Saturday, May 19, 2012

AFRICA TRIP BLOG #11: Seeing the impact of malaria…

After a very early ride down from Ndola to the capital city of Lusaka we spent the day with staff members from World Vision Zambia…World Vision is the largest Christian NGO in the world and impact millions of lives in Zambia…we drove out to a very rural village community where we met once again some remarkable people who care for children and families in need in this community where life is challenging and access to education and health care and income is so, so limited…

We asked them specifically in a group of a dozen or so who has had or had an immediate family member struggle with malaria…they just laughed as each of them put their hand up immediately…it is the #1 taker of life in sub-Saharan Africa and obviously a huge concern for those who live in this part of the world…

And then we visited some families who lived in rural homes, where you felt like you were in the Africa you grew up thinking about…and unfortunately these were families that had been touched deeply by malaria…one father and mother told us their story of how their 15 month old little boy named Alex suddenly spiked a fever and because they live about a 10 mile walk from the nearest health clinic it was a huge undertaking to get their child to receive medical care…and as a flood of a river they needed to cross delayed them, it was too late to get the medications to save their child.  As they ended talking to us with telling us that he had passed away from a mosquito bite, we couldn’t talk as we sat in the dirt outside their hut.  Finally Catherine told them how sorry we were and I asked if we could pray for them, a prayer for comfort only our God can somehow provide…

I then asked if the rest of the their six children now had bed nets to sleep under, treated bed nets that can prevent this disease from entering a child’s body…and when they replied that they now had one, it wasn’t the answer we wanted to hear…and in that moment we knew exactly why we are already planning our Night of Nets events this fall at CU as a soccer community…and why we believe especially after this trip that we will and must do far more than we have done before to provide nets for families like the one we met in the name of our Jesus who loves to bring healing…we know first-hand now why prevention of malaria is so, so important…and why we believe God has laid this vision on our hearts and now has put it right in front of our eyes to see how we can partner with our friends at World Vision to change the lives of thousands of families…

You can check out our website from last year at www.cunightofnets.com

We enjoyed a great Zambian meal at our authentic guest lodge in Lusaka…and tomorrow we head south to Livingstone to do some of the remarkable sightseeing we have the privilege of doing in this country!

We are on the home stretch…and already we are awaiting our chance to share our stories with you when we return…

For all the Zambia team,

CHIP

1 comment:

Breck5 said...

You are right - we must do more for families like Alex's. Count us in!