WaterAfrica Presentation: Jennifer

Here is the clip from my portion of WaterAfrica's October 21 presentation:

 

I'll be putting together the rest of the clips and loading them to WaterAfrica's site over the next few days.

Today is BlogAction Day

The topic is Water. 5,000+ bloggers in 140 countries around the world writing about Water.

From the BlogAction site this evening: "Blog Action Day is an annual event held every October 15 that unites the world’s bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day with the aim of sparking a global discussion and driving collective action."

You'd think I could write about water today too. But instead, I used up my brain working on WaterAfrica presentation materials. 

 

So. For my BlogAction Water post.....I invite you to join us at Lake Grove Presbyterian Church next Thursday evening, 7pm. Lots more Water talk then.

My Friend....

I hit a creative slump this week and I need to get past it because our WaterAfrica Zambia trip presentation is October 21. I am supposed to have the media pieces to rough draft form by our planning meeting next Wednesday night. I needed to prime the pump. And so I spent the afternoon putting together a bit of my own story:

 

Untangling a Moment....of Blessing

My twitter feed just ran this from Rich Stearns : "Our charge is to both proclaim and embody the gospel so that others can hear, see, and feel God's love in tangible ways."

I have one more story to write for this blog. It fits because it's about my trip. It fits because it's a story about God's love, care, and purpose blasted into my consciousness with fantastic drama and tangibility. That's been the point of this blog....to tell God's story as it weaves through the details of my life. Particularly as those details carried me to Africa and back.

During my lengthy writing silence here I've often wondered what to do with this blog. I could take it down. But people are still reading it. I could keep writing. But I don't want to bait and switch. People came/come to read about my trip. They don't come to read the random jottings of a stay at home mom. Then again, not many people are coming. That's what not writing will do to a blog. So I guess it's a good time to bend the path a bit. I've got that "one more story" but I'm going to write about something else first.

A couple days ago I wrote to Rute and included pictures from our visit this summer:

David, the boys, and I pray for this little girl and her family every day. They are never far from our hearts and conversations. As the result of a series of life-changing events, choices, and miracles, I found myself in this African village on this August morning. Across the years, the memories, and the miles I came to this moment in time.

And now I am working to untangle the memory.

A couple days ago Jars of Clay released an album with a final song titled Benediction. You can listen to it here.

The lyrics:

Go into the world
Showing how much He loves you
Walk in the world
In merciful ways, He loves you
He loves you

Emmanuel on earth

Yours is the body, the hands and the feet
And Yours are the eyes to look compassionately
To bless you and me, bless you and me
He will bless you and me

Go into the world
Showing how much He loves you
Walk in the world
In meaningful ways, He loves you
He loves you

Emmanuel on earth
God with us on earth

Yours is the body, the hands and the feet
And Yours are the eyes to look compassionately
To bless you and me, bless you and me
He will bless you and me

To bless you and me, bless you and me
To bless you and me

Go into the world
Showing how much He loves you

_____

Yesterday I was listening to Mark 6 (MSG)--

The apostles then rendezvoused with Jesus and reported on all that they had done and taught. Jesus said, "Come off by yourselves, let's take a break and get a little rest." For there was constant coming and going. They didn't even have time to eat.

So they got in the boat and went off to a remote place by themselves. Someone saw them going and the word got around. From the surrounding towns people went out on foot, running, and got there ahead of them. When Jesus arrived, he saw this huge crowd. At the sight of them, his heart broke--like sheep without a shepherd they were. He went right to work teaching them.

When his disciples thought this had gone on long enough--it was now quite late in the day--they interrupted. "We are a long way out in the country, and it's very late. Pronounce a benediction and send these folks off so they can get some supper."

Jesus said, "You do it. Fix supper for them."

_____

Pronounce a benediction...A blessing.....Send these folks off....let's get on with the details of our lives.

No. You do it.

BE the blessing.

That's what I heard.

