STET Zambia - Jo's news

Well another couple of days have passed here in beautiful Mwandi. Yesterday we went to church (United Church of Zambia). The service started at 9:30am and we left at 1pm!! We presented the communion cloth which we’d brought with us, and got the pre-school children to put their hand prints around the edge. We also gave them communion glasses. Bek, Luci and I sang “We are marching in the light of God” – they loved it! Heath (lab technician) preached in English and someone translated into Lozi – the local language. When the service finished the whole church exited single file and shook everyone’s hand, once you got to the end you joined on – so eventually everyone had shaken the hand of everyone in the service – very special. The ladies’ fellowship led the singing in the service, and afterwards they started dancing and singing under the verandah – so Luci and I joined in, it was fantastic!
Yesterday afternoon we went into Mwandi village – where all the village people live, and visited Innocent who carves things out of wood. He is very good so a couple of us bought some of his beautiful wares. We also went to Misole’s place (Misole works for Fiona and is lovely!) and met his wife and daughter – she is very beautiful. Last night Luci and I were present in the Mwandi Mission Hospital for the birth of a baby girl. It was amazing! I sat in the corner and didn’t say anything, but it was very lovely to have the privilege of being there. Unfortunately it’s because I’m a “makua” (white person) and the Mwandi people have such respect for us – but I count it an amazing experience to have been present. Thanks God! Luci did an amazing job, so did the other nurses who were present. Luci will make an amazing midwife some day! This morning Marnie and I will be continuing to work on the Drop-in Centre library. Then Luci and I are going to spend the afternoon in the hospital (want to visit mother and baby from last night!). Tomorrow is Fiona’s birthday – we plan on doing something special. Wednesday I’m going into Livingstone to do some shopping and Thursday and Friday I hope to do some typing for the hospital. I can’t believe we’ve been here for a whole week – I can remember each day as clear as can be, but it’s also zoomed by fast. Love and blessings, Jo xx