SoMacha.com

A new student has joined the First Grade class at MICS. She is 6 years old and her name is Michelo Munachoonga. Her family of 5 lives in a small thatched room in the village of Macha. Her father, a former Health Officer, is unemployed and her mother has just recently become the house manager for our Macha B&B. They do not have enough money for food and clothes, so a private school is something they could never afford on their own.
It has been decided that MICS should have the philosophy of tithing of students, so, Michelo is the first student to be granted this status. If however, anyone feels that they would like to help sponsor or partially sponsor Michelo or another child like her with tuition, it would benefit the entire school also. If you would like to sponsor a student you can contact us at skipronda@gmail.com for more information.

The Macha Guest House, alias The Macha B&B, has two new guests for about one week, when they will move to different housing. Two medical students from the Netherlands are here in Macha to do some research. Robin is on the left and Iman is on the right. Neither of them has been away from their native country, so it was decided that a Mom & Pop away from home for the first few days would help soften the cultural shock. They missed the bus from Choma to Macha when they came, so they had to travel the 70km dirt road in an available truck. A good introduction to where they were going.
As part of their medical school training they are required to do a research project. They decided to set up a database trying to provide a correlation among patients of the area that are suffering from TB, HIV-Aids and other regional illnesses.
When the mobile unit from the Mission Hospital goes out into the surrounding villages, they accompany the unit to take blood samples for plating and analysis. This will enable them to determine diseases and then subsequent treatment when the unit goes back to the villages visited.

Greetings from Macha !!
Some of you have wondered where we are actually located. Well, for those of you that are inquisitive, here are a couple of pictures to give you some idea where Macha, Zambia is located and where in the village our house and MICS are located. (click on the images to see larger size pictures, then just click "back" on your browser to return to the original blog view)
The turn off to Macha is just north of the Village of Choma on the main road from Livingstone to the Capital City of Lusaka. The google Map shows that we are about 70 km. to the north-west of Choma. The blue line on the view is the road from Livingstone to Lusaka and on to the north.
The aerial photo shows our house with the box around it and MICS (the new school) with the oval around it. The Malaria Institute In Macha (MIAM) complex is at the left of the picture and the overall view from the plane is toward the northwest. The road off to the top right of the picture heads out toward the ABFA (All Blessings From Above) airstrip, where the new school campus, Flying Mission dwellings and the headquarters for LinkNet will be located, starting next year.

We miss you all and extend an open invitation to anyone wanting a change of pace from "city life" for a while. The Macha Bed and Breakfast is always open!

We as Americans take so much for granted. Such as the small children knowing about "Valentines". It is interesting when it has to be explained to kids that "Valentines" (when colored) are not green or brown or yellow. Or maybe in the "bush" they are !!
The children of MICS had a "Big Day" on Valentines Day. They did their coloring, came to the house to frost and eat "Valentine Cookies" and even watch a "VeggieTales" video. All this before going back to the classroom for their treat bags and finally climbing on the back of a "bakkie" for a field trip to the airport. It just so happened that Macha had visitors from South Africa on Tuesday, and it was the first time that a twin-engine plane landed at "ABFA International" (All Blessings From Above).

Last Sunday was another rainy day. We went to the local BIC Church, because they are the ones who started the Mission Station in Macha 100 years ago.
Each Sunday that we have attended, numerous groups have a time of singing. The picture inside the Church is of one of the groups from the Macha Girl's Boarding School. They attend and sing each Sunday.
After church, it was starting to rain, so the "freeway traffic" was a little slow and congested on the way home. (As can be seen in the picture of the "long Blue Line".
Because our car is still in the shop in Lusaka, we have walked to whatever is going on in Macha. Not that auto travel in the village is necessary.

This month at MICS the children are learning and hearing about a favorite author.....Dr. Seuss. They are listening to the reading of his books during "Story Time". Friday, they went on a field trip to "our house" to watch the Dr. Seuss video "Green Eggs and Ham", after which they participated in cracking open eggs for a snack of both yellow scrambled eggs and "green scrambled eggs". All of the students ate all of both types of their eggs and also had a cookie that Mrs. Moono made for the occasion.

