Good Friday - CHIKANKATA CALLING

April 14th was indeed a good Friday for Chikankata. Of course, the obvious meditations about the big man's death took priority but the other thing that made it good was that mobile phone network coverage arrived at Chikankata. This has been an ongoing process, started by Elvis (Simamvwa not Pressley) and taken on by me but in the end we got there.

Me, I'm happy. We did have a landline of sort at Chik but as my mater Stuarty (who's travelled extensively through Afica) pointed out that it was truly one of worst receptions here ever been involved in. I could never understand anyone and people could never understand me. So hopefully the crystal clear reception of the mobile will make a difference.

ps. I wasn't actually at Chik, I was in South Luangwa. I really thought some thing terrible had happened when I received about 12 missed calls on my mobile. Of course, everyone was celebrating the new arrival.

AtoZ Project

The guys from Aberdeen Youth Group left today. It was an interesting time for them and us. While the painted the ICU Ward - what a mess that was in - they also went out with the Mobile Clinics (Dundu / Malala), the Food Distribution Programme (Hampande / Nameembo) and visited the Orphan and Vulnerable Childrens Project (Mukwela). These guys also spent the day and slept in a local village (Nanzele). Their first Sunday comprised of leading two church services in the morning ( Chikankata and Chitumbi), the High School Youth Fellowship in the afternoon (over 300 teenagers) and the Hospital Service in the evening. There's a lot going on at Chik man.

It was really encouraging for us to share with the whole group in a debriefing session on the final day at Chikankata and here the range of different experiences and the special moments. Of course, there were some tough times too. Chikankata is in the middle of rural Zambia, poverty is high, life expentency is low, so you see things you don't see back home but it sounds on the whole it has been a worthwhile experience for them

They left us with a strong message - Psalm 91 and Heidie and I took that assurance from their trip - that's where you'll find us guys!

No trip to Chikankata would be complete without nipping down to the spectacular Victoria Falls near Livingstone. After a night in Lusaka, the 10 day trip was completed and we were sorry to see them go. They has raised a lot of money for this trip and the hospital and did Aberdeen proud. We will miss them