I have had a very interesting time since I got here. Home till tomorrow, is with a member of a local church which has overseen funds sent for land transfer taxes before we got here. Tomorrow, a holiday here, we will be moving to the new home of a friend of Beverly’s in whose orphanage we stayed last year. That home which we saw last year is absolutely gorgeous. Her husband is a retired professor of Zambia University. She is very astute in acquiring building supplies at way below market value which adds to the value.
Last Monday we traveled out of town about 23 kl. Along dirt tracks certainly not graded since rainy season if ever. It was exactly like driving out to the village in Mexico when I was a child. A group of huts greeted us upon our arrival. Strewn between them were about six rusted out old vehicles of various ages which had been left exactly where they had “died”. The view down the valley from the village was magnificent.
About 11am 26 headmen, six women and two children had gathered for the 10 o’clock tribal council meeting with us. Should they give us land in their area or would we turn out to be the same as a Muslim group who promised schools on free property and then brought orphans from across Zambia (so the orphans could not contact their families) and began training them as suicide terrorist? The Zambian government shut that program down about 8 years ago but the white Arabic like building sits out of place alone in that valley, a constant reminder of a very bad decision which they don’t want to repeat.
Local headmen have every reason to wonder who we are and what we will or won’t do. A week before, at a meeting standing on a dirt trail where our fourwheel vehicles could go no farther, Chiyeya, the no. 2 headman had said, quite forcefully,”Are you going to be just like them?”
We sat in a round mud grass thatched roof council chamber with built in mud bench all around the inside wall. (women and children on the floor). I was given a padded chair seat (no back), three other guests had wood seats. The very orderly and interesting meeting lasted only four hours with everyone I guess, going out at one time or another to the “facilities”. The meeting didn’t stop. At about three we ate lunch. My diabetes was ok with periodic testing and a shot of sugar form one bite-sized Mars bars. Lunch was preceded with someone caring around a bowl and pitcher of water for each one in turn to wash his/her hands. But where did they get the water?
Throughout the meeting small children, dogs and chickens occasionally appeared silhouetted in the doorway, but did not enter.
The discussion in the meeting began with each and every headman standing and stating how glad they were that someone was finally going to do something in their area. It was both hard to hear and gratifying, they are so poor. Then came concerns, most quite legitimate. In the end it was decided that a delegation of sixteen would come by bus on Friday July 3 to see both building projects Beverly had been responsible for building.
Therefore Friday July 3 was a very interesting day. 12 men and 2 women arrived about 11:30 am at kanyama. They toured one orphan home the church and each and every classroom, the office and library. The questions asked of many teachers and the head mistress were intelligent and thought provoking, 45 min worth. Two questions were: How do you handle difficult children and how do you handle children with mental challenges? Chiyeya, I learned later has such a son. The school offered to test his son and said they might be able to accommodate him. Cheyaya was sold on the project. He later told me “You people really do want to help us”. His English was very good.
At the second school the kids were actually in class. Chiyeya got a whole group around him and asked a lot of very good questions. The best was “What is different about this Church based school and a government school?”. Students who had been in both said, “This school is more serious”. They obviously liked that.
All of these questions to teachers and kids alike were conducted in the local language Neanga so Farzam and I had to get regular updates as we went along. In both schools the head mistress ended her presentation by falling to her knees in traditional Neanga custom and asked the assembled headmen to think favorably on granting the land for the school. For these two schools it will be a long awaited place for their graduates. A boarding high school (with public school for kids in the area) which Beverly had clearly been guided of God to provide.
There is still a title problem which needs prayer but which it seem likely to be settled in the near future. There are many angles, pros and cons and issues which I just do not have time now to go into. It is now Monday and we are moving from this house which has limited internet access. We don’t know what is available where we are going.
