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The dry season has started so the Harvesters (a group of young men and women from local churches supported by NWZDT) are meeting again. They alternate weeks of prayer and Bible study with traveling out to villages. There they engage in a variety of sports suitable for different ages and sexes to gather a crowd. Then, after refreshments, one of them preaches the gospel of Jesus Christ. Yesterday we went to Yambeji – about 9km from Kalene on the road to Jimbe (on the Angolan border). Please pray for these young men and women that they would be salt and light in their communities and will continue to preach Jesus clearly.
 Response to the Jesus film showing at Ikelenge.
We are also working with the local churches showing the Jesus film with the sound track dubbed into Lunda. Two Saturdays ago the Hannays went to Sahandu at the invitation of the local church to show the film. Church leaders had publicised the event and over 350 people came – the largest crowd to this point. Afterwards 15 young people came to ask about giving their lives to Jesus. On the Sunday we (the Hannays and I) were at Sahandu church where I was speaking. On the Monday a church leader came to me saying that an 18 year old man had given his life to Jesus afterwards.
Yesterday we went to Ikelenge to show the film again. The local churches had been very active in promoting the showing, putting up posters over a wide area. We estimate about 600 people were gathered under the night sky to watch the film. Afterwards about 60 young people come into the nearby church for prayer and guidance. Please pray for these young people, that Christians around them would be willing and active in discipling them and that these joint activities with local Christians would continue to be effective.
There has been an interesting collection of cases in the past two weeks. They have all come from outside Zambia and have all had major complications of lower limb fractures. One man had nails on both femurs, having broken both in the mid-shaft. Unfortunately both nails were too short and did not splint the fractures. These had to be removed and larger nails inserted. Another man had a thin nail inserted in his femur, also for a mid-shaft fracture. This nail bent and was unfortunately infected. I had to cut it at the bend to remove it – in view of the infection he is now in traction. Another man who is also in traction had a nail and wires to hold a proximal femur fracture – this was infected and all the metal work had to be removed. A lady who had had metal work inserted for a proximal femur fracture had had it removed elsewhere. Unfortunately, when she arrived at Kalene the wound was infected. I opened up the would to clean out what I thought would be pieces of dead infected bone only to lift out two swabs! Lastly, a man arrived with a shattered, infected tibia asking for it to be “fixed with metal”. He took some persuading that metal was not going to fix his leg and that he needed an amputation.
 The Harvesters meeting for prayer and Bible study. It was a special joy to meet again with the Harvesters group. During the rainy season the group had not met as the dirt roads were too difficult and no-one likes playing sport in the rain – this is essentially a dry season ministry. The group met last Saturday for the first time this season for prayer and Bible study which I was asked to lead. Some of the young men did translation with Joseph Chilambe adding explanatory comments to explain cultural differences -I am becoming much more aware of these and when further explanation is needed. This coming Saturday they meet to plan the season’s programme. I will be on-call for the hospital that day so cannot attend. Please pray for these young men and women that they may continue to be a shining example of Christianity to their communities. One young man, who is one of the most diligent attenders, travels more than 20km on foot to and from the meetings.
Peter arrived back at Kalene to catch the end of the rainy season. On the flight out to Zambia and the drive up to Nyangombe he was in the company of Gordon and Sybil McKillop. The last 100km of the drive to Kalene is over dirt roads that can be very difficult driving. This year the road was in relatively good condition – he only had to engage 4 wheel drive four times on the journey. The afternoon he arrived there was a lightning storm which took out the hydro for an hour. Since then (one week) there has been no rain so it looks like the rainy season ended with a bang.
The week since arrival has been busy with lots of patients waiting to see Peter. There has also been some challenging surgery – a girl from Chengelo school with a 30 degree bend in her leg at the upper end of her shin bone. There have also been some interesting complications to deal with – someone in Congo has orthopaedic equipment and has has been putting nails into femurs. We have had four now that are either infected, the nails too short (not holding the fracture) and sticking out of the top of the femur, or bent in the femur, hence holding the fracture in a bent position. This last one I have not operated on yet.
