The Community, the Orphanage, and Us

A test run for being gone
Near the end of September/early October we travelled down to South Africa for a quick three weeks.  While there we were able to pick up some important things for the ministry and work here, reconnect with several church’s, friends and supporters and spend some much needed time with Jako’s mom.  Our time there was good but passed in a blink of an eye. 
On a practical note we were interested to see how the orphanage and community would do without us for these three weeks and thought it would be a good test run for them for when we were gone to the States.  I must say that we were quite happy with the way that the committee, community and house mothers stepped up to their responsibilities and we trust and pray that that will continue so that the community can begin to take more ownership in this “community” project and hold true to the promises and commitments that they have made.
Orphanage Garden and Water
One example of this is the garden.  Up until this point we have been buying most of the fresh produce for the orphanage such as cabbage, rape, onions, tomatoes, etc… We always had planned for a garden but the plans for us being gone for an extended period of time gave us and the community the push we needed to make it happen.  In early September we cleared land, put up a fence and planted a nursery.  The orphanage committee (who receive no compensation and all has families of their own) was instrumental in helping with all of this work and proved their commitment by the hours of effort they put in there.  My time seemed to be spent on trying to figure out a water solution since the orphanage well has gone dry.  Planting enough vegetables to  sustain all their produce needs while we are gone required quite a sizable garden and hence tons of water.  Approximately 1000 liters a day! 
That’s a lot to pump so at first I tried a drip irrigation system which proved to be too difficult to maintain with everybody wanting to move and mess with the pipes.  Then we erected a water tower by the well we have been allowing the community to use so that water would be pumped directly into the tank and then flow to the orphanage house (reference previous blog).  And now most recently God gave me the wisdom to figure out a way to hook up the submersible pump and still have the hand pump working for the community.  It took many days of hard labor, building towers, digging lines, taking apart the pump, servicing it, raising and lowering the pipes, cutting new pipes and threads, but now at it is worth it to have running water for both us and the orphanage just by turning on a generator.  However to keep the housemothers and children in touch with the village way of life the still pump their own water for bathing, eating, cleaning etc.  At least they don’t have to transport the water anymore and the pumping that they do do is easy compared to having to pump for all the garden.
Now the garden is looking great and it is time to plant another nursery again so that we can have fresh veggies all year round.  Isn’t it awesome to see the way that God works?
Community Difficulties
Unfortunately these past few months have seen us experiencing some community difficulty lately.  Please keep that in your prayers.  It is difficult and hard on the heart to give of your life to someone (or a group of people) only to feel taken advantage of.  When we came here we came under the premise that the community was going to be working alongside us and more so that we would be working alongside the community but lately that doesn’t seem to be the case.  The area that God has placed us in seems to be a dark place and Satan definitely has a stronghold here.  The headmen are actively involved in witchcraft (if not leading it), and the people steal, lie, drink, deceive, and basically just wait around expecting to be given out handouts.  Obviously this mindset is of the devil and shows even more why they need God but yet it is a difficult task to show love to them in a practical way that will not enable their behavior and wrong ways.  We feel that we would be doing them an injustice if we didn’t do our part to encourage responsibility, doing what you say you are going to do, and living right.  And the sad thing is that many of the locals around here say and confess to be Christians and yet, when you talk to them you see that most don’t even really know what that means.
So in there lies the dilemma, to be loving, caring and compassionate as Christ called us to be, while at the same time not enabling them in their destructive ways.  Just one of many examples of this was when one villager told us that we HAD to give to him because that Bible says that “you white people must give to us black people”.  When we asked him where we could find that in the Bible of course he didn’t have an answer.  Recently several incidents have happened, of builders running away with money, headmen spreading rumors, people promising to do one thing and never doing it, things being lent or borrowed and never being returned, that make us feel like we are getting slapped in the face.  That has been a bit hard on the heart – especially after all that we have tried to do for them which is why it is so important that we do this in God’s strength and not in our own.  For with man it is impossible but with God ALL THINGS are possible. 
  Please pray that God would keep our hearts from getting hard, that He would give us HIS heart and passion for the people here and wisdom in how to respond to tough situations.    Please know that there are good people in the area as well but right now it seems like they are too afraid to stand up for themselves and are being influenced for bad as well.  That is where the tribal religion has such a hold on them – those without Christ constantly live in fear of having curses put on them or being bewitched in some way so community pressure plays a big role.  Without Christ they have no strength or protection to stand up.  Pray that God’s light would break through the darkness here in our area.  I really believe that God is still wanting to do a work here so pray that those that need to stand up in the community will and those that need to silenced will.
Orphanage Happenings
We are also having our fair share of challenges at the orphanage house with mothers that not getting along and children running away but in all of this everyone is happy and thankful that God has given them a home. The children now finally seem to be settled in now and while there is still obvious testing of the boundaries (that is normal cross cultures) none of them have run away for a while. Now it is only dealing with the jealousy between the mothers and that might take longer then we would like because this it is so embedded in the Tonga culture (jealousy and not wanting anyone to have more than they do).  Please pray for this.  The children are really doing good at school and are trying very hard to have a good standing in the class. The local community school that they attend is not the best because most of lack of good teachers, good education of the teachers, and the teachers rarely showing up to school (because of trying to provide for their own family). Currently there are three teachers for over 300 children so you can think what a problem that could be.  Seeing the need we are praying to start a grand A school where we would have a lot more control of the teachers and quality of teaching so please pray for this.  We have experienced first that the role the education plays in poverty and how with out a good school education you can not make informed decisions. 

