Mumena Campaign

Brian and I left a week early (June 11) to prepare for the rest of the team’s arrival.  Brian often referred to this group as the “dream team” because we were all friends, and he expressed his utmost confidence in our ability to teach and preach.  All this is good but without our chef, Greg Gee, we would have suffered greatly.  Greg kept us healthy.  He could make a gourmet meal out of an ant hill.  He’s our best kept secret.

This trip was a little unusual, because we only had one missionary family on site.  That was the main reason Brian and I decided to go a week early.  It enabled supplies to be purchased and last minute details to be confirmed.

Our trip had four goals:

1. To assess the progress of the church in the Mumena chieftaincy
2. To conduct a four day in-service, at the request of the Mumena B school, that challenged the teachers to think “outside the box” in an effort to improve education with the end result being an improvement in the exit level scores at the 7^th and 9^th grade levels
3. To continue our relationship with the local medical staff by evaluating future needs, and by planning and participating in a one day dental and eye ware clinic
4. Review the results of Jason’s pig project now that he has returned to the USA

Dental and Eye Ware Clinic

We hit the ground running.  There wasn’t much time to acclimate.  Our clinic day came first.  With great joy, we inspected the shower room that was built for mothers to clean up after giving birth.  In the past, they would be given a bucket of water but today they have a room with water piped in from the new well that was dug during our last campaign.  Now that the room is operational, we have agreed to purchase a hot water tank.

The decision was made a year ago to concentrate on one clinic at a time.  The head nurse, Eliac, presented us with a plan to improve his clinic.  We worked together to make improvements which have greatly extended the clinic’s ability to serve the local population.  In addition, Eliac has been studying with the missionaries and he’s chosen to worship with the Kompande church of Christ.  He is a baptized believer.

Working with Teachers at the Mumena B School

Our four days of in-service with the Mumena B faculty gave us a good deal of insight into how the teachers feel about their teaching assignments.  The following points were identified by the Zambian teachers as representing the greatest needs for education at Mumena B:

1. Drill a borehole for the teachers closer to their homes
2. Provide a better road for the teachers coming from the roadside to their homes
3. Improve teacher housing

We see these three points as primarily relating to the teachers’ needs rather than what would help the students.  As we affirmed in the in-service sessions, we are aware of and capable of helping with these needs, as we have done in the past.  However, the in-service topic was primarily concerned with the needs of the students.  As we sought to present plausible ideas that would increase the level of education for the students, we felt that our focus on student needs was not embraced by the Mumena B faculty.   At whatever point in the future the faculty wishes to focus on the students’ needs, we will be willing to reconsider helping the teachers.

During the third in-service session, the education team tried to steer the conversation in the direction of the needs of the students.  Two important points were put on the board for consideration:

1. Community interaction and classroom incentives to change the attendance patterns of the Mumena student body  (the Mumena B teachers identified this point as their 4^th area of need);
2.  A quiz system for grade appropriate, incremental improvement in mathematics and English / reading complete with a parent, student, and teacher incentive program coupled with annual evaluations from our education team.

We believe that point # 2 is a workable program that will address student attendance while creatively improving the excellence of education at Mumena B.  We believe that over the course of several years, student grades could improve from a 40% passing score to a 70% passing score.  70% is the score level of interest by such employers as Lumwana Mine.

While it was a bit disappointing that only six teachers attended the final session, we feel that they were able to express clearly the feelings of the other five not in attendance.  Mr. Muyamwa, the headmaster and only one other teacher, Loveness, came to say goodbye and thank us for the in-service.  We do not feel that there is much interest in a continued cooperative relationship between our M.C.O.C. Education Team and Mumena B School.  This is unfortunate. Darrell Jordan had a great idea to give those teachers who attended the last session a live chicken and a can of tomatoes so the delivery was made to six who came to the last session.  (A live chicken is worth more than a dead chicken.)

Our commitment to education in the Mumena Chieftaincy has not wavered.  We will simply be looking for ways to impact education at the parent / student level in the village for our 2014 program.  This should impact several of the Mumena B students, and we hope that will be a blessing for the school as well as others in the Chieftaincy.

Gospel Meetings

The rest of our time in Mumena was dedicated to canvassing the communities of two of our church plants to invite people to gospel meetings.  We split into two groups and spent one day teaching and preaching and then an evening around the campfire was given to song and a final sermon with a call to baptism.  It was an amazing time of fellowship.  I know that the team with Kevin, Brian and David had six baptisms.  Darrell Jordan and Kevin were our two night time campfire preachers.  You would never have guessed that it was Darrell’s first time in Mumena.  Everyone had the opportunity to teach and preach in one of the congregations on a Sunday.  We all remembered last year when one of the leaders at the Congolese church tagged David Perkins with, “And your name is David and you will be speaking to us today.”  But David was ready last year and had that opportunity again to do a fine job of speaking and teaching during the local meetings.

We were happy to hear that both the Konqua, and Mushingoshi churches were evangelizing in an area deep into the woods past Mushingoshi.  You know the church is growing when faithful brothers are spreading the word carried along by bicycles.

Jason’s Pig Projects

Jason’s pig projects, with the local farmers, was still intact.  Five families have gotten to the point where it’s time to develop markets to sell their pigs.  Rick says the market is available in Solwezi, so it’s just a matter of butchering, freezing, and carrying the pieces to town.  We have agreed to help purchase two freezers that will store the meat until it can be taken to town.

Staying Engaged

It seems that every campaign is a good one.  This one was small in number but powerful in what was accomplished.  It meant a lot to the survival of the church for people to know that we are committed to staying engaged.  There are at least sixteen church plants in Mumena.  None have elders or deacons but they are all committed to studying the gospel and spreading the word.

A special thanks to Rick and Karen Love for all the planning and preparation they made to prepare for this campaign.  To see Rick waiting with the truck when we arrived was a true blessing.  They were the “boots on the ground” that made our trip possible.

We say thank you to all of our Christian brothers and sisters who made the sacrifice to send this team to the bush in Northwest Zambia.  We are committed to indigenous, sustainable missions that spread the gospel in far away places.  Your helping to fund this team is appreciated greatly and our goal was to be good stewards of all that was given, not the least of which was the prayers offered on our behalf.

God bless,

The Mumena Mission Team of 2013