I knew that today’s visits in the Mapolo community would be unlike anything most of us have experienced before. When you walk into the small, dark room of a mud wall structure and sit next to someone who is suffering and dying from a horrible disease, you are not sure what to do or say…
Today
we went out in pairs to visit those who are being given care by the church as
they are infected with the HIV/AIDS virus…There were older people and people in
the prime of their lives that we visited…children who are suffering because of
the impact of a disease on those who
should be taking care of them…it is always painful to see people suffering and
to hear their stories of struggle just to live another day…
We
listened to them talk about their families and tell the story of how their life
has changed because of their illness…and we delivered some food supplies to
help them get some of what they need to try and get better…and we read Scripture
reminding them and us that we cannot be separated from the love of Christ and
that our God is indeed near to the brokenhearted…and we laid hands on our new
African friends and prayed for God to heal and to comfort and to meet their
needs in a miraculous way…
But
we also got to meet some new friends who are the heroes of the faith in my mind…they
are men and women in the African church who serve as caregivers to the very
least in our world…they come and visit them, pray with them, bathe them, help them
get to the clinic to get their ARV medicines, and bring them the food they need
to attempt to recover…
I
went out with the amazing lady named Grace who started this caregiver program
in this community about 10 years ago as the AIDS pandemic ravaged this part of
Zambia…she herself had taken care of her sister until she died of AIDS before
deciding God was calling her and the church to do something for those who were
often stigmatized and shunned by families and friends and fellow believers
alike…and she now oversees 21 churches and over 300 volunteers who care for
people who are not cared for by anyone else…
Grace
has visited hundreds, if not thousands of sick people in this community,
walking mile after mile to literally be the hands and feet of Jesus of some of
the most forgotten people on the planet…it isn’t easy for her, as she shared
with me how discouraged she feels when people she gets close to have passed
away when she comes for the next visit…
But
God is using Grace…and she has so many stories of change and hope and God’s
matchless grace being poured out through her into the lives of others…as we
were walking back to her church from visiting a dying AIDS patient, she said to
me out of the blue sometimes she thinks God is telling her to write a book…I
couldn’t help but laugh and say “Oh Grace, that sounds like a great idea to
me!” And I pulled out of my backpack a
copy of my book and gave it to her telling her that I had just finished writing
a book about people like her here in Zambia…and if I can write one, than surely
she can with all she has experienced…we laughed and she asked if I could be her
editor…only in God’s story…
And
even in the midst of perhaps the most heart-wrenching circumstances God is
present…visiting a home in Zambia headed by a child taking care of other
children because their parents have died from AIDS is beyond our scope of
understanding…today Mark and Catherine Bell visited an orphan-headed household
where 15 year old Bernard was taking care of his 13 and 10 year old brothers
Nelson and David because their parents have passed away…the boys go to the
market by foot each day to try to find an odd job to make a few coins to get
some food…they are now the extreme poor in our world, living on less than an
average of 50 cents per day…and their only safety net, their only resource and
help is the church…
And
somehow, in a way only God could arrange, a couple from Rockford, MI was the
answer to these three boys’ nightly prayers that somehow they could find the
money to pay the fees to go to school…Mark and I walked over to the teacher at
the schoolhouse nearby and he asked if he could pay their fees for a whole
year…it cost 42000 kwacha, or just over $8 per boy…and about $25 from a family
that loves soccer in the States changed the lives of 3 boys who love soccer and
are dependent on the mercy of God for life every day in Mapolo, Zambia…and I
know that heaven rejoices in answered prayers like these…
After
a silent bus ride back for lunch we spent some time later that afternoon
talking and praying with Zambian students who are peers to the CU students on
this trip as we talked about the challenges each of us is facing in living out
one’s faith in our various cultures in Grand Rapids and in Ndola…it was
beautiful to hear 14 different pairs of prayers from Zambian and American
Christian partners being lifted to heaven with hope for tomorrow and a passion
to see revival break out among their generations…
Tonight’s
debrief time was long and full of anger, sorrow, questions, and finally deep
resolve…we have seen and gotten to know people suffering in ways unimaginable
to us and held children who simply wouldn’t let go for as long as we would let
them hang on…and in the midst of our own grief and concern for the needs we now
know exist, we ended tonight with a call to do something…I actually have on a
shirt tonight that simply says, “You have one life…do something.”
The
over whelming consensus is that this trip cannot be an emotional exercise where
our hearts are broken and we fall in love with Africa and its people…it must be
an experience that leads us to action, that leads us to being a voice for those
who have no voice, and that leads us to courageously invite others to join us
in writing a new story in our lives and the lives of our brothers and sisters
in sub-Saharan Africa…
Already
there are ideas flowing on how to tell the story, how to invite others to
partner with us as we care for the needs of widows and orphans as Scripture
defines in James as “true religion” for each of us who follow Jesus…your
prayers for us to have our view of God’s people and this world blown apart has
already and will continue to be answered…and now we invite you to begin to give
us creativity and courage to work and dream together on how to engage our
families, our churches, our campus with the needs present and opportunities
available to transform lives here in Africa…
We
spend our last full day with our friends at Jubilee Ministries tomorrow as we
share our trip reflections with them and feed children and do a bit more house
building before we move to the next phase of our journey in Zambia…
We
can’t wait to see you one week from tonight…for all the Zambia team, CHIP
3 comments:
Humbled, sobered, and yet filled with hope as I read this, Chip. Can't wait to hear more!
Amen. Write, write, write Grace! We will help get that story to others when it is in print! Can't wait to read it!
Thank you for sharing the story of what God is doing right now. He is always at work and He is so good! (and yes, Isaac, I needed all those exclamation points! :) ) Please continue to share as you have many people who are with you, behind you, praying, supporting, and ready to help as He nudges you to "do something." Continue to go and do, we're with you. We love you and continue to pray that you would hear His voice in each of you as He works out His story in you.
Dear Jesus, we do indeed ask for both clarity and courage to help each team member, and the group as a whole, to discern how to take their own experience and learning to continue to exhort and bless others. Give us ears to hear and eyes to see. Amen.
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