Bush Church

My friend Marvin asked me for transport to the hopping town of Harmony, where he had been invited to minister. Marvin makes cement blocks for Chodort on weekdays, but is also an active (Pentecostal) preacher in his community. I said I would give him a lift, would not stay for the church program, so that I could return home and take my own family to church.

Our plans don't always work the way we expect them to, do they?

Sunday came. I couldn't remember exactly where Marvin lives in the maze of muddy dirt roads in south Choma, so met him at a nearby high school. He brought his wife with him. We drove to Harmony, which is only 15 minutes down the highway. Then we waited at the side of the road for awhile for someone named Clive to come on a bicycle and lead us to the church building. Finally Clive arrived, then rode in the car with me while Marvin pedalled furiously on the bike behind us. The scenery was beautiful, as the rains have made everything green again. The sandy road went on and on...I had planned to just drop them off and then leave (they could catch a bus back to town) but when I realized how far into the bush we were going, I decided I couldn't leave them without transport. When we finally arrived at the little church, I called home and let my wife know.

The church is a small red brick building a bit bigger than our living room, with small slats for windows, a dirt floor, and a tin roof. Four or five benches were set up along one wall. The stage was raised slightly, with a battery-powered piano keyboard and speaker. There were english Bibles and songbooks (printed in Edmonton!) on the benches. The service began at 10am and went until about 1pm, after which we had some lunch outside (pounded maize with sour milk and sugar). We left around 2pm; I did some grocery shopping on the way home and got home at 3:30pm--about 7 hours later than I'd planned to.

I felt very welcomed and comfortable in this small church plant. A few of the church members were quite familiar with Choma/Lusaka/Western way of life, so maybe that's why I felt so accepted...and the church wasn't too crazy (maybe because there weren't many people there today?). In fact it was mostly in English, with some Tonga translation. The pastor said I would be preaching next time I visit. Maybe I'll put it off for awhile. :)

Happy New Year!

Christmas Braai

The church we attend has a tradition of meeting together on Christmas Day to remember Christ's birth. Afterwards there is a braai (bbq), with everyone sharing a good meal together. This year our family volunteered to host at our home, since we have lots of space in our backyard, and good kitchen/meeting facilities.

At 7:30 Christmas morning a car came to our gate and honked. I decided it must be someone to see my neighbour since the service wasn't supposed to start until 9am, but it turned out it was one of the organizers with some food and drinks to drop off. So I went out in my pyjamas and unlocked the gate.

At 9am a few people came but we didn't get started on the church service until past 10 sometime. Some of the ladies started peeling potatoes and preparing chicken. We lit the braai stand so that the charcoal would be hot enough later.

For the church service we sang a few carols and shared what Christmas means to us. Some of the young people presented "Lord I lift your name on high" with sign language, and also presented a sketch about making room for Jesus in our hearts.

Then it was time to play and eat!

Michelle chatted with the youngest member of our church.

The last person left around 4:30pm. So it was a long day, but good to spend it together in a meaningful way. Some of the people were saying that for many Zambians, Christmas is an excuse to drink in excess, so I'm glad the church was able to offer an alternative.

We opened our presents around the Christmas tree as a family afterwards. We didn't really have supper since we were still full from our late lunch! This was our second Christmas in Choma. Only one left before we return to a good old Wet Coast one! :)

Holidays in South Africa

We've taken a couple of weeks of holidays here in Holiday season. My parents were here for two weeks. For one week they visited us in Choma while we went about our work; they were able to spend some time at Chodort and visit some village schools with Michelle. Then we spent a week in Livingstone together, with lots of it in the pool to beat the heat! We also visited the Falls and enjoyed a self-driven safari in Mosi-au-Tunya park.

We both flew out of Lusaka airport on the same morning; Mom and Dad went home via Amsterdam and we went to Cape Town, South Africa. We have regional meetings in Durban next week, so we took the opportunity to see the south coast of Africa. There's been a bit of culture shock (in a pleasant way) as we play the part of tourists. We've enjoyed a ferris wheel ride, McDonald's, shopping, the Aquarium, penguins on the beach, and Table Mountain. See picture of me with some feathery friends. The area is cool enough for these penguins to thrive!

Today we drove up to Table Mountain and took the cable car to the top. We enjoyed the view, etc, but I was mostly thinking about my hike down! Michelle took the kids for lunch and then the cable car down, while I saved ten bucks by walking down the steep trail. It took one and a quarter hours. My legs felt a little shaky the whole time--maybe because I didn't have lunch?--but they did their job and it was a beautiful place to get some exercise!

Cabinets and Chameleons

Life continues to be moderately full, dawn to dusk with family, work, and recreation.  

I have been guest-teaching the Chodort carpenter class for the past few weeks, as they've been doing a unit on cabinetry.  I taught the same unit last year but wasn't satisfied with how it turned out, so have tweaked a few things this time around.  The students seem more serious this year than last year--all hard workers.  Because most of them will find jobs in "the field,", they mostly use hand tools.  They take unwanted hardwood offcuts from the Production Unit and plane them down to size by hand--which can be very time consuming, especially when they can't afford to eat lunch!  One day I bought buns for morning tea for the class--they all disappeared quite quickly.

