huckablog

The (Army) Ants Go Marching...

2012-01-29T05:45:00.001-08:00

First I want to say that the picture here is not my own. If you've been missing blogs with pics it's cause my camera went home to America for a little R&R. It was not really taking pictures anymore due to a focusing problem. Also, my favorite lens was jammed from when it got dropped. So look forward to pictures again sometime in the future.

Well, it's that time of year again. The cool, misty, rainy mornings, the red mud, the muggy afternoons, the massive thunderstorms in the evenings, the power's out, the road is washed out, and the army ants are marching through Ciyanjano. These smallish red ants come out in huge lines during the rainy season eating everything in their path. They usually come in a line 4-7 ants across. On the outside of the line are a few soldiers here and there to keep an eye on the smaller guys. They don't have a permanent nest like other ants, they race from place to place, eating. They race very quickly. So this time of year it very often happens that you will stop and unlock a gate or answer a cell call and suddenly you find that your feet are covered with ants. The little ones bite. It stings a little but the pain is very much increased by the large numbers that quickly attack you if you stand near one of their marching lines. The big ones have a scissor-like mandible that actually cuts a small chunk of meat out of your skin. When you get a half a dozen on your feet you're likely to screech. But they rarely bite your feet. They'd rather quickly run up your trousers into your tender regions and then bite in unison. It's this time of year you'll see us stripping off our trousers in the middle of the front yard. The Zambians laugh. Until they're busy stripping too. Should have looked down before they stopped to laugh. The question is - you should wear thick socks and tuck your jeans into them to keep the ants out? Except if can often be 80 degrees and raining. Too hot for jeans and thick socks. So I prefer to wear flip-flops and shorts. It means I can pick the ants off before they get too high up the thighs. I know that in the villages people sometime welcome these pests, as they come though people's houses and eat all the lice, cockroaches, bedbugs, mice, rats and ticks. Just don't let 'em get into your henhouse or pig sty. They can skeletonize a whole pig overnight. So if you see me running through the yard shaking my trousers and shouting, be sure to look down before you stop and laugh at my antics or you might be joining me quickly.

US Embassy Alert - Zambian Style

2012-01-26T20:26:00.000-08:00

U.S. Embassy Lusaka, Zambia

Emergency Message for U.S. Citizens

January 25, 2012

Lion on the Loose in Livingstone

The U.S. Embassy alerts U.S. citizens resident in or visiting

Livingstone to exercise caution following Zambia Wildlife Authority

(ZAWA) reports that a lion is on the loose in the area. According to

ZAWA, the lion has not been spotted, but its footprints were found in

the Songwe area. Lions are habitually present in Livingstone's Thorn

Tree, Dambwa Forest and Chief Mukuni's Big Five Sanctuary.

New Year's Resolutions

2012-01-23T20:42:00.000-08:00

As we look to the new year, here are a few things that God has encouraged me (Tricia) with lately.

"Love in dreams is greedy for immediate action, rapidly performed and in the sight of all. Men will even give their lives if only the ordeal does not last long but is soon over, with all looking on and applauding as though on the stage. But active love is labor and fortitude, and for some people too, perhaps, a complete science. But I predict that just when you see with horror that in spite of all your efforts you are getting farther from your goal instead of nearer to it-at that very moment I predict that you will reach it and behold clearly the miraculous power of the Lord who has been all the time loving and mysteriously guiding you."

-The Brothers Karamazov

"Peace is not just the absence of conflict... [peace is] where a person's life with God and with everything else is in ordered harmony, both physically and spiritually, and 'all is well.'"

-study Bible note on peace/shalom from Romans

December Life Update

2012-01-11T11:57:00.000-08:00

So it's been a busy yet relaxing month around Ciyanjano. We hosted three Christmas outreach parties, serving orphans, ex-street kids and kids from the biggest compound in Zambia. We've also been hosting Tricia's mom from the U.S. She's been camped out in our classroom hut that's right next to our hut for the month. It's really been such a great time having her here. She's been so good with the kids and they really love her and are so sad to see her leave this week. We were able to visit Livingstone and see the falls and take a spin through Mosi-oa-tunya park to see elephant, and zebra, giraffe, monkey, and even rhino! We also visited our favorite get away spot - Lake Kariba. Spent a lot of time swimming and relaxing. We've also put the window and door frames in on the house and are now working on framing the roof!! Things have been quiet this week and we've mostly just been picking and processing and eating our weight in mangos. Tricia and her mom have also been working in her big kitchen garden. They've been harvesting a ton of butternut squash this week and waiting patiently for watermelon and pumpkins, sweet corn and maize. January should prove to be a quiet month in preparing and planning our year of ministry and reflecting on the past year. We'll see the return of our field director and his family (the Hiltys) from home assignment in the U.S. And we'll be able to get back on a normal family schedule - whatever that means. What a year - GOD IS GOOD!

A Year of Thanksgiving

2012-01-05T20:26:00.000-08:00

In reflecting on the goodness of God we have so much to be thankful for this year. It's crazy.

At the risk of sounding like Kanye at the Grammys, I'd like to give a shout out to the Lord first and foremost. He is good and has sustained us for a year in ministry and life in central Africa. Not just sustained but we see bounty, provision, presence, and love that is overflowing for the likes of proud, foolish and boastful sinners such as ourselves. Overall we've had good health and have been strong enough to do some good work (and even start a garden).

I'd like to also take the time to thank some people in no particular order and know that if you are not specifically mentioned we still love you, are thankful for you and you're in good company.

- to our faithful supporters who have been with us in giving and prayer throughout the year. We can't do anything here without you. We love you.

-to our home church, Oikos. Thank you for not forgetting us and for loving us and supporting us and caring and praying for us. We love you deeply and desire greatly to see you here in the field with us. We love you.

-to our families. We know it was tough when we packed up and moved to Africa with your only grandson. You have been so supportive and helpful in a thousand ways and thank you thank you for welcoming our girls into the family. We love you.

-to our team. You guys are awesome and our endurance in this race is only possible with your constant companionship, fellowship, encouragement, and helps. We love you.

-to our girls. It's been one year this week since we brought you out of your orphanages. Our life would not be complete without you. We're so excited to see you growing in so many ways. We love you.

-to our little man, Lucas. You are such a champ! Thanks for being so flexible. We love you.

-to Megan Bloemker for your faithful help in getting through the bureaucratic nightmare of adoption in Zambia. May your legs always be strong enough to jump through the hoops! We love you.

-to our friends in Zambia. Thanks for your understanding and emotional support in our adoption, and life and ministry here. It's hard to imagine Lusaka without some you. We love you.

-to our Ciyanjano staff and their families. What can we say? Life at the farm would be unbelievably difficult without your knowledge and help in language, culture, etc. Thank you for your friendship and trust. We love you.

-to our teacher, Violet. Wow. It is an amazing blessing to have someone that you can trust with your kids. Thank you for your special care of our children and your friendship to us. We love you.

-to our friends, Dave and Kim Breuninger from Koinonia camp. You rule. We love you.

Again, there are many, many more and rest assured, WE LOVE YOU!

Last and Late Christmas Party

2012-01-04T00:48:00.000-08:00

This last week we had the opportunity to hold one last Christmas party. Sure it was a little late, but really we want celebrate Christmas all year. We had the boys over from Kakabalika for a game of pick up football, a huge dinner, a time for gifts and a movie. Kakabalika is a house and school for boys that are off the street. It's home to 30-40 boys and is a great ministry operated by the church we attend here in Zambia. The boys are aged 11-20(ish) and are such an awesome group. We had a huge dinner of beans and franks with nshima and salads. Tricia made an absolute TON of food and the boys polished it off without much trouble. We are also able to give each boy a pair of tropicals (flip flops), an exercise book for school, and most importantly, we had the funds to give each boy their own bible. I'm so thankful the work that the church, staff and missionaries have put into building up those boys!! And thank you to all of our supporters who made these Christmas parties possible. We can't wait for our Christmas in July parties!!

Ciyanjano Christmas Outreach!

2011-12-10T21:33:00.000-08:00

Ciyanjano Christmas Outreach!

This year the AZ team was super excited to throw Ciyanjano's first Christmas Party outreach! Christmas parties are a wonderful ministry of ACTION International; kids get to hear about Jesus and have a lot of fun at the same time. It is also a great opportunity for us to work with ACTION pastors who are trying to build up their children's ministries.

We invited two groups of kids plus parents and church leaders (from Makeni area and from Kanyama compound) to Ciyanjano for a full day of fun. The first group arrived a little after 8am, had a snack and played on our newly expanded playground and a rented jumping castle. Then we marched them into our classroom spaces and put them to work decorating their own T-shirts with puffy paint and magic markers. The T-shirts have "GOD LOVES ME" printed on the fronts to remind kids about the first Christmas - they were so excited to decorate their own shirts!!!

Then ACTION Pastors' College graduate, Patson Sakala, and Ciyanjano's foreman, Jailos Sakala led the kids in song and prayer. Pastor Sakala gave a message about Christmas taught from John 3:16. Kids were able to hear about God's amazing love for them and how he sent the first Christmas gift ever- his own son! After the message kids ate hotdogs and played some more.We now have a lot of ideas for next year's Christmas outreaches: first a Christmas in July party and then more in December. Thank you to everyone who contributed to these outreaches!!!!

Mutale's First (fourth) Birthday

2011-12-05T20:16:00.000-08:00

Last week we celebrated Mutale's fourth B-day! It was a pretty mellow day. She opened presents from Grandma and Grandpa, Mimi and Papa and her uncle Casey and Auntie Michelle. She loved all her loot! In the afternoon her friends from Ciyanjano came over and took some swings at the piñata that Tricia made. The kids had a great time trying to hit it while blindfolded. The Zambians thought we were crazy once again. (So wait, you fill it with candy and then break it open with a stick to get the candy out?)

The next morning we left the house bright and early for the second part of her b-day surprise. We took the kids to the airport. We told them that we needed to pick up a "package." It was actually Tricia's mom. She's here for a month-long visit and we didn't tell the kids 'cause we didn't want them to act insane for the weeks before she came. The day she came in we took her to Sugarbush which is an organic farm and leather shop and cafe. It's pretty much the closest thing to Bellingham in all of Zambia. Then we took Mutale to get her ears pierced. She's been soooo excited to get them pierced for her 4th b-day present. But after the first ear was done she was so mad and didn't want to get the other one pierced. Finally she let the guy finish and with much tears we piled back in the car. But later that day she spent a nice long chunk of time admiring herself in the mirror. Overall, some very fun times.

Oh Wait, I Actually LIVE in Africa!

2011-11-19T04:48:00.000-08:00

Tricia's mom is arriving in less than two weeks for a month-long visit. We're all super excited and we can't wait for her early morning BA flight to touch down, especially because the kids know that grandma is coming but only in a general sense and we plan on waking them at the crack of dawn (if they haven't already woken us) and taking them to the airport without telling them why. I'm sure they'll figure it out on the way there but at least they'll sleep the week before.

So in light of her upcoming visit, here's what we've been thinking about lately. Zambia has really become home for us in so many ways. The sights, sounds and smells that used to awe, astonish, frighten, or amaze me now just pass by with little notice. In other words Zambia has become our new normal. But with grandma coming we've really been looking around more and trying to imagine seeing it with her eyes. What about all the garbage, the mud or dust depending on the day, the poverty, the traffic, the beauty and vegetation, our zambian children, everything? It's really given me an eye to actually SEE Zambia again. It helps that rainy season is here. In Washington you would never have a day where you wake up to no power, the sun's up with heat and the massive amounts of rain that soaked the earth during last night's storms are creating a steamy, muggy, almost foggy morning. The sound of ten thousand crickets and other bugs whirring and chirping, frogs crrrreeeeeeeeking, our children singing songs in nynjana all morning while working on coloring, or they're picking termites out of dewey grass and putting them in a bucket of water for lunch. The mud road to Ciyanjano gets deep and bright orange and brighter green vegetation starts creeping into everything. It's amazing and beautiful. Suddenly we're having many moments lately where we really see, smell, feel like we're actually living in Africa. And we love it.

Inswa (Annual Return of the Termites!)

2011-11-18T05:30:00.000-08:00

Every year, some time after the first rains begin in earnest, millions of fat termites fly out of their nests and begin looking for a mate and ne spot to start the next giant termite mound. The night it begins you can see thousands of them flying around street lamps and house lights. In the morning discarded wings lie in piles under lights and flutter in the breeze. Meanwhile, Zambians are turning over stones and digging in small holes and catching thousands of these little guys. Typically you catch them and drop them into a bucket of water which drowns them and also gets the dirt off them. One year at Ciyanjano our guys were able to catch 50kg of inswa in one morning! Then all you need to do is rinse them really well and toss 'em in hot dry skillet. They get crispy and remind me of something. I can't place the taste. The smell is unmistakeable as the air at Ciyanjano smells of them as they gather. For Zambians there is nothing better than the free fat and protein that can be gathered! With low wages and high cost of living, free food is hard to beat! The kids eat them like crazy and they wanted to save a big bowl of them for when grandma comes. I'm sure she'll love that!

Love-letter to Toyota

2011-11-16T20:28:00.000-08:00

I do not intend to start a debate with this blog. I know how guys can argue about trucks.

In high school I dated a guy with a bunch of tough, outdoorsy guy friends and they all loved to talk about their Toyota trucks and how when it came to "braffing" (which was what I think they called driving out on the back mountain roads), Toyota, and only Toyota would do. I always agreed of course because I was a sixteen-year-old girl who didn't care.

Let me tell you though, that now, in the outskirts of Lusaka (and even in the city) I often feel like I am in a crazy Toyota commercial. The roads here are unbelievable and I just don't know what we would do without our Prado!!!

Yesterday afternoon I had the pleasure of taking a family out to get school shoes. We have a grandma who lives next to Ciyanjano in a two-room house where she alone is raising six and supporting one more. One of our supporters offered to help us help this family. So, I picked up the grandma and all the kids and took them to a shoe company that is relatively close to Kasupe.

When we arrived at the shoe place, apocalyptic rain began to pour down, which was so sad because all the family had gotten dressed up in their Sunday's best. Regardless though, we got all the kids fitted with shoes that will last much longer than they will fit these growing kids. We managed to get back in the truck and start off. Since my Nyanja is terrible and their English is very poor, we sang praises to the Lord instead of trying to chat.

Side note: Asking a Zambian if they like to sing is like asking if they like to breathe. The oldest to the youngest, love to sing and can even quite expertly lead a very complicated song with different parts... all the while at least one or two of them can clap along in intricate ways - it is like being in the middle of a professional performance.

So my trusty Toyota moved along in this downpour and I prayed to myself that the Lord would protect so I wouldn't kill this beautiful family with a traffic accident. We are trudging along Kasupe road which is rocks and mud for some of the way, and we come up to a crazy traffic jam. I get out of the truck to find that a huge truck is broken down and completely cutting off both lanes of traffic on our way home (and didn't I mention that it was dumping rain?) And giant piles of dirt for construction are making it impossible to go around the blockage. People were arguing and yelling and getting hot and bothered.

There was nothing to do but turn around and try and figure out another way home. Luckily, Mama Zulu knew a way we could take and we drove all the way back to the main road and made a huge circle to a crazy back road. We ended up on this VERY muddy, VERY bumpy, unbelievable road (think of Romancing the Stone when they are sliding down the muddy hill) and the entire time I really wasn't sure if we would make it. I thought for sure we would get stuck in mud or slide down some hill and end up turned over on our side and I'd be pulling muddy kids out of a window.

