Destination: Lusaka, Zambia

here we stayed at a place we called the farm. a beautiful villa, easily and comfortably hosting the 7 of us, and the residents that live their, this was, and will most likely be the nicest place we stay. having its own orchard, a lake, and my personal favourite, a volleyball court. this place was amazing. we did various random ministry activities in the city the first week in lusaka, but it was the second week there that will remain as the favourite to us all. for the second week we spent every single day in a compound about a kilometer from our farm. no running water, no electricity, dirt houses, this has been my fav part of outreach. we also visited the volunteer school they have going there. (theres no government schools, so they struggle to keep these running) we met and got to know the teachers, and played with the kids. we had a goal of our own as well. they had an overgrown, brush area near the well, that was on the edge of the community and we, along with much help from the community, slashed the brush, cleared the ground, and fashioned wooden goalposts to form in my opinion an amazing pitch

you can sorta see it in the back ground, but a better pic coming soon.

we took the time to get to know the teachers as well, and something that began as polite courtesy turned into another great highlights. we invited the teachers over for dinner one night, that night was something special. starting out semi-awkward. we were eventually all singing classic songs, and laughing non-stop. this was a time when raf and i proudly sang the zambian national anthem which we both learned from Abigail the weeks before. i think the greatest part of the night, is that it led to connection with the teachers. over the years they have been helping there, they said they have had teams like us come in and help, which have been great, but, they ONLY focused on the kids. ya the kids are great, but those teacher who volunteer their were outstanding. always welcoming us into their class to teach a lesson on english, sports, or God. (our adopted three areas of expertise) it was nice to show appreciation to them as well. and their appreciation for our appreciation, is undoubtably a highlight.

so ya, this communtnity called 'Grippes' was amazing. another best part about it was a lady called Brenda. hold on actually, let me back up. as we walked and prayed through the community hoping for things to happen. we discovered something about Africans. they are way to hospitable and way to generous. even one we would just say hi to, (or muliebuangie in Nianja) would insist we come into their house and give us something to eat. there house no bigger than a bedroom, and the food was often their own dinner. yet, they always, always, graciously insisted.
So this brings us to Brenda. Brenda's house is on the outskirts of the compound and exactly on our pathway home. we met her the same way we did the others, except we all felt something different for Brenda. we all basically, the word is, adored her. ill give you the background info. she lives in a house made of mud. about the size of a kitchen, including her bedroom. she has two children, Faith and Christopher. she's Divorced. and she never, doesnt smile. both her kids go to the school we work at, so we see them there alot. and try our best not to favor them. at school chris' friends call him Cesar because of the Cesarean section operation brenda had when he was born, and both of them like the nickname. which was odd, but i liked it as well, so Brenda's spends most of her day in the house. cleaning, laundry and making her living. she has one source of income. her entire income comes from samosas. she makes them every morning, starting at around 6h00. and by noon she should have enough to sell for lunch. if she makes about 40. she can hopefully sell them all at lunch. so now, heres the shocking part. not that their delicious, which they are. their literally incredible. but she charges 500 kwatcha per samosa. which is like 10 cents. these delicacies would go for 1 or 2 bucks each back home, and here basically free. these are brenda's entire means of living. weve been to her house when shes making them, and she taught us how. it really is a perfected skill on her part tho. actually some times id just be walking by, to or home from the school, and id find raf outside, eaither playing the guitar or eating a samosa, just chatting to Brenda. so we saw brenda often, and by the end, loved her family incredibly. so before we left, we bought 5 kgs of rice and the same of flour. a bunch a cooking oil. and delivered it to her. this is all that shell need for the samosa's for quite a while. she was blessed. and so were we. she made us some last samosa's and we took some photos with them.

chris.(ceazer)

faithall of usso along with the time i went to the market with zig zag, and the time we went to his house, we did some soccer clinics with a guy named cossmos, and the church service i preached at. these we all the main highlights and events in our time in Lusaka. two a the greatest weeks. Oh! and the scene of the Lusaka Open. but thats a differnt story entirely.

