Vehicle Insurance/Registration

These are the stickers on the trucks and cars that I am responsible for.

The bottom one is insurance and the top one is the road tax.

The mission had eleven vehicles when I arrived and now there are twenty-five to keep track of.

When a new truck or car would arrive I would get insurance and then be able to pay the tax.  It was clear when we picked them up at the dealership what had to be done.  However, sometimes the dealer would deliver them and they would already be insured and have the tax paid.  I made an error in assuming that each payment was for a full year.  The first of October three new vehicles were pulled over for not having current registration.  Kristi was driving one and not happy.  Her day stopped and a fine of 300 kwacha was required to get her moving again.  I then had to spend a lot of time getting the paperwork current.  The dealership had paid for only one or two quarters and not a full year.

One other panic that happens often is the date is misunderstood on the sticker.

The one below is not March 2015 but end of 3rd Quarter 2015.

Across from the post office (where you can register your car) is a row of mini vans.

These are the mobile offices for several insurance companies in town.  It is very handy as you must have insurance to register your car.

I asked if I could take their photo for this blog.  I got a 50% O.K. so this is the shot I got.

Our insurance company doesn't have a mini van out front so I first had to go to their new building.

I am sure we own most of it.

It is much nicer than the one I used to go to.  However, their procedures are still the same and very time consuming.  Below is my representative taking my check to the cashier and waiting while he copies every number on the check then calls the bank to see if there are sufficient funds.  Then he writes out a receipt for the check.  I wait at my agent's desk while all this happens.

This is the girl who helped me.  At the old building I always went to the same person but now it is a different person each time I come.  Fortunately she did not make me complete the task by bringing the new vehicle so they could visually see there was a new car.  That takes a lot more time and coordination.

Once I have insurance I head to the post office.  It was clear what line I was to get in as this was just past the beginning of a new quarter and most of these folks are like me and have out-of-date stickers.

Well, one more lesson learned for me.  Not everyone registers their car for four quarters.  It can be one, two, three or four.  I tried for five or more but that isn't allowed.

Some days I think I have learned all the lessons I need in Zambia - but clearly I am not finished yet and there are more lessons coming.

This Little Piggy Goes To Market

It is alway fun for me to see what is on a bicycle and heading to market.

It might not be as fun for the pig.

This pig was not in a "poke" so everyone knew exactly what they would get.

He was literally "hog tied".  Perhaps he was in deep contemplation about  the lyrics he was trying to remember for the ride home.  Was it "whee, whee or whee, whee, whee" all the way home?

I am not sure what home he would be going to.

Life on the road must always be about the journey and not the destination.

"Safety For The Soul"

The little safe in my office has been getting sort of crowded.

Not with money, the working fund hasn't changed too much.  It is the increase in missionaries that fills it with double the passports and more Zambian Work Permits.

It was time to get something a little less portable so we could all rest a little easier.

The Zone Leaders were recruited along with the new safe delivery folks.

Pres. Erickson kept telling them it was like a coffin and I helped a lot by reminding them of Pres. Uchtdorf's talk to "lift where you stand".

Nobody stood still and that coffin had a 750 lb. body in it.

It was a struggle, but sort of humorous to see so many "leaders" exercising leadership.

We all need first to learn to be followers. 

This lady was the happy recipient of all that effort.

Added security and we all feel better about our passports.  After all, someday we will get to use them again.

Meanwhile, back in my office that most precious carton will be able to breathe a little easier.

If you refer back to 22 June 2013 on this blog, you will see this was my first official effort of being the financial secretary.  Also if you know your hymns the "safety for the soul" (sole passport) comes from 

"Choose the Right." (Safe).  (Hymn # 239)

Grace School, Lusaka, Zambia (pt. 2)

At the bottom end of the main street of Grace is a stream.  It is the kind you see in documentaries about pollution in the "before" pictures.  This stream is in the "now" moment for these Lusaka residents.  Twenty-five to thirty percent of the students come to school from the other side of the stream.  Sometimes they can walk a plank or if it is gone they can hop over on rocks or wade through the water.  In the rainy season they must walk upstream to the paved road bridge, over one kilometer and then back on this side over a kilometer.  Sometimes kids play in the water.  A week before this photo was taken, a six year old boy drowned here.  That sort of event never makes the news in the papers or on TV.  There are many much more graphic stories to tell in Lusaka and Zambia. 

Perhaps someday a foot bridge could be constructed that would withstand the rainy season.

