While in Zambia, we had the wonderful and unique experience of celebrating the New Year with our church there. Awesome. Let me just say that I think everyone should get to ring in the new year this way. I'll give you a taste of what it felt like by posting some of my journal entry written that night.
"1 January 2010
"Happy new year! Happy 2010! Remember the LORD your God in this new year! Remember his word, the Bible, and the good things he has done for you! Tonight we had our first Zambian church experience. We took our naps and waited for the bus, but then the power went out! Ah! Musonda and Roy were both gone with their friends to a New Year's Eve party, and we didn't know what to do! Using Ileana's phone-light, we were able to locate a couple candles & matches (with the help of Michelle's prior knowledge from exploration earlier in the day) so that we were able to see. Eventually the bus came, and we all were picked up and brought to the church, where we could hear singing from inside the bus as we pulled up. In the church we sang and danced! My dancing is going to improve greatly while I'm here, I can just tell. The service was so beautiful, so joyful, and Ba Charles was right: an African preacher really does tell it like it is. The coolest part, aside from dancing in lines around the sanctuary, was that a man translated into Bemba everything that Ba Charles preached (and into English when he spoke Bemba) - it was fascinating."
Fact: my dancing did improve by the end of the trip. Fact: church in Zambia was an awesome experience. Fact: power outages in apartments with few windows on dark nights when the moon has not yet risen are rather frightening, but manageable.
If anyone knows me well, you'd know that I absolutely love power outages. So, when I got to experience one there, it made my day. I always take power outages as a good sign.
So, this is not a very reflective post, and I apologize if you were getting used to that. Maybe next time. I just wanted to share something joyful since, being a busy American now, I am feeling a bit stressed myself.
Until next time,
~Jaclynn
21 January 2010
20 January 2010
Yesterday I saw everyone from my house over the course of the day. It was almost like normal. But not really. Reading through my journal, I'm going to put up what I wrote on our first full day in Zambia.
"Bedtime - 30 Dec 2009
"I just thought I'd make a brief entry about today. We continue to impress people with our handful of Bemba words, including Ba Charles when we met with him at Hope Ministries offices today. We had a late start this morning, but we eventually all arrived, were given lessons in Bemba & Zambian culture from Ba Charles, (Ubuntu***<-love this!), and had a PB&J lunch. We all went to the Naitonal Bank of Zambia branch in Ndola to exchange our money. It took so long. My $200 in spending money became a very fat 919,000 kwacha. I can not wait to spend it! We also went to the internet café and I was able to update my blog, quickly & briefly . Perhaps next time I should write it out ahead of time. Supper was at Ba Charles' tonight, and we got to hear their story, eat nshima, and learn a new way to eat delicious mango! :) I love it here. That'll do for now - it's bedtime, my mosquito net is pre-arranged (& I did a better job, & it's calling my name)."
Looking back on that first day, I remember being impressed by how simple everything was. Outdoors was beautiful, mornings were slow, food was good, people were friendly, Bemba was fun. There was no complicatedness, no outright busyness, no stress. Perhaps the most stressful thing was attempting to make a rapid blog entry, which apparently didn't even make it up there. Had I known, I don't think I would have been concerned - the blog seemed to be a very trivial thing once I was there. The need to update was just a side-note that was easily ignored and replaced with children, grilled corn, and good conversations.
A note about our experiences in the bank: Americans are REALLY loud. We had just learned about respectful vocal volume in Zambian culture, and it is not loud, let me tell you. So when we had fifteen people in line to change money with only two teller windows open in an echoey bank lobby - you can guess what was disregarded from our lessons. And I don't think that it's because we were being outrightly disrespectful of the lessons we had just learned, it's just really hard for Americans to be quiet, especially when you've already reached the point of utter loudness.
One thing I really loved in our ZamCulture lessons was the concept of ubuntu. Ubuntu is a word that means person, and the cultural concept is that the human being is the most important. When you get a visitor, they are the most important, and you drop whatever you're doing to focus on them and interact with them. In short, the emphasis in Zambian culture is placed on people, not material things. So when someone is talking and a television show is on, you turn down the volume on the tele instead of telling the chatterbox to pipe down. And this is not just an ideal, this is how it is. I experienced this my entire time in Zambia, among the older and younger generations. It was perhaps the best lesson I could learn from this trip, and I've tried to take it home with me. Little things, like dropping in on my friends just to chat for a little bit - without having to "plan time" for them. You plan time for homework and classes, not people, and certainly not your friends. This isn't to say that I'm condemning the making of plans, just the idea that hanging out can't happen without plans being made.
One last thing I want to mention, from my notes during our first ZamCulture lesson, is just a little quote from Ba Charles that I can post now that I'm back safe.
"In case there's a situation: don't die quietly."
This is perhaps the most hilarious bit of advice I have ever received. Serious. But hilarious, you must admit. Maybe you had to have been there. :)
Until next time!
