Two weeks

Looks like it will be at least two weeks until we get our laptop back. We will update the blog just as soon as we can.

Computer Crash

Hi everyone we just wanted to give you a quick update and tell you that we are doing fine. We had planned a long update and many photos from the past month but on Friday we had a major computer crash. We are hoping they can save our photos. We backed up two weeks ago so mostly we are ok. We are now using the Parish office computer. We hope to have our computer back in the next week or so and when we get it we will send out a big update.

Two quick notes; 1.) Thank you again to everyone who sent thigs with Monica on her visit. you do not know how much it means to us and to those you are helping. and 2.) It was wonderful to hear everyone at Diocesan convention. Your voices were beautiful and really gave us a lift. Thanks.

Orientation Week

Hi everyone we hope you have had a great start to the new year. We had a rather quiet evening with some new friends from South Africa on New Years but the 2009 has quickly picked up speed. From early December to mid-January Namibia pretty much takes a break and shuts down. But now as school is going back into session people are coming back from their holiday and picking up on things they didn't finish in November.

We started off the year by Jeremy going North to help with the first week of the Theological Training Program for the Diocese of Namibia. We have had the question from a few people about what it means to go "North" so hereis an explanation. North is the area of the country mostly populated by the Ovambo tribes. It was once known as Ovamboland. It is an 8 hour drive from where we live to the Anglican Center at Onekweya. It is a long drive with almost nothing to break up the drive. There are towns every 200 kilometers or so, but in between, nothing. So going North generally refers to that drive to historically Ovambo territory. The conference center is located about 10 kilometers into the bush off the main road.

As most of you know one of the main reasons we are in Namibia is to work on this theological training program for the diocese. We have been working really hard over the past six months to put the final touches on the framework or outline of how the program will run. This week from January 5-10 was our orientation. We had 49 students that showed up to begin this program. Each of them had gone through an interview process with the Diocesan Selection Committee and been recommended by their rector. There are 20 women and 29 men and 20 of the students are under the age of 25. These students will be using a curriculum from TEE South Africa. TEE stands for Theological Education by Extension. The difference in this program and other extension programs is that we wanted to give the students a sense of community and form a floating seminary. Each month students from each geographical area will gather to meet with a tutor, generally an archdeacon. Four times a year (January, May, August and October) they will come together as a large group in Seminars that will cover topics not included in the TEE program. In May we will begin our study of Anglican liturgy, music and the Prayer Book. It is an incredible group. Their commitment is already evident. Two of the students travelled over 1000kilometers to attend and most of the students slept on mattresses on the floor of old classrooms during the week. One student, Daniel came from over 70 kilometers in the bush from one of the parish outstations to attend. Only two of the students had cars so most either took a "taxi" or got a ride with someone in the program staff. I am amazed and inspired by them. I have posted a web album of photos from the orientation. Just click here to go and take a look.

There are so many things I could tell you about this week. One interesting statement came up when Lukas Katenda was talking about what it meant to be a shepherd. He asked the class how many of them had actually tended sheep or goats or cows at some point in their life. Every hand in the room went up. Each and every one of them had, at some point in time, tended animals. Scriptures speaking of Jesus as a shepherd will have a very different meaning to them than they do to most priests.

Another incredible find was to recover the Bill Yon library of books that were left at Etameko back in 1988. We had heard last year that the books had either been lost or destroyed but a little digging found them in a large room at Onekweya. They were probably 85% intact and just a little dirty. The room being cleaned in the photos is the library and almost all of the books you see were donated by Bill. The students were so excited to have their very own seminary library and we have committed to continue building this resource. Any priests that are looking for a way to clean out all those books from seminary? Put them in a box and mail them to: The Rev. Jeremy Lucas, Box 65 Windhoek, Namibia. A large box will probably cost you a couple of hundred dollars but there are much worse things you could spend your money on. Don't worry about duplicates we can organize several resource libraries around the diocese to house them. Any books about theology, liturgy, biblical studies, pastoral care or preaching. Classic books like City of God or any other standards. Just send them. They will do more good on the shelves here than on the shelves there.

