MOM’S MEMOIRS – IRENE LOUISE (NEE KUCKKAN) MUELLER
(Continued)
 
Mom’s Autobiography – Chapter 15 – In Book, Page 38

Groceries Stolen, Brave Mom, Tapeworm, Cheeky Sue, Andrea, English Congregation, Lindops, Kariba Camping, Mongoose, Dickie Hitchhiking, Chinyanja Warning, Dogs Attack Steve

Later there was a store called “Mwaiseni” which had the first elevator in Lusaka. In a letter I wrote to our son, Dick(ie), in the States on April 10, 1971, I wrote, “I went shopping and bought a bag full of groceries from ZCBC, and then went to Mwaiseni to shop for some things which are not available at ZCBC, locking the doors of the car and setting the alarm (which we had installed). While in Mwaiseni I heard a car alarm go off and looked through a window of the shop. I saw two men, just as nonchalantly as could be, walking away from our car carrying a bag. But I did not see them go into the car (they had already taken the bag of groceries out when I looked) – we think they have keys of their own – so I thought everything was all right. But when I looked for the groceries, they were gone, and I knew what had happened. They must have been somewhat scared by the alarm because the meat and printed material on the floor in the front was not taken.”

I learned from these experiences that when I finished shopping for groceries, I took them home, and then would go back and shop for the meat. You say, “take the children along” – okay – one time the children were sitting in the car eating ice cream and two big boys in their teens came up to the car and demanded of Stephanie that she give them her ice cream. When she refused, one of the boys hit her. I came out of the store just then and found her crying. They told me what happened and I asked them which boys they were. They were skulking away by then, but I ran after them, grabbed the one by the arm, and said, “Osa menye!” (don’t hit!, and let him go. He knew what I meant. The other people did not try to interfere, but commented on my speaking Chinyanja.

The sad part of these stories is that many people came into Lusaka at that time from the bush looking for work. Not finding work, they would steal from people, even their own people, or move in with relatives and friends. President Kenneth Kaunda would plead, with tears in his eyes, on television to his people to go back to their villages. But more and more people came looking for “the streets paved with gold”.

TAPEWORM, what is that? I found out one day when Debbie said that there was something wrong in her behind. When I looked, there was something white sticking out. I pulled it, and it came – I pulled it again, and it came, and came, and came – until finally I got the whole thing out! Poor Debbie, I’m sure she never forgot that, and neither did I.

We did have an English dentist in Lusaka. One day Dick and I took the whole family there for checkups. When it was Susie’s turn, she refused the Novocain when the dentist wanted to do something with a tooth. The dentist said to us, “You know, your daughter is very CHEEKY!” She did not have the Novocain that time, but she sure did want it the next time!

Our daughter, Debbie’s best friend, was (and still is) Andrea de Wet. She lived down the street from us, but she herself will admit that she almost lived at our house. She was, and is, like a daughter to us. She did move to Hartley, Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) with her parents and the rest of the family. She now lives in South Africa, is married to a wonderful man by the name of “Philip Davel”, and has children. We correspond with her, and she calls us “Mom” and “Dad”. When we went back to Africa in 2003 for the 50th anniversary of the Zambian mission, and the 40th anniversary of the Malawian mission, we went back to the States by way of South Africa so that we could visit Andrea. She and her sister had been to visit us in the States before that. Her husband could not be with us because he works in Zaire. We had such a wonderful and blessed visit with her and her brother, Philippe, who is a pilot with M. K. Airlines. They fly freight. He has sent us pictures of Mt. Kilamanjaro, the island of Crete, (for which Dick asked), etc.

We had wonderful friends who were members of the English-speaking church. They were Mrs. Peterson (Lindop), her daughter, Siri, and her sons, Sten, and Finn. Dick also took care of that congregation, which had services in an empty building on Cairo Road (the main street in Lusaka) when we first came in 1957. Later Sten was killed in an accident. Mrs. Peterson later married, and she, her husband (Mr. Lindop) and their two children, Kari, and Johnny, lived down the street from us (little Stevie would take off on Steph’s little bicycle to go visit them, with me taking off after him. Lusaka was a huge city even at that time with a lot of traffic). They had a cottage at Kariba Lake, and kindly made an offer to us to camp on their property. They gave us a key to their cottage so we could use their facilities.

So Debbie, Andrea, and we decided to do that. We went swimming in Kariba Lake (remember, I mentioned that Lake Kariba at that time was the biggest man-made lake at that time when the Kariba Dam was built on the Zambezi River). It was fantastic! We went swimming, and when we dove to the bottom, there were rocks with mica in them. We still have those rocks. We saw a big green monitor lizard sunning itself on a log. It didn’t bother us, and we didn’t bother it. Before Dick and I went to sleep, we looked through the camper window and saw a bright comet. Oh, what a sight! And the stars are so big and bright in Africa! They are God’s wonderful creations for us to enjoy! We also saw satellites skimming across the sky.

One time Dick and I came home, and the boys and their African friends had a MONGOOSE under a pail on the veranda! And somehow it had “gotten into the house”, so they all went on top of our kidney-shaped coffee table – and it broke neatly in half! We were thankful that none of them were hurt by the table or by the mongoose – which they set free.

Dick took our son, Dick(ie), with him up to the Northwestern Province on a mission trip. After Kitwe, there are no cities, but villages and bush. I reminded him to take water along, but he didn’t think he needed it. Well, about one hundred fifty miles from Kitwe, the car broke down. A semi-driver came through and confirmed what Dick thought was the part which was needed to fix the car. So thirteen-year old Dick(ie) hitchhiked by himself through the bush, got to Kitwe, called me, and said, “Mom, the car broke down in the bush. I hitchhiked back to Kitwe, got the part, and now I’m hitchhiking back. Bye, Mom”. Well, that was it until I’d hear from them when they came back over a week later! I found out when they came back that Dick HAD SHAVED WITH HIS COFFEE, and villagers had given him water. The Lord provides!

While on one of the long mission trips or trips to Malawi for missionaries’ conferences (which took almost two weeks) on which the children and I could not go along because of school, I heard a sound in the middle of the night, and sat straight up in bed saying, “Mufuna ciani?” It means, “what do you want?” After that I did not hear any more sounds.

God’s holy angels were watching over us again when we were driving along a road through the bush, and there wasn’t a “chimbuzhi” (outhouse) in sight. We saw a tearoom with one, so the children, including little Stevie (who could hardly walk yet) got out of the car and headed for it. Suddenly about six dogs came from behind the tearoom and all of them attacked Stevie. Dick and I ran as fast as we could to chase them away, which we did. A woman came from the tearoom carrying a first aid kit, but thankfully, no skin had been broken. At that time in Africa there was a lot of RABIES – so that incident might have turned out very badly. We also carried a First Aid kit at all times in our car in case there were people in the congregations or anywhere else we went who needed first aid. That included our family. Everyone should carry one.