Getting to Know All About You!

We managed three visits to Chetto and Peoples over the next ten days following our Phase 2 training’s conclusion. On our first visit, we had the chance to sit with Principal Matthew who heads up the school in Chetto which teaches through grade nine. He was extremely transparent about the difficult situation on the ground there. Some of his comments that day lay it out pretty bluntly: “We have about 250 students, both boys and girls. Last year we had fifteen pregnancies, the youngest to a girl who was ten years old.” “We have to schedule parents meetings in the morning before about 11 o’clock. Any time after that and the parents will arrive drunk. So, we typically bring parents in by 9am, just to be sure.” In addition, Principal Matthew faced a problem with some of the teachers when he arrived about two years ago, and staff changes had to be made. He’s pleased with his new staff, and while it’s clearly been a tough couple of years, he is cautiously confident that things are moving in the right direction, which is encouraging.

While we were there, Principal Matthew introduced us to Betty, the Life Skills teacher, and affirmed Pastor Nelson who is a Khwe pastor and community leader whom we already knew and who just happened to drop by. It was good to see him again, and we promised to visit with him during a subsequent visit. Following our visit to the school, we dropped by to say hello to Sonnar, one of the leaders of the Chetto church, and a Khwe who has spent significant time in Europe working with anthropologists who are studying the Khwe communities in South Africa, Botswana, and Namibia. Sonnar is fluent in English. On our way out of the school, we bumped into Regina and Maria, who had come to our previous week’s training - see previous blog, and had heard we were there and came by to see us. We chatted a bit and promised to be back for a longer visit. On the way home, we stopped off at Peoples and spent a few minutes visiting with Pastor Wilson, his father the Headman, and his family. It was good to see them again!

On our second visit, we spent some time with Sonnar. While we were there, Regina and Maria, plus three other Khwe women, including Regina’s sister, came by with their infant children, to say hi to all of us and, of course, visit with Abby. They had a wonderful time talking about “women things,” as Abby likes to call it, and it deepened her relationship with Regina and Maria. Meanwhile, Jack, Percy, and Doug spent some “men time” with Sonnar.

On our third and last visit, Abby had the privilege of spending quality time with Betty, the Life Skills teacher. She is a Christian, and was open to talk and reaffirmed Principal Matthew’s picture of the kids’ reality there, and the difficulty of helping the kids live differently than is being modeled, in most cases, by their families. She explained to Abby that of the thirteen teachers at the school, ten are in their first teaching position and are only one or two years out of university. The living conditions are tough, and the teachers all go every other weekend to Katima Mulilo, like herself, or to another significant town where they can be refreshed. She invited our team to come back in the future to train and encourage the teachers which we are eager to do. Abby’s heart for the teachers and the kids was touched deeply during her visit with Betty, and her experience as chaplain, especially at Barium Springs Home for Children, makes her uniquely qualified to lead our efforts to make a difference at the school.

While Abby was visiting Betty, Pastor Jack, Percy, and Doug visited Sonnar again, which allowed them to have a good discussion about how to add value to his work, especially with the local teenagers for which he has a burden. It was a deep conversation and seemed to go a long way to strengthening our relationship with Sonnar, for which we are grateful.

We are in no rush when it comes to the Khwe, and we know it will take a long time to build trust and establish really good working and training relationships. We’re grateful that Jack and Percy will be able to see them throughout the year, and we’re excited about the privilege of training Khwe leaders by bringing them to Katima, and for the possibility of encouraging the teachers and churches in Chetto and Peoples, as well.

Thank you for your prayers, love, and support. Your encouragement is essential to our work and God uses it to fuel us. And, remember, where we go you go!

Khwe school children at chetto

Her intensity is compelling.

So much promise!

The eyes have it!

L tO r: jack, abby, betty, pastor nelson, school board member, principal matthew, and percy

Pastor wilson (l) and his father, the headman of peoples

Pastor nelson

Pastor nelson’s hands

Pastor nelson’s wife (l), sister, and their younger children

Abby enjoyed spending time with the khwe women, including maria (l) and regina (r).

Doug and the boys: percy, pastor wilson, the headman, and jack

On the road to the khwe settlements we saw elephants, kudu, puka, impala, and this ostrich!

Getting to Know You!

Katima Mulilo, Namibia is a border town just across the Zambezi River from Zambia in what’s known as the Caprivi Strip. It’s a strip of land in the northeast corner of Namibia that allows Namibia to connect directly with Angola and Zambia to the north, and Botswana to the south. Namibia, Botswana, and Zambia meet at a single point at the eastern tip of the Strip which also comes within 490 feet of Zimbabwe. In some regards, it’s an artificial separation that divides the Barotse Kingdom so that there are a lot of daily crossings of the border at Katima Mulilo between Zambia and Namibia. The locals on both sides speak Lozi, and it’s not uncommon to find family members living on both sides of the border.

We were excited to return to Katima where we have taught for a number of years. We had three objectives for our three week stay: first, to do Phase 2 training with a class of local Namibians and several Khwe (popularly known as Bushmen) sponsored by our dear friends, Jack and Kalleny, second, to visit the Khwe settlements of Chetto and Peoples several times, and third, to participate in a worship retreat led by Percy Muleba’s Biblical Worship Training Center team. By God’s grace, we accomplished all three and it went wonderfully. We’ll share about the second and third of these in subsequent blogs, the first here.

We are slowly feeling our way when it comes to our relationship with the Khwe. Jack has been building a relationship with them for several years at Chetto and Peoples, about a two hour drive from Katima Mulilo into the bush, and we are grateful for his invitation to bring our training into their midst.

