Unbelievable

Two crazy, unbelievable, and frustrating situations in one day. The first was from a lady who works on our property. She has been sick on and off for many months now. The clinic and hospital have told her that she has low blood but I am not really sure what that means. So I was checking in on her one day and I wanted to discreetly encourage her to get tested for HIV because it is very taboo. It turns out that she was already tested and that a doctor from town has been telling her that it is because she hasn't been sleeping with men. I got a translator because I was thinking that something was lost in translation. But it was true! She hasn't slept with anyone for over a year and the doctor has been telling her that she needs to have sex to get different blood in her body and she is now starting to wonder if he is right because she has been sick so much. Those things make me want to visit the clinic and punch someone right after tearing up their doctor license!

Scenario number two was also someone who works for the organization. He has a wife who is 15 years old and is pregnant. He told me about her not feeling well and the family wanting him to go to a witch doctor. I had been meaning to talk with him about the spiritual implications of entrusting health and children to demonic influences. But things came up and I never did. Thankfully, God made it work out because the next day he was knocking at my door asking for a K200 loan for the witch doctor. I couldn't miss this opportunity if I tried! Apparently, the witch doctor wanted K750 ($75... almost a month of wages!) to determine the problem and give them charms. I was able to speak truth into his life along with another Zambian staff member who is so wise on these issues. And he went home and took a stand to rely on Jesus.

Unfortunately, the family went around him and came up with the money themselves. The diagnosed problem is that the baby is being stolen from the womb at night and then returned and the headman of the village is putting curses on the baby because he wants it to die. Sounds wild but I don't write anything off in Africa. The headman has now kicked this man out of his house and he is living in a nearby rundown mud and grass house that will not make it through the rainy season. Wonderful opportunity to help and speak truth... but Jesus can come back and take over anytime!

Flying Termites

The rain has begun to fall harder and more frequently. This means that all of a sudden one night we had a mass of flying termites. We remember them from last rainy season. The body is maybe four times then size of an average termite and they have four clear wings similar in look to a dragonfly. They must only hatch after it rains and they disappear after a day.

It was around 7:30 pm in our house. It had been dark for an hour when we heard hundreds of these flying termites trying to get in through our screens and blinds. Houses are not completely bug proof like a winterized house would be so hundreds of flying termites did get in the house.

So here we are after dinner hoping for a relaxing evening. We shut off all of the lights in the house save a small camping solar light. We filled both sides of the kitchen sink with water and placed the light in between so that some of the flying termites would drown in the water. We quickly took ice cold showers and jumped into bed in the safety of our mosquito net at 8 pm. An early bedtime isn't so bad. We are just hoping that the many people that fry and eat these flying termites won't offer us any in the next few days!

Cicada

We were meeting with a home church group when all of a sudden a loud noise started right behind me. It made me jump and turn and I noticed that it was coming from a pot. It turns out that some people eat cicadas in Zambia! This one was being kept alive in a pot to fry in the evening. The things we learn after being here for a year.