Leaving Zambia

Our year in Zambia has come to the end, and what an amazing year it has been, full of all kinds of experiences and adventures.  We will truly miss all of our friends here and of course we will miss deeply the TEEZ staff; they were so good to us.  The new Global Ministry Fellows, Molly and Ryan Dowell Baum, arrived on Wednesday.  They are great people and we enjoyed the short time we spent with them.  Over the past few days we handed off the baton to Ryan and Molly, and are thankful that the baton is going to such beautiful people. We know they will love their year here.  On Sunday night TEEZ hosted a farewell and welcome dinner for us and Ryan and Molly.  It was a wonderful evening shared with our closest friends and the whole TEEZ staff —it was a perfect way to end our time in Zambia.We left Kitwe yesterday morning and our hearts broke as we said a final good-bye to our friends and the neighbor kids.  About ten kids were there to see us off and some tears were shed as we drove off.  It was a long and sad drive to Lusaka.  We will really miss Kitwe. 

We head to Malawi this morning Tuesday September 7, as we begin our two months of travel.  We will pas through Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Lesotho, Madagascar, and Egypt.  We will try to update our blog as much as we can while we travel.  I also forgot to mention that one of our neighbors had a baby girl last week and named here Erin Rebekah after Erin (the letter “r” isn’t found in Bemba, so little Erin is spelled and pronounced as “Elin”.)   She is a beautiful little baby and Erin was honored by the family’s request.  Below are several pictures of our last couple of weeks in Kitwe. 

Erin holding baby Erin when she was 2 days old

The TEEZ staff at our house for an American/Italian meal, chicken parmesean, pasta, salad, and garlic bread

Brent with two neighbor boys, Lombe and Benja

The neighbor kids having tire races

Another shot of the tire races

Brent fishing with the neighbor kids

Erin and I in front of the TEEZ office

Erin and 2 of her Zambian children, Kaunda and Mwewa

Erin, Ryan and Molly, at Sikone market in downtown Kitwe

The beautiful and always hectic Sikone market in Kitwe

With our friends Steve and Carol Jackson at our TEEZ farewell

Erin, Jenny, Rev. Banda, Ryan, Mrs Banda, and Edina

An amazing self pick with 4 of the TEEZ staff, Muyunda, Henry, Charles, and Gondwe

Erin and I with TEEZ director Rev. Mabaluki and training officer Rev. Banda

Erin with Phyllis, Esther, and Edina

Erin and our friend Cheryl Smith

With the new GMF's Ryan and Molly Dowell Baum

Our final picture as we drove off from Kitwe, we will miss these boys, Benja, Kaunda, and Wiza