The past two weeks have been great. We finished out the SOLO course and received our Wilderness First Responder certification, so now I can save your life if I find you in the woods with a broken leg. So that’s a good thing. It was an incredible course that I will be following up with the EMT course in New Hampshire in January. We ate a great breakfast at the 3 star hotel in town this past Sunday which involved four plates of food and a monkey stealing my toast.
This week we began the welding course and the GPS navigation course and both are a lot of fun. We spend our mornings in the warehouse welding things together and then come back after lunch and spend the afternoon running around getting coordinate points and plotting a route on the GPS. So life is good. Tomorrow will mark the point one month from my return to the states. I’m so very glad I’ve been able to do this program and thank you again to all of those who have supported me and are continuing to support me with your prayers. I know this is short but dinner is about to be served and I certainly don’t want to be late for that.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Friday, June 20, 2008
Late in coming...
Greetings everyone. I apologize for the tardiness of this update. Quite a bit has gone on since I last wrote so I will try to condense it into a readable post. In large part what has happened since the last post is classes’. We’ve gone through our Tropical Diseases course, Preaching, Diesel Engine Mechanics, Ministry Ethics, and Culture Course. I’ve really enjoyed all of them as they are very well done. Today began our Wilderness First Responder course, which is a recognized certification course in the states. It is taught by Dr. Frank who is the head of SOLO, a teaching organization in the U.S. that teaches courses from the one I’m currently in to EMT certification courses.
We’ve had two special trips to town. One was for one of the guys from South Africa’s birthday. We went to a country club for dinner and it was definitely an old colonial period club. It was a very English style club and was a lot of fun to hang out in. However the food, though good, was a bit scarce in the portions so after eating dinner there we went to another restaurant and ate a second dinner of sorts. The other was just two nights ago we went to Funky Monkey for pizza and then went to Victoria Falls to see the lunar eclipse, which was probably one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen.
Outside of a few trips to town I’ve mostly been on the base. We’ve been doing everything from extending the warehouse to cutting a new road for going to town on. The road cutting we did yesterday and I will be the first to say that it is a ton of work to cut a road out of woods with only axes, machetes, and one band saw. We worked for roughly eight hours doing that and made it about one kilometer (.6 miles) of the two kilometers that have to be cut. Other things I’ve done is remove all of the seats from one our DAF trucks and re-align and reinstall them so we could fit four more seats in the truck. That took about ten hours of straight work and was done the night before we left to go to the bush. That trip to the bush is the other time since the last update that I’ve gotten to leave the base.
We drove out to the village of Kazapati, which we went to last time we went out. However, last time we were only there for a day, where this time we stayed for three. We left on a Friday and spent most of that afternoon setting up camp. Once set up we played the school team in a game of soccer, which we won, and then spoke with them until about dark. The next day we went out in teams of four or five with a translator and spent some time going to different homesteads around the area, visiting with people and encouraging them. Our particular team came upon a wonderful garden about halfway through the day where they were growing lettuce. It was interesting though because they had a foot pump, which works much like and elliptical machine, and pumps water up a hose to the garden. The garden is set up on a hill so that when the water comes out of the hose it runs down a trench and into a flat space that has the plants in it. Once this flat area (maybe two feet wide and four feet long) fills up they block of the waters entrance to it with dirt and the water continues down the trench to the next flat area. The flat areas are set up like steps going down the hill. It was a great system to see and was probably the only green vegetation we had seen all day. That afternoon we played another game of soccer, in which I slightly pulled my right hamstring (and its healed up nicely since). We then did some more ministry before we headed back to camp for dinner. Sunday we split up into different teams again and went to the four different churches in the area. My team went to the Catholic Church, which had some of the most incredible music I’ve heard in a while. One member from each team spoke briefly in the church they were attending before the end of the service and once church was over we headed out.
We did stop by the dairy we stopped at last time on the way home and ate dinner there. Actually we spent the entire afternoon there hanging out and just enjoying relaxing. We have been so blessed that on both of the village trips we’ve done we’ve been able to stop at this place and relax. The reason we get to stop here is because a married couple that is going through AMT has actually been in this area for two years working at an orphanage and has gotten to be good friends with the owners of the dairy.
