We are currently on our way to Livingstone and later today we will see Victoria Falls, one of the most amazing wonders found on the earth...and then tomorrow we will be off to Botswana for a safari at Chobe Game Park...we will enjoy some of the amazing things Africa has to offer...the trip feel changes at this point and we will as a group spent lots of time trying to ask God to lead us in how we tangibly respond to all we have seen and experienced here in Zambia...please pray that what we have seen and heard and done will truly be used by God to create new dreams and visions for how we can live out our faith with great purpose and joy and passion as a result of our time here...
On Tuesday we had another day full of remarkable things...we started out in the Zamtan area just a few miles away from our Kakolo Village community...many of us had chances to see our sponsored children and that is truly a remarkable thing...we walked around the village community and stopped at the homes where the children we have only seen in pictures or received notes from lived...they are always in their best clothes and it is a joy to bring a few gifts and to tell them personally how much we really do care about them and love them...sponsorship here changes both their individual lives and helps the whole community as resources are pooled to benefit everyone in the area...it was an emotional moment for many of us as you hear the stories of a whole generation beinbg gone and only a grandmother left to care for the children and seeing a family of seven sleeping in one room on a cement floor...there is such a power in relationships and as I saw one of my family's children proudly wearing my son's old tball hat as he held my hand walking to the community baseball game, I was so very blessed...
Many of our group had the chance to make a meal for a group of sixty pre-school children at a school that often provides the only meal some children might get that day...and we got a tour of the remarkable Zamtan Medical Clinic which is truly becoming one of the most impressive and impactful facilities in the whole nation of Zambia...we walked thru the maternity wing which was funded by WA where over 40 babies have already been born without HIV due to the PMTCT project God invited us to participate in...to see that vision saving lives and changing the future of a whole generation in this community was so fun for our group to see...
We also had the chance to play a baseball game on the soccer field where we played against a Zambian team...a former WA alum brought baseball first to this area and the whole nation of Zambia during a summer internship with WV Zambia and his legacy lives on...we beat them 6-5 in a close game where the old man on our team was able to recall his college playing baseball days by an act of God and hit a grand slam...
We then heard from a couple area church pastors who are spearheading a major community work where the churches all come together to minister to people's needs and focus on the work of prevention of HIV with the next generation...they are doing amazing work and are getting ready to take the mantel of spiritual and community leadership as World Vision prepares to leave the area in 2010 as they move into self sustainment...
Our final activity was a dedication/groudbreaking event for the new schoolhouse addition which the community is so excited about...the past 2 years of the Zambia Project have fully funded this incredibly necessary step and we were each able to use a pick axe to break the ground and dig the first hole as the people danced and prayed and praised the name of Jesus for this answer to their prayers and the completion of a dream only God could put in our hearts...
We were given many gifts from the community as we got ready to leave and as hundreds of children hung onto your students and ran after the bus as we drove away, I was struck again by the remarkable connection our God has created among those who are part of the body of Christ here in Zambia and in Chicago...we have been told over and over again by our friends here that we are one and that this place is our second home...as we shared with the Zambian staff our latest school video and the words of many students about how this project has changed their lives and our school community, the presence of God filled our hotel conference room...
We will be in many ways forever connected to this place...the children and their faces and names are etched in our minds and our hearts have been broken by the needs we have seen with our own eyes...we have been humbled by how we have been loved and served by these amazing brothers and sisters here...and we are being transformed into the global followers of Jesus that Scripture clearly invites us to be as we individually and corporately seek out where God wants us to serve and how He wants us to live differently as a result of His invitation to come to Zambia...
Your students were Jesus to a community and so many kids this past week, and I watched with great joy and tears and love as they too fell in love with a people and place that has stolen my heart...
Coming to Africa is good for your soul and in some strange way also wrecks your life in the best way...thanks for your prayers and your love and support...
Blessed by the Goodness of God as we wave good bye to Kakolo...CHIP
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