7^th December 2019

Briefly!

I have just returned from a late joint birthday celebration with Jennipher , Soloman and Miranda.

We went to Comfort Lodge - which turned out to be a good choice. We had soft drinks and chatted on comfortable armchairs while waiting for the meals to be cooked over charcoal – no electricity!! We returned to the armchairs after the meal for a while.

This is the time when my goods begin to disappear. This laptop will be with someone else later tonight or tomorrow. My flask will go tomorrow along with all my excess food. It might also be dark early tomorrow if my lamp vanishes!!

This will be my last post before I make my way back to England. On Monday morning I will leave for Lusaka and at 02.00 on Wednesday morning I head for home via Nairobi and Amsterdam.

Tomorrow I will have a succession of people wanting to say goodbye and will try to do a quick clean of the house and pack my bags.

So goodbye for now.

Take Care,

Best Wishes,

Chris

Lunch With the Children

Friday 6^th December

Very soon I will start preparing for my return to the UK. As always adjusting to life back in the UK is the most difficult part. This time will be particularly difficult.

Some people will imagine that I have been among people looking like the pictures we have seen with famines around the world - where starving people have been photographed in order to get the maximum response. No doubt if I searched in the rural areas I could get such photos – but this would do a disservice to the people. In practice I have been living with a lot of hungry people even if they don't look emaciated.

The fact that children flock to school or pre-school just because they can get some food says a lot. So when I show you pictures of happy laughing children – be under no illusions -, these children will be lucky to get a meal this evening and they won't look forward to the Christmas holidays when a daily meal is no longer assured!

The usual variety of small wildlife is busy around and in my house. I spend my time with spiders, ants, cockroaches – or are they just beetles, as I would prefer to believe!!, lizards, millipedes, praying mantis, locusts etc.

The other day an owl took off as I returned after a session on the internet. The occasional bat also flies around after dark. It is good to watch the swallows in December enjoying a holiday in the sun!

The moon is almost a half now. It is strong enough to light the way in the dark and cast a beautiful moon shadow – something I have always found very special. There is always a chance to enjoy the moonlight and stars during the lengthy power outages. In the distance I often see a thunderstorm – pity that it always seems to be in the distance!

This morning Obert took me to his parents house where the children were having their final lessons before finishing for Christmas. They had a final meal at pre-school and I was also provided with food. Apparently it was the first time the children had seen a 'white man' eat nshima!!

I met three women with severely disabled children. Two of the children were unable to support themselves or to talk and the third was blind and had other disabilities. There is no help for the mothers – or grandmothers. They are expected to cope themselves, but with a 24 hour job looking after the children it is extremely difficult to find a way of getting enough money for food – even in good times. Now life is more than difficult. Gift – one of the children – needs to drink sour milk because he cannot take solids. This presents another challenge because of the cost. Maybe it is only a few pennies a day, but to this mother it represents a major outlay. These women face incredible challenges. I wish I could provide more help, but everywhere you look people are facing intolerable situations

Diven managed to get himself involved in another – fortunately minor – dispute and was stranded with his wife and children outside the courts for most of the morning. He was left without any money to get his wife back home and she couldn't walk the distance!

After spending a little while talking with Diven, I attempted to use the internet. I made a couple of calls with Skype, but abandoned everything else because of the speed (or lack of it!) I will go over after 22 hrs - power permitting.

Ireen will ring me tomorrow when she will have my shirts completed!! I did see that she has made some progress at least!

Best wishes,

Chris

Delivering Food

Thursday 5th December

I keep passing the shop outside which Ireen works as I move about town. Of course you expect me to show you the pictures of the new shirts I was to collect on Monday or Tuesday!! Unfortunately the date has slipped once again!! I am “expecting” a call today to sat that they are ready!! It is already after19 hrs, so I doubt it. Maybe tomorrow – or maybe not!!

I had the usual string of visitors, Diven, Jennifer, Luke and probably a couple of others.

I have been looking at solar fridges as a possibility for Diven's shop. It has been interesting to discover how the bits go together and calculate the figures to determine the size of solar panel and battery required. In the end the cost was prohibitive and Diven decided to try to revive his shop without a fridge.