Beyond that we’ve had a lot of teams coming in and out of the base. We had a couple stop and camp here who have driven from London all the way down the west coast of Africa, to Angola and are going north again to Kenya before they will travel south again to end up in South Africa. We’ve also had a team of teachers come through from Kansas City who are on a teaching mission for two weeks, and of course, our LIFE and SAM project teams.
So I think that is the bulk of what’s been going on over the past three-ish weeks. Thanks for reading and I hope all of you are doing well. I’ll try to be more consistent in the future since I’m actually at the halfway point of my three months here. So take care and feel free to post responses.
We’ve had two special trips to town. One was for one of the guys from South Africa’s birthday. We went to a country club for dinner and it was definitely an old colonial period club. It was a very English style club and was a lot of fun to hang out in. However the food, though good, was a bit scarce in the portions so after eating dinner there we went to another restaurant and ate a second dinner of sorts. The other was just two nights ago we went to Funky Monkey for pizza and then went to Victoria Falls to see the lunar eclipse, which was probably one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen.
Outside of a few trips to town I’ve mostly been on the base. We’ve been doing everything from extending the warehouse to cutting a new road for going to town on. The road cutting we did yesterday and I will be the first to say that it is a ton of work to cut a road out of woods with only axes, machetes, and one band saw. We worked for roughly eight hours doing that and made it about one kilometer (.6 miles) of the two kilometers that have to be cut. Other things I’ve done is remove all of the seats from one our DAF trucks and re-align and reinstall them so we could fit four more seats in the truck. That took about ten hours of straight work and was done the night before we left to go to the bush. That trip to the bush is the other time since the last update that I’ve gotten to leave the base.
We drove out to the village of Kazapati, which we went to last time we went out. However, last time we were only there for a day, where this time we stayed for three. We left on a Friday and spent most of that afternoon setting up camp. Once set up we played the school team in a game of soccer, which we won, and then spoke with them until about dark. The next day we went out in teams of four or five with a translator and spent some time going to different homesteads around the area, visiting with people and encouraging them. Our particular team came upon a wonderful garden about halfway through the day where they were growing lettuce. It was interesting though because they had a foot pump, which works much like and elliptical machine, and pumps water up a hose to the garden. The garden is set up on a hill so that when the water comes out of the hose it runs down a trench and into a flat space that has the plants in it. Once this flat area (maybe two feet wide and four feet long) fills up they block of the waters entrance to it with dirt and the water continues down the trench to the next flat area. The flat areas are set up like steps going down the hill. It was a great system to see and was probably the only green vegetation we had seen all day. That afternoon we played another game of soccer, in which I slightly pulled my right hamstring (and its healed up nicely since). We then did some more ministry before we headed back to camp for dinner. Sunday we split up into different teams again and went to the four different churches in the area. My team went to the Catholic Church, which had some of the most incredible music I’ve heard in a while. One member from each team spoke briefly in the church they were attending before the end of the service and once church was over we headed out.
We did stop by the dairy we stopped at last time on the way home and ate dinner there. Actually we spent the entire afternoon there hanging out and just enjoying relaxing. We have been so blessed that on both of the village trips we’ve done we’ve been able to stop at this place and relax. The reason we get to stop here is because a married couple that is going through AMT has actually been in this area for two years working at an orphanage and has gotten to be good friends with the owners of the dairy.
Beyond that we’ve had a lot of teams coming in and out of the base. We had a couple stop and camp here who have driven from London all the way down the west coast of Africa, to Angola and are going north again to Kenya before they will travel south again to end up in South Africa. We’ve also had a team of teachers come through from Kansas City who are on a teaching mission for two weeks, and of course, our LIFE and SAM project teams.