But, we made it. Despite my sketchy driving, that Toyota (and God's help!) got us home. And I found myself for the millionth time thanking God for our truck. The rain stopped just as I was pulling up to the house to drop off this whole crew of happy kids, so they were able to head home fairly dry and equipped with sturdy black shoes.

I must say, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. And forgive me for thinking "If only those guys back in high school could see this!"

translation humiliation

2011-11-10T00:48:00.000-08:00

You might wonder if Kelly and I have much trouble communicating with people here in Lusaka - so many of the people speak English, is there really a language barrier? Here are two conversations I had with the two young guys who are helping me with my garden this morning, Gift and Akim:

Me: Since we are not going to need these beds for radishes, I think we'll just plant Kale. Here are the seeds. Can you work on these beds today?

Gift: Yes, no problem.

Me: Do you need to water the beds first to make it easier? I noticed when I watered the beds that it made it much easier to dig. Without water, the dirt is like stone.

Gift (laughing and going toward the hose): Yes. It's easier.

Me (I go to hand him the hose so he can go water the beds he will be digging.): Here is the hose.

Gift: No I don't need that, I will dig first.

Me: But see these two beds here. I watered them first and then dug. It made it much easier to dig. That is what I was talking about before.

Gift: Oh.

Gift went on to dig in the beds without watering them first and I still have no idea if we were understanding each other at all...

Me: Hello! You are back so fast from that other project.

Akim: Yes, I think I will weed the beans now.

Me: Okay. Also, I turned over those two beds there.

Akim (laughing strongly): Yes I saw.

Me: I didn't remove the grass yet but just dug them up.

Akim (laughing): Yes.

Me (smiling): Are you laughing at me? Did I do a bad job on the beds?

Akim: No, no. (laughing more) I will do it.

I left and have no idea what I did wrong on those beds!!! It drives me crazy because I can't see any difference between how I did it and how I see these guys do it but they won't tell me the problem, and often, even if they did explain I wouldn't understand!

Just a little taste of daily challenges with communication. Or maybe this is an example of gardening challenges, I'm not sure which!

Baptisms!!

2011-10-26T03:30:00.001-07:00

Our church in Zambia, Rivers of Joy Fellowship, were able to baptize nine believers this week in a small ceremony at the pool of a local lodge. How excited were we to find that two of the kids being baptized gave their testimony that they were saved during one of the first youth camps held at Ciyanjano. What joy we had in hearing that! I can't wait to hear hundreds more stories like these over the years as kids come to hear about Christ and know him as their KING!

Salaula Saturday!

2011-10-22T21:29:00.000-07:00

I know I've written a little before about "salaula." When American's give their used clothes to companies like Goodwill or The Arc (Value Village) they can end up being sold all the way in Zambia. So, we decided to give a salaula sale a try as a potential "income-generating project" for Ciyanjano and as a little fun for the community. It costs people 10-20 thousand Kwacha to travel into Lusaka to do some shopping... we figured maybe they'd like to spend that money on trousers and t-shirts instead on mini-bus fare!

So I've Got That Going For Me

2011-10-09T07:36:00.000-07:00

This week I've been meditating on probably the most important fact of my entire life. Here's what I've been thinking...

The Bible says that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. This means that for people who trust in Jesus and the grace of God for our salvation, we are saved. We won't ever be punished for our sin, because Jesus has already paid for it. He died for it.

When God looks at me, he doesn't see my sin, he's sees his own son's righteousness in me. Did you hear that? When God looks at me, he doesn't see all the many faults and failures of Tricia Huckaby, he sees the righteousness of Jesus Christ covering me.

And here's the clincher. If God has existed always and forever into the past and into the future; and if God has always known me as his child because of his son, Jesus, well then, there has never been a moment, never ever ever ever ever NEVER where God did not totally and completely LOVE me and DELIGHT in me. Are you hearing me? It's amazing. Because of Jesus, there has never been a day where God was not loving me and pouring out his grace on me.

Sometimes I've had days where I was thinking God was looking at me the way it seemed like he looked at the Israelites in the old testament. He'd be looking at them thinking, "Look at these unfaithful people. They don't love me. They don't serve me. I'm outta here." But that is actually NEVER the case. That is why Jesus came. To make sure that God's people were really really safe. Not just a little bit loved. Not just loved if they did everything right. But totally and completely safe and loved no matter what.

So, that has been really blowing my mind. And it has occurred to me how different this world would look if every single person really understood this fact of love and really lived out of that perfect love every day. Wow. That would be heaven.

Happy Birthday Ethel!

2011-09-30T22:15:00.000-07:00

What a happy day! We celebrated Ethel's birthday on September 30! This is the birthday we gave her to celebrate that God made Ethel, and also to honor Kelly's brother, Casey, who also has his birthday on that day. Happy Birthday, Casey!!

This was Ethel's very first time celebrating her birthday and of course she was very excited. Grandma and Grandpa and Mimi and Papa and Uncle Casey and Auntie Michelle made it extra special by sending some fun gifts for her. She was also especially excited about the cake and getting to blow out the candles. She is now 6 years old! And somehow, even though just a month ago Lucas was taller than her, she had a growth spurt and is now taller than Lucas, which is quite an achievement.

We love you Ethel! Thank you, God, for Ethel!

2011-09-26T03:05:00.000-07:00

I need you more, more than yesterday.

I need you more, more than words can say.

I need you more, I need you more.

More than the air I breathe.

More than the song I sing.

More than the next hot thing.

More than anything.

And Lord as time goes by,

I'll be by your side.

Because I never want to go back

to my old life.

We give you the highest place.

-------

This is a song that we sang at church this morning. Honestly, it takes me awhile even to learn some of the songs in English because the choir's accent can be pretty thick. When I finally realized they were singing "the next hot thing" I got excited because that seemed kind of a unique lyric. When I think of "the next hot thing" I can feel a little superior inside like I don't give into hot trends and stuff like that. But then the Holy Spirit really spoke to me today as we were singing that song. He asked me, what's the next hot thing for you, Tricia?

And I realized that I fall prey to "the next hot thing" in my life all the time. It occurred to me that the way that I pray is an easy way to see what the next hot thing is for me. Right now? The next hot thing is our house project, the fatty garden we're working on, fundraising, preparing for a big personnel meeting… I mean, "the next hot thing" is whatever is occupying my thoughts and really taking over as a priority. The list can get quite long, especially when I contrast my priorities with the last part of the song. "We give you the highest place." Really? Am I really giving Jesus the highest place? No, I confess, most of the time I am not giving Jesus the highest place but a host of other things reign in his place.

All these other things are just fine but they never deserve the highest place.

Please pray that we'll be faithful in giving the Lord the highest place everyday.

Election Day (Don't Kubeba)

2011-09-19T23:46:00.000-07:00

PF presidential candidate Michael (King Cobra) Sata

Well today is election day in Zambia. The embassy has advised that we have a week's worth of food, water, and cell phone time and that we stay in unless we have an emergency. We're praying for peace but also being prepared. Elections in the past have led to some riots, mob violence and looting. Please Pray for Peace!! Here's the scoop on the elections as far as I can tell.

The ruling party - Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD) is presided over by President Ruphia Banda. The opposition party is the Patriotic Front led by Sata (see above). As far as I can tell Sata is a more liberal (think Democrat) candidate; he talks a lot about serving the poor and about making sure that extractive industries like copper mining which is non-sustainable, have long term positive impacts for all Zambians, not just extracting companies and countries. These things sound good to me but talk like this worries me in light of Mugabe's rule of Zimbabwe (same party) which has terrorized and murdered foreigners and especially white farmers while not actually improving the situation for the majority of Zimbabweans. The other disconcerting thing about the PF is that they seem to be mostly comprised of rowdy drunken youths hanging out of speeding Hilux pickups shouting "Don't Kubeba!" and inciting violence. Regardless, the PF's "Don't Kubeba" campaign is brilliant. It basically means "Don't Tell." Hense the finger over the mouth pic -shhhhh. The idea is that the MMD is going to be handing out money and gifts like hats, tshirts and chitenges in return for votes and that you should take their money and gifts and then not tell them that your are still secretly voting for the PF. It creates a sense of secret unity among PF voters while stabbing at the MMD. Genius.

Most Zambians I know are voting for Banda (unless they're just not "Kubeba"ing me). They see him as stable and that his policies have kept Zambia out of any major trouble during his years in office and they feel like they can trust things to at least stay as good as they are and not get worse with him continuing in office. They're also impressed by the way the MMD is allowing PF to run an open and popular opposition campaign without terrorizing or disappearing opposition leaders as has happened in the past.

Polls have put PF in the lead but most people I've talked to have said that MMD will win in a landslide. Either way there is sure to be violence. The cadres will certainly be fighting and rioting in town. But there is the possibility of serious instability for a while - if PF wins they might go nuts like when teams win championships and their home town goes burns the city in joy. Or something. If they lose they're gonna cry foul and do the same thing. So pray for peace and that the elections would be clearly fair and that the people of Zambia will accept the results.

Ciyanjano Development Video

2011-09-19T23:20:00.000-07:00

My boss asked me to put together a short video of the development work done at Ciyanjano over the las couple of years. Check it out on YouTube! Click here.

Dedication!

2011-09-05T06:51:00.000-07:00

Ok, so this is three weeks late. I've got no excuse except that I was just not in the mood to write about the Ciyanjano Dedication. It was amazing and I really feel like it could not have gone better. Our team was just that - a real team working together to pull off a very complicated and large event. Our guests were a great encouragement and I think they had a great time. I was sick with a very sore throat for most of the weekend and the week after but we were able to push through. I really felt God's presence and grace during the whole two day event.

For a great narrative and some pics check here:
http://thesingletonstory.blogspot.com/2011/08/dedicating-ciyanjano.html

for lots more pics, check here

Warped Pistons, Walking Tours and Tired Feet

2011-09-04T22:06:00.000-07:00

Our mechanic lit another cigarette and took a long drag. He tapped the ash off into an ashtray with his oil-stained fingers. He exhaled, "Twelve million; maybe less. And it's gonna take two, three weeks." That was the week before the Ciyanjano dedication. We had a number of guests coming in from the States and about thousand errands to run and our truck had started making a loud knocking sound when I stepped on the gas. How could be be carless for the busiest week of the year? But we changed the oil and drove slowly around town for the next ten days and on the Tuesday after se dropped our last guests back at the airport, I dropped the truck at Baldy's and said goodbye to our freedom for the next three weeks. We learned some things about ourselves during this time.

First, Lusaka is huge, sprawling, traffic infested wasteland. I spend a lot of time sitting behind the wheel. Barely moving, vendors selling car chargers, CDs, faux leather belts, single pairs of high heel shoes, a wrinkled dress shirt move from car to car. It's boring and lonely. I did not miss this at all.

Taking the bus can be a pain. You can wait for an hour for a bus only to have it run out of diesel before you can get a block away. Buses to and from Kasupe can be unpredictable. But there is freedom in not having the responsibility of driving, paying attention to the masses of pedestrians, people pushing wheelbarrows, bikes, and trucks.

Lastly, being broke down gave us permission to stop running around town and really get settled at Ciyanjano. We've been taking long walks around Kasupe, into the bush, out to the huge farming/irrigation project called "SCEME", out to the village. Rural Africa is beautiful. If anything our time stuck at Ciyanjano made me wish that we were even further out in the bush. I don't think Tricia or the kids felt the same way - they got pretty stir-crazy after the first week or so. But I love it out here completely. And it really feels like we're going through a second orientation - diving back into language and cultural learning and building relationships. It's been great being stuck.

Happy Birthday Lucas!

2011-08-31T21:18:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to our son, Lucas, who turned 4 years old on August 31st. We love you!

Matebeto

2011-08-24T05:16:00.000-07:00

One of the coolest things about living in Zambia is that we learn about and sometimes even experience unique traditions. Recently I (Tricia) was invited to our teacher, Violet’s, “Matebeto” event. Violet is getting married in October and the Matebeto is part of the families’ marriage traditions. (Violet is in the red shirt on the far left in the group picture.) Now, please remember that there are something like 76 different languages and peoples represented in Zambia and many of these people groups have their own very specific traditions. So not every Zambian will celebrate a Matebeto. Also, I’ve noticed some confusion about this event in Lusaka. Some people say that Matebeto is a Bemba tradition that happens years after a woman has been married and that what Violet was actually celebrating is another event called something like Chilanga Mulilo. I don’t know what is accurate but I am just reporting on my own experience.

I asked Violet about it and here is how she explained it:
"Matebeto is where the bride's family and friends prepare different kinds of dishes for the groom's family; Cilanga Mulilo is where only the bride's family prepare just a few dishes for the groom's family. These ceremonies are performed to show the groom and family what the bride can cook and the kind of food they expect to find or eat when they visit the home. During the ceremony, the bride is kept inside where the elders teach her things about her new home and what is expected of her. These include taking care of her house, looking after her husband, her attitude towards her husband and in-laws, and even her movements (have to change)."

So what was this event all about?! Well, to sum up, this event is a chance for the bride’s family to cook, cook, and cook some more. The women spend all day cooking up their favorite dishes and then they carry the food over to the groom’s family’s house (on their heads) where the food is presented and all of the dishes are explained. From a foreigner’s perspective a Matebeto is a lot of fun though I didn’t understand a lot of the symbolism behind different aspects of the ceremony. The cooking was all taking place in the Sakala family’s backyard which is right on Ciyanjano property; so I just wandered over there around 8:30 in the morning. Many women were already busy cooking on braziers, which are like little outdoor grills that use hot coals. Braziers are what most Zambians cook on.

Anyway, I spent the morning peeling carrots and cassava just trying not to get in the way. I asked questions about the dishes the ladies were preparing; many are different varieties of cooked greens with ground nut (peanut) powder mixed in. Zambians use a lot of tomato and onion to create “soups” which they eat with rice or the main staple food which is “nshima” made from maize porridge into large lumps. They also eat dried fish, a lot of chicken if they can afford it, and other vegetables. The most interesting dish in my eyes was made from roasted pumpkin seeds that were pounded into a paste and then made into little balls which were then boiled in water for a long, long time.

Female relatives and friends came in and out all throughout the morning and early afternoon and the women would take breaks to play drums and perform traditional dances. Zambian ladies love to dance. I resisted for as long as I could but the ladies really will not tolerate a guest just standing by and watching, so I had to give it a shot. Of course it was to the GREAT amusement of all the Zambian women there and the ladies were very encouraging. If you want to make friends with Zambian women, well you’ve just got to shake that booty.
Strangely enough, Violet herself was not outside cooking any of the food. She only came out of the house at specific times to take part in different parts of the ceremony. When I asked what Violet was doing all day people said she was “resting” but I don’t buy it. It sounds like she was learning all the secrets of Zambian womanhood.

At one point she came out of the house on her hands and knees with a woman in front of her and a woman behind, both on their hands and knees. They were all covered in a long piece of citenge fabric, giving them the appearance of a large caterpillar I would say. They crawled along and people threw down money on the ground. They crawled over to a large wood fire where a big nshima pot waited. Violet knelt before the pot and had to add water using a cup that she held with her teeth and then added mealie meal to the pot also using her teeth to hold a plate. I must say it was a bit odd.

One of my favorite parts of the day was when the big pot of nshima was cooking and all the ladies there took turns stirring the nshima. They gave me a turn and I honestly felt very honored. My turn lasted literally three seconds but then everyone congratulated me on doing a fine job. Zambians are very polite!

