Tuesday, June 14:

We’re still recovering from the jet lag. Larry did some internet searching for information on disinfecting wells contaminated with bacteria. He found a very helpful guide from the University of Georgia Extension Service. He concluded that much of what we did to try to clean up the well water was just what we should have done. From the guide and the measurements Jon and he had taken, he was able to calculate the like amount of water in the well and the amount of chlorine that should have been used to disinfect it. It appeared that we probably used much more chlorine as should have been necessary. So our sense of optimism that the well water may actually be useable has gone up. BUT, he did send off a quick note to Dr. Dan to alert him that we had significantly over-shocked the well and that they should be sure to flush the water from the well, the pipes and the storage tank until they no longer smell chlorine before connecting the water tank to the 5-in-1's.

No word yet as to whether or not the well water is negative/positive for E. Coli.

Sunday, June 12:

We arrived in London around 8 am. We had another 4 hour layover before our flight to Chicago (7-8 hrs). We mostly milled around in the waiting area and eating snacks. The flight to Chicago was pretty uneventful as well, although we did fly over parts of Greenland and then followed a southerly track almost directly over Sault Ste. Marie and then the western side of the lower peninsula by Holland on our way to Chicago O’Hare Airport.

At O’Hare, we all deplaned and went to recover our luggage. All but two of the bags arrived and these were not any of the bags that required special handling. Kari B. and Tehanne were each missing a bag and had to file claims with the airline baggage office. We all made it through immigration and customs without any problems. Lindsay couldn’t find the claim check for the car she had driven to O’Hare and parked in long term parking. There was some confusion trying to get drivers to pick up the cars while some were still filing baggage claims and others were confused or off going to the restroom. Eventually, we all just got on the shuttle with all our bags and went to retrieve our vehicles. This too went reasonably well despite the missing claim check.

When we left the airport for home, two of the drivers inadvertently got on the ramp for I-294 going north instead of south which led them straight into the heart of Sunday afternoon traffic headed into downtown Chicago. Since that seemed like a really awful idea, they eventual found their way back to where they could get on I-294 South. That little loop cost almost an extra hour of driving to get home. The rest of the trip home was pretty uneventful. We arrive home shortly after 9 pm with a few family and friends awaiting our arrival.

Saturday, June 11:

We finished all the last minute packing and ate breakfast. When the driver (Collins) arrive, we l load all the bags (15) on top of the Landcruiser and tied them all down securely. We said goodby to Dr. Dan and drove to Livingstone. The first stop was to be Victoria Falls. Only three of us had been there before. Everyone was impressed. We got great photos of the falls with rainbows arcing across the mist. We also got pretty wet walking along the trail and bridge on the ridge in front of the falls. When we returned to the parking lot and members of the team wandered among the vendors trying to buy, barter, and sell items, Jon was briefly accosted by a baboon that mistook one of his purchases for a bag of food.. A number of locals sprang forward to chase off the baboon before any harm was done, but most of us – and especially Jon – were a bit stunned by the baboon’s aggressiveness.

From the falls, we went on to the airport. We said goodbye to Dr. Joan and readied to board the flight to Johannesburg (1.5 hours). British Air agreed to waive the extra bag fees since we were on a mission trip. However, they did not feel they could waive the fees for Virgin Atlantic so the said those of us with extra bags would have to reclaim our bags in Jo’burg and then re-check them at the Virgin Atlantic desk. This turned out to be just as much of a hassle and confusing as you might guess, but we eventually got it all straightened out with Virgin Atlantic agreeing to waive the extra bag fees again. And we did this just in time to realize that Dr. Kari and Larry had left their camera on the airplane from Livingstone. They contacted British Air representatives but were told the plane had already been serviced and flown off but that no one had turned in the missing camera. That was a clearly disappointing and depressing turn of events.

We eventually boarded our plane for London where we would have another 4-5 hour layover. The flight to London took just over 11 hours. Most of us got only 1-2 hours of sleep on the flight.

Friday, June 10:

This is our last full day in Zimba. An important part of the day is making sure all who need to know are aware of what we did, where we left off, and what still needs to happen. This is particularly true regarding the water project.

The chapel service felt a bit odd because some of the administrators were not present. Before everyone left at the end of the service, Larry made a few remarks to let them know we would leaving tomorrow and to thank them for let us visit to help and for the wonderful experience of being in Zimba with them. He also tried make sure they knew why we come.

After service, Jon, Bob and Larry went to dump chlorine in well 3. Dr. Joan had purchased five boxes of 12 pints of chlorine for the well. Since we didn’t know how much would be needed and hadn’t been able to find information, we decided to use it all. Bob and Jon poured the chlorine down the well, occasionally starting up the pump briefly to mix the chlorine and the water in the well. Larry went to find Mrs. Narienda and George to explain the water sampling and test to them both. He explained that we wanted the chlorine to sit in the well for at least 24 hours, but that it might be best to wait and do the next water test Monday. By then, we thought the chlorine should have killed the E. Coli but if the septic system was continuously contaminating the water then it would have a chance to re-contaminate it by the time they tested. We really hoped this isn’t the case. We asked them to let us know the results either way.

Dr. Kari asked Jon and Larry to try to fix (again) the base of the colposcope. The base that has a swivel support for the post on which the scope itself is held had gotten a chip broken out of it during shipping to Zambia. Elisha or George had tried fixing it when we arrived by gluing the chip back into place, but the glue wasn’t holding and the base wasn’t tight enough on the post to prevent the post and scope from falling over and possibly getting damaged. Jon and Larry were able to McGyver a rubber collar around the post where it joins the base so that it can still be moved/swiveled some, but where the rubber pushes the post back upwards so it cannot fall over. It seemed to work pretty well.

The Jon (mostly) and Larry repaired the drain pipe of the scrub sink in the OR. It had gotten bumped Thursday evening taking a patient to recovery and the connection was broken. Jon managed to cobble together some more or less workable pipes and valves as junctions to get the drain connected and working again. More satisfied customers.