I rushed to the Internet before the 18 hrs blackout! The security guard came over and told me that Mrs. Chiiya wanted to see me. Mr and Mrs Chiiya are the owners of Moonlite Guest House – formerly Nampeyo. When I came to Monze in 2003 with a small team of volunteers we were accommodated at Nampeyo Guest House. It was in early stages of operation – I think we were the first guests. Mrs. Chiiya was the Head of a local government primary school. Hands Around the World supported a project started by Mrs Chiiya for skills training. Eventually this morphed into a school of nursing.

When my granddaughter Amy came to Monze in 2011 she met Mrs. Chiiya's daughter Saki and spent a day at her home. The two girls were about the same age. Saki is now engaged and will probably marry in 2020.

This morning I was due to meet the children at the pre-school run by Obert's mum. It was here that I first met Nancy a few years back. Something had come up so it has been moved until tomorrow – there should be some nice photos!!

I had to pop into town and Diven agreed to meet me there. I suspected that I would have a few minutes spare, so I decided to call into the hospital. At least I could buy a drink and sit down at the tuck shop. Sebia wasn't behind the counter. I heard that in the past couple of days her brother died.

I decided to check on my friend Sichone. Sichone was stores manager in 2004 when I started doing some work for the hospital on office systems and computers. I developed a stock control database and worked alongside Sichone and others in the stores. I was almost full time for 4 months and then returned for several months each year for four or five years. During this time I acquired a work permit and came to know the staff at the stores quite well.

Sichone confirmed the difficulties the hospital is facing because of a severe lack of funding – I understand the government calls it austerity!! Strange,! That sounds familiar. The result of course is that people die unnecessarily.

Businesses are collapsing because of the lack of electricity. No one comes for a haircut at 22hrs when power returns!! Welders cannot work etc. It was good to catch up with another old friend.

Raymond appeared at about 13hrs. When I told him I had a meeting at the church at 14 hrs he said that he was also meeting Fr. Wilson. We walked to the church together.

I have spent the past few hours with Fr. Wilson who drove around the compounds delivering some maize meal to some of the parishioners struggling to obtain enough food. It cannot really be said that there are roads through the compounds. Fr. Wilson drives a pick-up truck which is not ideal for the conditions. You really need a very high wheelbase 4x4. It is a case of off road rallying! Certainly not for the nervous driver, anyone who needs more that six inches at the side when going through gaps or has difficulty reversing fifty metres through small gaps and around corners would best give this a miss! Tarmac roads in Monze are the main Livingstone Road and a couple of kilometres going east towards Huichanga Dam. A few years ago – just before the elections – some tarmac was spread on a few roads to the west of Monze. In general the roads are mud and often are only characterised by the fact that cars have driven over these areas of land and forged a pathway between buildings!

We delivered 15 – 20 10Kg bags of food. Everyone was very grateful. I suspect that this was not just because they were given some food, but that they hadn't been forgotten and someone had cared enough to find them at home and deliver it personally.

I am amazed at weights that people will carry. Two women will often carry a 25 Kg (55lb) bag of maize meal between them, using a hand each. One of the women in the team delivering the food today carried bags (22lb) on her head – apparently with no effort and no need to stabilise it with a hand.

If you look down any road in Monze you will usually see at least one woman carrying goods on her head and a man pushing a loaded wheelbarrow. On the road trucks carry people on the back – often sitting on a variety of goods. These sights become so familiar that I rarely notice. Grass thatched huts, roofs with iron sheets held down with concrete blocks and waterproofed with black plastic sheets are a normal part of the environment with which I have become so familiar.

As I pass through the compounds I meet a few friends – some from PIZZ School, others from the church – or just children who have seen me passing around Monze over the past 16 years!! (Some of course are now adults!!)

The rain has not fallen properly for well over a week and the grass is not growing like it was when I arrived. The past few days have threatened some decent rain, but it hasn't arrived. It needs to arrive very soon or any crops already planted will come to nothing. I was convinced that it would rain yesterday, but the clouds parted and passed Monze by – today was a similar story.