Zambian family updates

Esther- Tiny Blessing # 2
October 19th another unexpected blessing was brought to our attention.  Tiny baby Ester was born early that morning to a mother who was very sick unable to breastfeed. Born 3 weeks early she weighed a mere 1.8 kg (barely 4 lbs) but compared to how Genesis was when we first got her, was already much stronger and more stable.  Although we had said that we only wanted to take children who were double orphans, this baby needed formula (which is too expensive for the villagers to afford) and stood no chance of survival if someone didn’t step in to help.  Knowing that her life hung in the balance we asked her to be brought to us until we could decide the best course of action for her.  With the house mom’s now having experience with  Genesis it was easy to hand her over to them and they cared for her like a champ.  Two days later Jako was asked to bring the mother to the hospital because her health was failing fast and after talking to the Father, we agreed to care for this child for the first 6 months as long as the father was willing to come and help at the orphanage with odd jobs once a week and attend all of her medical visits.  This was a hard decision to make because we don’t want to become a drop off center for people just not wanting to care for their own children (and be a bigger burden for the community to support) but in this situation our options were either to refer him to another orphanage much farther away, or try to work with him here so that the family can visit the child and be more involved in her care.

Ester on the left next to Genesis that was also premature when we got her.
After 6 months we will reevaluate the situation but our plan is to help her get strong and healthy so that we can transition her back to her family as early as possible when she no longer is so dependant upon formula or milk, most likely at one year of age.  Please pray that the father continues to work with us on the care of this precious little girl and that he will take the full responsibility of caring for her when she gets just a bit bigger.
Family News

Family wise things are going well here.  Jakob is doing well and is as active as ever, wanting to walk and be on the move always.  He continues to thrive in this environment and apart from a few ear infections is doing great.  He loves spending time with the kids at the orphanage and the local villagers are doing a great job at speaking Tonga to him.  Always a personable baby – he loves any attention and brings smiles to anyone’s face.  Easily adaptable, it is easy to see how God has designed him to compliment this ministry, even at such a young age.

The last few months, Amber’s mom has been weighing heavy on her heart.  After much prayer, we feel as though God is directing us to spend Christmas in the States with her and her family.  Her health is holding up but she has been sicker than ever with the new clinical trials she is on.  Her spirits are still high and she is a trooper despite everything but we just felt it would great to be able to celebrate Christmas all together and to give her the gift of having all her kids and grandkids around for the holidays.  We will then get to attend Josh’s (Amber’s brother) wedding, and a missions conference in Tampa, Florida in March.  We also hope to be able to make it up to Virginia to visit some friends, churches, and supporters up there.  All in all we will be gone almost three months.  Please pray that it will be a time of rest and rejuvenation for us, that we will be able to enjoy some good time caring for and loving on Amber’s mom, and for everything to run well at the orphanage while we are gone.
It was a big decision for us to think about leaving the orphanage so long, especially in the rainy season, but we knew that if God was calling us to go that He would provide for the needs here.  At first we were hoping that somebody would step in to fill our place but the more we prayed it seemed the more God was saying that we just needed to get things in place for the locals to step in and fill the void.  While that idea seems a bit scary (as I guess it is any time we give up our control of a situation) we are also quite excited for the opportunities it holds in forcing the house mothers, orphanage committee and the community to step up to the plate and take on more responsibility instead of relying on us for everything.  And when we started talking to the locals about it, they all seemed up to the task and excited as well.
Pastor Petrus
Almost anyone who has been here to visit us has had the opportunity to meet Pastor Petrus and his family.  He was the one who first had the heart for the orphans in the area and took us in as his own from the projects start.   He allowed us to put up tent in his village and we were accepted into the community based on his acceptance and approval of us and his elderly father was the one who gave us one of our first pieces of land.  These past few years have have been trying for him however since he became a headman, and was entrusted with the full time care of his elderly father who really could do nothing by himself.  Because of that he was able to allot less time to the care of the local church and the orphanage project.  Always a humble man, it was hard to see him being torn in so many directions.  In September it seems that God decided that his father had fought the good fight as he went to be with the Lord.  He will be missed but now Petrus is able to start a new chapter in his life where he can be more active leading the church again and taking his rightful role as one of the three directors of the orphanage (Amber and I being the other).

