Interviews with the Kids....

Greetings friends - A lot of you have been wondering about the kids and their perspective on things...So, here is the first installment of "From the Mouth of Babes" Unedited.

What would you most like to say to friends and family back home?

Mackenzie: I really miss you guys - I can’t wait to have you visit/see you in Minnesota
Clara: Africa is really fun. I think you would like it. And I miss you.
Bennett: I miss you and I can’t wait to see you again.

What has been the best part about living in Zambia?

Mackenzie: How the people are so friendly. For example, everyone you wave at waves back.
Clara: I think my school because it’s fun and American!
Bennett: Umm, playing in the yard and pool.

Describe your School?

Mackenzie: The people are nice and there are no hallways, everything is outside. We have lunch under a nice thatched roof, there are pretty plants and flowers everywhere.
Clara: Very pretty, Like Linden Hills Park except with flowers all over it.
Bennett: My teacher is nice, my classroom has doors, a little pathway, and a house, right in front there is a bookshelf, that’s all.

What are some things you have been learning in class?

Mackenzie: We’ve been learning about how the government works in Zambia which has been fun because we just had elections here. We’ve been learning about organizations and systems and have been responsible for setting up our classroom.
Clara: I’ve been learning about soil, media, computers, some of the same things I did last year which can be kinda boring.
Bennett: I’ve been learning about families, the letters M and H, and Uh, Annie the Apple and how to scooter outside, that’s it.

What are some things you miss about home?

Mackenzie: I miss my really good friends, drive through restaurants, and family, my house, neighbors and school.
Clara: I miss my friends, family and Noodles & Chipoltle.
Bennett: I miss my friends, Uncle Brad and Aunt Carrie and all the relatives.

What kind of activities are you doing now?

Mackenzie: School swim team, horseback riding, and swimming A LOT in our pool.
Clara: Swim Team, Riding, Mtn. Bike Riding and Jump roping.
Bennett: Riding horses, sword fights, swimming


What are you learning living in closer proximity to the poor?

Mackenzie: I’m learning that the world is not perfect and through TFC (charity the kids have started) we are getting closer to the poor. I’m learning that we can re-use lots of things and that we have a lot to learn from their positive spirits.
Clara: I’m learning that not everyone has money and that the houses they live in our not as good and that they are in danger from mosquitos. I’m learning that many poor are friendly and are strong Christians.
Bennett: It feels weird in my head.


Which football team do you like the most, Denver Broncos or the Vikes?

Mackenzie: Broncs.
Clara: Denver Broncos.
Bennett: The broncos.

(Oh yea, says Dad.)

Who would you have voted for in the Zambian Presidential election and why?

Mackenzie: Mwanawasa because of his help to the poor and people seem happy with what he is doing.
Clara: HH, because I hear he is a good man.
Bennett: Mwanawasa, because I like him.

Tell us the names of a few new friends and where are they from?

Mackenzie: Holly (U.S.) Quinn (U.S.) and Natasha (Zimbabwe), Jessica (U.S.)
Clara: Poppy, (Zambia/England) Scarlett (England) Juni (Norway)
Bennett: Nathan (Zambia), Issac (U.S.), Lucas (Zambia)


If we moved home today, how has living here in Zambia impacted or changed you?

Mackenzie: I won’t take as much for granted and I’ll appreciate little things.
Clara: I've realized that not a lot of people have the things that we do.
Bennett: I’m funnier.


What are a couple new words you have learned and what do they mean?

Mackenzie: Chips= French Fries, Trainers = Tennis Shoes, Knickers = Underwear
Clara: Muilbwanji = Hello, Bwana= Boss, Crisps= Potato Chips, Bisquits= Cookies.
Bennett: What?!

What is your favorite thing about Katie Mooty?

Mackenzie: She lets us have overnights in her room.
Clara: Her loving spirit.
Bennett: She plays with me.


What are some things you like about George, Dorothy or Oswald? (People who help at our house.)

Mackenzie: George and Dorothy keep me company and Oswald is just a great guy.
Clara: Dorothy is so joyful even though she is a widow, George is so friendly and teaches us about plants and animals in the yard, Oswald does his job and doesn’t quit.
Bennett: Oswald is really nice, Dorothy is really nice and George because he is really nice too.


Give us one highlight of your first couple months living in Zambia?

Mackenzie: Arriving here and seeing all the similarities and differences.
Clara: The reptile farm with all the crocs and snakes!
Bennett: Playing with my friends.

