Would you please pray with us here in the Zambezi Valley!
The situation: Theuns Engelbrecht (Field Coordinator in Zambia) left early last Wednesday (3rd March) for Lusaka, Zambia in order to go and buy groceries and supplies for us after our three month absence from Longezia. Karin (wife) and Daniel (son) remained at the base. Since that time we’ve had continuous, heavy rain which has turned all our dirt roads into mini rivers – making it impassable due to the mud. We just heard this morning that the bridge at Sinazeze has washed away. This means we (Karin & Daniel) are effectively cut off from the outside world until it is repaired. Who knows when that will be (in 2008 it took the Government a week to rebuild it). Theuns is stuck in Lusaka until further notice!
Two other bridges, towards Maamba town, have also been washed away. Crocodiles have been seen in some of the rivers – three people were attacked (praise God not fatally) last week when they tried to cross the river! We’ve heard of a number of houses collapsing due to floods. Children are unable to attend school – Sinazongwe School reported flooding inside their classrooms. The Lake is filling up at an alarming speed – this is not a threat to us because we are above the flood level, however it is quite fascinating to see this happening “right before our eyes”. What an incredible amount of water that must be pouring into the lake from the countries up north!
Please pray:
Quick repair of the bridge at Sinazeze (and the others on the Maamba road). For a break in the rain so that roads can dry out and (possibly) be repaired. That the current food supplies at Longezia (for Karin & Daniel & the animals!) will last until Theuns can get back home!! (We certainly won’t starve, but we might have opportunity to turn out some “interesting” meals with what we’ve got!). For those people who have lost homes due to the floods. For us all to remain positive, good humoured and have “peace in the midst of the storm”!
Update (March 6):
Praise God, we’ve not had rain since yesterday afternoon and the sun is out today – we’re so thankful!! It is amazing how quickly the roads can dry out with just a bit of sunshine! Reports of damages to many, many mud-and-thatch houses are coming in. We’ve heard that the repairs on the bridge will start tomorrow (Monday – weather permitting). It is, however, a huge job since the river is now twice a wide as before!! It will probably take about 2 weeks before we can use it again. However, as soon as the water receded enough, attempts will be made to create a temporary track for 4 x 4 vehicles to pass.
Meanwhile, people are already wading through the river, although it is still about thigh-deep in places with quite a strong current. For a fee and some risk, you can have things carried across. We can expect a price hike in food prices of course, but right now people will gladly pay just so they can have essentials, like mealiemeel, again (the shops have run out of most of their stock).
Theuns drove to Lumuuno Mission Base (at Mbole) from Lusaka, with our provisions, on Saturday morning. That evening he came down with malaria. Praise God, he ALWAYS travels with malaria treatment, so he was able to start with it immediately! This morning he is feeling better, but decided to go and stay over our friends in Kalomo. Once he has recovered he will drive down to Sinazeze, leave the vehicle there and see if he can wade across (and pay someone to help get our groceries across as well!) Karin will then meet him on the other side!
Please continue to pray for us! As usual, the actual effect of this crises on the local people, will only be felt in a few days time.
Update (March 9):
Thank you for all your prayers! Theuns is safely back home at Longezia! With the food!
With clouds building up for more rain, we decided that it would be best for Theuns to come across the river as soon as possible. So, yesterday afternoon (Monday, March 8), Theuns drove down to the bridge at Sinazeze where he parked the vehicle, and then waded through the river (at places it was about thigh high with quite a strong current) to the other side where Karin was waiting with her Land Rover. At the same time the farm manager of the Zambeef Farm and his wife (our neighbours in Sinazongwe) also arrived from Livingstone. They too, waded through and had all their supplies carried over by a team of their workers. These guys also carried our things across!! Their vehicle and ours are now being guarded by a Zambeef Security Guard at Sinazeze! Praise God for this provision.
Theuns and Karin then drove back to Longezia – the dirt road is really, really bad in some places with deep mud holes and parts of the road simply carved away! It will take a long time to fix this! Even our own, humble “back road” is now a 4 x 4 driver’s dream!
All the excitement and stress of yesterday was not really a good thing for Theuns. Today he was feeling very tired and exhausted – he still has some side effects of the malaria. Please continue to pray for his total recovery and restoration.
Looking at the way we’ve “started” the year we can only say: “Praise the Lord! This WILL BE a fantastic year! Yeah something GOOD is going to HAPPEN, something GOOD is in STORE! The Kingdom of Darkness will be shaken in Jesus’s Name and Authority!”