Multiply Zambia/Kenya 2014 Day Twenty - Monday

The 777's cabin lights come on at 4.00am UK time.  After watching 'All is Lost' during the meal service, I'd got a couple of hours' sleep.  Farayai had shrouded himself in his blanket hours ago, and stayed that way until the 'Landing' annoucement was made at 5.40am! 

We approached Heathrow along the Thames as London was waking up.  I cleared the arrivals formalities and had reached Euston by Tube by 7.45am.  The London Midland train to Northampton was full.  I chatted to the Jamaican Christian guy next to me until he fall asleep (after doing a night shift).  I watched the early Spring scene pass by: forsythia, redcurrant, cherry, blackthorn, willow, magnolia, etc, have all burst in the past three weeks.

Both Kelly and Viv had independently arrived to collect me.  I felt bad about this, as I hadn't made a definite arrangement.  At Central Office brotherhood, Jimmie and Hannah gave a brief revue of their 'project' experience in Zambia.

I caught up with Mick and Huw, did a bit of admin, then fell asleep as Viv drove us home to Sheffield.  The Sutcliffe children has done a welcome home poster, and I was glad of some tea.  I managed to catch grandson Dean on the phone and wish him a happy 7th birthday.  By 9.00pm I was 'at the end of my lollipop' and went to bed.  I knew I'd be awake before 5.00am come what may, and the early dawn chorus sealed my prediction.

Lasting impressions include both Steven and Gregory emphasising that for average pastors - who really are the target audience - the MILC UK invitations are a huge effort: the real deal is the monthly local get-togethers.  This is pretty much the inverse of how we here apply our priority.  An associated issue is the value of local transport for facilitating on-the-ground events, and the additional difficulty that younger people would face in getting visas to travel to UK.  However, both Steven and Gregory agreed that, "We've come a long way in three years."

 Second: was the value of the three AMEN guys interacting on their home turf and seeing how they work.  We could have comfortably and usefully spent two months as a team touring Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Congo, Burundi and revisiting Malawi and Tanzania to get local groups on a firm footing and commissioning properly envisioned leaderships.

Third: Multiply is a vision whose time has come.  We can add value and distinguish ourselves from other (more glitzy) networks by helping to set up income-generating schemes.  We could do worse than aiming for pastors to attend both the IT and English literacy type-projects that we delivered in Kitwe.

We shall have to see how all this may run.

Multiply Zambia/Kenya 2014 Day Nineteen - Sunday

The cockerels in the neigbourhood are in competition.  The one next door cranks up, and I rush to the window to get a recording so I can use it as a phone alarm.  He goes dumb on me.

By 8.00am I've had some breakfast, including a couple of Weetabix the full milk that reminds me of days when food tasted proper.  I've enjoyed my last dose of morning fresh air from the balcony.   I pop downstairs to pay the landlady, and promise I'll be back next year.  The four of us who went to Bangalore shared a similar self-catering apartment, and Sundowner here would be a great choice for a visiting team for 2015. 

George arrives at 9.00am prompt and his younger boy, who's incredibly curious and pokes at everything, tries to bool my smaller case downstairs.  George relates that his car got stuck last night (I'll later find out from Johnstone that Gregory, too, did get stuck on Friday night) and had to be pushed.  But he hadn't got any cash to tip the guys with,  However, they just smiled and waved him goodbye.  Later, he gives this as a testimony in church.

Wakey rings from Brighton at 9.15am and I ask him what he's doing up at such an unearthly time!  Pastor Benard is giving bible teaching about the pharisee and the publican.  The church holds an early service from 8.00am to 10.00am, then has a half hour's worship before continuing seamlessly into the main meeting from 10.30am to some time after 1.00pm.  I'm due to slot in an hour's teaching.  It's turning out to be the sunniest and warmest day Nairobi's delivered.  The church lacks any of the pretentions I witnessed in Dar es Salaam last week - they're a real family.  In the prayer time, they give thanks for the 79 new white plastic chairs, after interceding for the county's president.  As I stand up to speak I'm dismayed to discover that my notes got wet during breakfast and all the scripture references I carefully ordered have disappeared from the piece of paper.

