J is for Jesus Loves the Little Children

“Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world, red and yellow black and white they are precious in his sight, Jesus loves the little children of the world.”

We sing this traditional Sunday school song during language class at least three times everyday, but before my time here in Zambia the song has never sincerely touched my heart. The Haven is truly heaven on earth for the children who live here as well as the people who are blessed with the opportunity to serve here. It is a beautiful and precious place, but that does mean it is not immune to heartbreak.

Many children are brought to The Haven sick and malnourished. Thankfully, most of them are able to recover and thrive; unfortunately this is not the case for all.

During our time here at Namwianga we have lost two of our little babies. It is a hard emotion to describe when a life that is so innocent with such a huge world ahead of them is suddenly denied that chance. Many family members from the village came for their funeral, which is held at a graveyard behind The Haven. We mourned together but know that these lives are with their creator and are out of pain. 

Throughout my time here “Jesus loves the little children” has rung truer every day we are blessed to hold these babies and love on them. These children have a special place on earth and in God’s kingdom. Leaving them will be extremely difficult, but until that time I cherish everyday that I am able to spend with them … even though they can be little chupas. 

I is for Ice Cold Baptism

 Sunday night after evening service one of my roommates comes running into our room to tell me that there is a baptism going on outside. I walked outside to the courtyard between our house and the main house to a huge gathering of people. They were all singing and dancing together obviously excited for whomever was about to be baptized. Ever since we arrived there has been a large silver tub sitting on the grass by the showers, now we all knew what purpose it served. Men carried barrels of ice-cold water from the showers to pour in the shower. In the pitch black night I could make out Mr. Roy Merritt (founder of Eric’s House, the place for boys from 5-20), a younger man donning a black robe, and the young man about to be baptized. Mr. Merritt hushed the crowd so that the young man could step into the tub. The man wearing the black robe loudly said “I bless you in the name of the father, the son, and the holy spirit”, dunked the young man back once, and the crowd cheered. It was beautiful to see so many come to witness this young man’s baptism and a wonderful Sunday surprise. 

Picture Update

The cute menus at Olga's

Some of the group at Olga's Italian Restaurant

They have Coke Zero here!

Going to see the Lunar Rainbow!

The group at Victoria Falls

"Haven on Earth"
Just a few of the babies I have fallen in love with!

Memory

Nelson, one of our little premi's

Morning language class with Haven Two!

Tea time!

Helen, my baby girl. If for some reason I come home with a baby in bag, this will be her. 

Can't forget Memo and Momo

Brought a beach ball to language class, they loved it! 

Courtney dancing with Momo

F is for Finding My Inner Tongan

Next weekend we will be going to church in nearby village called Kasibi. As guests of the church we are expected to come prepared with one Tongan song and one English song. Tongan is the native language in the Southern region of Zambia. One of our wonderful night guards, Webster, has been teaching us our Tongan song. Not only is he completely serious about it but he’s also got a mean vocal range, he can sing a higher soprano than I can! Webster told us that the song is about the coming of God’s Kingdom and that the Kingdom can be found within you. The song goes a little something like this….

Wabota munzi waba jesu

Ooh la selooka

Wabota munzi waba jesu

Munzi wan gwoalie day

We aren’t sure if that’s how the lyrics are spelled in Tongan but that’s what they sound like to us.

I’ve also picked up a few useful Tongan phrases during our time here. The greeting conversation for morning to mid-afternoon goes like this:

Mwabokaboti – Hi, how are you?

Kabo Tu, Mwabokaboti – I’m fine, how are you?

Some other useful phrases are:

Twallumba – Thank you

Tullabonanajunzi – See you tomorrow

Dainka – Goodbye

Chupa – Ornery baby

Out of all these, Chupa has proven to be the most useful because although those Haven babies are the most precious things in the world, they sure can be little chupas sometimes. 

E is for Eating Italian?

Our second weekend outing was a whole weekend in Livingstone. Livingstone is about an hour away and the next biggest city outside of Kalomo. We stayed at a Protea hotel, the same hotel we stayed at in Johannesburg. Upon seeing our rooms we yelled and acted like we had never seen a normal shower or a queen sized bed before. Needless to say the free wifi and complimentary breakfast made the Protea feel more like a palace. I’m pretty sure I took three showers in the span of a day and a half.

First things first we headed to the market; here my bargaining got a bit better. Fortunately I had a few hair ties because the booth sellers loved those and helped bring down the price. No chetanges to buy in Livingstone but as many crafts as I could ever want and paintings to cover all of my walls. My biggest problem is that the things I wanted, there was no way I could bring those home! Wooden masks as tall as me, hand carved tables, and bongo drums half my size. Thankfully I fell in love with some paintings, jewelry, goblets, and other crafts. The booth sellers will call you over “my sister, my sister, I give you good price” and “I will give you Sunday discount.” Most booths have generally the same thing but it’s hard to resist walking into every single one. Again, once I fell in love with something I gave into whatever price the seller wanted.

Later that night we got ready to go see the Lunar Rainbow at Victoria Falls and had dinner at Olga’s Italian Restaurant. Italian? In Zambia? That’s good? We were all shocked. Olga’s is a restaurant in Livingstone run by an Italian family. They are part of an organization that teaches young adults in Livingstone several trade skills such as cooking and making crafts to sell. We had bruschetta and pizza and I could have sworn we were at home eating Italian. 

Next stop, Victoria Falls for the extremely rare Lunar Rainbow; it only occurs six times a year in three areas around the world. We hiked out to the observation deck in the pitch black night, we were extremely thankful for our handy dandy headlights. Once we made it to the observation deck we waited with all the others from around the world for the rainbow to emerge among the mist. As the brightest full moon I’ve ever seen rose higher the rainbow slowly made its appearance. While it does not look as bright as a daytime rainbow, it is extraordinary nonetheless. More importantly, now I cannot wait to see Victoria Falls, one of the wonders of the world, in the daylight. It truly is the smoke that thunders. 

D is for Dealing

Our first weekend outing was to the market in Kalomo. the town that Namwianga is located about 6 miles out of. I quickly found out that I am not as good at bargaining as I thought I would be. Once I fall in love with some chetange (SH TANG EE), the colorful fabric, or some crafts I don’t really care how much it is. My first piece of chetange I bought I paid 30 Kwacha (6 dollars) and all of the pens I brought to bargain with for the day! I’ve gotten a bit better about trying to get the price lower but I will never be as confident in my bargaining as some of the others here.

On the way into town we always pick up people standing on the side of the road hoping for a ride to Kalomo. Sometimes they’re students, other times they are women with babies, no matter who it is though they are always interesting to talk to.

I also have the opportunity to go into Kalomo with Dr. Weaver whenever she runs errands and I love going just to look around. I like people watching and looking at all of the interesting things the shops in town have to offer – hair cut and free phone charging anyone? Our trips to town most often involve buying sodas to indulge everyone’s caffeine addiction for our weekly movie nights. The only downside is that the road from Namwianga to Kalomo is all dirt and so bumpy sometimes it feels like a roller coaster, but, the little villages dotting the landscape make it all worth it.