Zambia has been hit by extremely heavy rains this year. The rainy season lasts from 1st Dec through March or April. Average rainfall for Lusaka is 800mm per year – since Dec 1st we have received already 1100mm to date. There are certain areas of Zambia that have received even more. This has caused a very bad situation for the Zambians who live in the bush. All their crops have been destroyed by flooding and root rot. There are many people groups who are running out of food, and it will only get worse. On Friday we received a load of mealie meal which will be taken to the bush east of Lusaka. This is 200 bags (each weighing about 66 lbs. per bag) which will be delivered to the river on March 10th, then we will put 10 bags at a time in the boat and carry them upriver to the villages. Here are some pictures of the unloading of the mealie meal at the Baptist Mission office located within our compound. The Zambian helpers that were unloading thought it was funny that the “mzungu” (white person) was helping them unload the bags. They didn’t know I have prior experience working in a feed-n-seed store in the US. Please pray for the people who are going to receive the food in a few weeks. Mealie Meal is the staple food of Zambia. They make nshima from the ground corn meal. It resembles mashed potatoes, but with the consistency of play-dough, very sticky, and very bland tasting, but filling nevertheless.
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