Muslims, Camel Milk and Tim: the team Medic!

A few other ‘noteworthy moments’ (or highlights?) from our time in Kaniki this last couple of weeks would definitely include our time interacting with Somali Muslims in Ndola.

The number of Muslims in Zambia has grown dramatically in recent years and so it was good to go and mingle with them. Having gone to the outskirts of town where many Muslims from Somalia have settled, we soon found ourselves sitting with a group of very welcoming men enjoying a nice cup of tea… well more than one actually. The first cup tasted like a kind of spiced chai which I enjoyed, but as conversation turned to the benefits of camel meat which apparently is a very lean red meat (but not available in Zambia as the authorities don’t recognise it as food) I found myself ordering a second cup of tea made with camel milk (which clearly has made its way into the country)! It was surprisingly good - quite thick and creamy - but apparently i was unusual for not adding more sugar. Then we had a chapati (which wasn’t so foreign to me having grown up in Dudley) and headed to the mosque where we were invited to ask a couple of Sheiks / Imams any questions we had about their beliefs.

As well as drinking camel milk, another unexpected experience in this last fortnight was when I was called upon to retrieve a cotton bud from one of the other students ears! He bought the said item from a shop in Mkushi known as China Mall which sells all sorts of cheap things. Anyway, given that I had been appointed ‘Team Medic’ and that the end of the cotton bud had now been stuck in my friends ear for more than 3-4 days I had to do something. It was so far in his ear that it was no longer even visible! …so to YouTube I went! I found a video posted by a ‘doctor’ who demonstrated how if you slice the end of a toothpick it will grip cotton wool easily just by gently turning round in circles. I was a bit doubtful but being more skeptical of taking my friend to a local doctor who might try to use bulkier tweezers, I waited for Gemma to not be around (or maybe that was just coincidence) and had a go! It took a long time but worked incredibly!! Both my friends relief and mine were pretty huge!! Click below to watch the glorious moment!

Other memorable moments were celebrating Naomi’s birthday (both a friend and the overseer of the school and orphan project we set up) and taking the team to eat genuine Italian ice cream after a manic yet fruitful day with school mission... I nearly shouted myself hoarse trying to preach the gospel to a hall of excitable secondary pupils - but many received Christ and the ice cream just topped it off!