As we sit in London where we were almost two weeks ago, this time period is filled with so many memories and so many new ideas…so many people and so many times when God’s Spirit was alive and moving…so many things that I have thought about and been challenged to consider in a new and fresh way as we have gone to Zambia and been part of a different church, different world, and a different culture with incredibly different needs and blessings…
So I sit down with my laptop and now try to summarize what we’ve learned and describe the images of Africa that will remain with us as we return to be the voice for the poor and sick, the voice for justice and equality and compassion, the voice telling of how God is bringing hope and change to a continent and country and community, the voice of praise to our Jesus who loves us and the children of Africa and that love has allowed us to be deeply connected and become lifetime friends…
A Baker’s Dozen Reflections on our Trip of a Lifetime:
1.Imago Dei…the reality that we are all created by God and each person is His image bearer is an unbelievable powerful truth for our lives
2.God is raising up leaders in His Church in every place on the planet to be and share the message and personal representation of the love of Jesus Christ
3.Soccer is a universal connection and language to speak to people all over the world that even those who don’t play it in the States are drawn to overseas
4.The Spirit of God roams the earth looking to build relational bridges between the most unlikely of peoples
5.When you freely and tangibly love children they will shower you with love and affection in return
6.Jesus calls us to be grace-givers to those who are involved in behaviors and living lives we cannot relate to
7.We are invited to enter into the suffering of the poor and sick through our prayers, presence, and gifts…and in that work we find community and life and even joy in a new and fresh way
8.Our resources and everyday stuff can do exceedingly more than we can even believe in places like sub-Saharan Africa
9.The AIDS pandemic has truly affected and continues to impact every person and family in Zambia in the 21st century
10.There is clearly a moment, a window of opportunity to help change the future of an entire generation in Africa so that their lives will be different than their parents
11.Our ability to become compassionate like Jesus will determine our impact as Christians who want to care for and save the lives and souls of people in all nations
12.God has given a special anointing and vision to this generation of young people to take on the world’s biggest and deepest issues
13.When you choose to give your resources and your very life with a thankful heart and spirit in order to “love your local and global neighbor as yourself”, there will be a cost---and that cost is overcome by a marvelous and surprising joy and meaning and blessing that is a beautiful reward
This trip has been both a mixture of seeing dreams become reality in a village in Zambia, and then asking God to help plant new visions for how we can help respond to the world’s greatest needs in other places at this moment…and the things that will propel us forward to chase the Kingdom vision he has poured out on us are the images, the snapshots, the pictures of Africa that we bring home to you…
My ten images from Africa this time are ones like these:
*Dancing, dancing, dancing…I’m not a candidate for Dancing with the Stars, but you are just drawn by the spirit and culture of this place to dance with joy and freedom…and we did it almost every day we were with our Zambian friends…
*The cloud of dust on the dirt pitches as we played soccer like millions do around the world with people just like us in so many ways
*Stretching out our hands to touch and pray for those both dying and those receiving healing in their huts in a quiet village
*Children standing up reciting the verses they had memorized in their brand new Good News Club as a few Zambian adults wept with joy in the back row
*Hundreds of children running and singing and screaming “DO IT!” as the bus filled with muzungus arrives in a small village called Kakolo
*Our students’ hands each locked with small African hands walking toward their schoolhouse that serves as a center of life and hope in the community
*The amazing beauty of Victoria Falls at sunrise and the majesty of the animals that the people of Africa love for you to see and experience
*Many of our students spooning the only meal of the day to young children lacking the nutrition they desperately need to learn and grow and develop
*One of our girls being carried in love by her new friends as they both sang in one of the poorest places on the planet
*Looking at the stars while sitting by a fire on the Zambian roadside laughing at how only God could have brought us to this place and given us such a strong hearbeat for His work we couldn’t even imagine on the other side of the world
I’ll end my African blog with a passage of Scripture that I think is our calling of response as we look forward more than you know to our reunion at O’Hare tomorrow afternoon (British Airways #295 scheduled to arrive at 2:10 pm)…CHIP
I TIMOTHY 6:18-19…Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.
