In Choma!

Mwabuka buti.
Good Morning. Here we are, day 7 into our trip. It is hard to believe that we have almost been here an entire week. So far, we have been having a lot of fun, and it has been a blast. We certainly all feel blessed to be here, and are enjoying every aspect of our adventure. Many of us have learned a lot about Africa quickly. For one, Africa is not always hot. In the day, we have had this gorgeous spring weather which consists of an 80 degree day with a great breeze, though it is winter time here. Not a cloud in the sky. At night however, it can get rather chilly. Once the hot sun goes down and the multitude of stars poke through the dark sky it can be in the 40 or 50’s. Regardless, the weather is wonderful and the sun is hot.
Saturday we took the 4 hour journey from Lusaka to Choma. It is always an adventure loading up in the “Hiace” van to travel with nine of us. For some of us, the journey went a lot faster than others. It was neat to see the scenery which passed us by. In the middle of what is called the bush, we would find pockets of villagers and small market stands. At moments there was just one person sitting next to a basket of tomatoes or a bunch of bananas with hopes to sell something. The girls had a blast messing around with Ndala who is the field officer for the BIC Mission in Choma. He is from Lusaka but moved and works with Ron Herr who is a missionary working on economic development in the Choma region. Ali believes it was the best journey of her life. The main road was much better than expected. It was a wide paved road with nothing around, so it gave constant opportunity to “commander” (pass) other cars. The ride gave us an appreciation to see the Africa that we perceived to be from pictures and stories we believed to exist. Ron made a quick stop at a banana stand which was quite the experience. Within seconds 15 marketers surrounded the van with bananas and five arms stuffed through the windows with bananas.
Saturday afternoon we finally arrived in Choma and before we could put our bags down, we were on our way to take a walk into downtown Choma. The BIC guesthouse sits down a small dirt road after the bishop’s house, Ron and Erma’s house and past Marian’s house who is a missionary in Zambia. The house is a cute little rancher that houses all of us. The walk to downtown Choma is pretty incredible. We walk through the bush and dry African dust to reach a small primitive area where bright colored paint is used to patch buildings together. Our first walk down showed us a majority of men with our team being the only white folks on the streets. We didn’t have much time, so we picked up a coke and head back to the house. Needless to say we had many heads turning to catch a glimpse. Dinner was at Ron and Erma’s house and it was an incredible meal to say the least.
Sunday we had an opportunity to attend Nahumba BIC church for service. The worship was a beautiful medley of voices, claps and drums. Attending church in Zambia is always an experience of men and women on opposite sides. After service everyone lines up shake everyone’s hand as they leave the church in a continuous line.


The team meet the co-op for the first time today and introduced themselves. Jess and Ali will be working with the co-op and helped to communicate ideas about inventories and how to keep account of their products. We then washed and prepared fabric to dye 22 products. While we are in Simaubi this week the co-op will dye the fabric. The rest of the team (Larry, Matt, Mary and Laura) met with Ron and Ndala to go over some details for our stay in the village for the VSLA training.
Here we are at 14:00 hours off to Choma to buy some last minute supplies for Simaubi. Overall, I think everyone is excited to spend some time leaving in community with the villagers. Having a hut as a roof and a floor as a bed should be growing for us all. Maybe the nshima (cornmeal) and chibwantu (fermented root and cornmeal drink) will top it off.

Please continue to keep us in your prayers as we embark on a “native” (As Larry would say) adventure into Simaubi. So far we are all in good health, and hope to continue to work faithfully and in a strong and healthy manner in the Lord’s name.

-Zambia Team

(AKA Matt & Larry)

Our Journey Begins

Hello Everyone! Today is our second day here in Zambia. On Wednesday, we spent nearly the entire day in London. From Buckingham Palace (where we actually saw the Queen herself) to Big Ben, we sure got the whirlwind tour of London, England. It was exciting for us to run around the city on less than two hours of sleep and still manage to catch our 7:05pm flight to Lusaka, Zambia. On Thursday, Christine, Ron, and Ndalah greeted us at the airport bright and early. Excitement filled each of us as we were about to begin our journey in Zambia. We drove 15 minutes til we reached the MCC (Mennonite Central Committee) House where we would be staying for the next two days. The house is very nice--one house is for the guys, and there is another small building that the four girls are staying in. It takes us about 5hrs to open the door everytime because there are so many locks! I have made it a challenge for myself to try to open the doors in less than two minutes. A night guard named Chris watches the house at night, as well as our cute german-shephard Max. Ron and Larry took a walk and purchased some sugar cane, which they shared with us later that evening during dinner. Christine prepared pasta and salad for us--quite delicious. We actually ended up eating over candle light (soooo romantic) because the power went out. After an exhausting day we all took a nice shower and fell asleep quite quickly.
Today (Friday), we went to MEDA (Mennonite Economic Development Assosiation). They took us into a small village where we helped do some farming work. We split the group into two teams of four each, including Ron. Each team helped a farmer make new garden beds, which required much hoeing and digging. The Zambian children seemed very intrigued by us, and looked at us sheepishly. We would wave to them, and they usually giggled and waved back. I think it was really great for all of us to have this experience. These people clearly do not have the resources that we have back home. Larry. Laura, Matt and Christi spent their time with the district leader of the agricultural Cooperative and local pastor. He was a very interesting man, and had a lot to tell us about life. Somehow Matt found his way trying to search for cobras, while Larry gave out his Starburts and attempted to play volleyball with a shopping bag (very strange kid that Larry is...) (He's standing right next to me, so I can't say anything too bad...that will have to wait until next time). Overall, I'd say this has an excellent beginning to our trip. I look forward to the service that this team will do while we are here, but more importantly I look forward to what we will learn and how God will grow us.