How has living here made you feel about our family?

Mackenzie: Really connected, I can go to them with everything.
Clara: I feel more close to them because my Dad is around more and my mom picks us up everday at school and Bennett and Mackezie and I are closer because we have to rely on each other more.
Bennett: Umm, I don’t know.

So, there you have it. We are doing well. Grateful to be here but missing home and many of you....

Peace.

Clara's Big Adventure

Visit our photo page and select "Clara's Big Adventure" for pictures for this entry - CLICK HERE

Last week I wrote an e-mail to some friends and family relating the homesickness that the girls were both feeling one night at bed time. Someone wisely wrote back that we cannot expect the good without the bad. The heights and depths often come hand in hand. How true this is - We so often want dessert without having first eaten our (fill in with your least favorite vegetable). So, if last week was a low point, the last 5 days were the mountain top.

Clara and I departed Friday morning for a 7 hour drive to Chipata in Eastern Zambia to deliver Care Kits to our volunteers and to meet up with a World Vision U.S. film and journalist team who were arriving to capture a day in the life of a HIV/AIDS & Orphan Caregiver. It was a beautiful drive and just being away together 1 on 1 was a gift. We met up with the team Friday evening and on Saturday morning went out to meet the people whose stories we would be working to capture. We met Caregivers who every week are out serving in their communities caring for those who are sick and for the children who have been left behind. Their dedication as volunteers facing daunting circumstances is nothing short of remarkable. Watching Clara take it all in and really "get it" was amazing too.

Saturday afternoon we drove a rough 3 hours from Chipata to South Luangwa National Park, a remote and beautiful place that has one of the highest concentrations of wildlife in Africa. We arrived at the camp we were staying at after dark and were accompanied by a guard to our tent overlooking the river. As we were unloading our things he said do not come out of your tent tonight there are "naughty" elephants wandering through the camp and the hippos (which kill more people in Africa than any other animal) will be out of the river feeding. Let's just say that Clara DID NOT need to hear this. I made it clear to the guard that we understood and that we would rather wet the bed 10 times than come out of our tent. I "reasoned" with Clara as much as an exhausted 8 yr old would "reason" that if it was really that dangerous, then they wouldn't let us camp here, right? That didn't work, but the long day took over and she finally fell asleep to the distinct sound of hippos grunting in the river. At 2:00 a.m. I was suddenly awakened in the PITCH BLACK of the tent with a sensation that something was not quite right. There was a sound I've never heard before that was like a giant eating a bowl of grapenuts RIGHT outside the tent. I lay there thinking two things: 1) I am so glad Molly can't see this and 2) Dear God, PLEASE do not let Clara wake up and scream and get us trampled to death here in this little green tent in the middle of nowhere. The Grapenut eating hippo/elephant slowly meandered away and I fell back to sleep. We woke up at sunrise to lions in the distance and elephant and hippo tracks 10 feet from our tent. Sunrise also brought an eager, excited little girl who was ready to see Eden... (For all the moms reading this, please know the guard was watching over us all night and we were safe.) We went out with a guide that morning and saw more animals than we could count (see photos). It was a wonderful gift to experience this with Clara.

We headed back to Chipata and on Monday went out with the film crew and journalist to begin capturing the story of our caregivers. At one point Clara played for an hour and a half with 20+ village children. I kept peeking out at her and each time was amazed that this little girl from Edina was in a village in Africa playing games with kids whose backgrounds could not be more different than hers. It is a gift and privilege to be here and I was overwhelmed with gratitude for this opportunity. Watching Clara play with these kids boiled everything down to the essence of what we were created for - TO LOVE & BE LOVED. My little girl was giving/receiving both and it was a reminder to me that I need to daily ask God to remove the crap that complicates things and keeps me from living in this reality.

We returned home to Lusaka today and it was great reunion with Molly, Bennett and Mackenzie - we all missed each other. May God bless you with the mountain tops that make the valleys make some sense or at least not seem so dark.

Grateful today,

Jeff and the Dykstra Fam

One more thing....

Backyard on Saturday Morning - 8 kids 3 Continents
This picture is another snapshot of our current reality. The kids pictured in our backyard are all neighbors, our kids, two little girls from England and three Zambian children who are the kids of the gardner of the English family. On the one hand, kids playing in our backyard feels just like home. On the other hand, the kids pictured are from 3 continents, different races and represent a vast continum on the socio-economic ladder. Really a beautiful picture, yes? The amazing thing is that for the two hours they played, none of the above listed "divisions" existed -- they were just 8 kids playing games together. Our kids teach us.
Also, all our personal e-mails are finally up and working - jeff@dykstrafamily.net, molly@dykstrafamily.net, and the kids are all their first initial at dykstrafamily.net. My work e-mail is still jdykstra@worldvision.org.

