March 2006
Friday, March 17, 2006 Well, time for yet another of these newsletters. Time seems to fly past and I have no sooner finished one than it is time to start another. To be fair we have been unusually busy so maybe that is why it seems hardly a couple of weeks since I last wrote.
At work, I have been supervising the start of a Zambian Airways flight from Lusaka to Johannesburg. We have decided to start a low cost carrier model along the lines of Ryanair or EasyJet which have changed flying in Britain. This is something I have been trying to do for over 2 years and we finally announced in January we would start flights on 10th March this year. There followed a very tense 2 month period when various opponents tried their very best to stop us taking off, and during which nobody seemed very interested in booking the service. However I am thankful to say that everything came together and we have now flown the first 3 flights over 90% full.
On the personal side we ran into a very serious problem with our house. Following a family dispute which was settled in court, administration of the house was taken from our original landlord and given to the sister of his late wife. This woman is a Zambian aid worker in the Sudan – a career charity worker – and when she visited us to discuss the house, she made it clear we could not stay if we kept the street children. As we are not prepared to abandon the boys, we had to start looking for another house at short notice. Thankfully we found a suitable one nearby. It as a number of advantages – more room, and the landlord, a retired Zambia banker, has no problem with street kids – but it cost quite a bit more to rent, and to the boys disgust, does not have a swimming pool! Just to make life a bit more interesting the date of move coincided with the first Johannesburg flight on Friday. I really would not like to go through another weekend like it. So now we are sitting in the middle of chaos all around trying to move in. The obvious thing to do is to start a newsletter to take a break from lifting and carrying. Today is a public holiday so we are all at home, including all the boarding school children so there are lots of hands to help.
I have to say the incident with the landlady really upset us. It’s hard to imagine how someone can be so mean spirited, but there must be some sort of ironic message in the fact that a banker can put up with street children on his premises while an aid worker will not. Still, these things are all part of life, and we have been provided with all we need, even if the process was disruptive and distressing.
There have also been a lot of positive developments, although things have taken a turn in a direction we never anticipated. About 2 months ago I met the editor of The Post - the biggest newspaper in Zambia - at a business forum and suggested to him that he needed to use the paper to highlight the plight of street children to see if he could mobilise public opinion to do something about the issue. He was very willing to help, but felt that there was little he could do to make a difference. However, he asked me to come and speak about the issue to a group of young journalists he was training. I spent an interesting hour swapping ideas with the trainees and challenging each other on the issue and how the media could help. Unknown to me, one of them wrote an article which was published two days later in the Post under the headline “MacDonald calls for mass popular movement on street kids”. The article was sympathetic to us and what we were trying to do, but provoked some reaction – split about 50-50 between those who thought we were right and those who resented a visitor in Zambia telling them what they should do about abandoned children. Unfortunately the rather revolutionary tone of the headline attracted the attention of government and I had to make clear that I did not see myself as another Fidel Castro. Following the interest generated, the Post asked if they could take some photos of the boys and our family and run a feature on the work. We agreed provided it was made clear we were not looking for donations, and that the emphasis was on the needs of the street children and what ordinary people could do to help. We were NOT prepared for what followed. The Post ran a 7 page profile on us entitled “Meet the MacDonalds” and starting with the sentences “Without sounding like a racist, did you ever imagine that a white man in Zambia could embrace and adopt a filthy, ailing and stinking street kid as his own son?” There were photos everywhere, of us and the boys, and even quotes from Sarah. The whole thing was done in a very positive tone, but we still found it rather unsettling as we really do not want publicity of this sort. We felt particularly sorry for Nicholas, as he found it difficult to read the description of himself, and some of his school “friends” changed their attitude to him when they read it. And while I am quite used to media appearances and interviews, these have all been about work related issues. I do not feel comfortable doing anything that exposes our private life, including our efforts to help the less fortunate around us, unnecessarily. There are plenty of warnings in the Bible about doing good works to be seen by other people, and they are there for good reason.
The level of reaction has now grown significantly, with letters in the papers and reports on TV and radio. I have been asked to appear on national TV with some of the boys to tell the public what we are doing. Many people have taken up the issue in public and most have spoken very positively about what we are trying to do, and we have also had many kind and encouraging words from friends all over the country. Overall, although we still feel uncomfortable about the personal exposure, I have to admit the whole issue has been brought into the public spotlight in a way that I had not thought possible. I have also been asked to write a weekly column in the Post on social issues, including street kids. Sadly, we have also had a number of very unpleasant reactions, mostly from people who think we are looking for personal glory. Even more upsetting is the fact that most of these remarks have come from fellow Christians, some of whom seem to angrily resent what we are doing.
As if we did not have enough to be going on with, the whole series of events has left us with some serious soul searching. Why are we helping the kids? Why did we agree to the media coverage? Are we sub-consciously looking for commendation as “good” people? It is perhaps good for all of us to be made to examine our motives from time to time, and I would not be honest if I did not admit to a degree of personal enjoyment of the spotlight (Christine suffers no such weakness). Right now, I don’t know the answers or the way forward. Should I agree to TV appearance? Should I write the column? I am constantly challenged by a very wise remark made a couple of years ago by our Pastor’s wife. She quoted the reference “Let your light shine before men that they may see your works and glorify your father in heaven” and said “it is easy to let our works shine before men so that they glorify us, but they are meant to glorify God”.
Throughout all this, the boys have continued to make progress. It is so therapeutic and rewarding to turn away from all the noise of publicity and work and sit with them and talk to them, or enjoy watching a video together. And whenever I wonder if it is worth it, I just look at a 17 year old giving everything he has trying to learn to read, then taking the book and reading it, complete with character voices, to Rachel when he thinks no-one is looking. They have settled in to the new house, but are already looking for a space to put the swimming pool. Life without them would be unthinkable. Smart and Richard are still surviving on their own, and we have kept Danny whom I wrote about last time. Little Emmanuel has gone back to the street, but we still see him. Part of the problem is that he is a child and therefore we have to be very careful not to break any welfare rules if we were to keep him. We have also taken in another Congolese boy called Ali, who has no idea where any of his family is, as they were separated while fleeing the fighting in DRC. He is a Muslim, which makes life interesting in its own way, but we have all been able to live very amicably together.
Super Gran is also doing very well. We are able to provide basic foodstuffs for her and her 12 orphans, and 5 of them are now going to school. The 2 oldest, Edna and Linkson, have blossomed so much now that they attend secondary. They look fantastic in their neat uniforms, and are simply bursting with excitement to be back learning. Granny seems in good heart, and happy that her grandchildren are making progress – her sheer determination to cope continuous to inspire me.
Another very positive event has been that another charitable organisation, run by the Jewish community in Lusaka, has donated a small bus to us which they no longer needed. So now we can transport everybody together. God has provided again.
As for our school kids, they are home for half term break this week, and seem in good heart. Out of the 10 who go to boarding school, 6 stay with us during holiday time, and 4 go back to their parents. This brings the number sleeping on the premises 14, plus 5 MacDonalds and various hangers on who come every day for food and teaching. It all makes life very interesting.
Following my last failed attempt to send you some photos, I will not even try this time. However, I am learning a bit about putting pictures on the internet, so I will try to assemble an album on line, which you can check out if you would like to see the family or the boys. I will let you know the address if I ever work out how to use it.
Think I should stop now, but thanks again for all your support.
Love
Don, Christine, Sarah, Rachel, Nico and all the boys.