Mid August to October 2010

With the departure of our teams and volunteers, the camp was definitely quieter and more lonely.  It was strange to wake up in the morning and not have to do my “cook-a-doodle-doo” to wake anybody up.  It was nice in a way but we definitely missed everyone, especially their friendship and all their help.  Progress continued but not at the pace that it was when everyone was here.  It seemed that these months passed in a whirl of early mornings, late evenings, and one day just blending into other.  Somedays we felt overwhelmed with all that needed doing  and others it felt like we were just treading water to keep our heads above water (hence the late updates) and yet God gave us the strength needed for each day.
One of the main projects that I tackled during this time was the water pump situation. The well at the orphanage ran dry and we had to put up a 1000litre tank up at the main well. I then had to build a metal structure for it and with the locals help, laid all the pipes from the well to the orphanage and the garden (approx 300 meters). 
 
During this time Charles’ new house was completed up to roof height which he as very happy about.  When he took the job as our local foreman/manager/security, it was the beginning of rainy season so there wasn’t enough time to build him, his wife, and four young kids a bigger place than the small 3 x 3meter hut that was there from our previous employee.   Needless to say, after 9 or so months in cramped quarters they were all very excited to see this new “mansion” going up.
  When the local builders  completed that we got them to lay the foundation for a new larger chicken coupe as well.  At the same time, I was able to get our carport bricked in to serve as a more secure workspace that could be locked when we are gone.  
An exciting new addition to the landscape of the orphanage is a nice big garden. The orphanage committee, house mothers, children and I worked hard to clear the land (trying out the new tractor), erecting a fence, planting a nursery, and then transplanting the small plants to their proper rows.  While we will still have to buy vegetables for the house until these are able to be harvested everyone is quite excited about the possibilities that the new garden brings, not only in the variety of vegetables that they can plan and harvest but also for the opportunity to teach the kids another important village life skill.

Winter Help and Blessings

Nate and Melanie
After the team left on May 25th, it was just us, Nate and Melanie again. (Well and many short term guests that happened our way : )   During this time Nate was instrumental in helping Jako build a generator room, build and plaster a septic tank, assemble furniture, fix broken vehicles, do plumbing, construction and various other odd jobs around our house and the orphanage.  On top of that he also helped Melanie teach English and Bible Stories to the children and aided us in hosting the many visitors we had this year.  Never one to just sit and do nothing, Nate was often found doing whatever needed doing without even being asked – whether that consisted of chopping firewood, starting a campfire, working on miscellaneous work projects,or even pitching in with dinner or dishes.   He  and Charles built a good relationship working together every day and it was neat to see the relationships that he had developed last year with the villagers flourish this year.  To see the smiles on the faces of locals like Francis and Obie when they ran up to give him hugs spoke volumes.  On a personal note it was great to see how much Nate had grown and matured in the past year as evidenced in the way that he was able to witness and talk to the locals in a bold and confident yet friendly and non-threatening kind of way.  What a blessing he was and we look forward to see all that God has in store for this young man.
Melanie, on the other hand, having never been to Africa before, jumped right in like she was a pro.  From the first few days she helped wherever she could and went to great efforts to learn how to do anything that might need doing whether that might mean washing dishes, stoking the donkey, helping with laundry, chopping firewood, pumping water, starting a fire, entertaining Jakob, or any of the other various things that often needed doing just to live out here.  And on top of all that she willingly took on the huge task of teaching the kids at the orphanage Bible stories as well as English.  And all this without a set curriculum.  Trying to pick up from where Jenny left off she had to had to develop her own plans and directions and she did great!  Talk about being thrown into the fire!  The kids however loved her and progressed amazingly under her direction and guidance.   She always made her time with them fun but instructional as well and now every time we hear the children with their much improved English we smile as we think of her.
She also helped organize the library, worked in the orchard, sorted through donations for the orphanage and tackled the task of leading weekly children’s church at the local village church so not only did the orphanage kids come to love her but most of the village kids as well.  Her biggest help however came when we got our first little newborn into the orphanage.  Baby Genesis.
Genesis

