A Zambian Valentine’s Day

Okay, I know we haven’t written in a long time; we hope you haven’t given up on us. We have had phone problems off and on since Christmas, which means we have had email problems since we still use the old-fashioned dial up. Now that our phone seems to be working, we will try again to blog. Let us begin by telling you about our Zambian Valentine’s Day party.

We often have parties for the youth from our church on special occasions, because we meet with them weekly for Bible study. However, for Valentine’s Day we decided to do something special for the adults of our church in Gwembe. Although Zambians have Valentine’s Day on their calendar, in the rural areas very few celebrate it or really know what it’s about.

We put up the few decorations we had for Valentine’s Day, baked up some biscuits (scones in Zambia) in the shape of hearts, made a strawberry cake, popcorn, and of course a red drink, and prepared some games. We had no idea how many would come. In Zambia, even if you ask the people to RSVP, you would never have an accurate count. We just prayed that we wouldn’t have too many or too few. The Lord answered our prayers, and we had 16 adults arrive for the party.

We started out with a game called, “I Have Never” in which each person has to stand in the middle of a circle and think of something they have never done that they think everyone else has done. In America we might say something like, “I have never been to Red Lobster.” Here it was things like, “I have never eaten a field mouse” or “I have never tasted lion.”

The next activity was writing a fill-in the blank love story together. We went around the room and I asked each person to help us fill in the blanks. Although they did not know why I wanted adjectives, verbs, people, places and things, they were very ready to help. When we read the completed story, they laughed and laughed. Zambians have difficult lives, so it was great to see them laughing so much.

Our final indoor game was a simplified version of “Family Feud.” Instead of families, we divided into teams. We had polled one of our Zambian friends for the answers. Just to give you an idea of the questions, “Name the top 5 gifts that Zambian women want to receive on special occasions?” The answers were similar to answers we might hear from American women, but one stuck out to me—cell phones. In this day and age, to have a cell phone in Zambia is to have status.

The final game, Hillbilly Golf, was played outside; it was a great hit. We had two teams, red and blue. Each team won a game, so there were no losers.

We ended the party with food and a short Bible study on God’s awesome love. Just as it was pouring down rain during the Bible study, so Wes explained that God pours out His awesome love on us who have chosen to believe in His Son Jesus. “Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.” I John 3:3.

As we ended the party, we gave each participant a button to wear on their lapel that said, “I am loved.” You would think we had given them a million dollars. It was a great Valentine's Day in Zambia!