Without any fuss, we transition to the leaders' workshop I'm due to take.  Oscar sets up the projector and a couple of mics.  After about 20 minutes, they concede they would be better with translation into Swahili.  Thereafter the whole event carries obvious engagement and vigour.  The 30 folks who've gathered include some invitees from other churches.  They all enjoy my description of the one-man-band, with the boom-boom, ching-ching, ting-ting which needs no translation.

I explain to George that I'll need my cases to do a bit of repacking.  He replies that it's no problem - we'll do it at his home, as they've arranged tea there before heading off to JKIA.  They're a really warm-hearted family, and for grace George gives thanks for the privilege and blessing of having a visitor to give hospitality in their home. 

Soon we're on our way to JKIA, and the boys have fallen asleep in the car.  At one roundabout and Toyota saloon piles straight into the side of a mutatu tow vehicles in front of us.  I'm glad that George didn't give way to impatience.

After checking in, I sit in the departure area and doze for an hour-and-a-half.  I'm about the last to board the plane, which seems fully booked.  I have an eastern side window seat and the next seat is empty.  To my complete surprise and delight Farayi appears and sits there!  He'd been trying to get to UK from Lusaka since Thursday, and this was the one available slot.

We chat happily about the conference in Tanzania and his father's birthday.  I hear first-hand how he an Jimmie had to hitch-hike to Ndola after their bus from Lusaka broke down.   He's even managed to get his chief's chair accepted as hold luggage.  We take of half an hour late at 20 past midnight, and I doze off again while waiting for the final African meal.

Multiply Zambia/Kenya 2014 Day Eighteen - Saturday

It's cold and grey again.  The cockerel next door definitely lacks conviction, sounding half-hearted and giving up after a few bursts.  I sort out an inexpert omelette for breakfast.  I've got no washing-up liquid, etc, so use shower gel and my nail brush.  The kitchen smells delightful.  I prepare for Sunday's church teaching, and ring home. 

Now comes the big test of the on-line access as I try to book a replacement rail ticket to Northampton through thetrainline.com, and to cancel the Sheffield one.  Thanks to a stored password for my account, it works just fine.  Next I reply to a bunch of JACT Exec Forum postings: success again.  Finally I download three weeks' worth of Together bulletins and agape study sheets to read offline.  I'm being wary with the data bundle: the Orange Roaming package costs £125 for 250MB, and excess usage charges are astronomic.  By 12.30pm, I go offline, and notice that the day outside has considerably brightened up while I've been hunched in the lounge.

The Zion reading is good, and I feel some connection with the scenes back home.  I've just finished eating a quick lunch when at 2.00pm Bishop Joseph arrives.  He's clutching a bag containing two complete chicken and rice takeaway meals, eight bananas and four eggs.  I'm profusely thankful and similarly apologetic that I've already eaten lunch.  He leaves me one of the takeaways and half the bananas, and he sets off to plodge through the mud to where he's had to leave his car.  If it's like this first thing tomorrow, he's promised, there'll be a bunch of guys coming to act as luggage porters.  I'm very touched.

The air outside on the balcony is warm, so I settle down to read the last couple of years' worth of personal journal entries.  There are some stirring quotes from the notes in the Geneva Bible that I was reading in 2012.  Approaching 5.00pm the doorbell rings again, and it's George come to invite me to his house for tea.  This I can't refuse, so I tell him I'll bring Joseph's takeaway and bananas.  His Toyota 'dances' (his description) through the chocolate puddle pudding and we discuss tactics for tomorrow's early pick-up and confirm my times for flying later. 

 He lives in an eight-apartment block similar to mine, and I meet his wife, Joyce, with her broad smile, and their two young boys.  George has a PhD in nutrition and food, and lectures at the University of Nairobi.   Joyce is completing a Masters.  They are long-standing members of Gregory's church, as the photo of their wedding on the wall testifies.  He's been to Europe a couple of times on work-related courses.  We have an interesting conversation trying to define the difference between the United Kingdom and Great Britain, and why England hasn't got its own Parliamentary Assembly.

The boys compete to lead singing grace.  My takeaway resurfaces as part of the spread for tea: the boys demolish the chips.  A little after 7.00pm, George suggests we head back before he has to travel in total darkness.   As the full moon rises, the evening seems clear and we hope the rain holds off.  In Nairobi, they talk as much about the weather as we do at home!