There were a couple different times during the day where things were done with the mouth instead of with the hands. Especially by one woman who was the family’s representative. She holds a special title and gave a lengthy presentation of the foods as well as marriage advice when finally at the groom’s family’s house.

So let’s get to the main event. After walking down the dusty Kasupe road a bit in our citenge dresses and suits (with all the food!) our group of around 30 ladies turned down to the family’s house and stopped at their gate. The representative from Violet’s family put down a citenge on the ground and then the groom’s family threw money down on the citenge. Our group only moved forward when a satisfactory amount was thrown down. We moved a little further and stopped again waiting for more cash and this continued for quite some time until we were all in the home. Relatives in the groom’s party continued to throw down a little cash as all the dishes were presented and they looked forward to the feast that awaited them.

Then what? Then all of us walked back to the house while the groom and his family enjoyed the banquet that was prepared for them. Some of Violet’s friends and relatives had stayed behind to cook even a little bit more food to feed all of the women who had worked hard all day cooking. Unfortunately I missed out on that celebration because I was hot and tired and had to go check on my own family. All in all it was a very educational day and a nice chance to support Violet and meet some of the ladies that live around Kasupe. I can't help but wonder if I am going to have to throw a Matebeto for one of my own little Bemba girls someday!

Short Term Team, Long Term Commitment

2011-08-21T18:55:00.000-07:00

In July we had the pleasure of hosting a short-term missions team from Twin Lakes Church in California. This was a pretty big deal for us because this was the first team visit that Kelly and I were helping to plan and host. As I’m sure many of our readers appreciate, there are a lot of ups and downs to short-term missions but this team in particular is a great example and so we wanted to share a bit with you about it.
The team was made up of four ladies, three of whom had been to Zambia before and two of those worked with ACTION Zambia last year. Kim B., the team leader, has worked with AZ a lot and was able to give her team a lot of guidance before and during the trip.
The Twin Lakes ladies had two primary ministries to work with while here in Lusaka. First, they visited a community school in Kanyama to provide some training and encouragement to the teachers there. Rhonda, one of the team members, is a long-time teacher and prepared a lot of materials and activities. Because she had been part of the same team a year before, she had an idea of what to expect. The team spent two days with these teachers and they were a real encouragement to them. From a ministry perspective there were some pros and cons to this set-up. The big plus is that by returning a second time to work with these teachers, the TL team showed these teachers that they are really valued and respected and they continued to build up these relationships. The big down side of the ministry time was that it was short. The TL team was left feeling that to really make an impact, a team would need to invest a lot more time.
The second ministry area the team participated in was women’s ministry with all of the wives of the pastors with whom ACTION Zambia works in our pastor college. We call them APC wives. Again, this is a ministry area that Kim’s team worked with last year. The TL team spent time visiting some of the APC wives at their homes. Then they came out to Ciyanjano to prepare and present a retreat for all the wives. The retreat was a few days and Kim and her team did all the teaching on topics ranging from Bible study to nutrition.
Because these APC wives had participated in the retreat last year, seeing Kim and Rhonda again was a sweet reunion. I can’t stress enough how much it means to Zambian believers to have short-term missionaries come back again and again. It really convinces them of the love and commitment their brothers and sisters feel.
Of course I can go on and on about how important these ministry areas are and what the TL team experienced here in Lusaka. But I think that what Kelly and I both felt was most memorable about seeing this team do ministry is the love given and returned by the teachers and APC wives with whom the team worked. Especially seeing Kim and Rhonda come back obviously made a big impression on the Zambians they served.
So we just wanted to thank this team and Twin Lakes for sending them and encourage you readers. Perhaps God has not called you into career missions but what about career short-term missions? Over the years we’ve seen many “ordinary” people make a powerful commitment to a particular mission field and then contribute their time, prayer, and resources over many shorter trips. Just one of the many ways that God’s people can help spread the gospel and encourage the Church. If you would like to read more about missions, one book that comes to mind is When Helping Hurts. If you are a John Piper fan you could also check out Don’t Waste Your Life.

Housework (part 2)

2011-08-07T22:58:00.000-07:00

Digging and laying the wall of the box!

Housework (part 1)

2011-08-05T21:54:00.000-07:00

So a few months ago we had a bulldozer come through and clear a bunch of brush and move a lot of dirt in varions locations on the property. Best of all, we had them clear the spot for where we'll be building our house. This week our builder and his crew brought in sand, stones, and cement and marked out the dimensions for our slab foundation!! Please be praying that a) we'll see our new plans created and approved by the various authorities b) we'll be able to get a permit that will allow us to begin building without a final approved plan, and c) that we'll see the money we need to actually build the whole thing! We have about $22,000 and that's about 50% of of the total cost.

Good Hair (Again?)

2011-08-04T10:24:00.000-07:00

I don't know, maybe Tricia has already written about this but I have to post a little something here. There are a few places that a mzungu (white foreigner) can go in Lusaka with out getting stared at or talked about our have one hundred children chasing you screaming "AZUNGU! HOW ARE YOU?" One of these places is the South African chain grocery store Pick-n-Pay. It's in a nice part of town and while I'm still a minority shopping there is usually stress free. Today Tricia was home with a sick Lucas and took the girls to church and then grocery shopping. Wow. People were watching my every move and I could almost hear their thoughts, "What is that mzungu doing with those little girls?" A lady walking down the aisle pulled on Ethel's hair and said in Nyanja, "Hey, these children look good." I think many Zambians are surprised that we can keep our Zambian girls looking nice and shiny looking. And they're right in a way - when it came to black women's hair I was as ignorant as can be. The only thing that prepared me was watching the Chris Rock documentary "Good Hair." So I don't want to give it away but most Zambian women are walking around with a half a pound of shiny acrylic hair sewn onto their heads. And it's a hundred degrees. The number of women I see in a day with natural hair (even konked, straightened hair) is less that I can't count on one hand. Wigs, weaves, braids, and extensions are IT! So when it came to our girls there was a steep learning curve. But after seeing the insane expense of fake hair and braids, we wanted a natural look. But they cry and fuss when it's time to have their hair brushed. So. Dreadlocks! They are all natural, look great and once they are taking well to the hair, there is not too much maintenance (ie. time & money). So here's their new look.

Party Time! Excellent! Woo Woo Woo!

2011-08-02T02:24:00.000-07:00

On Friday we threw a great big celebration party. We have a lot to celebrate out here at Ciyanjano, but in particular we Huckabys wanted to spend the day praising the Lord and thanking him for our completed adoption of Ethel and Mutale. So, we rented a bouncy castle, bought a lot of hotdogs, planned some crafts, recruited some musicians, and brought a bus-full of kids out from House of Martha, the orphanage where Ethel was adopted from. We had probably around 60 kids out here along with a bunch of our friends. It was a beautiful day and full of fun and worship. We serve an awesome God!

Kasupe Play Day

2011-07-30T23:28:00.000-07:00

When the wind isn't blowing too hard and we have some free time, we like to go out onto Camp Ciyanjano's football pitch and kick around our giant soccer ball. It only takes about two minutes for about 20 kids to appear out of nowhere and get in on the fun. It's incredible to see how many kids live out here. One of the teachers from the big government school behind Ciyanjano told me there were almost 2000 kids at their school (and I know that there are lots of other small community schools and that lots of kids out here don't go to school at all. Please pray for the children of Kasupe. These kids are beautiful and wonderful little people that live a pretty tough life out here in rural Africa. Pray that they would get education, pray for health and safety, pray against the abundant witchcraft that plagues the village, pray that they would grow into a strong generation of young men and women who love Jesus.

Team House Updates

2011-07-28T11:47:00.000-07:00

It started with a paint job and ended with a lovely new flat stone floor. Sometimes you never know what you are getting into here. While we were painting we decided to pull out some of the trim along the floor since it looked a little eaten by termites. Once the (almost entirely eaten) trim was out we noticed that the floor had some major problems, Not the least of these was holes from crumbling pan brick that had become a termite hotel. So out came the floor, in came stones, sand, cement and finally big flat rocks to finish it. Man it came out great! It just needs about 20 layers of Cobra floor polish to look spectacular! And we don't have to worry about th whole thing caving in anymore. Which, is good.

Classrooms Finished

2011-07-26T11:00:00.000-07:00

Here at Ciyanjano we are always trying to figure out better ways to serve the our local church and other groups that seek to glorify God by serving others. One of the things that we are passionate about is children. We want to see the multitude of vulnerable children reached here in Lusaka but due to a lack of personel we're seeking to partner with groups that are already doing this and work with them. In looking at what Ciyanjano can offer to these groups we realized that we had a serious lack of teaching space - especially for our first campground. So... A little money, a lot of work and a few weeks later, we turned one of our unused buildings into a usable teaching space. By the first week of September we'll have had 3 different kids camps pass through or camp and we're looking forward to see how we can better serve this community.

Progress?

2011-07-24T23:00:00.000-07:00

This is/was Kasupe Road, the road out to Ciyanjano. These two pictures were taken in approximately the same place 6 months apart. The word on the street is that a Chinese ice cream factory is moving into the area and they paid for the work to be done. So far the road covers about half of the 7km out to the camp. Here's the problem - it seems they have stopped about halfway and have either run out of money, OR they are waiting for the elections to be closer so they can use the road to the advantage of the current local government. The other problem is that the road is really not that thick -it's not laid very well and when the rains come and the water table rises the springs along Kasupe Rd are going to come up underneath and break out the asphalt. Which means that instead of mud in two years we'll have mud AND large chunks of broken concrete. Hmmm. Progress?

A Little Something for the Ladies

2011-07-24T11:23:00.000-07:00

Hello, this is Tricia with a little something for all my sisters out there.

If you are the type of person who 1) is easily offended by slightly inappropriate things or 2) is easily annoyed by the slightly cliche, then please don't bother reading this blog... thank you.

1. Hormones
Okay, is it just me or are hormones a big pain in the neck? I know that they are pretty amazing but at the same time they are horrifying. Culture-stress (as people who live overseas like to refer to the daily difficulties of living in a different culture than your home culture) is hard enough without throwing in PMS every month. Sometimes I find myself sincerely asking the Lord, Why?? Why, Lord? Do I really need to act like a psycho for a couple days every month? Arguing with Kelly, crying in the shower for awhile, and then eating all the "Cheese Naks" and chocolate in the house?? (Cheese Naks are like Cheetos and just as satisfying.) And in my mind the whole time I am thinking, I know exactly what is going on here and this is crazy... and yet I feel powerless to stop it. Sure, I've gotten a little more mature about it over the years, but I'll tell you, since we moved to Zambia, PMS has really sucked.

2. Body Image
I have to say that moving to Zambia has done wonders for my body image issues. I really don't struggle with body issues and vanity the way I did back home in the States. The standards for beauty here are so different that I just feel totally excluded from the whole conversation. It's hard to explain. Let's see. Very big bottoms for instance. Africans generally like big bottoms. I'm serious, this is not just some Sir Mixalot song it's a way of life, people. A lot of Zambian ladies have very big round bottoms. So much so that Kelly and I have found ourselves doing double-takes at times, especially when these ladies are wearing very tight jeans which is quite a bold statement around these parts (so to speak). Anyway, my bottom, it's nothing to cause anyone to take another look. But that's just my point, I'm just not part of the whole system, it's like I'm exempt. And it feels pretty good.

3. Long Hair
The one exception to the above point is probably my hair. I find myself thinking about my hair a lot. The reason is because I've grown it out long and hair here in Zambia is a big deal. Ladies spend a lot of time and money on their own hair or on fake hair. Again, it's like I'm not even part of the whole system. I just have my own hair and it just grows right out of my head. I don't even have to try. But I will say that having long hair, I'm surprised to say, makes me feel more... ladylike? I've most often had my hair short which always has made me feel cute. But somehow having long hair makes me feel more feminine these days, which is nice because my boobs have all but disappeared. And as I said before, I don't really have any junk in the trunk ;) so at least I've got my hair to make me feel girly whilst I tote around my dirty kids and wipe boogers and lollipops off faces.

4. Speaking of Hair
I've been taking the girls to a shady hair salon every two weeks as we get their dread locks started. Well, at first it was kind of fun practicing my Nyanja and hanging out at the salon for HOURS. But it loses its charm. I don't know what it is like for families in the States who have adopted children, but here, you get stared at a LOT. And not only that, but people will just talk about you while you are right there. And they don't worry about offending you because they just speak so quickly that they know you can't understand them. It's excruciating. I'm not going back there anymore. I've been watching the hair stylist very closely and I'm pretty sure I can do it myself now... at least until my Nyanja gets a LOT better.

Part of the Family

2011-07-06T10:20:00.000-07:00

Today we have the wonderful news to report that our adoptions have been finalized on the Zambia side! It truly was a miracle and we want to thank everyone who prayed and prayed and prayed. The first time we sat before the magistrate it seemed very negative and we couldn't really figure out why he wouldn't approve the adoption. This morning, it was no problem. He was friendly and went through the whole process, finalized the adoption, and seemed happy for us. THANK YOU GOD!!!! We are so thrilled and relieved to (legally) add two more Huckabys to this team.

So, we humbly and thankfully introduce Ethel Audrey Huckaby age 5 and Mutale Joy Huckaby age 3. Ethel will turn 6 on September 30 and Mutale will turn 4 on November 30. That now makes Lucas our middle child! Adoption is such a crazy and awesome trip!

In Spirit and in Truth

2011-06-20T03:40:00.000-07:00

This Sunday at Rivers of Joy church our pastor preached a bit on what it means to worship "in Spirit and in truth."

In John 4:23-24 Jesus says:
Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."

Our pastor spoke on how often as Christians we confuse worshiping in truth with the idea of worshiping "honestly." Worshiping honestly meaning that we come to God focused on our position, getting "honest" with God by confessing our sins before Him. For example, we come to church and as we sing praise to God we begin to recite in our minds our long list of sins and shortcomings asking for forgiveness and thanking God for his forgiveness. This might be what we think it means to worship in truth... being honest. I don't really think there is anything wrong with confessing our sins to God but our pastor had something to say about this.

His point was that worshiping "in truth" has nothing to do with getting honest about our position before God. God knows our position but rather he is looking for worshipers who will declare the truth about God. That as we worship God we are basically declaring what we know about God. I don't think I am doing the sermon justice but it did strike me how often Christians are focused on our relationship with God and our current situation or spiritual maturity, rather than just being focused on who Jesus Christ is and declaring that.

So if that is what it means to be a worshiper of Jesus, then that is basically what it means to be a Christian... someone who declares who Jesus is in truth and with the agreement of the holy Spirit who lives inside us.

If I haven't told you lately who Jesus is, then I'm not much of a worshiper but I know that every Sunday we are very sincerely declaring that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God who loves man so much that he came to die and conquer death so that we can live. Because of Jesus we have forgiveness of sins and can worship the Father.

In the process of declaring this truth every Sunday and studying God's word, I fall more in love with Jesus. For those of you who don't worship Jesus, well, you are missing out. I'm not kidding when I say that declaring that Jesus is God actually infuses life. I am planted by a river of life. I love to declare the truth that JESUS SAVES and I pray that God would help me each day to worship him in spirit and in truth.

Classrooms!!

2011-06-12T05:05:00.000-07:00

So in case you got behind on the blog, after lots of quotations and and discussion we have decided to build our house from scratch on another part of the property. Short version is that it will actually cost less in the long run and we can build it how we want it rather than being restricted by adding to a building that was half finished. So that meant that we had a half built building that was unused on the property. We met with one ACTION Zambia's board members who is the director of AWANA Zambia about a long term partnership with Ciyanjano as a venue for kids camps and leadership training. One of the major things that our campground area was missing was teaching space that was out of the sun and or rain. So Ciyanjano is now developing this unused house into to classrooms to help us better serve churches and other groups that need teaching space!! We are so excited about this!!