Ayoba.

Destination: Livingston, Zambia.

so ive decided on this as the best way to recap the first two weeks of outreach. Ministry, highlights, and even struggles. im just going to write a post for every destination, that will include all that doesn't make it into other specific posts. so. We arrived on May 17th at a bus stop in the downtown of livingston, after 4 days of travel. guy named Jonothan picked us up and took us back to Lot# 676, YWAM Base, livingston, zambia. also the first time we met jon, jean and their daughter abigal. the family which became so much our family for those two weeks. so abby participated in the uno games every night, and jean is the one responsible for the unbeliveable meals. ummm next important thing was the soccer ground that was about 5 minutes from the house. And, as one of the only soccer grounds in livingston, it was always packed with kids. this "field" was sand, stones and filled with burr weeds, still we played, barefoot, everyday. This turned into a favourite area of ministry over the two weeks, we played, got to know the kids. and eventually ran a tounie for them and provided lunch and drinks, and gave a little message. over 60 kids ended up showing for it and it was a great success. we even awarded a prize for the winners. and by this time Zig Zag has basically joined our team, and raf and i went to his house that night with his roomate prince and watched a movie. and this is when we decided he needed to come with us to Lusaka.
Other ministry we did in livingston... we visited a hospital. that was... interesting, we visited two orphanages. these were great! actually as i think. the second orphanage we went to, possibly might have been the team highlight for all of livingston. this orphanage was run by a lady named janet and her husband out of their house. much smaller in comparison to the first, they housed about 10 children. so we went and help with what she needed.

This was janets kids....she was honestly such a blessing to us. and she encouraged us so much, so we visited her once more before we left, and delivered her a gift basket that she so deserved, cause doing the work she does, she never can get the appreciation she deserves and we also gave her a date night with her husband. and that day that we spent with her was so amazing. one of the highlights of the whole trip!

and these are the jesus Freaks. (rapping)
these guys spent alot of time working with us, and YWAM livingston. they crazy passionate kids, all planning to study ministry, and they were hilarious. we did alot with them, especially towards the end. they took us to this meeting called Hillcrest. that was insane. it was really my first african church experience. and the best part was, it was all youth. youth led, and organized. i know know what its like to experience over 100 teenagers in a classroom 20 seats across, really hot, and quite sweaty. singing songs, and hearing the word of God preached by a 16 year old boy in a suit. pretty rad. these guys played soccer with us as well, and spent our day off with us, guiding us around the falls. i think patrick was the funniest, his favorite proverb goes "he who finds a good wife, finds a good thing" and we heard that a fair number of times, but these guys were cool. and defiantly a help in our first stop on outreach.

this last picture is of isaac, and most of the closest neighbourhood kids. Livingston, definitely a great place. that we could make it back to someday. who
to be continued... my internet is over in 25 seconds. but i did post two posts below, that i may or may not have posted. but i just added pics. ps. i have about a notebook full a blogs. just waiting for the all elusive interent. done. just in time.

Zig Zag.

this dude, is easily what stands out to me as i think back on our time in Zambia. from the random first metting as colin and raf wandered in Livingston. to watching the opening game of the world cup at his parents place in Lusaka. we did tons with this guy. and he helped out heaps. his an artist by trade. thats how he earns a living. but by day he volunteers at a primary school because, straight up, he just loves kids and is determined to spare them from the rough childhood he had. you can see it in his face, and through his actions. he is past commited to giving every child he meets, a fun and better life. his passion for art relates way to perfectly, the art program he started at the school that would otherwise not have. this is a man living out a vision.
if that werent all. zig zag supports his younger brothers and pays their school fees whenever he can. we saw that as we met his family in Lusaka.
now after all that great stuff. ill tell you the raddest part about zig zag. he's a saint ya. loved by all the kids no doubt. but he is a straight up Rasta. Dreads. Reggae. and red,yellow,green. just another neat aspect to this way interesting relationship.