~Jaclynn
"Most of you will return at some point because this is your home." - Ba Charles
"Bedtime - 30 Dec 2009
"I just thought I'd make a brief entry about today. We continue to impress people with our handful of Bemba words, including Ba Charles when we met with him at Hope Ministries offices today. We had a late start this morning, but we eventually all arrived, were given lessons in Bemba & Zambian culture from Ba Charles, (Ubuntu***<-love this!), and had a PB&J lunch. We all went to the Naitonal Bank of Zambia branch in Ndola to exchange our money. It took so long. My $200 in spending money became a very fat 919,000 kwacha. I can not wait to spend it! We also went to the internet café and I was able to update my blog, quickly & briefly . Perhaps next time I should write it out ahead of time. Supper was at Ba Charles' tonight, and we got to hear their story, eat nshima, and learn a new way to eat delicious mango! :) I love it here. That'll do for now - it's bedtime, my mosquito net is pre-arranged (& I did a better job, & it's calling my name)."
Looking back on that first day, I remember being impressed by how simple everything was. Outdoors was beautiful, mornings were slow, food was good, people were friendly, Bemba was fun. There was no complicatedness, no outright busyness, no stress. Perhaps the most stressful thing was attempting to make a rapid blog entry, which apparently didn't even make it up there. Had I known, I don't think I would have been concerned - the blog seemed to be a very trivial thing once I was there. The need to update was just a side-note that was easily ignored and replaced with children, grilled corn, and good conversations.
A note about our experiences in the bank: Americans are REALLY loud. We had just learned about respectful vocal volume in Zambian culture, and it is not loud, let me tell you. So when we had fifteen people in line to change money with only two teller windows open in an echoey bank lobby - you can guess what was disregarded from our lessons. And I don't think that it's because we were being outrightly disrespectful of the lessons we had just learned, it's just really hard for Americans to be quiet, especially when you've already reached the point of utter loudness.
One thing I really loved in our ZamCulture lessons was the concept of ubuntu. Ubuntu is a word that means person, and the cultural concept is that the human being is the most important. When you get a visitor, they are the most important, and you drop whatever you're doing to focus on them and interact with them. In short, the emphasis in Zambian culture is placed on people, not material things. So when someone is talking and a television show is on, you turn down the volume on the tele instead of telling the chatterbox to pipe down. And this is not just an ideal, this is how it is. I experienced this my entire time in Zambia, among the older and younger generations. It was perhaps the best lesson I could learn from this trip, and I've tried to take it home with me. Little things, like dropping in on my friends just to chat for a little bit - without having to "plan time" for them. You plan time for homework and classes, not people, and certainly not your friends. This isn't to say that I'm condemning the making of plans, just the idea that hanging out can't happen without plans being made.
One last thing I want to mention, from my notes during our first ZamCulture lesson, is just a little quote from Ba Charles that I can post now that I'm back safe.
"In case there's a situation: don't die quietly."
This is perhaps the most hilarious bit of advice I have ever received. Serious. But hilarious, you must admit. Maybe you had to have been there. :)
Until next time!
~Jaclynn
"Most of you will return at some point because this is your home." - Ba Charles
17 January 2010
Back in the States... for now...
Ndola, Ndola: how much do I love you? Let me find the words...
My parents just left after a visit to me here at North Park University in cold, windy Chicago. They drove in today; I showed them my purchases from Zambia, my souvenirs; I gave them the gifts I had purchased for them; I showed them the video I had just finished to express my experiences; I went through my pictures from the trip and told them stories; and after a long day at Ikea, we settled in, bought a cooked chicken, and I cooked nshima and white beans, and relish, and we drank the closest thing to Mazoe I could find (it's a bit more syrupy, but it's got a similar flavor), and now they're headed back home and I'm back in the dorm room.
So what can I make of my experiences in Zambia? Looking back, what could I say to summarize my trip? Those two weeks went by so fast, and yet so much happened, and somehow it seems like I was there for a lifetime. Somehow it feels as though that was real life, and everything that happened before wasn't very real, and all that is happening now afterward is stemming from this point. Looking over the pictures, I notice, and others have told me that they notice, that I have not looked that happy in... years. The smile on my face in those photos is so genuine, so full of joy, and it makes me wonder where it was all this time? Where was it hiding? Why? And it's not just an outward joy - it's something I feel inside, too. It's something that, just to think of it, warms my heart and floods my soul. I have this new confidence, and I'm happier in general. Even the aspects of life that usually bring me down don't seem like they're all that bad when I hold them up under this new light. Even when I'm feeling yucky, or have a headache, or am expressly tired, I still feel joyful. I think I've finally gone crazy - and I hope I never go sane again!
The next step for this blog, I think, will be to post excerpts from my trip journal, and to reflect on them - maybe expound on our activities, maybe say how they affected me, or how I'm relating it to what I feel right now. I'll do that for a couple weeks - until I take my last malaria pill, and then I think this blog will be at a close - at least until the next time that I go to Zambia. And I don't doubt that I'll go back at some point. Hopefully sooner rather than later, but we'll see what God has in mind.
