Sparks and Nail Heads Flying in Zambia

Tuesday March 25 was another beautiful day in Zambia. We have a set routine already: breakfast at 6am, devotions at 6:30 and on the bus to the work site at 6:45, with the lunch prepared and packed in a cooler by Connie, Jean, Kendra and Eva. Today we stopped at a few construction hardware stores and picked up a couple new aluminum ladders and other supplies to make work safer and more efficient. This detour gave us the chance to travel through a socioeconomically very different part of Lusaka on the way out of town. For a few of our team members this was their first look at how most of people in Africa live. It was a sobering reminder of why we were here and why this project matters.

We are helping build the Africa Central Region Conference Center. When completed, people from all over the heart of Africa will come here for training, education, camps etc. This facility will belong to the Church of the Nazarene in Africa, but it will be available for booking by other groups and organizations all year round. The large dormitory building we are helping to finish is the first phase of the project. Once these facilities are finished W&W teams will be able to stay right on the site to continue building the conference center without the 1 hour commute (longer in rush hour) both ways to work every day.

We are getting to know our boss Clement and his number two man Pherie (spelling) better as we go. They and the other Zambian workers and the pastor of the church on the property are a joy to work with. At lunch time we all gather under the mango trees to eat lunch and visit. We had a very special moment Tuesday as we asked the Zambian pastor (90 years old) to bless our lunch. While I could not begin to understand his language or any words in his prayer, in my spirit I knew it was a powerful prayer and he was asking God to help and bless all of us working on the project.

Jillian and Mike are painting rooms ahead of the rest of us who are installing ceilings. They have the privilege of painting every plastered surface three times, to properly prepare and then finish coating the walls. Juan is in the central hallway as the saw man, as two teams of installers yell measurements at him, sometimes at the same time. Juan cuts the 2x2 ceiling grid lumber to our specs and then the rest of us up on scaffolds and ladders install the grid work that soon will hold up 4x8 foot ceiling panels. The biggest challenge so far has been driving the masonry nails into the plaster and block walls all the way around every room. These anchor points are critical for supporting the ceiling, but they are a challenge. We literally have sparks flying and sometimes nail heads ricocheting around the room and occasionally off of one of us. Thanks to glasses and hats, we only had a few scratches to show from the ballistic nail heads Monday. On Tuesday, with the addition of some masonry pre-drilling sparks and flying metal was almost eliminated.

We are well ahead of Clement’s schedule already having installed ceiling grids in 5 large dorm rooms and their adjoining bathrooms. When we left work on Tuesday the hallway grid work for this segment of the building was about 80% complete. At this point we have already done about twice as much work as Clement expected from us, and he is doing an excellent job getting lumber and supplies to stay ahead of our brisk work pace. It is great having everyone working in the same general area. We all have our jobs to do but we get to interact with each other and the Zambian workers frequently throughout the day. Between the fun work atmosphere and being 6 times zones from home, most of us are surprised when we here “lunch time” or “time to go home”. We are all very tired at the end of the day, but tired like a bunch of school kids after a day at the amusement park, ready to go back and hit it again the next day.

We had another excellent dinner today with meatloaf, mashed potatoes and gravy, jello salad, pasta salad, and amazing cherry pie for dessert. It is so nice to come back from an 11-12 hour day to some seriously good comfort food for dinner and great company to interact with in the evening, before heading off to bed to rest up for another day of rewarding working and witnessing what God is doing here in central Africa.

Must have coffee!

On the road to work.

Lunch break under the mango trees

Clement is the man in the middle (Tim's right) He is our boss.

Our fancy lunch table

The exterior of the dorm building we are helping to finish

On the bus waiting for a store to open 

Mike get at least most of the paint on the walls please.

Jillian showing us how it's done

The central hallway where we all get our 2x2s cut by Juan.

Hall way ceiling grid just beginning

A room ceiling grid almost done. I'll show completed grids later.

Safe and Sound in Zambia!

Saturday March 22, we arrived at Mount Vernon First Church at 1:30 AM. We loaded up our luggage and supplies. After a brief team meeting Jim Gaston and Rob Elwood drove us in church vans to the airport in Columbus.

