It is December! Buy me a....?

   I love December!  I love the festive focus that permeates our culture.  I love giving.  I love sharing time with friends, I love the desire to create a time of celebration.  Can you imagine not having a time set aside time to focus on others or significant spiritual truths?  How sad and boring our lives would be!

Oh, do not get me wrong, the materialism, the greed, the focus on accumulating more 'stuff' is not ignored or missed or even endorsed.  I so do not enjoy that aspect of this season.   The desire to remove Jesus Christ from the mix because 'He' is found offensive or irrelevant  also hits my radar.   However, that does not deter me from celebrating, giving and delighting in what is important.   Why should I allow those who are self absorbed rob me and those around me of the true joy found in the true meaning of Christmas?

Perhaps you are asking yourself where is she going with this train of thought, given my focus in this blog has been on Zambia.  Well, since the question is raised, the answer is in giving.   How many of you are asked what you want for Christmas?   You are stumped!  You have the electronic gadgets that you 'need'.  You have clothes on your back, your closets are full to capacity.  You have food for your table.  You have 'stuff' crammed in closets, garage and perhaps a storage unit for your 'extra stuff'.  You have jewelry you have not worn in years from past Christmas' or you have ugly ties and sweaters that still have the tags on them from previous years.  You are flowing in the abundance of 'stuff'.  However we are still asked "What do I 'want' for Christmas?".

Step outside our affluent culture with me to this 3rd world place called Zambia.  Ask any one of them what they would like for Christmas and they would not have to think.  Water!   Food!  Medicine!  It does not get more simple that that!  They have no room for 'stuff'.   A grass hut gives shelter from night animals, sand blowing and rain.  But water, food and a chance to be or get well is a heart longing of every human being.




In this blog I want you to begin to think of 'not' accumulating more 'stuff' for you, your children, your grandchildren, your bosses or .... but give a gift of life to a child in their name.  Most of us can do both!

Today's blog is a focus on giving a goat!    A goat!   Yes a goat.   Goats give, milk, cheese, meat and perhaps a new business the one who receives it, a simple small goat will change lives.   My sarcastic bent would be encourage you to buy a goat card as gift, for that 'old goat' in your life who does not appreciate much of anything.  A child's life and family will be changed forever. :)    I know from experience that a child in your life would love that another child can live because you helped them give a goat! 

    


http://www.handsofhopeonline.org/giftcards.asp

HANDS OF HOPE (http://www.handsofhopeonline.org) can make this happen!!  Please check us out!  I LOVE this organization because there is no red tape and all of my money goes to the projects, ALL.   You can click on to the site and have a card sent to your loved one just like these above. They are beautiful cards that will not be forgotten, tossed aside or thrown away.  You will have blessed the one you have gifted and the receiver of the goat whose life may be forever changed.

Merry Christmas!

Acts 20:35 (Bible)  Lord Jesus, that He said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” 

Christmas is Coming!

It is Black Friday. Why black?  Because each retail store here in the US desires to end its year in the 'black' not in debt.  I am all for being out of debt no complaints here!   I am not at all about greed and acquiring stuff.  I am about giving, for me there is no greater joy. 

Children in America will create their list(s) and parents will scramble for the hottest toy around.  These lists are created in the midst of last years toys that are piled or stored in closets forgotten in the search for new. Black Friday millions of American shoppers will stand in line to be the first into a store to get that ultimate deal of the season. Let the games begin.

I could find no toys in Mongu!  I have two grand daughters who truly are blessed beyond description in all aspects of life.  When I travel I generally bring them back a 'present'.  That is code for 'toy'.   For when you are 4 and 6 years of age, 'toys' are the best gifts of all. :)  I told them that would bring them home a 'present'.  So you can be certain I was on the look out.

I regret missing one photo.  It was a toy....a ball made of rags.  In the pictures that follow I captured pictures of the few toys I found.    The push toy is 'hand made'.  Note too, the age of the 'child' pushing his toy.  He loved that we were interested in seeing it.  I am guessing it was his creation.

The soccer game photo below is being played with a very old, deflated ball.

At each of the villages that we visited we saw lots of children, beautiful children that delighted in just being acknowledged.   I peaked when appropriate into the many huts surrounding our visits.  Minimal is an understatement to describe the material goods of a given family.  These huts were protection from the night and the elements, they housed a few cooking utensils and little else.  Toys, a luxury beyond description.