Another find was a beautiful stained glass made by Bill while he was here. It is a cross laid over Africa with the words God Bless Africa across the bottom. This is part of the prayer for Africa;

God Bless Africa

guard her children

guide her leaders

and give her peace

for Jesus' Christ's sake. Amen

We rescued the window from the floor of the room we cleaned out and brought it to the deanery to preserve this piece of history.

We will continue telling stories about the Training Program and its students and I hope you will realize how much your support means to the Diocese and people of Namibia. Just as a reminder February 22 is World Mission Sunday. It would be a great time to ask people in your parishes to donate to Mission to Namibia. Mail checks to 521 North 20th Street, Birmingham, AL 35213. Memo the checks Mission to Namibia.

The month of February would also be a wonderful time to organize a webcast via Skype. Send us an email and we will set up the details. February 15 will be the only time we know we will be out of town in the North.

We hope you are having a blessed Epiphany. Peace, Jeremy and Penny

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

It is with very mixed emotions that I write to tell you about the last couple of months here in Namibia. So much has been happening that is wonderful and incredible, but here at the holidays we are really missing our family and friends at home. It is not that we haven't missed them before now, just that holidays bring a special kind of homesickness.

One of the reasons we are so homesick now is that my sister Monica had her first baby about two weeks ago on December 6th. We are new aunt and uncle and will be missing Max's first Christmas. He is a beautiful baby and Monica and Phil (her husband) are awesome parents. Please pray for them as they experience all the joys and challenges to come.

So it has been almost 2 months since our last post. It is not that we have had nothing to tell but that here in Namibia, especially in Windhoek, November and the first of December are extremely busy. It is just turning from spring to summer and the schools are out for their long summer break before the new school year begins in mid-January. December through mid-January is also holiday time for most of the country. By the second week in December most government offices have closed and people have started travelling. Many people go to the coast (where we spent a week) and others go to their traditional homesteads in the North. Really everything has to be finished for the year by November. Some of the highlights of November were Thanksgiving with a group of new friends from the U.S. Embassy. You know its not really a holiday unless you are an American. The Loaves and Fishes Christmas Party. As you may remember Loaves and Fishes is the homeless feeding program of the Cathedral. It provides food every Wednesday for around 40-60 homeless people from our community. It also provides a hot meal one Saturday a month. This year we expanded its mission to also provide medical vouchers for basic healthcare. At the end of the year we have a party for all the regulars and give them gifts of clothes and basic self care items. It was a great party. The last, biggest thing for November was the Bishop's visit on the 30th. Bishop Nakwatumba came and baptised 11 and confirmed 32 in a three hour service with more people sitting outside than inside. In fact we did the baptisms outside so that more people would be involved in the service.

The month of December started off with a bang. On December 3rd we celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary. Nothing big. Just a toast and plans for our two week trip away from Windhoek.

Most everyone we talk to about living in a foriegn counrty tells us that it takes at least 6 months to get used to your new place. We are just shy of 6 months and unless something huge happens in the next 4 days I think it may take a little longer. We decided that mid-December would be a good time to get away from the city and travel a little on the way to our friend Lukas' wedding in the North.

We left on the 8th of December and drove through the bush to Swakopmund on the coast. We spent a cloudy and cool week there before heading North to Twyfelfontein for a couple of nights of camping on the banks of the (dry) Aba Huab river in Damaraland. The drive was amazing and Twyfelfontein is home to the largest collection of ancient rock carvings in Africa. Some of the carvings are over 6000 years old. One of the coolest is the Lion Man carving depicting the shamanistic belief that they could change into animal form. The feet and tail of the lion have human hands with five fingers. You can also see giraffe, rhino, springbok and quite a few other animals in this carving.

