Where did that holiday go?
Friday, January 4th, 2008Dear All
Yes, a new term is just round the corner and I’m still trying to work out what happened to the last 2 weeks! Some good things, at least, we have been able to enjoy.
The Sunday before Christmas I was thrilled to hear that my friend Ephrasie had given birth to a son. After a complicated and at times life threatening pregnancy, it was a joy to visit her at the clinic the next day and to hear that apart from a minor infection for which the baby was being treated, all was well! I was honoured to be asked to name the baby and 2 year old Elisa is happily telling everyone that Nicolas is her new brother. She was also caught trying to pull bed clothes, baby and all off the bed and when asked why, once the baby was rescued, said it was because he was crying and she needed to hold him so she could ‘pat’ him - obviously an observant young lady who watches what her mother does!
The weekend before Christmas saw me baking 11 cakes to give to the centre staff along with other Christmas gifts. Why do I decide to do these crazy things, especially with our erratic power supply? Mercifully the day I baked we had power all day and the cakes were a great success with the staff and their families. We’re now back to power for part of a day and none the next, something to do with a cable laid by the Belgians (i.e. over 40 years ago) having finally given out and it being difficult to locate a replacement.
On Christmas Day, a group of us set off early for one of the big prisons just out of the city, for a service for any prisoners who wanted to come. The church was packed and decorated with streamers and balloons. The reason for some of the balloons became evident later in the service. First there were several singing groups, well rehearsed, then a re-enactment of the Christmas story. ‘Jesus’ was played by a live baby, born in the prison. His anxious mother hovered in the wings as he had slept patiently up to the moment he was handed over to ‘Mary’ and then naturally started to gripe. The balloons were burst as the soldiers fired on the children of Bethlehem (slight anachronism but very dramatic). I had the pleasure of rounding off the service some 4 hours later with a short message! On our way home we stopped off at the home of Pastor Mukaya, who was part of the team, and enjoyed a meal which his wife and children had prepared for us. Over lunch, Mama Mangasa who is a regular prison visitor, shared her story with us. It had some harrowing parts, she herself having spent 2 years in the prison we had just been at, for complicity in embezzlement. Knowing the prison from the inside gives her an understanding of what the prisoners have to go through and makes her a welcome visitor, especially for the women.
On the Sunday following Christmas, we were out again, this time at a ‘displaced people’s camp’ here in the city. Although it’s over 10 years since people fled fighting to the north and north east of here, many are so deeply traumatised that they are unable to face the return to their home areas. Some have moved to villages near Lubumbashi and are establishing themselves with land to cultivate but others have remained. The disused abbatoir we visited, intended for women and children, now overflows with children and we had gone specially to give out toys to them which friends in Zambia had passed on. While Ginny played her guitar and sang a few songs with the children, I did a rough count and estimated there to be over a hundred children. I would like to have spent longer talking with some of the mothers but the excitement generated by the distribution of toys made it virtually impossible to hear! Maybe I’ll have an opportunity to go back some other time.
We’re in the hot and damp season now! In fact it’s very hot today and we were all up early as we’re in the middle of a crisis! 2 major storms yesterday threated to wash away our bridge and with only a bunch of teachers to solve the problem, you can imagine there’s lots of discussion and not a lot of activity. Anyway, we’ve managed to move a railway line with the help of 10 burly-ish men, down to the bridge (on a hospital trolley!) and they’re in the process of soldering it to the weak side of the bridge in the hope we can defer distaster. We’ve sent someone to procure 3 more railway lines (they’re 12 metres long and incredibly heavy) and at the same time other men are searching the river bed for rocks to shore up the bank. If money can be raised and a bridge builder found, we will try to rebuild the old bridge in the dry season but at the moment it’s impossible, neither safe nor practical because of flash floods and the force of the current.
We’re looking forward to getting our Christmas post later this week. An American missionary couple travelled to Zambia on Wednesday and should be back soon, maybe even today. We’ll be able to celebrate Christmas all over again.
My very best wishes to you all for 2008. Although our communication lines aren’t always brilliant, we do eventually get both letters and e-mails and I look forward to hearing from many of you again in the coming months.
With love and thanks for all your support.
Bridget