We found this push toy when visiting a family that had a 'hammer mill' business. (Another story for another blog.)  The children were shy so they allowed Susan and Eloise 'play'.  Note what this toy was made out of.  (click on photo to enlarge). 

 

As I shop this year for my family and for those I love, my desire is to also share with those outside of the US who truly are in need.  You can't ship your toys over seas but you can contribute to a better life.  Water and food are gifts that sustain, give hope and life.  For each child you buy a gift for, consider buying a gift for a Zambian child.   http://www.handsofhopeonline.org/giftcards.asp this is one gift that won't be discarded after opening, stuffed in a closet or put in a garage sale this spring.  It is life giving.   Why don't you share this opportunity with your family and friends?  Let me know if you are 'in'!!!!!

"In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Acts 20:35 (Bible)

What Makes you Thankful?

What makes you Thankful?  Tomorrow is Thanksgiving here in the United States.  It is a legal holiday set aside for us to reflect upon the things that we hold near and dear to our hearts.  It is one of my favorite holidays.  I love the traditions that we celebrate.  I love the intentional focus of this day!  I am so blessed and God has shown such favor on my life, that I am humbled beyond words.  If everything that I have were removed from me tomorrow I still remain a very fortunate human being.  I deserve nothing that I have and to say that I am grateful seems trite.

As an American the privileges and the blessings dictate that we bless others.  As a follower of Jesus Christ, He mandated that I  'Owe no one anything except to love one another,..'.  (Bible, Romans 13:8a).   Love is not just a verb, it is an adjective and a noun.  It requires action and involvement apart from feeling.  It is a duty with great rewards. Someone benefits, always, by another's love. 

What I am discovering about me, that I am not liking so much, is that there are too many things of late, I do not like or want to do. Why is this a problem?  The problem lies in the fact that my dislikes come from the abundant blessings that have been bestowed upon me.  Stop for a minute and think about your lists of discontent.  Is it a job, laundry, cleaning your home, grocery shopping, going to a doctor, doing daily chores?  Each of these things are abundant blessings most of the world cannot experience.  I have the luxury of choice!  

As I reflect upon the state of the world, the poverty, the lack of medicine and clean water,  the wars, the abuse of people, etc.  I could become discouraged.  What can just one individual do to make a difference?  However, I have learned that one person can make a huge and wonderful difference! 

One smile can give encouragement, one random act of kindness can give hope, one selfless deed can soften a hardened heart, one financial donation can open a door for a better life.   None of these suggestions require a lot of money or even effort.  It requires thinking about someone beside yourself and acting upon it.  

The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.  
Albert Einstein

 I weary of those whose wish list is to obtain 'more' of something.  When John D. Rockefeller was asked “how much would be enough?” he answered “just a little bit more.”   "Just a little bit more..." means we are never satisfied.  In this entry my desire is to encourage you to stop long enough and think about what you have.  Can you be content?  Do you need more to make you happy?  Will you really be happy?  I am here to tell you 'stuff' and 'wealth' do not make a happy content person.  Giving back to others is where true happiness is found.

The happiest and most content people I know are those who give to others and do for others.  They do not focus on what they can get out of the arrangement but what they can do next to make another persons life better.    As you look at the photos below the pictures represent housing, health needs, shopping, indulgences such as toys, and jobs.  Do you still wish to pine and complain?

Are you stuck on how to give, how to help, how to change your focus?  Let me know :)  When we realize that life is not about us we then we soon become content.

These are very nice huts.  4 walls made of mud, the roof it thatched and the cooking is done outside over a fire pit.  The floor of the huts are sand. 

This young mother and her baby have AIDS.  Though smiling she will not see the end of 2013.

This is 'it' for a toy.  It was hand made, he was content and he was very proud to show us what he made.

This a mother shopping.  These clothes are our castoffs.  Castoffs from Good Will, Salvation Army and such.

 

After harvesting his crop, he must sell it to earn his wage.

Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink.

Today marks the birthday of my daughter Kara. She entered heaven 8 years ago at the age of 25. This year I am a bit more melancholy and teary than normal.  When someone you love dies, they never leave you. When a child goes before you, a part of you is torn from your heart.   Though you may heal to a degree of functioning without the one you lost, a scar remains forever.  Scars are reminders of a wound that healed, but a memory of pain that has left its mark. 