We flew from Columbus to Washington Dulles arriving about 7 AM. We made our way through the usual international lines and processes to proceed to our Ethiopian Airlines gate where they weighed our carry on bags to make sure they were under the 15 pound limit. Then we boarded our Boeing 787 and settled in for the 12 hour flight to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

On Sunday morning March 23 we arrived in a beautifully sunny and cool (70’s) Addis Ababa where we changed planes (another 787) for our final 5 hour flight to Lusaka International Airport. We arrived safe and sound in Lusaka at about 2pm (8am in Ohio). After gathering our luggage we met up with Penney, Lindsey, and Alyssa Sidle, our host missionary family. They took us to their house for our orientation then we went to the Baptist Guest House where we settled into our home base for most of the next two weeks.

The Sidles took us to dinner at a American Indian themed restaurant at the Manda Hill Mall, a location that looks like it could be in any city in the US.

Today, Monday March 24 after breakfast and devotions, about 7 AM nine of us on the team headed for the work site and 4 ladies stayed back to work at the home base on shopping and cooking for the team. The trip to the work site takes about 40 minutes and involves driving through the heart of the central business district of Lusaka. But about half way into the drive we reach the suburbs and then the country side to arrive at the job site. I’ll have to give more detail on the project later, but for now I have time to say we are installing ceilings and painting in rooms in the District Center that will serve as a meeting place for people from Zambia and surrounding countries. The facility is will be designed for the Church of the Nazarene to use, but it will also host groups from various organizations throughout the year.

After work Clement, our boss took us shopping for work supplies at a “Lowes” type store and “Game” a higher end version of a Wal-Mart, that is now owned by Wal-Mart. We got home about 7:30 for a late supper. While the ladies had to keep it warm for our late arrival, dinner was great. After working hard all day, the spaghetti dinner with dessert really hit the spot.

Everyone is jet lagged but fine. Jillian is doing her homework after getting most of the paint off from her day at work. Rook is being played by the usual suspects and a few of us are on the Internet at the Sidles. I will try to load pictures in the next couple of days when the connect is a little more stable.

Saturday 2AM team prayer before we depart from MV First Church

Waaaaaaaaay early to the airport so we were certainly first in line to check our tubs through to Zambia.

Some crazy Americans I had to spend about 20 hours of flight time with Saturday and Sunday

Shameless selfie in front of a 787 before boarding in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Safe and sound on the ground in Lusaka. Thank you Ethiopian Air!

Some scary looking mzungus  from Ohio beginning their Zambian adventure.

Zambia Trip Planning by the Numbers

A number of numbers are rattling through my brain today as I think about the upcoming trip. The first and most important number is 13. Thirteen people from Mount Vernon First and other churches on the district make up this W&W team to Zambia. The team members are Tim and Connie Sharrock, Ken and Kendra McKenzie, Juan and Eva Vega, Dave Secrest, Jillian Secrest, Jean Taylor, George Gribben, Don Beecher, Mike Norris, and Kevin Hughes.

We have 12 days left to prepare for the trip. I know Connie Sharrock has been making the final travel plans including things like gathering up food donations at church and getting our entry visas from the Zambian embassy. Individually we all have checklists of things to do and things to pack in the next dozen days. Most importantly, by now everyone should already have or be about ready to get their Yellow Fever shots and Malaria pills.

50 pounds is the maximum each of us can pack on our 1 check bag. That is always a challenge, especially when the packing list includes tools. To complicate matters, Ethiopian Air only allows 15 pounds in a carry-on. So the usual strategy of putting the heavy items in the carry-on to get around the 50 pound limit won't work. Fortunately Ethiopian Air allows a personal or computer bag that doesn't get weighed beyond the 15 pound carry-on. So your's truly will have a heavier than usual computer bag on this trip.

777 is another number I'm thinking about right now. Fortunately we had the pleasure of flying an Ethiopian Air Boeing 777 a few years ago on our trip to Mozambique. At first it was a little scary thinking about flying a plane hailing from Ethiopia, but we were pleasantly surprised. This is a young fleet of comfortable and well equipped planes with individual TV/computers in each seat. This is important since we will spend 14 hours of our 20 plus hours of flight time on a 777.