Today I went to Jesus House Chicago - an African church about a mile from campus. I thought about going before the end of the semester, but I wasn't quite sure, and I wasn't ready to go to a church alone yet, so I went with my friends to their church for the last few weeks of the semester, which was good. But today I decided that I wanted to check this place out. Especially in light of my positive experiences at the church services in Twapia, I was really curious to check out this church and see how it compared. Let me just say, that I think I found the church I can call my own here in Chicago. It's not the church of my sister, or my Kiko, or my friends, it's my church. From the moment I walked in the door, to my exit, this church just welcomed me in. The people were friendly and smiling, and they gave me an awesome welcome bag as a first-time visitor. We sang songs that I was somewhat familiar with, and even a song that we had sung at church in Zambia, which really made me feel like it was the right one. The theme for their 2010 was so similar to the theme for 2010 at Hope Fellowship in Twapia, and the message was good. But what really solidified it for me was when, with plenty of empty seats to pick from, a church member came in and sat in the seat next to me. Not down the row, not one over, but directly next to me. I knew in that moment that God had answered my prayer for a church here. I cannot wait for next Sunday to come around, and I'm considering attending the Wednesday night service if my schedule allows. We shall see.
But enough on all of this. I've gone on for a very long time, and I'm sure that this is somewhat tedious to read through. At least if you're like me you have issues reading lengthy things on computer screens. So I'll let this be the end of it. Expect excerpts and reflections over the next few weeks.
Until next time,
~Jaclynn
My parents just left after a visit to me here at North Park University in cold, windy Chicago. They drove in today; I showed them my purchases from Zambia, my souvenirs; I gave them the gifts I had purchased for them; I showed them the video I had just finished to express my experiences; I went through my pictures from the trip and told them stories; and after a long day at Ikea, we settled in, bought a cooked chicken, and I cooked nshima and white beans, and relish, and we drank the closest thing to Mazoe I could find (it's a bit more syrupy, but it's got a similar flavor), and now they're headed back home and I'm back in the dorm room.
So what can I make of my experiences in Zambia? Looking back, what could I say to summarize my trip? Those two weeks went by so fast, and yet so much happened, and somehow it seems like I was there for a lifetime. Somehow it feels as though that was real life, and everything that happened before wasn't very real, and all that is happening now afterward is stemming from this point. Looking over the pictures, I notice, and others have told me that they notice, that I have not looked that happy in... years. The smile on my face in those photos is so genuine, so full of joy, and it makes me wonder where it was all this time? Where was it hiding? Why? And it's not just an outward joy - it's something I feel inside, too. It's something that, just to think of it, warms my heart and floods my soul. I have this new confidence, and I'm happier in general. Even the aspects of life that usually bring me down don't seem like they're all that bad when I hold them up under this new light. Even when I'm feeling yucky, or have a headache, or am expressly tired, I still feel joyful. I think I've finally gone crazy - and I hope I never go sane again!
The next step for this blog, I think, will be to post excerpts from my trip journal, and to reflect on them - maybe expound on our activities, maybe say how they affected me, or how I'm relating it to what I feel right now. I'll do that for a couple weeks - until I take my last malaria pill, and then I think this blog will be at a close - at least until the next time that I go to Zambia. And I don't doubt that I'll go back at some point. Hopefully sooner rather than later, but we'll see what God has in mind.
Today I went to Jesus House Chicago - an African church about a mile from campus. I thought about going before the end of the semester, but I wasn't quite sure, and I wasn't ready to go to a church alone yet, so I went with my friends to their church for the last few weeks of the semester, which was good. But today I decided that I wanted to check this place out. Especially in light of my positive experiences at the church services in Twapia, I was really curious to check out this church and see how it compared. Let me just say, that I think I found the church I can call my own here in Chicago. It's not the church of my sister, or my Kiko, or my friends, it's my church. From the moment I walked in the door, to my exit, this church just welcomed me in. The people were friendly and smiling, and they gave me an awesome welcome bag as a first-time visitor. We sang songs that I was somewhat familiar with, and even a song that we had sung at church in Zambia, which really made me feel like it was the right one. The theme for their 2010 was so similar to the theme for 2010 at Hope Fellowship in Twapia, and the message was good. But what really solidified it for me was when, with plenty of empty seats to pick from, a church member came in and sat in the seat next to me. Not down the row, not one over, but directly next to me. I knew in that moment that God had answered my prayer for a church here. I cannot wait for next Sunday to come around, and I'm considering attending the Wednesday night service if my schedule allows. We shall see.
But enough on all of this. I've gone on for a very long time, and I'm sure that this is somewhat tedious to read through. At least if you're like me you have issues reading lengthy things on computer screens. So I'll let this be the end of it. Expect excerpts and reflections over the next few weeks.
Until next time,
~Jaclynn
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