I became a part of Hands of Hope (handsofhopeonline.org) because of a water project several years ago.  The thought of not having water to drink hit a very big chord with me.  Water, apart from air it is the most critical element of life. A healthy child's body is 77% water!  Adults percentage drops just a bit but it is always over 50%!   

Water is what kept Kara alive for many years.  She was severe diabetic with blood sugar levels for several years averaging 500-800.  Water, water, water was what she craved.  She drank it, she had it pumped into her with saline solutions and electrolytes  but water was the critical life link. 

When I became aware of how precious and scarce water is to so much of the world I wept.   Kara would have died by the age of 10 or 11 had she lived outside the western world.  She had plenty of water. Water, clean fresh water, she had only to ask and it was there for her.  How blessed and fortunate for us to live here where we could meet that one simple, vital need for her. 

With knowledge comes responsibility.  How could we just put our blessings on a shelf and ignore that  'Kara's' in other parts of the world needed this vital element of life.  Typhoid, diphtheria, malaria and a myriad of other water born diseases are killing children daily!  Mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers too, mourn the loss of a family member and in their situations clean water could have avoided these deaths.

Beginning today, should you choose to follow my blogs, making people aware of the needs for wells will be a resounding message, theme and plea.  Right now my focus for wells is in the Western Provence of Zambia.  The need is world wide but I cannot affect the whole world, so I will focus here.

One well that will give a village fresh water costs mere $5000!  My mission is get money for 8 wells this year, 2012. Why 8?  Because it is cost efficient to dig more than one well at a time and this number just scratches the surface of the need.   10 is the target # we have money currently for 2.   

It is such a simple mission.  If 100 people donate $50.00 a village can get a well!  That is all!   My personal mission is to have at least 2 'Kara's Well' sites.   What I would love to see happen,  is if a neighborhood, a youth group, a scout troop, a diabetes support group or ??, help me raise money for your own well.  You will get a plaque, it is yours to honor someone you love.  You will know where your well exists, you will know that you have helped to keep people alive!  When I go back next year I will show you 'your well'.   What do you think? 

Spend a few minutes contemplating these pictures. I am forever changed having watched this water collection unfold.  This could be your daughter, niece, your sister.  When you give a well you give a beginning to life.  
 

We cannot all do great things but we can do small things with great love. -- Mother Theresa

Interested?  I do hope so.  You can go on line and give (handsofhopeonline.org)  If you want to get your own well, let me know!  Is there someone you want to remember by giving life to another? Christmas is a great time to give this gift. Bring your family into the process. 

Every dollar you give will go to the well project!  We have no employees or buildings here in the US.  We have no overhead.  It is awesome.  Will you pass this plea on?  Will you join me in providing such a simple but dire need to others just like this little girl?  

Thank you for taking the time to read this and allow me to share such profound and life changing moments.  I am responsible to share what I have seen and engage others to join in helping to change the lives who have no hope without our help.  If you want to help with the "Kara's Well" project that too would be a gift.  This is a mission I must fulfill.  I cannot do it alone but $50+ from lots of people will get the 10 wells dug by summer.  :)

For it is in giving that we receive.  Saint Francis of Assisi

Vera Bradley goes to Mongu!

Grocery Shopping in Mongu! Product from a loan recipient.

It has been a month since my last entry.  The pace of my life is hectic but never boring,  busy but rarely mundane and generally full of some unplanned experience that give me too many life lessons.  This past month can be defined this way however,  I cannot let 'life' distract me.  I want to get back to Mongu, Zambia.

Once again I peel off a different layer of my Zambian experiences.   There were multiple adventures in a given day.  8 days of so many facets. I personally needed more time to 'slowly' absorb all that was unfolding before me.   The people are incredible, longing to survive and have hope.  As I dissect what I discovered, hopefully I will cast a vision for someone to help me, as I desire to help others. These forgotten overlooked people are worth fighting for!

As we prepared to leave for Zamiba, we collected many, many gifts to bring for those we were going to visit and encourage.  Sharing this next story is such fun!  Today's post is wonderfully random. Vera Bradley goes to Mongu! We will not be in the bush today! 
  
