We've seen the events of this week unfolding for about a year now ever since Soapbox trustees came to Kaniki at the beginning of March 2012, but didn't think it would quite take the turn of events it did. It's been a highly emotional week. We, as a couple, have given our all to AQ for 3 years (2yrs leading, 1 year hosting), Tim was on team and then led for 2 years and Gemma was also on team back in 2001 -that's 7 years of our lives!! It was hard to see it ripped apart, never to be the same again. God can, and I'm sure will, continue to change people's through it if it even manages to continue beyond this year, but still it will never be the same again. The range of emotions has been vast. When we felt God was speaking to us last year about releasing AQ we never thought it would have been this tough and needing to be walked out in so much grace and the need to forgive. More grace is needing to abound.
In short, AQ is no longer at Kaniki. Sad times. It has been such a significant part of our lives, and we wouldn't be who we are without it.
Obviously God has called us to other things with the building of a school and overseeing KOP, though we do still hope to host teams and individual volunteers who come to help us with the various work at Kaniki.
Arriving in Zambia after three and a half months away and returning with an 8 week old baby was never going to be an easy task. Abigail did amazingly well on the plane and several people not only commented on how cute she is but also that they'd never seen such a quiet baby on a plane before. Immigration never cease to amaze - we thought we might have to pay for a visa for Abi (we don't need visas as we have a work permit, but she's not on that yet - it's in the pipeline - prayer would be good). A seemingly simple task turned into a fiasco. Firstly they wouldn't accept the advertised £35 as they didn't want to lose out on exchange rates and so sent Tim to get the exact amount in kwacha, which involved all kinds of shinanigans going forwards and backwards through security at both departures and arrivals to get to an ATM and then change the cash into the right denominations. When Tim returned to immigration after his tour of the airport, almost everyone had passed through immigration. We thought we were home and dry only to discover that the immigration officer had given Gemma's passport to someone else by accident and left hers with us. Tim again had to dash around the airport looking for the mysterious woman carrying Gemma's passport. Thankfully, in the car park she also realised the error and the passports were exchanged. To add to the early morning drama, the bus from Kaniki coming to pick us up broke down which meant we had to wait at the Flying Mission guesthouse (which was actually a huge blessing as we could be fed, watered and showered, plus a quick nap for Tim and Abi). However this meant getting 2 taxis (so we could fit our luggage in) costing a shocking $100, which got completely stuck in mud on the way and had to be winched out by the guesthouse staff. This all before 8.30am. We didn't arrive back in Kaniki until well after dark. Despite the tiredness we were seriously pleased to see friends again who'd cooked us a lovely dinner and bought groceries for us. We live with some good'uns!
We were hoping we might be able to use an AQ vehicle when we first got back to Zambia as Abigail needed to be registered here and have her all important vaccinations. However not even 2 days after we arrived both AQ vehicles were taken from Kaniki and so we were left looking to borrow a vehicle from somewhere. God provided a way and so far we've managed to borrow an automatic which took some getting used to and a vehicle with barely any brakes! Good news though is that Abigail has finally had her Hep B and BCG vaccination today, and after 6 months in the making we finally have our Zambian driving licenses - and the search for our own family vehicle begins....
In short, AQ is no longer at Kaniki. Sad times. It has been such a significant part of our lives, and we wouldn't be who we are without it.
Obviously God has called us to other things with the building of a school and overseeing KOP, though we do still hope to host teams and individual volunteers who come to help us with the various work at Kaniki.
Arriving in Zambia after three and a half months away and returning with an 8 week old baby was never going to be an easy task. Abigail did amazingly well on the plane and several people not only commented on how cute she is but also that they'd never seen such a quiet baby on a plane before. Immigration never cease to amaze - we thought we might have to pay for a visa for Abi (we don't need visas as we have a work permit, but she's not on that yet - it's in the pipeline - prayer would be good). A seemingly simple task turned into a fiasco. Firstly they wouldn't accept the advertised £35 as they didn't want to lose out on exchange rates and so sent Tim to get the exact amount in kwacha, which involved all kinds of shinanigans going forwards and backwards through security at both departures and arrivals to get to an ATM and then change the cash into the right denominations. When Tim returned to immigration after his tour of the airport, almost everyone had passed through immigration. We thought we were home and dry only to discover that the immigration officer had given Gemma's passport to someone else by accident and left hers with us. Tim again had to dash around the airport looking for the mysterious woman carrying Gemma's passport. Thankfully, in the car park she also realised the error and the passports were exchanged. To add to the early morning drama, the bus from Kaniki coming to pick us up broke down which meant we had to wait at the Flying Mission guesthouse (which was actually a huge blessing as we could be fed, watered and showered, plus a quick nap for Tim and Abi). However this meant getting 2 taxis (so we could fit our luggage in) costing a shocking $100, which got completely stuck in mud on the way and had to be winched out by the guesthouse staff. This all before 8.30am. We didn't arrive back in Kaniki until well after dark. Despite the tiredness we were seriously pleased to see friends again who'd cooked us a lovely dinner and bought groceries for us. We live with some good'uns!
We were hoping we might be able to use an AQ vehicle when we first got back to Zambia as Abigail needed to be registered here and have her all important vaccinations. However not even 2 days after we arrived both AQ vehicles were taken from Kaniki and so we were left looking to borrow a vehicle from somewhere. God provided a way and so far we've managed to borrow an automatic which took some getting used to and a vehicle with barely any brakes! Good news though is that Abigail has finally had her Hep B and BCG vaccination today, and after 6 months in the making we finally have our Zambian driving licenses - and the search for our own family vehicle begins....
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