P.S. A personal word that came out of our final 3 hour sharing time last night under the African hut…so many students are still feeling like they have lots to process from this trip…they are carrying so many thoughts and experiences that they are still trying to incorporate into their lives and mind’s framework…they want to desperately respond to all they have seen, but yet are caught already in this tension between the Africa they have fallen in love with and the world they are so grateful to have grown up in…don’t be surprised if they struggle to tell you everything they saw and now feel, are unsure how to respond and participate in American culture, and are a bit nervous about feeling adequate to immediately express their trip experiences…so be patient, enjoy their company, and be assured you will have lots to talk about and engage together in the days ahead…your love and support is so meaningful thru the prep, the trip, and the debrief time now…I am praying what they have seen will bring new life and a rich blessing to your lives as well...
The community and time with all the folks on this trip has been so rich and so good for us all...and a perfect ending for 14 years at WA...
Awaiting our Reunion With You All,
Chip and the Zambia Crew
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Friday, June 26, 2009
Seeing and Experiencing all of Zambia
Hello, hello from Zambia...in fact, we have now flown back to Lusaka from Livingstone and are spending out last of 11 full days in country here before starting the journey home tomorrow...well, even in 2009 we sometimes struggle with technology and I wasn't able to jump online to blog for the last few days in Africa...let's see, where do I start with trying to update you on some moving and some very interesting experiences we've had over the last 4 days...I'll try to give you a summary of each day so you can know what we've been up to in our second week here...
Tuesday--this was a day spent driving all the way from the Copper Belt in the northern part of Zambia down to the southern part of Zambia...at our lunch stop in Lusaka we got a personal thank you from the founder of World Bicycle Relief, FK Day, who had recently flown in from Chicago...the trip featured lots of sleeping, lots of conversations, lots of journal writing, and seeing much of the geography of this land...we arrived at Choma and had a late dinner with a great friend of ours named Fordson Kafukwe who is the Southern Region Director for WV Zambia and came to WA and spoke in chapel back in 2003! He is a visionary and deeply personal friend to all and was a major help in our visit to this area of Zambia...we have never spent any real time in this region and were anxious to hear about and see the new work WV Zambia is starting in the Moyo community here...
Wednesday--we started off this day getting a presentation about the desperate needs of community in Moyo and the vision for areas of opportunity for response in the days an years ahead...major needs include a high school, clean water, health facilities, and help with food security...it is a group of communities where over half of the households are taking care of an orphan, the malaria rate is close to 70%, and 20% of the children under 5 are severely malnutritioned, and only 25% of households have adequate food throughout the year...it is clearly one of the poorest regions in a country classified in the bottom 10% in the Health and Development Index ratings...we made a journey in Land Cruisers back into this rural area often affected by drought and were deeply privileged to be part of an all community meeting head under the biggest tree in the village (sounds like Africa, doesn't it?) where World Vision announced to the people and leadership for the first time that they would begin a program of community development and child sponsorship beginning in October...they were claps and cheers from everyone who attended...in this area, the Chief (called His Highness) who is the regional leader for many of the different tribes present gave his presence and support to this step which is very important for its long term success...
We went up to a high plateau where the new high school is to be built and were shown the work that the people of the community regularly do getting the land and foundation and bricks set by hand from 4-9 am before getting back to their normal farming and community and home duties...this lack of a secondary school has been identified as the greatest need in the community by its own residents...it is fascinating in this region as many of the schools that function were built by missionaries in the 30's-50's but have been turned over to the government as Zambia has become independent...they are often dilapidated and do not serve to create a good learning environment...
To be honest, the educational needs as one single issue we have seen overwhelmed us...students sitting on stones outside to learn, 20 desks for 600 students, and a dropout rate of 95% when students finish basic school in the ninth grade (and most of them have to get married to survive at that point)...one of the more powerful experiences for us was visiting the "Dorms" where students who travel even to the basic school where we were at spend the week because it is too far to go home...they travel alone and must bring all the food they will eat or cook over an open fire for the next five days...and then they will walk home often several miles for the weekends...the dorms are an open area with blankets on a cement floor stacked closely next to each other and a bag and some clothes for each student is hung on a nail above them...there were about 50-60 boys and girls in separate dorms in an area the size of one of our bigger lodge rooms in Zambia...some of the boys were reading their Bibles and waved as we walked thru and the girls were soon singing and dancing with the girls in the female dorm...the contrast to our own educational experiences as students in America is just about too great to even make a comparison...you walk away feeling and thinking it can't continue to be this way...