After two nights under the stars our trip carried us further North through terrain that reminded us of our trip through the Southwestern U.S. a few years ago. We drove several hours to just outside the Okakweyu Gate of Etosha National Park. Etosha is a huge game reserve that many people say is the best in all of Africa. After this trip we would have to agree. We spent two days in the park and saw an amazing array of animals. The two that stand out the most were the lions and the elephants.

Rather than tell the whole story in one long blog post we will post a more detailed story and a web album after the first of the year. But here are two photos that will sum up our experience. The first is of a massive old bull elephant that came out of the bush and straight toward our car. Penny took this photo as we were backing up the road. He walked right in front of our car and over to a mud hole in the road to spray himself with mud. We sat less than 20 feet from him for about half an hour. He never seemed to care that we were there, only that we were between him and the mud hole.

The second photo is one of about 50 we took of a pride of lions lying just off the side of the road. We were acutally on our way out of the park when we saw two cars parked side by side in the road. We wondered what they were doing and as we drove past them looked down and saw a male lion with two females and two weaned cubs lying under this tree. We sat and watched them over the next hour. We were never more than 30 feet from them. Over that hour one of the females went out to the bush and caught a jackal puppy and the male mated with the other female. It was like we had stepped into an episode of Wild Kingdom or were on National Geographic.

After leaving Etosha we continued driving north to our final destination Rev. Lukas Katenda's wedding. Lukas' wedding was a three day event that started on Thurday night at his homestead. Acutally it started that night at Lukas' and about 200 kilometers away at his bride's father's homestead. The night before the wedding family and friends get together to eat a freshly killed cow and to dance and sing through the night. We spent about 4 hours at Lukas' that night and did just that. Ate meat from a handmade traditional bowl and danced with the family and friends. We hit the bed about 1am that night.

The next day was the wedding day. It was supposed to begin at 9am. This being Africa we did not even arive until 10am and were almost the first there. The wedding actually began at 12pm and ended about 4pm. It was a traditional Anglican wedding with lots of singing and speeches after the official service. After the wedding comes the bride's reception at her homestead. We got there about 6pm and followed the procession of singing and dancing to the tree. It is traditional for the new bride and groom to go to a nearby tree for more speeches and the giving of gifts from the bride's family and friends. After the tree service everyone heads into the homestead where huge tents have been assembled for the reception. But this is just the fist of two massive parties. The second takes place on day 3.

The bride and groom do not stay together on their wedding night. Instead the next day the groom goes and gets her and brings her to his homestead and another day and night of parties begins. I have downloaded quite a few photos from the wedding to this web album Lukas and Aune Wedding Photos Web Album I hope you enjoy the photos. If you have any questions about what you see please ask. There are so many details to a traditional wedding ceremony in Ovambo culture I could never know them or write them all. But we did learn a lot from the elders of the tribes and we may be able to answer a few questions.

It would be very easy for someone reading this blog to get the impression that driving around Namibia is just one big safari adventure. Namibia is a beautiful country, both naturally and its people, but this beauty can mask the ugliness of abject poverty and disease. As we travelled through the small towns and villages we were met with experiences of terrible suffering. People of all ages were scratching out a meager life selling trinkets on the roadside. We passed one cart pulled by donkeys that had a wheelchair strapped to the back. Children at every stopped begged for a dollar (about 10 cents U.S.). Most of the country lives like this. 60-65% live on less than $2 a day. We drove past children drinking from puddles of water on the roadside. There have been recent reports of cholera. Namibia has a particularly virulant strain of Malaria called falciparum. If not diagnosed early and correctly (its symptoms are like the flu) it attacks the brain can lead to death. Every night after we left Swakopmund we slept under a net took our medication and sprayed ourselves with Peaceful Sleep bug spray. We only drank only bottled drinks and carried all our own water. One part of the wedding celebrations that very few people know about it that, when you get married you are expected to feed anyone who shows up and given the high poverty rate hundreds of people showed up at Lukas' wedding looking for food. And they were fed because they were part of the community. This trip across the country goes into our conflicting experiences in Namibia. On the one hand beautiful on the other ugly. On the one hand happiness and joy on the other pain and suffering. Remembering that every 5th person we met was probably HIV positive.

