Suffering

It's quite hard to know where to start when writing about something like suffering. It is such a subjective, sensitive and complex issue. Yet living in a developing country like Zambia means it cannot be escaped or ignored.

An elderly couple I met in Northern Province

Human suffering gets 'in your face' here. When we visit people in the local communities supported by Arise, there are malnourished children wandering about, people dressed in old and tatty clothing, drunk people stumbling around and people who are so desperate they will beg for money. Occasionally we see people with deformities or disabilities but not many of them because sadly the majority of don't survive in such an environment.

Visiting one of our Kapumpe pupils at home

Suffering is "the state of undergoing pain, distress or hardship". It can be physical, emotional, spiritual or psychological; temporary or ongoing. I'm sure we have all experienced some degree of suffering in our lives but it’s a personal thing which is quite difficult to compare with others. Yet sometimes difficulties that we've faced in our own lives actually help us to empathise with other people.

My generation may not have experienced some of the suffering that previous generations or people in other parts of the world have endured, such as world wars, ethnic cleansing or huge rates of infant mortality, but we do seem to grapple with it. In some situations suffering prompts us to reflect on life and ask questions. For example..."Why is this happening to me?", "How can there be a god?", "If there is a god, how can he be all powerful and all loving when people are suffering?", and "Why do bad things happen to good people?".

Masala market in Ndola

Sometimes we see human mistakes that directly cause people to suffer. Yet the reasons behind other types of suffering remain much more mysterious. I have found it interesting to visit people here who are living in extremely tough circumstances, and observe how they respond to it. I have been inspired by many people who, rather than question whether there is a god because of suffering, actually call out to Him during these times. 

I recently spoke to one of these inspirational characters – an Arise guardian called Mandalene. She is a widow, most likely in her 60s (she herself isn’t sure of her age) who looks after five orphaned grandchildren. She is too old to work so she doesn’t have an income. Daily life is a struggle but she prays that God will provide and works extremely hard growing maize in her field in order to feed her family. Mandalene has very little of material worth but she exudes a peace and contentment that I think many people would probably love to attain. I think this comes from her faith and trust in a God that is bigger than her circumstances, and from the hope that she has for the future. I have noticed that Mandalene is quick to thank God for the smallest of things, which means she focuses on what she has to be grateful for rather than what she doesn’t have. 

Mandalene with one of the grandchildren she cares for

Mandalene with her grandchildren at her home receiving a gift from Arise

With my Western mindset, it could be tempting to patronise Mandalene and presume that she tries to think this way to make her feel better about her situation. Rather than that, her character provokes me to listen and learn from her. Mandalene is an example of someone who lives out the hope she has through suffering.

One of the difficult things about a lot of suffering is that there is often no way to relieve it - no plaster or bandage you can put on, and no pill to make the pain go away. In Arise we try to help alleviate suffering by addressing immediate needs and offering empowerment opportunities through education, farming and discipleship. But sometimes it is frustrating when the small things we are able to do seem to have such a small impact. I often feel pretty useless in these situations but remind myself that the issue of suffering is huge and something that I can't solve. All I can do is listen, pray, encourage and learn from the people that I meet.

One of our guardians quick to thank God for the gift she has received

Things I miss from home...

Hopefully you can tell from my blog posts that I love living in Zambia, particularly having the opportunity to work with the children and adults at Arise and Kapumpe. Most of my week 

tends to be consumed by work but fortunately weekends are more restful. I’m fully 

immersed in life here but there are moments when something might make me miss home. 

Me with one of our Grade 1 pupils

Here are a few of them, in no particular order…

1) Watching the news

The last couple of weeks have been a good example of this. After hearing the (rather interesting!) result of the US presidential elections, Rosie and I watched an online news clip about it. It actually made me miss watching the news! This might sound like a strange thing to miss, but what I really mean is the ease with which you can find out information in the UK and its connectedness with the rest of the world. At home I regularly used to watch BBC Breakfast whilst getting ready for work in the morning which made me feel aware of what was going on in the world. Here I can check out the news online but I have to more actively try to find things out. Sometimes living in an intense environment within the compound here in Kaniki does make the rest of the world feel a little more distant.

Excited to receive post from the UK!