Later, Jon and Bob went over to the storage tank to tighten the pipe from the new storage tank. They were able to straighten it a bit so it wouldn’t leak, but they did not reconnect the pipe where it had been opened to drain it. This would enable someone else to drain the chlorinated water from the well and storage tank before it gets directed to the 5-in-1's when the well is disinfected.

Larry and Jon discussed with Dennis how we thought the tanks could be lowered without too much danger but would require an extension ladder and ropes so the block and tackle could be attached to the new tower in front with the rope connected to a bar inserted into the lid of the storage tank to be taken down. Another rope would need to be attached to the base of the tank to pull back on it as the rope attached to the top and the block and tackle are tightened to tip the tank over and off the tower. The rope around the bottom would be used to ease the base of the tank off the tower so it didn’t crash into the other tower and get ruptured. It seemed like a reasonable plan. Jon and Bob had bought rope for the block and tackle the hospital already had.

Larry spent much of the afternoon writing up notes. He gave the rest of the Crown Ministry materials and one of the two portable computers we brought to Pastor Chikobela.

He also gave copies of water test photos to Dr. Dan. Since the hospital administrator had not been around for chapel, Larry gave reports on the status of the well and water lines to Dennis, Dr. Joan, Dr. Dan, and Mrs. Narienda.

The whole team spent the remainder of the evening packing up for an early departure Saturday morning.

Thursday, June 9:

After chapel, we checked on the status of the enclosure. It was hardening nicely. Timothy told us we needed to remove about 2" of gravel and clay from the floor of the enclosure so it would be easier to service the valves and junction if necessary. So we did that using a mason’s trowel and a bucket. The space to work in inside the enclosure was pretty tight but we managed. We used the opportunity then to fill the dirt back into the holes and trenches we had dug to locate the various water lines.

About the time we finished that task, it was time to go retrieve additional water samples we’d put into the incubators on Wednesday. We’d drawn a sample from the mission house kitchen sink, a sample from the well 1 borehole in front of the hospital, and another sample from the well 3 borehole. All were yellow indicating the presence of coliforms but only the sample from the well 3 borehole fluoresced indicating the presence of E. Coli. That was far short of the news we were hoping for. Now we had successfully connected the new water tower to the supply line taking water to the staff living quarters, the 5-in-1 units – a connection they have been waiting on for months and months – only to discover that the well the water tank is supplied by is contaminated with E. Coli. Our guess is that the new well was dug much too near the existing septic tanks/soak-aways behind the lab, radiology, and operating theater.

Dr. Joan had gone to Choma about 100 km north on other business. After discussing this with Dr. Dan, Jon spoke with Dr. Joan about purchasing chlorine to pour into the well to see if we could freshen it. Dr. Joan was able to buy 60 pint bottles of chlorine and to bring them back with her in the evening. Is it enough?

Jon and Larry went to the city’s water treatment facility and spoke with the technician on duty. We wanted to know what the drinking water standards were generally and what to do about E. Coli in particular. The technician said the Zambian standards are very similar to or identical with the W.H.O. standards. He indicated that 0 E. Coli was the acceptable standard. He thought we could add a chlorine filter or feeder that continuously adds a little chlorine to the water to keep it free of E. Coli but that if that didn’t work, we may have to abandon the well. He gave the contact information of the offices of his company in Choma or Kaloma to find out where the bulk chlorine might be purchased and the unit in the company that could do a broad spectrum test of the water for pH, minerals, chemicals, and bacteria. For everything, except the E. Coli test which requires incubating the samples, the tests have to be conducted within an hour of drawing the samples. It will almost certainly be necessary for their team to visit Zimba to conduct the tests.

Larry went back to the mission house to write up notes on the activities of the visit and prepare for our dinner guests for the evening. After lunch, Jon and Bob went back to try drain the new water storage tank. To do this they had to disconnect the down pipe about 10' off the ground. They had quite a bit of difficulty with this but separated it enough to let the water spray out. They also hauled wheelbarrow loads of sand and stone for Timothy to use to make the lid for the protective box around the T-junction.

In the evening, we had seven guests for dinner including two children of two of the male hospital workers. Each of team had been allowed to invite someone they’d been working with to come for dinner and conversation. Bob, Jon, and Larry invited Dennis and Elisha. RJ invited the teacher he had been helping all week. Dr. Kari and Barbara invited Anna who translated for them and whom we’ve known from previous trips. Lori and nurse Kari invited Ventor who is the main person in the pharmacy where they had helped a great deal. Barbara had cooked a vegetable beef stew or soup and a bread pudding. Both were delicious and the Zambians – although suspicious of the bread pudding initially, gobbled up everything just like the rest of us. Everyone had a very nice relaxing evening.

Wednesday, June 8:

On Monday when we were pumping water into the storage tank, the pump would shut off after pumping for only about 8 minutes. This had been very puzzling. If there was as much water in the well as the measurements and the information Dennis gave us indicated, the pump should have kept pumping without a problem. Late Monday, Jon had turned on the pump but partially closed the valve at the well head so that much less that the full volume of water the pump was capable of pumping was actually being pumped out of the well. This enabled the pump to keep pumping without stopping. It also suggested that there may be less water in the well than we had originally estimated.

On Tuesday, Jon had turned on the pump with the valve only partly opened and let it keep pumping in order to fill the tank completely. About 1:30 in the morning, one of the security guards had contacted Elisha to let him know that the water tank was over-filling (Elisha and Jon had disabled the automatic shutoff). Elisha had gone over during the night and turned the pump off.

When we arrived in the morning, we were ready to test fully the T-junction to see if the last effort yesterday had been successful. Visually, everything looked good – no obvious leaks anywhere, everything still intact. As Jon began to open the valve, he was very surprised to find out that it was already open. Larry hurried over to the water tower to see if we had closed one of the two valves there instead but they were both wide open also. None of us, including Dennis and Elisha, had any idea who might have opened the valve after we left it yesterday afternoon. This was disturbing since we still didn’t know if the water in the storage tank was free of E. Coli. The very positive news that the final attempt to connect the lines to the T-junction had been completely successful with no leaks was greatly overshadowed by a new mystery and concern about the potentially bad water getting to people’s homes.

