From Zambia to Zanzibar

Lydia’s Letter... 

Our dear Friends 

Sipping my tea on our stoep looking at the first sunrays gently stroking the mountain with its luminous touch; it all feels just like a dream, maybe we are still travelling.... 

We left home on a 18 day mission to Africa with only a one way ticket to Lusaka.

At the Oliver Tambo airport in Johannesburg we saw our first miracle. We were more than 30kg overweight with the boxes of Swahili books. The dear man in front of us in the queue was also going to Lusaka and agreed to take two boxes on his ticket since he had no luggage to book in! 

We were so excited to get our first glimpse of 4 of our books printed in one volume more than 300 pages in Swahili – Theo and Angie brought them for us to the airport, where we could take 5 boxes with us.

We arrived at 9 that night in Lusaka where Robert Mfula and Mwewa Jitanda’s beaming faces met us.  The last time we saw them was at the Word School in Hermanus in March.  We stayed over with Mwewa and Sharon again – It is amazing to see how the children have grown in the 2 years since our previous visit. How special it was to share their warm hospitality. 

The meetings started early the next morning and Francois was on a roll – we took a short break in between the lectures and continued till 2.

We had an opportunity then to visit pastor Fabiano in hospital to encourage him and pray with him. A few weeks after he returned from the Wordschool he collapsed and was in a coma for one and a half days. The doctors diagnosed diabetes. We thank and trust God for a complete miracle healing. Conditions in hospital are really very challenging, the patients have to buy their own food and medicine, and provide their own bedding.  There is only one staff member on duty for a ward with about 60 patients!

In the evenings we did an open air crusade with Pastor Richard Kakuwe and Naftali from Every Home for Christ, what a joy to witness all the beaming faces captivated by the word.  Many children attended these meetings and I so enjoyed sharing with them. The life Jesus lived as our life and now reveals in the Gospel, is truly the desire of the nations! 

On our final night  after the crusade Pastor Richard Kakuwe spoilt us with a feast at the grand Southern Sun Hotel! (my first running water and a glimpse at a mirror in the lobby...)

We concluded our time in Lusaka with one clear verdict, very soon a leader’s conference will be arranged and Francois will come with a team to teach, “the church leaders in all of Zambia must hear this word of God’s Grace” Past Richard relates to more than 500 churches and agreed to take the initiative to arrange such a leaders seminar.

The next morning we left with a taxi to the bus where we waited patiently for the bus to fill up before it would leave on a 3 hour trip to Kapiri Mposhi where we had to catch the train to Tanzania. The bus trip eventually took off and with a crazy rush and another taxi at Kapiri we made the train to Mbya in time.  I have travelled by train in 9 countries and the views of Africa on this trip to Dar es Salaam must be tops for scenery, but only scenery ......the trip itself can take any shape; it is rather scary to pass many derailed coaches on both sides of the track. The copper belt train paths its way over mountains and thru forests. It is so beautiful at the stops to see the ‘traders’ appear out of the forests with all their wares in woven baskets on their heads, the biggest banana’s I have ever seen.  Sweet potatoes, shiny red tomatoes and bunches of fresh Marogho  and the trading takes place out of the windows all along the track, even right thru the night wherever the train stops; this train only passes thru 2x a week. We enjoyed a lovely menu of pap and fish or pap and chicken, and nice hot tea, my treat in Africa xx

Twenty five hours later at around 5 we arrived (moeggetrein) in Mbya. Our dear friends, Zephaniah and Mariego and some of the other church leaders were there to collect us and take us to Zephaniahs’ home where Grace was waiting for us. What a treat to experience the warmth of the love of God in Africa.  I so wish it is possible to describe living in the village with all the activity around it, the noises and voices and singing just never seems to end, and in between Zephaniahs’ chickens and pigs and beautiful cow shared in the melody.  We were thoroughly spoilt with all the local delicacies and fresh fruit, sweetest mango’s, pawpaw’s and pineapples. The village children accepted these Muzungu’s (white people) as part of them. I was so touched when a little girl got on my lap and put her hand on my head purposefully; I later learned that it was a gesture of greeting and showing honour to someone.  These African princes and princesses that always laugh and sing and dance, drinking from a source of joy that is kept in a secret place that they have discovered!