I abandon reading my journal in early 2013's entries, tidy the kitchen and do some packing.  For once, there's no patter of rain as I go to bed.

Multiply Zambia/Kenya 2014 Day Seventeen - Friday

First thing, I text Gregory to say, "Suggest you leave coming here 'til lunchtime."  It's a grey day, and the mud roads will be impossible.  In Nairobi I've taken to wearing both a tee-shirt and shirt.  The locals are going around wrapped in a blankets and sporting wellington boots.

A couple of hours on the computer quickly pass by.  I phone home and explain my revised arrangement for Monday to Mary.  Gregory arrives at 11.30am, and we spend another two hours sharing about future possibilities for Multiply.  He's very clear thinking, and realistic, too.  He explains that - unaware of commercial realities - some MILC invitees may expect to come back with their pockets stuffed full of preaching fees.  It seems that it would be sensible for us to download the High Commission visa application forms to see exactly what hurdles delegates face, then produce an information sheet that will help them to successfully apply.

Gregory also suggests we should draft a 'Setting up Multiply in another country' guidelines.  There's clearly been differences between his approach in Uganda, Rukundo's in Congo, and Steven's in Malawi, plus where we've got to in Tanzania and also what I know of Bangalore.  "The real thing for Multiply is the local networks," he observes, "UK conference are great, but not what we should focus on for most pastors."  He goes on to make some good suggestions about pilot/scalable income earning projects starting with just four lap-tops and one person training.  I guess this is all something I shall need to initiate between getting home and MILC in mid-May.  Later he adds that a minibus would be a versatile resource for each of the three main guys here in East Africa.  "Doing some outreach mission is close to leaders'hearts, because it grows their churches."

We head to JMB's again, and Gregory presents me with a huge pile of chips for what was just meant to be a light lunch.  We sit outside, and if we'd collected the flies we were plagued with, we'd have doubled our meat portions.  Today Joseph is busy with a legal case involving the division of 'Four Square' and disputes about property ownership.  All told it's been running 15 years, and he just wants to see an end to it.  We move on to Gregory's home, and another George drops by.  He's very keen to come to UK, and a good prospect for being Gregory's Timothy in Multiply matters.  As we discuss MILC, there's another thunderstorm.

Gregory has to be in Kimusu over Saturday and Sunday for the ordination of one of his leaders there.  He's desperately trying to get someone to share the driving, but may end up having to go solo by bus.  Kenya has banned some night-driving because of the accident rates, and they've halved as a result.  Joseph will keep an eye on me tomorrow, and then George will pick me up at 8.30am for local church.  Meanwhile Gregory's set up a four-hour leadership training workshop for me there, starting at 2.00pm on Sunday afternoon. 

Johnstone and Oscar join us in the car for the slippery drive back to the apartment.  Driving is really on the limit.  Eventually arriving, all the lights are out: there's a power cut.  The caretaker presents me with an LED lamp and I grope my way round the kitchen and bedroom.  Judith's thoughtfully packed me up some of their evening meal in an insulated container.  I've opted to eat it here so we don't leave negotiating the mud roads til they're totally impassable. 

Within and hour the power comes back on.  An hour after that, Gregory texts to say they've arrived back safely!  There's been no air circulating around the apartment, and the bedroom is stuffy.  I drift off to sleep with rain falling all night.  Crumbs, will I make it out of here?  I came wanting to experience and understand local life better, but the final 48 hours may hold more challenge than I bargained for!

Multiply Zambia/Kenya 2014 Day Sixteen - Thursday

The cockerel in the maize plot right outside my window wins.  The shower's nice and warm, and I salvage a teabag from my case and fathom how to boil a pan of water on the stove.   I'm ready when Gregory arrives: he's slithered along the road, which by now has the consistency of chocolate puddle pudding.  He suggests we check the Methodist Guest House further into town, as more rain is forecast.

Meanwhile we head for breakfast at 'JBM's Restaurant', and Bishop Joseph joins us.   We go round the corner to his Four Square Mission church.   He's added a couple of corrugated iron huts and his wife is now running a school of 50 children with three teachers. 