So I think that is the bulk of what’s been going on over the past three-ish weeks. Thanks for reading and I hope all of you are doing well. I’ll try to be more consistent in the future since I’m actually at the halfway point of my three months here. So take care and feel free to post responses.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Classes
Classes continued this week with preaching and ministry ethics. We had a group that runs an orphanage down the road come and visit the base this weekend. It was good getting to interact with new people and see some new faces. They came for one night and we played a three hour game of phase ten. We’ve had a few visitors to the base since I’ve been here. Most are groups or couples that are just passing through and want to spend a night on the campground here. A team working with the LIFE project just arrived today and they will be going out to the villages on Thursday.
Base life is pretty good. We had our first real trip into town for shopping purposes this past Saturday. It was nice to stock up on snacks and get a few needed supplies. Its still amazing to me that I’m spending three solid months in such a beautiful place. The contrast is interesting from when I did my study abroad six years ago. I was in Austria looking at mountains everyday and now I’m looking at a gorge everyday. Its so beautiful to see every morning as I walk into the conference center. Well, I know it was short but that’s about all for this update. Hopefully I’ll have more to report next week. Have a great week everyone.
Base life is pretty good. We had our first real trip into town for shopping purposes this past Saturday. It was nice to stock up on snacks and get a few needed supplies. Its still amazing to me that I’m spending three solid months in such a beautiful place. The contrast is interesting from when I did my study abroad six years ago. I was in Austria looking at mountains everyday and now I’m looking at a gorge everyday. Its so beautiful to see every morning as I walk into the conference center. Well, I know it was short but that’s about all for this update. Hopefully I’ll have more to report next week. Have a great week everyone.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Out in the Bush
Greetings everyone,
I write you perched on the second floor overlook of the gorge through which the Zambezi river runs and divides Zambia and Zimbabwe. It is such a spectacular view that I simply cannot put it into words. Its been a little more than a week since my last update but I’m pretty close to schedule. This past week has been filled with so many amazing things that its going to be difficult to even cover the basics without getting absurdly long on this post.
Last Saturday and Sunday were spent getting oriented to being on the base and preparing to head out to Libala Basic School, around which are the nine villages we wanted to go and minister to. We left early Monday morning and after a short stop in Livinstone for a few remaining supplies we were off. It’s about a three hour drive to Libala mostly because of the conditions of the roads. Take the worst pothole you’ve seen in the states multiply it by five and place it every 100 feet on the road and that’s about what driving on the paved road here is like. Once we arrived and set up camp on Monday we spent the evening making plans for ministry and deciding who would be going to what village. My team went to a village that was about a ten minute walk from the school. The headman was not there but we met with about 5 adults in the village and were able to minister the gospel to them as well as pray over them.
When we are in the villages we have a survey for which we collect information to pass on to our ‘Life’ program and our SAM project. For example we are to ask about the water supply for the village; if they have a bore-hole or do they get their water from a spring somewhere. The village we were in gets their water from a rank stream nearby. The closest bore-hole is the one located ten minutes away at the school, but to anyone who has every hauled a few gallons of water more than a few feet this can get extremely burdensome.
Throughout the three days we spent at Libala Basic School, we went to about 7 of the 9 villages between the the 4 teams we have, as well as spending time at the school with the kids. On one day we played a scrimmage soccer game against the schools team. Our team consisted of all of the guys and one girl from our group, many of us have played soccer before so that was a helpful fact. We won 2 to 1 but it was a close, tough game. Their team is good and we were pretty evenly matched.
After three days of ministry there we headed out to another village that Overland has gone to before. On the way there we stopped to buy charcoal from a village. When we were driving up there was a woman who was limping around in the village because she had a swollen knee. It had been swollen for about a month and her limp was quite noticeable even from the truck. She could only put a little bit of weight on her leg. So some of our team got out and prayed over her for healing. I was watching from the truck, and when they finished praying she stood up and was still limping, so they prayed over here knee again. This time when she got up I could see that she was fully putting weight on her leg. I watched her walk back and fourth with the biggest smile on her face. God had totally healed her knee. I even have video of her running back and fourth showing that it was completely healed. It was incredible to see.