June 21st was a memorable day for us here at Mission of Love.  One that we will not forget for a long time.  That was the day that Genesis Matalikilo, our newest little addition, arrived on our doorsteps. With the mom being severely mentally ill and an unknown father, we had been preparing for her eventual arrival for the past few months but did not expect it to be this early.  Being born on June 17th, she was born approximately 5 – 6 weeks early  and by the time that she was brought to us at 4 days of age the only nutrition that she had had since she was born was a bit of ground peanuts that the family had tried to feed her.  When we saw her she was soo tiny and looked so frail.  From the best we could tell she weighed in at about 4 lbs. and was nothing but skin and bones.  Thanks to a friend, Dr. Christa in Kalomo who gave us advise on how to care for such a premature baby without an NICU unit.  We did what we could, prayed that she would make it, and rejoiced when she drank her first few sips from a bottle.  With Amber still busy caring for Jakob (6 months old at the time) Melanie was instrumental in helping with the feedings (hourly at the beginning- then down to 2/3 hours even at night) and doing skin to skin contact to keep her body temperature up during our winter.  Mom was thought to have syphilis so I (Jako) had to give her penicillin injections for 10 days and considering she was nothing but skin and bones, it was not an easy job – especially for my heart.  At first she was so tiny she couldn’t even cry – just let out a little whimper when I stuck her but by the end of the course it was nice to hear how her lungs had developed by the loud cries that filled the room.

Later we found out that the mom was HIV positive and about 2 weeks after delivering little Genesis mother passed away.   I believe that God in His goodness knew exactly how long she needed to be inside her mom and when she needed to be out; hence the name Genesis – God knowing her, caring for her, and providing her from the beginning.  He even lead Amber to pump and store some of her own breast milk for her arrival and a provided a donation of baby girl clothes to show up not long before she arrived.  God definitely knew what we (and she) needed in advance, long before we ever did and His faithfulness and provision never ceases to amaze us. 

Erin

On June 29th – we had the added blessing of adding another member to our team for a month and a half.  Erin, a young college student from Florida, proved to be a trooper and a definite added blessing to us and the ministry.  Arriving only a week or so after we received little Genesis, Melanie taught her the ropes of what needed to be done and she quickly stepped up to the plate, doing whatever was necessary and giving Melanie a bit of respite pitching in with the night feedings and giving her time to plan and teach the kids during the day.  Erin was a joy to have around and especially loved spending time with the housemothers, speaking into their lives, encouraging them, and playing with and teaching the children.  After Nate and Melanie left she was able to keep the teaching going for a while and help keep the progress going of the library as well.  She was a great at doing any of the odd and end jobs that needed doing, helping direct and lead things when the team was here, and even blessed us by watching Jakob at times so that Amber could tend to other ministry needs.  

But I think the biggest help that Melanie and Erin gave was in caring for baby Genesis.Due to her small size and constant tending to we kept Genesis here at our house for the first two weeks and then slowly began transitioning her to the Orphanage house bit by bit.  Although the house mothers were good with children, Rachel (who we decided would care for Genesis) had never had a child of her own before and none of the mothers there were experienced with bottle feeding, formula feeding, or the needs of such a premature baby.  Melanie and Erin were great at supervising feeding after feeding, teaching them how to interpret her cries, how to tell when she was full, how to burp her and bathe her, and just making sure that they were comfortable with her and knowledgeable about how to care for her.   They were also great at sorting through the baby donations to make sure that they had all they needed for her.  So thank you Melanie and Erin – this precious little baby is doing well because of your watch care, love and sleepless nights.

Other Winter Visitors (May – August)

Apart from the three wonderful longer term volunteers that God blessed us with this year, we were also blessed by many other visitors.

Early May we were unexpectedly blessed to have an expedition team from Overland Mission literally show up in our driveway.  While they were originally planning on doing ministry in another part of the chieftainship, God had other plans for this team to do some ministering, village to village evangelism and teaching to the orphanage children.  In fact, the day that they arrived Amber had heard from the house mothers that the children were refusing to sleep in their bed at night afraid of some spirit or ghost that the kids had been seeing (a lady dressed in white).  Instead they were all sleeping huddled together in fear in the main room.  After explaining the situation to the visiting team they went up to the house to tell the children an encouraging Bible story about the power of God and pray for them.  After they did, the kids have been sleeping in their own room without fear ever since : )

In June Jako’s mom visited for a week and apart from getting to spend some much needed time with Jakob, she also got to see firsthand all the progress that has been made here since her last visit a few years ago – before there were kids in the orphanage and when we were still living in a tent.  She is always such a trooper, even when roughing it in the bush and we and Jakob loved having her around.

