Landed and Swamped

Packing our Home in Lusaka

Our Belongings Loaded into the Truck

The Truck the Next Morning

Unloading Our Belongings in Chikankata

I arrived in Zambia early Saturday morning and haven't stopped since. I've now been here over 108 hours and have only spent 12 of them sleeping. But we're finally moved! Monday night, we loaded a 17 meter truck bed with our entire home and drove to Chikankata. The driver was hesitant to drive at night because of thieves. Apparently, there was a stretch of road where some trucks drive really slow because of the steepness of the hills. It is here where bands of thieves will jump on board and take what they can. As we drove through this area, I was praying for extra power for the truck. I figured that if we didn't go slow enough for them to get on the truck, that we would be okay. Well, not only did we have enough speed, but we didn't see a sign of any thieves. We arrived safely in Chikankata (at 11:30 pm) after a short 2 hour trip.

Yesterday was a busy day as well. We had to unload the truck and put our belongings into storage - some into a room of the house we will be renting and the rest into a shipping container that us and the Whitfields are sharing.

The Roberts and Whitfields' Shipping Container

Moving the Shipping Container (Zambian Style)

Preparing the Foundation for the Container

We also had to offload the shipping container from a different truck that had delivered it the night before. This was a fun process. Being in Zambia and in the bush, crane operators and fork lifts are not available. So, we had to be creative. The farmer, whose houses we will be renting, had a loading dock nearby. So, we used one of his tractors to pull the shipping container from off the truck and then used this same tractor to drag the container about 1/4 mile to its final resting place. Once there, we used an adapter on the tractor to lift the container (one side at a time) so we could place supports underneath. After it was in place and on its temporary supports, we poured cement pillars under each of the corners. We will go back after they dry and lower the container on to these more permanent supports.

All this to say, even though it was not the best of conditions for a move, God was faithful. We are now moved out of our old home and beginning to move into the new one. Thank you for all of your prayers during this transition.