January 2007 Newsletter

Greeting to you all from Zambia. Clara also sends her greetings. It has been an exciting start to this new year. God has been working in the lives of the people of Zambia. I would fail to mention all that is going on in this newsletter alone so please check out my new website at www.zambianorphanage.com . God truly blessed us to be able to have this quality site. We have already had many visitors since the site was open less than 3 weeks ago. It has been a real joy to hear from old friends who have seen the site. I would love to hear from you all. Please feel free to write me at jenjt@zamtel.zm or at P.O. Box 260533, Kalulushi, Zambia Africa

Liberty Baptist Preschool

Over the last 3 years, I have had 54 students pass through the preschool. As I think about each student, I remember how each of them touched my life. I can also see how God is working in their lives even today. A few of them have moved away, but I still see most of them at church. The parents are always happy to tell me how the children are doing in first, second, or even third grade.

This year is like a fresh start. The older students have all started school so that this years class are all under the age of 3. Even Daniel Kane, Pastor Frazer's son, will only be 3 in March. Daniel has been coming since before he could walk so he is now the old pro at preschool, but he is just now getting very serious about learning. The first day we started back at school, I was surprised to find that all the children were so small.

In the past, I always had a few that could understand English. Now, only Daniel understands anything I say. One of the main hopes of the parents is for the children to get a grasp of English while they are still young and in preschool. Now I have a class full of kids that have no idea what I am saying. They stared at me for a while, but when they saw Daniel responding, they quickly joined in. They are learning quickly and many of them have already started to understand some of the basic words. Nkumbu's mother was in the room when he finally grasped how to ask, "What is your name?" He turned to his mother and asked, "Mamma, what is your name?" She laughed for joy when she heard him say that. She was so excited that she almost couldn't bring herself to respond to him. All, the children like to try saying things. They will all be shouting "Naine, naine!", "Me, me! (I want to try to say it)". It helps that I have continued learning their language, Bemba, so that I can understand them and teach them to say that in English.

While the children are trying to learn English, I am trying to learn to pronounce their names. Some of the new students this year are Ryhima, Mbere, and Niuma. I thought I had gotten used to most of the Zambian names, but these names are giving me a little trouble.

Please check the website to see pictures of some of my students from the past and the current students will be added soon.

Liberty Independent Baptist Church

We praise God as Liberty Independent Baptist Church continues to grow as 14 came to Christ last week alone. The attendance is steadily growing and there are always visitors. The church is keeping the same plot unless the plans change again in the future. People have already started giving money towards building. Building costs are very expensive in Zambia. The people do not have much, but everyone is willing to give. They have been meeting in a school room since the church started 3 years ago. The classroom is already full every Sunday so it is difficult to find more places for people to sit as the church continues growing. Also, they can only use the class on Sunday so it makes it difficult to gather any other day of the week. Pray that God will provide the means so that they will be able to build a church.

Zambia's Cry

In Africa, they look at families differently than we tend to think. In Zambia, all your aunts are your mothers and all of you uncles are your fathers. Your cousins are brothers and sisters. Because of this, children can be passed around within the family quite a bit. Also, odd relationships come about. In preschool, I once had two cousins, Romeo and Beauty. They were both 5 years old, but their 3 year old grandfather, Si, was also in the preschool. I can't even begin to explain how that came about, but it is common here.

This way of looking at families used to work very well for the tribes when there were orphans. In the past, orphans were quickly absorbed within their family. The outbreak of HIV/AIDS has made this much more complicated. Entire families are dying so that there is nobody left to take in the children. Many parents find themselves with more orphans than they can take care of. Many grandparents are now keeping all of their grandchildren. People are getting to be overwhelmed by the children put in their care so they are casting aside the orphans in order to take care of their own children. The streets are becoming more and more crowded with street children. Every time I go to town, I find children sleeping on the sidewalks. They survive on the scraps of food that people give them. As the children get older, many of them become thieves. Others try to find small jobs like selling plastic bags.

The Zambian people are at a loss as to what to do with the ever growing population of orphans. God pressed it upon my heart in 1998 that I should serve him in Zambia and help with these orphans. Please pray as every day God is preparing me for the day when this ministry will begin.

Electrical Problems

This is the rainy season in Zambia. We have been having powerful storms every night for about a week now. First the modem on my computer was destroyed, but praise God that I was able to replace it. We have been without electricity most of this week. We went three days in a row with only 30 minutes of electricity. Every time the electric company tried to fix a problem, another storm would come and cause more damage. Our biggest concern was for the meat in the freezer, but it stayed frozen the whole time. God must have kept it cold because I've never seen meat last that long without power.

Now that the power has been restored, we have found a lot of electrical problems. We unplugged all the appliances so that they are ok, but parts of the wiring were fried. We have an electrician working on it. Please pray that he will be able to fix all the problems. I've learned a few electrical things over the years but this is way out of my league.

Ifisashi and Caterpillars

One of my favorite foods in Zambia is Ifisashi. Ifisashi is prepared by pounding peanuts into a powder and then adding it to the vegetables when cooking. You can make ifisashi with pumpkin leaves, bean leaves, cabbage, and more. It gives the vegetables a distinct flavor which is hard to describe unless you taste it. It is also very nutritious because it provides protein for people who cannot manage to buy meat.

For those of you that are wondering what caterpillars taste like, I have to say that the best way to find out is to come and try for yourself. They definitely have a smell like nothing else. I found it to taste a bit like scrambled eggs, but much harder for me to swallow.

I want to thank all of your for your continued prayers and support. I pray for you all also. Please check out the new website to find out more information. I would be happy to hear your responses or questions.

Praise Be To God,

Jennifer Townsend