Channels of Hope

Sign promoting the 'know your HIV
status' campaign in Zambia

How we all enjoyed the learning at Kamfinsa. Pastor Chilulu was amazing. His village has electricity so I could play music. He calls his project Channels of Hope and after listening to his inspiring teaching the four pastors from here in Mupitanshi agreed to hold a Channels of Hope meeting in Mupitanshi. Praise God. I was so excited I cried. Whew, there will soon be someone to help me take care of the sick.

His project is based on 'Know your HIV status' as a means of opening peoples eyes to the truth that 1:4 people here in Zambia are infected. He said "if you are not infected you are affected!!" Pastor Chilulu says that ¾ of the population go to church so this is the most obvious channel to get the message out there. So he is coming to speak to the community on 30th June. It will be a 3 days seminar with about 100 people. I am expected to provide lunch for everyone!!!! All the churches in the area have agreed to participate and amalgamate to bring hope to these vulnerable people. Amazing truly amazing. It's the most exciting thing I have done here, and all because my friend Liz gave me a book that had a story about Pastor Chilulu. (Liz: Pastor Chilulu is charming. I also met Milton the orphan who carved all the church pews and who teaches carpentry. Thank you)

Our school is a bit dysfunctional at present. When we call a meeting for the parents to come no one shows. Even the staff don’t always turn up. I am tearing my hair out and in a moment of frustration said, "Well I’ll close the school then" which has seen some action. The headman has put his power behind the school and the PTA so lets hope his muscle works.

The stolen boy's body [mentioned in the last blog] was recovered last week on Wed. They had cut off his genitals and taken other body parts and thrown him in the river. I was horrified. The only good I could do for the family was to buy a coffin for his small body to rest in.

Pastor Richard Musoyo is coming to stay this the weekend so I'm using my guest house. He is a pastor without a church and we have several churches without a pastor – somehow I thought I might facilitate getting them together. Pastors here have to have sponsorship to survive because the people are so poor they only give 50 cents each Sunday. Its such a sad situation for the Church so many people without a shepherd.

That's my news for this time. Thank you again for the wonderful encouraging emails and for your prayers and donations. I wish you could come and visit and meet these people for yourself. Such poverty you have never seen and yet life goes on. Babies are made and born and die, children go to school or not, parents are unfaithful, neglect is common, lack is everywhere and yet we still laugh and tell stories. We still worship God with wonder. Amazing. Do come and visit one day soon.

Love you
Durelle

• See also: A Zambian church walks the talk of love.
• According to the U.S. Agency for International Development Zambia is one of the worst affected countries in Africa, they use the term hyper-epidemic. The Avert organisation also provides information on HIV/AIDS in Zambia - they say the average life expectancy in Zambia has dropped to 39 years as a result of HIV.
  

Jungle Gym

Living in the jungle is tough - we have had four children die in four weeks. Yes, another one this week. The stolen boy has not been recovered. I am shaken by the sheer waste of lives and the large number of deaths and the grief we are all feeling. And while I was busy helping people some came and stole my last chicken and the children came and took all my guavas off the tree. I was so looking forward to eating them too. This week too we had an event of Chicondo where they pick up the coffin and chase people till they find the one who killed the dead person – in this case a child. Pure witchcraft and Satanism. Scary too. People go crazy and run everywhere.

I went to a wedding yesterday. It was a strange mixture of Zambian tradition, English rites and uncertainty under very hot sun and clouds of dust. The next day most people had diarrhoea. I guess cooking for crowds with no facilities and the dirt as the table is always a risk. The bride wore a lovely white dress but her thick veil was used to keep her totally invisible all day. She and the groom were not allowed to talk to each other or to even smile.

My best news is that we all had a wonderful time listening to Pastor Chilulu in Kamfinsa and he inspired us to go back for two days study this week for the next step. All the Pastors in our district are excited about this new project. I had only met Pastor Chilulu once before for 5 minutes, but straight away we were good friends. We are going to sleep in the Church me and 5 church elders all male. Maybe I should delete that line. I know this project is a good plan from God and its gratifying to see the Zambians pick up their game and go for something new and innovative that will change the whole community. Amen.

I miss the students now that they are back at school. Owen phones me sometimes on his illegal phone, and I go to Lamba College where the girls are every few weeks. We now have eleven students sponsored to High School. I know this will bless the community as these young people are given a chance to study and enjoy learning. For most it’s the first time away from home. I see a huge difference in their confidence levels. If you would like to sponsor a young person to go to High School just let me know and I can arrange it. It costs $500 per year.

My parcels and mail arrived - thank you to those who sent them. I love getting your emails. They are so encouraging. I am continuing my chronological Bible reading along with my Church Goodlife. I must say its hard work some of that Old Testament stuff, but there also some real gems. Of course being me I skip off to the Gospels for refreshment.

That's it for this week. Thank you for your prayers and emails. I look forward so much to coming to the internet to read my mail. If you forgot about me it would be awful so thank you and keep sending them. And your prayers reach heaven and then God sends them to me. I can feel them.