November to March is the rainy season in Zambia. This year we have had plenty. When it is raining, the soil is like grease when walking and driving. The other day Ben Sakala decided to take a shortcut down a narrow pathnext to the school, and ......... You guessed it! STUCK!!!! It took six men pushing and me driving to get the truck out. The reason I was driving was that when I tried to explain "rocking instead of flooring it" "like in snow" no one could relate. Finally, we went in reverse, with the men periodically lifting the back of the truck away from the bushes to keep from wiping them out.

We went to the local market to be shown where to purchase certain items. Mrs. Grace was our shopping-guide. The attached photos show the local extended-WalMart and us after our purchases.
We purchased some items for Mrs. Moono to "adequately prepare" our meals and also needed to get some pails for washing and collecting trash. Mrs. Grace showed us where we could buy onions and potatoes. We got four small onions for "one pin" (which is 1000 Kwacha) and four small potatoes, also for "one pin". These were purchased in the open part of the market.
Then we went to find some pails. Ronda wanted two blue pails, one for at home and one for at school, and two blue larger buckets, to be used as trash buckets at home and school. Here was where the fun began. The shop we went in was very dark, in contrast to the bright sunshine outdoors, so it took a little time for our eyes to adjust. Once we could see, there were clothes and items hanging from the ceiling and many things behind the counter. Getting the two small pails was no problem, there is a good turn-over in these. However, the demand for the larger "Blue Buckets" is not as great, so they had to scurry around to find a second "Blue Bucket". Once found there was more commotion in the back of the shop. Come to find out, the last large bucket must have been there for some time, because they had to clean out the remains of a dead rat (not recently deceased) before it could be sold.
We got our treasures and Ronda snapped the picture of Mrs.Grace, Gil with the "treasures" and Mrs. Sakala, with some of the market in the background.

MICS (Macha Innovative Community School) is now a reality. Today (Wed. 1Feb2006) was the first day of class. We started the year with 7 students in 1st Grade and Hope Sakala in 3rd Grade. Several parents came as school was letting out, indicating that they would also be enrolling their children. We will see what tomorrow brings. The day starts out with Chapel/Devotions, then Bible, followed by Phonics, Writing, Story Time, Numbers, Phonics Review and Language Enrichment.
The photo was taken during Story Time.

We are making progress on the classroom. There are new bookshelves and tables being built as we speak. The classroom is in need of painting, but it seems that paint is hard to come by at this time, so we will just have to wait on that part. We are having a meeting tomorrow with the parents and some of the local leaders. Hopefully we will get things set for registration. We are planning to start school on Feb 1st...only a couple days away!

Thank you for all the prayers and words of encouragement.

Please check back often for news and updates from Macha

Just wanted to let you know that we finally made it back to Macha. We ended up flying back, but we were delayed a couple of times due to the weather. It eventually cleared up just enough for us to take off and land safely. We left our car in Lusaka (the capitol city) for some repairs and new tires. Gil will be returning to Lusaka tomorrow (with Ben Sakala and his truck) to bring back some of the items that we purchased at the estate sale. I can't wait to get everything set up in our new home. We will post pictures when we get things organized.
The rains never seem to stop. It has been so dry in Botswana for the past couple of years, we are not used to this much rain...but they have needed it. This picture is of one of the roads here in Macha....talk about an off-road bike adventure! Not all the roads are flooded, this one just happens to have an overflowing creek run past it.

Hi Everyone

WOW.....God is so good!!!! He is so faithful!!!! He always blows me away when he does not only give me what I need but he gives me the desires of my heart. He opened His hand and the blessing just poured out!

Ever since I knew that I would be moving to Macha I had been thinking about decorating my house in Macha to make it my home. I had some dreams as I may have watched too many decorating shows when I was home for Christmas. I prayed for things for the house and then the week we left we found out that we would be running a guest house...I thought I would need allot more stuff and had no clue where I would get stuff.......who cares what it looked like at that point ...getting it (anything) would be a problem.....so I thought!