We are now back in Windhoek and preparing for Christmas services. Christmas Eve Mass is at 11pm and Christmas Day is 830am. We have decided to spend a quiet Christmas at home and make a few dishes to make us feel a little closer to home. We want to take this opportunity say thank you to everyone who has supported us over the past year. It has been a time of unbelievable change in our life and there have been quite a few times over the past 6 months that we had no idea what we were doing or why. And almost every single time we were at our most lonely or hopeless or homesick someone wrote us an email or called us on Skype to say hello and remind us we were not for. Other times we would be reminded of how many people were praying for us and supporting us financially in our ministry. You have helped us so much over the past year. Next year is going to be full of more challenges. I will be starting work on our theological training program (January 4-10 is orientation) and Penny will begin working with the diocesan HIV/AIDS program and continuing her work with the after school program. Please continue to remember us in your prayers and we will write again after the new year. Love, Penny and Jeremy

Gone up North

After three hours of vomiting I thought there may be a problem. I should have realized it six hours earlier when my fever spiked and my body felt like it was being squeezed in a vice. But being in Ondongwa in northern Namibia I wasn't quite sure what I would do anyway. I had arrived mid day after a 2 hour drive from Tsumeb, Namibia. I left Windhoek on Saturday after a wedding and drove 4 1/2 hours to Tsumeb to break up the drive. About an hour into the drive to Ondongwa I started feeling warm and my muscles started aching. When I got to my hotel I was feeling worse by the minute and decided to take a nap. When I woke up I felt worse than before but thought I could tough it out and hopefuly it would go away. It did not go away, but actually intensified. From 2-5:30, I laid on the bed trying to rest and at 5:30 it hit me, I started throwing up and could not stop. But then it got even a little worse. The power went out. It was over 100 degrees in Ondongwa that day. So there I was, in a hot hotel room, throwing up by flashlight trying to keep a wet towel on me to stay cool. By 8:30pm I could not take it any more, and after talking to Penny decided to look for a doctor. I was not even sure if there was a doctor in Ondongwa. My friend Mike went to the front desk and they called the hotel doctor, Dr. Patrick. He came to the hotel about 9pm and checked me out and said it looked like a bad case of food poising. So he gave me a couple of injections, some antiboitics and some rehydration mix and said to call him if I needed him. For his two trips to the hotel and all the medications I paid N$400. That comes to about $42 US dollars. Now I don't want to be the focus of this blog post, but I will tell you what I was thinking when I was laying in that hot hotel room bed. I was thinking about all the people, the men, women and children, that I saw living in stick or mud brick huts and walking miles with containers of dirty water on their head and realizing that people die everyday from exactly the same kind of food or water bourn illness I had. They lie in huts in the swealtering heat and have no access to medical care, and if they had access the bill would be over a months salary for most of them. It was a very humbling expeience that I have yet to fully appreciate.

What I did realize the next morning was that even though I did not feel very good, nothing was going to stop me from getting the books and toys to the children. Last week Penny and I went and spent $500 US on school books, supplies and a couple of balls. This money was donated by the great people from the Diocese of Alabama and others from around the county to support these and other projects we are working with. I drove from Ondongwa to the Angolan border and over to St. Mary's Anglican Mission at Odibo to deliver the first two boxes. The following photos show the kindergarden. There are 35 children and two very low paid teachers (about $15 a month) in a tiny room being loaned to them from another group. The first photo is of the building but only half the building is their space.

They are looking at ways to expand this space and it would probably only take $5000 US to double the space and make it useable. As you can see from the other photos the space inside is packed with left over junk from other things. There is so much stuff they cannot even put out the table and chairs they have. The second photo is of the teachers and the other is of the first few children who saw the stuff. They thought Christmas had come early and the truth is that these two boxes for the school is more than any of these children will get for Christmas. The next few photos show more reactions to the gifts. What I want everyone to remember is that the money you gave to us for Mission to Namibia made this possible and this is only the first of many trips to help support the pre-k schools in the North.

