Fly Away Home

Ninety-one days till I'm home. Now that my return tickets have been set in stone, it has become very real that I will soon be leaving my home away from home. Living someplace for a length of time forces you to settle in and get comfortable. Never had I dreamed I would wake up every morning in Africa and consider it normal. Yet spending day in and day out with these kids and staff and this lovely African life here has become very much of a norm that I love. God has placed in me a love for these kids that can only come from Him; for their lives, their health, their well-being, their spirituality. I can’t love like Him on my own. In some respects I guess that’s what it will be like when I have my own kids someday (only more so of course), but for now I’m content with just the preview.

Don’t get me wrong, I miss my family and friends very much and can’t wait to spend a whole summer at home (for the first time since the 7th grade), but I could also never replace the experiences I have had while God has placed me here to live, learn, and grow in Namibia. Realistically I have no idea if God has plans for me to ever see these kids again. While praying about all these thoughts this morning, God’s ever-timeliness led me to John 13. Verse 1 reads, “Jesus knew it was time for him to leave this world and go back to the Father. He had always loved those who were his own in the world, and he loved them all the way to the end.” Though clearly I’m not Jesus in this verse, He always promises to understand us and from this I found great peace confirming He does. Whether these kids are in my life just for this time, or if we will meet again someday this side of heaven, I will always love them.

Q=R-S-T

Ques = Really Silly Things. Africa really should be spelled with a Q somehow because everywhere you go, there is one, and 95% percent of the time, it’s a long one. Fortunately many places are kind enough to have benches, buuut you are still left waiting at…doctor’s offices, the pharmacy, the hospital, clinics, or any other government related place. There is no such thing as appointments here, its first come, first serve, and the rest wait.

For example, if you want to take a child to the doctor, you go to the hospital. First off, you show up at least an hour before opening time. Then you sit in a que to get their health card stamped and numbered, then you sit in a que to wait for the doors to open, then stand in a que to get weighed, then sit in que to get temperature and blood pressure taken, then sit in a que to see a general doctor who will then prescribe you to sit in yet another que of the appropriate “specialist” for whatever the problem might be, then last but not least you sit in que at either the bandage/injection room or the pharmacy, or both.

Today in particular was the worst ques I’ve ever been in. Jenny (the primary guardian) and I went to the Home Affairs office to try and iron out some birth certificate issues. It didn’t open till 8am, but we didn’t want to be sitting in the que all day (ha!), so we left at 6. We arrived to find at least a dozen people already waiting. And, as our luck would continue to have it, they called about 30 people with special cards to come first…the leftovers from the day before they never got to! Encouraging beginning, but at least a little entertainment was to come. With so many people waiting so long on sardinely-packed benches in the middle of the summer, things are bound to get ugly. When the workers announced going on a tea break at 10, it was just fortunate punches weren’t thrown. Before we knew it the police and NBC (Namibian Broadcasting Company) were brought in and interviews taken of the ever-maddening que issue. Well, needless to say we didn’t leave until 3:30, 9 hours later, and forget the fact that our mission is thus far unsuccessful. Next time we will attempt leaving at 5am?

Pictured here is NBC interviewing yet another disgruntled que-sitter at the Home Affairs office today.

Results of Bequeathment

It has been 3 years ago today that my dad passed away. In more ways than one, he is the reason that I’m in Namibia, but I often wonder if he even knows I’m here. Either way, I can’t wait to tell him ALL about it when I get to heaven too ;-)

Growing up, I remember him spending a great deal of time leading the missions committee at our church. And with that came the lovely task he bequeathed to me of distributing missionary prayer letters to Sunday School classes. I really enjoyed reading about what God was doing in other countries, so I didn’t mind other than being shy about having to go into all the “adult” classes. But I especially enjoyed reading about the Minks (the previous directors of COZV), since they were old family friends--it gave a personal connection to these outside worlds I kept reading about. But at the time there was nothing more than the cool factor of actually knowing them in “real life” and the occasional fleeting thought of maybe I’d go to Africa someday…waaay in the future, when I was old. Well, I guess old is now…because here I am. My Dad spent a lot of time challenging me in a heart towards missions--missions at its heart—that all Christians are missionaries, no matter how near or far God takes them.