And the crazy, mysterious thing is....across years and memories and miles, in a moment of proclaiming and embodying the love of Christ to this little girl....I looked into the eyes of Emmanuel on earth. 

Welcome!

I started this blog with the intention of telling family and friends about my trip to Africa. But from the very beginning the story came out bigger than that...I don't know how long I'll write and where the stories are going exactly, but you are welcome to follow along wherever this road takes me. 

If this is your first time here, my Mom would tell you to start from the beginning. The blog reads backward with the most recent posts feeding first. So you'll have to scroll to the bottom, or click through the daily archives over at the right.

The cliffnotes--I'm a trained elementary school teacher, but 5 years ago I had a traumatic brain injury as the result of a dramatic car accident. I live with lingering effects of that injury and as a result, will not likely ever teach again. The journey these five years since has often been very frustrating. Without the sustaining love of family and friends, and the grace of God, I would not be writing this story today. 

My accident story links to my relationship to WaterAfrica in surprising ways, and in August I traveled with WaterAfrica to Zambia. That's how this blog got started.

I'm frequently asked for some particular post links so here they are:

Gifts from the Broken Jar

Our wrecked van & the van in Choma

The OVC (orphans and vulnerable children) visit

Winding, Nearly Impassable Roads

Late summer turns to fall. School supplies....teachers back in the classrooms....all the imaginations and dreams for a new year of possibilities. For the first time in five years I realize that I'm okay not being there.

After my accident, one of the first books I worked my way through was Gifts from the Broken Jar, by PJ Long. She's also a head injury survivor and her story resonates...."I don't mind so much the dumb things I say or do now, probably because they no longer represent a loss of self. Of course, I use a lot of strategies effectively to function now, and that certainly makes things better. But something else has changed too: At one time each mishap was not only embarrassing, inconvenient, or dangerous--it was also an arrow piercing the lost self I was grieving. The arrows are gone now. Maybe that's why things seem better" (218-219).

I have plenty of inconvenient stories. And I have lots of angry stories....most of the inconvenient stories are attached to angry stories. And I live with strategies that help me function effectively now--most importantly, the support of my husband and family. They knew me before. They know me now. And they help hold the pieces together. 

What does this brain injury rant have to do with my trip? It's not a straight line, but here's what I've been thinking about......

Money. I haven't told you about the piles of kwacha I got in exchange for my US dollars. A 20,000 bill in kwacha is roughly $4. I had a few 50,000 bills, but most of them were 20,000 when I left the exchange agency. That's a literal pile. 

Here's the problem. My brain can be a logistical nightmare. I don't multi-task very well because I don't have a good filter to efficiently block out unnecessary information. Relying on mental math (never a strength) to convert money and looking through piles of unfamiliar denominations to make successful transactions....these are things I rely on David to manage for me now. When we travel, he's the one who takes care of the hotel details, the flight details, the car details.....I just follow him. If I dig deep, I can do these things. But it takes A LOT of energy.

So, there I was on this crazy adventure--flying halfway around the world by myself. Being handed piles of unfamiliar money and setting off to live 10 days without my support systems in place.

And the point of this winding, nearly impassable story.....God is in the details.

I was given several financial gifts to help me make this trip. One of them came anonymously just a couple weeks before I was scheduled to fly. And it was specifically earmarked for my hotel costs while I traveled Zambia. As I tell my story I'm consistently seeing how grateful I am for the various gifts from people along the way and I see God working in the details. Because this particular gift was anonymous I can't send thanks, but I can tell the story.....

The money itself was a tremendous gift because my trip wasn't anywhere in our budget. The money was a further gift because it meant LuAnn played David's role. She checked me in and out of hotels. She told me what I owed and when. She pointed me in the right direction when I couldn't remember which room I just came out of and which room I needed to return to. She'll surely tell you how little thinking I actually do for myself and if she won't, David will. But the story is....what a gift in the details! I will be ever grateful to LuAnn for graciously keeping track of me and to my donor who got me off the detail hook without knowing it. 