I offered to take any students who wanted help to the Production shop, where we would use the power planers.  A few students took me up on it.  They are starting to learn about the machines at this point in their course, so it is a good time to put them to practical use.

The year's course is ending soon--the instructors have cutting lists for final exams, and Graduation is in mid-December.  It's gone by quickly.  We will be away for regional meetings, so unfortunately I will miss grad this year.

The school that Kate is registered at in Canada requires portfolios for Term 1, which is ending soon.  So last week I did a lot more organizing than teaching.  I've been taking photos of Kate's work, organizing lists of books she's read, etc.  I even did an entire Science unit on Force and Motion in one afternoon, after Michelle noticed I had been doing the introductory unit all term!

Also on Mondays, I take half an hour with Mr. Lwiindi, our gardener, and ask him to help me learn Tonga.  I direct the lessons; usually he helps me read simple children's books in chiTonga and then I ask about different words or get him to repeat so I pronounce things better.  I'm still learning very slowly, but it's at my own pace so I don't get too bogged down with extra information that I can't absorb.

I've had a bit of time to work on my second homemade guitar, read a few books, play Settlers with Michelle and others, play Angry Birds on the iPad, and play with the dog.  Michelle and I got away for dinner and a movie in Lusaka to celebrate our 11th Anniversary.

And lastly, hot season has peaked (I hope!) and the rains have started slowly. We haven't had any monster rains here yet, but just enough to take the edge off the heat while increasing the humidity. We must have had a month straight of 30+ degree weather by now. With the rains will come new and strange bugs, ants, and frogs. Here is a picture of a dead chameleon that was on the road the other day.

One Day in Africa

Here is the maiden performance of my first homemade guitar.


One day in Africa

Hope life and hospitality everywhere you go
So many barriers
actually working
trying to accomplish
you might forget
keep in mind, This Is Africa

You may come to change the world
The world is bigger
You may find yourself changed first

Greet a stranger on the road
Dogs and roosters fade into subconsciousness
Every shopkeeper's friend, boss, same time

Feel the rain
Feel the heat
Feel the cold
Feel the beat
Breathe the dust
Smell the sky
Scuff the dirt
You're alive

One day in Africa

(c) 2014 Andrew Christopher Potts

Cigar Box Guitar

As promised, here is the story of my first homemade guitar!

It started with Chabota, a student at Chodort, asking me if I could teach him to play guitar. He came over to our house on a few Sunday afternoons and played the one that MCC had in storage, which I've been using. It's a decent guitar, it looks nice, the intonation is okay, etc. I think a SALTer had left it here after a previous term. Because it is MCC property I didn't feel right about loaning it out, but Chabota really needed something to practice on. While there is an Academy of Music right here in Choma which he is a member of, his schedule doesn't allow him to go there to practice. And so was born the idea of making my own (for him to borrow).

Another spark was the visit of the parents of one of our colleagues from USA. Jan's father works with hardwood and came to Chodort to buy some rosewood for a guitar. I realized I had a treasure trove of guitar wood right under my nose! So I planed down some old window frames and made a couple of necks. They were a bargain at 15 kwacha each! ($3). I made them quite thick because I didn't want them to bend, being a six-string guitar with no truss rod.

I should also note that I don't have the patience to build a good guitar. It simply takes too much time and there are too many things that can go wrong. I found out about "cigar box" guitars online--a cheap alternative in the Bluesy Southern USA. Basically they are a neck and a cigar box. I don't have access to cigar boxes here but I knew I could make something similar. The main difference is that CGBs usually have only 3 or 4 strings, and I wanted six.

So, I chiseled out a space for the box, glued on some toothpicks for frets (using a fret calculator for spacing), and attached two metal pieces from a doorknob for nut and bridge. My parents sent me some tuning hardware and nylon strings via my brother-in-law who visited us in August. I put the strings on before I had built the box, and it sounded okay (though very quiet)! There were a few problems with fret noise and a string that kept breaking, but overall I was happy with my first attempt.

I kept waiting for plywood offcuts at work, but having found none, I bought a sheet of 6mm ply for 110 kwacha ($20) and cut it with a handsaw. It was quite rough but I wasn't going for beauty here. I attached it with screws, glue, and nails. Some watercolor paints gave it character and some sanding sealer finished it off. Tonight I re-tuned it and played some songs! It was the coolest feeling to hear the strings resonating against the box--they are now audible! It will definitely work for a learning guitar! But before I give it away...I'll have to make a music video. (coming soon) I will also have to start on guitar #2. Then, I think my career in guitar building can wait...until I retire.

Mobile Carrier Ads

In Zambia there are three major cellular companies. There are no contracts to get locked into (that I know of). If you have a phone, almost any phone, you can buy a SIM card for about a dollar (though you have to register with I.D.). This gets you a phone number. Then you buy airtime in the shops or on the street, in varying amounts. I usually buy about 10 kwacha at a time, which is about two bucks worth, and that will last me a couple of weeks, unless I have a lot of calling to do. (Since I'm not a phone person I don't make a lot of calls) :) Texts are cheap too, and you don't pay to receive them. Anyway, these three companies have different rates and deals on their own networks, and some are better than others as far as reception goes--we like Airtel for calling and MTN for internet. But they are all decent for service and reliability, I think. So I have created some ads that I will send to their advertising departments, and then check the newspapers next month. ;)