Last year, we brought two Khwe leaders, Pastor Wilson and Matthias, to our Phase 1 class in Katima. Their English was a bit limited, but it went surprisingly well. This year, we were excited to bring five Khwe leaders to Katima Mulilo, both men and women, named Regina, Maria, Jackson, Markus, and again Pastor Wilson. Regina’s English was quite good and the others did well, too. The local Namibians, Carlinah, Grace, Jack, Kalenny, Owen, Elias, and Sophia, welcomed them warmly and we had a strong class dynamic. Abby taught on “Family Systems” and Doug taught on “Servanthood vs. Servitude.” The two meshed well and we had strong breakout sessions and group discussions.

We were especially delighted that the Khwe felt at home and seemed to mix well with the locals, and that the locals were so open to the Khwe. As you know, we feel strongly about the power of relationships in a training environment, and our class size and students’ enthusiasm were ideal for this. The material lent itself to discussions, and pushed the envelope just enough to raise significant challenges to our attitudes, ambitions, and actions around the issue of the servant nature of Christian leadership.

If the last day was proof, our training was significant. Relationships were definitely formed, phone numbers were shared, and it was hugs all around. Everyone lingered for conversation and pictures, and seemed reluctant to go. We were thrilled!

Thank you for your love, financial support, and prayers. Your encouragement is essential to our work which we love so much. And, remember, where we go you go!

L to r: Markus, owen, pastor wilson, elias, jack,jackson, doug, and percy

L to R: Carlinah, abby, regina, sophia, maria, and kalleny

On the last day of class, Elias (L) got pastor wilson’s phone number!

jackson, markus and pastor wilson were poring over scripture.

Carlinah (l) and regina worked very well together.

Maria, elias and jack made a great team.

Percy and jack have been friends for twenty plus years.

Kalleny and sophia shared a bible.

Maria’s smile as she hugged carlinah on the last day says it all!

The Pause that Refreshes: “…refresh my heart in Christ!” Philemon 20

Bosco Kutoma was twenty years old when he became our student in 2012, just a boy by Zambian standards. I (Doug) can still remember well his eagerness to learn and his desire to study more as he walked me home from class on the very first day, enthusiastically questioning me about what his next steps should be. We both liked him immediately, enjoying his warm smile and passion for the Gospel.

As we left Mumbwa for Mongu, we were really looking forward to seeing Bosco and to meeting his fiance, Phenny. He is thirty-one now and over the last eleven years has successfully planted two churches, and is now on the church planting team for Hope Church in Mongu. Hope’s lead pastor, Moses, is an old friend of Percy’s and they enjoyed very much seeing each other again. Hope has planted 180 bush churches over the last twenty years, and Bosco has now been given the assignment of overseeing their church planting efforts in a new region of Western Province. In fact, he and Phenny, who is wonderful and delightful, are spending the month of May getting to know that region so that, after their August marriage, they may begin the new church planting process in earnest.

One of the exciting things we learned over two lingering meals with Bosco and Phenny is that the focus of their church planting efforts will be strongly on discipleship, and not as much on the sheer numbers of churches planted. The process will be slower, of course, but Bosco is confident that laying a strong discipleship foundation for each church will be a healthy approach, and more likely lead to the multiplication of other healthy churches. We are very proud of our student and friend, and excited as Phenny and he begin their new life together!

We also had the chance to catch up with our former students and friends, Yuyi and Mercy Mundia, while we were in Mongu, and were glad to see they are doing well. They were busily working on the planning of a large Gospel crusade coming to Mongu the week after we left which was specifically targeted on young people. It appears to have gone very well!

Our three days in Mongu were well spent on old friends, lively worship at Hope Church, and rest. As we drove away on Monday, May 1st, toward Katima Mulilo, Namibia, about four hours away, we were refreshed and ready for our next week of training. Thank you for enabling us to be here. Thank you for your support and prayers. We are incredibly grateful. And, remember, where we go you go!

The 8 hour drive from mumbwa to mongu included 2.5 hours on this dusty and, at times, very bumpy gravel road.

On our way to mongu, we stopped for a quick lunch at a safari lodge. As we drove into the lodge, these BEAUTIFUL impala greeted us!

Bosco and his fiance, phenny, are a delightful couple. You can tell he adores her!

Starting Strong in Mumbwa!

Somewhere in my past, someone wise told me that in life you tend to finish the way you start. Poor starts are hard to overcome. It can be done, but it is difficult. Just watch how long it takes sprinters to adjust their feet in the starting blocks, and how disciplined their starts are. Life can be like this in many ways. If you start something poorly, you’ll find yourself trying to overcome your poor start throughout the “race.”

This principal of strong starts also applies when it comes to a new class of students. We’ve discovered that how we start is crucial. Expectations must be clear, and so must our purpose which is to deepen their relationship with Jesus so that he is the foundation, the center, and the goal of their lives. And, we seek to do this by the renewal of our minds (Romans 12:2) in a strong relational setting.

In this regard, we have to say that our start in Mumbwa was just wonderful. We think that, perhaps, this was the strongest Phase 1 training we have ever experienced. It was Jesus-centered, relational, and transformative both for our students and for us.

One student summed it up with these words: “Under your mentorship…my life has been flawlessly transformed…I want to be a pipeline for God to those who are thirsty for God, wherever that is.”

We can’t wait to get back to Mumbwa in late August to move into Phase 2. We’re grateful for the leadership of Dan and Nanah Mayeya and Bishop Bishop who gathered our class with a clear expectation of our approach and focus.

We hope the pictures below give you a flavor of our experience. Thank you for sending and supporting us, and remember, where we go you go!