so now that you know the basic's of Samuel 'zig zag' Nawa this is our story with him, and a few of the funny things that happened along the way.
like i said, we met him in livingston, by random chance, and i can even remember as we debriefed that day, colin mentioning this random guy that he met that day, a guy with a funny name, that he hoped we would see him again, and that we prayed over that relationship. no idea, it would turn into what it did, we began to see him more and more. in the town we met up. then he would come play soccer with us and the kids at the ground. we would go for ice cream, and he took us on the infamous elephant hunt. one night raf and i went to his house, and listened to his music with him, we chilled with him and his roommate prince, and he show us his sketches.
one time even, we had plans for the day, but zig zag just seeing our van hopped in and joined us for the day. we of course saw him whenwe would go to his school, and it got to a point where we didnt want to leave him as we go to lusaka. so, what do we do? he told us that one night, that his mom lives in lusaka, and since thats we were going, raf offered to buy him a bus ticket as well, and just like that, 2 more weeks with zigs. we rode with him to lusaka and split with him there. soon to see him again.he went home to a family, and we made it to our new place. like we said we soon enough met up. and we had him over for supper one night, and another night he spent the night. he came along to one of the biggest compouds in zambia with us, and with his ability to speak their languages he saved our butts.
after that day, evryone was pretty tired, but i convinced zigzag to take me to the comesa markets, the biggest in zambia. the two of us made it their, in the usual sketchy taxi fashion, and he showed me the biggest market ive ever scene. this is my favourite memory with the guy, a day i remember from a crazy lady following us shouting, and laughing histerically as we walked to the markets. just after zigzag and i talked about how much he disliked when people call him rasta, and how funny i think it is when they call me mazungo, the crazy lady kept shouting. hahahah Mazungo & Rastaman. hahahaha what a combination!? hahahaha. so more and more we did with zig zag, and the more accoustomed to his ways we became. for example: when somthings "just there" as he points in a direction. its not necessarily just there. it may be a 15 minute walk and a taxi away. also, the expression hakuna matatiazu (no worries) never held more authority.
so their was much we got to know about him, and a great day was one random day, he had us over for dinner. he made the classic that he had been mentioning all week, Sweet potatoes and peanut butter. and we helped with a stew and had an awesome time, about a dozen of us in total, all shareing stories in their nice, but small house.
our last day their we again, spent with zig zag. back to his house to watch the bafana bafana cup opener. they we hurried back to our farm, we zigzag helped us pack so that we we back to his place in time for the second of the tournament, the france v uraguay game. when it was all done, we had a chance for some photos, goodbyes, and a way unaticipated, way touching speach from him. that time was another of the greatest with him, but as we said goobye, each with some of his art work to take along, were sure to be staying in touch with that cool running rasta man. and willlsurely have us a place to stay if we ever return to zambia.

Hasante Sana.

Victoria Falls - Good Days always Get Better.

Victoria Falls. good days all ways get better.

today is our first monday since being in Zambia. and with that our first day off. today we

slept in untill 10, and then met up with three friends that we met earlier in the week. partick

andrew and ken. they are all 19, so same age, and rad dudes. they were more than proud to be

our zambian tour guides for our adventure of a day. for the first part of the day, we crossed into

zimbabwe, bringing the number of african countries ive been to up to 4. we had a few 'errands' to

to take care of over the boarder. so that took up most of the morning, and by 2 we were starving.

so for lunch i finally got to try the one traditional zambain resturant ive been trying to go

to since seeing it when we first arrived. a resturant called, SUBWAY. yes, the have subway in Zambia.

no KFC, no Burger King. not even a McDonalds. but yes, SUBWAY. footlong, steak & Cheese, about 10 dollars

back home, today. 18000 kwatcha. under 4 bucks. thank you God. oh and also, i put tons of hot peppers

on it, because thats what i like, and how i do it back home. the guy laughed at me, but i thought

it was just because i was a typical muzungo eating subway. nope, they definatly use

different hot peppers in africa. they use HOT peppers. not Flavour peppers i was used to. i walked

away with a fireball in my mouth, but glad to have eaten my fourth nationality of subway.