With the connection accomplished, the next task was to build a brick enclosure surrounding the junction so that it could be protected but still permit access for servicing. We had looked at other similar enclosures on the hospital grounds so we knew about what needed to be done. As we began gathering bricks and stone cement the brick enclosure, the man in charge of the construction of the Outpatient Building, Timothy, advised on what was wrong with our plan and how it should be done given the particular types of bricks available to us. He said he could build the enclosure fairly quickly. After discussing it among ourselves and having Dennis discuss with him how much it would cost to have him do it, we decided the only reasonable thing to do was pay Timothy to build the enclosure. Timothy agreed to do it for 50,000 Kwacha (i.e., about $11). It seemed like a deal too good to turn down.

While Timothy worked on the enclosure, we cut rebar as reinforcement for a concrete lid for the enclosure Timothy would also build. Then we went back to the mission house to meet with a team from World Hope that had arrived at the request of Drs. Dan and Joan to explore re-opening an old bore hole at the back of the mission compound property. The tests the World Hope folks conducted indicated there wasn’t enough water in the well to be worthwhile and the casing was too small for their drill bit to fit inside so a whole new well would have to be drilled. Jon and the others were amazed at the techniques they used to find prospective sources of water where a new well could be dug. They tried two different techniques: one was much like diving rods but these were two L-shape coat-hanger like wires held in separate hands that cross each other near a water source, the other was a water-filled coke bottle held on the open palm of your hand while walking around the property. The coke bottle begins to lean and spill over at the site of a water source. While most of us were fascinated but incredulous, these guys said they have used these methods to choose successfully the drilling sites for hundreds of wells.

The World Hope technicians told us that virtually all wells in Zambia are no more than 50 meters deep (instead of the 70 or 80 meters Dennis had told us). The also said the pumps are usually situated about 3 meters below the static water level in the well. If this applied to the three wells at the hospital, it would explain why the pump in well 3 was shutting off so quickly. It would also alter some of our calculations of the wells’ capacities appreciably downward. Based on this alternative information, Jon re-calculated the capacities as follows:

Well # 12-13 gallons per minute

Well # 2: 16-17 gallons per minute

Well # 3: 90 gallons per minute (but with some questions about this because the probe would get caught up on the pump making the true depth suspect).

These are still adequate but much less robust than our preliminary calculations and provide even greater reason for wanting well 3 to be useful so the pressure on well 1 can be relieved.

Later we helped Million repair the metal door at the rear of the maintenance enclosure at the hospital. We also discussed how it might be possible to take the old water storage tanks down from their towers for use elsewhere. Dr. Dan hoped one could be used at the mission house and the other at the new water tower at the back of the property. Without a crane, a good solution wasn’t obvious. It looked like another McGyver moment.

Tuesday, June 7

Tuesday was the day we had scheduled the second seminar for pastors on the Crown Ministry information on the Biblical directions for handling money. We scheduled it to start at 8:30 at the Nakowa church. As on Saturday, Dr Dan had again let us borrow his screen, laptop, projector and power strip so we could show the DVD material to those who showed up. Dr. Dan took Larry and Bob to the church at 8 with all of the equipment and the copies of the workbooks and other resources.

Jon went back over to the new borehole and turned on the pump to try to fill the new storage tank – it would take hours. Once he had added quite a bit of water to the tank, he drew off a sample, added the reagent and took it to the lab for incubation.

Bob and Larry waited patiently for the representatives of the ten churches to arrive. Since it was scheduled to start at 8:30, we guessed it would actually start at 9:30. Given the turnout on Saturday (6 of the 16 expected) we were guessing 10 would actually show up. We were pleased and surprised that 23 actually showed up. We were introduced and then we introduced the program and started the first lesson on the DVD. As the first lesson concluded and the second was about to start, the electrical power went out (as it does frequently). It is highly unpredictable how long the power will be out when this happens. After a brief moment or two of wondering whether we should wait, send people home, or something else, Larry got up and decided to teach the material directly to them using the workbook they each had. It actually seemed to work pretty well and was later useful in assuring them that they could also teach the same material even if they did not have the DVD’s. Just as Larry finished the lesson 2 material, the power came back on and could be used to show the remaining four lessons from the DVD. It worked out very well. All of the pastors attending seemed very, very pleased with the information and materials and were very eager to provide the information to their churches. The problems addressed in the lessons seemed very common and familiar to them and the strategies for solving financial problems appeared to be quite eye-opening and highly practical. The were very grateful and excited.

Pastor Sichongwa of the Nakowa Pilgrim Wesleyan Church also made a point of telling us to thank the First Wesleyan Church in Battle Creek for the support we had provided toward the construction of their new, much larger church on the land behind the current church. The new church is not yet finished but is much farther along than when we were last here. He took us over to see and take pictures of the new church.

When we finished there, he and a couple of other pastors insisted on helping us carry the screen, projector, computer and other materials back to the mission house. This small act of service seemed completely out of character based on our previous experiences. I think they really did appreciate the information we were making available.

When we arrived back at the mission, we put stuff away and then went straight to the site where we were to join the pipes. Jon had let us know during the middle of the day that, after putting quite a bit of water into the storage tank, he intended to shut off the water supply, cut the water line, and install the new T-junction and valves. We hurried over to find him frustrated and exasperated once again. Dennis, Elisha, RJ and several others were ‘assisting’ him. They had shut the water off as planned. Cut the line as planned. Hooked up the T-junction to the water line coming from the storage tank as planned and it did not leak. Then, they had hooked up the T-junction to the water line coming from the water tanks they have been using. This was the connection we had been most anxious about and had McGyvered an attempted solution for. It seemed to work without a problem at all. Then as they had tried to make the final connection between the T-junction and the water line that would take the water to the 5-in-1 housing units, the connection would not seal. Water leaked everywhere. They’d tried tightening it more – still leaked. Then they’d tried a similar McGyvered solution as had worked on the other end of the T-junction – still leaked. Then they tried doubling up the rubber strip around the end of the pipe but then it would not fit into the gasket of the coupling. Then they tried expanding the coupling. Nothing was working.