At the next basic school we went to we intended to have one meeting that afternoon. However, we ended up having three because people kept asking us to speak again. Our last one e didn’t end until almost 10 pm. It was great, the people were so excited for us to be there. Finally on Friday we headed back to the base. On the way though we stopped by one of our team members friends house. It is on an 8000 acre farm and Dairy that was bought by a British family back in 1946. The same family still owns it today. We stopped and had tea with them at ten and then they invited us to stay for lunch. So we swam some in their salt water pool which was a welcomed respite from the heat and dust of the bush. It was such a nice place. We stayed until around two that afternoon and then headed back to base.
I’m so glad to be here and to be learning so much. Thank you to all of you who supported me to be here. I hope everyone is doing well back home and I look forward to hearing from all of you soon. Don’t forget you can write responses on this blog if you would like. Take care until next week.
I write you perched on the second floor overlook of the gorge through which the Zambezi river runs and divides Zambia and Zimbabwe. It is such a spectacular view that I simply cannot put it into words. Its been a little more than a week since my last update but I’m pretty close to schedule. This past week has been filled with so many amazing things that its going to be difficult to even cover the basics without getting absurdly long on this post.
Last Saturday and Sunday were spent getting oriented to being on the base and preparing to head out to Libala Basic School, around which are the nine villages we wanted to go and minister to. We left early Monday morning and after a short stop in Livinstone for a few remaining supplies we were off. It’s about a three hour drive to Libala mostly because of the conditions of the roads. Take the worst pothole you’ve seen in the states multiply it by five and place it every 100 feet on the road and that’s about what driving on the paved road here is like. Once we arrived and set up camp on Monday we spent the evening making plans for ministry and deciding who would be going to what village. My team went to a village that was about a ten minute walk from the school. The headman was not there but we met with about 5 adults in the village and were able to minister the gospel to them as well as pray over them.
When we are in the villages we have a survey for which we collect information to pass on to our ‘Life’ program and our SAM project. For example we are to ask about the water supply for the village; if they have a bore-hole or do they get their water from a spring somewhere. The village we were in gets their water from a rank stream nearby. The closest bore-hole is the one located ten minutes away at the school, but to anyone who has every hauled a few gallons of water more than a few feet this can get extremely burdensome.
Throughout the three days we spent at Libala Basic School, we went to about 7 of the 9 villages between the the 4 teams we have, as well as spending time at the school with the kids. On one day we played a scrimmage soccer game against the schools team. Our team consisted of all of the guys and one girl from our group, many of us have played soccer before so that was a helpful fact. We won 2 to 1 but it was a close, tough game. Their team is good and we were pretty evenly matched.
After three days of ministry there we headed out to another village that Overland has gone to before. On the way there we stopped to buy charcoal from a village. When we were driving up there was a woman who was limping around in the village because she had a swollen knee. It had been swollen for about a month and her limp was quite noticeable even from the truck. She could only put a little bit of weight on her leg. So some of our team got out and prayed over her for healing. I was watching from the truck, and when they finished praying she stood up and was still limping, so they prayed over here knee again. This time when she got up I could see that she was fully putting weight on her leg. I watched her walk back and fourth with the biggest smile on her face. God had totally healed her knee. I even have video of her running back and fourth showing that it was completely healed. It was incredible to see.
At the next basic school we went to we intended to have one meeting that afternoon. However, we ended up having three because people kept asking us to speak again. Our last one e didn’t end until almost 10 pm. It was great, the people were so excited for us to be there. Finally on Friday we headed back to the base. On the way though we stopped by one of our team members friends house. It is on an 8000 acre farm and Dairy that was bought by a British family back in 1946. The same family still owns it today. We stopped and had tea with them at ten and then they invited us to stay for lunch. So we swam some in their salt water pool which was a welcomed respite from the heat and dust of the bush. It was such a nice place. We stayed until around two that afternoon and then headed back to base.