June also saw us receive a team from  Dutch Reformed Church of Wonderpark , South Africa for a few days.  While their original intent was only to spend a day or so with us God intervened (once again) to extend their stay a bit longer allowing them to help us with shoveling manure from our goat and cattle pen to use for the orchard.  It was especially nice for me to be able to have some people from my home culture to speak Afrikaans with, braai with, and just fellowship with. 

Fellow missionary friends of ours, Rob and Christa Murphy not only came out to visit and do some First Aide training for our house mothers in June but also lent us some of their summer/African winter Interns.  Gretchen and Sharon came out to lend a hand in June and then Gretchen returned with Tori, Shannon, Katrina, and Kat for a week in July.   Tori also made a repeat appearance in August.

 

Last but not least, Griet and Braam LeRoux made a visit  out to us in Mid August so that Griet could begin to teach our housemothers how to sew.  Griet is a wonderful seamstress and teacher and we were impressed to see all that the housemothers could make after only two days of teaching. A shirt, bag, and Bible cover!  Our hope is that the mothers can eventually make the children’s school uniforms and teach the children a trade as well.  Tailoring is Zambia is a skill that is highly prized for both men and women alike.

Thanks to all our winter helpers, both long and short term but thanks be to God the most, for providing the means to make all of it happen.  May God bless all of you for the efforts here.  Thanks for making a difference in this part of the world.

P.S.  If anybody is wondering there is still TONS of things that need doing, help, or maintenance around here so if God is calling you to come and serve, just drop us a line so we can be in communication : )

Thank you for your support and love.