Well, on with the story. I prayed for some things.Since I have had lots of experience second hand shopping I learned a long time ago to pray specifically for what I needed.....most often I would find exactly what I needed and had asked for. When I started praying for the Macha things there was Sooooooooooo Macha to pray for as we had nothing. Everything we had in Botswana was the schools. I started to pray very specifically. I decided I would like to decorate in an Africa motif and I thought a brown couch would be nice God.....and I would like white dishes if possible God. I would be happy with any dishes but white would be nice(-; Also all of you know I LOVE giraffes. Well, yesterday we went to an estate sale at a missionary couple's house that can not get their work permits extended and must return to the US. You will never believe this!!!!!!!!! We walked in and there before my eyes was a three piece lounge suite in brown with a wooden frame. with quite over stuffed pillows.......curtains with hand painted giraffe valances!!!!! and then I proceeded to the dining room to find a set of white dishes from Montgomery Wards and a set of cutlery that was almost like the new stuff I had just gotten for the flat at TDS last year. Now that did NOT happen by chance!!!

We were also able to get many many other things that I need to run a guest house....or even a house just for us!!! shelves, single bedroom set, coffee pot, bread maker, pots and pans, bikes ( the only way to travel in Macha) and this will blow your mind....... we got a washer and dryer! Now we only have water in the am and pm, but it will work and electricity varies but it can be on for several days in a row. I decided that after the towels did not dry for two days in the rains I needed a machine that would spin the water out and a dryer for the towels and sheets of the guests.

We also got a white board on an easel......coolers for our food when we travel back and forth to Lusaka to grocery shop and the list goes on. I think you get the picture!!!!!

We are so unworthy and feel so blessed to have So Macha to start with!!!!!! Praise the Lord SO MACHA with us!

We will finish our food shopping today...fly to Macha tomorrow and then I will have to start getting ready for school. We will have a meeting on Friday at 4 with parents. So Mid and I will get the room ready even if it is not painted and the furniture is not made ....we will make it work!! Skip will get Ben Sakala and they will have to come to Lusaka a few times to get the stuff as Ben has a truck. Sue and Joel may bring a trailer load ....and we will be set!! The car will go to the doc on Tuesday and will take a week or two to get fixed....and get new tires.

Our time in the US was wonderful. Although it went by quickly, we were able to spend quality time with family and friends. Our first stop, on our return to Africa was Botswana, our home for the past 8 years. Ronda helped with some teacher training for the new school year and Gil got the computer lab set up for the students to continue their classes. We then packed up some of our remaining things and headed out on the journey to Zambia. We reached Macha, Zambia on Sunday Jan 15th. We arrived to wonderful news! The mission hospital has generously offered to let us stay in one of the vacant houses that is reserved for visiting doctors and their families. It is an answer to prayer, as we were unsure of what our housing situation would be. We now have a 4 bedroom home, with running water and electricity...Macha Room!
Our house is already getting plenty of use (it is the Macha Bed and Breakfast!) We already have several guests. Gertjan's father and uncle are here for the month. They are helping with the architectural design and fundraising for the school (MICS) and many of the other projects happening in Macha. Our other guest is Richard, he is with Flying Mission (based in Botswana) he is here to help with the computer network and some new projects that will provide the internet to the surrounding villages (LinkNet). We were hoping to have a visit from a team of short term missionaries. Greg and Kathy Smith (friends of ours from when we lived in Menomonie, WI) have brought a group of people from Wisconsin to Zambia. Unfortunately the heavy rains made travel difficult and they were not able to make the trip to Macha.
Progress on the school (MICS) is moving along. The class room is being set up and we are getting very excited. We are currently working with the government to get the school registered. We are planning to meet with the parents next week about registration and other details.
Thank you for all your prayers and words of encouragement. The Lord has truly blessed us and is doing wonderful things here in Macha. We want to take this opportunity to invite you all to come for a visit, since we now have Macha Room in our wonderful new home.