Sunday's in Zambia - The Beginning

Two and a half years ago I started a regular Sunday feature regarding my adventures in Zambia. I decided that I would resurrect the series this year. There are 15 segments. Who knows, I might even add something new this year. If you'd like to read ahead, just click on the "Zambia" label on my sidebar.

I went to Zambia as part of the Journeyman program of the Southern Baptist Church. It was a program designed to use recent college graduates to fill temporary support positions in the foreign mission field. I was the secretary-bookkeeper for the Baptist Mission of Zambia from January 1987 until July 1988. Later I’ll provide more detailed info about what I did & experienced while I was there, but first I want to talk about who I was.

Based on what I remember (or don’t) from that time I have to conclude that I was a shallow, unobservant silly girl. I was pretty good at my actual job, but I didn’t have a lot of life experience and I didn’t know how to be really present in the experiences I was having. I was a flibbertigibbet & wasn’t as mindful as I could have been. I had discovered boys while I was in college (late bloomer here!) & I wasn’t done with them yet. I was 22 going on 16. Get the picture?

Over 10 years after I returned from Zambia I created a scrapbook (actually two rather large volumes) trying to recreate my experience there. The following is a poem I wrote when I completed the albums. I decided to use it in my first “Zambia Post” as my disclaimer.

Who was that girl?
Superficial…
Boy crazy…
with an occasional
flash of insight.
I hardly remember
her
or what she did
that long ago
time in Africa.

These are the
images she brought
home with her.
These are her stories –
remembered as in a dream
edited by time
reconstructed to suit myself.

This is her book
and mine too

Whoever we are!

Dana Wallace Rhyne
May 17, 1999