The news from Steve Majeski:
We had an opportunity to visit the “area” N... to visit
the Chief’s “main man.”
On the way I was able to take some pictures of the
conditions and people of this area. (Keli is at an auto repair shop in Ndola, and I can't get the picts to upload... check back with us later or see us on Facebook Project Redemption). The
people are very in need of basically everything including water. They live on
sorghum, rats, and fish. We parked the vehicle and walked across the man made
bridge to cross the river. People were friendly but all of them drunk. They
need Jesus. I sensed a deep spiritual darkness there. We went to see the area
head man to ask him to inform his people to come together for the community to
build a police station. That is what the police asked us to do. It’s a
community project so you have to go to the head man to organize his people. So
the head man said they will call a meeting so everyone can be informed. To get
to the headman’s area, there’s no road so we went as far as could drive and
walked the rest of the way, about ½ a mile.
We were probably the first white people who have been to that
village.
The head man’s mother was very sick. Steve F asked them to
bring her to the clinic. They said it was too far. They asked if we would build
her a new house.
We are praying for the Lord’s spirit to reign in this area.
(Steve has already torn apart three engines to put together
parts to make one engine.)
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The news from Steve and Ruth:
We are in the process to stop and visit some other villagers
we were familiar with over the years. We have stopped in to greet them and tell
them we are back. So to continue to
reach out in an area like this, and have an effective ministry in the area is a
forever challenge. The road is not much of a road.
First priority was to check on how it went while we were gone with getting the police station built. The people were to have made bricks. I did not see any bricks. So Steve and I traveled to head man to gain his cooperation. The N... people said they will organize a meeting and they
will inform us this Saturday, and then we will go from there.
Yesterday we went to visit the husband of one of the orphan
girls we had adopted. (The Fishers have over 30 orphans they continue to care for as family). When she was an orphan she had come to the hospital as a
patient. She had an abscessed breast, and she and her sister worked hard with
warm compresses and doing all we told her to do so she could heal. That is how
we came to know of her. When we came back we learned she had died just one week
and two days ago. She had a difficult childhood delivery and she passed away.
She probably had malaria too. They failed to give her an IV drip and she died.
So the child was taken by the husband’s sister, and she is nursing the child.
So it was a sad visit with a husband who had lost one of his two wives.
The question always comes back to how do you minister to a
situation like this when the blame goes out in all directions. And that’s what
we have to look over, not overlook, and see how can we put life into a
destroyed situation. This is where we can only reach into their lives with the
reality of the Gospel and help them – with
Ruth also wanting to provide formula and clothing. The husband was
sharing about his hardship with the
wife’s family because it was an
orphaned family. The wife’s family now wanted him to pay for all the time he
had his wife. He had to pay to get her as a wife (dowery) and now the family
demanded he pay for the time she worked for him, and they demanded money for
that (1500,000 kwacha or $500 each time… so $1000.) The issue is always money,
wanting money money, not caring about logistics or reality. So he had to sell
one of his cows to help pay for the money the family demanded. Also, 800 (yes,
eight hundred) people came to the funeral that lasted for a week and they all
had to be fed and cared for. He was not the jolly fellow we were used to
seeing.
This is just another cry from the bush saying “help.” So as
people pray for us, we’ll be able to reach out to another hurting family that
needs help and direction.
The children are back to school on Monday, and all the
things that they need and the school fees are to be paid. Just to get the
children organized and back into school will cost $3,000.
The price of fuel is about $8 per gallon, but God is our
Provider. The drive from Lusaka back to Chibangu cost $400 total, filling two
vehicles twice to journey 400 km. We still have a little problem with the
vehicle that was fixed, a problem with the injector pump, but I think we will
get that sorted out with a bit of patience and determination. But we arrived
safely and traveled well. So only as you pray and let the Lord guide you can we
bring new life and a difference to the
area in which God has called us. Our ministry is definitely to the lower class.
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The news from Keli:
I have been busy helping Ruth get the household organized as
we unpack the many bags from America and get the cupboards restocked – getting
things back together. Before leaving Lusaka we purchased dry goods and fresh
meat and vegetables.
Upon unpacking we all discovered items that had been
“pinched.” Knives, hydroponic test kit
(why?), clothing… “since America no longer allows us to shrink wrap baggage
things get stolen. We can’t shrink wrap people’s minds,” says Steve, “so we
continue to experience difficulties.”
I’ve been observing how Ruth guides the staff living on the
compound, five families with 15 children, with the cleaning and cooking. In the
nearby community there must be 30-40 children. One morning I went out to sit
with the children that were occupying themselves, and they did a good job
mimicking me in saying the ABC’s. Some had a good ear for the English accent.
I have greatly enjoyed meeting just a few of the people the
Fishers love – a Christian businessman who is in Zambia making aloe and
providing jobs for Zambians, meeting OM (Operation Mobilization) South African
missionaries at the base in Kabwe and having tea and talking with the teens as
they were hand grinding their meat to make sausage. On each jaunt we have
stopped to meet people, which is encouraging.
Termites are in the house so the flesh eating ants come
parading in a rapid moving line yet stop to bite us on the way. So Steve has
had to pour lots of kerosene on the floor, and watching our clothes closets for
termites daily is necessary. In two days a group of termites had already placed
their mud on my raincoat to establish a new home.
At night the stars shine bright – it is beautiful. And you
can still Orion although it sits in a different place in the sky. The dogs bark
fiercely as robbers come to steal the nice vegetables in the garden. The
roosters crow whether it is dark or light. The 6 pm sunsets and 6 a.m. sunrises
cast a gorgeous pinkish light over the buildings. And during the day, I
especially like the quiet symphony of music that comes as wind passes through
the windmill. I didn’t know a windmill could sing. That makes me smile.