About an after-school program

I don't think I told any of you about this so I think I will take time now to do so. Two weeks ago I went with some women (3 others) I met at the International Women's club to an after school program that started at 1pm and ended around 4pm. It is suppose to be for young children maybe 5-7 years old. The program is held at an elementary school in two or three of the class rooms. The idea is that they help children learn the basics necessary for reading, writing, math,etc. Some need to learn to speak English.

The school is in Katatura which is the very poor area of the city of Windhoek. I really did not know what to expect. When we arrived there were 40-50 kids. Their ages ran from 4-14 I would guess. It was very chaotic and the supplies were VERY limited. Very few books, no coloring supplies, scarce pencils or paper, a few matching games, and counting cards. There were a few etch-a-sketch type things but, they did not work very well at all. I have to admit that I was terrified! These kids were all at different levels in their skills. Some had no idea what I was saying because they could not speak English. Others were trying to learn to count or their ABCs. Some were further along and a few were even doing homework. 5-6 kids were gathered around the table I was at and they all needed different help. They all kept saying teacher or pulling on my clothes for my attention. Finally I realized what each of the children wanted, ATTENTION! I have never been sat on, hugged, teased (in a kind way), and held on to so much in my life! We finally split into two rooms and played simple games with the kids. I was in the room with the older ones maybe 8-14.

The kids would beg to sit next to you and even the 2 to 3 older girls eventually ended up next to me and would tap my shoulder and pretend like they hadn't. When I would catch them they would just giggle like little kids. They all wanted to feel my hair as well. Several would call me "mama". They all asked me and the other women if we would come back the next day. There is usually only 1-2 local women who are with the children each day. This is a tiny program. There are others that have hundreds of children who come. They even have to turn many away. It was an amazing experience but, it was heartbreaking as well. A few children had really bad sores that appeared to need medical attention. Most the kids did not have shoes. Their clothing was old and often to small. One of the older girls had on a skirt held together on the side with safety pins all down it. This was not a fashion statement, just a real necessity. Several of the little girls had on dresses and skirts that were way to short because they were too little. I kept wanting to pull it down so you couldn't see their panties. All I could think about was the rape and abuse of young women and girls in that area. I wanted to just bring all the kids home with me.

I plan to go back as soon as I can. The woman I ride with usually goes every Thurs. but, I was sick last week and her daughter is sick now. I hope this week we can go. I guess the hardest part about the whole thing was that the kids just wanted you to notice and talk to them. They really didn't seem to care who I was as long as I was interested in them. All these kids come from very poor families and some of them are in pretty bad situations from what I was told. I was so ashamed of some of the things that I have thrown away in the U.S. These children had on stuff I would use as old rags or just throw out. Me and the other women obviously looked wealthy compared to the children just by our clothes, shoes, and jewelry but, the kids didn't seem to notice. If they did it didn't seem to be an issue. In the U.S. we throw away better things than many people here own. I realize even being homeless in the U.S. is being better off than these people. Think of all the stuff we throw out. If food gets too old then we don't want it anymore. If fruits or veggies get a little brown they are tossed. Restaurants and grocery stores throw out tons of food. Please do not think I am telling you this to make you feel guilty I am just trying to work it out for myself. I really don't know how to put the great wealth I posses next to the great poverty these people endure. I am so rich compared to most in Africa. I am having a hard time witnessing all this. I knew it was going to be hard coming here but, some days it is overwhelming.