Vera Bradley for those of you who do not know the name is a designer of cloth handbags, totes, pocket books, stationary, etc. etc. etc.  You only find her stores in upscale malls or perhaps on line.  She has a huge presence in the western world.   Each season the fabric and some of the styles change.   For the die hard Vera groupies to be caught with last years 'anything' is a fashion 'no no'!  I have no clue if Vera Bradley is still alive, but her following is and is going strong. 

A week before we left the US,  I happened to be at a mall hosting their annual Side Walk Sales.  The weather was perfect for such an event and by all appearances the stores were selling a great deal of product this day.  Vera Bradley's venue was particularly busy.  It reminded me of an I Love Lucy sitcom.  The ladies were frantically going through the bins and tubs of overstocked Vera. This was a sale not to be missed!

Watching this sale frenzy unfold, my Hands of Hope mentor and friend's voice jumped into my head, "You never know if someone will give you anything unless you ask!" Armed with excitement and fortitude I walked through the maze of very determined shoppers and asked to speak with the manager! The manager no less on Side Walk Sale madness day!  To my surprise and delight she gave  me 10 VB bags to gift start up business women in Africa!  She shared that Vera Bradley loved to give to these types of projects. With these great bags in hand, I was excited to head off to this unknown place called Mongu! 

Below are 'our ladies'!  Woman who now run a business because of generous, caring people that provide funds through Hands of Hope for small loans!

Isn't she beautiful?  Her radiance and her excitement were felt the moment we met her.  I wish I had caught her name. Getting African women to smile is quite hard.  As you see the smiles on these faces know it was from the heart. :)

 The four ladies on the left, borrowed money from our micro finance loan project. They each have a kiosk in the market and are thriving They actually work side by side!

This lady was giddy with the receiving of her gift!  A treasure! However, her real joy in
meeting us was that she had a chance to earn a living! 

Eloise, Susan, our merchant and m

This lady's kiosk is small however, she has one of the first shops as we entered the market.  These photo's do not capture the excitement and surprise at meeting us, her benefactors and then to receive a gift.

 Hands of Hope (Barrington,IL)  provides micro finance loans to help Zambian women move out of poverty, give them a skill and a life purpose!  Witnessing first hand, the fruits of our effort here was truly a joy and a delight.  We were able to gift our 'business women' with Vera Bradley bags.  Oh, they have no idea who Vera is but, they loved the gift and the beautiful bright colors of the bags.  What they loved even more was a chance to live! 

Consider this, the next time you 'bless' yourself with that 'must have' item, why don't you set aside a little bit more money and bless another person who would love a better life?    Hands of Hope ( (http://www.handsofhopeonline.org/) )

The value of a man resides in what he gives and not in what he is capable of receiving. Albert Einstein

P.S.  I found this Vera Bradley note set on the desk off one of the pastors the day we were leaving Mongu.  Way to go Vera you have made your presence known around the world. :) :)

 

Death and Hope

3 of my children, Ryan, Becky & Kara.

How do you share these two thoughts in a blog that would draw the reader into grasping both aspects of life? Why would I want to do this?

Today is the anniversary of my daughters death,  September 13, 2004.  This day is as fresh in my mind as if it had just happened.  She was 25 years old and loved life.

A major portion of her life was spent in hospitals, fighting to stay alive. I was with her when she died and in spite of the incredible medical technology and a great medical staff she left this world. Gone in the blink of an eye.

I am a mother who lost daughter.  I am not the only mother that has lost a child or even children.  There is a very large sorority that know of this sad experience.  Since the beginning of time losing a child has been a heartache shared by too many.  However, when one is touched by this type of tragedy our hearts should become tender and bonded with others who know this pain. Our sad hearts should reach out to others who need comfort.   Bitterness and anger can keep you trapped and the days of life you have left to live are wasted and most likely miserable.  God numbers each of our days and I intend to make each day count.   Memories of Kara remain close to my heart but walking life's paths with a desire to give others hope of a better life on this side of heaven, gives me delight and pleasure!

 I shared yesterday that the AIDS epidemic in Zambia takes 27% of the people. Typhoid, Malaria, Yellow Fever are just a few diseases that add to this AIDS issue.  It is very sad to think about the losses these people experience. These orphans in this photo are actually the fortunate ones, they have a place to stay, they are fed and they go to school. Death has stripped them of their families but because others care they are given a chance to live, grow and change their world. They are a rare minority. 

