Once upon a time there was a little boy called Benny. He lived with his mother, father and siblings in a small 2-roomed house near to Flying Mission Zambia base at Chilongolo, Makeni Konga. Although his mother was severely disabled, she looked after the children well and they were known to be a very well-behaved and pleasant family.

One day Benny got sick.

Ronda Krause, Director of Macha Innovative Christian School, MICS, which serves the Macha community in the bush, sent us this report recently. Flying Mission Zambia is proud to be able to help in situations like this.

Last week I was talking to God about the fact that we needed more textbooks. You see, the ones we have been using for the last five years were already secondhand when we got them. A school in Botswana was so kind when they gave us their used books to get us started. The other day I noticed the condition of the books as I was getting some reading books for the fifth grade class. Yikes! Most of them were falling apart!!

This rainy season has been particularly severe in Lusaka, capital of Zambia, where the Flying Mission Zambia base is located. Getting to and from Chilongolo, 15 kms from the centre, has been a logistics exercise in itself. When the Flying Mission Board visited recently, the road was so damaged and blocked by broken-down vehicles that a flight had to be generated to get personnel back into town! We'll let the pictures show you the conditions.

Flying Mission Zambia Manager, Bryan Wilson, calls it 'Mad Hour' and oh boy! on Sunday the Rainbowz meeting place was full, full, full! Perhaps 160 children crowded into the Flying Mission Zambia rondaval (an old satellite dish thatched to give us protection from the sun's rays) where we do Children’s Bible Club each week. Rainy season in Zambia is between November and March and so a few times we have had to cancel the meetings but this week the sun shone and the children turned out in style!

Last week there was a role switch at Tiyanjane, the woman's group that started two years ago in the neighborhood of Flying Mission Zambia's base. Some of the village ladies taught the Wazungu (white) ladies, and each other, how to cook some of their traditional Zambian dishes. It was a lot of fun. The missionaries found it quite hard work stirring the pot of nshima (the stiff maize meal porridge which is their staple food) but then we had the pleasure of eating it all!

Since we reported on Kenneth's accident in the item,'Tell me your job description again', he has made very good progress. When Bryan Wilson MD of Flying Mission Zambia, took a party there recently, he took these photos for us. Shortly after that, Stuart Bassham, a UK volunteer, visited the remote hospital and chatted with medical staff there. He discovered that there was a need for a sling to enable a hoist to be used in the care of Kenneth. Stuart contacted his wife, Nicky, who works with disabled people. 

Here in Africa one never knows what might happen around us and without the '4 Emergency Services' to hand, the mission station is often the first port of call for problem-solving. Here is a recent story from the Smiths at Chitokoloki.

Tannis Walker (Head of Hospital) has been the only missionary medical person around for a few weeks and has been handling any and all medical situations that have come in while our doctor has been on leave. This means a LOT falls to her. Decisions are often called for immediately, and such was the case one day when several local men came to her, carrying in a man on a blanket.

Kenneth had been in a tree trying to capture a baby monkey. Monkeys are a real menace here and play havoc in the maize fields, so the local people try to cull them in order to protect their crops. Kenneth had noticed a little one in a tree and knowing the mother was now gone, he had decided to capture the infant.

Perhaps you recognise this header as the title of a book written by Doreen Irvine in UK some years back. Or maybe you thought about Paul in his time at Ephesus when many trusted the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation and turned from their magic to the Living God. The good news is that such things are still happening today! We heard this story from Gwen Amborski, Flying Mission Zambia (FMZ) missionary formerly at our partner Mission station, Mukinge Hospital, NW Province.

Back in 2005, Elvis Musonda worked for Flying Mission Zambia. In that time he became a believer. He also married Christina, a widow with 2 small sons. The couple had a child, a beautiful little girl. We named her Sarah, Princess, because she was the apple of her daddy's eye. When she was 6 months old, malaria struck her little body. Pneumonia followed and, despite all our efforts to help her, she died.

The FMZ family was shocked. Elvis and Christina were devastated. We wondered how Elvis would respond. Would he blame God? Not at all! He held on through this gut-wrenching experience - and found out God keeps his promises.

We would like you to meet Peter Mwanza. He is a delightful lad. Peter was paralysed from the waist when, at 14, he contracted TB of the spine. Since he was already an orphan, it was Peter's grandfather who tried to care for him but, as Peter deteriorated, it became too difficult for him to manage. Peter was discovered by 'home carers' in a mud hut, emaciated, lying in his own excrement and close to death.