Sunday Morning

Greetings friends. It is a beautiful Sunday morning here is Lusaka. A great day of rest and reflection. We are having church, "Upper Room Lusaka", here in little while. Sundays have been our most challenging day of the week - I think it is when we are most aware of the fact that we are a long way from home. It is slowly changing, but know that on this day, more than most, we are loving and missing you.

I wish all of you could have been with me yesterday. I went for a long run that would have provided all of you the perfect synopsis of Africa right now...I drove 5 minutes from our house and parked my truck where the pavement ended and the dirt road began. I had a general sense of where I wanted to go, but it was more of an "exploring" kind of run that I love. Every few minutes I would pass ladies walking down the dusty road side with water containers on their heads - each one would smile and say "Mulishani" - Hello. Soon I came upon a large graveyard (a large unkept field) that was filled with tombstones and mourners wailing for and burying the dead. Even for me, well accustomed through my work to the suffering and statistics surrounding AIDS in Africa, the reality of seeing so many funerals at once stopped me in my tracks. Each one of those bodies being laid to rest, was someone's mother/father/sister/brother/daughter/son/ friend. It is easy, in the face of a pandemic, to see these deaths as a statistics, somehow less than human. Standing at the edge of this ragged field I was reminded of the truth that all of these people died one at a time and left a ripple of grief and sorrow behind them. As Molly said to me the other day after being stuck in a funeral procession (as she is everyday on the way to pick up the kids) Death is a way of life here.

I kept running and the road turned to more of a path as I skirted the edge of a compound (poor area where thousands of of people live in close cramped conditions). As I dropped down a hillside I came upon the perfect contrast to the funerals. A Soccer (o.k., Football) Game being played by more than 50 screaming, smiling kids. LIFE. As they saw me running towards them they all cried out in unison "MUZUNGU!" (White guy.) As I jogged into their midst I had the distinct impression that it was not every day a white guy came jogging down the hill into the middle of their soccer game. Smiles, high fives, an invitation to play the "beautiful game" as they say. For a few minutes it was the U.S.A. (me) vs. Zambia but then they finally realized I needed some help and they gave me a few skilled team mates. I played for 10 minutes (or about my limit for anaerobic activity) and was struck by the fact that these kids are the future. They don't currently have AIDS and I prayed as I jogged away that they never would, the tide has to turn at some point.

After the Soccer game (now I am really tired) I ran through a more populated area that was in the midst of a Saturday Market . Chickens, goats, produce, shoes, charcoal etc. etc. all for sale - Not exactly Lunds or Byerly's. Everyone smiling at the sight of a running white guy. Then back to a main road, bikes, walkers along the roadside and finally back to the truck. The heights and depths of Africa in just under an hour.

As a family we are doing well. Closer than ever in many ways as we have had to depend on one another in new ways. The kids are enjoying school, meeting some neat kids, have great teachers etc. Molly is loving the time and space in her days and is wading into finding ways to help here. She has volunteered, along with Katie, a few times at Mother Theresa's hospice and orphanage (she will write about this at some point) and is helping out at a friends school in one of the compounds (200 kids, 2 teachers.) The kids are swimming three days a week after school (we are heading into the hot season here) and taking riding lessons.

My work is going very well. I love the team I am working with and what we are trying to accomplish in the face of AIDS and poverty. We have more than 4,000 volunteer caregivers across Zambia who each week are visiting and caring for tens of thousands of orphans and people living with AIDS. These volunteers are becoming my heroes as they provide love, care and the practical things these people need to survive. On Friday Clara and I are loading up a truck with Caregiver Kits and driving seven hours to eastern Zambia to deliver these to volunteers and to meet a U.S. film crew who is documenting a day in the life of a Caregiver to tell the story of these amazing volunteers back in the U.S. (Churches and service groups across the U.S. are working to try to put together more than 100,000 Caregiver kits by Dec. 1. - Learn how you can participate in this worthwhile effort.)

We continue to believe that we are here with you in spirit. Your prayers sustain us probably in more ways than we can count. Know that you are loved today from the heart of Africa.

Peace.