2) Convenience

Another thing I miss is the Tesco Express down the road from my flat, or more to the point the convenience which it represents. Here roadside stalls sell tomatoes and a few other vegetables, and the farm across the road sells some essentials. But generally anything else that you might ‘need’ is only found in town, which is a bumpy half hour car ride away. It’s not just the journey that takes the time though; in true African style nothing can be done quickly here. 

Farm shop

Around the corner from my flat at home are several different takeaways which can come in handy on a Friday evening. In Ndola there are a couple of restaurants where you can order takeaway but unfortunately delivery does not stretch as far as where we live in Kaniki!

A cheeky Nandos is available in town

Everything seems to be more convenient in the UK, which means you can do many more things in a day. Sometimes I miss that. When I'm back home I love being able to see lots of people and meet up with a few different friends in a day. But then again I do have a tendency to make myself too busy and try to fit too many things into one day, so perhaps a lack of convenience out here isn’t such a bad thing for me!

3) Family and friends

As I'm sure many people living away from home would say, it's the people that you know well that you miss most. Material things are reasonably easy to do without, but quality time and conversations with people are more precious. Email, WhatsApp and Skype are great inventions and really help with keeping in touch, but nothing replaces being together with others. Roll on Christmas when I’ll next be back home in the UK for a couple of weeks!

                                             Skype chats

4) Proper chocolate

People who know me well might expect this to be at the very top of my list. I am a self-confessed chocaholic with something of a sugar addition. I was pleasantly surprised to find that there is quite a wide selection of chocolate available here in Zambia including some flavours of Cadburys that we don’t have at home. However it just doesn’t taste as good as it does in England. Apparently here the chocolate contains something to help it survive the heat. I can easily taste the difference and it’s certainly no British Cadburys or Green & Blacks. The good news is that I seem to have built up quite an impressive supply (either that I brought over with me or delivered to me by kind people from home) which just might get me through to Christmas.

                             Chocolate kindly sent by friends

5) Hygge (pronounced hoo-ga)

Kaniki Bible University College was set up by Danish missionaries and is overseen by a group of churches from Denmark. Consequently, there are quite a few Danish volunteers 

here at various times and one word I've learned from their culture is 'hygge'. It is translated

‘cosiness’ and is said to mean creating a warm atmosphere and enjoying the good things in life with good people. 

Dinner with Danish friends

Now there’s certainly no need to try and create a warm atmosphere here when it’s 30-something degrees outside! I love the sunshine and being outdoors, but there is also something I miss about feeling cosy – burrowing under a duvet, sitting by a fire, or drinking mulled wine (or hot chocolate), for example.

I guess one side of this that we do frequently get to enjoy in Zambia is candlelight! Another romantic meal was enjoyed tonight as we endured a bonus power cut in addition to the regular load shedding. 

One of the many jokes about Zesco who supply Zambia's electricity

I expect that Christmas will be a great time to enjoy the cosiness that comes with the cooler British weather. It seems to me that finding things you miss actually helps you appreciate them a little bit more.

South Luangwa

One of the perks of living in Zambia is the natural beauty and wildlife we have on our doorstep. Almost a third of the country is reserved for wildlife, with 20 national parks and 34 game management areas. South Luangwa is, according to Lonely Planet, the best park in Zambia and ‘one of the most majestic in Africa’. Since I first arrived in Zambia, lots of my expat friends have recommended taking a trip there.

Rosie and I have been intending to visit South Luangwa for some time. We heard that the hot season in September/October would be the best time to spot animals as they tend to concentrate around the Luangwa River. So we booked our trip during October half term. We hadn’t quite appreciated just how hot it would be, with daytime temperatures over 40c and still 36 degrees at night. Without any air con or a fan during the power cuts, it was pretty hot!

Rosie’s parents were visiting her here in Zambia so we hired a car and the four of us drove the long route to eastern Zambia via Lusaka. A 4am start plus various stops for ‘second breakfast’ (several times) meant we eventually arrived at South Luangwa at 9pm in the evening. It was interesting seeing the scenery change as we drove through the different areas. I’d almost forgotten how to drive uphill with gears as the Arise vehicle we use is automatic and Ndola is very flat. It seemed that each village sells lots of variations of one particular item such as mats or tomatoes...or even mice which were waved around in the air as we travelled past one area.

