TWO SIDES TO EVERY STORY

The not good side:

1. Heidie has malaria at the moment (this is the 3rd time in just over a year)

2. It's that time of the month where I have to start wheeling and dealing to pay salaries again. I really hate that Chikankata struggles so much financially. I might get into trouble (again!) for saying this but I really think TSA and the government should some how provide more direct support to the hospital. If you need money for a women's empowerment project or a gender and human rights workishop it's no problem (no disrespect to this - it was just the first things that came to my head - women's empowerment is important - I'm all new man, Sweetheart). If you want money for the running costs of a hospital - you have to go begging or you've got to go without!

3. I'm knackered!

4. Capt Hachitapika left today and flies to London tomorrow. I don't mind admitting I am going to miss her and I actually feel quite sad.

5. The blooming power cuts are getting ridiculous.


The good side:

1. Two new doctors arrived over the weekend - 1 from Zambia, 1 from Sweden. We should be sorted now for the time being!

2. Chikankata has survived a pretty rough time over the last year and I am now beginning to feel there is light at the end at the tunnel

3. We heard my namesake Charles, got engaged today! About flaming time too.

4. Going to London is such an excellent opportunity for her and her family. They will do well there and IHQ are really fortunate to be able to call on such people.

5. We received a video tape from John at Exeter, with my parents on it (Thanks John!) and a CD from Chelmsford Songster. We are continually reminded that people are thinking about us and feel humbled!

Oh well!

In all my rantings and stories, it's sometimes easy to forget that we have a serious business going on here. This week we have held our first Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) Camp sponsored by The Salvation Army and UNICEF. 56 orphans from around our immediate catchment area spent five nights camping in the Mabetubwa Hills. Some had walked for eight hours to join the camp. There were no tents - just sleeping outside with mattresses and blankets. Food was cooked on firewood and the trees doubled up as toilets

The week was a mixture of counselling sessions (the first emotional help they have had regarding the loss of their parents), activity based learning activities and then just loads of games. I have managed to keep myself together for most of the time I have been here but I was extremely touched by what I heard and saw when I visited for the day on Wednesday. Many of the children talked about how they had no time to grieve for their parents, how they had been sent out into the fields to work all day by relatives, how they had just one meal a day, how they had to look after other children as often their grandparents were too old to look after them properly.

Chikankata has managed to find the money to send around 54% of the 6,000 orphans to school through the generous support of many people. This was a camp designed to look at the emotional and psychological support for children. It clearly did that. But it did much more - it allowed the children to be children. One the reasons I stuck at my last job was because I believe in a child's right to a childhood. It seems that is just as pertinent in this aspect of our work now.

"That wasn't bad- it only lasted for three and a half hours".

There's a sentence I never thought I hear myself say about an SA meeting.

PEOPLE at CHIKANKATA

I have met so many local people at Chikankata over the past year or so. There is a lot of character and a lot of characters at Chikankata and its many surrounding villages. I wish I could tell you about all of them, here’s a few;

I have met people like Mr. Mweene at Mukwela. We talk at lot about ‘community’ in The Salvation Army. If you want to see real community in action – take a trip to Mukwela – you’ll find Benson Mweene at the centre of it. He is a role-model

I have met people like Mr. Mwiinga – Headman of Kooma village. On old man, who is always at the hospital because he has bad arthritis. Whenever he sees me, he never moans about his ailment but always gives me a positive reflection of the changes at the Hospital. He is an encourager

I have met people like Jericho – everyone who meets Jericho knows about his passion. They are visibly touched and attracted to his enthusiasm and his faith. His love of the Big Man and The Salvation Army become infectious. He is an evangelist

I have met people like Majors Milambo (R) – Hampande village. This couple are retired Salvation Army officers in Zambia (there are not so many retired people, as people rarely reach the age of 55). They live in an African hut; they have next to no money. What they do have is character and heart. In their house they have 18 orphans living with them. EIGHTEEN! With the help of the community, Chikankata and some sponsors (such as Worthing Corps) they have sent more than half of them to school (a significant achievement) and look after them as best they can, day in – day out! They are shepherds.

I have people like Mr. Kalichi – Headmaster at Chikankata High School, who retires this year. He has kept the educational standards and the Salvation Army principles consistently high, despite many difficulties. To do this in the public service in Zambia, believe me, is a significant experience. I cannot emphasize this enough. He remains faithful, cheerful and committed to the end of his professional career. I am seriously going to suggest that he should be admitted to the Order of the Founder or some sort of certificate for exceptional service. He is a Salvation Army legend and a faithful soldier.

I have met people like Martin – my accountant. A quiet man who has worked so hard with me to sort out many of the financial issues. Behind his quietly spoken approach is a strong, principled character. An unsung hero, whose contribution to Chikankata in the last year has been vital. He deserves more credit that he gets. He is a friend.

I have met people like Captain Austin from Hapiku, who cycled about 40 kms (round trip 80km – 50 miles) just to visit me in my office to see if I could lend him 40 pounds so that four children in their church could complete either grade 9 or grade 12. He asked for a loan, saying when the harvest came, he would sell some maize to pay me back. There’s a man who cares for his flock. How could I refuse to give him the money? (in the end I persuade Heidie's mum and dad to cough up!) Would I be prepared to cycle 50 miles for my friends in nothing more than hope? He is a believer.

