*Disclaimer: This guide was written by a person who has only lived in Zambia for about 21 days, so minor (or major) inaccuracies may exist.

HOW TO….

…survive the minibus.

Step 1: Find a minibus. Or a regular bus. It doesn’t really matter—they’ll be equally as crowded and will both have wheels.

Step 2: Make sure that the minibus is pointed in the direction you want to go. If the minibus turns off on a side road, don’t be alarmed! The minibus driver probably noticed that you look lonely and wants to put a person in your single seat along with you.

Step 3: Pay the person who convinced you to get on the minibus. If you look like you may be a tourist, consider watching the amount that other people pay before coughing up a few extra kwacha for the opportunistic payment collection person.

Step 4: Observe your surroundings. You may notice visual gems such as stickers of Jesus and Justin Bieber next to one another on the front dashboard!

Step 5: Get off at the right stop! For example, there might be two Engen gas stations: one before a roundabout with a giant chicken statue and one after it. If you use the wrong Engen gas station as a visual cue, you might end up walking for 40 minutes to your house and obtaining an excellent sunburn. Not that we’d know from experience…

…tie a chitenge.

Step 1: Learn what a chitenge is.

Step 2: After learning that a chitenge is a 2 meter piece of colorful fabric used by Zambian women to—among other things—carry babies on their backs and cover their clothes from dirt, purchase a chitenge that you like. It should not match your clothes in any way. There are too many great patterns for you to pick something boring.

Step 3: Pick up your new chitenge and marvel at it.

Step 4: Try to wrap the chitenge around your waist and tie it. If you don’t look like you accidentally woke up with your bed sheet wrapped around your legs, that’s a good thing.

Step 5: When the chitenge inevitably looks terrible on you due to your inadequate tying skills, ask one of your wise, motherly English students to help you tie it.

Step 6: The chitenge will come untied. When this happens, you may want to cry because you cannot make the knot as tightly as your wise, motherly English student. However, it will be easy for you to keep practicing your tying and wrapping because the chitenge will keep falling off until you are good at putting it on!

…make a perfect sorbet!

Step 1: Search around your kitchen until you find a discontinued Cuisinart ice cream/sorbet maker.

Step 2: Thoroughly wash the sorbet maker.

Step 3: Create a simple syrup using sugar and water. When cool, add the zest and juice of lemons, limes, and oranges.

Step 4: Put the mixture into the ice cream/sorbet maker.

Step 5: Plug in the machine and turn it on.

Step 6: Listen for a loud popping noise and look for a puff of smoke. This means that you have successfully destroyed your sorbet maker’s motor capabilities because you forgot to use a transformer for an American-made device.

Step 7: Fan away the smoke and terrible smell. Then, crank the sorbet by hand for twenty minutes.

Step 8: Enjoy with friends in front of an episode of your favorite network drama.

…make preschoolers ready for a nap.

Step 1: Sing lots of songs that involve jumping.

Step 2: Repeat.

…say “Stop throwing rocks at your friends and come learn about letter sounds” in Nyanja. 

We have no idea.

 

This concludes our first installment of “Zambia: A How to Guide”. Stay tuned for more helpful tips and tricks for survival in the country that starts with a Z and isn’t Zimbabwe!

 

Lydia Harbach and Jenny Tenyer currently are volunteering with the Zambia mission. Lydia and Jenny both recently completed their student teaching and undergraduate programs through Wisconsin Lutheran College. Jenny is a secondary education, broad-field social sciences, and history major and Lydia is a wide range music education major.

In their third year of college, Lydia and Jenny were approached by their college professor about the opportunity to go to Africa to teach English to women and children at their church synod’s compound in Zambia where men go to become pastors. It seemed a bit crazy to think about something so far in the future, but they both knew it was something they wanted to do. Since Lydia and Jenny would both finish their student teaching in the Fall semester of 2017, it would leave them with a smaller opportunity to find a job. However, the opportunity to live in Zambia for four months would bring so much into their future classrooms: perspective, experiences, and stories to share with their students.

Leading up to their journey, Lydia and Jenny have been fundraising in order to pay for traveling and living expenses. This trip would not have been possible without the gracious hearts of the family, friends, and church groups that donated to help them pay for their trip!

To keep family and friends up to date on the latest and greatest from Zambia, they have created a blog at https://zambiamissiontrip583865213.wordpress.com/  Allow us to share one of their recent posts about adapting to life in Africa.

Please pray for those working in fields that are ripe for harvest. Share their story, engage with future news and receive updates. Go to this link to learn more about our mission fields in Africa and how the Holy Spirit is working faith in people’s hearts  https://wels.net/serving-others/missions/africa

“Prepare for the real world in the real world.” That was a thought I had as leadership of the mission trip program passed over to my office this last year. For years students of Wisconsin Lutheran High School have been traveling all over the country and even all over the world to serve their Savior and their neighbor. Most trips have been in the United States, but every year there were also a few international trips to places in the Far East, Mexico, and elsewhere.

