ANNOUNCEMENT! ANNOUNCEMENT! (and please stay tuned for a special request at the end)

We got some exciting news this week! Our outreach destination has been announced!

On April 12th, after we’ve completed the lecture phase of Compassion Discipleship Training School, 15 students and 3 leaders will load up…

In a bus…

For a FORTY-FIVE HOUR drive…

In a bus…

TO ZAMBIA!!!

Wheeeeeeee!

We are excited to spend 4 weeks in a very rural area of Zambia working with a ministry on Lake Tanganyika (I think) that has several different areas of ministry in shanty towns along the lake that cannot be reached by car. I don’t have much information yet, but will tell you what I know and keep you posted as I learn more.

We will stay on the base and travel across the lake by boat (YES, BY BOAT!) to work with several types of ministries, including orphans, prison and youth ministries. We will be waaaay out there and will not have the luxuries we feel spoiled by now, such as access to restaurants and grocery stores. And there will be “squatty potties” fo-sho.

There are 3 houses on base, but we are unsure if we will be able to stay in the houses or if we will be in tents… for four weeks. We will have electricity, but I'm not sure what else.

No matter who you are, I wish I was sitting next to you while you read about this. And I’m sure you can imagine how EXCITED I am!

Our staple food will be beans and rice or beans and pap. Pap is the most common food around here and is used as a filler. It is basically corn meal and water cooked into mush, eaten by hand to scoop up beans or vegetables, and has no nutritional value whatsoever. It fills you up fast, and the kids eat it at every feeding program. We have it a few times a week at base…

And it makes me nauseous to look at it.

Today we had pap and beans for lunch. I walked into the kitchen… and immediately left to take Tums. Just from looking at it. So many non-blog-appropriate stories ahead.

But wait… there’s more.

After our four weeks in Zambia, we will load back up in the bus for another FOURTY-FIVE HOUR drive to Johannesburg, the capital city of South Africa. We are in for a very different three week outreach experience there, working in the inner-city with an orphan ministry. We have no idea what the living conditions will be like there, but we are already dreaming of access to coffee shops and Tim-Tams.

We are in for a wild ride (and so many hours in a bus), but excitement is already building! Please join us in prayer! I can’t wait to send more details as I get them. We will return to base from our outreach on May 30th, and leave again the next day for a debrief retreat.

This week our team has had a great time feeling more and more like a team – lots of mangos, laughing and even some coffee! We have gone out into the community three days this week to work with the children and are starting to get a feel for the culture and ways to start building relationships.

SPECIAL REQUEST:

It seems like packages take a looong time to get here, but letters get here fast. Please write me a letter! I’d love to have mail. And… if you happen to drop in a few packets of Starbucks VIA instant coffee… I’d love, love, love it.

My address here is:
Kacy Chaffin
PO Box 4450
White River, Mpumlanga
South Africa 1240

Thank you for joining me in prayer, being excited with me, knowing me as we go on this adventure in Christ, and for sending me love letters (and caffeine).