I live in the Midwestern part of the US.  I am often in very small towns and as you enter or exit these towns, cemeteries are a very distinct and an important part of the town.  Plots of land with markers for the people who have been buried there, can be seen from the two lane highway. More often than not a church is next to these places of rest.   Some cemeteries are several hundred years old. They are a documentation of a life, its beginning and its end.  These dates are important to those who are left behind. The tomb stone's indicate that this person was important to someone, they lived, they died and someone cared about them.  I find them to be places of reflection and peace. It is a place to grasp the brevity of life and to count my blessings.  It is a place for me to pray with out interruptions.

In Zambia I did not see any cemeteries.  Why would you care some would ask?  Of all the things to think about or to see on the trip, why would you even go down this path?  I am glad you asked.   Life is very important to me and my desire to be part of helping another live a healthy life, stems from having a loved one die so young and being with those who have suffered.   In her memory I choose to help give life. Soon I will share that 'hope' with you.


When a Zambian dies in the Western Provence they are buried almost immediately.  If a family can afford a simple wooden coffin their loved one rests there.  More times than not they are wrapped in a blanket and then in a straw mat before they are buried.  I shared that I did not see cemeteries, places marked with tomb stones of some sort.  However, I am guessing that in a village there is a place where those who die are buried. A place that one's earthly body is put to rest.  Monuments to ones life, as we know them, are most likely not to be found.  Poverty would limit this and death is so pervasive that permanent grave markers are not in abundance. I will find out more about this on my next trip, not because I want to focus on those who have died but to learn how people remember those loved ones who are no longer here. Those we love who have died, are not forgotten and should be remembered,  A loved one who has died is not forgotten.

Hands of Hope brings a hope of a better life in many forms.  Water is where it all begins.  Kara was a severe diabetic.  Water was like air to her, too many days of her life.  When her blood sugars were so very high her thirst could not be quenched.  I shared in my last post had she lived in the Western  Provence of Zambia she would have died by the age of 10.  Just the very dirty water would have caused her death.

 

Kara's life was short but she was a delight to those who knew her.  Her need for good, clean water made my Zambian experience all the more emotional as I was forced to see  how precious water is here. Placing myself as mother with a child who needed water more than food, in a country where water is a treasure and not a passing convenience, pushed me to  help these people to obtain a very basic need of life, clean pure water.  You WILL read more about this in blogs to come ;)  I promise. :) for me this message is a critical one to share.

Water is where all other help in a community begins.  Hands of Hope has plans to dig more wells. Money for 10 wells is needed before we can bring in the equipment to dig them.  Right now we have money for 2.   A well in this area costs $5000 to place in a village. An entire village is helped by one simple well. Diseases contracted by dirty water are drastically reduced and that is just the beginning.

 As I close this entry, I want you the reader to get yourself a glass of clean pure water.  Sip it, savor it and then thank the Lord for this blessing you have just tasted.  You won't get sick.  You did not have to get your water from the river pictured above, nor did you  have to walk 5+ miles to acquire it.  You did not have to carry a 40lb jug on your head back the 5+ miles to get it to your home. You just walked over to your sink, or your refrigerator and this life giving beverage was yours.  In the next 24 hours you will probably take a shower or a bath, this water too will be clean and plentiful.  I ask that you relish this blessing for it is rare in most of the world.  These children whose picture is just above reflect the joy we each should have as we list incredible blessings in our lives.  Water being one of the most important.

Filthy Water Cannot Be Washed - African Proverb

Health and Hope

Today's blog is a bit heavy.  It deals with life and death.  If these issues were not so prevalent in the Western Provence of Zambia, Hands of Hope would be in a different country.  There are many countries that need help.  Hands of Hope cannot be everywhere but since we are here we strive to make a difference in the lives of a few. Not just a difference today or this year but help these people become independent and move from their abject poverty.

This week marks the 8th anniversary of my daughter dying.  She was a beautiful 25 year old, who fought to live.  She was a diabetic that had issues many of which the top doctors in the US could not fix in the long run.  She had incredible medical care, state of the art hospitals, an incredible family support system and a strong faith in Jesus Christ.  She still died, as we all will some day.  Though I miss her so very much, I want to share the message of hope in helping those who have no one to care for them as Kara did. 