God’s blessings

Jako, Amber and Jakob Joubert

Mission of Love Community Orphanage

Zambia

A church from VA

1 Thessalonians 1:3- “constantly bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father”
The team of 12 people arrived in Zambia on July 23rd, full of energy and ready to get to work (and boy did they work!). If you include our home base team of me, Amber, Nate, Melanie and Erin that put us 17 1/2 total (Jakob being the 1/2 of course).  After picking them up from Livingstone airport, we arrived back at Mukamba earlier than we ever have before.  This time the team was spoiled because all the women got to sleep in the guest room and Jakob’s room (in our new house) and the men moved in to our old permanent tent and only had to put up their sleeping cots.  Only those on past trips can truly appreciate the luxury of that compared to having to set up tents in the middle of the cold night after several days long days of international travel.
The next day was a Saturday and the team sorted out and organized all the reading glasses, donations, and other items that they brought with them.  They also took the opportunity to practice and refine their eye clinic skills by testing the vision of all the orphans, house mothers and some of the other local people around our home. The rest of the day was spent getting acquainted/reacquainted with camp life and doing the every day duties of living out here - pumping water, getting fire wood, cutting fire wood, cooking food and many other little jobs around the house.  They also took the opportunity to pick up all the bricks and other things laying around our home up and it looks so much better.
Sunday was a great day at the local church with singing, teaching, and preaching.  It was a time of reconnecting for “old” (previous) team members and the new ones got into the swing of the church quick and had a great time fellowshipping with the local people. The afternoon was more relaxed (apart from the every day camp tasks) trying to let the team catch up from all their travel and jet lag and get well rested for the hard work ahead.
Monday (and all the days that followed) we were up bright and early, eating our breakfast and then off to where we needed to be.  This year the team had two main focuses.  One being the mobile eye clinic and the other to help clear land at the crop field.  Every day the team was split into two groups so that one would be working clearing land and the other one doing the eye ministry.  Usually the next day they would switch which worked very well giving everyone a different task everyday.
For the eye clinic the plan was to do 6 days of ministry; sharing the good news of Jesus with the people and testing their vision. We identified and notified three locations in advance (as much as you can do that out here) so that we could have two days at each place.   Being the first time we have attempted this type of ministry out here, we definitely learned a lot by trial and error, especially about how to advertise and plan events like this out in the bush.  The eye ministry proved to be very rewarding to both the team and the local villagers.  Everyone involved seemed to love it in a sense that it helped someone to see again physically and then they were given the opportunity for their eyes to be opened spiritually with the good news of Jesus Christ that was shared with them. The team tested those that came for either near vision/reading glasses or distance glasses.  Unfortunately the team could only give out one pair of glasses per person so those that had a problem with both had to choose which one they wanted.  Lots of villagers showed up and almost everyone was able to be helped with either glasses, eye medicine, or advice.   Those that had more serious or complicated problems were referred to the eye clinic in Zimba (a 3 hour drive away) where doctors were currently visiting for a week.  I truly believe that everyone that came for the testing was sent by God.  Now our prayer is that the seeds that were planted would grow and that those who made a commitment would become so strong in their faith that those around them would notice a difference.
The other big task was clearing tree stumps from the field at the crop farm so that we can plant this year with a better yield.  Clearing trees out here in Zamia is not a easy task.  Instead of just hooking a tractor to a tree or tree stump and pulling it out, it takes blood, sweat and many hours of physically digging the tree out.  It’s main roots run straight down.  Almost like an octopus spreading everywhere and then diving it’s arms as as far down as possible.  Only after lots of effort to cut each of it’s huge roots could we attempt to pull it out with the tractor or the truck praying it would come down fast.  Thanks to all of the team members for their hard work for it saved me months of digging on my own. We worked everyday to about 14:00 in the afternoon and then drove the 45- 1 hour drive back to go and have lunch.
After that the work around the house started from cutting wood, water pumping, getting the donkey going for showers,( if you do not know what a donkey is-come to find out and it is not a animal). They also mixed concrete for the footer for Charles (our foreman/security guard) new house that we are building for him. Steve took an old plough implement arm and build it in to a ripper attachment that i can use behind the tractor to break up the roots in the field.  Some of the people also had time to fellowship with Pastor Petrus at his home helping him to get the sunflower off the husk.  Now that was dusty work. 
Later in the afternoons after taking bush showers the team headed up to the orphanage to meet the kids as they arrived back from school.  They helped the house moms cook food, played with the kids, and taught them bible stories.  Most of the evenings we all ate together with kids and house mothers having a traditional Tonga meal with them at the home.
The team worked hard in all they did and made sure that they found stuff to do even in the little bit of down time that they did have, whether it be playing with and loving on the kids, helping to give the goats and cattle injections, loving on Jakob, worshiping around the campfire, engaging with the locals and the women even gave Amber a special blessing by helping to clean the house!  The last Sunday here was spent worshiping at the local church again reflecting on the goodness of God and what He was busy teaching all of us.  After a few days in Livingstone to recuperate and see some of God’s great creation it was time to say goodbye to not only the team but to Nate and Melanie as well.  After being with us a full three months it was like saying goodbye to family and we pray that God will bring them back to us again sometime soon.
All in all we had a blessed time and once again saw how God is moving in the area to enlarge His Kingdom.  We are honored to be part of what God is doing in this area and know that He has placed us here because He is wanting to call these people to him.  Thank you to the church in VA for being faithful and for doing the things of God for His people in Zambia and also other places in the world.

Serving God and His people
Jako, Amber and Jakob John Joubert
Mission of Love Community Orphanage
Zambia
amberandjako@hotmail.com

Visitors from May

John 13:34,35 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. [35] By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
We received visitors from all over the US that love us here in Zambia and that really lived the word of God out this winter (their summer). The first people to arrive were Nate Sweerin and Melanie Richter who got here on the 14th of May. Some of you may remember that Nate was here with us last year for 3 months and this year he felt called to come for another 3 months.  Melanie is his girlfriend.  While we were a little apprehensive about letting a dating couple come for that long, because of our respect and trust for Nate we were willing to take that chance.  But more about them late
The same day, Amber’s sister in law, JoAnn Enget, and two of her nephews (Caleb and Seth age 10 and 9) arrived to have a day of fellowship before they joined the team of 9 from a church in  Florida that was coming the next day (May 15th).  This team was lead by Amber’s brother, Joshua Finklea and consisted mostly young adults (20’s and 30’s) eager to come assist us in any way that was needed.  Little did they know that that they would get to experience a bit of our life (and difficulties) here in Zambia right off the bat.
About 45 minutes down the road to our home, the bed of our Toyota Hilux snapped in half. All I heard was a loud noise and anyone looking at the vehicle would have thought it was a tipper truck dumping it’s load of team luggage.  Obviously we were stranded. Praise God that Mike Jones, a missionary to Zambia for the past 16 years, was driving some of the team in his 15 seater minivan. Even though it was late he called his wife and made quick dash to get his 3 ton truck from home (1 1/2 hours away) to help us out.  The girls and the two boys were housed nice and warm a the Jones house while the men stood vigil by the broken truck, helped load it onto Mike’s flatbed, and rode in the back to Kalomo in the cold.  From there we met up with the rest of the team and started the dirt road part of the trip.  All in all a drive that was supposed to take only 4 hours took us over 12 hours, putting us home and asleep only after 3 am that morning.  Just a few hours later, all of us still dirty from the previous day’s fun, got dressed and went to church to enjoy a nice long 3 + hour church service fellowshipping with the locals.   
  