So be blessed sweet ones

Durelle

Step by Step

Hi Family and friends,

Good news first - Today I called into Kamfinsa again and have made an appointment to take a group of four leaders from Mupitanshi next Tuesday- please pray that great things will come from this and that our leaders will be inspired to do something similar. I am very excited about it. The high school students are all back at school. Rebecca and Owen are in their last year, Grade 12 so they don't come home again until they have sat national exams in November.

The bad news - sweet little Gift the sick baby was dead the next day when I took the baby food to his mother. I was so upset! Two days later a 4yr old was abducted as they were walking home from the bush farm and we were all involved in searching for him. I took the parents to the police station miles away to register the loss.. Then we had a whole village meeting to which the people who live in the bush area where he went missing were instructed to attend. However only 4 men from that place came. I watched them closely and God told me to speak to them. I said, "You know the people. You know who has the child." They said, "Yes". So I took them to the Headman and asked them to confess. Apparently a woman stole the child and is hiding him in her home. On the information that these men gave a house to house search was to be carried out today - I wont know the results until I get back home.

On Monday I took HIV patients for blood tests and as I sat there in that clinic with 8 people who have this deadly disease they started joking and laughing hysterically. It seemed bizarre but I had to admire them.

Too many people have been coughing over me and this last week I succumbed to the virus and so I have been quite low and feel very homesick.

I have met a pastor who is looking for a church - I would love him to come to Mupitanshi. We are so in need of good leadership. We have lots of churches but few pastors. Rev Richard Musoyo is an ex-army man who has retrained as a pastor and he loves the word of God. He has just returned from a place in the north where because he preached the truth the people tried to poison him... this is true. Most of the deacons and elders were either married to several wives or had mistresses and the deaconesses were single and had dozens of children to different fathers. They didn't want to hear the truth. Here I have one teacher who is pregnant - she hasn't told me yet but its pretty obvious. She is not married and already has twins to a different man. God help me deal with this.

The difference about life here is that in NZ I'd read about all this in the newspaper or Women's Weekly magazine, but here I know everyone involved. It hits harder because of that. Africa is certainly different but I love these people.

That's the news for now. Be blessed . Keep praying for me to stay strong. I really appreciate your prayers. God is certainly working in this place.

Durelle

Mad and Glad

Hi Everyone,

I miss you all so much, but the truth is I love serving God among these people.

I was given a book by Smith Wigglesworth to read. He said: "If you are not making someone glad or sad then your ministry is ineffective." I must be doing something right because a couple of people are very mad at me. I have been summoned to the Chief's palace because of challenging the clinic nurse who was responsible for a 4yr old child dying.

This week I found another case of his neglect - a young woman called Shiska who is very ill, probably with TB, and her baby of two months called Gift who looks like a breathing skeleton. I had to turn away to cry when I saw the child. I took the baby into my arms and as he looked up at me I promised him to do everything I could to help him.

I took them both to another clinic and the nurses have helped me diagnose what to do. We are buying baby food for the child today and they are both on antibiotics until next week. I will show mum how to make the food and pray they can do it hygienically. Please pray that these two may survive and stay glad. My heart breaks for these two. On average I have been taking 20 patients to this good clinic every week and I am building a case to take to the Chief against the other clinic and its incompetence which is endangering lives.

God said to Adam, "Go into the all the earth and fill it", or something like that, so I am beginning to fill the earth of Mupitanshi with the love and mercy of God who wants to bless these people and bring them into the same blessing that we in the west enjoy. Oh how I hate injustice and the people who perpetrate it

The students are all going back to school this weekend so it is a busy time for me - 10 kids to get organised. Whew!

Football is going well there are now 50 men involved in weekly training and matches. I spend every Sunday afternoon encouraging them. I don't understand the rules but I do know how to encourage them generally.

Philan my assistant has been helping me to plant an orchard - 4 mangoes, two bananas, 3 avocados, some sugar cane. and a guava tree. I am supplying food for three widows and their children - so one day I'll have fruit to give them.

Any of you who have read Richard Stearns book "The Hole in Our Gospel" will perhaps remember a story of a community in Zambia called Kamfinsa where the pastors have joined together to form Hope teams to visit the sick and vulnerable. [Google Books extract] I called in to see them last week on the way back from Ndola when I renewed my visa. I met Emmanuel who has said yes to bringing a group of pastors from here to meet them. We are going next week. Four different churches have agreed to come with me. I am so very excited because I think this is the way forward for this area. It will be Zambians inspiring Zambians - they've inspired me too. Please pray for a wonderful outcome from this.

My dear friend Langston, the lost sheep who was found, has been pulled back to the Church who hurt him because the elders said he is not allowed to change churches. I will continue to encourage him on a personal level. Another group who are mad at me.

Zambia is building up for an election and even though my visa says I am not allowed to get involved in politics I can still be interested. I pray for men and women who are honest and have the needs of their nation in their hearts to be called to stand, for corruption is rife here.

Watch this space...

Love and blessings to all

Durelle