I’m so glad to be here and to be learning so much. Thank you to all of you who supported me to be here. I hope everyone is doing well back home and I look forward to hearing from all of you soon. Don’t forget you can write responses on this blog if you would like. Take care until next week.
Friday, May 9, 2008
First few days
Greetings everyone,
Well, I am in Zambia at the Overland base in Livingstone. We had a great, uneventful flight from D.C. to Johannesburg and then a good stay at a hostel in town before heading to Zambia on Thursday. It’s very surreal to be back here. Getting on the truck, it was as though I had only stepped off of it yesterday. The base on the other hand is a different story. It has changed so much since I was here in ’05. The last time I was here we had only tents, a (new) French drain toilet, and a lean to thatch hut with no walls that served as the office/entertainment centere/kithen. Now there is a complete logistics center with concrete walls (they continued with the thatch roof to keep with the local look), a brick and steel warehouse, a chalet, and thirteen covered tent areas. The retaining wall that overlooks the gorge has been extended and raised and there are now seven trucks instead of three. It’s amazing to see. The pictures on the overland website do not do the place justice. I’ll try to find somewhere to post pictures that everyone can access. Everything is going well so far. Last night we had a short intro by our leaders and then dinner. One neat thing is that we do some things in the British style, such has having tea after every meal. Then this morning we went through the official orientation. Our immediate leaders spoke again and the then leaders of the two humanitarian aid projects that overland started spoke. The LIFE project which deals with material assistance to widows and orphans within the villages and the SAM (Sustainable Agriculture and Microenterprises) project. The SAM project teaches basic agriculture to villages and helps support them in the growing and selling of crops in order to build up a stable economy within the village. We then went to a few of the villages to see some of the projects at work. That’s about it for now. We are going out to some villages from Monday through Friday of next week so the next update will come sometime next weekend. Until then take care and feel free to post responses. I love hearing from everyone back home.
Well, I am in Zambia at the Overland base in Livingstone. We had a great, uneventful flight from D.C. to Johannesburg and then a good stay at a hostel in town before heading to Zambia on Thursday. It’s very surreal to be back here. Getting on the truck, it was as though I had only stepped off of it yesterday. The base on the other hand is a different story. It has changed so much since I was here in ’05. The last time I was here we had only tents, a (new) French drain toilet, and a lean to thatch hut with no walls that served as the office/entertainment centere/kithen. Now there is a complete logistics center with concrete walls (they continued with the thatch roof to keep with the local look), a brick and steel warehouse, a chalet, and thirteen covered tent areas. The retaining wall that overlooks the gorge has been extended and raised and there are now seven trucks instead of three. It’s amazing to see. The pictures on the overland website do not do the place justice. I’ll try to find somewhere to post pictures that everyone can access. Everything is going well so far. Last night we had a short intro by our leaders and then dinner. One neat thing is that we do some things in the British style, such has having tea after every meal. Then this morning we went through the official orientation. Our immediate leaders spoke again and the then leaders of the two humanitarian aid projects that overland started spoke. The LIFE project which deals with material assistance to widows and orphans within the villages and the SAM (Sustainable Agriculture and Microenterprises) project. The SAM project teaches basic agriculture to villages and helps support them in the growing and selling of crops in order to build up a stable economy within the village. We then went to a few of the villages to see some of the projects at work. That’s about it for now. We are going out to some villages from Monday through Friday of next week so the next update will come sometime next weekend. Until then take care and feel free to post responses. I love hearing from everyone back home.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
6 Weeks Out
Greetings everyone! Well I'm a day short of six weeks before I leave on May 5 to go to Zambia. I'm so very excited about this trip. I can't wait to see what God has for me this summer. I'm not sure how much I will write between now and then other than to update on funding and preparations, but if you want to stay informed while I am actually in Zambia this is the place to do it. I should have access to the internet about twice a week via satellite connection so my goal is to update this blog weekly with what's going on and what I'm learning. Thank you all so much for your prayers and support. This trip would not be possible without both. If your interested in learning more about the AMT or Overland just go to their website by clicking on the word. Thanks again.
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