Newsletter (February 9, 2012)

Dear all, Football in Zambia (and Africa in general) is like rugby in New Zealand. Whenever the national team is playing, people will be very excited. Some will wear scarves of Zambian flags. Cars and minibuses will also display the national flags. There is a pub in the shopping complex not far from us and whenever there are loud cheers, we know Zambia has scored a goal. These large cheers will extend to important European matches as well. All this is nothing compared with the recent Africa Cup of Nations. Zambia got through to the quarter-finals last Saturday and last night in the semi-final they beat Ghana 1-0. When Zambia scored, the whole community erupted in a big roar and when the match finished not long afterwards, there were fireworks, loud cheers, everyone was shouting and singing, cars hooted, vuvuzelas were blown. Nearly everyone in TCCA came out and the street was full of people running here and there. That lasted for two to three hours. Unfortunately, and tragically, in times like this some people will get killed. Some rush out to the street and are knocked down by cars, some excited drivers lose control of their vehicles and hit into crowds, and some fall down from their utes and are hit by oncoming vehicles. So we will see what will happen on Sunday when the final will be played between Ivory Coast and Zambia in Gabon, West Africa. Win or lose, we surely do not want to see more life lost senselessly. In 1993 the whole Zambian national soccer team perished in an air crash in Gabon and now 19 years later, Zambia comes back to play the final in the same place.

Lots of rain recently but thankfully the power supply in our area was very good and very few faults developed. Internet connection was not too good though with lots of down time. Also there are many mosquitoes around and, apart from our house which is quite free of mosquitoes, we got bitten a lot in TCCA, in church, in eating places. On Monday Zara was not feeling well and after a blood slide-test, it was confirmed that she had malaria, but not serious. She was put on medication and by today she feels much better, although still very tired.

Zara as registrar has the opportunity to talk to many people. Some are prospective students and for various reasons cannot come to study in the end. Some fortunate ones by the grace of God do manage to come. There are some who for whatever reason suspend their studies and now would like to continue. Each one has his/her story and each one’s life experience is different. Sometimes she can tell someone is lying yet in many cases the conversations are very genuine and sincere. Some of them are male chauvinists and yet some are very polite and courteous. Some are sad stories and yet some are very encouraging. Please pray that by talking to people she can build good relationships with the people she interacts with, and will not be overwhelmed by them all. With Christian love.