so after lunch to good got better. we went to Victoria Falls national park, and just pulling

into the car park, we saw a wild baboon. raf started provoking it, obviously. and it was all

fun and games untill the monkey had enough and decided to run back at raf. the look on his

face was priceless. and i do believe anna got a picture. so after the not so nice encounter

with the car park monkey, we went to go into the park. for locals, entry is 7000 kwatcha. non- residence

price, 20 american dollars. about a two thousand precent price increase. we had no choice to

pay it but whatever, as it turns out, it would eventually be way worth it. i even tried to

say i was zambian resident, but when she skeptically asked what tribe? the only thing i could think

to say was the muzungo tribe. she laughed. but we still got ripped off. so not 2 minutes on the

path and looking through the trees we could already see the waterfall. an it was amazing. actually,

i dont know if i could ever justify using this word in any other circumstance, but it was

majestic. ha. so we snapped our pictures,








and continued down the path. we past racks of vendors renting rain coats and umbrellas. strange?

not raining, not even close, but too soon found out why. its the wet season, and soo much mist

comes up from the falls that when you get in the open its like its poaring buckets of rain. thank

you aunt kathy again for the waterproof cam. and it was so nuts being near the falls. we crossed

this bridge, that is constantly in the state of downpour because of its proximity to the falls, and

its become so slippery that you can slide along it, better than if it were ice. that was good,

but soaked, and a little cold we moved on back to the warm sun. and admire the falls from a

different, further location. after that patrick andrew and ken, took us down into the jungle to

a differnt path. this on takes us down, to the bottom of the falls. we got to the place they were

taking us, it was called 'the boiling pot' a vicious whirlpool at the bottom of the falls. instant

death awaits someone thrown into the middle of the pool. and stick you leg in, the current will

take you there quick enough. but we snapped some cool picks,



[pic here]



and even saw the huge bridge we crossed over on into zimbabwe.







colin, raf and i. and two of the guys we were with found some nearby shallow rapids. and decided

to 'explore' them. feeling the power of 6 inches of current was cool. and manouvering on slippery

rocks was, (pause) fun. but it was actually really neat. we snaped some pics.



[pic here]



ken took a spill, and then we were back to the path. also, i didnt really mention, throughout

the entire jungle. there was

monkeys everywhere. wild baboons with pink butts. and different types in trees, just... hanging out.

but it wasnt untill this part of the day that we saw our first monkey fight. raf and i stumbled

upon these two monkeys fighting on the rock. it was hilarious. vicious. and a little scary. it

was after this that we took serious the warning about not provoking the monkeys. so back up the

path again. and past even past our start point. this time we went up, where we first went down.

and this path took us to the top of the falls. the guys took us into the river where we were wadeing

it the water just a dozen meters or so from the edge of the falls. also with a little exploring,

and a hopped fence or two, colin raf josh and i found this.



[pic here]



a look out ledge, directly looking over the break of the falls. sitting on the root of a tree,

only one slip from the bottom of the falls, is where i believe is one of the coolest hangouts in

the entire world. the water was roaring and the danger surmounting, so we called it quits and decided

to head back.



but definatly not the end of the adventure. we left the falls, and the jungle park. but we were

definately very still in africa. our three friends took us to this place, surrounded by a fence.

patrolled by an armed guard. (AK-47, no big. i see them everyday) ken and i hopped out, talked to him.

slipped him a 20,000 kwatcha bill. and he let us drive through. TIA. 5 minutes of driving we saw a heard

of antalope. 10 minutes of driving and we saw a 'pumba'. a massive warthog. shortly after several empala's.

and then, around 15 or 20 minutes driving straight into the wilderness. this happened.





one of two wild gariffe's eating the leaves off the top of the trees. what an experience. and with that,

that just about summs up on of the best days of our lives.

