(This is the second post I've uploaded today as I had one from our last week in Mkushi that I've not been able to upload being without internet for the last couple of weeks, so check the post before as well!)

I feel well travelled. Last night I made it back to Lusaka after a ten and a half hour bus journey which had been preceded by a eight hour journey the day before. The Falconer Home orphanage in Kabulamema is a long, long way away! But I’m glad I made the effort to visit them and the bus journeys weren’t without event to liven up the journey!

The buses were all full as normal and I spent a lot of the time with knees bent backwards or arms folded over my head...well, ok, maybe not quite that bad, but it felt like it at points with all the people and luggage crammed on board. By the time we arrived in one place the aisle was full of people sitting on luggage. There is never much room for manoeuvre and when you’re in it for the long haul it can get pretty uncomfortable but I was spoilt for the first two hours of yesterdays journey as I had two whole seats to myself! Whenever the bus stops a bright coloured, bustling crowd surrounds the bus on all sides lifting trays and bowls of ice cold drinks, biscuits, sweets, crisps, tomatoes, aubergines, mangoes, caterpillars and maybe even some dvds or belts up to the windows. The air is filled with shouts and whistles and all of a sudden everyone on the bus is crammed against the windows bargaining for whatever they’re in need of. Once the initial melee has died down some of the traders will then get on the bus and try again to make a sale to anyone who wasn’t hanging out of one of the windows.

The further you get from Lusaka the older and more rickety the buses get. The one I boarded for the second day of the journey to the Falconer Home was looking pretty worn out and battered, but shiny and new next to some of the other buses I saw on route. About an hour along the journey there was a huge bang and the sound of burst rubber flying off one of the rear tyres. Thankfully the bus had two wheels on either side at the back, but when we didn’t even stop to check out what had happened I was a more than a little worried! A guy hung out of the window to see what had happened, but I’m not sure I count that as good mechanics. However, about ten minutes down the road we did pull over when there was a lay by and the tyre was changed...although the spare was already flat or that was the rumour I heard so they moved what had been the inside of the two tyres to the outside and carried on...

I’m pleased to say, we made it to Kabompo just nine hours after leaving Solwezi without further complications, just many many stops to let people and huge amounts of luggage on and off the bus.

I’d spent the night in Solwezi in the care of Joseph (who grew up at the Falconer Home), Matilda and their family. They gave me such a warm welcome and were so amazingly generous. Joseph seems to have a mini version of the home happening is his own family now and when I asked him how many people stay with him and Matilda he had to think about it, but concluded that they are looking after 11 children, some their own, some orphans from his brother and others who have come to stay from the Falconer Home.

Waiting for me in Kabompo were Simon and Miriam from the Falconer Home and I was super glad to see them I can tell you! They furnished me with an ice cold coke and some home made cake before we piled into the car and set off on the last stage of my journey from Lusaka to Kabulamema.

An hour later in the growing dark we pulled up outside the Falconer Home and the car was immediately surrounded by a growing circle of children running out to greet us. As I stepped out of the car they burst into song welcoming me to their home. They then all began to show me a trick that I taught them last year...I couldn’t believe they remembered it! It felt great to be back there.

I settled into the routine very quickly as I knew what to expect following my visit last year. There were so many familiar faces and such a warm welcome from everyone that the long and tedious bus journey soon felt like a long time ago.

While at the home I was going to spend time with the kids who are in the small pre-school  run there. Simon had asked me to do some reading, writing and drawing lessons with them, but as I had no idea how to teach reading or writing or how advanced the kids would be, I’d asked if it would be okay to do arty things with them. As I’d been given the okay I had come prepared with lots of materials and ideas...many of which I owe the credit for to the wonderful Jo Finlay who used the ideas while I was with her in Kenya!

Each morning I joined the young kids in their little classroom and in the afternoon I ended up rerunning the lessons with the slightly older kids who had been at school in the morning. We had great fun making all sorts of things, but my favourite had to be the clay models using natural clay from by the river. The next morning by 8am all the kids were sat outside covered from head to toe in clay with loads of little toys they’d been busy making for themselves with clay they’d gone to collect! It was so amazing that they’d just decided to carry on and were clearly loving it...big smiles showed on the clay caked faces! (I’m not so sure the people who have to wash all their clothes will be so excited about the clay though...oops!) Another highlight of the art was looking at some of the pictures the kids had drawn and spotting people carrying things on their heads or pictures of trucks with people all standing on the back...observations on African life by five year olds!