The team was busy and worked hard from the time that they arrived but seemed to be having fun as well.  There were smiles and laughs all around as they spent two days at the local community school acting out Bible stories and playing with the kids.  It was especially hilarious to see Amber’s little nephew Seth play David and slay the giant Goliath!  One day they did the hard work of digging stones for our houses septic tank drain field.  That is a tough job for anyone even if they are used to doing it but the team joyfully pressed on with it the whole day.  Another day the girls put their frills and loaded cattle manure from the cattle farm for the orchard.  While they were busy “in the poo” the men got dirty in their own way helping to get this set up for building a new cattle pen for the other one is old and falling apart.  After loading up the poles (tree stumps) that Obie had cut throughout the bush they finally got to start putting it together.  It took us 3 days to complete and now but us, and the cattle are happy (well maybe not the cattle) because now they can’t get out and destroy whole fields of corn. Back at home, everyone was digging ditches around the fruit trees and then filling it in with cattle manure for fertilizer. 
Every afternoon the team taught Bible stories to the children at the orphanage and played with them.  They even got the opportunity to eat almost all our dinners there with them.  I don’t think quite everyone enjoyed the traditional Tonga meal every night (especially the Kapentas – whole dried small fish cooked in a bit of tomatoes and oil) but it gave them exposure to the local village way of life and they did enjoy getting a chance to fellowship and eat with them in that way.  The ladies even got to help the house mothers prepare the meals and some even tried their hand at the art of stirring Nshima. 
Unfortunately it was also a hard week emotionally in the village.  When we arrived we learned that Charles grandson (7 months old) had just passed away.  Charles is our local home security guard/worker.  This grandson was the only child of his son and both parents were not believers.  We grieved with Charles over the loss and Buff, the young singles pastor of the group was actually invited to go and preach at the funeral.  What he said touched the parents heart and we pray that the seeds that were planted will take root and grow.  Later on in the week, Buff and I were going to town for supplies and we ran across Francis (another local) who asked if we could take him and his wife, Florida, to the hospital  (2 hours away in town).  She was very pregnant (after having suffered a miscarriage the previous pregnancy) but not doing good health wise.  After a phone call home the whole team was praying for them only to find out that the baby had died a week earlier in utero.  After being transferred to another hospital the doctors said that if she had gotten there even a few hours later Florida would have been dead from infection.  While we were sorrowed by the loss of this baby and for the family who so desperately wanted it, we saw God’s hand at work in preserving Florida’s life.  A few days later when Florida was out of the woods, Francis came to visit us and the team and told us how he was suffering because of the situation and not being able to harvest his corn.  Animals were busy eating it and he was facing loosing all his crops.  When the team heard, they all jumped in the tractor trailer and ate a lot of dust to go help.  One day’s harvest was not enough but the show of love and support to Francis brought tears to his eyes and we were able to hire 3 men for a week to finish the rest of the work that we couldn’t do.  To date Florida is doing much better but please pray for them because the emotional wounds will take much longer to heal than the physical ones.


Apart from all the hard labor on the various work projects, the team worked hard at home as well with cooking duty, dishes, pumping water, chopping fire wood, starting camp and cook fires, stoking the donkey (you have to come here to know what that means : )  and all the duties that come along with camp life.  Nate, having been here before, was a big help in showing everyone what to do and Melanie took no time getting into the swing of things.  Even Caleb and Seth, the little brothers of the whole team got in on all the action from shoveling cattle poo, to starting fires and playing with the kids and even to slaughtering the goat (for food).  The team also showered their love on Jakob relentlessly and he loved being in someone’s arms and the center of attention the whole time.
We must say that the team were a real blessing and they were  good helpers of the project.  They got a lot done that Amber and me do not need to do now so thank you everyone.  It was real nice to meet you all.  Thank you for the work that you did and Josh thanks for doing a good job leading it. 
Thank you everyone we love you and know that we feel all the prayers.
Jako, Amber and Jakob John Joubert
Mission of Love Community Orphanage Zambia
amberandjako@hotmail.com

Our visit to America and back home in Zambia

1 Peter 1:13 “Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

 

