Zambian Birthdays

Joshua, Caleb and Becky experienced their first Zambian birthday party this past Saturday. One of their friends from church turned five and invited them to her party. The birthday girl is the one with long braids in the middle of the tent filled with some of the children. Becky is easy to spot. : )

It was a cultural learning experience for Sophie as she accompanied the children. In Zambia, birthday parties are not a yearly event. A child will have one party during their childhood years (often at 5), then maybe another party when they become a teenager. Because it is a rare event, the family makes it special.

For this party, the family had rented a jumping house (yes, even in Africa) for the children to have fun in. A wide array of delicious food was prepared and enjoyed by all. When it was cake time, "Happy Birthday" was sung with a "Hip Hip Hooray" added to the end. Once the candles were blown out (they used relighting candles) the child's younger sister fed her a piece of cake. I have heard that with milestone adult birthdays, young grandchildren or grand nephews/nieces feed the honored person bits of cake. Another interesting aspect of a child's birthday party is how gifts are handled. Guests bring gifts just like in America, but the birthday child does not open them. While the child and all the guests look on, an adult opens the gifts and they are set aside to be enjoyed after the party. It sure took less time to open the presents this way, but I still like seeing the joy on a child's face when unwrapping their own gifts.

K5 Graduation for Joshua and Caleb

Our boys had the joy of sharing a graduation ceremony with two of their missionary friends who also finished kindergarten this year. It was nice of the moms to help create such a special day for the four boys. The gowns are homemade, as well as the caps! My (Sophie's) only participation was making and decorating the cakes. A small part compared to the other work done.

All the children from the three families involved sang two verses of Trust and Obey. They did a great job. Then each of the "graduates" recited a poem. Joshua and Caleb said Psalm 23 together. They had learned it earlier in the year and we spent quite a bit of time reviewing it in preparation for this day. We were proud of them.

Uncle Nathan Washer presented the boys with their certificates of completion. Caleb had a little problem with keeping his cap on straight whenever he moved. He has been working on carrying things on his head like the Zambians do, so he got extra practice with his cap.

We had a wonderful time rejoicing in how the Lord has blessed our boys and were reminded that there is much more that needs to be done to continue bringing them up in the admonition and knowledge of our Lord.

Children's Sunday - June 1st

Periodically the church where we are attending (Faith Baptist Church in Riverside) has the Junior Church classes present what they have learned to the congregation. All three of our kids were in the youngest class and enjoyed singing songs and saying a Bible verse with their friends.

Sophie is part of the team of teachers for the second class of children, up to age 9. Their class attendance varies greatly, but the children are usually attentive and quick to learn the Biblical truths taught. This past Sunday, we had a problem with our class. We ran out of chairs! A good problem to have. We had 42 children in our class! Currently we are working on memorizing the books of the New Testament, not just to recite them for the parents, but so the kids can use the Bible better to share it with their friends and to read it for themselves. Joshua recently moved up to this class. Caleb will also, though he still enjoys being with his younger friends.

Radio Station Construction

During the college break, John has been busy building the rooms to house the radio station. He is learning much about Zambian building supplies and methods, such as no electricity for power tools. Some of the Zambians are also learning much about a different way to build. It is rare for them to build a room with wood studs. Most construction is done with concrete blocks for both inside and outside walls.

One of the college students has been helping with the building process. The foam was put in the walls to help sound proof the room. This will be important to block out the noise from the dorm floor below and from the local bar next door. We continue to pray that the bar closes.

There are three rooms total - a small room for the actual radio station computers, a sound room, and a larger room room to be used as a recording studio. This will be a window in between the sound room and the recording studio. John already has some recordings of Bemba choirs, but is looking forward to being able to record more Bemba music to use on the radio. Several of the local pastors/college students have been recording their sermons for a couple years. This provides some Zambian preaching for broadcast in addition to what he receives from the States. Since English is an official language in Zambian and is widely used especially in urban areas, he is able to broadcast in English as well as Bemba.

The country mice move to the city

Let me preface this post by saying that we are not complaining about where the Lord has placed us, but just stating some differences of various settings. There are some very positive aspects of living in town for which we are thankful.

Since moving into town from the Washer's "country home", we are all missing some aspects of the rural setting. Most noticeable is the quiet atmosphere. Our current home is located on a busy main road, near a bus stop, and just down from a large public university. All these produce noise, some more unpleasant than others.


