on the road going north...

LANDMARK!

soooooooooooooo I finally SUCCESSFULLY made Nshima!! And a 'whole' nshima at that, called 'roller nshima'. It brought back so many memories. it was like being back at my parents house in Togo 15 years ago. Peanut sauce and some chicken YUM!! even those that weren't a big fan of nshima enjoyed the meal.
pictures below are just fr the web, to give you an idea of what it looks like.\

COPPERBELT!!

here we are in the Copperbelt of Zambia visiting the amazing Speedys.
[Copperbelt Province in Zambia covers the mineral-rich Copperbelt, and farming and bush areas to the south. It was the backbone of the Northern Rhodesian economy during British colonial rule and fuelled the hopes of the immediate post-independence period, but its economic importance was severely damaged by a crash in global copper prices in 1973 and the nationalization of the copper mines by the government of Kenneth Kaunda]

P.Adam and Melinda Speedy



KITWE is one of the main cities of the Copperbelt area, North of Zambia.
We left Lusaka Tuesday on a cool early morning. Picked up Kennedy at a filling (gas) station on the way, and off we were on our FIRST african-with our own car-road trip as a family! 5 hours later and no incidents whatsoever, only beautiful countryside, cows and a Welcome to the Copperbelt sign....









... we finally hit Kitwe, second biggest city of Zambia of about 550,000 pple. As we got on one of it's main roads, we got pulled over by the police for supposedly speeding. Jediah tried to talk himself out of the fine ($180,000 -> $35) but the officerjust gave him a cold shoulder. Now. these guys had just knocked at the wrong door. this was part of our food money for the week and i wasn't ready to see it go down somebody's unofficial pocket.[remember this is africa] Mama bear got out of the car with her 2 cubbs and showed up at the window of the officer who had been sitting and playing on his phone the whole time. "Hello officer, I just wanted to ask you for mercy and let you know that this money is our food money, we are not like other Muzungus, blabla bla" Oh boy, i could have insulted him in 15 languages and the reaction wouldn't have been anymore virulent. To make a long story short -after scolding us for treating them like ignorants of the english language for using a word in their dialect and for accusing them of corruption - he told us we could go. [understand; we could go without paying a dime, or a kwacha in this case] I think the most offensive part of it all was that it was woman addressing him. But as Jediah put it, the 'insult' got him distracted from the real offense. With sighs of relief we resumed our journey and arrived at the Speedys dwelling place.

Directly accross from their house, a miracle awaited us. The owners hd agreed to let us stay -free of charge- in their 'cottage' for rent for a week or 2! They even furnished it with 2 beds, a couch, a table and chairs, and a refrigerator! Along with a few items generously supplied by Mindy and a few we brought, we feel very much at home.
Our bed has an amazing mosquito net with a frame at the top, just all perfectly convenient, invented by some genius if you ask me. I want one like that for my birthday. [JED!]
You have to have slept under a regular net in a mosquito infested room to truly appreciate the difference.

So. Kitwe. Yes we are considering it being our next move. So far it's only been blessings. Soon i will post photos taken on outreach and at a bible study in one of the lady's house. Kitwe-ans seem to be a spunky, open, generous, happy pple. They speak Bemba. Bulishani? How are you! Toatotela! Thank you! I'm sure i am totally misspelling those phrases. But i am sure P Adam will correct me (lol)
And so besides a few upset stomachs, we are loving our visit to the Copperbelt!

It rained like crazy yesterday. View fr the living room window.

LUSAKA LIFE

breakfast dinner w/ the Armans!

WE'RE DRIVING!

yup! we have finally found a car!!! after MANY many MAAAAAAAAAANY negotiations, and almost buying a car whose odometer had been tampered with (Jediah figured it out seconds after he had signed the papers -and so proceeded to rip them up) and looooots of prayers and waiting and invaluable help from P Bernard Ntalasha, voila!


it's a Spacio Toyota, a little beat up -even has a non-professional paint job, but looks great from a distance! and doesn't have any major issues -that we know of LOL- so we are just out of our brains estatic! :)

Thanks to all those who helped and prayed!!

here in our living room, praying after signing the contract.



3 times a week we walk up (we'll drive up fr now on!) to P Renaldo's house for team mtgs. Though we would get there all sweaty, those 25 mn brisk walks were most of the time quite enjoyable. 7 am. Slight breeze, blue skies, streets are already bustling (splg), Phil&Tedds stroller is perfect, Liliana is ready for her fist nap and Kezia is singing away the ride. Jediah and take advantage with nice talks or prayer time. Occasionally arguing. hey! no one's perfect.



most roads are dirt roads, and most of those have more potholes than actual road!
the last stretch of road (pic below) before P Renaldo's street has actually been 'fixed up!'