You can see the line in this classroom where the Lyles helped to get the walls raised higher and then a roof put on.  Next comes the plaster.

Here is another class room with the same improvements.

This larger classroom was finished and now the teachers use it as a dormitory for themselves.  On the other side of the school two new apartments are being constructed,  one for women and one for men to house the faculty.  They will each have two rooms, a bedroom and a living room where cooking can take place.

The walls of one of the newer sections are slowly going up.  The church supplies the materials but the community must supply the labor.  Buildings are built according to local standards and not to American standards unless safety is a real issue.

This is the beginning of the last major building/room.  It will be the assembly hall.  This is the front.  The existing back wall shows you the length of the room.  These are the local men working to get it finished.

Blocks and sand and gravel are stacked everywhere.

A well or borehole was dug in the courtyard.  Electricity is available but is expensive and solar electric was added to help with the operating budget.

Here the water is running, gravity fed from the high tank.  The school now sells water at a very nominal charge to help with their expenses.  Soon this area will be cleaned up and look a lot better but still work the same.

With the classrooms all being finished with walls and tin roofs, a front wall and gate was added to help with security and orderliness with everyone coming in the same door.

This little girl will be able to learn here soon.

There were two pit toilets but now there are six or eight.

The new one below is for boys.

Sadly, you can see some of the problem.  This is Frank the headmaster's living quarters where he lives with his wife and daughter.  It is divided so that behind the partition is his bedroom.  This surely is the biggest and nicest home in the community.

Here is one more classroom being finished with plaster on the raised walls.

Some of the few charts on the walls for teaching.

This is the new faculty lounge.

I look at some of the school age kids in this "village" and wonder how much they learn.  How qualified are the teachers and what resources do they have.

Down this street there is now a little haven for learning, Grace Mazyopa Community School.  

It is safer, healthier, more organized for group improvement.  It has facilities to attract better teachers.

While Mom does the dishes those kids can talk to her about the things they learned in school.

Some of the kids in town gathered to thank the Lyles for their help.  

The program was held in the big new auditorium.

Frank wanted to use the bull horn so Elder Lyle used it too to tell the kids to take pride in their school.

I got a photo of some of the kids with the Lyles.

There is still much more to be done but the Lyles have been here for eighteen months and this was just one of many projects they were involved with.

Frank has a sign with the school name ready to be put up when all the work is done.

This little village is literally on the "other side of the tracks".  Their main street leaves a paved road and crosses the tracks and continues down to the stream.  A truck can make it but it is easier to walk in and walk out.

On my last trip there the railroad had been trying to get the trains running again and a crew had worked to expose the railroad ties and replace the poor ones.  The result is that now there is no vehicle access in to Grace at all.  Everyone must step over these rails with whatever goods they purchased elsewhere.

It is fortunate that the blocks for the school arrived when they did.

Sometimes I am overwhelmed with gratitude that my life has been so easy.

Grace School, Lusaka, Zambia (pt.1)

Elder and Sister Lyle took on a project to help a school that is only one and a half miles from the heart of Lusaka.  Here is Elder Lyle leading me down to the school.

These are a few photos Elder and Sister Lyle shared with me of the school when they were told about it by some of our missionaries.  The water tank belongs to a neighbor.  The school had no water.

This classroom stayed pretty dry but looked a little dangerous with just one stick holding up the roof.

I am not certain I would want my child trying to learn there.

Mud block walls that melt in the rain. Few desks and paper and pencils are a rarity.

The school charges a few kwacha to attend and much of the income goes to acquiring more building materials until improvements can be made.  This is another classroom.

Here I am with a class in one of the pretty nice classrooms but here are two blocks and a board for a desk and the rest used a grass mat to keep organized.

The black board is clearly inadequate and the walls work just as well.

This corner classroom is slowly being added onto.  In the meantime about 15 to 20 eighth graders use it sitting on boards and planks.

This is Elder Allen Lyle with Frank the principal of the school.  This is his office.

In the photo below, Frank was happy to show me another classroom

This class room held the youngest students.

Where would you start?  What are the guidelines and restrictions that Elder Lyle has to work with?

You must realize that this school is not unusual.  There are nicer schools and they vary by the economics of the parents and how much they are able to pay for each child.  However, this level of schooling is the most prevalent and you can find another one about one or two kilometers away in each direction.  There is not enough money in all of Zambia to solve this problem country wide.