Jon was almost ready to give up but dared not since the families in the 5-in-1's would be completely without water. As we arrived, he decided to make one last attempt. He had added a small length of pipe to one of the other arms of the T-junction so the angle of the joint connecting the T-junction to the pipe going to the 5-in-1's had less sideways torque on it. With a little encouragement, prayer, and arm strength, he managed to get the pipe with the extra rubber strip around it into the coupling. Then with considerable effort was able to screw the coupling onto the T-junction and then finally tighten all the couplings with pipe wrenches. He opened the value on the waterline coming from the old towers and nothing seemed to leak, but the water pressure in the line would be considerably greater when we open the valve from the new water tank. We decided to calk the connection on the other side of the T-junction where it had leaked profusely previously and to then let it dry until tomorrow before testing.

We picked up the first water sample we had put in the incubator yesterday. It was positive for coliforms AND for E. Coli – not the news we were looking for. We hoped it may have had E. Coli because the well had sat stagnant for a number of months. More testing would be needed.

Monday, June 6

At the conclusion of the chapel service when the administrator asked for announcements, I informed everyone that we were expecting that we would be ready today to turn off the water to the 5-in1's so we could cut the line and join the line from the new tower, and that they might want to draw water into buckets ahead of time so they would have it available until we could turn the water back on. There was both apprehension and concern. Everyone wanted to make sure all those living in the homes was notified.

Mrs. Narimba was one of the environmental health officers in Zimba when we were here three years ago and was around when we had tested water for e. coli before and when we had left the test kits. We had be unable to relocate the test kits in the environmental health office last week while Mrs. Narimba was away on holiday. She returned this weekend. After chapel I asked her if she remembered the test kits and if they were still available. Professor Rose at MSU had provided me with more packets of the reagents needed and a black light for testing water samples, but I still needed the information regarding the volume of water to add the reagents to and the temperature at which the samples are to be incubated and for what duration..

Mrs. Narimba remembered the kits and was confident they were in the environmental health office. We went to the office and located them fairly quickly. In fact we found the information for both the Colilert testing and the second kit for testing for hydrogen sulfide. I rejoined Jon and Bob and we turned on the pump to well 3 so we could draw a water sample and get it in the incubator. Jon and Bob had assembled the T-junction, extensions, valves and couplings and then attached it to the 50 mm pvc pipe. We wanted everything ready in advance of cutting the line so the length of time during which the water was cut off was minimized.

Last week when we were assessing the wells, we had turned on the pump on well 3 and pumped water into the tank on the new tower. We didn’t fill it but had put in quite a bit of water. Since we still weren’t sure how good the water is, we decided we should drain all the water out of the tank and then start afresh once the line is connected to the 5-in-1 line. So, we opened up the output valve a let the water run out onto the ground near the site where the junction would be made. We were all pleased and impressed with the volume and pressure of the water coming out of the open line, but we also thought it looked a little murky and smelled funny. About then, one of the local men who works at the eye clinic, Collins, came by and told us he’d heard birds by the tank and he thought the birds had built a nest in the tank because the lid had been left open when it was set up. The more water we let run out of the tank, the worse it smelled.

Elisha and Jon climbed the tower ladder and hauled a step ladder up so they could look in the tank. Elisha let us know he could see dead birds inside the tank and the odor was quite bad. He and Jon came down. We had to construct something to fish the dead animals out of the tank or the tank wouldn’t be useable at all. Jon and Elisha found a long fairly stiff plastic pipe and taped a number of course wires to the end of it that Elisha fashioned into a kind of rake. With this, sitting on top of the tank he was able to fish out the dead animals through the opening on the top of the tank. There were what appeared to be two adult hawks, one or two baby hawks, and three or four mice/rats the adults had brought for the babies to eat. It took him quite awhile to get them all out. By the time he had finished, it was time to break for lunch. No one was all that hungry, but we needed the break.

After ‘lunch,’ we thought we should try to get any other fragments or dirt out of the tank as well. We pumped more water into the tank and let it drain. Larry and Bob discussed with Dennis the possibility of making a fine meshed net that could be used to skim the water remaining in the tank. Dennis found some window screening. Larry and Bob found some small gauge wire for reinforcing concrete. They rolled it into a circle or tube, then took cut a piece of the screening and sewed it to wire frame with small lengths of wire. Then they wired this net to the long pole than Jon and Elisha had fashioned. (Bob and Larry have now been nominated for their 2011 McGyver Merit Badges as well).

Bob and Larry took this skimmer net up to the top of the tower. Larry sat on the top of the tank and repeatedly dipped the net into the tank skimming the water and the tank bottom trying to get all the debris out that he could. As he’d pull stuff out of the tank, he’d pass the net and pole to Bob who would empty the debris out of the net over the side of the tower and then pass the net back to Larry. This went on for at least an hour.

When we finally concluded we had done as much as we could, we decided to go to the market to buy chlorine or bleach to try to kill any bacteria in the tank and residual water. We were able to buy a box of 12 pints of chlorine each of which should be sufficient to sanitize 20 liters of water. There appeared to be 2-3 inches of residual water in the bottom of the tank. The tank was about 6 feet in diameter (we couldn’t make precise measurements on anything). So there is a formula for calculating the volume of a cylinder of a specified diameter and height (probably something like pi*r2*h) which would then have to be converted to liters. But we didn’t have the formula at the time or the measurements. In hindsight, we probably added enough chlorine to sanitize twice the volume of water as was actually in the tank, but that is OK given what was in there.

Sunday, June 5

In our discussion with Pastor Chikobela earlier in the week, he had asked us if we would attend with him a new church he had planted in the previous year. It had a building (but no electricity) and about 50-60 congregants (including the children). It was 14 km out in the bush and the road would be rough in spots. No missionaries had ever been there before and he really wanted us to go with him. He wanted one of us to preach but none of us felt prepared for that so Bob had agreed to teach the Sunday School class. I’m not sure how the two differ, teaching and preaching, but apparently pastors know.