The mid-morning sun has dried out the rally circuit.  Back at Sundowner, I hastily throw stuff into my cases in anticipation that one way or another I'll be sleeping somewhere else tonight.  I pay the lady KS2,000 (£15) which is a bargain, really.

We head to the Methodist Guest House in the well-heeled suburbs.  Since 2011 they've built a whole posh new second facility next door.  Last time I stayed here a single room was KS3,600.  Now the price is KS5,900.  Gregory's upset at this.  We intend to head further in to town, where there are other Christian-based Guest facilities.  Gregory's also keen to get me to a bookshop so I can pick up a field-guide that will tell me what at least a few of the trees and birds are named.

We pass the Central Baptist Church, and head round the back to the African Inland Mission centre.  They only do full board.  Next door is Daystar University, where Gregory lectures, so we go for a wander round.  Mainly, the students are girls.  Gregory settles that he and I will travel on from here by bus, while Joseph takes his car back home and checks out a couple of other possibilities for a room. 

We rattle and bang along - knees jammed behind the seats, music blaring, until we reach the city centre.  It's marginally more civilised travel than a mutatu.  We pass a small promotional marquee offering sterile male circumcision - reducing the risk of HIV by 70%.  Gregory steers me to the main bookshop, but it's closed 1.00pm - 2.00pm for lunch.  We seek out a place for a bite ourselves at 'Papaya', until the shop reopens.

Mick rings, having missed my earlier call.  There's a good case for me to call in at Central Offices on Monday instead of heading straight from Heathrow to Sheffield.  Viv's down in Northampton on the day and confirms that he can run me home.  I just have to work out how to cancel my existing ticket and book another online, and explain things to Mary.

We head back to Uthiru by bus, KS40 (about 28 pence) each.  On the right is Westlands Mall.  Joseph has had a little success with other accommodation options.   He loves the book on birds, and swiftly identifies species that - as a child - he used to snare and cook in a stew.

George, another guy in Gregory's leadership team, is going to drive us.  The CHAK (Christian Health Association of Kenya) hostel and conference centre has good office facilities, but it is fully booked.  We've come full circle.   Gregory and I go supermarket shopping so I don't starve.  There are large tubs of whole-milk fruit yogurt for little more than 50 pence (KS75); we get a dozen eggs for £1 and eight bananas for KS40, too.

Back at Sundowner, room 'Kigali', I make a drink.  Then we notice it's 5.30pm.  Gregory has his home group tonight - all in Swahili, and I'm fretting to get on the laptop.  In the lounge, I get in a full four-hour session, punctuated only by boiling a couple of eggs.  Then I settle into the bedroom to square with another night of unequal unarmed combat with any mozzis that wriggle round the curtains or emerge from under the bed or other hiding places.  Mary texts to say, "It's house family meal tonight - we'll miss you."  Meanwhile, in Kiambu County, Nairobi, we have another overnight thunderstorm.

Multiply Zambia 2014 Day Fifteen - Wednesday

Marriotti Hotel has been a good location for us.  Our flight out is at 14.55, so we have a good chunk of time to occupy ourselves.  Len want to get some 'ethnic' shirts for his boys in Brighton, so it's time to head for the markets.   Dar es Salaam has a long trading history - at one time disreputably for slaves.  Of all the cities I've visited here in Africa it most feels like India.  But then, Mumbai is the next place to the east.    

As ever, Jacob knows where to go, and we park right in the middle of Kariako market.  In the bright sun this bustling colourful district is a picture.  We weave in and out of the stalls and note the keen prices.  Shopping done, Jacob tries to back out the car.  The lady traffic attendant is joined by several traders determined not to have to move their carefully laid-out wares.  Once we're on the move, we notice it's just a crawl.  Steven advises it's best to head out of town to make sure we get to check-in in good time. 

We stop for a stroll around another cluster of shops, then unload in the Airport carpark  There's a TS20,000 fine if you straddle the white lines.  JNIA has the air of a run-down East Midlands railway station.  I ask Rukundo a question that's been on my mind for two years: whether he'd ever seen getting currency from an ATM.  He gives me an ambiguous answer, suggesting it was the sheer amount of cash (TS1.3M or thereabouts) that startled him.