 The conference for the whole Mbya region’s church leaders and their choirs started the next morning; hundreds of people packed the building and were captivated by the Word. Our time in Mbya was really fruitful and the testimonies of the pastors were such an encouragement. The simplicity of the Gospel declaring the success of the cross is so well received everywhere. Francois’ theme was ‘Emmanuel’ God with us, not sometimes, all the time not just when we feel His presence or on special occasions or in special places but everywhere. He is not nearer to some than to others, Paul declares to the Greek Philosophers, that the Creator God is not far from each one of us! What a joy to celebrate a union that took place in the coming of Christ in the flesh when God saved and restored fallen man to Himself. The incarnation is the eternal testimony of the success of God’s act of reconciliation. God was in Christ when He reconciled the world to Himself! Jesus came to reveal and redeem the image and likeness of God in a human body! Yours! Your body is His sanctuary! 

One afternoon between the sessions we went for a little walk in the area and came across the eye of the fountain that supplies most of Mbya with fresh water. What a spectacle to see this phenomena ; bubbling from the deep recesses, pure spring water, thousands of litres a minute, and the glorious association of sharing a Word that is indeed coming from the eye of the Fountain,  the original thought of God revealed in the Word made flesh. The redemption of mankind’s original identity and value and revealed again in the face of Christ.    “Behold the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, His reward is with Him and His work before Him,  and they shall call them, The Holy people, The redeemed of the Lord and thou shall be called, Sought out, a city not forsaken.” Is.62:11, 12. Africa is not forsaken! 

It was during this time that we heard from South Africa that Francois elder brother Henri was diagnosed with advanced cancer which can no longer be treated.  Praise God for the reality of our closeness in spirit dimension, thousands of kilometres cannot distance us from one another.  We embrace him and Sandra with fondness and faith. 

Dear Zephaniah  is such a key person in Tanzania. He was our interpreter 2 years ago and has since translated  God Believes in You, Divine Embrace, Done and Roman’s Revealed into Swahili. I wish you could see his face when we showed him the books featuring a photograph of him and Francois on the back cover. He pastors a church and is the secretary general for a large group of churches and is also the Dean of a Bible School against the slopes of a mountain just outside Mbya. He has to walk 2 hours a day to give lectures. His firm grasp of the word is so contagious, every now and then his wide smile and beaming eyes would just explode in laughter from the sheer joy of knowing.  We would love to bless him with an off road motor bike, please let us know if you can help. 

By pure coincidence our eldest son Renaldo and some of his geologist colleagues travelled on the same train route to Dar Es Salaam on the Saturday after we arrived in Mbya. Francois suggested that I should join them on the train since it would be a lot more comfortable than the very long bus ride of almost 12 hours with only one or two short pitstops in the middle of nowhere!  So I said goodbye to our dear friends in Mbya and left with Renaldo to Dar es Salaam on another 24 hr train journey.  Winding through forests and mountains in very remote areas; some places the train was creeping up the mountain passes at such a slow speed one could hear the birds outside, and stare into the soft fresh forests and waterfalls. Travelling through one of the national parks we saw elephant tracks and giraffe and lots of impala and vultures; all of Africa packaged in one train trip.   

When we reached Dar we were greeted by a beaming bearded Makassi, a dear friend of Pastor Mariego who helped us find a very reasonable hotel with running water and air-conditioning!!! What a treat it was to travel thru the city with him, you are surrounded by shouts of, “Makassi sing for us!” We only later realised that he is a world famous singer living in Dar. A few years ago he had a miraculous encounter with God and now loves to sing His praises wherever he goes. The hotel is in the middle of a very poor area teaming with little trading shops and thronging with people on foot, bicycle, buses and taxis criss-crossing the roads.

Makassi was our guide the next day and showed us around Dar and ended our trip on Coco beach where we could enjoy a lovely pot of local coffee and English Toffee ice cream.  The next day Renaldo and his party left to Zanzibar and Francois arrived by bus from Mbya.  Listening to his account of the bus trip I was soooo happy that I had rather taken the train. Traveling for hours in a crowded Africa bus speeding through mountain passes can be most challenging. Through a section of the Game Reserve the bus would speed on at up to 140 kph flying past several herds of elephant, buffalo and giraffe! Francois continued with his Mirror Translation on his laptop and completed Hebrews 7. He also made friends with the conductor on the bus and gave him one of the books and was just so encouraged to see this young Moslem man read for hours and every now and then smile and shake his head in amazement. They later swopped addresses and promised to keep in contact.

Through a friend in Nairobi we were put into contact with Bishop Nyenye of Dar es Salaam. We had a wonderful meeting with him and he set up several meetings for Francois over the weekend.

The next morning we met with Bishop Beungele whom Francois met at a conference in Pretoria last year. He is such a wonderful man and strong leader heading up the Every Home for Christ mission in Tanzania. He is also very keen to help organise a leader’s seminar next year in some of the more remote areas. 