There were seven of us who were interested in going but we would only be able to use one vehicle. We would need a driver and Pastor Chikobela would have to ride with us to show the driver where to go – it wasn’t exactly going to be on the beaten path. Chikobela usually rides there on his bicycle.

Dr. Joan arranged a driver for us and we were able to pile all who wanted to go into one of the mission vehicles. It took about 45-60 minutes to drive the 6 miles out to the village. We passed many traditional Zambian home compounds with stick, mud, or brick walls, thatched roofs, cooking huts, cribs and paddocks for harvested crops and animals.

We arrived late, but they were waiting for us and performed a traditional welcoming ceremony for us and then prepared for the service. They had us seated at the front of the church building (clay brick walls, mortared together with clay, thatched roof, doorways but no doors or windows). All the children were seated near the front facing us, with mostly women on one side and men on the other. They explained who we were and where we were from. They greeted us again and told us how excited they were that we had come, how much they appreciated the missionaries. Dr. Kari introduce each of us who were attending and indicated how pleased we were to be with them. They sang, they prayed, they testified. Bob gave the Sunday School lesson he had prepared, pausing every 10-15 words of English so the pastor could translate it into Tonga (the local language). They sang some more, prayed some more, and more again of each, and then made announcements. Then Pastor Chikobela began to preach his sermon, the one he felt led to preach on this occasion – Romans 12:1-2, interestingly the very same verses our group had discussed at length on three of the previous four days, the same verses I’d been impacted by on my first visit to Zimba.

At the conclusion of the preaching, Pastor Chikobela invited people to come forward to be prayed for if they felt a special needed. He asked a couple of us to assist him in praying over those who came forward. It was a very interesting experience since nearly everyone communicated their particular need in a language we couldn’t understand and Pastor Chikobela’s praying was so loud and passionate that it was difficult to hear yourself or to maintain concentration. There was a clear stylistic gap.

As he was concluding the service, I offered a number of comments endorsing his message and expressing our appreciation and gratitude for their welcoming us.

At the conclusion, we all filed out and each person greeted and shook each other’s hand. They had prepared a traditional meal just for us. Pastor Chikobela and the driver showed us more of the intricacies of the proper and polite way to eat the traditional foods. We thanked to whole community for their warm and generous hospitality and departed back to the mission house.

The three who had remained behind had attended the Nakowa Pilgrim Wesleyan Church only about a half a mile from the mission compound. They too had had a wonderful experience and were very impressed by the hard-hitting, passionate preaching of one of the hospital nurses who had been asked to preach that particular Sunday.

It was a fascinating Sunday, as usual.

Saturday, June 4

Portions of the team went off in two different directions on Saturday. The main group left early (around 6:30) with Dr. Joan for Botswana across the Zambezi River to the Chobe National Park for a safari by river and jeep to see the enormous numbers and varieties of animals that come to the park – the confluence of three rivers – during the dry season where they can get water. They didn’t return to Zimba until early evening (around 7:30). They were all very excited, having taken lots of picture of all kinds of animals and birds, including elephants, giraffe, hippos, zebra, impala, kudu, and even lions.

Dr. Kari and I had been on the safari twice previously and Dr. Kari really wanted to spend time in Zimba NOT at the hospital but also providing information on the Biblical directions for how to properly manage money, time, work, debt, etc. The material is based on a series of lessons developed by the U.S.-based Crown Ministries. Their review of the Bible had identified over 2,350 passages that pretty directly relate to these issues. She and I had taken the course for trainers several years ago. She has led a couple of groups through the lessons at home and the materials have recently been adapted for use in third world countries. She felt a special calling to bring the information to Zimba. A couple of months ago, she had contacted several individuals here to inquire if there would be interest and was assured that their would be. We had purchased the course materials and brought them with us in our luggage. There were several sets of three different workbooks and the DVD’s that go with them plus a couple of other pieces. One set was a series of seminar presentations designed for pastors so they could learn, apply, and then teach/preach the materials to others in their congregations. Earlier in the week we had asked to meet with Pastor Chikobela who is now the district director of the Wesleyan churches in the Zimba area so we could show him the material and, if he thought it worthwhile, enlist his assistance in arranging to share the material with other pastors in the area. He really liked what he saw and thought it would be very powerful and valuable. We had agreed to conduct two seminars for pastors, the first an interdenominational gathering of pastors of churches within Zimba proper on Saturday, and the second, on Tuesday, a gathering of pastors from the ten Wesleyan churches in the larger Zimba area, i.e., those within about a 14 km radius of Zimba. He would contact the various pastors to invite them. He was hoping for two individuals from each of the eight different denominational churches for the seminar on Saturday (16) and three from each of the ten Wesleyan churches on Tuesday (30).

Since Bob had been on safari previously in Kenya and we had asked him as a chaplain/pastor to assist us in this seminar, he remained with Dr. Kari and me to co-host the Saturday seminar at the mission house. We had arranged to have a traditional Zambian lunch meal prepared and had asked that those who attended to pay for the cost of their meal and the cost of the booklet they would each receive. Crown Ministries in Africa had strongly recommended this as a lesson in financial responsibility itself.

For the seminar on Saturday, six of the anticipated sixteen participants showed up. We watched the DVD lessons and talked about some of the key points and their application to this community in Zambia. The whole seminar lasted about 6-7 hours plus the meal. At the end of the afternoon, all of the pastors were very appreciative of the materials, thought it was highly relevant to their congregations, and were eager to get copies of the materials so they could use them in their churches. Although the turnout (short notice) was lighter than hoped for, but the response was very much what we’d hoped for.

The idea of people learning how to live within their means, to avoid or escape debt, to be able to give and save, and work as God directed was very persuasive and potentially very liberating, even for those who have meager means.