Tilsley College is in Motherwell, Scotland. It is the home of GLO which runs a Missions Orientation Programme in association with Echoes of Service. It had been suggested several times in the past that Isla and I attend this week long course but for a variety of reasons this had never happened until this year. We stayed with Sheila Park (Alan was in Zambia) for the week – the 17th to the 25th February. We both found the week to be very helpful. Peter in particular found the whole concept of worldview in Christian conversion to be fascinating and explained a lot of Christian behavioural disjunctions he had seen in the past. He is now reading a book on the subject (The Universe Next Door by James W. Sire) which he is finding fascinating. Isla found the contextualisation and mission and culture topics very helpful and interesting. We enjoyed being part of the college for the week, meeting the staff, students and and the other course participants. Overall we learned so much that we both think the course should be mandatory for all prospective missionaries. We also got to know a church elder from Eire who had come to learn how he might better support missionaries from a sending assembly’s point of view. We were highly impressed with his vision and would encourage others to follow his lead.
We were both in a degree of trepidation about the language aptitude test, Isla beforehand and Peter afterwards – interesting!? We await the results – if we make no further reference to them you will know that we fared poorly!
This year I was able to spend Christmas at home with Isla. Despite the long range weather forecast predicting a similar winter to last year there were no hold-ups or problems with the flights home and we has a very pleasant Christmas and New Year. Then back to the NHS for three months (13 weeks). I have always found the reverse culture shock to be worse that the culture shock. Even knowing well the differences of the UK and Zambian cultures I still struggle more with the return – we, in the UK., have so much and are so blessed to have an excellent health care system that is “free at the point of use”. My experience is that many people in practice understand this to mean “free” and do not fully appreciate what they have. The contrast with most of the rest of the world is striking.
which is the acronym for the College Of Surgeons, East, Central and Southern Africa. The conference was held in Lusaka this year and was an excellent opportunity to meet other orthopaedic surgeon in Zambia and in Africa. It was held on the 7th to the 9th December at the Mulungushi International Conference Centre. I drove down to Lusaka, staying overnight on the Copperbelt with our Zambian friends, Bruno and Constance Sakaya, who run a guest house. Sadly, Bruno has been very unwell but is responding to treatment. The conference was very interesting and useful for some treatments at Kalene. Afterwards I drove back up to Kalene for three days there before driving back down to Lusaka with Viv and Chris Davies for our return to the UK
When your children live far away it is always good to hear their voice on the phone and to talk with them – well, almost always. Last night, when I had gone to bed at the guest house in Garneton (Zambian CopperBelt) I had a phone call from Matthew. What a nice surprise I said. Not so, said the tearful voice at the other end of the line. Matthew’s father-in-law, Chuck White, had been exercising yesterday morning when he suddenly dropped dead. Christy and the rest of the family are understandably devastated. Please remember Matthew, Christy and the whole White family in your prayers. 2 Corinthians 5:1-10.
 Chuck White, Christy Gill (nee White), Matthew Gill & Joan White.
Peter left Kalene when Isla’s mother died to be home for the funeral. Matthew and his wife, Christy, also returned from the USA to be home for the funeral which was on the 7th November. There were a few turbulent days afterwards as Isla’s father started to adjust to the life style changes but, as things started to settle down Isla was happy for Peter to return to Zambia. He had the pleasure of flying out with Viv and Chris Davies who have spent some considerable time at Kalene over the years. We all drove up country together and arrived back at Kalene on the 20th November. Peter is back into work at the hospital and for the North West Zambia Development Trust and Chris is immersed in administration and accounts. We will leave Kalene together on the 14th December to drive to Lusaka via Nyangombe and Chingola to fly back to the UK on the 17th December (snow permitting – Peter did not get home until Boxing Day last year because of flight cancellations due to the snow).
At 22.00hrs on the 29th October, Mary Borland Craig, Isla’s mother, departed this life. She had been ill for some time but had a very strong constitution so the end came quite suddenly. She leaves her husband, two children and five grandchildren who are gathering from all round the world for her funeral. Peter is returning from Zambia and Matthew and his wife, Christy, from America. Christine is already at home with Isla.
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