On the Wednesday afternoon we took the ferry to Zanzibar and joined Renaldo.  I was so happy to get out of the city; it is such a sad scene all over Africa to witness the dilemma of how poverty has accustomed people to dirt and a standard of living that is not even imaginable.  The street markets and bustle of colours and smiling faces sometimes almost look surreal. 

Our trip to Zanzibar was highlighted by the dhows with fisherman scattered across the vast luminous turquoise green ocean like stars in the sky.  We stayed about 10km from Stone town and enjoyed the warm hospitality of Simon and his beautiful little haven.  En-route we could catch up on some reading material of the very depressing history of Zanzibar.  It became the capital of the slave trade for almost 200 years and now being enslaved again by the same Arabs into Moslem rule. Zanzibar was not only blessed with a large harbour; its abundant springs were a much sought after fresh water supply for merchant vessels. The slave trade took on such unthinkable proportions of inhumane practice. ‘Livingstone estimated that for every five slaves in a caravan across Africa, only one reached the coast alive.  He also believed that for every African captured by slavers, ten others were killed.  At sea even greater numbers died before they reached their destination. Considering that approximately 20,000 slaves were pried out of east Africa each year, the total annual depopulation figure may have approached a quarter of a million.’ The Lunatic Express by Charles Miller.

We visited the House of Wonders’ home of the Sultan Barhash in Stone town, happy to learn that he himself was very influential in helping Britain in its quest to stop the slave trade all together.  The opulence in which these people lived surrounded by the anguish of those destitute around them is visible even in the buildings that remain on the island.  We visited a Arab princess’ palace and garden with bathrooms and verandas overlooking palm trees and soft white beaches. I saw garbage almost 2 metres deep in layers surrounding the boat yard with people working carving dhow’s out of the few hundreds of years old trees still left on the island. It had rained and the water filtered thru the garbage in pools around their feet.  

Constantly one hears the familiar calls to prayer over cracking amplifiers across the city, in the taxis and shops, incessant wailing voices.  We so desire to help establish the call of the free eagle on this 99% Muslim island.  Francois left me to preach in Zanzibar and took the Ferry back to the mainland.

It was a nightmare trip of note, big swells and people getting sick everywhere. (Sadly the week prior to our getting there a ferry had perished and more than 100 people drowned.)

During my stay with Timothy and his wife Fiffy and their co-pastor Fred in Stone Town I began to discuss with them the possibility to pioneer a pre-school program where children can be taught English. They are very excited about such a vision since it would immediately open a very effective door for the Gospel into the Muslim community.  There is no facility to do that that is accessible to the locals and they all believe if their children can speak English they will have a better opportunity to find employment.  

It was my first experience to be without Francois and alone in a Muslim country where woman do not share the same rights we do here.  They asked me to preach on the Sunday and I was so glad that we do not have to preach ourselves as a reference but the success of His accomplishment and rescuing act. 

I became suddenly very ill on a walk to the beach the afternoon after ministry and was grateful when they found a friend that had a car to take us home.  I sneaked into bed under the bright blue mosquito net and crawled out the next morning brand new!  I was so happy to get Francois on the harbour the next morning; she who finds a good man finds a good thing!!  Francois’ ministry in Dar es Salaam in the churches there was very successful and they have also agreed to arrange a leadership Seminar next year for church leaders; we just have to get there they will finance the rest!

We decided to spend our last night at a very rustic but beautiful resort about an hour and a half from Stone Town. We were transported there with a Dala Dala, a little one and a half ton truck with a roof loaded with stuff as high as you can imagine, and all along the side a gap for fresh air and peek viewing. It can seat about 10 people but of course that would be a waste, so 10 became 20 plus bags and bundles of colourful fruit and veggies, bicycles, and whatever until one could only giggle at the thought of the TGV zipping across Europe with all that legroom and space. Francois suggested that we should start training the Chinese for these mission trips since large bodies struggle to fit into small spaces! We were dropped off in the middle of nowhere on a worn out gravel road after bouncing thru potholes and speed bumps; they pointed us in the direction of Santa Maria and left.  For the first time we felt that we were really on a deserted island, nobody in sight, just us with our bags on a narrow sandy road winding through the palm trees. Suddenly we were met with the most beautiful scene of woven palm leaf roofs of the wooden huts along the most picturesque Zanzibar beach with its transparent water. Lying in a hammock with a cup of tea I was thinking that missionary work in Africa isn’t that tough after all........

The next morning we got a lift back to the airport with our dear friends Stefan and Jeanette in their hired car.

We are so grateful for your support that made it possible for us to also be your voice there where the word of His grace is rare.

 Lydia and Francois