7/19 & 20/23

 Wednesday love for Lukulu. We began with morning prayer at 7 am. Breakfast immediately afterwards. After breakfast all of us went to work on a home for an elderly woman selected by the parish for a new house because the old one was falling down. 

We had fun working with the locals, Dennis and Sebastian, and a few others.

Later in the afternoon we went Chotella, a small outpost village, where we were greeted by children singing.

The “church” consisted of a stick structure with a plastic tarp covering only a portion.  This is typical for many of the churches in small villages.

After celebrating Mass we had dinner with the parish leaders and then returned home where the youth were waiting for us at the bonfire.  As this was the third night in a row for a bonfire we were all so tired that we went to bed early.

Today after morning prayer and breakfast, we split into 2 groups.  One group went back to the construction site and the other group went to St. Colomba Secondary School.  The first class that we visited was the ccmputer skills class.  Most of the computers were older with floppy disk drives and there were 3 students for each computer.

Meanwhile at the construction site, progress continued on the walls with the addition of the door frames.

Today we had extra help moving bricks from a dozen or so local children.  They were rewarded with a piece of gum.

After the computer skills class we visited the industrial arts class.  One of the things that stood out was the scarcity of tools, especially larger floor tools.  In addition, there was no safety equipment(glasses, aprons, gloves, etc.)

The open air kitchen was something else.

Mid afternoon we attended a special mass for the children.  It was moving and finished with our favorite song “Happy We Are…”. While we were busy this afternoon, a couple of the guys started the 2nd pig which looked a lot better than the first one.

7/18 Lukulu

 Our normal routine is to have mass or morning prayer and then breakfast every day.  Today after breakfast we helped with the Mother’s milk program which is one of the highlights of our mission.  

Tom made a new friend.

After the powdered milk and heps had been distributed, along with hats, gifts, etc., some of the mothers showed their gratitude with various gifts which included casaba,  peanuts, and live chickens.

Afterward we stopped at a fishing village

On our way to the old village

In the afternoon we visited the nursing school which was started in 2021 by Sister Pat and Sister Elizabeth.

Joshua was popular with the young nursing students and may not be coming home…

7/17 Lukulu

 Most of the time whenever we go anywhere on the church grounds, which we estimate are about 100 acres or more, we are surrounded by kids, especially if we start handing out candies.

We visited the district hospital this morning.

It is supposed to have 4 doctors but has only 1.  We were told that this is the only hospital to service about 120,000 people.  This facility also provides dental and optometry services.

We visited the boarding school in the afternoon and saw some familiar faces from Sunday mass.  Before dinner Tom gave Father Reagan a fishing lesson.  Unfortunately, no fish.

After dinner the youth held a bonfire and a witch doctor showed up(actually one of the youth).  It was great fun.

7/16 Lukulu

 Today we attended Sunday Mass which lasted 2 1/2 hours.  There was plenty of singing and dancing.  Those of you that have witnessed it firsthand know what a spiritual experience masses are here.  Father Christian participated in the mass including handing out communion.

After mass we decided to introduce the concept of donuts and coffee.  We purchased rolls from the bakery at the Trade Center and bottles of juice from the village.  We passed these out along with crosses as the 700 parishioners exited the church.  They very much appreciated the after church treat.

In the afternoon we interacted with the church youth group.  They taught us 2 games which we played with them.  I think they were looking for us to mess up but we managed to hold our own.  We also taught them a few games of our own.

Another new concept that we introduced this year was to have a pig roast.  We designed and built a somewhat functional pig roaster using sheet metal and a steel bed frame for the pig to lay on.

Unfortunately, the concept of low and slow is foreign here and the pig got pretty burned because the heat was too high.  We have another pig to roast and we hope to have better results.  We did manage to salvage some of the meat which is being passed out at a bonfire tonight for the youths.  

7/15 Lukulu

 This morning we visited a family where the father passed away a few months ago.  Also, the one daughter has severe arthritis and can barely walk.  The family has been struggling financially.  One of our past missionaries, Steve and LuAnne Renee, wanted to help a family and this is the one that benefited. We presented them with this monetary gift which will allow them to buy crutches for the daughter, catch up on their bills, and give them a nice start going forward.  Here we are pictured with that family.  

We then visited the leprosarium where there are two people that Love For Lukulu provides for 100% of their needs.  Agnes, who is 69, has leprosy and is a joy to be with.  She loves to dance with us when we visit as you can see in the picture below.

There is also an elderly man living here who has epilepsy.  We next visited an elderly woman whose house was previously built by Love For Lukulu.  Here she is pictured with her new blanket and warm hat.  She was thrilled.

In the afternoon we were entertained with a program of singing and dancing by the youths.  After the program we taught the children how to play musical chairs.  They had a ball.  

We are going to roast a pig tomorrow for a bonfire tomorrow night.  Since they have never done this before, they had to make a pit structure which included a steel bed frame to set the pig on over the charcoal.

7/14 Lukulu

 We apologize for not posting earlier.  We arrived after dark yesterday and we were totally wiped out after the 13+ hour drive from Lusaka.  That was after the 14 hour flight to Doha, Qatar and the 7 hour flight to Lusaka.

After breakfast(Tom and John cooked), we unloaded the 13 hockey bags of “stuff” that we brought with us.

The good news is we only lost one bag with the Airline.  The better news is they found it during our drive to Lukulu.  It should arrive tomorrow by bus.  Afterward we met with leadership of the groups that we work with to discuss and finalize our itinerary. 

In the afternoon we walked to the Lukulu Training Center to see firsthand the programs that we support.  We didn’t have to worry about wild animals as there were too many children.

The programs are Seamstress, Carpentry, Masonry, Computer Skills, Automotive Repair and Bakery.  The picture below shows the students measuring us for  

Shirts.

We visited all of the programs but here is a picture from the carpentry class.

2023 Team Is Ready

 We are all set to depart on July 10th!  We will be updating blogs and Facebook during our Mission.  Many thanks to all of our wonderful supporters!