On Saturday I organised a morning of games and races...high-energy, lots of shouting, very hot sun and giddy kids! It was fantastic but by lunch time I was dead on my feet and in desperate need of escaping to a quite and shady place! After starting with a round of the hokey-kokey that turned into more of a mosh pit once the boys got the idea, we had loads of races, including balloons, sacks, and water...the kids loved it! It was great fun but I couldn’t have done it without Bruce who turned up to help and was an absolute superstar, having way more energy than me in the heat and an equally loud voice that he used to translate what I was saying and make sure everyone actually understood what was going on!

I also became a geometry and maths teacher for the week as a couple of the older kids were struggling with their homework and came asking if I knew anything about drawing...and so began the 4pm geometry lessons! I had to dig deep in my memory for some of the questions (it’s been a while!) but I really enjoyed it like the loser I am!

All in all it was a great week but what made it extra special was all the little things that happened. With just over 100 kids around there is always the possibility that one of them will come and say or do something that will amaze or surprise you, make you laugh or make you want to give them a big hug! There were many moments like these throughout my stay that made a good week a great week...

Each day began early. As there is no electricity at the home, the kids go to bed early and get up early living life in the daylight hours. On my first morning I’d been really looking forward to a lie in - how foolish of me. By 6am the corridor was full of running feet, shouting voices and some very determined swish-swishing of a grass broom. Looking out of my window in the morning I could see the small dug out canoes crossing the Kabompo River full of passengers and the sun rising over the forested slopes on the other side of the river. The home is set up on the banks of the river and really is in the most beautiful place. Sunrise and sunsets were spectacular with golden orange skies. Even the thunder storms that began while I was there seemed more amazing as everything is dark and quiet all around as Kabulamema is far from the nearest city.

Once the kids were up and about you could be sure to hear at least one person singing somewhere and another crying. There are some amazing people working at the home but even with the best will in the world, you can’t keep all the people happy all of the time. With loads of little kids there is normally someone who has been hurt or upset or left out and this is normally expressed with tears. As with any group of kids, there is an element of if you want something to happen you have to sort it our yourself. It wasn’t uncommon to see one kid throw a punch when they thought nobody was looking or give another kid a shove when they were frustrated. I found this quite hard to deal with - having grown up in a fairly big family I’m used to a certain amount of brotherly and sisterly fighting, but it was hard when you saw it happening. There were other moments though that were the exact opposite. On lots of occasions I saw one of the bigger kids walking hand in hand with one of the littler ones, looking after them. It was also common to see one of the five or six year olds sitting with one of the babies on their knee playing with them. For all the signs of rough and tumble, there are also many signs that those at the Falconer Home really are a big family who look out for one another and help each other along the way.

I found that I could have a full time job helping kids get their t-shirts on the right way round and not inside out! There is a room full of clothes and the kids are called in there where they get a clean set of clothes and the old ones are piled outside ready for washing. It’s a little manic while it happens but they all emerge looking clean and new although often a little topsy turvy! The kids don’t have their own clothes, there is just the central wardrobe. This makes perfect sense, but can make it hard when you are trying to learn who is who. You get used to one kid wearing a certain t-shirt then a couple of days later someone else is wearing it! I was also amused to see boys often wearing what I’m sure were girls t-shirts or trousers...but they were all clean, clothed and happy!

One girl had a dress with a broken strap that every 5 minutes or so she was throwing back over her shoulder. After watching her do this for a few hours I decided it was really time to help her out so went and found a needle and thread and carried out a not very good repair job! She was then my firm friend for the rest of my stay!

One little kid, Gary, had me in stitches one day. He had drawn a watch on his wrist which reminded me a comedy afternoon during my Part 3 studies with my friend Erana so put me in a funny mood anyway. I then asked him what time it was and he said with all seriousness “fourteen” (time is told using the 24 hour clock here). About 5 minutes later I asked again and it was “sixteen”. When I asked in 10 minutes time it was “fifteen” and so it went on. It was great! I remember Gary from last year and he is a lovely little kid. He was always taking me somewhere to show me something or other, he gave me a tour of the home and kept telling me everyone’s names. He only knows a little English but used the little he knew to keep chatting with me. This year, I even saw him stood next to his twin brother, Grey, so now know there really is two of them and that’s how they manage to be everywhere at once! Grey has begun grown up school now and is grade 1 while Gary is still in the pre-school. At first Grey was busy being too cool to join in the silliness and things, but by the end of the week he was coming along and having fun as well.

