CUMC in Zambia

The CUMC Zambia mission team has successfully arrived in Zimba, Zambia!

 Bob Whitsitt, David & Taylor May, and Chuck & Will Carter arrived in South Africa after a long 16 hour flight from Atlanta.  Following an overnight in JBurg, we  took a morning flight to Livingstone, Zambia where our friend and missionary from CUMC-Memphis, Janet Sisco welcomed us at the airport.  Bob, David & Taylor are old veterans at coming to Zambia, but the Carter boys are new to the mission experience here.

Janet took the team into downtown Livingstone to shop at the market for food and make currency exchanges where we exchanged $10 US for 50,000 kwacha.  We then prepared for the 1 and ½ hour “bumpy” ride to Zimba….pavement is one of the many luxuries the team has come to realize  is often taken for granted!  We have also learned that all bags arriving after a flight is not always a given!  Even though 3 out of our 10 bags were lost enroute, the 7 that made it were the ones most needed!  God clearly has everything under control.

After two days of travel, we arrived at the IVV(International Vision Volunteers) guesthouse on Monday evening.  Brenda and Mercy have provided incredible care for us  by cooking meals, washing dishes and clothes  while generally taking care of everyone!  Janet took us on a quick walk through the “market” as soon as we arrived.  Dried fish, mealie meal, and hand crafted items were all available for purchase!  Zimba has only about 5,000 residents. The language is primarily Tonga, but some English.

The Zimba Mission Hospital is right next door to the guesthouse, so the team had a short walk on Tuesday morning, to start the day with worship and devotion with many of the staff from the hospital…what an experience!  These wonderful, happy and passionate people can bring a room to life!  We were awed by the presence of God and the knowledge of the Bible that flows from these brothers and sisters in Christ!  Dr Dan and Dr Joan are the wonderful doctors that serve the people of Zambia.

By  8:30 AM, the team was at work, tearing out the ceiling in the pediatric ward in the hospital, where roof leaks during the rainy season have prevented the room from being usable.  Janet had arranged for a local man to join us in the repair process and we have so enjoyed getting to work, worship, eat and share with our new friend, Mabvuto.  As experienced SOS workers, this team was not surprised to discover that there were some hidden problems that would have to be added to the “to do list”. Most of the sheet metal roof was mostly torn off leaving a huge “skylight” as we left in darkness for the night.

We enjoyed a great meal prepared by Brenda and Mercy, shared some devotional time together, recapped our day and headed for bed still recovering from jet lag.

Wednesday began again with “chapel” at the hospital, where we learned that women in Zambia are also incredible ministers of the gospel!  We made additional new friends and got back to the repair work with Mabvuto teaching us the local short cuts on the best ways to repair a tin roof!  There is such suffering in Southern Africa…especially with the aids epidemic…please pray for the people of Zambia and all of Africa.  As one of the locals said to Janet today, “I believe that Aids will destroy Africa”.  We saw firsthand how the people of Zimba deal with death today!

The temperature is 77 or so by day and around 46 at night…and there is no night sky like the beauty of the Zimba night sky!

Please pray for the team and that we will stay focused on our mission of “keeping our eyes on Jesus” as we seek God’s will for us each day!

                                                                                                                                                                                          

 

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