We woke up Monday morning to find the water was back on at the guesthouse. Hooray! First hot showers in 3 days. When we congratulated Eunice on managing to fix the problem she broke the bad news that is it not actually fixed—they have filled a small reservoir tank which they switched on just long enough for people to bathe in the morning. Easy come, easy go.
We called Martin, one of our regular taxi drivers from previous trips, to come collect us, ready to hit the ground running to take advantage of one of our last business days in the country. Dave leaves tomorrow! Time has flown by.
Martin
In town we took care of several odds and ends while we waited for Theresa to join us. When she arrived we went over to meet the head of the Social Welfare office at the Provincial level. The Permanent Secretary has suggested her as someone who could help us navigate the bureaucracy. We found her to be equally as charming and eager to assist as most of the other officials we have met.
We then went to an internet café where we had arranged to meet Veronica who was bringing in a copy of Evaristo’s birth certificate. Beatrice, the woman who has secured the UWC scholarship for Evaristo, needs us to fax a copy of the birth certificate to her for their records. The fax at the internet café was down and we were told to try the post office. Indeed, the one at the post office was in working order but we could not get the fax to go through. We phoned Beatrice who told us power was out in Lusaka—that would explain it! We will try again tomorrow.
Veronica, Jen and Theresa
The internet still being down at Castle Lodge, we stopped over at Michelangelo to send out the blogs. It was fun to give Theresa and Veronica a chance to read the blogs that have been posted. It is a kick for them to see themselves on line.
Jen offers suggestions on what kind of musungu food to order.
Theresa and Veronica reading the blog.
Michelangelo is very close to Chinan Clinic so we took the opportunity to stop and check in with Dr. Obi and his nurses. We are hoping the nurses will come out to do some community health education campaigns in Kantolomba. We also had some medical supplies that a friend had donated to us to give to local health people here and to ask which of the supplies we brought are most useful/difficult to get in Zambia so we know what to bring on future trips.
The clinic.
Waiting for the nurses.
Jen showing Susan the supplies we brought.
It was fun to catch up with the nurses. They are a cute bunch for sure!
Next, back to the guesthouse for a quick lunch before Gaudencia came to pick us up to go out to Kantolomba. On the drive out, Gaudencia asked us if we have plans to expand our projects to other areas. “It is really noble what you are doing in Kantolomba,” she remarked, “And there are so many others who could benefit.” Gaudencia is from a semi-rural area of Tanzania (north of Zambia) and said she, too, has a dream of helping out the people in the villages where she is from. If only there were 48 hours in every day we would sign on immediately. We confessed that the main reason we do this work is that it is so much fun and incredibly rewarding!
At the Living Compassion property, Dave walked through the building again with Gaudencia and James to point out where we had indicated outlets and sinks. Jen sat with Theresa and Josephine to be sure we have the best plan possible in place to care for Josephine’s baby when it is born. Being HIV positive, there is a very particular protocol that Josephine must follow to keep the baby healthy.
One last walk-around before Dave departs.
Moving bricks.
Imagine looking this beautiful 9 months pregnant with no running water!
When Josephine was getting up to go, Theresa said she had brought a 10-liter container to fill with water to carry back to her house (a 5 minute walk). We were appalled! She is going to deliver any minute and she intends to carry 10 liters of water back to her house?! “We are used to it.” Theresa insisted. When we pleaded that there must be someone who can help her, they called over Pauline, one of the other Living Compassion women. “But she is also pregnant,” we protested. In the end we settled on Brenda whose youngest child is 3 months. These African women are incredible.
Gaudencia gave us a ride back in to town and dropped us at a house in her neighborhood. We had arranged with Sister Bupe (Bupe means ‘gift’ in Bemba) to see a house that the Catholic Diocese owns. Sister Bupe is a wonderful Franciscan nun whom we met on our very first trip to Zambia. We fell in love with her sincerity and humility. For several trips after that we would stop by the house where she lives to see her, but she was always away. Out of the blue, about 3 months ago we got an email from her! She had found out from someone that we were still around and had started a project. It truly has been a gift to reconnect with her on this trip.
She told us about this house the diocese owns and wanted to show it to us as a potential place to stay when we come. It is an amazing story how they acquired the house. It used to belong to an Italian family who lived in Zambia. They had one son who, growing up, was a peer of Sister Bupe. Sister Bupe and the boy remained close friends into adulthood. Sister Bupe told us that she used to tease him and tell him he needed to pray more, and he would respond that he knew she was praying for him. About three years ago he was shot and killed in a robbery. The parents were devastated and decided to move back to Italy. They said they did not feel it was right to sell the house, and as a first step in their healing process they gave it to Sister Bupe to use as a retreat center. We had goose bumps as Sister told us the story while showing us around. It is a special place. We may well be able to make use of it on future trips.
Strawberry Café was just around the corner so we stopped by to send and receive email. We arranged to meet Friday there to finish talking about the potential of him helping us with transportation on the summer trip.
A somewhat better photo of Friday.
Home for dinner, and packing for Dave.