I returned home before the power went, but not early enough to take any advantage of it! So I look forward to my first cup of tea of the day if it returns at 22 hrs!! I also fancy a couple of eggs on fried bread as a midnight feast!!

Chris

Difficult Times

Tuesday 3^rd December

I spent the morning talking to Mrs Sianga and Killian. Mrs Sianga attended the funerals of her relatives at the weekend. It appears that they ate peanuts which where to be used as seed and presumably were coated with toxic chemicals – it makes you wonder what we are using to increase the yield of our crops!

We talked about the current situation. Mrs Sianga's mother said that she had never experienced anything like it in her lifetime! Someone came to Mrs. Sianga's farm saying that they had had nothing to eat for three days. It will be March before there is another harvest – assuming that, unlike last year, there will be one this year. How many people will not survive until then we can only imagine.

I took the opportunity to see the progress of the water project. Some guys had managed to raise the water tank about ¾ of the way up the stand! I said hallo to some of the children.

People are becoming desperate and people are doing anything to get food. There are a lot of thefts and these no doubt will get worse as desperation increases.

I managed some tea and a meal when power came on at 15hrs – though Mrs Sianga provide a cup of tea earlier. I connected to the Internet, but it soon gave up - and then power went!!

Please keep the people of Monze and the surrounding area in your prayers.

Chris

A Little Quiter

Monday 2^nd December

After the excitement of Saturday, Sunday was a day for prayer. With a walk of 45 minutes each way to church and a two hour service, the morning was fully occupied. A snatch of lunch and I was off on a 2 ½ Km walk to meet someone at 2.30 pm for the 2 pm 'Section meeting'. At 3 pm I decided to move on – sometimes I bump into someone in the compounds who leads me to the meeting. I was not disappointed and a member of our community lead me to the right place. It took a while to find a bible. I made a phone call to Dilys to find the right reading and we were able to get going at a little before 4 pm!!

On arriving back home just after 17.30 I quickly put on the kettle, peeled some onions and put on some rice. Typically the power stays on until about 18.15. Yesterday it went off before 18 hrs and before I managed to cook anything. I wasn't going to cook at 22 hrs, so it was a bowl of conflakes, a few mangoes and some roasted peanuts for supper!

I later used the electricity at 22 hrs to contact home and catch up with e-mails etc.

One of the effects of the power outages is that I am rarely in bed until well after midnight. Last night it was about 1 am.

Both Diven and Jennipher had insisted that they would see me early this morning (at least by my standards). Diven would be around by 9 hrs and Jennipher by 8 hrs!! I was up in good time!

At about 10.30 Diven arrived!! Jennipher arrived about an hour later!!!

I decided to make a few notes of the outstanding issues I needed to address. I also wanted to check out the laptop because I have had difficulty playing DVDs. Since PIZZ school wants the laptop to project videos for the children – I need something that is operating. It appears that there are two DVDs which don't want to play. The others are OK – suggesting that it is the DVDs rather than laptop. I will investigate a little further.

I am keen to better understand the challenges facing the school and the church during this difficult year.

There have been a couple of attempts to rain today. Eventually there was just enough to wet the surface of the ground. We really need a good downpour to feed the newly planted maize. The prospects for rain later in the week look more promising, I hope it won't be too late.

I was reading a little about the climate change meeting in Spain. The politicians continue to talk, but very little action is happening. Unless something is done now, we are likely to be heading for disaster. I have suggested simple measures in the UK such as at least taking VAT off electric vehicles and making public transport free! If these measures are considered radical then there is no appreciation of the scale of the emergency. Yet the politicians are unwilling to to even go this far! In my view we need to make it easy for people to take the correct action – it needs to pay to be green!!

In Monze the people are feeling the effects of climate change – severe hunger. One lady told me that if we repeat this past year's rainfall pattern, there will be few people for me to visit next year!!

Chris

A Birthday to Remember

Saturday 30^th November

I don't tend to make a big thing of my birthday, but this year seems a bit different – more of that later!!

Yesterday I knew that a couple of people were due to call around.