Lots of the very little kids treated me with great wariness to begin with. Stephan would look at me from afar, then let out a huge laugh and run away! Gideon just stood staring at me silently. Webb looked terrified and like he might burst into tears any moment. Peter and John, another set of twins, just stood silently looking at me like I had two heads. Sombo and Peggy had no such difficulty both deciding to be my friends from day one. As the week went by, and particulary after we’d had lots of fun playing games on Saturday, the little boys were much less scared of me. Gideon started chatting to me and Webb would come and stand next to me with a huge smile. One morning he even came and took me by the hand, walked me outside and demanded “games”. From a kid who wouldn’t come near me a few days ago I thought that was pretty impressive!

There are so many fab kids there I can’t mention them all. Suffice it to say that I was very sad to leave. In the short time I had been there all the adults and children had made me really welcome and looked after me so well. Children have a way of making friends with you so quickly that made it feel like I’d been there for much longer than I had. Spending time with the little ones was really exciting as you can see all the potential that each has and the creativity within them. The work going on to provide a big family home for these kids is amazing and well worth it. It would be really interesting to find out the story of many of the children that have already grown up and left the home and see some of the impact the work begun by Lilias Falconer and now carried on by Miriam and Simon and many others has and is having.

I should mention as well that I carried with me a present from the youth group at St Margaret’s in the shape of a swingball set. I got it out one afternoon and the kids loved it once they got the idea. They sensibly put it up under the shade of a big tree and it was played with all afternoon. Lighton particularly liked it - being unable to walk without crutches he is often unable to join in many games. However, with swingball he can balance on one crutch and wallop the ball with the bat held in his other hand. He was really chuffed!

I hope I have managed to catch some of the fun and excitement of the last week for you. It’s been a really great way to finish my time in Zambia and Africa (for now at least!) I spent Wednesday and Thursday sitting on buses again making my way slowly back to Lusaka. The journey started out badly with a puncture on route to the first bus stop in Kabompo but thankfully we were just outside of town so manage to limp in and get there in time. Other than that, it was long and squashed...although there was an amazing moment when we actually had to stop at a level crossing as a train was coming! That may not sound out of the ordinary, but trains are rare here and level crossings are common. They are invariably surrounded by speed bumps and pot holes making it slow and difficult to cross. Many times I’ve thought, grr, what’s the point in these level crossings, there’s never any trains. In all the time I’ve been here last year and this I reckon I’ve seen about 3 or 4 moving trains...so to find one actually going across a level crossing was quite exciting for me

Although I really enjoyed my time at the Falconer Home I was glad to make it back to a place where there’s electricity, running water and mobile phone reception. The long hot bath I had this morning was bliss!

All that remains now is for me to pop into town this afternoon and catch up on some emails and upload this. I also need to repack my bags so that they weigh about the same. Then tonight I will set my alarm clock for about 5.15am in preparation to head to the airport bright and early tomorrow. As the flight leaves early I’ll be back in Manchester by tomorrow evening...a bizarre thought that I can’t quite get my head round yet! As each day goes by I get more and more excited about the fact that I get to see you all soon and really can’t wait for that but I am also very sad that the time has come to leave Africa again. I love it here!

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Thank God for:

- all the family at the Falconer Home.

- Miriam, Simon and all the others who work so hard to look after all the children.

- safe bus journeys-

Please pray for:

- continued provision for the home - there are many mouths to feed and little resources.

- a safe flight home.

- me as I come home to readjust to life in Manchester and work out what I should be doing while I’m there and how long I should be there for...

Despite what the date of this post might say, I’m actually writing this on Wednesday, 4^th November, but I’m currently far from the land of electricity and internet connections so I’ll only be able to upload this once I’m back in Lusaka in 10 days or so. You find me now sitting on my bed in the Falconer Home listening to kids voices and running feet in the corridor next to my room. I arrived here at about 7.30pm yesterday and it’s now 7.30am. I’ve got half an hour before breakfast and I’m still too sleepy to face lots of excited little kids, so instead I’m going to hide in my room a little longer and take advantage of a chance to write about the last week while it’s still fresh in my brain...

What a week it’s been! Everything has changed. But let me start at the beginning...although that feels like a long time ago now.

We started the week with a visit to Chingola. We wanted to meet with the five pastors there and encourage them before we left. It was a non-stop trip driving the 340 km there on the Monday and back again on the Tuesday.