This precious lady, Charity, sells tomatoes, donuts and eggs. On New Year's Eve, her little shack got burnt down...heap of ashes behind her on pic. We helped her by providing whatever we could to build it back up. (she already had most of the wooden frame)


[for bigger view of the pics just click on them]

safety is so relative

We live in a somewhat safe area (some areas in baltimore were way more dangerous!!! )but still, crazy pple are everywhere. Apparently the neighbors directly behind us have had the police called on them before for drug use etc.
The wooden doors on our house are very flimzy and could be knocked down -i'm sure of it- with one single kick. A few months after we moved in we were able to get metal guard doors put it, which does help our sense of safety, especially at night. This morning i found the kitchen door that leads to outside open -as well as the guard door! both unlocked... God really is our security :)

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Team meetings have been SO rich! on thursdays p. renaldo shares a devotion and we talk abtout visitations, upcoming events etc. while all 4 little girls play outside under the watchful eye of Patience.

Here are a few thoughts gleaned.
God has "sleepers". Like certain not-so-famous foreign agencies, that have sleepers set in strategic places. Someone that goes to school, works, live like anyone else, totally blended in and seemingly a nodoby- until ..
Nehemiah was a sleeper. A cup bearer. So mundane. But it was for God's glory. [i can't get over that amazing concept!]
And then one day -bing! Nehemiah started thinking of his people.
Even the events that seem accidental are ordered by God.

photos of last week

keep moving boys......!

so today the girls decided to go to their favorite market. Mandevu.
it's a bit crazy. (african market and crazy? that's just an oximoron.)
p chris dropped julie, sylvie and i off and gloup! here we are engulped (is that a word?) in this row after row of tiny open shops, here curtains are hung high, there men's shirts from all over the world -and worn by who knows how many pple before they got there?!?! how exciting is that?! (not!) then it's our fav spot, 3 big piles of clothes, all 5 pin each. $1. next to that i found 3 awesome tunics/dresses for 10 pin each. yup that's my kind of clothes shopping.
After being preached at by a guy totally drunk, finding a single tall curtain to make curtains for my kitchen and a lot of hand sanitizer we met up with p chris and headed for the other side of the market to visit Fred and Eunice. It was such a sweet time. and because mosquitos are feasting on my legs right now and i'm not getting up to find the spray -it's too late anyways- i'll just tell one small story of our time there. here we are in their over heated living room... sweating bullets. liliana is starting to get antsy, time to feed. when it's that hot it's almost impossible to do and stay decent. so! i decide to relocated to the kitchen that opens to the backyard. clouds are gathering for some imminent rain and so theres a cool(er) breeze coming thru. Eunice sits a tiny stool in one corner by the door, and in a few seconds lili's stomach is filling up nicely. that's when i notice that right there across from me are 2 boys sitting in corner!!!!
Me: hi!! and explode laughing.
next i'm concentrating on pple walking by, most are too hurried to realize there's a muzungu sitting in the doorway of this very poor house and not only that but she's breasfeeding. ouuuu! exciting. (lOl) a group of 4 boys walk by, 5 seconds later they are walking by again . and another 5 seconds and here they are again! this time a little slower... Keep moving boys!
it was quite the experience.

FACTS abt Zambia & AIDS

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christmas a day early.

People in Zambia seem to wonder why Christmas is on the 25th. Of course it's just a date. They also celebrate it on that day but it seems that many raise the question.
Sunday is going to be a busy day, so we decided to have our family celbration today! Thanks to some gd parents and great gd parents we had a bunch of really nice presents to open! Kezia got a beautiful bike.

Matthews is a taxi driver that parks a couple meters from our house from he's not working. He's been taking us places and giving us a little bit of a deal. Today we went to meet his family. I'll try to uload some pictures that will speak for themselves. They are church goers but when they heard that our church was having a dinner after the service they decided to all come to our church tomorrow! :) it'll be great to have them there and maybe God will touch their hearts in a special way.
When we walked in their one room house (separated by a curtain to make 2 rooms (one is the living room/dinning room/kitchen and the other half the bedroom for all 6 occupants...)the children + one neighbor were sitting on the floor in a corner, and their mom and the youngest girl on a chair. After we sat down in their shabby looking but well kept little place, Matthews proceeded to introduce his family to us. "This is my wife Esther, and this is my eldest Mandarine." To which she stood up and shook our hands. "This is the second, Adia" same protocol. "My son Moses" "And the last born Sarah" The little 2 year old was too afraid of our white muzungu faces to even lok at us at first. It made her parents laugh! We had baked 3 dozens of mini muffins and little by little the word got out and 5 or 6 more neighbors joined in the party to get a taste of these funny looking treats. The children had apparently never heard the 'story of christmas' and so we proceeded to give them the long version even as we were sweating bullets. Liliana proceeded to add to the story in her own way and they were all surprised to see a baby wearing nothing but a diaper.
Babies in zambia are always -did i say always?- covered from head to toe and i mean hats, socks, sweaters etc NO MATTER WHAT the temperature... Yeah, sometimes it's disturbing.

Still haven't learnt how to make nshima (spelling correction on that word) but the other night i made a peanut/tomatoe/garden egg sauce west african style and invited our landlady and 'her pple' to join us. they brought the nshima and some other delicious side dishes. Sace made with leaves of green bean plant. Pumkin plant leaves, etc it was super tasty; one of the best meal we've had in Lusaka yet.
She has two children living in America with their families, and after the meal we talked abt the differences of raising children between the 2 continents.

I found out more abt some traditions surrounding a death. wow. i'll tell more later as my little princess is waking up, asking for 2 lattes please.