One of my goals was to increase the opportunity for mission trips—both the total number and the international trips. Students have always been eager to go on trips and do mission work of some kind. What better way to train them for future service in the real world though than actually going out into the world? Those kinds thoughts led to some new destinations for our students this year such as Alaska, Thailand, Columbia, and Zambia.

While thinking about a trip to Africa, we also tried to consider how we could unite the student body around the important work in Africa. That led to selecting Zambia as the destination again for our annual Our Hands for His Service project. The Student Council saw it fit to create a goal of raising over $30,000 to support the work of Zambian pastors and a local school. The mission team will then go to see first hand how the gifts will impact the ministry and to help in any way possible.

Nine students were selected to go on the trip (one missing in the picture). There are two current seniors, six juniors, and one sophomore. I will chaperone the trip along with my wife, Becky.

These students are beyond excited to go on this trip. Of course there is the excitement of travel to a new and unique destination (for Americans, at least). But they are also so excited to learn. They are eager to learn about the ministry and the needs of the people in Zambia and to learn about people very different than they. While they are eager to serve in any way, it is understood that as American teenagers we will probably get the most out of the trip by learning from the missionaries, the pastors, and the people in Zambia. We only hope we can somehow be a blessing while there.

I know I speak for the group when I say that we are all thrilled with the opportunity to go out into the world and live the words of Jesus’ great commission.

Phil Huebner
Campus Pastor
Wisconsin Lutheran High School

Please pray for those working in fields that are ripe for harvest. Share their story, engage with future news and receive updates. Follow this link to learn more about our mission fields in Africa and how the Holy Spirit is working faith in people’s hearts  https://wels.net/serving-others/missions/africa

Evangelist Gibson Chiumia faithfully served God’s people in various congregations of northern Malawi until his retirement from active ministry a decade ago. Last week I had the privilege of attending his funeral. As a new missionary in Africa, this was my first funeral and it made a striking impression on me.

The trip

I live in the capital city of Lilongwe, located in the central region of the country. Even though it is only 220 miles to the village where Evangelist Chiumia’s funeral was held, it took about seven hours to get there. We drove for five hours on the country’s main highway – a paved road in pretty decent shape, but not an express highway like the interstate system of roads in the United States. There are no suspension bridges or tunnels in Malawi, even though the country straddles Africa’s Great Rift Valley. The highway snakes through the mountain gaps and dives down through the valleys, requiring the driver to maintain constant vigilance.

After we picked up a passenger in the northern town of Mzuzu, we began the most challenging leg of our trip. It took us an hour and a half to cover the final 30 miles to the village of Mpherembe as we drove on a steep dirt road. I should say “mud road,” because it is the rainy season in Africa. In one spot we had to cross a “lake” that spanned the entire width of the road and was about 30 feet long. I give thanks to God and to the WELS for providing us missionaries with heavy duty vehicles that can handle these challenging roads. One of my passengers told me later that many Malawians drive light passenger vehicles on these roads, but they don’t look the same after a year’s use.

I share this information with you so that you have a better idea about the challenges that the pastors of the LCCA Malawi face. Most of them serve multiple parishes, which they visit once a month on a rotation. Some pastors have been provided motorcycles, many use bicycles or rely on local taxis. None of them have a personally owned vehicle. The majority of the congregations of the LCCA are located in rural areas, so it takes days of travel for pastors to attend conferences and board meetings. Keep these men in your prayers as they labor under most difficult circumstances!

The night before the funeral

We arrived at the home of Rev. Brester Msowoya, who serves the church in Mpherembe. The name of the congregation is “Wisconsin Lutheran Church.” I did not see any cheese curds or Green Bay Packers jerseys, so no doubt the missionary who founded this congregation was a native son of the Badger State. However, I did feel quite at home because our host gave us a very warm welcome.

The inhabitants of northern Malawi are from a tribe of people called Tumbuka. They speak a language that is considerably different from their countrymen in the rest of the country, and some of their customs are different too. For example, whenever you meet someone for the first time in their home, you do not directly begin talking with them. Instead you must be introduced by a third party. As we were unwinding from our long trip in Rev. Msowoya’s home, several visitors arrived at his door and the introductions began:

“Who are these visitors?”

“They are from Lilongwe, Mzuzu and Salima.”

“Are they good people?”