The fast track of my journey here though began just a few weeks after his death. Some people had raised money specifically for 10 of the oldest girls at COZV to come to America and sing and share their testimonies in different churches, and mine happened to be one of them. I hadn’t even given Africa a second thought from my prayer letter days until this night. Being still in the shock of what the past 6 months had been in my own life, hearing their stories of how much more they had been through, some even before the age of 5, snapped me quickly back into reality. I know I can never fully understand all they’ve been through (knock on wood), but I was now one small step closer as I dauntingly realized that night that I was now half an orphan. As the night went on, my heart for them grew deeper and deeper. I had a long, snowy, 5 ½ hour drive back to school that night and all these thoughts never stopped spinning in my head. I just remember God saying something like…’Your summer just became wide open, you know they always write in their prayer letters about needing volunteers, and this passion that you suddenly have for these kids is from Me…now GO!’ And, well, the rest is history. I have now spent just over a year with these wonderful kids.

I have no idea where the rest of my life will lead me…whether it will be back home, back here, or even farther around the world. But in the words of my father in a letter he wrote to me just a few months before his death, “I want to see Christ working in me, just an ordinary [girl] with an extraordinary God running [her] life and me genuinely praising Him for it.”

Thousand Mile Ride-Along

Well, more like 1,600 miles and it was all driving and no riding (which led to a serious case of a truck driver’s tan…), but it was a very enjoyable road trip nonetheless. This past Monday Jenny (the primary guardian), 5 of the kids, and I left for the capital on a medical trip. We took our 2 kids with epilepsy to a neurologist for long overdue checkups/EEG and 3 others to a dermatologist. The medical portion was very successful as well as conclusive as we now have new directions to head in for the treatment of all 5. Although our main purpose of course was medical, we also got to have a lot of fun as we toured the street shops, strolled around the mall, took a dip in the pool, and ate enough meals at KFC to be on a first name basis.

The driving portion was also very successful. In addition to the normal cows, goats, chickens, and dogs in the road, we also saw many wild game along the way. Included was a cape buffalo, baboons, elephants, guinea fowl, wart hogs, a giraffe, springbok, meer cats, a chameleon, a turtle, peacocks, kudu, a wildebeest, hartebeests, and one antelope we have still yet to figure out. Our African road trip turned out to be more like a free safari ride although sadly there are a few birds and a few thousand bugs now less of a life because of it. With the biggest problem only being a waitress confusing margarita pizzas for Mexicana and nearly killing us all, I’d say it was all-in-all a very successful trip.

When It's Over...

That’s exactly when you sleep at a sleepover…when it’s over. For winning the good deed chain competition, I promised all the girls a special night. Last Friday night I had a sleepover with all the oldest girls (12 and up), all 20 of them, and it was a BLAST. We cleaned out the bungalow and filled both levels with mattresses, sheets, pillows, and blankets and brought the TV over from the children’s home. They painted their nails, did makeup, played cards, ate ice cream sundaes, danced their butts off to High School Musical, made pizza from scratch, and then watched movies until lunch time the next day. They told me later that this was their first sleepover, which explains why they were shocked when I told them they could stay up and watch movies all night—and that’s exactly what most of them did, that and giggle of course.

Since it was all the girls that won the competition, I didn’t leave out the youngest 6 girls, but rather just had a separate non-sleepover night for them. In fact, it was even conveniently over by their 8 o’clock bedtime! But they partied hard up until then all donned up in their matching fairy dresses they’d gotten for Christmas. Nancy and I had them over to our house for their own movie night where they had ice cream sundaes, bananas (they weren’t too keen on the idea of healthy food in their ice cream for banana splits, so preferred them separately), jumped on the beds, then took their dresses off and snuggled up in blankets to watch Madagascar 2. Though I say ‘snuggled,’ it was a more of a mixture of snuggling, squirming, and squiggling; not a one of them sat still for more than 5 minutes of course. But all in all a wonderful night for both groups and well deserved.

In Stores Now...

Ok, not quite yet…but let’s think positively here. Children of Zion Village has just released its very first full-length worship CD! One of the members of Mt. Zion church brought with him the equipment for a small recording studio this past October just for the makings of this CD and has done a spectacular job. It is complete with 12 songs and includes songs sung in 3 different Caprivian languages (Silozi, Khwedam, & Mbukushu). The title of the album is fittingly “Milumo Yaku Lumbeka,” meaning ‘Sounds of Worship’ in the local language of Silozi. The artwork featured on the covers is also all done by the kids here.