We met with the guys on Monday afternoon, although only three of them were able to make it due to things happening at the last minute. It was great to see them again and we spent some time chatting about what next...just throwing up questions really. During the conversation it became apparent that there has been some upset within the group and one the pastors is feeling disappointed and let down by the others to the point of considering stepping down from the work. It became a really hard conversation as the pastor in question shared that he was upset but did not want to say why. Knowing this now and looking back on the times I have seen all five of the pastors together this year, I can see that the signs of this were there...but at the time I didn’t quite put two and two together. Anyway, we didn’t manage to get to the bottom of why one pastor was feeling like this, but we did manage to agree that it would be good for them all to meet together and talk about what has or hasn’t happened to lead to the current situation and see if they can learn from it and grow stronger rather than eventually reaching a point of division. As it happens, we had already asked our friend Cornelius (from Nchelenge) to visit the guys in Chingola towards the end of November and this will be an ideal opportunity for the five pastors to get together with someone they trust present to help bring direction and a neutral opinion! Please pray for this to be a time of honesty and growth and for all the pastors to have greater understanding of each other as well as for unity amongst them.

It was a really hard afternoon in the end and I left Chingola with a heavy heart. I was once again sad to say goodbye to the guys there, in the end we had not seen two of them to even say goodbye and it had been a tough meeting. Having said that though, I can really see the changes that have happened in the area through the groups that have been meeting to study the Rooted in Jesus course. As I said when I wrote about the conference I can see the beginnings of groups of people choosing to do something to help their own villages and really growing in their relationships with God. This is all amazing and really encouraging. The five pastors have agreed to talk together and try to understand the difficulties that have arisen and I am sure they will all pray about it between now and the time they get together. So, although there may be a bit of a challenge at the moment and some hard conversations to be had, there is also an opportunity for them to come through the difficulties stronger. As my lovely mum said to me on a number of occasions when I was moaning about something or other “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”. I have to say, I agree with her! So my prayer for the guys in Chingola is that this hard patch they are going through won’t lead to a fracturing of their group but instead will bring growth and strengthening.

By Wednesday we were back in Mkushi and now it was time to say goodbye to all the gang there. We did it in style having everyone round for a late lunch and all squishing into our living room on a variety of wicker sofas, camping chairs, cushions and anything else there was to sit on! It was great to see everyone together and have some fellowship, eat some food and get to know each other a little more. Needless to say all the food vanished - we had not made enshima which is the normal part of the meal that fills people up so the rice, pasta and bread all disappeared in a poor attempt to make up for enshima! It was so lovely to have a big group of friends round and as we were sat there I couldn’t help but be amazed by the fact that three months ago we had rocked on up to Mkushi not knowing any of them and now here we were talking about how the small ideas we have begun to plant could be moved forward by this group of people. It was a real reminder of how God can bring people together in his way at his time.

Once our house had emptied and we had cleared up the millions of pots and pans it really dawned on me that it was time to go now. We had finished our list of things to do in Mkushi for now and the only job remaining was to pack up. So, pack up we did. It took a fair while...it really is amazing how much stuff you (well, I) can accumulate in just three months! But before too long I was once again looking at all my stuff squished into my suitcase and my rucksack. I’m happy to say that my bags do seem to be less full now than when I set off - I’m not quite sure how that is, but I’m not complaining.

Come Saturday morning, we were off...well, I almost wasn’t. Having recently had a few troubles with my car battery I’ve had to bump start it a few times. With everything piled in the car, I hopped in only to find the battery was as flat as a pancake - d’oh! So, I quite literally had to be pushed away from our beautiful home in Mkushi! It sort of suited my mood in a way...I really didn’t want to leave, but had to and I needed a bit of a shove to get me on my way. I drove away slowly and sadly but I shouldn’t complain. I’ve had the chance to be involved in something amazing things going on, meet some more fantastic people and live somewhere really beautiful and as I said when I left Kenya, I would rather have that experience and then a few sad days when I leave than not have the experience or the sad days.

By lunch time I was back in Lusaka and big shops! I spent the afternoon gathering various art supplies to bring with me to the Falconer Home, but I’ll save all that for next time I write.

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Thank God for:

- all the people we have had the privilege of meeting and working alongside.

- continued safety and good health.

- calling me to be involved in the work He is doing here and all He has been teaching me.

Please pray for:

- unity and understanding in the groups overseeing the work in Chingola, Mkushi and Nchelenge.

- encouragement for the guys in Mkushi as we leave them to begin groups in their villages.

- Peter and his family in Mkushi - since writing the above I have just heard that his wife, Melody, died the other day from a massive asthma attack, incredibly sad news.