I had arranged to see Hennah and her mother Euphrasia. I have kept in touch with them for a number of years and wanted to know how they were getting on. Water is a big problem this year – this morning I saw three women carrying 20 litre buckets of water along the road and in the other direction and at the same time, a guy was rolling a drum of water – perhaps 200 litres along the road.

In Euphrasia's area they had no water taps, so some of the people came together to pay for a line to be brought from the water main. People are now able to obtain taps at their houses for a more reasonable cost. Hennah has passed some nursing assistant qualifications, but has yet to receive her papers. In both instances they are things we take for granted. Not only a tap in our yard, but throughout the house! The idea that somehow after passing your exams – you still have no official confirmation six months later is outside our experience.

Luke and Diven arrived together! Luke was on time and had travelled from Chikuni to see me, so we chatted under the veranda and in the garden, while Diven waited inside. Chikuni is a small town in a rural area. The town is built around some Jesuit communities. There is a Jesuit School and hospital. If life is difficult in town, in the rural areas, where people are reliant on growing their own food to survive, it is much worse. Luke told me that some people have nothing and have to live on wild fruits, leaves and roots in order to survive. We had some discussion about churches building huge expensive structures and buying expensive vehicles, while people have nothing to eat. It seems to me that there are some who have lost their way – others of course are totally committed to relieving the plight of the poorest people and the churches are also in the forefront of providing support.

Power came on so I got busy cooking while chatting to Diven. We still haven't an answer to his business challenges!

Jennipher was delayed and missed supper!! We decided to postpone our joint birthday party as there were other events taking place.

Dilys had been in touch during the day to discuss planting trees on my birthday. For those not aware it appears that there is an attempt to get 1 million of my UK friends to plant trees to celebrate my 70^th Birthday. At least I think that is what I read!!

My granddaughter Amy had obtained permission to plant an oak tree in Cheltenham – I believe they even identified a good central position for the planting. The only problem was she hadn't obtained an oak tree! Dilys rang around to try to locate one, but at such short notice she had no luck. I put a brief message on Facebook in a final attempt to locate a tree just before midnight (Zambian Time – GMT+2)

This morning, despite a late night, I arose at about 6.15 and headed for 7 am mass at the cathedral. Unfortunately they seem to have changed mass on Saturday to start at 6.30 to match the weekday mass time. I would have been early for the 7 am mass, so at least I was present for the main sections and didn't miss mass completely.

Yesterday the ATM was not dispensing cash and I had little faith that it had been filled. However, to my relief the money was flowing once again.

I was going to relax and do a little bird watching, but Raymond was determined to come and visit! He brought me a birthday card and a big bag of mangoes picked fresh from the tree. He stayed an hour or so and we spotted a few birds between us. In fact, like most people Raymond is much better at bird spotting than me! We saw a blue waxwing – small birds that make me think of cartoon creatures. They look as if they have sat in a pot of blue paint! We also saw a pigeon – possibly a laughing dove.

Ireen promised to have a shirt ready for my birthday and I was to collect it at 10 hrs. I called around at her shop around 12.30 to see her busy with a number of sections of my shirt!! It was a long way off being ready to wear!! She said she would ring me Monday or Tuesday when all three will be complete!! We shall see !!!

I had built in a little slack, but now I was ahead of schedule. I decided to check out the Southern Comfort Motel. Originally I was going to celebrate Jennipher's birthday of 24^th November with mine today. When I was told the children were gathering at Our Lady's church at 14hrs. I wondered whether we could meet at Comfort Lodge as it is known. In the end it was decided to rearrange for another day. Anyway I had an excuse to call in and see whether it would be a possibility for next week. Then I thought of a cup of tea and my mind was made up.

I needed to see Diven briefly, so I arranged for him to meet me at “Comfort Lodge”.

When I arrived I asked whether there was any chance of a cup of tea. The manager (and it seemed, the cook and waiter as well!) Seemed very doubtful that tea could be provided – power was off! After a few moments hesitation he told me to make myself comfortable and he would try to conjure up some tea!

It took twenty minutes or so, but a pot of tea arrived, together with an egg sandwich, some coleslaw and tomato – not that I remember ordering the extras!! I was very grateful and decided that I should enjoy my birthday treat – even if I was now running late for my meeting with the children – due at 14 hrs.