We miss you guys!!!

-Ali

Preparing for Zambia - 2009!!

I am amazed that after so much thought, prayer, planning, and effort on the part of so many people, we are now finally ready to embark on our three-week journey to Zambia!
Our team is composed of a unique and diverse group of people. There are 5 Messiah college students of varying ages and majors, along with myself (Matt) and a Messiah professor, Christine Forsythe. We are so excited to have the opportunity to go serve in Zambia together! This is the second year in a row that we've sent a team of this size to Zambia, and we're looking forward to seeing our friends again and continuing to build relationships with them. We are working with the Tonga people group who have a warm, beautiful culture which we have come to love and appreciate.

For lack of a better term, there are two different "projects" our team will be working on (keeping in mind that the true value of our work is in relationships, not "projects"). The first is in Choma, where we will be helping a small group of people living with HIV/AIDS to improve their craftsmanship in making hand-made paper and tie-die products. We will also be doing some training with them to increase their business acumen so that they can generate income for themselves and their families through this project.

The second project is in a rural village called Simaubi about 70 miles north of Choma. We will be working with two (possibly three) self-formed groups of 15-25 people. We will be training them to operate and independently manage their groups, which will become a type of savings a credit association. They will agree on an amount of money to save on a regular basis, keep it all in a lockbox, and then make it available to group members for loans as needed. The goals of these associations are to increase household security through mobilizing savings, provide the opportunity to access loans for business investment and other needs, and create a "social fund" as a form of insurance that will provide small grants to people in cases of desperate need.

As I write about these goals of these two projects, it strikes me that they are very objective and maybe even "Western" in nature. Perhaps some other goals which might better align with the Zambian culture would be to create solidarity through relationships, increase the social power of the marginalized, and become a stronger and more whole community.

Some of the main prayer requests that we have are as follows:

-Sensitivity to the culture that we're working in.
-That we would have servants hearts and the attitude of learners.
-That meaningful relationships will be formed and that lasting fruit will result from our work.
-That God will be glorified in our lives and the lives of the Zambian people we relate with!

Thanks to you all for your prayers, support and encouragement!

Matt

Relfection: The importance of adaptability

This is an essay that I wrote in a recent application. I thought it might shed some light into some of the things we had to go through and how we reacted. - Chris

This summer I had the privilege of being the team leader of the Messiah College Micoreconomic Development (MED) Group’s trip to Zambia. The trip taught me a lot about African culture and about the importance of being adaptable.

During the organizational phase of the trip, two objectives emerged. The first objective was to assist the art department with the development of a papermaking and tie-dying cooperative by providing business training and consulting services. The second objective was to do research and perform a feasibility study on the implementation of a microfinance program for the summer of 2009. This would involve visiting with a variety of Microfinance Institutions (MFI’s), it’s loan officers, and its clients.

Months of preparation and weekly team meetings allowed us to quickly the importance of cultural understanding. We consulted books, articles, and aid workers from the region.

Once we arrived in country, our new cultural understanding was immediately tested. The organization we had come to assist had failed to inform us that a week was to be allocated to business training in rural villages. We we’re completely unprepared and already had a full schedule.

Our group got together to see how we could still meet our original objectives and while fulfilling the promises that our partner organization had given to these farmers. The most effective way to do this would be to spend two three day stints in the village. The first would be spent meeting with the elders to get their approval and blessing, talking with the villagers, and eating nshima, a cooked porridge made from ground maize, with local farmers.

Before returning, we developed a three day curriculum based on what we had learned from the people. The curriculum covered some basic ideas that could help the farmers move beyond substance. This included better trading strategies, basic record keeping, marketing ideas, crop diversification, and the concept of profit. The whole time we were developing the curriculum we focused on supplementing it with examples from their local community.

While we were able to provide the farmers and merchants of Simiabou with some basic business principles, I firmly believe that we were the true students. In those few days I learned invaluable lessons about farming, community, leadership, and sacrifice that will stay with me for a lifetime.

Our time with these people was a huge blessing for both parties involved. I don’t think that it would have been possible if we hadn’t been aware of the culture and been willing to adapt and make ourselves uncomfortable.

To Livingstone!

Today our team said goodbye to Choma and the wonderful Zambians who we have spent the last two weeks with. Our work is done and everything is now in the hands of those who remain in Choma. We certainly intend to return though, there are many good opportunities for the MED group to get involved.

