Thursday was a big day. We drove five hours north to the
Copperbelt region to join the Church of Central Africa’s (CCAP) Synod meeting.
Kari, our site coordinator, was to present her Christian Education curriculum
for approval and it was a chance to meet the leadership of YAV and PCUSA’s
partner, CCAP. As soon as we got to the conference center, folks came straight
up to meet us. I wanted to practice my Nyanja so I used their greeting, “Muli
Bwanji?”, which means “How are you?”
I did well, but this Zambian greeting doesn’t ask for names or introduce
your own so I had no idea who I had just met. When another man joined our
party, and the man next to me introduced me as “his daughter,” it finally sunk
in that the jovial person to my left was indeed, the Rev. Daniel Tembo, my host
father and pastor for the next year. To be called daughter meant I was welcomed
and while I didn’t get the chance to spend much time with him the rest of that
day or the next, his good nature, his humor, his kindness was plain and I am so
excited to meet the rest of his family and be apart of it for the next year.
When he received a “football” as a donation for his youth group, he hammed it
up on the way to his seat by pretending to kick his way along.
We also received our job descriptions that day! I finally
got a glimpse of what I will be doing!!! Oh my lord, will it be busy year, but
for the most part I am excited. I will be teaching 5th and 6th
grade English and 8th grade English and History. I will teach about
three classes a day and I will receive the national curriculum to base my
classes. That last part was truly relieving to hear. I have yet to get my hands
on it, but knowing I will not have to go in with nothing is extremely
reassuring.
Finally, we were honored with a private Zambian meal. The
staple Zambian meal is nshima, which is a white corn meal mush that is served
with relishes and meat. The portions are huge! They served us rounded bowls
worth of nshima, plenty for two people or more. I enjoyed the meal and found it
fun to get my hands dirty at the dinner table! We got to eat with the leaders of the synod, including the
moderator and the vice moderator. The next day we shared lunch with the woman
who chairs the community school committee and who was very involved with
starting the initiative in CCAP. She was also the first woman ordained in CCAP.
Quite an honor!
I pack up for the trip and I finally had the feeling that I
was welcomed and wanted in Zambia. I thought to myself, “I can do this Zambia
thing!”
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