When I think I might not be able to handle this extensive amount of time confined to a flying tube, one more set of numbers give me the resolve to keep packing. Those numbers are 80 and 60. Those are the forecast average high and low temperatures for our 2 weeks in Zambia.  

 

Six More Weeks of Winter, then Rainy Season!

The Zambia Work and Witness trip is now just 6 weeks away. The recent team meeting happened to be on the same day as one of our many snow storms this winter. As a result only 4 of the 13 team members were able to attend. Even so, Connie shared all the latest information she had about our trip and the work we will be doing in Zambia.The rest of the team has received this briefing through the mail.

For starters, the travel schedule is as follows:
We will depart Mount Vernon First Church at 2 AM (Mar 22)
Flight #1 Columbus at 6:00 AM to Washington Dulles 7:19 AM (United)
Flight #2 Washington Dulles 10:15 AM (Mar 22) to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 7:45 AM (Mar 23) (Ethiopian Air)
Flight #3 Addis Ababa 9:15 AM to Lusaka, Zambia 2:25 PM (Ethiopian Air)

The return travel plans are as follows:
Flight #1 Lusaka 3:35 PM to Addis Ababa 8:25 PM  (Apr 4)
Flight #2 Addis Ababa 10:15 PM to Washington Dulles 8:30 AM (Apr 5)
Flight #3 Washington Dulles 1:45 PM to Charlotte 3:02 PM
Flight #4 Charlotte 4:15 PM to Columbus 5:35 PM (Apr 5)

A few "fun" facts:
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia will be 7 hours ahead of Ohio as we travel and Zambia will be 6 hours ahead of Ohio. So it appears the longest flight from Washington DC to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia will be about 14.5 hours in duration and the total flight time to Zambia will be just over 22 hours.

On the return trip the longest flight will be about 17 hours and the total flight time for the return trip will be about 24 hours.

We will have the privilege of working with missionaries Rev. Gary and Rev. Penney Sidle and their family.They are MVNU alums and their home church is the Toboso Church of the Nazarene just outside of Newark, Ohio. Read more about their missionary profile by clicking on Sidle Family Missionary Profile

The exact work we will be doing is yet to be determined but at this point it looks like we will be working on Dormitory construction in or close to the Zambia capital of Lusaka, a city of about 1.7 million people. The list of possible projects includes installing ceilings, trim, doors and plumbing in the new dormitory. These items are all inside projects since we will be in Zambia at the end of the "rainy season". However we may get to tackle some outside projects if the beginning of the other season, called the "dry season", arrives just a little early.

Stay tuned for more information as final preparations continue!

Final Plans Underway for 7984 Mile Trip

The Zambia W&W team is set. Plane tickets have been purchased. The 13 member team will be flying Ethiopian Airlines 7984 miles March 22/23 to Lusaka, Zambia via Washington DC, and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 


This week Connie is busy gathering passports and other documentation from the team members so she can request our entry visas. We don't have all the project details but it appears we will be working on construction of the Field Conference Center at Chipongwe in Lusaka, Zambia. We will be working with missionaries and MVNU alums Gary & Penney Sidle. 

We will be having a team meeting January 25th at the Sharrock's home. After that meeting I will update the blog with the final details about the trip. 

Thank you for your prayers as we plan for this Work and Witness trip to Zambia.

Preparations for Zambia Trip Underway

Preparations for the March 2014 Mount Vernon First Church of the Nazarene Work and Witness trip to Zambia are underway. Tim and Connie Sharrock met with Gary Sidle (MVNU alum) at General Assembly this past summer and began the planning process to take a First Naz based W&W team to Zambia for two weeks next March. At this point the team is set and anxiously awaiting our upcoming team meeting to get more details on the trip and the work we will be doing in south central Africa.

The team meeting will happen around the Christmas/New Years holidays. After the team meeting I will update this blog with more details. So stay tuned!