The album is currently only available from the Children of Zion, Inc office in Bel Air, Maryland, but hopes to soon also be available through their church’s website (http://www.mzprays.org/). To order your copy(s), please contact Lisa McLaughlin by phone (410-836-2121), email (lisa@childrenofzionvillage.org), or even a personal office visit (Mt. Zion Methodist Church in Bel Air, MD). The asking donation price is $10/CD plus a small donation for shipping if you are not able to pick them up. All proceeds will go towards Children of Zion Village. If you have any money left over from Christmas I hope you will consider this investment. They make great gifts ;-)

Also hot off the press is the 2010 Children of Zion Calendar full of new pictures of the kids. Use the same contact info above if you are interested in this as well.

Christmas in July-Like Weather

Never had I imagined I would be spending Christmas in Africa, but these kids are now like my extended family and I loved every minute of the slightly organized chaos. It was hard to imagine that all the normal Christmas traditions I’m used to were going on at the same time at home. Everything was hot, bright, and green outside instead of dull, white, and cold so it made for a rather surreal Christmastime atmosphere, but a very unique and blessed one nonetheless.


Christmas Eve I showed them “Fred Clause” (really cute if you’ve never seen it) and then shipped the younger kids off to bed. Around 9:30 we took all the older kids out by the river to have their first Christmas Eve candlelight service. And well, it went as well as can be expected with 40 giggly teenagers with fire, haha. It was just a short little service filled with Christmas songs, a reviewing of Christ’s birth leading to a reminder of why He came. We ended with a time of personal reflection and communion before some final songs and the colossal job of getting all the candles back so we’d still have a children’s home in the morning. Afterwards I was walking down the girls hallway and heard the little girls singing in their beds, “He knows when you are sleeping, he knows when you’re awake…” I paused and countered with, “exactly, he knows that you’re awake, so go to bed!” then went in and kissed them all goodnight telling them it couldn’t be Christmas till they went to sleep. But like any anxious child on Christmas Eve, sleep was still a long ways off…

Christmas morning, Nancy (my housemate) and I were shocked we didn’t have 57 kids pounding at our door at 6 in the morning, but rather they waited patiently till it was “time.” And finally the “time’ came. Once we had the van loaded, we scurried the kids off to their rooms while their gifts were personally driven and delivered to the Christmas tree by Mr. & Mrs. Clause themselves. Then we called them out and they sat in a large circle as each person’s name was called out, hugged, and given their stocking. Each stocking had 2 new shirts, a journal, candy, coloring books/crayons for the little ones, jewelry for the older girls, etc, (all lovingly donated by sponsoring churches) and all had cards and pictures from sponsors. The little ones made a good attempt, but just couldn’t wait until everyone had gotten theirs to open them.

Then they got their other gifts. The little boys got little backpacks with stickers, a little water bottle, a big plastic car, and candy in it. The little girls all got pink handbags with matching angel/fairy dresses and all the needed little girl dress-up accessories (they had quite the little fairy pow-wow out on the basketball court that night). We decided to give the teenagers the typical easy teenage Christmas gift and they all got differing amounts of money based on their age. I think I saw every kid in about 15 different outfits throughout the day as they all tried out their new clothes, and then everyone else’s new clothes, looking for their new favorite style. That afternoon, I spent about 4 hours playing Connect 4 with about 40 different people…a game they had all gotten that morning and thus the only game with all the pieces.


Then today we had our Mafuta Christmas. Mafuta is a nearby village where we have a feeding center and preschool. For Christmas we have all the staff and a good number of the kids come over to play with our kids, have a big Christmas meal, and get some small gifts. 1 overfilled pickup truck, 1 stuffed van, and 2 crammed mini-bus loads of people later they were finally all here…and they sang the whole way! As soon as they arrived they all went sprinting in different directions—some to the playground, some to the basketball court, some to the netball court, some to the volleyball court, some to the soccer field, and still others just to random corners to play in the sand. But they were all having fun and that was the important part. Meanwhile, I went back to helping prepare a meal for 153 people. We had macaroni, potato/egg salad, mixed veggies, sausage, and meat bones. Then after lunch we handed out little gift bags of puppets, a beanie baby, and candy for each kid and larger gift bags of food for the staff. Then everyone crammed back in the vehicles--just a tad more overstuffed this time as all now had Christmas gifts and very full tummies.