Painting party!

2011-06-12T01:13:00.000-07:00

Over the last few weeks we've been cleaning out the team house at Ciyanjano. It was in an embarrassing state! However painted this kitchen before left big white spots where the yellow never came together. In their defense, it's not like it's super bright in there. But some heavy duty cleaning and some paint and it's looking (and smelling) quite nice!

Chigayo

2011-06-03T05:58:00.000-07:00

One of the projects going right now at Ciyanjano is a hammer mill or "chigayo." A chigayo is mill where people can bring their maize and have it milled into mealie meal, the staple food here that when cooked is called nsima. This is awesome for a number of reasons. First it provides a service to the community. Some people were walking as far as 7km to the next closest chigayo. We have fair to low prices and people in Kasupe are excited to have a place close by. Also the chigayo is a way that Camp Ciyanjano can become more sustainable. It provides a regular and steady income to the ministry that can help us pay all of our national workers' salaries and help pay for maintenance of the property. It's a great place to hang out too. Children are often the ones bring maize for milling. You'll see little tiny kids with 50lbs of maize on their heads headed to the chigayo everyday. While there they play with each other and socialize. We had our opening day a few weeks ago and offered free milling all day. It was a lot of sun to play with the kids that came just to watch.

Snakes!

2011-06-02T05:38:00.000-07:00

So we knew there might be snakes at Ciyanjano. But we weren't sure how many or what kind. But last week I saw Jalios Sakala throwing rocks at the side of the team house and I thought, "Uh, oh, Sakala must be going mad!" I ran out and shouted, "What's the problem over there?" He shouted back, "BIG SNAKE!" The preferred method of snake killing is stoning. You get to keep your distance from a potentially venomous snake and it's like going to the carnival, but instead of throwing balls at weighted bottles, you throw jagged rocks at 6ft spitting cobras. Anyway, I ran over started throwing rocks too. The snake started bolting down the hill headed for heavy brush so I picked up a huge stone from our driveway and chasing after it I threw it on it's back, pinning it to the ground. It turned towards us and stood up, flared its hood and spat venom at us. Which made it easy to identify as a spitting cobra. Finally after a dozen more rocks we chopped the head off with a hoe. I took the dead snake to our hut and had a sober talk with the kids about cobras. Then the day before yesterday Joe and Richard killed another cobra while I looked on with a large stick in case he came out of his hole where they were chopping with a pick axe. This one was dead when we got it out of the ground. Killing two cobras in a week and one of them only 100 ft from my front door is disturbing. So we are on a snake killing program right now. We burned the pit where they love to live. Then we had a bulldozer level the pits. Normally cobras run in mated pairs so we're hoping we got a pair and not two out of four. Pray for a snake free month of June!

Here Comes the Judge... Here Comes the Judge...

2011-05-26T01:53:00.000-07:00

Well, that's what we were hoping anyway. So far we've had three appointments with a magistrate to complete our adoption of Ethel and Mutale. One cancellation followed by two no-shows. At our last appointment a marshall finally came and told us that the magistrate seemed to be having some kind of personal problem and was not answering anyone's calls. He thought we should wait and reschedule for early June.

So basically, my understanding is that the process of finalizing an adoption sort of falls outside of the magistrates' regular duties. These magistrates get assigned cases but they sort of have to just fit them into their schedule somehow. Apparently there is not a lot of structure laid down for cases like ours. There were only 8 adoptions from Zambia last year to American families, I guess.

The girls were definitely disappointed when our appointment was fruitless, yet again. Ethel especially. But we are a family now whether a magistrate sees us today or tomorrow, and we explained that to the children. Please pray with us that we will be able to finalize this adoption very soon. We all want these girls to be officially Huckabys!

The Scoop on Our House Building Project (Part 2)

2011-05-16T21:53:00.000-07:00

So the cat's out of the bag. If you got our Ciyanjano newsletter you know that we moved out to Camp Ciyanjano at the beginning of the month. The reasons why are many - first and formost is that we absolutely need to live on site in order to oversee the development and growth of this ministry. We have a number of awesome projects happening out here right now and we hope to be building our house soon as well. So here we are living in a hut. Our first two weeks have ben pretty amazing. We love living out here. It's ridiculously beautiful this time of year. It's supposed to be the "cold season" but everyday is like the nicest summer day in Bellingham. High of 80 low of 55. But 55 is chilly in the morning to our newly thinned blood! We had a big yard sale to get rid of lots of old junk (and make space for new junk) and were able to meet a bunch of our neighbors. We've been keeping the whole thing quiet as we waited for ACTION to get our letter out announce our move. We love the hut. But it is seriously too small for us. Living in the same room as your children is not cool. Enough said. Please give towards building our house! Save us from this insanity! We're getting closer every month and we're at 45%!! javascript:void(0)

The Scoop on Our House Building Project (Part 1)

2011-05-15T21:28:00.000-07:00

The plans are finally completed and everything was put together for scrutiny at the Lusaka Province Planning Authority. But that's just the small hurdle. I'm not sure if you've seen the house plans on the blog, but the house is pretty modest for a family of five with regular long-term guests. We'd been working with trying to build up a house that was already about 1/4 built thinking this would be the much cheaper way to go, rather than starting to build from scratch. We were planning on the cost being around $25k. However, we had a number of builders give us estimates of $40k-$50k!! We know that this is not that much money in the long run (heck if we paid the average price of $900 a month to rent a three bedroom in town we'd throw that much money away in the first 4 years in Zambia!!) but it's hard to wrap our minds around. We just don't know where the money can come from.

So we decided to start from scratch - to rethink the project. The half-built house is a standard Zambian house - all concrete and asbestos sheet roof (which is heavy and requires heavy infrastructure. Our upstairs terrace that could be turned into a complete apartment in the future required massive amounts of concrete and rebar. So we scrapped the plans and drew up something new. The new plans require building from scratch. The house will be smaller and have a smaller footprint which will save on the cost of a huge slab/foundation which is expensive. It will also be lighter with lots of wood and a thatched roof. This will also save money. Because we don't have to work with an existing structure we can open up the floor plan requiring less interior concrete, again saving us money. The house will also be situated in an unused area of the camp which means more privacy without having to build a wall (this save us a lot of money!). So our new plans still come in at almost $40k but the new house will be so much better in a many ways and it will still save us $7k-$10k on a wall fence. God is good and we've had some nice donations come through this month and we're at $18k!!

PLEASE CONSIDER GIVING TOWARDS THIS PROJECT!!

Happy Birthday to Me

2011-05-06T09:16:00.000-07:00

So this week I had my 34th birthday and my first birthday in Zambia! This is Tricia by the way. Usually I would make a very big stink about my birthday and make everyone celebrate with me... and really I guess this year was no different. We decided to throw a BBQ out at Ciyanjano with the Zambian families that live and work there so that we could all start getting to know each other better.

It was amazing how different something like a BBQ can feel! People were in good spirits and really enjoyed the food. I think everyone felt very appreciated that we tried to throw a nice party. I really can't explain how lonely it feels though to have a bunch of women chatting away in Nyanja and laughing and having fun and me barely catching what is going on at any given moment. I am definitely going to have to work harder on my Nyanja if I am going to build relationships around here.

All day I was very nervous because Zambians traditionally dump a giant bucket of cold water on you on your birthday. And Jailos, one of the men who work at Ciyanjano, told me ahead of time that they were going to get me. But it was quite cold out in the morning and I asked Jailos, "ASakala, are you really going to dump water on me today?" And he said, "Oh yes, it's our birthday tradition." He looked quite pleased when he said it too. So I said,"Well, can I change afterwards because it is very cold out today?" And he said I could. I had butterflies in my stomach all day about it... peeking around corners, just waiting to get hit. It was completely nerve-wracking! By the end of the BBQ though, it still hadn't happened. Jailos finally told me that since it was so cold out today they decided not to do it. I couldn't help but feel like a wimp, and honestly I think I would have felt a bit more like I belonged with this crowd if they had just soaked me.

At least I had a big fat piece of chocolate and peanut butter cake which I made from scratch. This birthday cake I made for myself is by far the best cake I have had in the 10 months in Zambia, I humbly submit. I wish you could all have a taste. Happy Birthday to me!

Sharper than...

2011-04-22T05:09:00.001-07:00

Today I am chopping a very large amount of nuts for a recipe. Chop, chop, chop. For awhile I was exerting quite a bit of pressure and really going at the work. Then something occurred to me: I have a really sharp knife. In fact, Kelly sharpened it for me just now. (Thanks Casey and Michelle for the knife sharpener!)

Anyway, I noticed that I was very tense. My shoulders were all tight and I was using so much force to chop at these nuts. I thought to myself, I need to let this sharp knife do the work. Why am I exhausting myself for no reason?

I could've kept on going the way I was. But instead I relaxed my shoulders and eased up. I started letting the knife do the work and I was just using smooth movements that were easy and basically effortless.

Now of course the result would've been the same. Whether I used up all my energy or not, the nuts would've been chopped and I would eventually enjoy the fruits of my labor. But this way, the work gets done and I enjoy the fruit and I am NOT exhausted by it. It becomes an enjoyable task instead of a tiresome chore.

Maybe you know where I am going with this. But my mind took me right to thinking of my relationship with God and the work that we are doing here in Zambia. I can just go at this work here in Lusaka, putting in all my effort and tensely and hurriedly keeping up with all of our tasks. I can chop, chop, chop away at all the projects on our plate and end up exhausted and joyless. I can spend all my time working hard trying to gain something or prove something or just trying to avoid being a failure.

OR, I can let the sharp knives I've been given do the work. I can let God's Word work in my life and share it with others. I can let his holy Spirit work in me and through me. I can consider the work God calls me to each morning and thank him for it. And most of all I can accept the work that Jesus Christ has already done on my behalf by dying for my sins!!!! And accept the life he gives me because he himself was raised to life!!!! I don't have to do that work. I don't have to earn my salvation by winning the approval of others or of God because he already loves and accepts me because of Jesus. YES!!!!! That is such a sharp knife!!!!

So I just want to say HAPPY EASTER weekend! He is risen indeed! I pray for you that you are not exhausting yourself trying to do the work that has already been done for you. For it is by faith that we are saved and not by works. Thank you God for your mercy and grace poured out for us.

Body Language

2011-04-18T04:12:00.001-07:00

This morning we had to go to Social Welfare to sign all the final papers for the adoption to be submitted to the courts for approval by a judge. Very exciting! Since I don't have a househelper right now it has been hard to find someone who can watch the kids for us on short notice so we decided to take all of the kids with us... assuming it was going to be a quick thing (yeah, right!)

Anyway, as we filed along the depressing concrete hallways with the kids we passed a lady in the hallway and Lucas says very loudly, "Mommy, look at those really big boobies!"

Of course I was taken aback and said quietly, "Um, Lucas, that's not a very polite thing to say." Now the advantage of being in Lusaka at the very uncomfortable moment was that by the look on the woman's face I think that quite possibly she had no idea what Lucas had said... probably a Nyanja speaker. However, the youth next to her obviously had understood and I could tell by the way he was violently laughing. I can't blame him for that because it was rather difficult for Kelly and I not to laugh as well... I mean, she did have some really big boobies.

Daily Worship

2011-04-12T22:47:00.000-07:00

God deserves our worship. Sometimes I forget this simple fact and I live out my day without a worshipful attitude toward God. Yesterday we were driving out to Ciyanjano with the kids and we were listening to "worship" music. It was such a great reminder of who our God is. Giving God the worship he rightfully owns always puts me back where I need to be. So, there were two songs that were really good reminders for me so I thought I would post the lyrics for all of us to consider. In this first song, the fact that God knows "the depths of our hearts" and still loves us, always moves me. That is truly indescribable love. In the second, I think the description of Jesus as the "perfect lamb that was slain" is always a very powerful metaphor.

Indescribable

From the highest of heights to the depths of the sea
Creation's revealing Your majesty
From the colors of fall to the fragrance of spring
Every creature unique in the song that it sings
All exclaiming

Indescribable, uncontainable,
You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name.
You are amazing God
All powerful, untameable,
Awestruck we fall to our knees as we humbly proclaim
You are amazing God

Who has told every lightning bolt where it should go
Or seen heavenly storehouses laden with snow
Who imagined the sun and gives source to its light
Yet conceals it to bring us the coolness of night
None can fathom

Indescribable, uncontainable,
You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name
You are amazing God
All powerful, untameable,
Awestruck we fall to our knees as we humbly proclaim
You are amazing God

Indescribable, uncontainable,
You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name.
You are amazing God
All powerful, untameable,
Awestruck we fall to our knees as we humbly proclaim
You are amazing God
Indescribable, uncontainable,
You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name.
You are amazing God
Incomparable, unchangeable
You see the depths of my heart and You love me the same
You are amazing God
You are amazing God

The Glory of Your Name

It was in the way You came
As a lowly babe
That Your glory was displayed
And it was in the sacrifice
Of the purest life
It was in Your Father’s will obeyed

(chorus)
The perfect Lamb that was slain
And there’s the glory of Your name
No other one, no other way for me to see
You took my place, You are the way
And there’s the glory of Your name
Yes, there’s the glory of Your name

And there is nothing in this world
That could take the place of You
That could take the place of You my Jesus
And there is nothing in this life

That could take the place of
One life, one love
One power to save us all
One hope, One truth
And one glory in it all
One glory in it all

The perfect Lamb that was slain
And there’s the glory of Your name
No other one, on other way for me to see
You took my place, You are the way
And there’s the glory of Your name
Yes, there’s the glory of Your name

Another note about the Rules of the Road

2011-04-04T04:02:00.000-07:00

Maybe people get sick of hearing about driving in foreign countries, but I just have to tell you this little story. The other day I was driving our truck back from a friend's house after dinnertime. I was pretty nervous because it was twilight which is a very dangerous time to drive in Lusaka, and not because of teenage vampires. It's actually very difficult to see around here because there are no street lights, people don't turn their headlights on, and there are a million pedestrians around who happen to be black.

Also, I had our whole family in the truck along with our guests, Isaac and April. Why was I driving, you may ask? Kelly was feeling really sick so I had spent most of the day driving.

Okay, so I am driving along, my knuckles white with anxiety on the wheel, and I come to a four-way stop. Blam! I get rear-ended. Thankfully, I could tell it was not a big deal because it didn't feel like we got hit very hard but I pulled off to the side anyway and asked Kelly to get out and check out the situation. Turns out it's another m'zungu woman! And what does she tell Kelly?! "I'm really sorry I hit you; I just didn't expect you to stop." What?! That's right, folks. She didn't expect me to come to a complete stop at the stop sign.

Welcome to Zambia. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Those are the Rules of the Road.

