Another big load of material aid reaches Lusaka - by John

Recently we received a container load of material aid from MCC Akron, and have spent the last few weeks sorting and shipping it out to our partners.There is quite a bit of work involved in receiving a container, unloading it, sorting it and then getting everything off to our partners for distribution to the people who need it most.

Charlene and Siggi start the sorting process

Here is a synopsis of what we got and where it went.

AIDS Kits – AIDS kits, assembled by loving hands back in North America, consisting of supplies typically used by someone suffering from AIDS.Some non-prescription drugs like painkillers (Tylenol and the like), topical antibiotics and anti-fungal creams, soap, towels, bandages and so on are all bundled into a cloth bag. These kits are delivered by MCC partners to those suffering from HIV/AIDS in or to those people providing them care.

Figuring out what we received in which box. This is a box full of vitamins, which will be distributed to AIDS care givers.

Blankets: Blankets are also made by loving hands, then bundled and compressed into bales at MCC in Akron, and then shipped to us. In addition to our regular partners, we sent off a bunch of bales to North-Western province, where large scale flooding had affected a lot of people. See this link for the account of Stefan Epp delivering the bales.

Books: we received two pallet loads of school books, which we are in the process of sorting and will distribute to partner community schools. It’s an interesting process, deciding which books are suitable for which grades. Literacy at a higher grade level is not something you can take for granted, so some of the books which would be used in grades one or two in North America may be going to grades five or six here.

Computers:
We received 15 used computers from MCC via a group called Free Geek Pennsylvania.
These computers are well used, and about eight years old.
We blew the dust out and reinstalled operating systems and software, and installed them into two community schools (Aisha and Chimwemwe).<>Zambia. As soon as we set up the computers the students, teachers and even community residents started using them. We have learned that even though these schools are in very poor parts of the city, the people who want to use the computers are not unsophisticated, and are eager to start using email and the web.
Many Yahoo email accounts have been set up, and informal lessons about Spam have started. It was touching and amusing in a way to see one young man get his first spam, telling him that he had been specially selected to get a lot of money from someone in Nigeria. He was pretty excited, but quite downcast when I had to explain that this was a scam and that the people who sent him the email were liars.

Here are some students using the "new" computers.

Bicycles: We didn’t actually receive bicycles from North America, rather we used our budget to buy bicycles that HIV/AIDS caregivers will use when making their rounds out in the country. We bought the bicycles locally because it is much easier logistically, and it supports the local economy. The bicycles are rugged and simple to use and repair (no fancy multi speed mountain bikes here).We sent 100 bicycles to the BIC office in Choma on the back of a big truck with a bunch of the other supplies. It turns out that 100 bicycles take up a lot of room.

That's a lot of bicycles!

We had to use a separate truck to get the bicycles from the shop to the truck depot. We stacked them high!

Of course, after sorting and packing we had to send the goods to our partners. We loaded a big truck full to go to the BIC office in Choma (about 300Km south of Lusaka), and loaded a smaller truck to go to our partner CHD, who are in Lusaka.

This is the truck going to Choma. There was a LOT of stuff on this truck.

Riberia Monde, from CHD was happy to receive AIDS care kits.

Are these supplies making a difference? It’s easy to say that what we receive from MCC in North America is only a drop in the bucket, and in fact that’s true. But for someone receiving a care kit, a bicycle, or a blanket, that drop in the bucket is more like a cool cup of sweet water on a hot and thirsty day. On a human scale, the things we give people do make a difference, even if our gifts have an impact that may not be appreciable until far into the future. Clearly, pure material aid is not THE long term solution, but it is part of a solution.