Zambezi

this was one of the first posts that i wrote, wayyy back in livingstone. almost a month ago.
reading back on it, it pretty accurately captures my first impressions...

their are a few things that i need to explain straight up. right off the bat.

things that are a part of the culture here, or things that we had to learn very quickly.

and things that some of my explanations will only make sense if you understand.


1) TIA. this is a phrase josh has all got way too stuck in our heads. it mean 'this is africa'

and at first we always would just shake our heads at that white boy for saying that, but its

a phrase we have all kinda adopted and learned to love. for example, when we driving down the road

and we hit a pot hole so big that we hit our heads on the roof. somthing like this would usually

be followed by the phrase: TIA. or when were at vic falls and a baboon runs at raf because hes

provoking it. TIA. get it? good.

2) Shema - this is basically the love of every zambian. the staple every meal, its a white pasty

food made out of corn starch called 'mais' and water. we eat shema every night for dinner. and gene
told us that most zambians eat all 3 meals a day. and for the poorer families, its the meal they eat
just the once. oh and by the way, raf and i love it!

3) Kwatcha - zambian kwatcha is the currency that they use here. the best part about it is for every
1 USD. the exchange is 4900 kwatcha. one of my fav moments, was taking 810 dollars US ( the spending
money of our team) into the bank, and getting back stacks of 50,000 kwatcha bills. 3.9 million
in total. i walked out of their a happy man. another thing about kwatcha, is if a muzungo like
myself walks out on the street, ill have about 10 guys come up to me in a minute, asking if i need
kwatcha? just trying to rip me off, i learned early to always rufuse the schemes.

this brings us to muzungo:
4) Muzungo. this is possibly my favourite new word. in the tribe language of the zambian people,
(nianja) muzungo is the word for "white person" but its hilarious. for example their is this ridiculously
adorable little kid at the end of our road, and ever time our van drives by, he yells and waves in his little high voice, "bye Muzungo's" also we play with alot of kids, between the orphanages, primary schools, and just neighbourhood kids, they always just refer to me us as muzungo. at first it was shocking, sounded boarder line raciest. but ive gotten used to it. and almost come to
like it. hah.

5) church. the church here is mental. its so raw but so intense. for worship, theres no electric

guitars, theres no drums, no speaker system. just voices. loud, loud voices. also about 25 times

during a sermon the preacher will yell out amen, to which the congregation replys; AMEN! my personal

favourite was: preacher: "Hallelujah". Congregation: "Amen" Preacher: "God is Good" Congregation:

"all the time" Preacher: "all the time?" Congregation: "because thats his nature" this exchange

went back and forth as if it was the most normal pat of thier church service. which it obviously

was because everbody knew what to say, but none the less, it was rad to see.


6) Taxis- Transport is crazy. theres obviously no public busses. but their is a taxi every 100 feet. and all of them are more than eager to drive a group of the elusive mazungos. for example if i was to walk from our base to the soccer ground, it would be safe to say,id be honked at 15 times. its a 5 minute walk.

today was our first official full day in Zambia. woke up around 10 which was nice,

had some of the left over Shema with milk which was kind of like a poragey paste.

and then after that we set off for the town. we split up into groups of 2 or 3 and

just wandered to start conversation and meet people. kristen and I made our way to

the markets, and this was easily one of the coolest places anywhere. shop after shop

of people almost forceing us in to see what they have hand crafted or painted.

the barter system is fully in play here. and they even love swapping. they want to trade

for things. for example they would say, "those are very nice shoes your wearing"

how bout for this sculpture...? or for like "if you give me that shirt you only have

to add little kwatcha. all in all i loved it. seeing all the things they have made,

and talking to probably every shop owner. kristen found out that one of the guys was

a basketball player, so she called me over, and i got on with him really well. Lennox was

his name. and he and his friends from shop 16 to shop 24 have their own football team.

so i put the challenge in, our YWAM team v. the guys from the market and their brothers.

