It was around 2am, rain was battering the tent, which was lit up periodically by the lightning, and loud claps of thunder echoed around the landscape like louder than I've ever heard before, a lorry trundles along the nearby road and a pig grunts as it brushes past my tent, while goats could be heard bleating not too far away. I was camped in Sekela village at our rural conference.
Photos: Piglets arrive at the conference!
The conference seemed to be a success. We had around 50 delegates of which around 40 were from rural areas and 10 from Chingola itself. Jon led sessions talking about the ‘Life’ concept, and we also had a guest speaker Cornelius, from Luapula province. He has been leading the rooted in Jesus discipleship programme in various parts of that province. There were many workshop sessions too, which also resulted in some amusing sketches which each group had to perform - more amusing if you're fluent in Bemba, but roars of laughter came from the delegates, so they seemed to enjoy it! Through what they had learnt many leaders at this conference now felt empowered to do so much more. They now had a new confidence and direction, which they had lacked before
Photo: Group discussions at the conference
Photo: Cornelius involved with one of the workshops
People slept in the church, some in houses in the village and others in tents. Unfortunately on the first night, the heavy downpour caused one of the tents to flood, and some guests woke up to find their bedding soaked. The rainy season began properly on 1st November, and we’ve had thunderstorms and torrential rain each evening/night since. Apart from this though, the thunderstorms did not cause any other problems for the conference.
I took a practical session on how people could help in their villages. I demonstrated how you can make fly-traps out of plastic bottles and also how you can make a tap to wash your hands out of a large milk carton. The people there were really excited about this, and it seemed to catch their imagination, with almost everyone wanting to make them. Unfortunately we ran out of bottles, such was the demand, but at least they know how to make them now.
Photo: Making flytraps from plastic bottles
Jo did well at organising the women who were cooking the food, and people were very happy with the food, which was nshima (ground maize called a different name whereever you go in Africa, but essentially the same thing) and cabbage with either chicken, fish or beans. For breakfast they had rice. This wasn’t Jo’s menu choice of course. However, she’d been tipped off that this food would go down well, and it did!
Photo: One of the women prepares cabbage
With only 4 bathrooms (sorry bamboo and straw fenced cubicals) the washing process took a while, but it gave a good chance to chat while you were queuing up, waiting for the next metal tub of hot water to arrive for you to wash in.
Photo: The openair bathroom!
There were also a lot of children around where we stayed, and the excitement of the conference coming to their village, was too much to miss, so they needed to be entertained too.
Photo: Zambia's future cricketers in the making!
At the end of the conference it was a slightly sad time as we had to say our goodbyes to the pastors, apart from Jo, who will be out here for another few weeks. Ironically it was Jo that was crying though! Of course Jon plans to be back, and I hope to be too, so it's not goodbye forever.
I said I'd mention reaction to the election, well there hasnt been too much. Rupiah Banda came from behind to win in the end, with 40% of the vote to Sata's 39%. Rather close. Sata has claimed that the election was rigged, but the international community seem to be happy that it was carried out ok. Although many in the Copperbelt region where we are voted for Sata, there has not been any trouble over the result. Just some minor trouble in the capital Lusaka.
Next time on the blog…. The rainy season makes for an eventful final road trip into the bush as we attempt to visit the school in Kapeshi.
No comments:
Post a Comment