Friday, June 3

After chapel, Jon, Bob and I went to the new water tower in the back. The top of the tower platform on which the tank sits is about 25 off the ground. The output water line from the water tank had a joint about 8 feet off the ground that was leaking a bit. The bottom of the water line had an elbow and about a meter of piping terminating at a gate valve. This section of piping was angled off in a different trench than the trench that had been dug for the piping to connect to the 5-in-1 units. So we disconnected this whole L-shaped section of pipe about 14 feet off the ground at a valve junction. Then we took apart the leaky joint and re-attached it with thread tape, connected the PVC to the steel pipe, re-oriented the L-shaped section into the right trench, and then re-attached the whole section to the output water line. We laid the 150 feet of piping into the trench that had been dug. We opened the valve to check for leaks and everything looked good.

The next step was to locate the buried water line carrying water from the water tower in the front of the hospital to the 5-in-1's so we could splice into it. Since Bob and I could work on that with the help of Dennis and Elisha (the electrician), we agreed Jon should go to Livingstone with one of the other hospital staff to inquire about the reducer couplings so we’d be sure to get exactly what we needed to join the 60 mm current pipe to the 50 mm pipe we were installing. He left about mid-morning.

The documentation onsite regarding where things are is pretty scant. Most of the information about the location of buried infrastructure components resides in Dennis’ memory. He was having a lot of trouble remembering exactly where the buried water line was and how deeply it was buried.. Using a broad-headed pick and a short shovel with shovel blade worn to half its original length and worn into the shape of an inverted crescent moon (the same shoveled I’d tried to use back in 2008), we dug numerous holes, each in places where Dennis thought the pipe should be or where it looked like there had previously been a trench. We kept striking out.

In addition to the two sets of 5-in-1's, there are two other houses that receive their water via this water line. Janet Sisco had lived in one. We wanted to make certain that when we spliced into the line these houses would still receive water. When I asked Dennis where the water lines from these houses go and where they connect to the main line, he showed us the approximate route. We tried digging at a couple of spots where the path Dennis remembered passed through a shrub hedge and coincided with a small gap in the shrubs. We thought if we could find this line and follow it, it would eventually lead us to the main line. Our initial attempts were unsuccessful. Then one of the young men who had helped to dig the trench for that particular water line came by to help us locate it. He tried several different spots where he thought it had to been but was unsuccessful. Then a couple more young men came by to offer their opinions where we should dig. Finally, with the help of the first of these young men we found the pipe coming from one of the houses.

Given the direction it seemed to be heading, we dug another hole about 15 feet closer to where we thought the main line should go. We found the line from the house again and it was still heading in the same direction. Digging a little farther, we found where it joins the main line. At this location, the main line was heading in a direction parallel to the direction of the new line we wanted to splice into it. That meant we had to follow the main line back along its path to where it intersected the trench that had been dug for the new water line – there we could join the two. It took about five more holes to follow the water line, locate when and how sharply it turned, and where it went under the trench, but finally, after about four hours and numerous holes, we found the point at which the two water lines could intersect.

Much of the rest of the afternoon was spent digging a pit around this intersection so we would have space to install the T-junction and the various valves and couplings needed. Not knowing exactly how big this space needed to be and being a bit worn out, we didn’t really make it quite as big as needed but it was a good start. We all congratulated each other (Bob, Dennis, Elisha and me) and then thanked the young man who had been so helpful in locating the water line from the house. We returned to the mission house at the end of a pretty tiring day feeling like we’d made clear progress.

Shortly after we got back to the mission house, Jon returned from Livingstone. Mr. Shaw had given him reducer couplings for connecting 50 mm lines to 63 mm lines. He had insisted there is no such thing as 60 mm pipe. A bit incredulous, Jon checked with another hardware and was told the same thing. Since there are a limited number of standard sizes of materials and figuring that either his own measurements or Dennis’ information must have been wrong, he purchased the reducers and returned to Zimba. The trip took nearly all day of course because the driver had other errands, including picking up a large number of bags of cement for the cement veneer on the inside and outside walls of the new Outpatient Building. They had to wait for a semi to get on-loaded for their order to get filled and loaded onto the hospital truck.

When he arrived back in Zimba, Jon had gone to the site of the pipe junction and then to the maintenance shed to try out the new reducer couplings on a sample of the ‘60 mm’ pipe Mr. Shaw said didn’t exist. When he walked into the mission compound, he was clearly frustrated and exasperated. The pipe really was 60 mm. The coupling really was designed for 63 mm. And the compression coupling couldn’t tighten up enough to hold the pipe securely. He was sure it wouldn’t work and he had just wasted time and money.

I tried to encourage him. I tried to reassure him that this just isn’t an off-the-shelf kind of place to live, that this was probably his McGyver moment (note: McGyver was a TV character who was continually finding himself in dire circumstances and would, using his considerable knowledge of chemistry, physics, and engineering, and his ingenuity, improvise tools or processes to extricate himself from his bad situation and save the day. Bud and I frequently talked about McGyver and ‘McGyvering’ solutions to problems on our last trip to Zimba). This would be our turn. I suggested that since it is a compression coupling, perhaps we could add a band of innertube or electric tape around the pipe end to enlarge its circumference enough that the coupling would tighten down and hold the pipe in place. Jon thought this might work but that the seal would be better if we clued the innertube to the pipe like a bicycle patch. We talked to Million and he had a piece of old innertube we could use. Jon cut a piece to fit around the pipe sample. We put the coupling on and it tightened up really well. Hope was restored. The real test would not come until at least Monday. I told everyone that if it worked, we’d nominate Jon for his McGyver merit badge.

Thursday, June 2

Thursday was a much less fruitful day. After chapel, we discovered that Dennis had gone to Livingstone. Dennis had to go to correct his salary. As with most trips to Livingstone, it ended up taking all day. He didn’t get back until after we had called it quits for the day.

When we hadn’t heard from Mr. Shaw by 10 o’clock, Joan called him to find out what he had available. He said he was sending the materials on a truck with one of the men working for the contractor building the new outpatient facility who was in Livingstone to pick up electrical supplies. He didn’t exactly say he had everything and didn’t say that he did NOT have something. As a result we couldn’t really have Dr. Dan pick up anything in Lusaka. We wouldn’t know what Shaw was sending and what he wasn’t until the truck arrived.