The chief said some interesting things while speaking to us on this day...he talked about being a community that has been forgotten, and yet still mentioned that he believed they could make the journey from Egypt to Canaan in the future as He saw God's people offering help and hope in practical ways...it was a visit finished with of course a short soccer game with the whole community watching...Christy was the star of the show as the Africans continue to wonder at the play of our girls! And I got my WV friend Tony Frank to make his African debut on the pitch as well!
As we drove away, many of the conversations focused on what our response should be...and my prayer is that WA, Leyden, Cornerstone, and many, many others will be part of God's Kingdom activity in this part of the world in the days ahead...it is a powerful thing to see the need with your own eyes and hear the invitation to respond with your own ears...
After a late lunch where Caleb and Annalee has great visits with their sponsored children, we turned our bus toward Livingstone, our next stop on the journey...unfortunately, the bus didn't seem to want to go all that way and broke down about an hour into our journey...it turned into another Zambian experience featuring collecting wood to build a fire, starting it in non traditional ways, and sitting around a campfire after pushing the bus off the road while we waited for a replacement to come pick us up...our friend Fordson drove down and hung out with us till we were picked up and all in all, most of us would say it added a pretty wild and fun dimension to our trip...the stars in Zambia are beyond measure in the African wilderness and we were thankful for God's provision and protection as we rolled into our lodge in Livingstone later than expected on Wednesday night!
Thursday--after a few hours of sleep we headed out in chilly Livingstone to our Safari day! We crossed via boat to Botswana and headed to the Chobe Game Park, one of the best in the world...we took a cruise on the Chobe river to see crocidiles, hippos, and all kinds of birds and reptiles in their natural habitat, and after a great lunch at the safari lodge, we set out in vehicles on land to see many, many elephants, giraffes, warthogs, kudu, impala, and other animals...it was a beautiful day and the pictures should be spectacular...we had dinner Thursday night at our favorite pub in Livingstone and got a great night of sleep after a long and busy 36 hour stretch...
There is a great deal of tension when you move from a poverty-stricken village one day to a beautiful tourist area the next one...and yet that tension is what we as Americans have to struggle with and battle as we consider what it means to live in our world with the other world still in the front of our minds...
Friday--another early morning for us as we headed to one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World, Victoria Falls, which runs between Zambia and Zimbabwe...it was gorgeous, featured rainbows as the sun came up, and soaked us as we walked thru the massive amounts of spray that rise up from the bottom of the 400 foot drop...you are absolutely overwhelmed with the grandness of what our God has created, and the Zambians are so very proud of this piece of creation in their land! We also had a chance to shop in a real African market and are coming home with all sorts of fun things and African artifacts for you all (at least I hope you get something!)
In just an hour or so, we will head out for a final dinner here in Zambia and have a final extended team conversation about the moments that have touched us most deeply and the ideas and questions we are coming home with as to how this trip calls us to respond to what we have seen and experienced, and how are lives must be different as a result...your prayers are deeply appreciated for this final crucial dimension of the trip and for safety as we head to London tomorrow morning and to Chicago on Sunday...we are so very anxious to see you all and tell stories in the tradition of our Zambian friends...
We hear it is hot in Chicago...we are used to 75 and 50 with no clouds here!! I will try to send a few final reflective thoughts from London as a last blog...your comments and prayers have encouraged and blessed us more than you know!
With Love on the last Day in Zambia, CHIP
Tuesday--this was a day spent driving all the way from the Copper Belt in the northern part of Zambia down to the southern part of Zambia...at our lunch stop in Lusaka we got a personal thank you from the founder of World Bicycle Relief, FK Day, who had recently flown in from Chicago...the trip featured lots of sleeping, lots of conversations, lots of journal writing, and seeing much of the geography of this land...we arrived at Choma and had a late dinner with a great friend of ours named Fordson Kafukwe who is the Southern Region Director for WV Zambia and came to WA and spoke in chapel back in 2003! He is a visionary and deeply personal friend to all and was a major help in our visit to this area of Zambia...we have never spent any real time in this region and were anxious to hear about and see the new work WV Zambia is starting in the Moyo community here...
