Rural Leaders ― a Travel Log Vol. 10

A journey to meet ARI graduates in Zambia & Malawi, 2024

We are sharing with you a series of travel logs written by ARI staff member Steven, who visited Africa in August.
On Sunday, they enjoyed a brief holiday, because they just returned from a long trip.
However, there are NO holidays for meeting wonderful people and power outages!
Let’s get started on our trip to Africa!

【An African journey to visit ARI graduates, Day11】

Rural Leader Simamba
According to our schedule, we were due to head out on the long journey to the East of Zambia today, but after the all the traveling we had just done and because it was Sunday, we decided to make it a day of rest. To my surprise we got a chance to meet 2005 ARI Graduate, Simamba. He was at a project sight about 1,000 kilometers away in Mongu in the Western Province, but had driven all the way to Lusaka, partially to see us and partially for other reasons. In Mongu he had been working with the US Peace Corps, but recently started a different project in that same region with the World Bank, which is connected with cashew nut farmers. I love cashew nuts, but my wife, Miki, loves them more, so I brought the packets he gave us back to Japan for her.

Simamba’s sending body was the Ecumenical Development Foundation, John and Judy’s organization, but when he came back from ARI, he decided not to continue his work here. He had been employed as their business manager, and they had high hopes for him, but he had other plans. Instead, he began working for the government in the fisheries department and then with co-operatives. At the same time, he pursued higher education, eventually obtaining a master’s degree and a Ph.D. In 2018 he did a village savings and credit project with the World Bank, followed by a project with the United Nations in Lusaka. Then came his work in the US Peace Corps, etc., mentioned above.

During his interview he had many good things to say about his ARI training experience, especially in terms of leadership and working together with the people. This surprised me because I had judged him to be a person who likes to be important. At ARI he was one of those to avoid tasks like dishwashing and other work he felt was beneath him. He so frustrated one of his classmates that she predicted he would become the president of Zambia one day! I feel I am not completely wrong about him, but I am also not completely right. I sense he has changed in many ways in the 19 years since he was at ARI. “I was at ARI as a young man,” he said, almost in an apologetic tone for his attitude at that time.

I have met several ARI graduates, like Simamba, who reach higher positions of power but keep the essence of ARI’s servant leadership in their hearts. Maybe not according to our expectations, or to the level of an ARI director, but it is certainly there and impacts their style of leading. I think that ARI did indeed penetrate somewhere deep inside Simamba and is still with him! And about EDF, even if they had some bad history after his return from ARI, he said during this visit, “This is my home!”

Oh, and one more quick thing about Simamba. During the Western Japan Study Tour, we used to take the participants for a tour of the Toyota factory. Simamba uses it as an example when working with the villagers. He tells them that one single car is composed of hundreds of different parts, all working together to become a single car. A community is the same and cannot be a community unless they cooperate with each other.

A powerful sermon at Kanakantapa Reform Church
Judy took us to their local church hoping to greet people as they were leaving because we were very, very late. When we arrived, the service was still going on, and there was a stir to get us good chairs, as we were special guests. The pastor was just getting going into a passionate sermon, weaving seamlessly between English and the local Nyanja language. “Nini we” he shouted repeatedly, and “Nini we” replied the congregation. “With you,” it means. What is God doing with you? “Who is using you as a vessel?” I loved this sermon, firstly because this pastor really knew how to talk to his people, moving forward slowly, repeating important points, and then moving forward again. At one point he even picked up a pickax, a tool commonly used by all the parishioners, and held it in his hands for a long time as a prop. “A pick,” he asked, “does it do the work?” “No, the owner does the work and God is the owner. We are the tool in His hands, and God wields the tool. God takes care of His tools. You are the vessel in his hand. Can we be humble enough to ask God, ‘can you use me as a tool?’ ” But then he warned us all to beware, to be careful to know who is behind you. Is it God using you as His tool or is it the devil using you. If, you, as the tool, are not ready, you may be manipulated!

The second reason I liked this sermon is because I love this simplest of prayers, that is “use me.” “Use me” is the prayer I always pray, especially when I am losing my direction. “Use me” was the heart of this whole sermon! After the pastor closed his sermon, we were invited to introduce ourselves to the whole church. Then the service was concluded with glorious song and dance.

Through the efforts of the community, this church opened around two years ago. They somehow put enough funds together to build the church building and are in the middle of a constructing a residence for the pastor. Before, they had to go all the way into Chongwe. Some people even walked the many kilometers to reach there. This new church has been assigned a very good pastor, but they are not sure how long they will be able to keep in him out in this countryside. So, they are working hard to finish up his house.

Kai and I spent the afternoon organizing photos and videos and getting caught up on this journal. Simamba and Belvin joined us for a supper of chicken and goat meat in the dark (you know why). You have to be versatile to live in Zambia, knowing how to prepare a meal when the power goes out. Unfortunately, this means cooking over charcoal, the making of which is causing deforestation, which in turn is causing drought, which brings on the power outages because of not enough water in the rivers to produce hydro-electric power. Such are the problems…in Africa? No, I think with all human civilizations! The more we “develop” the more puzzles we have to unravel, no matter where we are located. The big question for me is…is development forward movement? Or is it just movement?

Written by Steven Cutting (Graduate Outreach Coordinator)
Travelling with Kai Shinoda (Admissions and Recruitment Coordinator)

Click here to read the series of articles

Vol.0 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Prologue】

Vol.1 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 1-2】

Vol.2 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 3】

Vol.3 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 4】

Vol.4 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 5】

Vol.5 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 6】

Vol.6 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 7】

Vol.7 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 8】

Vol.8 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 9】

Vol.9 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 10】