Well in Samfya you dont just book a boat, go get on and ride to the island. The first boat was booked a few weeks ago but when we went to pay for it, we were told it was in the swamps on a job but should be back in time. Anyway Levy and Donald talked to someone else and negotiated a better boat (150hp yamaha motor), the same cost,the time of the trip reduced from 4.5 hours to 1.5 hours!! So it was a better deal all round. Forgot to say tho, when you hire a boat here, its not just hire the boat. We had to hire a boat from 1 person, hire the battery for the boat from another person, we had to buy 150L of gas, we had to spend K125,000 on oil for the motor and THEN we had to hire the boat driver for the weekend!! Only in Africa!!!
We were all ready to go and got down to the boat, only to realise the Zambians coming with us hadnt finished lunch! So, in true Zambian style we were bit late laeaving - only 1.5 hours late.
It was great to be in the boat on the water, seeing something different.We visited Chalubi Island for a stop off after 1 hour and cold coke. Boy it was hot! We are having temperatures of between 35 - 40 degrees every day, I can understand why they have a 2 hour lunch break here.
Anyway we were visiting Peter Chomba's home village (Peter is a teacher from the bible school). As we drove through the swamp area he phoned his family and church friends and said we would be there in 20 minutes. He turns to us and says " they will be there to meet us and will transport us to the church grounds.
Peter was right, all these people arrived and they did transport our gear, on they heads, their bicycles and backs!! We walked through the village, there were many drunks and people hanging around, it took about 30 minutes to get from the water edge to the church property.
We arrived at the church where we were greeted by many people and the women had been busy cooking for our dinner. The fire was going and the hot water was ready for us to shower. What a humbling experience.
We set up our tents in the daylight then were taken to the "guesthouse" where we were served dinner, before everyone else, dinner of enshema, chicken, fish, rice and cabbage. No forks needed, we ate with fingers, the enshema is a bit like mashed potato, no flavour tho, they take a handfull and roll it into balls, squeezed like putty in their hands, and then roll it in the sauce for some flavour i guess and then eat it. ONce we were served, the men were then served and then lastly the women and children ate.
Very poor living conditions - reminded Deane and I of our life last year in the jungle in Kubamitwe village, I look back now and know it was only by Gods strength that we survived. O and it was back to those lovely long drops too. Dont worry Bri these were reasonably new ones, so they didnt smell and there were hardly any flys, they build holes in the walls for ventilation.
That evening we had a service, the singing was amazing and then Donald did a a teaching session. We headed to bed, it was a rather cold night and lots of mozzies flying around but the tents were good, the ground a little hard.
We were awoken at 5.30am by the ladies coming to clean the dishes from last nigiht and prepare for lunch for today. We had taken our own breakfast, cornies milk and sugar plus t-bags.
The day started off lovely and cool and overcast, suppose thats what its like in most places when you get up at 5.30 - 6am!
Peter took us on a tour of his village and families homes, it was really interesting and amazing at how poor and remote this fishing village is. We walked past a group of men from the church that were busy chopping off the head of the goat we were having for lunch!!!
Back to the church and the first session of teaching from Donald and then Francis Chola (another teacher from the Bible School).
Goat was served for lunch together with the staple diet of enshema, rice and cabbage.
Rice and cabbage became my regular meal each time. OH but I did try a piece of goat.
Anyway in the afternoon we held 2 workshops, Donald with the Elders on roles and responsibilities, training and equipping and Deane with the Deacons, on the deacons responsibilities. Sherrilyn met with the women to discuss some of the issues they face and the work they are doing in the local church. There is such a need for some of the elders and/or deacons to go to the Samfya Bible School for equipping and training, we were able to donate 2 boxes of Bemba bibles to the Chaba Church so that they can sell them and use the money for sponsorship for anyone interested in studying at the school next year.
Boy was it HOT in the middle of the day, we were drinking bottles of water like nothing. There was nowhere to go to escape the heat, a reminder that we have so much and live so comfortably and the people of Africa have so many struggles just to survive a day. Tirelessly the women served cooking, fetching and boiling water and cleaning, even in the heat of the day.
After dinner Donald held another teaching session and we all crashed, i think we were just exhausted from the heat.
Sunday was another early start, after a reasonably good sleep and breakfast we headed for the 3 hour church service, lots of kids, loads of great singing and good teaching from Francis and Donald.
We packed up our tents and things. Lunch was served and we said goodby to some of the ladies and most of the children. The rest of Peters family and church members carried all our bags and gear to the boat, 30 minute walk away.
Well it was a great weekend, even tho it was hot, dry, dusty, tiring and hardwork just surviving the heat, we came away feeling very encouraged by the need for the Samfya Bible School and the work its doing for the training and equipping of people to go back to these villages.
We travelled back through the swamps on to the lake and dropped off an elder from the church to his family living in a fishing village on the side of the swamp, WOW that was a place where anything and everything could and probably did happen. There were men, women and children just hanging around everywhere. Drinking being a real big problem in these fishing villages, so you can only imagine the lifestyle here.
The trip home took a little longer because the lake was covered in fog, so we had to skirt close around the edge of the island until we were not far from crossing over through it to Samfya. The lake was so calm, it was like a millpond, we kept saying "wish we could go for a ski!!"
It certainly was a welcome sight seeing Samfya and a little bit of civilisation (well compared to the fishing village anyway) Nice to have a shower and remove all the dust and sand from our bodies and sit in a chair!!! Boy I must be getting old and soft!