Sounds of Retreat

2011-03-26T03:35:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we were out walking around the Ripley Retreat Center at Camp Ciyanjano and there was a group of women from an Alcoholics Anonymous group facilitated by a Catholic community organization. The women were going through recovery and group counseling. As we talked to one of the women, we asked her how her time had been at Ciyanjano. She said, “I love it here. I want to stay out here and not go back home.” That’s the sentiment a lot people have when they visit Ciyanjano for a retreat, training, or conference. There are simply not many places for most Zambians to escape their daily routine or escape the difficult places they live. Here’s an example about noise.
Yesterday Tricia was teaching the kids about sounds. Part of the lesson was to walk around the neighborhood and listen closely to every sound and then to write down everything they heard. Their walk around the block sounded like this: sounds of workers shoveling dirt and gravel, slashing grass with machetes, trimming hedges, sweeping driveways, stacking concrete blocks, dogs barking, crickets chirping, roosters crowing, birds chirping and singing, music playing behind a wall fence, cars driving, airplanes flying overhead, feet crunching when walking on the road, metal gates clanking, sirens from the road, house alarms, lawnmowers, etc. This is all in a very quiet upperclass neighborhood. In the compounds, with a much larger populations, and close living quarters these noises would be compounded with additional noises from minibus conductors yelling, taverns blaring music, vendors, thousands of children, construction, etc. Believe me, it’s a lot louder!!
Today at Ciyanjano these were the sounds I heard: the guys talking and laughing while slashing the grass, a million birds singing, an oxcart clattering up the road and his driver whistling, wind in the trees, women singing hymns in the nsaka. So quiet. Amazing. It’s hard to explain to Americans, especially folks from Bellingham what it might be like to live somewhere where there are no parks, no places of beauty in the city, tons of noise, diesel fumes, burning garbage, ten times the amount of traffic than the city can handle. On top of that, how many Zambians can afford to even leave the city to go somewhere that is quieter or more beautiful. Ciyanjano is a place of where real retreat can happen. Where people can come to relax, to be renewed & refreshed. It’s ministry is that of rest. That said, I can’t wait to get out there!

Addition to the Huckaby Family!

2011-03-25T03:11:00.000-07:00

So we’ve added yet another member to the Huckaby family. Last week we bought a tiny kitten from one of the car-to-car vendors on the corners of Great East and Addis Ababa. We named her Katykat after our favorite first visitor from home. Well, like parenthood in general we have no idea what we are doing with this cat. Tricia is totally smitten with its little kitten cuteness. Lucas wants to pick it up and throw it. And the girls run and shriek in fear when it bounds down the hall after them. (On a side note, is it wrong to be amused by the blatant fear that full grown Zambians have of a kitten? It’s pretty funny to see them leap back when they see it!) Cat food is expensive and so we feed it cheap crackers with milk or greasy canned mackerel. But really we bought the cat for Camp Ciyanjano. Because it’s out in the bush a little bit in an agricultural area we often get rats from the fields infesting the houses. In Zambia, wherever there are rats there are also snakes. So killing rats is a priority!! Hence the cat. Anyway, I guess we should take it to the vet and get it some shots and deworming and such but we’ve been super busy with visitors and building plans. And it also looks like we need to change the cat’s name from Katy to Lil’ Pete.

How To Get a Zambian Driver's License in 50 Easy Steps

2011-03-11T02:14:00.000-08:00

HOW TO GET A ZAMBIAN DRIVER'S LICENSE IN 50 EASY STEPS

Go to Road Transit Safety Authority (RTSA) on Lumumba.
Go to the "Information" desk.
Ask for a medical examination form.
Go to Makeni clinic.
Overpay an unscrupulous doctor.
Go to RTSA on Lumumba and be told that they no longer except exams from Makeni and that you have overpaid.
Go back 3 steps.
Or skip numbers (4-7) and go to one of the following approved government clinics:

Kamwala
Chilenge
Kalingalinga
Chawama
Kanyama
George
Mtendere
Chipata

Make sure this list is current!!
Pay k50,000 if you have an ARC.
Pay k1000,000 if you do not have an ARC.
Make sure you are meeting with one of the doctors who is "qualified" to administer the exam.
Take your date stamped medical form and receipt of payment to RTSA on Lumumba.
Be sure to bring at least two copies of your: ARC, passport, work permit, and US drivers license.
Get in line for Room 1.
Be sure to ask around and make sure you are in the right line and that the people who appear to be standing in that line are actually in line.
Plan on being here for anywhere from 1 hour to 4 hours.
When you reach Room 1, show them your documents and explain that you are seeking a conversion license.
You will receive a form for a provisional license.
Fill this out.
Take this to Data Capturing.
Then go to Rooms 2 or 3 for photographing.
Try to smile, you're almost halfway there.
Go to cashier (room 15 or 26)
Pay k63,000
Exit RTSA and purchase a King Pie from the cart.
Eat pie.
Return to the same window after 24 hours to set an appointment with RTSA Ridgeway branch for a competency/conversion test.
Pay k47,000 booking fee.
On the day of your booking go to RTSA on Lumumba go early!
Go to Room 7.
Be told to go see Mr. Mwamba across the street.
Drive into the black gates where everyone is lined up in their vehicles.
Skip the line.
Park.
Go see Mr. Mwamba in the booth.
Arrange for a drive test.
Even if RTSA on Lumumba "booked" your test for a certain time, this means nothing, plan on waiting at least a few hours.
Pay someone k15,000 to outfit your vehicle with "L" plates for your drive (this may be optional)
Pray
Do your drive test.
If you passed, go back to Mr. Mwamba and give him your paperwork for stamping.
Take this paperwork to RTSA on Lumumba after 24 hours.
Go to Room 25 and give them your forms.
Go to Room 26 and pay k79,000.
Exit RTSA
Buy a King Pie (Ham and Cheese is nice)
Eat pie.
In four weeks you can pick your card up at RTSA on Dedan Kimathi Rd.
Celebrate.

Life After Internet, Kalimba, Pastor Pete

2011-03-09T00:22:00.000-08:00

So we've been without internet at home for about a week. It's terrible. I can't make the time to go to a cafe and get our email. I need to contact people through facebook. Man, HOW DID WE LIVE WITHOUT IT!? Anyway, our pastor from Oikos in Bellingham has been here visiting and we've been super busy. It's been great. We took him and the kids and the Allens to Kalimba Reptile Farms. It was there that Lucas experienced this very unfortunate moment.

Lucas, Ethel & Mutale (Reasons #37-39 to Give Towards Our House Project at Ciaynajno)

2011-02-26T04:19:00.000-08:00

Ciyanjano Water Project (update)

2011-02-24T21:34:00.000-08:00

Moving ahead with replacing the infrastructure at Ciyanjano. The raised slab will hold a 12,000 gallon water tank which will help increase water pressure and feed water to various parts of the property. Our director is showing where the water will enter the tank. The welder is building a tower for the 5,000 gallon tank.

Kasupe Road (Reason #31 to Give Towards Our House Project at Ciaynajno)

2011-02-24T08:28:00.000-08:00

Kasupe Road is a real mess. We were so excited to see a large grader and the materials needed to pave the road out there last week. Then we found out they are only doing it for the first kilometer or so, just to reach a Chinese factory. The majority of the road will remain a swimming pool in the rainy season and back-jarring nightmare in the dry season. Moving to Ciyanjano will mean less driving to and from Ciynajano and hopefully reduce a lot of wear and tear on the truck (and my back). Our team leader was kind enough to get these pics of me driving through some the deep stuff.

Diesel Prices (Reason #26 to Give Towards Our House Project at Ciyanjano)

2011-02-23T08:24:00.000-08:00

People in the U.S. are complaining about the price of gas these days. I heard it's all the way up to $3.60 a gallon. I wish the prices were the same here!! Our diesel prices went up about 20% this week. I filled my tank yesterday and here was the total - 570,668 ZMK (that's about $120) which works out to about $6.40 a gallon. Talk about sticker shock. Lusaka is big and spread out and driving is absolutely necessary. Moving to Ciyanjano would mean less driving to and from Ciyanjano!

witchdoctor handbill

2011-02-22T05:05:00.000-08:00

In Zambia witchcraft is still very prevalent. In the bush witchdoctors hold positions of power over entire villages. We've heard of people being able to fly and change into animals, less supernatural but more disturbing are reports of infanticide and cannibalism. In northern Zambia and especially in Tanzania there are lots of reports of gruesome murders of African albinos – their body parts are used in various types of charms, potions, and other magic. Some of our teammates have seen this type of stuff but thankfully we've only heard of it. Here in the city the use of magic and charms is still very prevalent and when the local witchdoctors hand out flyers like this you know that they are reaching out to a large number of people. Many, many Zambians live in constant fear of the power that other people’s magic has over their lives. They fear upsetting the spirits and worry constantly about pleasing the dead to keep them from returning to cause bad events in their lives. If there is sickness or death in the family, a loss of employment or marital trouble, many people assume that the reason is due to a curse or hex that someone has paid a witchdoctor to put on them. So even in urban Lusaka you can see that the fear of bad juju, charms and other magic can lead to many troubles including revenge, murder, suicide, infanticide and worse.Witchdoctors also began and continue to promote practices such as widow cleansing and the "virgin cure,"(click here or here for more) two things that promote the spread of HIV/AIDS and the rape of women and children. Here’s a little sample of what your local witchdoctor might offer.

Raise my Ebenezer

2011-02-19T20:55:00.000-08:00

A couple nights ago I had an intense dream about sharing my story with a person, the full story of what God had done in my life, and then again with a second person and we were surrounded by many other people. It was a strange and exciting dream. I woke up feeling excited to share what God has done, or what most Christians would call "my Testimony." I also felt sad to think that I don't share this often enough, even though I have a lot to share.

One of my favorite hymns is called Come Thou Fount and there is a line that says, "Here I raise mine Ebenezer." The name Ebenezer means "stone of help" and it is a word used to describe a memorial stone that is raised up to remind people of what God has done. So, here is a bit of my story, my Ebenezer of what God has done in my life... this is Tricia by the way ;)

Even though I am not Catholic, my mother did me a kind service by bringing me to Catholic services and confirmation classes as a child. I learned about who Jesus was and as a child I really fell in love with Jesus. My kind Savior who gave himself for me. I also learned about the wrath of God that awaited all those who relied on their own goodness and quality to save them, and about right and wrong.

I was very rebellious though and by the time I was sixteen years old I was smoking, drinking, using drugs, having sex, and regularly using pornography, all of which my parents knew nothing about because I was lying to them all the time (sorry mom and dad!). I was basically living a double life because I was also maintaining high grades and hanging out with the "smart kids."

I was dating an older guy and he had become God to me. I really felt that my life depended on him. I was so insecure and anxious all the time and sought security most from the approval of other people, whatever it took. Whatever it took for someone to like me, I would do it. I was miserable and I knew it. I would try to quit drinking or quit smoking pot or this or that, but even though I could do things in my own strength for a time, it wouldn't last. I would find myself back in bad habits eventually. Let's just say that list of bad habits was growing longer and longer and I wasn't getting any happier. My identity was a very confused thing and by the time I went to college I was a sitting duck for any philosophy that promised a little happiness.

Let me just say too that I wasn't a very nice person. I was self-centered and selfish, judgmental and critical, anxious all the time. Very controlling and angry. I think the only reason I had any friends was because I would work so hard to maintain some kind of image as a funny and fun friend, sexy to the guys and sensitive to the girls. Mostly I hated myself and everybody else.

In college Kelly and I were dating. As most of you know, he is really nice. For some reason we decided to get married, which was a terrible choice for him to make. We married and moved to Portland and proceeded to have the worst first year of marriage I can imagine. I thought marriage would be fun and romantic but it really sucked. We were awful people and I was especially awful. My anxiety was getting worse and worse and I was very depressed. Kelly would take me on long drives at night just to help me relax because I couldn't sleep. Finally I asked him if we could start attending churches sometimes. I decided that I needed help and maybe God was the one who was big and strong and smart enough to help me figure this stuff out. Kelly was willing to do anything to help "fix" his crazy wife.

One Sunday we attended a church and the pastor preached on the things that keep people from trusting God and giving their life to him. One thing he mentioned was our image. It felt like he was talking to me (and I think he was actually because it was a very small church and we were the only visitors ;). I thought to myself, how sad would it be if I never gave my life to Jesus just because I am so worried about what other people think?? I decided to take the chance on Jesus that morning. I started crying and ran out of the church and sat in the car.

Things were pretty rocky for us in the Portland area after that as I tried to figure out what this new decision meant for my life. But God was already at work and I had a new joy that I had never felt before. Looking back I can see the way Satan was after me in that vulnerable time because I had no church and no friends that could really mentor me. But thankfully God moved us back to Bellingham where we immediately got settled into a great church. I started attending a Bible study along with the services and it gave me a great foundation in the Word of God. After over a year of seeing God at work in my life, Kelly decided to give his life to Christ too!

Trusting in Jesus is an amazing thing. I had true JOY in my life because no matter what happened I knew that I was a child of God accepted by him because of Jesus' sacrifice for me. I also started to make friends that seemed to really care about me even when I showed them the yuckier parts of myself. Needless to say, my marriage improved because I was acting for Kelly's benefit and also God thankfully was taming my temper a bit. Most amazing to me was that God completely removed my anxiety from me. And I quit smoking cold turkey.

Now that was ten years ago. My life has not been perfect since then and I am not perfect. I still struggle with sin and I still struggle with completely trusting God. But the adventure that God has had me on since I gave my life to him, well, it is a million times better than anything I could have chosen for myself out of my selfish desire just to "be happy."

Over these years Kelly and I have worked with countless gorgeous babies and teenagers and friends. We have seen many beautiful places that God created with his infinite goodness. We have worshiped our Savior Jesus with Christian brothers and sisters from all over the world. And God has continued to grow me and change me to be more like Christ ( no of course he's not finished yet, give me a break).

Most recently God has helped me again and again to set aside petty and selfish things and even not-so-petty things and move to Zambia so that I might seek his face even more. And on top of that He has given us two amazing and beautiful daughters!!!!! We have three of the coolest kids that have ever existed! This is never where I imagined I would be and it is all because God is GOOD and he is MERCIFUL and he is REAL and he is POWERFUL and I am so happy that he is my God.

Jesus, thank you for saving me and faithfully guiding me and caring for me in your mercy all these years, and for loving me even before I was born. Thank you for loving me even despite my sin. Thank you for the joy I have in you despite my daily challenges. You are awesome! And God I pray that all those I love who don't know your joy and grace would give up the things that are keeping them from you and dive into a life well-lived with YOU. There is no better way I know than a life lived with a loving God.

Projects

2011-02-15T20:45:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple of Tricia's recent projects. The wall hangings were done by hand and the quilt was done with the sewing machine the Allens brought back from America.

Parenting in Zambia

2011-02-14T09:23:00.000-08:00

Okay, so as a Valentine's gift I sent Kelly overnight to a beautiful area called Gwabi with Tim and Derek from our team for some relaxing man time away from the kids. Mostly I wanted him to get a good night's sleep and time with dudes. He is working really hard and I know he needs a break.

Anyway, the kids were up first thing in the morning and immediately they were off and running. Lucas especially was up to his usual shenanigans but even more so. Maybe because daddy was away, or who knows why, he decided that today would be the day that he would challenge and defy EVERY single thing I said to him. I would say that today was the most defiant and disobedient day of his short life.

Fortunately since the adoption I have been reading a lot of parenting books and have felt very fresh and prepared in the way I respond to his disobedience. I was trying to be consistent. For those of you who are anti-spanking out there, well, I sympathize, but this little man was getting some spankings today. And I'll tell you, he makes a lot of noise but shortly after a spanking you can see that he is just planning his next move. He asks for forgiveness and promptly "returns to his vomit" just like that dog I'm always hearing about.

Okay, so as if trying to train up your children in the way of the Lord isn't hard enough. My house-helper was obviously filled with disapproval. I know she thinks that I am far too strict with the kids (which is funny to me because I know a lot of Americans who would think I am too permissive). And she definitely seems to disapprove of spanking. So, to top my very difficult day off, she says to me, "I think that you should leave him alone. You are going to give him a fever from the crying."