The papermaking and tie-dye co-op seems very excited about their new business opportunity. They have received training in both the artistic and business aspects of the project. It appears like they have really taken ownership of the project, and two of the leaders were part of Thursday's meeting with the Choma Museum. They were all very excited that Choma Museum has agreed to market their products. We think this market outlet could prove to be very profitable, because at least 10,000 people visit the museum annually. The museum also sells products through their website, http://openentry.com/cmcc/EN/100001.html. The chairman of the co-op, Derek, gave a farewell speech to our group on Friday morning, in which he asked for our continued prayers and support.

We traveled to Livingstone this morning (along with Ron and Erma Herr) where we are staying through Monday morning. Our team spent the whole afternoon at Victoria Falls - it was absolutely beautiful! We were of course amazed by the height of the waterfall, but even more so by its width. I'm still not sure exactly how wide it is, but it was longer than we could see. Of course, we didn't have a clear view because the air was constantly full of mist. I was the only one who didn't bring or rent a rainjacket, and I got thoroughly soaked!

Our team walked to the long bridge that spans the Zambezi river, connecting Zambia and Zimbabwe. After walking over to the Zimbabwe side, and a couple of us walked well into Zimbabwe (until we neared the immigration checkpoint). We met this awesome Zimbabwean named King George who is an actor and musician, who told us many of his neat life stories. We also watched people bungee jumping off the bridge, which was pretty sweet!

On the way back to our lodging, Chris and I were let off in town to look into bus tickets to Botswana (that's going to be tomorrow's little adventure). As we walked back to our lodge, we stopped at a row of craft stalls. By the time we left 1 to 1.5 hours later, we had pulled off the most impressive and fun business deal of our lives. In a nutshell, I traded the very shoes off my feet plus 1,000 K (about 30 cents) for a drum, two wood carvings of traditional Zambian masks, and a Zebra wall hanging! Chris and I worked together to negotiate the deal, and one Zambian craft dealer went home very happy to have a pair of nike tennis shoes from America. The whole bartering process was fun for all of us as we went back and forth trying to work a fair deal. The process was so entertaining that other crafts dealers gathered around to watch! I realized how tender my feet are when I had to walk back from town barefoot...

A week in Choma and Simaubi

So it has been an eventful few days. Starting with Monday, which was the first day of the week for tie dyeing. The whole business team had the opportunity to be there as well. Derick was chosen as the leader of the group, Watson as the secretary, and Eness as the treasurer. After the paper making workshop, the group headed into town to do some shopping. The Spar was the main destination to pick up some food, as well as the internet café and the local market, which was a very cultural experience. So many vendors were present selling fruit, clothing, and other little items. Monday night we got to meet up with some people from Messiah at the Herr’s and had dinner together which was great. Andrea, one person in the group, ended up riding to Macha with the business team on their way to Simaubi.

On Tuesday, the car to Macha was packed, but we viewed it as team bonding. Anyways, once the business team got to Simaubi, there was a workshop for basic business and marketing led by Chris and Shannon. About 55 people attended and it seemed to be received well. The team members (Ron, Shannon, Matt, and Chris) stayed in various community members homes and then held another workshop the next day. This workshop focused on record keeping and was lead by Matt. About 65 people attended. After a meal of enshima, cabbage, chicken, and guinea fowl, and the goodbyes the team was headed back the bumpy road to Choma.

Back in Choma, Tuesday and Wednesday were quite eventful for the art team and J-Lynn. Tuesday was paper making and Wednesday was tie dye. On Tuesday there was a brush fire near the house which drove out a python about 3 feet long. A few local people killed it.

The business team got back Wednesday night and the whole group had antelope stew over at the Herr’s. It was good to be back as a whole group again. Today holds training in business for the leaders of the paper making group as well as another trip to town. The meeting with the Choma Museum today was very successful and all positive things happened.

Paper Making and Enshima

It's been a week since we updated the blog and so much has happened. Internet here is a scarce commodity otherwise we would have updated the blog every day.

Last Tuesday and Wednesday the business students and J-Lynn traveled out to Simaubi, a collection of tribal villages that are located two hours into the bush. There we met with community leaders, shared enshima, and lived in mud huts with the locals. Our purpose in being there was to get to know the people and learn from the business experience and knowledge they have. Most of the people are subsistence farmers who, with a bad rainy season, are struggling to get by. However, this hasn't appeared to affect their generosity and hospitality.
We met with 50 people from the community to learn from them what they want and need to learn about business in order to improve their well being. They were all extremely interested in everything we had to say.
We spent the weekend preparing lesson plans in anticipation for our return to the village tomorrow. Shannon and I will be teaching the people about basic business and marketing skills, while Matt will be introducing them to record keeping and accounting skills. We think that one of the concepts that will be most beneficial for them is the idea of profits.

The art department has also had a fantastic week working on the hand made paper project. They are working with 10 people who are "living positively with HIV and AIDS" on a small business that will help the people support themselves. The group has come together quite nicely and is diligently learning the skills of paper making and tie-dying in hopes of selling their products to tourists through the country. They just finished the first products which look great!

Our week has been busy but God has been showing himself faithful by giving us plenty of energy and encouragement. The people here are kind and sweet and have made our work thoroughly enjoyable.

Chris