Ndola: Chipulukusu and Twapia visits

I just got back from four days in Ndola (four hours north of Lusaka by car) with people from my office. We went around the communities of Chipulukusu and Twapia where HFHZ has built houses for some years now.  These houses are primarily built by Global Village teams, which are the volunteers who come to Zambia for a week or two from other countries.  Teams come from Ireland, England, the US, and other places. There is an attorney in Ireland named Michael Nugent who has come here three times with teams and had raised a lot of money for HFHZ. During the times he was here with his team building homes, he saw how far the women and children had to go to get water, and how they spent 6 hours or more roundtrip, carrying it back to their homes in plastic jugs.  So, when he returned to Ireland he raised financing for the drilling of what are called boreholes - where the people can come and get water from a hand pump, for three locations.  Because there is no sewage system, you must be very careful where you place the borehole or you can end up drilling where the water table is contaminated from pit latrines.

So on our journey we visited the families who live in houses that were built in 2012 by the GV teams, talked to the homeowners and had them tell us how having a safe, secure home has changed or affected their lives.  We took pictures of the family both inside and outside the home so the GV team could see how the families had decorated and planted.  We brought colored pencils and paper so if there were small children in the house they could draw a picture for the GV team.  While the teams are building they often live in the community and form a wonderful bond with the residents.  Each homeowner wrote a short letter to the team thanking them, etc. Representatives of the local governing committee, the chairman, vice chair and secretary, who are residents of that community and just as poor as everyone else there, came with us on our visits and usually ended up writing the letter as the homeowner dictated it to them.  All this information is transmitted to every volunteer on each team through email in the form of a Christmas card.  (I have a lot of writing in front of me to turn all the information into individual stories about each family.)  These were heartbreaking days but also full of wonder.  They have a very strong faith in God and are grateful for what they have more than unhappy about what they don’t.  In every letter written they sent thanks and God’s blessing to the GV team.

The kids are marvelous!  They got such a kick out of looking at me and touching my hand because I am white!  I played patty cake with some and taught them "round and round the garden".  They loved to be chased and tickled, so I did a lot of that too.  In Twapia they speak Bemba (a major Bantu language) and only one young girl, Phoebe, knew English - so it was fun trying to communicate with each other!  They LOVE having their pictures taken - digital cameras are a great entertainment.  They crowd around you so close you can hardly take the picture, then when you show it to them, they get hysterical with laughter.  They love seeing themselves and their friends on the screen.  In fact, they don't seem to care if they are in the shot, but are equally happy to see the faces of their friends. As with kids everywhere, some are shy and some are very outgoing. But what touched me so deeply is how much they laugh, and how easy it is to make them laugh – they truly are very happy souls when they are young and don’t understand the privations of their lives and what difficulties lie ahead.

Of course I heard more than one tragic story, but one in particular even had my manager Sharon in tears and she had to walk away – and she is no stranger to the extremes of poverty and the unfairness of life.  Three teenagers lived with their grandmother, who is about 80 yrs. Old.  All three are what they call here double orphans, which mean both parents have died; they use the term single orphan when only one parent has died.  Just a week or so before we arrived, the grandmother, Lister, was placed in the psychiatric unit of a hospital because she was suffering from dementia.  The kids hadn't eaten in over a week.  They were out in front of the house with a hoe, turning the dirt so they could grow some vegetables.  Neighbors were trying to help, but many of them only have one meal a day.  I had to walk away with Sharon as I was crying too - it is so desperate and so overwhelming - I don't know how it can ever be changed. The obstacles seem insurmountable.

One thing that sustains me and the people at HFHZ is the knowledge that safe shelter really can change a life.  There are people living in houses built of mud which collapse in the rainy season, often killing the inhabitants.  There are houses without roofs where the family has to stand in corners all night long trying to stay dry. Without a roof over one’s head and the ability to sleep at night, a child cannot be successful in school. Without a plot of land, a family cannot grow vegetables and raise chickens.  So, dear friends, don’t be surprised when I get home and start trying to raise money for HFHZ.

Tiza

Eva

 

Blessings

Phillip

Serena and baby brother