What Kara experienced is so far removed from the people in the Western Provence of Zambia.    Had she lived in Zambia she would have died by the age of 10. Hospitals as we know them do not exist.  Medical care as we know it, is impossible to access if you live in Zambia.  Even the poorest American has hope and access to medical help.  Of course there is no perfect system and nothing is free, someone is paying for care, here it is the tax system and government but here in the US help can be obtained.  You as an ordinary American are in a very, very good place. 

I am going to write two, maybe three blogs this week about health care, Kara, death and Zambia.  My purpose will not be to have you feel sorry for me, or our family.  My post today may help you embrace the hope and the help that can come by just a few people desiring to make a difference in another persons life. 

This young mother has Aids and her little baby is quite ill.

Zambia's Aids epidemic is at 27%.  If you are from a family of 4, someone you love would be taken from you because of Aids. Besides Aids, these people just like you and me get sick.  Malaria, typhoid fever, parasites, are rampant because their water is dirty!  Women have trouble delivering babies with no one to help them, their babies will die and if they live they are messed up inside.  Children fall and break bones with no one to set them.  The list of problems continues, the need remains the same, no medical help.  Today I want to share what medical facilities look like in the Western Provence in the villages.

This little boy and little girl are orphans.  They live at an orphanage.  A pastor who shares in this problem of orphans shared that he has a church numbering 600.  500 are children.  He does not know what to do.

 I will be honest and admit I did not get to see a hospital, though there is one in Mongu.  I do know that like all 3rd world countries it is one we would not want to be sent to.  The patients bring their own bedding and food, just for starters, there are no subsidies.  With this system you get bugs, germs and more problems.

Below is a 'clinic' built by one of the villages that a well through Hands of Hope had been placed in.  These people were so excited to show us this 'clinic'.  When a medical person comes to this clinic, people are examined, babies are born here and for these people it is a place of help.  You decide how you would react needing to come here.

The outside of the hut looks like every other hut.  Mud bricks, straw, sand is the floor, dirty sand.  However this hut is located near the street and the well.   Below is the inside of the 'clinic'.  I am not certain why there are clothes strewn around for as I 'peeked' into other huts as I could with each village visit,  this was not typical even in a 'home'. Perhaps it is clothing for someone who may need it.

Notice the openings.  Can you imagine this during the rainy season?

The  next photos show the new clinic built by Hands of Hope!  http://www.handsofhopeonline.org/ This clinic is also in a very remote area and will be accessible to those who could not get to Mongu! The sick have to walk 10+ miles to get to Mongu!  Can you place yourself with a sick child or being in labor, or having a broken limb walking to your doctor or clinic? This new clinic is such a gift of hope and encouragement to people who have none. 

I will be eager to see it in action when I go back next time.  The government will provide medical people to the villagers.  One very exciting component that sprang from this building, a 'market' opened across the street.  The 'market' consists of just straw kiosks but sellers will provide goods and villagers will have goods a bit closer to home.   

Below is a 'new' squatty potty.  I am so not a fan of these 'out houses'.  However, this too is a gift to both the individual needing it and the community to keep human waste away from their huts.  (Doors will be added!)

Both of these 'clinics' leave a lot to be desired by our standards.  However, they each represent hope and the prospect of health coming to their village. 

As I close this simple blog, I am humbled again by the hope that these simple buildings bring to these people.  I am grateful that my daughter Kara was not born into this country. Though she died because of her issues, she was cared for on a grand scale, given a fighting chance and an extended life.  She lived many years longer because of where she was born.   I do not believe for one moment that I am superior because of the blessing of being born in the US.  However, because of where I live and the knowledge I have of others needing help, I am responsible to help the poor, the widows and the orphans.

^"If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless.  Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself un-spotted from the world."  James, Chapter 1: 26-27 (The Bible)

Health and Fitness!

Instead of comparing our lot with that of those who are more fortunate than we are, we should compare it with the lot of the great majority of our fellow men. It then appears that we are among the privileged.   Helen Keller

As I blog this Zambian adventure, I am all over the place in deciding what to share and when to share it.  I placed the quote above at the beginning of this account because, if we look at life through only the eyes of our affluent and lush society we judge harshly what others deem a luxury.  Even as I type this last statement and look again at what I am about to post, I am sharing it because of the high standards our businesses are held to. 