I have met people like Heidie - OK I knew Heidie before I came to Chikankata, after all she is my wife. She has been unfailing in her support and love for me, often at the expense of her own work and calling. Despite her understandable annoyance at constantly being referred to as “the wife” or “Mrs. Richard”, Heidie has maintained her own job, made her own mark but also helped me immeasurably. She has shared all the experiences with me – the good and the bad. She has a good word and smile for every occasion. She is my soul mate and I love her deeply

I have met people like Capt. Angela – a truly amazing woman, who tells it how it is. She has been my counsel and has helped and supported me more than she will ever realize. A women of God, committed with all her heart to the Big Man, the Salvation Army, Chikankata and the communities. She joins three women, outside my immediate family, who have a special place in my heart – Beverley, Lisa and Mary. In August, Captain Angela and her husband, Brighton, move to London to take up appointments at IHQ. They are the first officers from Zambia to be called outside the surrounding countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Zambia is now sending missionaries to the UK. Please pray for them and to all my friends in the South of England – please look after them, they are good people. We will miss them terribly here but we believe God has great things in store for them. She is a visionary and a counselor.

MALAWI

I have spent the last week in Malawi – partly business, partly holiday (well the weekend!)

Firstly a few observations about the 14 hour journey.

1. A good tip for anyone making the same journey – don’t do it in an unleaded petrol car! Each time we stopped at a petrol station in Zambia the attendant kept telling us that we would find unleaded at the next stop – we never did! So, when we got desperate we spoke to the lady in the BP garage, who was telling us it was fine to put Premium Leaded in our Unleaded car. Then it turned into a Premium Leaded Anonymous meeting.

Here is the conversation with the Zambian drivers on garage forecourt (this is the honest truth!)

Garage Attendant: Sir, it is definitely ok to put Premium in your car – everyone who has an unleaded car round here does it.

Driver 1: She’s right – my car is unleaded petrol and I have just put a tank of Premium in

Driver 2: Even me – look at my new motorbike. It’s unleaded; I’ve just put Premium in.

Driver 3: Sir, it’s true! I’ve had this car for two years and I’ve never put anything but Premium in it and I am supposed to be putting unleaded in it.

So my name is Richard and I put 10 litres of Premium petrol in an unleaded petrol car (it was THQ’s car!) It took us the 120 kms to Chipata on the Malawian border without any problems, where we filled with unleaded. As with many other things, unleaded petrol seems more readily available in Malawi compared to Zambia

2. The mileage signs in Zambia and Malawi are about as accurate as England’s penalty takers.

3. The road from Nyimba to Chipata in the Eastern Province of Zambia is one of the worst main roads I have even been on in my life. Forget about speed traps, road humps, speed camera, rumble strips and all the fancy road safety gadgets and lights we have in the UK; if you want to slow traffic down put about a zillion billion pot holes in the road!!! It comes to something when you choose to drive on the dirt track on the side of the highway rather than the tar road.

4.. The roads in Malawi are much better, the signs are much better, the policeman are much more efficient and the cars look safer and don’t have 500 people sitting in the back of them.


So, a few observations about Malawi

Malawi is like Scotland in miniature. It has beautiful hills, lakes / lochs and today (Thursday) it is blooming freezing. I am staying with the General (David not Eva) Burrows and his wife Jean. They have served overseas for 35 years in Pakistan, Tanzania and now Malawi. This whole Chikankata adventure has really opened my eyes to so many things including the different people serving in TSA. It’s a great movement, with some great people.

I had three meetings on Thursday and Friday – one at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Again, I was surprised. I expected the hospital to be much more derelict and poverty ridden but again it was in better shape than our own central hospital (UTH) in Lusaka. Blantyre, as you would expect, has a very Scottish flavour and I visited the Presbyterian Cathedral and Mission in the centre of town.

Over the weekend we made a trip to Lake Malawi. What a beautiful place. It reminded me a little bit of Loch Lomond but again the mountains were a little smaller. It was a really nice setting and we very much enjoyed the company of the Burrows and Nakaanga. On the way back we stopped at a mountain top hotel for lunch at Zomba which had spectacular views. Malawi is much more geared to tourists than Zambia and there a far more throwbacks and reminders of its colonial past.

So far as I can see so far, Malawi is much better placed that Zambia in many ways and I am impressed with how they are organizing themselves. Malawians seem to have got it together much more that the Zambians. I must admit I expected to Malawi to be much poorer than Zambia but what I have seen it is definitely not. I am sure Malawi has similar problems to Zambia but Malawi has better shops, more selection in the stores there is less street kids, more stone houses, nice restaurants, bigger companies and is generally cleaner and brighter, I could go on but you get the picture.

That said, there seems to be more of a reliance on NGOs in Malawi (apparently 53% of national income is aid money) and maybe the culture of being poorer but trying to be more self-supportive is better one. It’s an interesting debate.

Heidie was also in Botswana on a train the trainers training course until the Saturday and when she joined up with me by flying Air Malawi (or Air Malarky as some people call it). She was pleasantly surprised by the service and enjoyed being taken through the VIP entrance on arrival at Blantyre Airport.