Now, aside from the fact that this comment didn't make any sense to me, it also filled me with dread. I was immediately thinking paranoid thoughts that she is so disappointed in my parenting that she would complain to social welfare to have the girls taken away from us. I told her not to worry, that he was just fine.

Certainly I think Americans are just as good at giving unsolicited parenting advice, but today, I really didn't need to hear it. Now if I can just make until Kelly gets back tomorrow afternoon...

House Plans!

2011-02-10T21:05:00.000-08:00

These are the plans we've had drawn up for the director's house at Ciaynjano. It's a three bedrooms, one and half baths. There is also an open-air upstairs terrace/patio/porch thingy that will be covered and screened. This area will be build with the ability to be finished into a masterbed/office/bathroom in the future. This house is bigger than our current needs but we are considering the fact that a) our family is likely to grow b) we'll often have guests and visitors from the states that may be with us for as long as a month or more c) this is not our house - we may be here another 5 years but maybe some other missionary family with 10 kids will move out to Ciyanjano, maybe it will become staff housing for interns or a second team house like in the Leadership Retreat Center. We just don't know what the future may hold for Ciyanjano and we want to be ready for anything! So a huge thank you to everyone who has contributed to this project so far. We have a little over 50% of budget raised. Planning a one-time gift? Looking to do some tax-deductible giving? Look no further. The Huckabys need a place to live at Ciyanjano in order for this ministry to grow and thrive. Support local churches, pastors, and schools by supporting Ciyanjano's housing project.Click here to donate now.

Water Project!

2011-02-09T20:50:00.000-08:00

So here's some pictures from the water project. The first two are pics of the old system that we are digging up and replacing and the bottom two are the new lines being laid. This is a huge project! Not only are we dealing with multiple water lines and systems, two boreholes, electric for pumphouses, etc. but Ciyanjano is on very uneven ground as most of the property slopes down towards the west side of the property where a large creek runs through. So there is a need to create pressure and movement of water to various places using elevated water tanks. So far the project has been going very well! Other than having to wait for Dec and Jan to end so that local building/electric companies could be back from an extended holiday break the project has been going very well!

Kasupe Road

2011-02-08T09:52:00.000-08:00

Driving to Ciyanjano is an adventure. If you survive the minibuses, gravel trucks, drunks, wheelbarrow pushers, taxis, bottle and shake-shake trucks you'll have to navigate the deep waters of Kasupe Road. Bring your snorkle. Alas, according to the Kafue Council people this road is under contract to be tarred. I'll believe it when I see it. And MAN, will we be happy!

getting to work. a ciyanjano update.

2011-02-06T20:20:00.000-08:00

Things have been busy around here lately and here's a little update as to what's happening at Ciyanjano. In the last month we have been working mostly on trying to get the water project finished. Our sister camp in California provided the bulk of the funds needed to modernize Ciynjano's ancient water system (I know it's not that old, but anything in Zambia more than couple of years might as well be ancient). This project started with digging a new borehole (see pics above!). Then our great Ciyanjano workers dug a massive series of ditches to lay water pipes and power to and from various locations to make the new borehole accessible. In the process of assessing our water needs we also discovered some major problems with the existing infrastructure and now that's getting dug up and redone as well. It's a huge undertaking! We've also had our first two church camps out in the new campground area. The groups reported that they liked the chalets and would be back again.

We are raising money to build a director's house out at Ciyanjano as well. We've got our plans drawn and turned into the Kafue District Council's office of Lands and Building (that was only half a fiasco) and we're vetting contractors to do the building. We have about 50% of what we need to complete the project and still need to raise about $12,000.

In the meantime I've been helping out around the office to fill in for some folks home on furlough, got to help write up the new contracts for our awesome Ciyanjano workers to reflect the new labor laws, not to mention trying to be a husband and a father of 3! SO if I've been slow getting back to you...

you know why!

So this is the hard part

2011-02-04T09:27:00.001-08:00

Moving to Zambia has been difficult. I'm not going to lie. There have definitely been days where I felt like I just hated everything. But then again, I had those days sometimes in good old Bellingham too.

The moving part isn't the hard part though; starting fresh here in Lusaka has its ups and downs to be sure but you expect that. Moving to a new place is hard whether it's across the country or across the world.

The hard part for me, I am finding as we swoop on past the 6-month mark and head into real life here in Africa, well, it's seeing everybody else's life just swoop on by without you. It's seeing friends and family have babies, get new jobs, move into new houses or apartments, do their thing WITHOUT the Huckabys around to really celebrate with, or laugh with or cry with. It's basically losing touch with the reality of the lives of the people I love.

Trust me when I say that I know full well that leaving you a comment on Facebook is NOT really celebrating with you or being there for you. And really all the Facebook and Skype stuff in some ways makes things worse because it does a much better job of making you feel un-connected than connected most of the time. But I can't really complain about that because at least I get to see pictures and funny videos, right?

Okay, now this is starting to sound like a pity party. But I know some inquiring minds out there want to know. So, there's the hardest part for you.

Don't make me pull this car over

2011-01-29T08:43:00.000-08:00

So now that we have two more kids in the family, things in the back seat of the truck have gotten a little too close for comfort. Lucas pretty much can't keep his hands off the girls. He is constantly poking, petting, swatting, licking (I'm not kidding), pinching... you name it. Poor Mutale is in the middle and so she gets the lion's share of the harassment. Anyway, we had to finally banish Lucas to the VERY back seat to try to calm things down a little bit. Driving in Lusaka is hairy enough without all this drama. Now Lucas just periodically finds things to throw at the girls like peanuts, sun shades, tupperware... whatever he can find.

But in the past couple of days we have found an amazing trick that completely subdues our troublesome trio in the truck: Nyanja lessons! Mommy sits and reads through our Nyanja vocabulary and then reads the English translation. The girls find this exercise completely fascinating and hilarious. At the same time, Lucas is learning more Nyanja and the girls are learning more English. And, it is excellent review for us. Everybody is happy... at least until this gets boring for them. And then? I guess it will be time for Bemba lessons!

Everything is Illuminated pt. 2

2011-01-24T09:55:00.000-08:00

So after thinking about light I got to thinking about the Church and about community. Why does God like to find us in community?

We talk about being "lights for Christ" and that our life will shine like a light for Jesus. That somehow with Christ shining out from us, people will see the sin in their own lives and see the grace and mercy and forgiveness that Christ offers, and they will want that.

I think the focus of the Church then, within itself and then extending outwards, is relationships. Here is why. The light of Christ shines when I am in relationship with another person. I mean, maybe it shines when I'm all alone but then it's just a little light for me to read by in bed. Do you know what I'm saying here?

Let me explain. I think that God gave us marriage. Why did he do this? He didn't have to. I think he gave us marriage as another kind of light for us to see by. When I think of my life and the things that 1) show me the sin in my life, 2) remind me that I need forgiveness, and 3) bring me to the feet of Jesus to ask for forgiveness... well marriage is at the top of the list. Being in that kind of relationship daily shows me the darkness and ugliness in my heart. My marriage is a big ole' light in my life.

And then of course there is parenting... Shows me the sin in my life? Check. Reminds me that I need God and his forgiveness? Check. Brings me to the feet of Jesus to ask for forgiveness and strength? Double check. I mean I have never felt like such a big giant fat sinner than I do now trying to parent these three kids. God is using these relationships to show me the stubborn veins of darkness. My impatience. My selfishness. My unrighteous anger. I mean it is ugly, people, believe me.

And that is just my little nuclear family. I haven't even begun to explore the light that shines from friendships, teammates, spiritual authorities in my life. Not mention my relationship with Holy Spirit himself, the Father himself, and Jesus himself. I mean, I think the reason that relationships and conflict are so difficult is for this very reason. Each one of these relationships have a way of shining a light on our own shortcomings. And every single one of us is falling short of God's standard.

So why do we need to be constantly reminded of it? Because it brings us right back to what I was babbling about yesterday: God's grace and mercy. The shortcomings we see in ourselves by being in relationship remind us every moment of God's amazing grace and mercy toward us. Because of Christ's sacrifice and triumph over death, we can find forgiveness and extend it toward others. We can live enjoying a constant flow of grace from our Father in heaven. Blessed be his name!!!!

Everything is Illuminated

2011-01-23T09:33:00.000-08:00

Today I've been thinking a lot about light.

We've had a couple power outages this week and it is rather annoying. Primarily, I was feeling pretty cranky to go without coffee this morning. But secondarily it is difficult not having lights around the house... especially for the kids. Fortunately we have a lot of flashlights and lanterns we can use that give varying degrees of light and we get by.

We attended Rivers of Joy this morning and the pastor has been preaching a lot about grace. Today he really focused on how God's mercy triumphs over judgement. It was a wonderful message. The beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ is completely indescribable and I have been relishing this time we've spent focusing on God's grace and mercy. Our God stands ready to be merciful. He is abounding in love.

But anyway, this brings me back to light. I had a fascinating conversation with a friend after the service about grace versus truth, mercy versus judgement. We talked about the old covenant and the laws that God gave Moses versus the new covenant of Jesus Christ crucified and resurrected. She brought up how Jesus said that he didn't come to do away with the old law, but to fulfill it. I have always found that statement to be completely interesting. And so this is what I think, and what it has to do with varying degrees of light.

When light comes into a room the darkness gives way to it, and we can see more clearly. If we have a flashlight, we can see a little. If we have a nice camping lantern, we can see a lot. If it is midday and we open all the curtains and the sun shines in, we are dazzled and we take a deep breath and there is no darkness at all.

The old covenant along with the ten commandments that God gave Moses, well that was like God's flashlight shining on the world. It gave the Jews enough light to see by that some of the darkness gave way to it. God's light penetrated the darkness of their chosen family and the law showed them that they were sinners. They couldn't keep from breaking God's laws. The ten commandments gave them enough light to see that they themselves were not God and that there was nothing they could do by their own efforts to reach God themselves. They needed God's mercy and provision.

But Jesus Christ coming into the world and giving himself for it, that was like God opening all the curtains and letting the sunshine in. God said, you need to see the way to me, here is all the light you need to see by, my own Son. You need light to root out the darkness within you, here is my own Son who will show you the dark parts of yourself and also give you the means for forgiveness by dying for you iniquities. This is why Jesus said he didn't come to condemn the world but to save it. The world was condemned by its own darkness. Jesus came and shined the light so that by seeing our own darkness, we would trust in him and find forgiveness.

I think this is what Jesus meant by not doing away with the law but fulfilling it. The law was a small light to see by, a handy little maglight. But then Jesus Christ came and opened all the curtains.

I am so thankful for my Savior. The Author of my salvation. I pray that I would better understand his grace and mercy everyday and extend that same grace and mercy to others. Our pastor said today that people who don't extend grace and forgiveness to others have not really experienced God's grace and mercy in their own lives. Amen! Jesus I want more of that. Thank you that I am forgiven. Thank you that you don't hold the sins of yesterday or tomorrow against me but that I always find forgiveness at your feet!!!

Bragging about Church

2011-01-20T09:30:00.000-08:00

Look, I know there are church-haters out there, people who have been burned and have had all kinds of lame experiences with Christian churches. Well, I'm not going to go into defending the Church or all the millions of reasons why I think it's a great idea to be part of a church family. What I do want to do right now is just completely GUSH and BRAG on how awesome our home church, Oikos, is...

Okay, Oikos family, here it goes. YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST!!!! You are so amazing!!! We Huckabys can't thank you enough for the way you have supported us from the very beginning of this journey that began over two years ago now. We know that you are praying for us and thinking of us. And we know that you support us with your hard-earned cash when you don't have to. And we know that you try to Skype with us even though it's unpredictable and hard to get a hold of us.

Of course I want to give God the glory because we are all loving him and serving him together and he gives us the heart we need to love each other and be there for each other even when we would rather not. Thank you, God, for Oikos church.

And thank YOU, Oikos, for the super RAD Christmas box that came to us today via the Allens' safe return to Lusaka from the States. Whoopee!!!! We were so stoked. All of the presents and cards were such an encouragement. You guys really know what we like and what we need. We really can't thank you enough. The generosity of you people is really off the charts, and I am not just sucking up here. I MEAN IT!!!! It really blows us away.

If you sent us something in the box, and you don't receive a thank you email from us, it means it wasn't labeled in the box. Please don't be offended. Feel free to email us and tell us what you sent so that we can properly thank you. But in the meantime, THANK YOU!!!! And a special thanks to Jess for packing it up right and tight.

This is Tricia, on behalf of the Huckabys

Propitiation

2011-01-16T09:50:00.000-08:00

Today at Rivers of Joy our pastor went into the most interesting detail about the ark of the covenant. For those that aren't familiar with that, the Jews kept a special box in their place of worship that held the ten commandments, a jar of manna, and Aaron's staff which had budded. Anyway, the ark had a gold covering on top... you might remember this from my favorite Indiana Jones movie. But anyways, our pastor was talking about how the gold covering of the ark covered over the items that represented Israel's sins of rebellion against God's law, God's provision, and God's authority. The gold covering represented Christ, who covers over our sin.

Anyway, he went into quite a bit of detail about it and though it might sound rather boring to you right now, it was FANTASTIC. I am not exaggerating when I say that I was crying with joy at the thought of all of the rebellion that Christ's death and resurrection has destroyed. I really feel that I fell in love with Jesus all over again this morning. Needless to say, I am enjoying our new church. The current series on grace is something I needed to hear.

2011-01-14T09:57:00.000-08:00

Good Hair

2011-01-12T09:35:00.000-08:00

Today I had the most delightful experience with my new daughter. I decided it was time to take out Ethel's braids. For all of you m'zungus out there who know as little about black African hair as I did, here is a little lesson. Ethel's braids in these pictures are not her hair but only black yarn that has been braided into her hair at the roots. Her hair is about an inch and a half long and then it's just yarn after that. Braids like this look very nice and last in your hair for months if you like. Here is the problem I found, they can start to get a little smelly. Even if you are rinsing them and putting hair cream on her scalp, I noticed they get very dirty and begin to be rather unpleasant in my opinion. So, even though I could have left them in longer, I really wanted to take them out today.

While Mutale and Lucas took naps I had Ethel sit in front of me in my lap as I snipped off the braids and started to undo them. After about one minute I heard a big yawn. After another minute she started doing that head-nod thing where you fall asleep for a second but jerk back up. It was adorable. So, I had her lay down on the couch with her head in my lap and she just konked out while I took the braids out of most of her head. When she woke up I just had to finish the ones she had been laying on.

It was a very quiet and pleasant time for me and a great opportunity to pray for this girl who is my new daughter!!!! Thank you God for naps. And thank you God for good hair!!! I must admit I love Ethel's and Mutale's hair! Now I just need to learn how to plait it.

Turning Point

2011-01-10T09:49:00.000-08:00

We have reached an important turning point today, basically our six-month anniversary of living in Lusaka. Yesterday we dropped off our friend Katy at the airport. Needless to say there is a palpable hole around our house today. We had such an excellent visit with her. But her leaving marks the end of a number of things... the holidays, our wooing of Mutale and Ethel who are now officially our foster children, and our orientation period with ACTION Zambia.

Today was a major turning point for us Huckabys: it was the beginning of "real life" here in Lusaka. Kelly went off in the morning to work out at Ciyanjano (buying plumbing supplies for a water tank project, meeting with our Director and the workers out at the center, and going over policy changes). I stayed home with my three kids (huh?)Two of these crumbgrabbers I barely know and the last is like some shadowy defiant monster version of his former self.

