14 May 2007
Lusaka, Zambia

Dear Friends,

As we sat in the front of a small rustic church, I could see bicycles between the back “pews,” which are benches formed from concrete. Men and women sat on opposite sides. Pastors and church leaders had come for workshops that Ted and I were presenting. We had been invited by the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP), Synod of Blantyre in Malawi, to give seminars at eight different locations during one week. Ted taught about stewardship from a Biblical perspective and transparency and accountability. I taught about grief.

Sue's workshop participants enjoying the chance to make bookmarks.

For three days, I met with women at the Chigodi Women’s Center. I’d been assigned the broad topic of psycho-social training. Using class materials from a recent counseling course I had taught for evangelists at Justo Mwale Theological School, I talked about stress management, grief, human development, forgiveness, and domestic and sexual abuse. Despite cultural differences, there remains a great commonality of experience. Late one afternoon, the women enjoyed making bookmarks. They have little time in their lives for a bit of frivolous creativity.

Sue Wright (left) with Amai (Mrs.) Gertrude Banda.

I also had the opportunity to spend time with Grace Kulabando, the director at Chigodi. Grace is a social worker who has put together some amazing programs. Currently, she is working with single-parent-, grandparent-, and child-headed families in over thirty villages that have been shattered by the AIDS pandemic. The program provides direct aid and also training for self-sufficiency. Grace’s vision is to keep children in their villages, and let the villages do what they do best—raise the children. A committee in each village is responsible for overseeing these families by providing guidance to the child-headed households and the extra help that single-parent and grandparent households might need. At one point Grace had to excuse herself from the workshop. A village chief had come to tell her that a girl who had been raising her younger siblings had not only passed her twelfth-grade exams but was accepted into the university.  The chief needed financial assistance for her transport and registration fees. Grace was thrilled, for such cooperation and achievement is the goal of this program.

Our schedule continues to be full. This week we will be giving workshops in Eastern Province, Zambia, in CCAP churches, clinics, and schools. We will also have the opportunity to visit pastors we knew while they attended Justo Mwale Theological School, where we live.

In June, we plan to go to Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe was the jewel of Africa and the breadbasket of sub-Saharan Africa. Recently, BBC news reported that the government is cutting off electricity to most of the country except between the hours of 5:00 and 9:00 p.m. It is hard to imagine how commerce and the government will function. Sugar and cooking oil are unavailable, and bread is scarce. One pastor told us that people in the villages keep their cooking fires going all the time because they can't afford matches.

The official rate of inflation is 2200 percent. It is incomprehensible. Doctors in the public hospitals and clinics have been on strike since last June. Kids can't go to school because school fees have gone up 1000 percent at the government schools. You might ask why we are going. We’re going to encourage the Christians. It is the most humbling thing we do. Please keep our brothers and sisters in your prayers. The oppression worsens by the day.

The nights are getting cooler. It will be my first Zambian winter (I missed last winter due to an extended stay in the States). I have a hard time believing that my New England blood will be chilled come July. Stay tuned for the weather reports.

Faithfully,

The 2007 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 337