We stayed in a lodge just outside the park, where the highlight was having elephants traipse through during the day. When it was dark, there were guards to escort us to our rooms because sometimes elephants and hippos were found wandering around. This turned out to be useful since my tendency of forgetting to pack practical things meant I hadn’t taken a torch.

The park itself is over 9,000km², which is almost half of the size of Wales. As we entered, there was a huge number of crocodiles and hippos. Apparently there are 40 hippos for every kilometre in South Luangwa. We went on a couple of game drives with drivers from the lodge where we were staying, and also did some in our own vehicle.

I love safari. I’ve previously been on short safaris in Kenya, Zimbabwe and Botswana. Even the 5am start was OK because the heat made it difficult to sleep in. Being driven around the beautiful landscape in the sunshine spotting lots of different wild animals was amazing. It was fascinating hearing facts about different animals and being in awe of God’s creation. Rosie was amused at my numerous questions for our safari guide about which animal would win in a fight. We discovered that my favourite animal, the elephant, rarely gets attacked by other animals because of its size. A much less pleasant sight was a rotting hippo which unfortunately we could smell downstream. The hippo’s skin is 5cm thick so animals leave it to rot for a while to make it easier for them to eat!

The highlight of our self-drive safari was when we spotted leopards for the first time. This was an adrenaline fuelled moment. We were driving off the main track watching elephants in the mud when suddenly we spotted a leopard chasing another one! Rosie speedily drove following the chase whilst I was hanging out the window with a camera and a couple of other vehicles raced behind following us.

The following day we were able to watch a leopard reasonably close up. I really don’t know how our guide managed to spot him as he was so well hidden on a branch in the tree. We also saw lions, zebras, giraffe, hyena and buffalo to name but a few. I would definitely recommend South Luangwa to anyone for an amazing African safari experience

Zambian Independence Day

Zambians celebrate Independence Day on the 24^th October.

Children wearing Zambian colours

On this day in 1964, Northern Rhodesia became the Republic of Zambia, with Kenneth Kaunda appointed the country’s first president. This meant that the year 2014 saw big celebrations marking 50 years of the country’s independence. And just two years later it is clear that the celebrations are still considered a very important tradition here. The Zambian staff at Kapumpe told me we should make sure we provide the children with an opportunity to celebrate their Independence Day.

Pre-School colouring Zambian flags

Independence Day is a public holiday, so we celebrated it the previous Friday. At school we hosted a special assembly which involved each class performing a song and sharing information about Zambia; a brief history of Zambia and the meaning of the colours of the flag. Some of our younger children performed traditional dances whilst others from Grade 3 shared their own poems about being Zambian.

Children sharing in assembly

One of our Zambian teachers led the assembly and explained what Independence Day is and why it is celebrated. It felt a little bit strange to me being British and celebrating Zambia’s independence from the UK! This was particularly true when she talked about how white people used to mistreat Zambians until independence meant freedom for Zambia, and that whites and blacks could now do things together.

Whole school assembly

Some of the assembly was led in Bemba, the local language. Occasionally I could hear my name being mentioned when she talked about the ‘muzungus’ (white people). I think she was explaining that independence resulted in Zambia being able to have white teachers and black Zambian teachers working together.

The children (and teachers) all enjoyed coming to school wearing Zambian colours. There were a number of children who had come in their school uniform, not so much because they had forgotten but more likely because they don’t actually own many (if any) of their own clothes other than their uniform. For some of the children, particularly for those supported by the Arise Orphan Project, school uniform is their best outfit. The reactions of the children who came in wearing their uniform were similar to that of children in the UK who end up wearing uniform on ‘mufti day’ – feeling embarrassed or left out. Fortunately we had some chitenge (pieces of cloth that are worn by local people) in Zambian colours, which we used to make headbands or belts for these children to wear.

Dressed in Zambia's colours

After assembly we all enjoyed slices of cake that we had iced with the colours of the Zambian flag. It was a really enjoyable day, and particularly interesting for those of us who weren’t born in Zambia as it gave us a great opportunity to hear about the country's independence from the Zambians' perspective.

Cake iced in the colours of the Zambian flag