We also miss some of the wildlife, though not the red ants. I had to sigh one day after we moved when Becky included in her breakfast prayer, "and please let the butterflies and birds come out soon." The butterflies were abundant in the Washer's yard as well as colorful small songbirds. In town, we mainly have crows, which are not so small, nor colorful, nor very musical.

Another aspect we are missing is our landlady/neighbor, otherwise known as Auntie Joy. I don't think a day went by that we were not graced with her presence in our home, or we walked down the sidewalk to visit her, or we visited in the yard. The children now appreciate her visits more that they are less frequent, but still at least one a week.


Before we moved, Becky was able to have supper with Auntie Joy (just the two of them) at her apartment. It happened on an evening without power, so they also had fun singing songs by candlelight while Auntie Joy played her guitar. I (mom) stayed long enough to take the picture and then left again.

The boys were able to play football (soccer) with the neighborhood boys in the field outside the Washer's gate a couple times. These "games" were always when mom and dad could keep watch over them. Joshua and Caleb had fun trying to keep up with the Zambian boys who are naturals at the game. The bigger boys were kind to slow down a few times and let our boys actually kick the ball a few times.

The kids also miss playing with the puppies. We do have our share of dogs here in town, since we brought our two, Zambie and Bell, and also have the Haflers' three dogs while they are away on furlough. However, adult dogs or even big puppies like Bell are not the same as cute little puppies. There were two litters of puppies at the Washers when we moved. They were the product of two german shepherd mix females and our Zambie. (We have since gotten Zambie fixed.) The puppies are cute and of course Becky loved them. Here she is with one when it was very young.

Joyful bike ride

Some friends in our church in SC gave John this motorbike as an alternate source of transportation and also enjoyment. We brought it to Zambia on our container. John got it out and running when we were still living out at the Washer's home. Their yard was perfect for putting around. The kids loved getting rides on the motorbike. Even the "kid" who lived down the sidewalk from us. Joy Washer had a nice ride and gave the little kids rides too. Caleb had fun chasing her on a big bicycle from the container. We also brought over little kid bikes outgrown by Sophie's niece and nephews. The boys usually rode these around the Washer's yard, but Caleb thought he was big enough to ride a bigger bike. He did a good job.

Bible Club - April

Sophie was able to help a couple of the other missionary wives in Kitwe with a neighborhood Bible club. She was only able to help one day since we were still living out of town and were trying to get things packed up to move soon. It was a blessing to see quite a number of children attend and hear the Gospel presented in various ways.

Close Encounters with Wild Africa Mid April

We are finally back on the blogsite! After moving into town last month, our internet connection has been a bit slower than what it was when we lived a half hour away from town. Anyway, it seems like I may be able to start updating our blog today.

This takes us back to mid-April when we drove the almost 5 hours to Lusaka (capital of Zambia) during the mid-term break at Central Africa Baptist College. We stayed at a nice place that also has a game preserve offering safari drives in order to see the wild animals. We did go on the game drive, but discovered that April is not the best time to do so. The grass is so abundant that the animals do not have to congregate near watersources in order to find food. And the grass is so tall that the animals very effectively hide from view. We did see a few animals on our drive.

The kids enjoyed the playground and we were able to watch some wild animals which made themselves at home on the manicured lawns. The kids actually were able to get close enough to touch one eland. John had previously encountered it, so we knew it was tame. After a little while with the kids, the eland calmly protested and its head met Joshua and pushed him backwards onto the ground. Joshua did not suffer any injuries and the eland continued grazing on the grass.

We had a close and friendly encounter with an elephant. John and the kids all got to sit on it when it was brought near the lodging area! When we were on our game drive, we met up with the same elephant and we were able to feed it. The kids enjoyed putting pellets into the elephant's trunk.

We also had a close encounter with a rock python. Two rock pythons live in a snake pit. With the help of staff, we were allowed to touch and even hold one of these reptiles. Caleb was our only brave child who held it. The other two did touch, but then kept their distance. Sophie and John also held the python. A group of Zambian guests at the lodge were less keen on handling the snake. We were humored when several of them (including grown men) screamed and ran across the parking lot.

We saw a monitor lizard in a swampy area just off the roadway on our way into Lusaka town one day. It is in the center of the picture. We were able to do some shopping in Lusaka where goods are cheaper than in Kitwe. We even found small packages of M&Ms for just over 50 cents a bag! They were our treasure from the trip.