A Trip to Kazembe - Part 2

One place most definitely worth visiting in Luapula is Ntumbachushi waterfall. We spent our day off there and had a wonderful time. It was even better visiting with some of our Zambian team members who had never seen a waterfall before! There are numerous waterfalls there so just as you reach one, you find another. I spent most of the day swimming or climbing up the falls - albeit the smaller ones. I also washed my hair there to avoid another cold shower back at the camp!

During the second half of our trip, we ran a series of meetings for children in the community. We had up to 400 children attend the meetings, which consisted of singing songs, Bible stories, praying together and playing numerous crazy games. It was tiring but great to see the kids learn about Jesus and have a really good time.

One of the pre-school kiddies who fell asleep on me!

Towards the end of the week, we also helped with clothing distribution. The clothes were given to children who attend the school where we were staying, but there were lots of other kids who would also have liked clothes. It was absolutely manic as all the children crowded round waiting for their name to be called.

Joseph and Maggie, the pastor and his wife who hosted our team during the visit, are the vision behind the school. They are an inspirational couple. Both have quite severe physical difficulties and yet they are hardworking and faithful people. They used to travel around the village on a bicycle but didn’t find it easy and would sometimes fall off. One of their children was really sad at seeing this, so worked and saved up for a year so that she could buy them the car that they now drive.

Pastor Joseph and his wife Maggie at their house

'The Good Samaritan Community School' was set up to care for orphans. There is a main school building with some smaller buildings built around it, including one which houses chickens. The other rooms are used for classrooms, although there are no desks or chairs. Displays consist of a few pieces of paper stuck to the wall. Ten teachers teach 400 children, and this is a ratio that is much better than in many government schools.

  

The orphans and vulnerable children that the school caters for are also fed there - porridge on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, rice on Wednesday and nshima on Fridays. There is clearly not much money in the area but Joseph and Maggie have been quite resourceful. For example, someone in the local area gave them some seeds, which they then gave to local farmers on the condition that they would provide the school with 10% of what was grown.  

The school kitchen

Kazembe is a very different place to Ndola, so the trip certainly opened my eyes to life in a more remote part of the country. On our way back we stopped overnight near Lake Mweru. It is such a huge lake that it looks like the sea because you can’t see the other side. We enjoyed a swim, as well as seeing a beautiful sunrise and sunset.

Unsurprisingly, we decided to travel back a different way through Zambia, avoiding Congo! It was a longer journey but a lot smoother. After the rest of the team were dropped off at various places, I got my first experience of driving a minibus! It was good to arrive back at Kaniki both safely and still healthy.