Lunsemfwa River Project

On Monday, March 10th, the truck arrived at the office compound to load the mealie meal for distribution. There were many people who helped out in loading, and even Coby wanted to help. The bags weighed about 60 lbs.
Bright and early Tuesday morning (6am), Van Thompson and Ricky headed to the village area in the Eastern Province about 3-4 hours east of Lusaka. They met up with the Rodgers family in Chongwe and picked up 3 Zambian helpers. The 2 vehicles made their way to the area, traveling about 2 ½ hours on the tarmac (paved highway), and then 1 ½ hours off-road deep into the bush. As soon as they arrived, the job was to unload the mealie meal off the truck and near the campsite. Then, they proceeded to inflate the boat. Kevin drove Ricky and the two Zambians, Luke & Martin, up the river. As they traveled up the river they saw a “monster” crocodile. Later, they saw the largest hippo that any of them had ever seen, including the Zambians. A large monitor lizard fell out of the tree (probably frightened by the sight of the white people) and scurried up on the bank of the river. The rest of the day, Kevin drove up and down the river bringing the mealie meal (no more than 10 bags at a time) to the village where Ricky, Luke, and Martin were stationed. This village is about as far in the bush as you can get. Corn is their main source of food, and the last corn crop was wiped out by the heavy rains and flooding. These people were on the edge of starvation. All they had to eat was beans (we call them “cow peas”). This was all they had been eating the previous week. This village is so remote that the children have no education. It is too far from any school, so they just don’t attend. Sometimes in Africa, the children walk to school even if it’s a great distance away, but this particular area is abundant in wild animals so it is too dangerous for them to walk a great distance. The closest church to this village is about a 1 ½ hour walk and only a few families attend the church. After a good-sized crowd had gathered in the village, Ricky, Luke, and Martin began a worship service. The people sang a couple of songs, and then Ricky gave his testimony and Gospel presentation. Luke followed with an invitation. Around 30 people came forward during the invitation to accept Jesus as their Savior. After the service they continued to distribute the mealie meal the rest of the day.

At the edge of darkness they started back down the river toward the campsite. This was probably the most dangerous part of the trip. It was total darkness and having to feel their way down the river, but they arrived safely at the camp.

The next morning they started out delivering again. This time Ricky stayed at the camp area. Ricky and Van went to visit the chief of the area, but the chief was not home. They left him a gift of mealie meal just for letting them come into his village. They were still able to have a short service with the people who were there, and they in turn gave Ricky & Van a gift – a LIVE chicken! They returned to the campsite and took everything apart. Kevin continued delivering the mealie meal until he ran out of gas. The last 10 families were going to hike to pick up their bags. This could take all day for them as they travel by foot.

This was a great experience for Ricky as his first time in the bush doing ministry. To see the people react the way they did and come to know our Lord for the first time was amazing.

You may want to see more pictures on Kevin & Suzie's blog: http://www.therodgerstribe.blogspot.com/