Several members of my  family are in training mode as they prepare for a half marathon and a 15K. Following a conversation today at our family gathering I thought I would share what fitness options are like in Mongu. I have the privilege of traveling a great deal in my business, I have stayed at many hotels and work out rooms are an important part of choosing a hotel for many people.  They can be quite simple, or beautiful state of the art facilities.  (At least that is what I am told.)

Getting and being in shape is the focus of my friends and family planning to race.  Other friends just enjoy going to gym.  After Christmas, health club marketers here in the US will have 'enticing deals'  to help us overcome the gluttony most Americans succumb to over our holidays.  For the average Zambian there is no need for gyms.  However, here in Mongu we find a 'gym' as they attempt to keep up with countries that are more developed.

If you have been following my blogs you know that the women in Africa stay strong because of manual labor.  The young mom who uses the treadle pump several hours a day to water her garden has a 'stair master'.   The woman who will walk 5 miles several times a day to fetch water in a 5 gallon container for her family.  Her weights are this container, as she hoists 40 lbs of water onto her head and then walks home.   The woman who goes to market to purchase her masa in 25-50 lb bags that she balances on her head while she is carrying her child on her back has a workout too.  The weather is always warm with an average temperature year around of 80 degrees, so a sauna time is incorporated with her daily tasks, especially in the rainy season.  She keeps her legs, calves and thighs in shape because she carries her loads and walks through deep sand.   Cars are extreme luxuries so everyone walks or bikes.

My translator and guide, during my 'adventure' day showed me the sport facility in Mongu.  I did not snap a photo of it for we drove past it too fast. It was small but it was a point of pride to have this facility.

Our hotel the Dolphin Lodge marketed their gym on the only bill board for 100's of miles.  I filed that info away on our trip in thinking hmmm this is good.   Not because I had anticipated working out but knowing that having this facility meant we were not in a hut.  The sign below made our hotel  look promising.


As I shared in a different blog our hotel was simple.  We had spent 8+ hours reaching our destination seeing hut after hut, grass and/or mud, so :) to arrive at a building such as the Dolphin Lodge was a relief.  Discovering running water, a shower and toilet that flushed were all pluses.  It was several days before I actually walked around the hotel property.  3 doors down from my room was the 'conference center', the gym and the laundry room.  There had been activity there most of the week but our schedule was packed and our down time did not exist.  I basically ignored that end of the hall.  I am a very curious individual and finally 7 days into our trip I decided that I needed to know what was beyond the end of my hallway.  Get ready for the tour.

Below are photo's of the workout area.  I am a bit of a stranger to these machines though I do know what they are for. I cannot attest to how well they worked but I do know that guests used them during our stay. (You can double click to enlarge the photos.)

The area is small and compact but I am guessing one could get a nice workout using the equipment available.  Just a few steps to my right I discovered a few more amenities.  They had shower facilities!  Now as you continue to look at these photos know that as an American these facilities would be shut down.  However, in this part of Zambia a shower facility is rare! 

Men's locker room. 

This sign below is hard to read but critical to the understanding of how important this shower is!!  The spelling and verbiage are copied as written in the note.

Notice to All

IT HAS BEEN OBSERVED THAT SOME PEOPLE HAVE A TENDENCE TO LEAVE DIRT IN OUR SHOWER.  THEREFORE BE INFORMED THAT CLEANLINESS IS GOOD FOR YOUR HEALTH.  DON’T LEAVE ANY FORM OF DIRT AFTER CATCHING A SHOWER.  PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU LEAVE IT AS CLEAN AS YOU FOUND IT.  YOUR CO-OPERATION WILL BE HIGHLY APPRECIATED.  DO NOT LEAVE MUCAS IN THE SHOWER.        BY MANAGERMENT

The inscription is printed above this photo.

This is the shower.  Is really, really bad.  Fortunately for those of us staying at the hotel our showers were clean!
                                                                                                  

This is one nasty shower!  (If you double click the photo you will get a larger picture).

Each day we had fresh sheets and one towel.  I did not think too much about this but next to the 'gym' was the laundry.  They washed our bedding on the premises and set them out to dry. House keeping here is very hard.

As I end this account today. I do not stand in judgement of what I showed to you.  I remain humbled that I am blessed to live where I do with blessings that abound on every level.