Newsletter (September 1, 2011)

Dear all, Hope you are well and surviving the extremely cold weather! We have read of snows and strong winds affecting most places, even in the North Island. So it must be really cold in Dunedin.

We have been ok last month, finally recovered from the malaria that we had in July. It is still term break here and most students are away and so the campus is very quiet. However, we still work as usual. Term 3 will start next Monday. We have to rely on more visiting lecturers this term as our academic dean is away on home assignment. We have a new staff member, a former TCCA graduate who has just finished his masters degree in Nairobi, Kenya. We are indeed thankful to the Lord that the family has finally come, and provide some needed relief for our tight staffing situation.

The board has conducted interviews for the new principal post. They still need to interview one more person before they will decide whom to appoint. So far the information that we heard is quite encouraging and we continue to pray that God will guide the whole process and his will be done.

We just had a visit from a Kiwi family today. They have very strong ties with Zambia as the parents were missionaries here and one of their siblings is in Kitwe. We are very pleased to meet them and they will be here three months, returning home at the end of October. The husband is an IT expert and he will help us a bit in our computer configuration. The wife is a counsellor and we hope to organise some meetings for her as well. We are so thankful that they will be able to help.

Election campaigns are in full strength and there are many vehicles with loudspeakers driven past our house, broadcasting mostly music. They are very noisy and you can hear them from 5am till midnight. However people have been telling us to keep a very low profile during this period. So far it is very peaceful in Ndola and we have not met any unpleasant incident, but please pray for our safety during this period and that the election itself will be a fair and peaceful one. With Christian love.