In addition to just making sure the kids lived through the day, I started "school" with Ethel. Actually, that was probably the high point. Mostly I just passed out time-outs like they were going out of style. So on one hand we can't help but have thoughts like, "Is this really my life?" And on the other hand we are feeling excited to actually get settled into this completely new Huckaby experience.

I have never felt more certain that I need to totally depend on God's grace than I do right now. How awesome that God freely gives that grace to whoever trusts in him and believes in his son. So I've got that going for me.

Bugs bugs bugs

2011-01-06T09:28:00.000-08:00

Today I spent a crazy amount of time cleaning out my pantry and trying to decide if I should throw things away or not. I had a major infestation of bugs. In the states I used to just throw a box of whatever away if it was full of bugs, but here it seems like a real offense to do so. And this hot weather means things just don't last as long. Buying in bulk is starting to seem like a real waste.

It's a struggle because every part of me is just so totally grossed out. I found worms in my big bag of rice and these nasty little boogers in my rolled oats which had found their way into other things. I took the box of rolled oats outside and when I came back out to decide what to do with the oats, a billion of the little bugs had made a mass exodus from the box and were crawling up the walls of our house. It was freaky!!!

Later in the day I came outside to check on my wash to find that the utility sink was completely overflowing everywhere on the patio with dirty water. Why?? Because a huge dead cockroach was plugging up the drain. Yes I had to stick my hand in the dirty water and pull out the huge cockroach. Ugh. Blech. I love Africa!

The Girls: IT'S OFFICIAL + (pictures!!!)

2011-01-04T20:00:00.000-08:00

It's official; we're foster parents! In three months we'll be able to finalize the adoptions of Ethel and Mutale!

ethel (5)
Mutale (3)

they did this pose with their ring popsthen they cracked up when they saw the picture

Rivers of Joy

2011-01-02T21:17:00.000-08:00

So after a long search around Lusaka, which was quite informative about church life around here, we've decided on a church: Rivers of Joy. It is located in Nyumba Yanga (my house) compound across town from us. It is kinda far from where we live but we've decided it is worth the drive each week. We attended Sunday morning and I felt confirmed again that we are making the right choice. Perhaps when we move out to Ciyanjano we will find ourselves re-thinking it but so far so good. The preaching is solid Biblical teaching and the pastor obviously is gifted by God for this purpose. His wife is actively involved in the ministry.

Other reasons we chose this church... well. Around here it seems like you are either a Baptist or a Pentecostal. Sure there are other denominations but it seems like the Christian population here is either all about the Word OR all about the Spirit and there seems to be not a lot of middle ground. Well, in my humble opinion (this is Tricia by the way) a sincere Christian that is following the Lord should be all about the WORD of truth from the Bible AND all about the Holy Spirit. Walking with Jesus means relationship with God through him as the living Word, through the written revelation of the Bible, and through relationship with the Holy Spirit who lives in us and counsels us. I don't claim to have a deep understanding of all of this, but Rivers of Joy fellowship is one church we attended that we felt reflected this more comprehensive approach to worship.

Also the church runs a ministry to street boys which is located out by Ciyanjano. It is such an awesome ministry and we want to belong to a church that is actively serving the Lord in the community.

Another positive for us is that this is a Zambian church. We don't want to go to a church made up of just Americans and other expats. We love attending a church that is run by Zambians for Zambians. However, there are a couple American families that attend there which is nice for us because the congregation is already used to m'zungus and so, we are nothing special which is good.

Also, the praise and worship time is very Zambian. Praise the Lord! I didn't move to Africa with the intention of singing only high-pitched hymns. I want to shake my booty for the Lord. I love the spirit of worship here and Rivers of Joy, as the name suggests, has lively and heart-felt worship in Zambian style. I know there are quiet ways to worship Jesus but I love a church that can hoot, holler and dance for the Lord. Um, yesterday the youth and the street kids performed two raps they prepared for the congregation. I'm not kidding, it was amazing. I actually started crying seeing those little boys off the street very aptly rapping about Jesus. Yes I really am that way. But I gotta tell you, it is very moving to see these kids praising God in a way that means something to them.

I could go on but that is just to give you a bit of perspective of where we are at with church. We are ready to get settled into a church and eventually begin serving. There are a lot of opportunities to serve the children and youth in this church. And there are a lot of gorgeous Zambian brothers and sisters that we'd like to get to know. Thank you so much to those of you who have been praying for us about a church home. Please continue to pray as we become part of Rivers of Joy!!!

some observations about "the girls"

2010-12-27T20:20:00.000-08:00

Some friends that have been through the adoption process told us we should be writing down stuff so we don't forget it, so this is just really a list:
--Mutale is non-stop giggling and laughing, always looking to be tickled and roughhoused with; Ethel has a deep raspy chuckle that sounds like a smoker's cough!
-- I'm under the impression that Mutale had never eaten at a table before (at Bill and Bette House they sit on the floor)she spends a lot of time at meals looking under the table at everyone's feet and laughing.
-- Mealtimes are always interesting, the girls can each eat about 5 pieces of fruit everyday. Ethel hates chocolate and baked goods but puts away hard candy like it's going out of style. She also won't eat peanut butter or cheese!! They both pick stuff out of their food they won't eat, Ethel picks all the pickles out of her tuna salad. Mutale won't eat it at all and says "Ndifuna nsomba! I don't want fish!" but also says she likes kapenta (tiny whole dried fish). Ethel will eat yogurt, but not with granola in it, Mutale won't eat most dairy products, including milk. They can both eat their weight in noodles though.
-- They both speak and understand Bemba, Nyanja, and English, but pretend to understand nothing we say in any language most of the time. Ethel is pretty quiet, but Mutale mostly runs around shouting "NO!" and "Stop it!".
-- So funny to see them in the bath - Lucas is all skin and bones scrawny, the girls have big round tummies, thick legs.
-- Mutale is about the most stubborn kid I've seen. She'll pout for an hour if she doesn't get her way. Or she'll throw a face scratching, pinching, shrieking tantrum.
-- Are girls just naturally vain about clothes and shoes or what? Ethel loved trying on all her new clothes and shoes. Mutale pouted for an hour over not being able to wear her dress shoes out to the playground. They both love to be dressed up. Mutale loves anything pink. Today she threw an all out tantrum about having to wear jeans.
-- They are seriously afraid of dogs, pigs, horses and all other animals larger than a cat.
-- Mutale is fond of swearing at me in Nyanja - mostly calling me "chimenso" and "chimutu" which means "big eyes" and "big head" respectively.
-- Lucas is already a great brother; he loves the girls so much and as soon as he wakes up from sleeping he jumps right into their bed and wants to snuggle, waking them up and causing all kinds of trouble.
We already love these girls so much it's crazy. They are amazing and beautiful. We are in so deep over our heads on this one (which is just where we like to be, cause then we can more easily see God at work).

Overnights & Christmas

2010-12-25T08:34:00.000-08:00

We have been super blessed by having a great social worker at the social welfare office. We have not really been able start the foster process because we've had a houseguest and we've had outstanding travel plans.So instead of being able to have the girls committed to us immediately, we've been needing social welfare to write us letters that allow us to take the girls out of their homes for the day or for overnights. This last week we had our first two nights with the girls - it went surprisingly well. While naptime is still a problem, generally the kids are so tired from playing and running around eating massive amounts of food, they all seem to do a good job at bedtime. We've had them three nights total and they've all been asleep a little after 7 and up a little before 6 which works well for us.

We really struggled with deciding to take the girls out for extended periods of time, mostly because we did not want to to have to drop them back at the orphanages. They were abandoned before and we did not want them to feel like we were just dropping them back at the orphanages in the same way. In the end, we decided that it would give us both a period of adjustment and the girls have actually seemed a little relieved when we've dropped them back off at the homes. They are used to the schedules, friends, food, and caregivers there, so it makes sense that even when we have a good time with them, they feel safe going back to what they know.

When we picked them up for Christmas weekend, the girls were at House of Moses for a Christmas party for the three orphanages that are linked together (House of Moses is for newborn to three years, Bill and Bette House is for 3-5 years, and House of Martha is 5 and up.) They were not too happy to be taken away from the party (even though it was actually over) and Ethel cried most of the way back to our friend's house where we spent Christmas Eve. But they warmed up after awhile and it's been a good weekend. I caught the girls looking at one of our photo albums and they were pointing out Luka, mommy and daddy! Wow. So we've had a totally insane Christmas. It was 85 degrees and humid, we went to a farm with a huge playground and were the only mzungus there besides our teammates the Singletons who joined us for lunch. And we had two new kids for Christmas. What a gift, what a day, I'm BEAT!

Victoria Falls and Livingstone (I presume)

2010-12-21T09:11:00.001-08:00

I gotta say, I love Livingston in all its seedy, sweaty glory. The drive down to Livingstone is about 6 hours. Now, I can't vouch for it's beauty any other time of the year (it was our first trip down there), but rainy season makes this drive a surreal landscape of greens and blues that simply knocks your socks off. We got a nice little place in Livingstone and spent three night there for $25 a night Including eggs and toast and mangos at breakfast and there was a pool! I really loved Livingstone a lot; it's sultry. Maybe it's just a rainy season thing, but it's wet, muggy and the flora is tropical, beautiful and rampant, the streets are lined with mangos and seedy looking characters, the architecture is totally different, romantic in a oldtime colonial africa kind of way that's hard to explain but rusting tin roofs and various molds and vines overtaking tropical colored walls abound on the side streets. Don't get me wrong, you might get stabbed here at night somewhere but...
Anyway, we also had a chance to see Victoria Falls, which is a UNESCO world heritage site and one of the seven wonders of the natural world. It's pretty fabulous. Everyone says you should visit it at different times of the year to get a different perspective since it changes so much due to seasonal water volumes. I think our timing was perfect! A nice amount of water coming over the falls and some sunshine and not too much spray made for nice photos. I guess that during the high point of the year it's like being in a giant cloud, don't even bother taking out your camerea unleless it's in a waterproof housing. Otherimes it's almost completely empty. It's pretty spectacular, don't get me wrong, but have you been to the Grand Canyon? It's amazing, but it's a big hole in the ground and after looking at it for a half an hour, it's time to go back to the hotel pool.

Chobe National Park!

2010-12-19T21:14:00.000-08:00

For our Christmas present this year we decided to go to Botswana on a day safari and forgo the gift exchange thing and boy was it worth it!! Our friend Katy from Bellingham was here and so we took this as an opportunity not to be missed (especially since we can't leave the country for the next two years due the adoption process)! On Wednesday we drove down to Livingstone and stayed the night in a pretty nice cheap hotel.

Thursday we woke early and hit the Zambia/Botswana border. There's a ton of sleazy dudes trying to sell you Botswana money to pay for your entry visa and trying to "help" you. But after running the gauntlet of bureaucracy and petty larceny we hopped a small boat across the border and were ushered through customs and immigration into Botswana. Let me say that we were not expecting a lot, some team mates had been there two weeks before and saw very few animals. But we were BLOWN AWAY! The first part of our safari was by river and we saw crocs, hippos, red lechwe, monitor lizards, elephants, and a thousand birds. Lucas got bored about halfway through and while we gawked at bull elephants locking trunks in battle just a dozen yards from our boat, Lucas was squishing ants that were snacking on the crumbs from tea time. The second half of the day was a jeep ride through Chobe National Park. We saw about a thousand impala, puku, kudu, elephants, lions, mongoose, baboons and giraffe. It was unbelievable. The lions were SO CLOSE! Having them strolling alongside our open jeep was a huge adrenaline rush, and we felt like we were gonna freak out. Luckily Lucas had fallen asleep and was unable to scream and cause a ruckus. I can't really put the whole thing into an easy little blog post, but let's just say I couldn't stop smiling for about an hour after we got back the hotel.

Here's a story of a lovely lady

2010-12-10T09:42:00.000-08:00

Who was living with two boys of her own... They were three Huckabys living all together, yet they were all alone. Then this one day when this lady met these girls, and they knew it was much more than a hunch...

Okay, I just couldn't resist. For the record this is Tricia writing, not Kelly. He would be sad to think folks associated the above Brady Bunch silliness with him so you can all be sure that I am the goofball.

Today was our first day spending pretty much the whole day with the girls. It would be impossible to describe all the weird thoughts and feelings we were all having... and actually it would be impossible to describe what Mutale, Ethel and Lucas were feeling since we can't get a whole lot out of any of them. But for the most part the kids seemed to have a good day. We decorated a little fake Christmas tree I bought and the kids were definitely stoked. And I was stoked too because honestly, I love Christmas lights and it finally started to feel a bit like Christmas today.

Besides play, these girls can also paint very well. And they also EAT. Man, they can really eat. There goes that food budget. And the last thing they can do a lot of is go to the bathroom. Man, with Lucas still not really potty trained I was unprepared for taking kids to the bathroom all the time. Boy oh boy, little kids have to go the bathroom a lot. We are really going to stay on top of that. And we also need to bring spare clothes in the car for each one of them. We are so out of our league!!!! Thank you God that you are going to fill in some of the gaps for us!

PS... we really want to post lots of pictures but we aren't entirely sure about the legality of that. We aren't really allowed to take and use pictures of orphans according to the orphanage. So we may have to wait until the girls have been officially released into our custody. Sorry!!! Needless to say, they are really cute and they can jump quite high.

One Man's Plague Is Another Man's Lunch (Localvores/Foodies/Foragers)

2010-12-05T08:59:00.000-08:00

In the book of Exodus the Lord sent a plague of locusts as a punishment to Pharaoh and the Egyptians for refusing to release the Israelites from the bonds of slavery. It was rough for the Egyptians and Pharaoh almost relented. But one man's plague is another man's lunch here in Zambia. Personally, I would live on milk and cereal if I could. Too bad a box of Cheerios is $9 and a gallon of milk is in the $5 range. Other recent sticker shock moments: a jar of Hellman's (Best Foods) mayo for $12, a pound of walnuts for $26, a medium cantaloupe for $10. So if we want to stick to our modest missionary budget, we need to eat like the locals do. Usually this means eating lots of fruits and vegetables and eating nshima a few times a week. But being interested in local food and foraging I jumped at the chance to try some grasshoppers when they descended en masse on our plot.

Zambians know how to eat local - during the rainy season they have all kinds of foraged greens (ndiwo za masamba) and free protein. Much like the manna that fed the Israelites in the desert, the locusts showed up early in the morning, and by 8am they had disappeared. Except for the 50-60 that Lucas and I caught in a tupperware. The guards and builders that live on our plot were excited to see the noisy tub of bugs trying to escape from their upcoming lunch date. So they invited me over for lunch and we squatted around a hot pot of nshima and plates of kapenta (dried whole minnows cooked in tomato and onion) and fried sontwa (grasshoppers). Now as for taste, they're not too exciting, pretty bland with plenty of crunch (the heads and exoskeletons and pretty tough), and little squishy around the middle.

Really, they don't taste like much, but picking out the various legs and wings is time consuming and a little disturbing. More disturbing is looking at their creepy faces and eyes looking at you as you pop 'em in your mouth. Needless to say I had a pretty serious case of indigestion and while I appreciate being to pick your food off your walls I think next time, I'll just let the Israelites free or something like that.

Unlikely family

2010-12-01T09:36:00.000-08:00

Of course I, Tricia, have been thinking about adoption lately. And one of the things that came to my mind is what an interesting mix we will all be when Mutale and Ethel join us permanently. I think we will look like an unlikely family indeed. I am bracing myself for the questions I will probably hear from perfect strangers at the grocery store.