The one thing I keep going back to is this: everything I have ever done that was worthwhile was because I just took a step and showed up. Most of the time I had no idea what I was getting into but, that was the beauty of it all. If you just put yourself out there you never know how God will use you in someone else's life. Or maybe how God will have someone else change you. I am certain I did nothing for those children on that Thursday afternoon and I am positive that I do very little for the homeless people who I help out with on Wednesdays at the church. I do know for certain what all of them do for me and that is to be greatly humbled by them. They all remind me of how life could be very different and how embarrassingly rich I am. They can laugh and find joy even though they have almost nothing. I struggle not to pack up and come home so that I don't have to see all this. It is really hard!! I just want to ignore it all sometimes but, I know that is not what I am suppose to do. I have been called to be a witness here for some reason. Why God would want that of me is something I am still trying to figure out. I guess, if nothing else, that I was just willing to show up. I often never know why I was suppose to do something until long after I have finished. Don't ever underestimate what a difference you may make just by showing up to do something. You may find it was all about you getting something wonderful and priceless in return. Thank you for letting me "talk" this out a bit. I am still trying to process this. I hope you are all well. You all are in my prayers. Penny

Life in Windhoek

So I have been promising for several weeks to post to the blog and so far I haven’t done it. So now I have made you wait long enough for the latest adventures of Jeremy and Penny in Namibia. Well that might not be quite right because contrary to popular myth the life of a missionary is not filled every day with what would be considered excitement. When things really start getting down to business is when you have to start living your day to day life, day in and day out in the place you have come to work. I will be honest, some times it is just regular life. But the real essence of working in another country is getting into the lives that the people around you live, building relationships and just living.
This is not to say that we are not busy or that we are not experiencing amazing things. So far there are 60 people who have submitted applications to the clergy training program. We will only be able to take 36-40 depending on the price of the Theological Education by Extension classes and the cost of food and supplies for the program. The cost of living in Windhoek and in many parts of Namibia has been going up for months. There is a lot of excitement about this program and the Selection Committee (the same as a Commission on Ministry) should be able to choose a great group of folks.
Penny and I have been helping out with a ministry here at the Cathedral called Loaves and Fishes. It is a feeding program for the homeless that provides a small amount of food every Wednesday to between 40-60 people. We have been getting to know them and some of their stories are heartbreaking. There is a medical clinic that will treat them, or at least give them a check-up for N$5.00. That is less than $1 US dollar and none of them can afford to go to the clinic. We sent 4 people this past Wednesday for various problems. The folks that run the program have recently made a deal with another nearby clinic to allow us to use vouchers and then pay at the end of the month. It is a great ministry that also provides a hot meal one Saturday a month.
We think we have finally gotten our security situation under a little better control. After the theft, the parish put up a 10 foot high fence with razor wire around the top. This will at least slow people down that are trying to break in. But there is also the issue of street violence. In the past few weeks we have had two young people from our congregation attacked by thieves. One was stabbed in the back, and was sent to the hospital for a cell phone, the other was knocked down and kicked before undercover police stepped in to catch one of the guys. The second incident happened after a Wednesday night confirmation class I have been teaching. The young woman was walking downtown to catch a cab to take her home. When I say cab please don’t think of anything yellow or New York-like. Think 1980 Datsun with a yellow Taxi sign on top and the name of the cab company on the side in plastic peel-off letters. Most people in Windhoek don’t have cars so these taxis are their only means of transport. So the young woman who was assaulted was the niece of one of our priests, Father Samuel. He called me shortly after it happened and asked if we could go and see about her. I called her and she was on her way to the police station. Now when I say police station don’t think of any major or even minor city police stations, think 1950's bungalow converted into a station with the back-porch enclosed in bars and acting as the holding cell. The holding cell which is reached by walking through the kitchen/conference room/interview room. The guys who had assaulted Fr. Samuel’s niece had been caught the previous two nights robbing tourists at knife point, but none of the tourists wanted to make a case so they had to release the guys. It was a wild night at the police station and I am not sure it is important to tell all the details. Let’s just say it was a frustrating and eye-opening experience and that we hope we don’t have to visit again anytime soon.
So this is everyday life in the mission field. We really appreciate you keeping us in your prayers and for all the support you have given us.