Kathryn Seib

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Please note as I did not have time to send an update before leaving Canada so some of you will be shocked to learn that I have once again relocated to Zambia for about 9 months. I am sorry for not giving you better warning. I arrived in Zambia on Dec 10^th, 2009 after a very good flight. Blessing to you all! Look forward to hearing from you as you are able.
Kathryn

Here are the excerpts I have compiled since arriving:

Jan. 1, 2010
Happy New Year! I trust that God will bless you and be with each of you in the coming year. For myself it feels both natural and surreal to have crossed over into a new year. In my mind, it feels like time has stopped. I am stuck somewhere in early Jan of 2010 or early Dec of 2009. Depends on the day. I am afraid that the coming of 2010 was not highly celebrated in my home. It was decided that we would get up early to go and finish weeding the corn (maze) field so that it would be complete before the children start back to school on Mon. That being said I headed for bed around 10 pm. I think some of the older boys might have stayed awake to welcome the new year, but I slept. The sunny New Year welcomed me the next morning at 5:45am ;-) 

Now this afternoon I am home again and tired. I lay down on the couch. I am surrounded by familiar voices but unintelligible sounds as the children happily converse in Bemba. I think about how I have been here for 3 weeks now and it feels like forever. 9 months will be an eternity at this rate… Will I be able to accomplish all that I am here for? The conversation switches to English and I am not overly impressed with the direction it is taking. Will any of this make a difference in these children’s lives. Will they grow up to be the mighty men and women of God that I pray that they will? uh oh, I am not feeling well and can’t follow that train of thought without risk of despondency… I must be a bit lonely and homesick. I am not really sure what homesick is supposed to feel like, but if I am aware enough I know that this is the beginning stages for me. Groggy and with a funny tummy I eventually drag myself outside for some fresh air. I take a little walk to escort 2 of the visiting girls in the direction of their house. It is 6:30 ish and the air is still and damp from earlier rains. The twilight that descends very quickly is starting to gather. By the time I reach home it will be dark. It is coolish and peaceful. There is a fair bit of home bound traffic and people walk about. The Jehovah’s Witness has just let out and there is a stream of people heading away from the building that is just down the road from us. Others walk in pairs or small groups as they amble about their business. The ever ready and present taxi drivers in their unmarked cars are in some semblance of a row chatting and washing the red splatters of mud from their doors. I survey the scene quietly and realized how blessed I am. In the midst of feeling out of sorts, I am very comfortable with the environment around me. It truly is a second home and where there are some things that I may never feel are “normal” I am at peace in my heart and truly feel I am where I am meant to be and that all is well with my soul because I am walking with the Prince of Peace. Happy New Year! 

Dec 27, 2009
Today I am hot, tired and cranky. I hate being cranky. It is no fun for any of us. Mostly I am unhappy about the state of everything being in an uproar (life, where I will live, renovations...) Oh the renovations are so inconveniencing and tiresome. And there is at least two more weeks of this to come. I want results without time involved and without all the mess! I want pattern and routine!!!!! And I want there to stop being cockroaches everywhere and garbage on the ground! So there. But in all of this I have to tell you that I am so very, very thankful for my pillow. I am sure that sounds funny, but last time I never did find a pillow that I was comfortable on (and those of you that know me well know this is a very important and personal issue for me ;-) so this time from the start I have had a wonderful pillow that I am very comfortable on. I am thankful for it every single day and just thought I would share that ;-) 

Dec 21, 2009
Hi all! Today it is Monday, Dec. 21 and you are all sleeping in Canada. I am sitting under a mango tree in the shade. (Because, yes it is that hot ;-)! Sorry, don’t mean to brag, but the weather here is practically perfect in every-way (as Mary Poppins would say ;-). Warm and sunny. Like perfect summer weather in Canada … If it rains that just serves to cool the air down.) It is 14:30, which translates to 2:30 pm for those of you used to a 12 hour clock. I am happy to finally be sitting down to write to you. I am also extremely grateful for laptops. Besides the obvious reasons, the major one for me today is the fact that we started renovations on the house this morning. While very exciting, (it was in need of a good facelift and some maintenance) it is also inconveniencing as the bathroom, dining room, and living room had to be vacated completely and now the ceiling has been dismantled thus filling the house with thick black dust. The girls are bored, but I am excited as I can’t wait till everything has been completed and we can begin cleaning and painting the whole house!!!