We give big hugs all round to Steven, Jacob and Ps Luvanda.  I feel a certain contentment that we've made some good progress for the Kingdom of God. 

It's just an hour to Nairobi, and the plane isn't even half full.  In classic African aviation style, they leave when they're ready, not when scheduled; in this case a good ten minutes early.  We're wondering if Gregory and I will get a chance to see the Kitwe party - arriving about the same - in the Transfer lounge.  But we're separated onto different shuttle buses and have to say our farewells to Rukundo and Len on the airstrip.

Our lift is waiting, so I quickly change £50 for Kenya shillings and we head for Nairobi's evening rush-hour crawl.  They've been smartening the place up.  Even the un-made-up road passing Gregory's house in Uthiru, part of Kabete, is due to be tarmac'd.  Judith's glad to see Gregory home, and I'm introduced to the rest of the household.  There's Oscar, their 17-year-old son, whom I didn't recognise from two years ago.  Then Macleen and her two girls Annabelle and Brianna, and finally Helen.  Clearly, there's not enough space for me, too, but we're going to eat before I need to worry about this.  

Citizen television is giving a lot of coverage to the University Lecturers' strike, and it's nice not to be beseiged with Nigerian soaps that dominate elsewhere, and seem entirely to consist of husbands and wives falling out even though they go to church.  I test out my phone tethering, and it's just about workable.

Gregory has booked me into a new fully-furnished Sundowner apartment block reasonably nearby, down a bumpy un-made-up road.  One of a block of eight, it's got a lounge, kitchen and two bedrooms.  I could have made my own breakfast!  Ruefully, I notice there's no mozzi net and no way I could hang one from the concrete block ceiling.  I struggle to sleep, trying to keep my head inside my repellant-impregnated sleeping bag liner.  I get up several times to work out if I can get a decent climate without opening windows - meanwhile it rains heavily.

Multiply Zambia 2014 Day Fourteen - Tuesday

I take an early cup of tea into the thatched disco-come-restaurant at the back of the hotel, where live music had been playing to goodness-knows-what time on Saturday and Sunday night.  Seeing my bed empty, Rukundo thinks I'm in the en-suite bathroom, and hovers around for half an hour before plucking up courage to stick his head round the door.  I'm determined to pack as much as possible into today.

There are more delegates, and the attentiveness and engagement is much better.  The weather seems a little cooler, too (29C rather than 32C).  The groups go well and we've ploughed through some good stuff. first on money and then on leadership.

Last night, before Rukundo and I resumed our deep conversation, Steven and I had reviewed the trip's finances.  He's done really well to keep in line with budgets, but, if anything, has been let down by local folks not gripping the catering arrangements and costs.  In the overall balance, it's not a show-stopper.  And both Rukundo and Gregory have benefitted from seeing Steven's different way of running the conferences. 

Bishop Bartholomew is translating for Len.  They chat together as the groups work on stuff, and Len finds him very receptive.  Bishop Mwasota, gives thanks for the lunch, which is even later than yesterday.   This has been a significant couple of days.  We're through by 5.00pm, and folks have gone home happily clutching handouts Steven has arranged.  I've transferred a lot of stuff onto USB sticks, too.  Len and I chat to the young guys who've been doing the techie work.  They've been amused by the ukulele.

"Same place as last night?" Steven suggested; "Although, I'd like to look for somewhere new."  He really is a restless man, and I admire this in him.  We're all agreed, except for the prospect of being jammed in the Previa for another Turkish Bath and spine-jolting endurance test on Dar es Salaam's many un-made-up roads.  "Straight there!" is the chorus.  It's been hot, even for the Africans.  Len has goat meat and chapatis again, and we celebrate with Stoney, the ginger beer pop. 

Steven plans to cut short his stay-over and go back to Kitwe on Thursday.  The flight change cost $50, but Gladys and all will be pleased to see him.  I wonder about our future activities here.  Jacob is a resourceful guy, but his wife and family are still back in Zambia.  Ps Luvanda is a lovely guy, and well occupied in what he's presently administering.  John Said and Bartholomew have been very drawn to us.  As Rukundo and I are packing, John Said appears to say 'goodbye'.  Today he'd been tendering to run some English language training for the business they have set up, and had missed the sessions.

Something's going to take shape.