It was a fabulous trip. I have no idea where my road goes from here, but for the first time in 5 years, I'm okay with staying home from school....those arrows are gone. God is in the details of the winding, nearly impassable roads......

  

At the end of the road 2.....

WaterAfrica went to Africa because of water. Water is a gateway to life, health, production, education, and hope for the future. Because of our partnership, World Vision orchestrated this trip so we could see what has been done, what is being done, and what still needs to be done. 

Our first day in the field promised to be filled with joy and inspiration. Even as we were realizing the realities of village life, we were seeing the transformation that water brings. Our first stop was in Magoye ADP where 2 years earlier, our team had seen the great need for safe, accessible water. We joined Endless and her community to celebrate the arrival of clean water and all its possibilities.

We rode that high into the afternoon with a stop at a drilling site. WaterAfrica's fundraising helps support the new drill rig for World Vision's ZWASH (Zambia Water and Sanitation Hygiene) program. We had come to see the team in action! 

We arrived after the drill team had done the boring work....setting up and drilling the initial depths where no water was yet expected. When we showed up, anticipation was high. We unloaded from our vehicles and eagerly came alongside the gathered community.

Being on WaterAfrica's communication team, I expected this stop to be a highlight for me. But I had a personal investment as well. I tell the story too often, and I can never get it right.....

Four years ago, when David and I chose to give money from our accident settlement to WaterAfrica, we knew the theory of lifechanging water and we never debated the gift, but it was mostly just money and values as we handed Bill that check. Several months--and a lot of head injury anguish--later I was sitting at a presentation at our church listening to the report from a "Go-Team" which had recently been in Zambia. They were alive with details about their visit to a drilling site where, after much drama and prayer, they had seen water spring forth! It was a fantastic story. For me, it was a life-changing story. 

Emotion choked me as I sat and looked up at the slideshow pictures of kids around that water hole. It felt like everything crashed in on me in that moment. Our gift was no longer theory and values. My life was so frustratingly NOT what I wanted it to be. And yet, out of my life came hope for kids like these. It was an experience I can never describe accurately. An experience I'm often embarrassed to talk about. An experience that still mysteriously crashes in on me as I continue to realize "what you meant for evil, God meant for good".

And here I was in Zambia four years later.....Waiting and watching for water to spring forth from that dry, dusty ground.

Waiting and watching is what we did. I have a lot of video footage to prove our high hopes and expectations. Any minute now....water would flow! I'll save the technicalities of the process for another place, but the watching and the waiting.....you can imagine:

 

 

You may already know the rest of the story. Or you may be suspicious because you haven't seen any of my video footage yet........The truth is, the watching and the waiting didn't seem to have an end. The excitement turned to boredom. The kids went to play in the field. Judy and Georganne went to play with the kids. I would have gone to play with the kids too, but I was watching and waiting. And filming.

The boredom turned to discouragement. The drill team had unsuccessfully drilled for this same community just two days earlier. This was the 22nd well that the ZWASH team had drilled with the new rig. Only two had been dry, but this was about to become the third. 

WaterAfrica had come to Africa to see water. And there wasn't water. 

With a two hour drive still ahead of us that evening, we had run out of watching and waiting time. The drill team had nearly run out of hope. Water had been expected at 54 meters. They had drilled 57 meters. 

We gathered to say goodbye. And to pray together.....with disappointed hearts still recognizing that God, in his infinite wisdom, knew exactly what was needed.

 

 

We left. And drove maybe 30 minutes back to the main road. Where we received the text--The drillers had continued on to 64 meters. And found water!!

It was exactly what was needed. The work in Africa is ultimately not about us. God depends on us to do our part. We had raised awareness. We had raised funds. And we will continue to do that. But it is God who transforms lives.  

At the end of the road.....God IS