Newsletter (January 26, 2012)

Dear all, We thought we had sent out the last newsletter to you just before Christmas but then found out we forgot to do so! So we will attach it with this newsletter.

We had a very relaxing time in Victoria Falls (Town) in Zimbabwe just off from the Falls. It is very confusing as the town and the falls have the same name. It is much smaller than Livingstone and one could walk to most places easily. As the Falls is down in the valley it is much hotter than Ndola, and drier as well. We went to the Falls twice, and in a space of two days the amount of water increased markedly, and there were lots of mists on the second day. The Zimbabwean side of the Falls is much longer and the view is much better than the Zambian side.

We stopped for a day in Lusaka before heading back to Ndola and in the evening we met a group of young Chinese people who are working in Lusaka and attend the Chinese Christian Fellowship. It was good to have an opportunity to meet them. Most of these young people are university graduates, one or two from British universities, so they are very different in outlook from those that we met in Ndola.

Since we came back we have been extremely busy especially for Zara. The new school year has started and we are extremely thankful for our Lord’s provision. We have 12 new students in total (10 first-year, 1 second-year and 1 third-year), which is the best intake in many years. Since we came this is the first time we have actually seen an increase in student numbers, and this year we have 30 students. As usual there were many last-minute dramas and we were not sure if some of them could even come, but thankfully most of them did manage to arrive.

As the academic dean is still on home assignment, Zara has to help out in that area as well, since the person who is the assistant to the academic dean only works half time. Many unexpected problems arose and so we have had to deal with them as and when they came up.

Our time as millionaires in Zambia is fast coming to a close. The government has announced that three zeros will be knocked off from the currency. So K1,000 will become K1, K50,000 will become K50. There will be new banknotes and coins (which have disappeared a long time ago). In the old days there were coins in ngwees (100 ngwees = 1 kwacha). Apparently the ngwees will be resurrected as well. There will be a transition period where both old and new currencies will be in use concurrently. It will be confusing for a time, but at least we do not need to queue in the banks and exchange all our old banknotes for new ones.

This year may prove to be a very difficult year for us. Please pray that God’s grace will be showered upon us and we will experience it abundantly. Our hope is that God is in control of everything and we trust that whatever may happen he knows and he will carry us through. With Christian love.

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