AIDS and SOCCER in a Zambian Village

Yesterday we traveled to a village that is fairly deep in the Zambian countryside...a donor from Chicago is funding the expansion of a school there after seeing the need at the end of a Safari trip in Zambia...the need for more classroom space is a constant one in Zambia and classes with 50-60 students in them is often the rule rather than the exception..

We sat under a tree with several hundred students and community parents and leaders and heard presentations from students at the school...we joined their school choir in a dance after they sang a song about the blessings of God given to them, and they presented poems entitled Malaria and The Cry of an Orphan they had prepared for us...And after the program, we split into groups and went out with World Vision staff and local caregivers who travel from hut to hut caring weekly for those suffering from and living with HIV/AIDS...in this particular area, there is virtually no real access to any sort of medical care and these visits from men and women from the local churches is all they may receive in the way of care from an outside source...it was very cool to see how the caregivers use the supplies in their kits that each student at Wheaton Academy built during Homecoming Week in 2007...

In many ways, we all saw behind the curtain today in terms of what is often really taking place in sub-Saharan Africa...you hear and see the real life story of women dying from AIDS who have already lost their husbands who are consumed with what will happen to their children when they die...you walk into a dark one room hut where a grandma unable to move at this point asks you to pray for a miracle as she has been taking care of her orphaned granddaughter for the past three years...and you see how AIDS has brought death and hardship and great pain to so many extended families in this place...we brought a couple bags of sugar, a bottle of cooking oil, and some candles to each family...and we prayed for God's provision and presence even in the midst of such difficulty...it was a difficult conversation at night where you ask questions about why such injustice exists, why no one seems to know or care what is really taking place, and what it means for you when you see it first hand...it is good to have a community to talk with and debrief with as you have your view of the world opened so wide...

And yet Africa is so resilient...and so passionate about many things, including soccer...we played our first match in our red jerseys donated by Marist High School (they will now be worn by the school team in the village) on a long red clay pitch with wooden goalposts...somehow, someway a 40 year old guy (that would be me) who loves this game like Zambians do was able to sneak in a goal in the first minute or two of the match and we ended in a 1-1 tie...the crowd roared seeing our girls dribble past and tackle the ball away from the guys we were playing against...the whole community watches these matches and they love when the "Muzungu" can compete against their local heroes...the girls also tried their hand at netball for the first time, a game they struggled to learn as the Zambian girls whipped the ball around them toward the open basket at the end of the court...

We just arrived today in Kitwe, about 6 hours north of Lusaka, where we will spend the next several days in the community that Wheaton Academy has been involved with for the last 6 years in a major way...as the Zamtan ADP World Vision Staff welcomed us at our hotel, I saw so many friends and it feels like a second home...the next three days in Kakolo Village will be full of all kinds of fun and joy, interacting with so many people, and seeing how God's Kingdom has invaded this little part of Zambia in the midst of a community that has had close to a 30% HIV prevelance rate and the average person exists on less than $1 per day...I can't wait to take our team tomorrow morning into the place God has connected us to on the other side of the world...

We hope all is well in Chicago...people will be blowing whistles and horns all night here in Zambia in preparation for their World Cup Qualifying soccer match tomorrow afternoon...it is like the Super Bowl, NBA Finals, and World Series all rolled into one a friend here once told me...

We are experiencing each day the spiritual gift of hospitality from the Zambian people in profound ways that deeply minister to us as we seek to bring God's love to them through our presence and resources...it is a gift not to be taken for granted...

With our Love and Prayers,

CHIP