Yesterday, I took my parents to Chaanga Clinic. Oh my word! This Clinic was built by The Salvation Army in the later 1930's in an extremely rural area. In fact it has been deemed one of the most 'hard to reach' clinics in Zambia. It is run by Chikankata Hospital.

This was my third visit to Chaanga Clinic during the time I have been here. We went because the corps (church) in the UK where my mum and dad has given money to paint the building inside and out and do some repairs to the structure. The deal was I would find the money for the paint and the community members would do the work. I went to meet with the staff and inspect the work. The end result is that the building looks very fine and the people of the area were so happy. I was also very proud of the parents, who despite being on holiday took the time to visit with me.

The Clinic has no electricity and no running water. It has barely enough staff. Yet the people cheerfully do whatever they can. The Clinic is largely staffed by Salvationists and is a real credit to the organisation. It is a real place of hope and sacrificial service.

The road on the other hand has to experienced to be believed. A 35 mile journey took us over 3 hours and on some areas you just drive on rocks. It was on the same road that one of our ambulances was blown up when it drove over a land mine during the Rhodesian conflicts of the early 80s. Last night I had the mother of all headaches as a result of six and a half hours on simply bumping down the road.

It's a very special place and everytime I go there, I feel immensely proud of The Salvation Army and Chikankata for being loyal to Chaanga Clinic and really trying to develop it.

William Booth once wrote;

"The Salvation Army stands for hope that when every other light is extinguished and every other star has gone down, this one gleams steadily and clearly out in the darkened sky "If only I could get to the Salvation Army - they will do something for me"".

He could have been talking about The Salvation Army's Chaanga Clinic

I haven’t blogged for a while. That has been for two reasons;

1) My parents have been here and we have been to beautiful Cape Town for a few days. What a great place and I can highly recommend a visit if you haven’t been there before

2) We have been having a few struggles at the Hospital and I didn’t want these pages to turn into a "whinge fest".

We arrived back from Cape Town on Monday, which if I haven’t said already is beautiful, and Tuesday morning at 6.30 am there was a knock on the door. The situation that transpired was reported in all the newspapers the following day and I am now quoting excerpts from the front page of The Times of Zambia;

“A thirty year old man of Mabwetuba village alledgedy axed his wife to death and Monday night, Chikankata MP, Munji Habeenzu has confirmed…….

Mr Hanbeenzu said the man was on the run from Monday until Tuesday night when Security Guards from the Mwenda Royal Establishment apprehended him and took him to Chikankata Hospital.

Early yesterday, scores of villagers gathered outside the hospital wanting to mete out instant justice but the Hospital Administrator later whisked the man to the safety of Mazabuka Police Station, where he was detained.”

All in a days work!

JONNY SMITH - TOP BLOKE

I think Jonny is trying to make amends for the first time we both ran our first marathon. Jonny and I ran the first thirteen miles together and then I hurt my knee. He left me to hobble on and then kept reminding me for the next 3 years that he beat me. However, no hard feelings or at least not many, it's all in a good cause.

If you are interested in sponsoring Jonny and helping the Hospital, please click here . (Please remember 26.2 miles is a long way).

20 March 2007: Run the marathon with Captain Jonny (ARTICLE FROM SALVATIONIST)

The leader of The Salvation Army in Southwark is in training to run the London Marathon and is looking for at least 500 sponsors to accompany him - in spirit, if not in person!

This will be Captain Jonny Smith's third marathon and on 22 April he hopes to complete the 26-mile course in four and a half hours, to raise at least £5,000 for a Salvation Army hospital in rural Africa.

Jonny is now training hard. He knows he has set himself not only a tough time target but also a huge fundraising target and he's come up with an unusual way of raising funds.
He has negotiated a corporate sponsor and the company Healthy Investments have donated £1,000. But Jonny is now looking for at least 500 individual sponsors who will become part of his marathon run!

'Anybody who sponsors me for £10 or more, I will place their name on the back of my shirt. Effectively, everybody who has sponsored me will run the marathon with me on the day and more importantly will raise funds to help with the mission of a fantastic cause.'
Jonny, who runs The Salvation Army church and community centre in Southwark with his wife Captain Catherine Smith, is raising money for The Salvation Army's Chikankata hospital in Zambia.

'In our church here at Southwark we do have people from Zambia and as a congregation we decided that there was a need to do our own appeal to support mission that was going on in one of the countries that are represented here. Because of this and also with my friendship with a couple who are working at the hospital, Richard and Heidi Bradbury, The Salvation Army's Chikankata hospital was the focus for the appeal this year.'

The Chikankata hospital is part of The Salvation Army's Chikankata Mission situated more than 130 kilometres south of the capital Lusaka. The Mission, which includes the Chikankata Health Services and Hospital, a secondary school for about 750 pupils and a church, serves a rural population of almost 75,000 people.

The Chikankata Hospital is a 150-bed general hospital with training schools for nurses, midwives and laboratory assistants. A mobile community health team operates in the surrounding districts with five associated rural health centres. In addition, Chikankata Hospital also runs a leprosy control programme and rehabilitation centre, an AIDS care, prevention and control programme and a four phase nutrition programme.

“Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (James 1:2-4 NIV)

Please pray for us at Chikankata Hospital and that the Big Man will provide a way through our ongoing financial struggles. This next month will be a vital month for us in our financial recovery process. Please pray big prayers - we need some miracles.

Keeping the faith!

After church on Sunday we had a BBQ in our garden in the afternoon. This was no ordinary BBQ. It was special. I don't think I have every felt so priviliged to be in the company of a group of people as I did on Sunday afternoon.

At our BBQ we had 2 Commissioners, 1 Colonel, 3 Majors, 2 Orders of the Founder (not sure about the plural of the that!), a retired headmaster, and all their friends and family. All of whom had served at Chikankata for some time in their lives.

Firstly Major Ruth Schoch (OF) gave almost 30 years of her lives working as a nurse at Chikankata. What a gracious, humble and inspirational lady. The people at Chikankata were so pleased to see her back for the first time since she returned to Switzerland. She was accompanied by her friend Esther, who also served at the Hospital.

Commissioner (Dr.) Paul du Plessis was the Chief Medical Officer for 16 years at the Hospital. His wife seemed to be like Heidie and just get involved in whatever needed to be done. 16 YEARS - that man deserves a Knighthood (although his nationality may rule that out) but again humble, clever and encouraging. The du Plessis are also fluent in the local language - they've shamed us on that one. The S. Army has some fine people in its ranks and this couple are up with the best of them in my book. They are joined by their children and their grandchildren, who were just such nice people.

Colonel Radar from Lexington USA. Another OF. A man with a mission and passion for that mission. Lived and worked a Chikankata for many years across two seperate stints and frequent visitor to Chikankata to upgrade our Studio. In September people across Southern and Central Province will be hearing Chikankata Community Radio Station.

Majors Chisapi is an old retired Zambian Officer who lives in Chikankata village. It doesn't matter who returns to visit Chikankata Mission, they always want to visit the Chisapis. What a tremendous influence these officers must have had on the ex-pats.

Mr Kalichi is Mr. Kalichi. 22 years as Headmaster at Chikankata High School is a mammoth achievement. Today Mr. Kalichi moves from his Mission House into a house he has built in the nearby village. He deserves to rest and relax and put his feet up.

It was a great afternoon and a lesson for me and Heidie in commitment, humility and servanthood. Chikankata has such a rich heritage and the Big Man has remained faithful through all the ups and down. We were blessed.