and another thing worth mentioning is im way to glad that i have gotten into premier

leauge soccer since coming to australia. because everybody knows football. and i mean

everybody. i was talking to these guys from a village about the serie A leauge in italy, and Manchester
United from England. i even told the guy he was crazy for supporting Real Madrid this year
over FCB. we talked, and even swapped a little. i gave them some wristbands that have the

message "change the world" on it. and this was one of the greatest parts of the day.

they all have the red ribbon on it. and so i started by explaining that the symbol means

fight against HIV aids. and that just opened one of the most missed doorways for these guys.

we got into this whole health discussion, and the kept asking me for more. you see they

dont get taught the things we take for granted. coming from a nurse and a phys ed. teacher this

stuff is second nature to me. but to these guys its somthing, the dont, but really need to know

i talked especially two guys, Moses and Augustine, for the longest, and we talked about

everything from hiv to hygine. i even have to explain the concepts of safe sex, and why you

cant just share needles or razor blades. stuff thats common sense to us, isnt so much to

these guys who have lived thier days in a village. and personally for me the best part of it

was, every time i told then somthing, or explained a concept. the would make this smile of a facial
expression telling me they understood. they would say "teach me more, teach me more, so i can tell
my friends" and they viewed it as i was giving them somthing. it was like the information
i told them was like the little carving they give me. almost as if it were a swap. i cant
wait to go back, and im sure we will (almost everday) and more get to know these guys.

so that about wrappes up the market adventures. and at this time schools just about to let out

so we pile into the van, and start to drive home. "STOP THE VAN!" raf shouts. to our left

there is about 20 or so kids playing 'football' barefoot on the dirt field. so we jet home,

grab our gear. and the few kids we know from street and pile back into the van - even more crammed

this time and we race back to the field. we get out, watch the end of the 6-6 game that was going

on, and started to mingle. They had stuck two straight branches into the dirt making goal posts.

it was like out of a movie, but after all TIA. and after the game had ended they winning team boastfully
challenged our mostly muzungo squad. We played and played. adding players as they turned up,
we eventually were playing on the full pitch, in the sand utill the sun went down. and just like
that, we had made friends. same time tomorrow was the plan. and it was time to go home. when we walked
to of van, it was the 7 of us ready to go, but also about 15 other little kids expecting a ride.

the van was packed as ever,


and it funny when we think about it, because josh and i were talking, imagine in Canada, or England
picking up 15 little kids that you just met, and throwing them in a van with adults and driving them home.
never would that fly back home. but here, this is africa. because im about the size of three of them
i opted to run home and give my space in the van. i needed a guide of course to find my way home, and
he happend to be solomon, a 7 year old kid. running at what i would consider a respectable pace,
after a full game of soccer, he was keeping up fine. even leading the way, AND HES SEVEN. taking about
4 strides to my every one. its no joke when people say these kids can run. he brought me home, and
then continued running back to his house. we all had, bucket showers, and cleaned for dinner.
this was another highlght. ive already explained shema, and with the chicken, and veggies. it was
like nothing ive ever eaten. straight up traditional african cooking, and i love it! because the
int hasnt worked, this wasnt all from the same day, but its mostly a post of my first experiences in zambia.

JApan V. Holland

The Quickest Update.

so, its been virtually impossibly to find time, it the 30 mins of internet a week i get, to update our blog. raf and i are making stories for it everyday. from getting a free vuvzela on the bus, to running kids camps. were constantly having a crazy and exciting time. the pictures are many, and the pages in my notebook of stories to remember are endless. theres a good chace that the place well be staying next week has internet. so im keeping my fingers crossed. raf doing amazing. myself the same. we miss you tons and keep us in your prayers when you hear about south Africa.

ps. two days ago raf and i were playing soccer inside a church. then we smashed a window. you hear about things like that happing, but you never think its going to happen to you. UNTILL IT DOES.

pps. oh also about 3 hours ago, josh deeks, (our english friend) watched our first ever world cup game. top 10 coolest things of my life.