But it also makes me so excited that God is bringing us together. These little crumbgrabbers that seem like an unlikely addition to our family, well God has known from before I was even born that they would be my daughters.

And I can't help but stand in awe of God's Church, his family on earth and how he continually adopts the most unlikely people into his family... me for one! Visiting all these different churches since we have been in Zambia has given me a beautiful and broad view of God's family in this part of the world and it is truly humbling. These are my brothers and sisters!!! The family from New Zealand working here at a clinic, a man from Zimbabwe and his wife from Michigan, two teachers from Belgium, not to mention of course the very diverse group of Zambians who live in this crazy city! You put us all together and we don't look like a family really, but because of Jesus Christ we are completely and totally bound together... God's very own special United Colors of Benetton commercial.

(Home)SICK

2010-11-30T21:30:00.000-08:00

So the Huckabys have been sick. Lucas had a cold that developed into an earache. After a full run of an antibiotic he was back in action… for about three days. After Lucas got sick, Tricia and I both had a run-in with what seemed like the flu. Fast forward a week and we’re reliving the whole thing. Lucas started with stomach cramps that kept him up all night, followed by a fever, followed by cold symptoms followed by diarrhea and some barfing. Meanwhile Tricia was also sick with nausea, dizziness and exhaustion and now I’m feeling it too. Luckily we’ve ruled out most of the nasty stuff, but a dose of deworming meds is in order. All this to say, we’ve been sick off and on for about 4 weeks and it’s taking its toll on us emotionally, spiritually, and physically.

It’s not that I miss the cold and wet, but being sick just makes you wish you were home. For us that would be curled up on the couch of our parent’s house watching movies and being waited on hand and foot by people who love us. We missed a Thanksgiving party here as well (due to illness) and our internet was inaccessible for about 4 days. Needless to say, we’ve been feeling very disconnected and lonely. It’s these times when a quiet voice tell you, “It’s ok, you can give up and just go home. This is too hard.” But we’ve got work to do and we’re praying for those quiet voices to be overwhelmed by all the good we’re seeing done here – with schools, churches, pastors, and children at risk. So pray for health for the Huckabys – being sick is really getting us down.

Expecting

2010-11-28T21:03:00.000-08:00

We're still waiting to hear from social welfare about our home assessment. Please pray that we can have it done soon.

Ciyanjano House Project

2010-11-23T09:39:00.000-08:00

Please consider giving towards our house project out at Ciyanjano! We are at 20% of our needed budget to rebuild and repair staff and director housing at our camp. This week we hired an architect to draw the plans for the house we'll be living in. The plan is to build little by little (pang'ono pang'ono) as the money comes in! Click here to give a gift to the project.

The Girls Part2

2010-11-21T06:25:00.000-08:00

People have been asking a lot of questions about our upcoming adoption. So here's a bunch of answers.

Why adoption? We have been adopted into God's family! We didn't know or love Him until he reached out to us and called us to His family. So adoption is the picture of the Gospel. We've also known that we've wanted to adopt for a very long time because the world has so many orphans who need homes and families and besides, why would we want to pass on my genes?

How did we find Ethel and Mutale? We'd been visiting orphanages just to love on some kids, playing games or holding the little ones (if you like holding and snuggling toddlers, visiting an orphanage is a great way to show love to kids!). We let social welfare know that we were interested in adoption and they encouraged us to move forward. They gave us a list of adoptable children in the orphanages we'd been visiting. Tricia and I both felt that God had been calling us to adopt siblings because they have a harder time being adopted and staying together. In our minds we wanted an older girl, 5-9 and a boy 2-4. But social welfare only had two sisters, 3 and 5. So we started praying and fasting. As soon as we realized who the girls were - we jumped. Mutale (3) already loved me and will jump into my arms when we visit the house. Ethel (5) had been playing with Lucas and laughing and fooling around with him. We felt God saying this was it. And we wanted to seek His will in something this big and not just do what WE wanted.

How did we know? Well, I'm still working on that one. But I had a strange moment with Ethel after praying and fasting before our first real visit with her. I had this very strong buzzing feeling - I guess, like de je vu, like I was already looking back at this moment from the future as a moment that changed my life forever. It was WIERD, and awesome. It's hard to explain but Tricia and I just feel assured it's the right thing for us to do... just like we felt about moving to Africa!

When do you get to bring them home? Please pray! So we found out that they were adoptable about three weeks ago. We met with Social Welfare and turned in our initial paperwork a week ago. I think we'll have our homestudy done on Tuesday of this week. And then... Only God knows. It could be weeks or months before the girls are released to our custody... but probably more like the beginning of the year. We have plans to go to Botswana for a day in Dec and the girls would not be able to leave the country with us. So we are praying for the first weekend of Jan. AND we want to take them for day trips and to bring them home for a couple days for Christmas to get them used to us more before January comes.

So that's the scoop, we'll keep you up-to-date. Please pray. And when things are official we will send out a picture of the family.

The Girls

2010-11-16T10:25:00.000-08:00

After years of prayer about adoption and of course more recent prayer and fasting regarding the decision....

Today Kelly and Tricia Huckaby went down to Social Welfare and officially applied to adopt Mutale, estimated age 3, and her sister Ethel, estimated age 5. What?! I know!

Because their birthdays are unknown, for the sake of the paperwork, we were given permission to just give them the birthdays we wanted for them. For whatever reason this detail of our meeting at social welfare was what really hit us. We are well on our way to being parents of three. We are already lovingly referring to them as "the girls." Well, Lucas officially joined this family with a birthday and today we felt like "the girls" did too.

All we can say is: please PRAY!

Churches

2010-11-15T10:28:00.000-08:00

Ambassadors

2010-11-11T09:22:00.000-08:00

In 2 Corinthians we read:

...if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

This passage is amazing. Kelly and I are "missionaries" in Africa so of course we have to remember each day that we are ambassadors for Christ. I am reading a book right now called Instruments in the Redeemers Hands and the author, Paul Tripp, expands on this passage and what it means to be an ambassador: it's a 24/7 calling. But what I love about this passage in 2 Corinthians is that St. Paul is not talking about the call of missionaries to be ambassadors, he is talking about the call for every believer. God is making his appeal to the world through each one of us: Be reconciled to God through Jesus Christ. I was challenged by this today and I hope you are too. Let us truly be ambassadors for Christ, faithfully proclaiming a message of reconciliation.

A friend in need... (Part 1)

2010-11-05T21:47:00.000-07:00

Hmmm. Where to start? How can I possibly explain the amount of need we see here in Lusaka... Let's start with this from James 2:15-17:

^"15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. ¹⁶ If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? ¹⁷ In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead."

or how about this from Matthew 5:39-42:

³⁹ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. ⁴⁰ And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. ⁴¹ If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. ⁴² Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you."

How are we called to respond? Scripture seems pretty clear. I'm still putting this all together in my mind but here's what we see:

We can't go anywhere without being inundated with requests for food, money, rides, work, help, etc. We are approached daily by random strangers looking for work or help. It's not just because we are mzungus (white foreigners), Zambians with (and even without) resources have similar experiences. While we live very modestly by American standards (and by wealthy Zambian standards too - people are shocked to find out that Tricia does her own laundry and cooking), we are still living far and above the average Zambian standard. We are constantly reminded of this as we visit people in the compounds (slums).

People ask us for things because they can clearly see that we have resources! For instance, we needed a roof-rack for our truck so we can take visitors and short term teams and their luggage to and from the airport, and so we can haul stuff to Ciyanjano. While it was being installed I sat and practiced my Nyanja with the guard. I learned that he and his wife and their infant daughter lived off of his wages alone. The roof-rack I was installing was almost a year's salary. So how are we called to respond?

Faces of Zambia

2010-11-02T06:15:00.000-07:00

astridah (our househelper)
abusa martin phiri
kids in n'gombe compound

ciyanjano worker
christopher

Halloween

2010-10-31T07:09:00.000-07:00

First off, Happy Halloween. Today is our wedding anniversary: 11 years! Woo hoo! The Huckateam is still going strong. Thank you, Jesus! I am so grateful for my Kellyboy!

Second off, what better topic for our Halloween blog than the topic that has been on my mind for the past few days... You guessed it: demon possession.

I don't know exactly where I stand on the issues surrounding demon possession, driving out demons, etc. But I can tell you that I came to Zambia already believing that demon possession is real. After working with the soup kitchen downtown for awhile in Bellingham, I would even say that I had probably already seen some cases of demon possession. I had even thought at times that maybe I should pray over certain people so that they would be released, but I didn't have the guts.

In scripture Jesus was always driving out demons. No big, crazy show about it but he would just tell demons to get on their way and people would be restored, and they would go on to be devoted followers of their savior. I think that's awesome and that Christ-followers should be battling it out with evil spirits just like Jesus and his first disciples did.

Which brings me to Thursday at Chainama Mental Hospital. We had a couple of guests join our usual group and they came prepared to do some battle. We started off with singing praise to our God as usual; but, things were getting a lot noisier. Some of the women I felt were behaving a bit wild just to get attention, but I truly believe that there were at least two women there that were demon-possessed. Our two guests prayed over one of these women really powerfully. She was lying flat on the ground on her stomach and was speaking to them as they prayed and it was sketch. Honestly, I had no idea what to do with myself and figured the best thing was to just keep on praising God and praying. Kelly was doing the same.

Anyway, I won't go into all the details but I believe those people really did set that woman free from a demon. She seemed fine afterward except really tired. Please pray for that woman to commit herself to the Lord so that the Holy Spirit will take up residence in her instead of some other new tenant!

Also please pray for Kelly and I as we reflect on our experiences and see how God would have us serve him. I believe that Kelly and I are already praying boldly for him to work. But should our approach to people who are struggling be even more bold? Pray that the Holy Spirit would give us eyes to see reality and give us understanding of what God's will is for us. I don't want to walk into Chainama each week and pray for the women and walk out again leaving women in bondage to evil! Not when we could've released them because of the mighty power of our Lord Jesus Christ!

Seriously people, I want your prayers about this please. And I want your comments. Tell us what are your own experiences or thoughts on this. Feel free to pass along good resources for us to read as well.

And let me just say, that if you are not a follower of Christ and you are reading this, I ask you to please consider Jesus. Bob Dylan said it best... You've got to serve somebody.

Family Dinner

2010-10-30T06:30:00.000-07:00

The other night we had Pastor Anderson Jere and his family over for dinner. This was no small undertaking for us. The Jere's have 9 children living with them including various diminutive relatives and orphans. Before dinner we were told by our language tutor that Zambian families would expect us to have soda for drinking while socializing before dinner. So I scrambled around trying to buy a case of "softies," which is tricky cause you need a case of empties to exchange when buying a case of soda. You need to have a case to buy a case, if you don't have a case already, most places can't sell you one... hmmm. I went to pick them up in Kalikiliki compound and all 12 of us piled into the car. Back at our place Tricia was trying to whip up enough food for an army. She made a beet and bean salad, a huge egg and sausage dish, two loaves of bread, nshima, and a tomato/spinach relish - a mix of Zambian food and American food. We have noticed that Zambian kids can be like American kids -they have their favorites and might not like new foods. Everything turned out great. Of course Tricia had never made such a huge batch of nshima before and the bubbling cauldron of boiling hot maize spat lava-like nuggets of fire onto her hands and she finally called the Jere's oldest daughter into the kitchen to give her a hand. It was a fine evening, all the kids played in the front of our place, kicking soccer balls around and playing games. The older folks sat on the porch sipping cold softies and swattin' at mosquitos. A nice night indeed.

Wildlife

2010-10-30T05:57:00.001-07:00

chameleon

giant mothgiant beetle

Ciyanjano

2010-10-30T04:22:00.000-07:00

delivery day (crushed rock, mattresses, and timber)shoveling rocks

finished chalet
chalet side viewbunks complete

starting the bunk beds sawing and planing the beams for bunks
the nsaka

Lusaka

2010-10-30T00:19:00.000-07:00

Kasupe Rd to CiyanjanoJacaranda at Zebra Crossing

Lumumba Rd.
looking into town off of LumumbaLumumba
gravel shack on Mungwi Rd.
gravel trucks
gravel breakers
quarries

Friends & Family

2010-10-29T22:32:00.000-07:00

Patson Sakala and family
Alfred Mwanza and wifeLucas in Garden
Peter Zulu and family

lucaslucas & auntie Kathrine

lucas and neighbor (christopher)tricia and christopher
tricia goes crazy on the fringilla trampolines
ameria morales

lucas in his "bigboy" pants

Independence and RAIN!

2010-10-27T21:57:00.000-07:00

Ask a Zambian about when the rainy season will start and they will invariably say "It can't rain before Oct 24 (Independence Day)!" And it really doesn't rain from sometime in April or May until the last week of October. But this weekend we celebrated Zambian Independence with a braii at some friend's house and sure enough, two days later - RAIN! Now being from the PNW you either love the rain (if you're a weirdo)or hate it. I'm a hater. I have not missed the rain at all. But sure was awesome to get a few minutes of heavy sprinkles. Out at Ciyanjano the wind started whipping the elephant grass all over the place and a huge cloud of dust boiled off the road and blew through the property. The sky got black and then huge drops soaked us. Back at home we had another 4 minutes of rain as well. Just enough to drop the temperature 20 degrees. Thank God for the rains. They will bring a tropical lushness to the city and cooling from the summer heat. But they will also bring mosquitoes (and malaria), mud and cholera. Pray for Lusaka as the rains begin! Even if it takes another month or two for the real rains to start.

Nyanja Scrabble

2010-10-23T21:47:00.000-07:00

So last night we thought it would be fun to review our Nyanja vocabulary by playing Scrabble using only Nyanja words. Kelly started off strong with "onetsa" which means "show" as in to show. All I could come up with after that was "nda" which is "I" in the past tense. Then the game pretty much ended because we forgot to take into account the fact that Scrabble is designed with English in mind. Nyanja Scrabble would need about 10 more k's, w's, u's, n's, and maybe a few more y's with about twenty more z's. So if you have ten extra sets of Scrabble letters laying around feel free to send them our way so we can try again!

A lesson in faithfulness

2010-10-20T10:45:00.000-07:00

Something we have loved doing is getting to know the local pastors that work with ACTION Zambia. Every monday we have been visiting these pastors and meeting their families and seeing where they lead church. It's been humbling, amazing, encouraging, and inspiring. First, this is a great opportunity for us to visit the compounds(slums) with a guide. Most of these labyrinthine communities have no road signs and there are no maps; many roads are narrow, and completely impassable in the rainy season. Moving around in the compound without a guide is a good way to get seriously lost and maybe get yourself into some trouble - especially if you are near a strip of taverns.
This week we visited Patson Sakala. He pastors a small church of about 20+ people in N'gombe compound. He also does piece work as a brick layer to earn some income. His life story is amazing and a testament to God's transformative power. His ministry is picture of faithfulness. He essentially takes everything he earns and puts it towards building a school for kids in his community. Kids that would otherwise not go to school because of financial need. His large family (including a number of orphaned kids) lives in a small two room section of a building that he is outfitting as a school and orphanage. His wife teaches 1st through 5th grade. They take every bit of extra money and put it towards helping educate kids in their community, sacrificing physical and material comforts to develop the school. The word that comes to mind is DEVOTION. It's amazing. They have some serious financial needs before the end of the year to finish the roof (to keep the classrooms dry) and dig and build a pit latrine before the rainy season. If you'd like to help, please let me know! And PRAY FOR THE SAKALA FAMILY!

Patson Sakala