The nurses and other medical staff had a fairly good productive day, RJ visited the schools and was invited to teach the science class for the next week starting on Thursday. Bob was able to go round on patients as chaplain with Anna (the retired former nurse) in all the wards and to talk and pray with the patients and families. Jon and I struggled to find productive activity. I’d been concerned about the weight of the waterpipe coming from the new storage tank. The bottom of it was resting on the ground, the top was attached to the output, but there was no other support. I worried that when we cleared the dirt from the bottom of the pipe, the weight might be too great and damage the joint where the pipe attached to the tank. So we bridled it and tied it up to the crossbraces of the tower. (When we eventually dug the dirt out from under the pipe or removed the lower section of pipe, it seemed to hold and stay in place without damaging the connection.)

We thought we could try to dig a hole to open up an area around the the water line going to the 5-in-1 where the T-junction would have to go, but Dennis wasn’t there to tell us where the line was buried. No one else seemed to have any idea where it is. We couldn’t proceed.

So we gathered information about the mission compound’s well. I reviewed the material for the Crown Ministry seminary we hoped to conduct on Saturday. Jon kept checking on whether or not Dennis had returned and looking at other related issues (i.e., a leaky faucet). We were pretty frustrated. Toward the end of the day, the truck dropped off the material. Jon pieced it together to make sure we had what was needed.

He was anxious when he discovered that what Shaw had sent was NOT 2" pipe and couplings and junction, but 50 mm materials. They are close to the same size but slightly larger. That meant they might not fit. By this time it was too late to have Dan pick up anything in Lusaka. We contacted Mr. Shaw and he insisted that there is no 2" pipe used in Zambia – that there is only a small set of standard sizes. When we tried them out, they appeared to work, but the pipe we would be connecting them to was 60 mm so we would still need to get two reducer couplings. A bit of optimism at the end of the day.

Wednesday, June 1

Going forward, this blog will focus most heavily on the construction portion of the team's efforts.

This is our first full-day in Zimba. Everyone was up early and eager to get started, not really knowing exactly what the day would bring. As will be the case every day of the work week until we leave, the team walked down to the hospital from the mission house (about a quarter mile) for the 8 am chapel service. The service is a combination of hymn sing, prayer, preaching, a review of the hospital patient census, and hospital announcements – a mixture of religion and work. During this time, the hospital staff performed a brief but enthusiastic greeting for us.

After the chapel service we all went off to work on our tasks. The nurses were paired up with local nurses and went off to take care of patients. Others went off to assist in pharmacy or elsewhere. The men went off to assess the bore holes (wells).

There are now four wells that they can use. There is the bore hole they were using for everything each of the past four times we were here. It is in the front of the hospital at the opposite side of the property from where the water storage tanks are located. They have a new bore hole in front of the hospital, another new bore hole near the staff housing at the back of the property, and they have re-opened a well that was closed when we were here previously and installed a handpump on it. Over the new bore holes, they have built new pump houses and installed the pumps, electrical hookups and automatic on/off switches based on floats installed in the water tanks they pump into. They have a new water tower with two 10,000 liter tanks in the front of the hospital and a new tower with one 10,000 liter tank at the back of the hospital. They told us that the tanks and the pump are grounded against lightening strikes.

I refer to the old bore hole as well 1, the new bore hole in the front of the hospital as well 2, the new bore hole at the back of the hospital as well 3. There is another bore hole between well 1 and well 2 in the front of the hospital. This is the original bore hole which Dennis has been wanting to put a handpump on for a number of years. It now has a handpump that people staying in the women’s shelter use to draw water for bathing and cooking. This group of people used to draw water from a free-standing spigot at the back of the property at the end of one of the 5-in-1 units. That spigot has been removed. The hospital believed that many others besides just those staying in the women’s shelter were using the spigot as a water source rather than drawing water from the city.

Using the well depth meter gauge that Jon’s company allowed him to bring, we measured the depth and flow rates of the three bore holes. The measurements of the wells are as follows:

1. Well #1: Static depth to reach water = 52 feet
Pumping water level = 126 feet
Bottom of the well = 80 meters
Calculated well flow capacity = 11 Gallons per minute
Pump motor = 1.5 horsepower
Time required to fill 10,000 liter tank = 3.9 hours
Specific capacity = 0.149 gallons per foot
Production of the well = 28 gallons per minute

2. Well #2: Static depth to reach water = 41 feet
Pumping water level = 102 feet
Bottom of the well = 70 meters
Time required to pump 5 gallons =
Calculated well flow capacity = 6.0 Gallons per minute
Pump motor = 1.5 horsepower
Time required to fill 10,000 liter tank = 7.5 hours
Specific capacity = 0.098 gallons per foot
Production of the well = 16.5 gallons per minute

3. Well #3: Static depth to reach water = 54 feet
Pumping water level = 93 feet
Bottom of the well = 70 meters
Calculated well flow capacity = 35 Gallons per minute
Pump motor = 2.0 horsepower
Time required to fill 10,000 liter tank = 1.3 hours
Specific capacity = 0.897 gallons per foot
Production of the well = 140 gallons per minute

Dennis told us that the pumps in each well is approximately 1 meter up from the bottom and he provided us the information on the total depth of the well. These calculations are based on this. (We have subsequently been informed by representatives from World Hope that this – the total well depth -- is not true and therefore many of the calculations will need to be re-evaluated.). These calculations – if correct – would suggest the hospital should have ample water for their immediate and near future additional growth plans as long as the water from the wells is good.

Dr. Dan and Dennis really hoped we could find a way to connect the new water tower at the back of the property to the water line that supplies water to the ten apartments and two houses at the back of the hospital as planned so the well at the front of the hospital didn’t have to work quite so hard and might last longer. This was NOT on the list of tasks Glenn had hoped we could accomplish but was clearly consistent with the expertise (i.e., Jon) we brought.