Diven didn't appear and I was reminded of my last day in Monze in May.

Ireen promised to finish my shirts a few days before I left. Eventually, on the morning that I was leaving, after my bus had passed us heading for the stop, where the passengers would have a break of about fifteen minutes, I collected the shirts she had been working on for the previous half hour, with only the buttons left to be sewed on – oh and the button holes still had to be made!!

Diven wanted to say goodbye and would meet me at Roadhouse – the bus stop. I rang him and yes he was there! I arrived complete with shirts, quickly bought tickets, but couldn't see Diven! I rang again and he admitted he was in a taxi very close – a couple of minutes passed and the bus was about to leave! I left with Diven chasing behind!!!

On this occasion Diven caught up with me at Our Lady of the Wayside church.

The children were gathering – more than a hundred in total. At about 15 hrs they were ready. They started with a prayer and then launched into “Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday Chris, How old are you?”.

The children present are from families suffering the most from food shortages. Their families will have received some extra food from the funds sent by my church in Cheltenham. A small amount was also raised by the children back in the UK and it was thought appropriate to do something for the children here with that money. When I was told the day chosen, I admitted that it was my birthday and hence Fr. Wilson hatched this plan. Fortunately I have never experience real hunger, but I imagine that it saps your strength and can lead to a sense of helplessness. I am sure that it is easy to lose any hope.

Meeting with others can help – an excuse for a bit of singing and dancing in itself can raise the spirits. The children are of primary school age. Though there are no school fees for primary schools the children are expected to meet certain standards. They need to obtain their own notebooks and pencils. They are not expected to go to school dirty or with unwashed uniforms. At the moment the families cannot manage to feed the children properly - there is no spare money for books or even soap!

Each of these children received a notebook, pencil, bar of soap and/or some washing paste.

Its hard to understand that these small gifts could mean the difference between continuing in school or being sent home facing more stigma and humiliation.

After watching the distribution of goods, the huge birthday cake, with which I was presented was cut and distributed.

Fr. Wilson took me then to see a building which will be let to students at a nearby college. The idea is to buy this property for the parish and generate some income. Income from some of the rooms will be earmarked to support elderly and vulnerable parishioners.

Fr Wilson dropped me back home where I made a quick cup of tea to make use of some electricity. I rang Raymond and Diven. Raymond had informed me that “Debonnaires PIZZA” had opened on my birthday and he liked PIZZA!! Diven and Raymond both being friends I met on my first visit in 2003, I thought it appropriate for the three of us to celebrate my birthday with a PIZZA!

In the event – as this was the first PIZZA restaurant in Monze and its opening day – the place was packed, with a queue coming out of the door! and there was nowhere to sit. I suggested that we retreat to Food Royal close by and perhaps have a PIZZA another day! So that's what we did – eating more traditional fare!

My birthday concluded with a walk down a semi-dark road to my house. I enjoyed reflecting on the day and looking at an upturned moon which, like the Cheshire Cat, was just left with a smile!!

I did pop over to the staff room when the power returned just after 10 pm. Dilys had already rung to confirm that an oak was planted in my honour, together with other trees.

For a long time I have wanted to grow an oak. The oak is a very special English tree. It is big and strong, full of character with branches that go in all directions and show all the cracks and creases that come with age. It is loved by a huge variety of insects and birds - it grows large and can live to a great age. I have had a couple of issues when trying to grow an oak – one was that even when I found some acorns, I could never get them to germinate. The second was, if I had succeeded, where would I plant it? Oaks are not really suitable garden trees unless you have a huge plot!

My appeal on Facebook for a tree was successful. My friend Brenda had a self sown sapling in her garden - probably from a tree she grew from an acorn, found I believe at Prinknash. Dilys planted it along with my daughters and grandchildren.

I am very pleased that I now have a very special oak tree – made even more special because of the links with friends, family and Prinknash - somewhere which has had a special place in my life. I hope it thrives and outlives me by at least a couple of hundred years!!

I couldn't think of a better birthday present.

Best Wishes,

Chris