There is another very exciting story from just this morning! I now am in possession of my employment permit which allows me to stay in the country longer than 3 months at a time! We started this process last year when I arrived in July. In September of 2008 I was told that I need a police clearance from Canada. That was the only item remaining and then they would issue the permit. With only a few weeks remaining on my visitors visa there was nothing to do but return to Canada. Now we fast forward to this December. The needed police clearance had been obtained and sent on ahead of my arrival. Instructions were given to return in a week or so, which was last Friday. Uncle Moses went to Lusaka (the capital, about 3 hours drive by car away from Ndola, the city I live in) to pursue and obtain the now issued work permit. Friday morning I received a call, Uncle Moses tells me that Immigration is saying the permit has been sent to Ndola and I should go and collect it. Alone. (He has always gone with me when handling any immigration issues.) So I bravely start off. Actually it wasn’t such a big deal, it is just that I was tired and the vehicle that I was used to driving was unavailable so I had to use public transit which I am not as comfortable doing as I seldom have too and I hadn’t re-orientated myself to that whole system (plus most of the usual people I rely on for instruction or advise were out of town or unreachable;-). But I managed to pull myself together, bolster whatever failing nerves remained, commandeer one of the girls to escort me, and start off.

Once at the immigration office I thankful and swiftly found the right gentleman. Then we began looking through pages and pages of handwritten records to no avail. I went home empty handed. Today Uncle Moses and I went together to further pursue the missing permit. We again started with the handwritten ledger. Nothing. So Uncle Moses pleaded/ convinced the immigration officer to allow us to look through the physical permits (which look like small passports). Now being as nosey as I am, this was quite interesting for me. I enjoyed seeing the pictures and nationalities of other people who have applied and been accepted to work in Zambia. The majority where Indian and Chinese. Then there was the odd Russian, Danish, and even a Filipino missionary. Anyway, as fascinating as it all was still nothing on my permit. Uncle Moses was getting concerned/frustrated. I was contemplating what this could mean and possibly involve. And I was praying.

My Mother, since the time I was small, hated losing things. Whenever this happened, after searching to no avail she would always make us stop and pray that God would bring the missing item to light. It almost always worked. So with years of stories and faith built into my mind, I told God, “ Lusaka is insisting that the visa is in Ndola, and we are in Ndola and not finding it and they are insisting it is not here. I know you know where it is. Please bring it to light.” After exhausting our search, we where instructed to sit. I glance over at a near by shelf and saw a dusty pile of what I now knew to be employment permits. I had actually seen it before but not known what it was. At my enquiry the immigration officer replied that they were old ones. For the sake of being thorough I requested permission to look which he kindly granted. And fourth from the top there mine was! I signed it, he sealed it, and stamped my passport. I am now free and clear to stay up to Oct 2^nd, 2010, if I wish. The ironic part is this. The work permit had been issued last year on Oct 2^nd, the day after my visiting visa expired and the day I arrived back in Canada, without the needed police clearance. Now Uncle Moses says that we should begin re-applying now in case it takes long, but everyone agrees that re-application is not as hard to get as the initial one…

In other trivial news, I love eating fresh, ripe, mangoes off the tree daily! That is if I can compete with the other 9 members of the household who like to eat them green with salt. I am practising eating them like a Zambian with my teeth. The fibres like to get stuck in my teeth and that forces me to floss, something I hate doing (I did it daily for one year when I was about 11. I was then praised on having such nice teeth by the dentist so I never did it again…) All in all, eating mangoes has been good for my overall health and hygiene. ;-)

I saw my first snake here yesterday. It was a baby one, and looked like a huge earthworm. Patricia (my friend, roommate, co-worker, etc.) got very scared. I remained very brave, and ran to find someone to help. ;-) Thank goodness Uncle Moses was here and killed it for me. Not sure what I would have done otherwise. It was blocking the door to the office.

Mercy Touch has a driver to take the children to school. He took over my duties from last time. So today he drove me to town to do errands. It is so weird to be called madam and be driven around. I can’t even pump my own gas here if I wanted to. Anyway, I put a stop to the madam part (I told them that is what they would be calling my mother in Canada ;-) Sorry Mom ;-) And I am happy report that I took to driving on the “correct” (left) side of the road as if I had never been away. I even drove my first day here, jetlagged and all, and I only hit the windshield wipers 3 times! It took me two weeks to break that habit last time! I was very proud of myself. Now all I have to do is get a license again… ;-) (The last one was stolen within a month of being back in Canada .)

I need to inform you that I have gone to war. On the devil of course, but also on a lesser enemy in the form of cockroaches. I had to laugh one day when Miless (the second youngest girl) told me that cockroaches run very fast when they are about to die. They always seem to be running when I enter the room so…Let me just say that I hate cockroaches. And litter. In Zambia there is a campaign called Keep Zambia Clean. The girls think that I have made this my personal agenda. They might be right…