In the afternoon, we spent a fair amount of time with Dennis figuring out exactly what materials are needed to complete the connection between the water tank over well 3 and the 5-in-1 units it is intended to supply. This involved a T-connection with couplings, two gate valves and couplings at each end, 145 feet of class 6 2" pvc pipe and an elbow to connect the 1.5" steel pipe coming down from the tank to the 2" pvc pipe. We were asked to try to obtain the materials in Livingstone or Lusaka so we can bring this bore hole and water tank on line before we leave. Dr. Joan got hold of Shaw Hardware in Livingstone and Jon gave him the list of the parts we needed. He said he would check in the morning to see if he had everything. Whatever Shaw didn’t have, we thought we would be able to have Dr. Dan pick up in Lusaka since he had to go there anyway. But Dr. Dan would have to know by 10 am Thursday morning so he can purchase it before he has to catch the bus back to Zimba.

Tuesday, May 31

We arrived in Johannesburg fairly early in the morning with a relatively short layover to catch our flight to Livingstone, Zambia. From our past experiences, we expected this to be a potential problem, but the renovations to the airport they had made for last year’s World Cup greatly improved the process and efficiency of the transfer. Our luggage had been checked all the way through to Livingstone – unlike previous trips – and we didn’t really have to go through customs at all since we were transferring to another non-domestic flight – also unlike previous trips. We did have to track down Tehanne’s luggage since her luggage tags were not attached to her passport as had been the case with everyone else, but airport personnel were very helpful directing us to the right offices.

We boarded our plane to Livingstone (a 2 and a half hour flight) and passed directly in front of Victoria Falls on our descent into the Livingstone airport. We passed through the stations to get our entry visas fairly quickly, found all our luggage, and passed through customs with no problems or challenges at all. In the lobby, our hosts, Drs. Dan and Joan and another hospital staff person were waiting for us and greeted us warmly.

We loaded all the luggage into or on top of the two vehicles and pack all 13 of us into the vehicles for the roughly 40 mile trip to Zimba. We stopped in downtown Livingstone to exchange dollars for the Zambian currency, Kwacha, so we’d have at least a little spending money. The exchange rate is a bit mind boggling and difficult to make sense of in the midst of a transaction. One U.S. dollar was trading for 4,690 Kwacha, so you didn’t have to exchange too many dollars to be a Zambian millionaire.

The road from Livingstone to Zimba has recently been re-paved, largely by the Chinese, who are busy buying lots of cooper and other ores from the mines in north central Zambia. The road from Livingstone through Zimba and on to the capital Lusaka is the primary north-south highway and the highway had taken a severe beating over the past number of year’s when the ore and cargo that had been moved by rail to South Africa for shipping was diverted to trucks so the railroad could be repaired. Now, however, the roadway was in great shape and we traveled the roughly forty miles in less than an hour.

By the time we arrived, it was mid-afternoon. We spent most of the rest of the day unloading luggage, unpacking the medical supplies, sorting the supplies, getting settled in our rooms, taking a walking tour of the hospital, eating, and – once again – trying to figure out the local electrical system (i.e., different outlet types in every room, setting up transformers from 220 to 110 volts, etc.).

Since we were last here in 2008 there has been a lot of construction at the hospital. There was a screened enclosure added in front of the kitchen. This was designed as a break area for the staff. There is a brick wall enclosure surrounding the maintenance shed with concertina wire across the top. This is to protect the supplies and the hospital’s vehicles from theft. They have a new guard house at the front of the hospital property, although it appears seldom to be manned. The eye clinic has converted two of the shipping containers into public library’s. They have lots of books for children and adults. The smaller of the two containers is their reference library.

Since last October, they have been building a new outpatient department building which is huge. They are building it in the space between the old outpatient department, the chapel and pharmacy and the eye clinic. It fills up almost the entire space. All the walls are up, the roof is on, and they are putting on the concrete veneer to smooth and add strength to the walls. Dr. Joan is pushing them to be finished by the time she and Dr. Dan leave on July 14. It will be a great addition with lots of space for the outpatient care, an emergency room, and a dental clinic. It is U-shaped and will have a roof over the courtyard. The building comes within about ten yards of the eye clinic.

This past week, they started construction of a new chapel. It is being built between the eye clinic and the eye clinic’s guest house.

Monday, May 30

We arrived in London around 8:30 am with about a 12 hour layover. We made our way to the subway (Tube) to downtown London for a little sightseeing. We came out of the subway right at the Thames River across the street from the houses of Parliament and Big Ben. We walked over to Westminster Abbey for a tour, then across St. James park to the front of Buckingham Palace, then back to the subway station. After a brief stop for fish and chips at a London pub, we headed back to Heathrow for our flight to Johannesburg, South Africa (10 and a half hour flight).

Sunday, May 29

We gathered at First Wes about noon to re-weigh all the bags (50 lbs. Maximum per bag), to squeeze all ten of us and our bags (2 per person, plus carry-ons) into three vehicles, and then to leave be 12:30 PM for Chicago’s O’Hare Airport for a 6:30 (CDT) flight to London.

The trip to Chicago was pretty uneventful except for a pretty heavy rain shower between Gary and Chicago. We dropped off the bags and most of the ten of us at the departure terminal and then the three drivers went to park the vehicles in long-term parking. When we (the drivers) returned, we found out that, while checking in for the flight, Lori had happened to mentioned to the attendant that we on a mission trip. The attendant spontaneously responded that since we were on a mission trip then the airline would waive the $60 fee for the second bag and that they would cancel the charge for the second fee they had applied to the others in our group who had already checked in. That amounted to a $600 savings for the group’s travel expenses. This was a big surprise since Dr. Kari had called the company several weeks earlier and specifically asked if they gave special consideration for groups on mission trips and was told no.

As we waited for our departure, we learned that our flight would be delayed because of the earlier storms. We also found out that the storm system had passed through Battle Creek and that a tornado had touched down. Most of the members tried calling home (or neighbors) to find out if family members and property were OK. We found out that about 300 buildings were damaged and many trees were uprooted or ripped apart and vehicles were damaged. Trees were down in our neighborhood and all around our church, but our house was not damaged. Nathan had left the house for Colorado just as the storm had begun and made it to Colorado OK.

Everyone was relieved to learn than none of their family members was injured and none of their homes was damaged. So we eventually boarded our flight and headed to London (a 7 and a half our flight).