“Makola chomene!” (very good)

After a tasty meal of nsima (boiled maize flour) and chicken, we went to the church where (I thought) we were going to settle in for the night. After we unrolled the mattresses and laid out the sleeping bags, at 9 p.m. the Malawian pastors told me there was going to be a vigil at the home of Evangelist Chiumia. They had pity on me and let me sleep off the long drive, but they did not get to sleep until 1:00 a.m. I heard singing all night long, coming from the family and friends of the deceased. It reminded me of Paul and Silas singing hymns during the middle of the night in Acts 16:25, praising God for his mercy and love and giving comfort to one another.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hVuutLVGzA]
(https://youtu.be/0hVuutLVGzA)

At the home

After a quick breakfast of bread and tea (Malawi is a former British colony), we drove to the home where the funeral proceedings began. The ladies’ choir from the local church were marching outside in a circle and singing. With me were Rev. Stanley Daile of Lilongwe, who gave the funeral address; Rev. Msowoya, who presided over the service; Rev. Chiumia (a distant relative of the deceased) who came all the way from the seaside town of Mlowe; Rev. Patrick Mugumbo from Salima, who is also the Vice President of the LCCA; Retired Pastor Akim Daile, who served at Wisconsin Lutheran for 18 years and now resides in a nearby village; Rev. S. Phiri who serves congregations in the northern region; and Vicar Frank Mukwoya who is currently assigned to St. Michael Lutheran in Mzuzu. I represented the WELS Mission.

The men had gathered outside the house. The family had set up an area with chairs and tarps to protect them from the elements. The women were all sitting on the floor in a room inside the house. The pastors entered the room which contained the casket of Evangelist Chiumia, enthusiastically singing in Chitumbuka. After about five or six hymns and a prayer, we exited the house and the pallbearers brought the casket outside for people to pay their respects to the deceased. In addition to the pastors, there were other important guests in attendance like the village’s traditional authority (chief). Evangelist Chiumia’s grandson, who is currently studying for the ministry at the Lutheran Bible Institute in Lilongwe, was there along with 28 other grandchildren and family members who had returned to Malawi from other countries for the occasion. After everyone passed by the casket, it was loaded onto a large pickup truck and we proceeded to the church.

The funeral and graveside service

Upon arrival at the church I found standing room only. A local musician had been secured to play pre-service music on his keyboard, along with a PA System and generator. (Power outages are common in Malawi.) The text Pastor Daile chose for his funeral address was from John 14:2-3, where Jesus says: “In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” The largest cathedrals and most lavish of funeral parlors cannot even begin to compare with the splendor of our Heavenly Father’s dwelling. The evidence of the power of God’s Word to conquer fear and wipe away tears was in plain sight during the entire day. I thank God for the privilege of being a witness to it.

At the conclusion of the service, we processed to the village cemetery. Many mourners rode with the casket on the back of the truck. Many more walked on foot. By my estimation about 500 people attended the graveside service. I have never seen anything like this at any of the funerals I conducted in the United States.

The family had prepared a very deep grave, about 7 or 8 feet down. Later on, one of my fellow missionaries explained that the deeper the hole is, the greater the respect they are showing the deceased. After the body was lowered into the ground, several choirs performed songs. The lead singer of the choir from Mzuzu was so enthusiastic that an elderly gentlemen began dancing alongside of her. Vicar Mukwoya delivered another sermon at the gravesite, and Pastor Mugombo presided over rite of burial.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUq24u0MTBg]
(https://youtu.be/eUq24u0MTBg)

The family members literally covered the grave with bouquets of flowers. Then they read out loud the names of all the people who had given money to the family, along with the amounts they gave. Although this might seem bizarre to a Western audience, in this culture gifts of money are an important way for people to show their respect and honor. The gifts are called “pepuketsa” (literally “sorry money”) and are meant to convey condolences to the grieving family members in a very practical manner. The gifts were of differing amounts, from a few dollars up to hundreds of dollars. Two cows were also donated and served to the hungry guests afterwards. I enjoyed eating “family style” with the other pastors – no plates or utensils, just one heaping pile of nsima and another big bowl of stew meat. The pastors put a serious dent in that nsima – they had worked up a big appetite for sure.

Even though I did not understand the language people were speaking nor the significance of all the traditions and customs, I can easily say that the Spirit of God was active in the hearts of my African brothers and sisters in Christ. Although this funeral was so very different from every other funeral I’ve ever attended, our Savior Jesus’ words give all of us comfort and peace in the face of death. He has gone to prepare a place for us, and it holds residents from every tribe, nation, language and people on earth. By God’s mercy and by trusting in Christ’s words, Evangelist Gibson Chiumia has found his place. And one day we too will find ourselves the newest residents of our Father’s house.

 

Missionary John Roebke lives in Malawi

Please pray for those working in fields that are ripe for harvest. Share their story, engage with future news and receive updates. Follow this link to learn more about our mission fields in Africa and how the Holy Spirit is working faith in people’s hearts  https://wels.net/serving-others/missions/africa