We want to apologize that it has been so long for us to write these updates.  Please forgive us as I do not have any excuse but to say that in the midst of all the work that has been going on around here, I have been lazy to make time to write them. We left for America at the end of February 2010 and were only there for two weeks. The drive out of the village was hard for it had been raining nonstop for an entire day and the rivers were filling up fast. We managed  to get to the paved road after having to put lots of the vehicle underwater to get through the river that was in flood, but thanks to our Father for having compassion on us and letting up pass with out any damages (to us or the vehicle). We made it save to Livingstone where also some of the rivers were so high that some of the Lodges had to be evacuated to safety. We had to go to one of them to make sure that our booking for the teams that were arriving later in the year would be booked and have space for us. While there they were evacuating all the goods out of their chalets and the restaurant that was next to the river was halfway under water.  Even at reception my feet were getting wet.  We made it out just in time to make our flight.  

  

Our time in the States was a wonderful whirlwind jam packed between ministry and family time. We had the blessing of participating in Idlewild Baptist Church’s 2010 Global Impact Conference sharing in three Sunday School/Bible Fellowship classes, three homes groups, setting up a display table and meet with the team that was coming over . Being involved in the missions conference activities, luncheons, sermons, and being around other missionaries seemed to revive our spirit and God’s heart. Every one delighted in getting to see Jakob and Jakob enjoyed his first visit to the States being showered with love and attention from everybody.

Thanks for your prayers for Amber’s mom, she is currently enrolled in a new trial where she gets chemo via IV and pills every two weeks. It was great getting to spend time with her and seeing her recovery after the incidents with her seizures. Praise God that she is now stabilized and going on about her usual activities. The new treatment however seems to come with more side effects than the previous with her having one sick week followed by a week of feeling better before the next course starts again.  God continues to give her strength and energy for each new day however and we are currently keeping up with her via skype and phone calls.  For those interested in more info about her visit www.caringbridge.org/visit/jillfinklea

Jenny also decided to go back home to the US to spend some time with her dad as he turned 90 years old. We were blessed to meet her dad and the rest of her family and spend a afternoon with them.  We felt so loved and at home there. She was also part of the mission conference and played a big role in that to get Mission Of Love more exposure of what God is doing in Zambia. It was sad to leave America with out her and also to say goodbye to our family and friends, especially with this visit being the shortest yet.    

 

Being back in Mukamba with only Amber, Jakob and me was hard with all the things that needed doing, especially with Jakob taking up a lot of our time.   He is such a big blessing though and is loved by so many of the locals here.  I think they were more happy to see him back than us : )  April kept us busy getting some more things done in our home and around the house and keeping up with the local Bible studies at church on Sundays.  Our generator (which we depend on quite a bit in the evenings and for big power uses) broke but God made a way for us to get a new one that is bigger and stronger.  It took some time to put together however because it uses a 55 gallon (210 L) metal drum filled with water to cool it. We were also blessed with a small 25 horse power tractor for the fields.  It was fun to test it out and not be in pain like with the two wheel tractor that use to roll every time I hit a tree root.  I started to clear land for a garden for the orphanage which is growing very good on this stage. I also plowed some land at the crop farm with it and must say that for the size that it is, it is doing very good and also very light on diesel. We were also blessed with the funds for the harrow and the three row seed planter so we believe that this year and next we are going to do good with the farming .  God willing we hope to produce food to hand out to orphans and widows living in the area. We also had allot of village patients coming to us for medical assistance.  Anything from from giving stitches to burn wounds that we had to attend to and then we are not even speaking of all the over the counter medicine that we distributed.

     

 

On a sad note, Jennifer’s father passed away  May14. God was gracious to allow her a few months with her father and family before his homecoming. After much thought and prayer, Jenny feels that God is leading her to spend much time in the States to support her mother and be with her family during this season of her life. We miss her but we look forward to seeing all that God has in store for her as she continues to seek God’s will and direction for her life.

On a practical note Jenny’s absence left a void not only in our hearts but in the ministry. When the villagers heard the news they expressed their deepest sympathy but also questioned whether or not the programs she started would continue because she made a big impact in their lives with teaching and being their friend. God in His sovereignty had a plan to fill in the gaps that were left of Jenny’s hard work. By the end of May, Nate and Melanie were flying over from the States.  

Well that bring us up to the middle of May… more to be continued in the next post…..

With much love and appreciation for your support and prayers.

Serving our Lord and Savior Jesus

Jako, Amber and Jakob John Joubert

Mission of Love Community Orphanage

amberandjako@hotmail.com