanse of water before. They also loved seeing some of the animals and holding snakes, which they'd never had the chance to do before. 

It is hard for us to imagine how unusual things like that are for them, compared to their 'normal' life. Even sleeping on the classroom floor was luxurious for many because it was spacious and warm. We fed them up as much as possible - nshima and chicken for lunch, rice and sausages for dinner, plus bananas, lollies and sweets. I don't think any of them turned any food down.

Catherine, our cook

Unfortunately we had a very long journey home because there was so much traffic. We dropped most of the children off near where they live but decided that four of them should stay over at AQ (where Rosie and I live), because it would be too far to walk in the dark. One boy lives on a small farm about an hour's walk from the road. The road is 11km from Kaniki so this gives you an idea of just how far he has to walk to get to school!

AQ, which is reasonably basic to us, seemed like more of a hotel for the children. The four who were staying were so excited to find out that they would have a bed to sleep on. The following morning I was woken up at 5:30am by them sweeping the corridor outside my room! I didn't have the heart to ask them to stop sweeping and be quiet so that I could sleep! They swept the whole house and did all of our washing up, and we hadn’t even asked.

Our camping experience certainly turned out different to what we'd planned but it still achieved the purpose - to make sure the children had lots of fun, some new experiences, get to know each other better and hear that they are loved by God.

Nsobe - A Favourite Place

Nsobe Game Camp is one of my favourite new places. It's about 90 minutes away from where we live in Kaniki so it's near enough to visit in a day, yet it's such a different environment that when you visit you feel like you've really got away. It's a beautiful place and very peaceful too.

Nsobe Game Camp was started in 2001 and takes its name from the Sitatunga Antelope. It only costs 20k to visit (about £2) which means it is a bargain. Orphans are given free entry.

http://www.nsobegamecamp.com/

I've already visited Nsobe four times! Three of my visits were day trips, with the team that visited here from Birmingham in January, when I took my Dad, and then with some of the Arise children more recently (a separate blog post will follow about this). I've also stayed in the bush camp there for a weekend away with a group of friends. The bush camp is a group of chalets with a central dining area and people to cook for you. There’s no electricity so it’s a bit like camping. Some of the bathrooms are partially open too – so you could see a giraffe walking past whilst you’re sitting on the loo!

Our bush camp chalet

During each visit we have seen (or in my case, held!) snakes, stroked an owl, had a barbecue, sat by the lake, done a spot of fishing or swam in the pool, and of course, been on a game drive. 

At the park you are taken on a short tour to see snakes and some of the other smaller animals. You are given the option to hold some of the snakes if you want to. Not everyone was keen like me!

Cute little bunnies - food for the snakes!

As I was passed the first snake to hold during my first visit there, the man explained that it was only slightly venomous! It is known as the 'Friday Night Snake' because apparently its venom gives you a similar feeling as having too many beers on a Friday night!

Holding the 'Friday Night Snake'

Dad looks happy here but it took some convincing!

Look who else I held!

  

Rosie and Maxwell the Owl

Although the park itself is very small in comparison to the main game parks in Zambia, we've still managed to see several giraffes and lots of zebra from close up. As there aren't any lions or hippos, it's safe to get out the car to get a closer look or take better photos. The zebra let me get surprisingly close to them before they ran off! Other animals spotted were impala, kudu, bushbucks, bush babies, crocodiles and monkeys.