Wednesday--we started off this day getting a presentation about the desperate needs of community in Moyo and the vision for areas of opportunity for response in the days an years ahead...major needs include a high school, clean water, health facilities, and help with food security...it is a group of communities where over half of the households are taking care of an orphan, the malaria rate is close to 70%, and 20% of the children under 5 are severely malnutritioned, and only 25% of households have adequate food throughout the year...it is clearly one of the poorest regions in a country classified in the bottom 10% in the Health and Development Index ratings...we made a journey in Land Cruisers back into this rural area often affected by drought and were deeply privileged to be part of an all community meeting head under the biggest tree in the village (sounds like Africa, doesn't it?) where World Vision announced to the people and leadership for the first time that they would begin a program of community development and child sponsorship beginning in October...they were claps and cheers from everyone who attended...in this area, the Chief (called His Highness) who is the regional leader for many of the different tribes present gave his presence and support to this step which is very important for its long term success...
We went up to a high plateau where the new high school is to be built and were shown the work that the people of the community regularly do getting the land and foundation and bricks set by hand from 4-9 am before getting back to their normal farming and community and home duties...this lack of a secondary school has been identified as the greatest need in the community by its own residents...it is fascinating in this region as many of the schools that function were built by missionaries in the 30's-50's but have been turned over to the government as Zambia has become independent...they are often dilapidated and do not serve to create a good learning environment...
To be honest, the educational needs as one single issue we have seen overwhelmed us...students sitting on stones outside to learn, 20 desks for 600 students, and a dropout rate of 95% when students finish basic school in the ninth grade (and most of them have to get married to survive at that point)...one of the more powerful experiences for us was visiting the "Dorms" where students who travel even to the basic school where we were at spend the week because it is too far to go home...they travel alone and must bring all the food they will eat or cook over an open fire for the next five days...and then they will walk home often several miles for the weekends...the dorms are an open area with blankets on a cement floor stacked closely next to each other and a bag and some clothes for each student is hung on a nail above them...there were about 50-60 boys and girls in separate dorms in an area the size of one of our bigger lodge rooms in Zambia...some of the boys were reading their Bibles and waved as we walked thru and the girls were soon singing and dancing with the girls in the female dorm...the contrast to our own educational experiences as students in America is just about too great to even make a comparison...you walk away feeling and thinking it can't continue to be this way...
The chief said some interesting things while speaking to us on this day...he talked about being a community that has been forgotten, and yet still mentioned that he believed they could make the journey from Egypt to Canaan in the future as He saw God's people offering help and hope in practical ways...it was a visit finished with of course a short soccer game with the whole community watching...Christy was the star of the show as the Africans continue to wonder at the play of our girls! And I got my WV friend Tony Frank to make his African debut on the pitch as well!
As we drove away, many of the conversations focused on what our response should be...and my prayer is that WA, Leyden, Cornerstone, and many, many others will be part of God's Kingdom activity in this part of the world in the days ahead...it is a powerful thing to see the need with your own eyes and hear the invitation to respond with your own ears...
After a late lunch where Caleb and Annalee has great visits with their sponsored children, we turned our bus toward Livingstone, our next stop on the journey...unfortunately, the bus didn't seem to want to go all that way and broke down about an hour into our journey...it turned into another Zambian experience featuring collecting wood to build a fire, starting it in non traditional ways, and sitting around a campfire after pushing the bus off the road while we waited for a replacement to come pick us up...our friend Fordson drove down and hung out with us till we were picked up and all in all, most of us would say it added a pretty wild and fun dimension to our trip...the stars in Zambia are beyond measure in the African wilderness and we were thankful for God's provision and protection as we rolled into our lodge in Livingstone later than expected on Wednesday night!
Thursday--after a few hours of sleep we headed out in chilly Livingstone to our Safari day! We crossed via boat to Botswana and headed to the Chobe Game Park, one of the best in the world...we took a cruise on the Chobe river to see crocidiles, hippos, and all kinds of birds and reptiles in their natural habitat, and after a great lunch at the safari lodge, we set out in vehicles on land to see many, many elephants, giraffes, warthogs, kudu, impala, and other animals...it was a beautiful day and the pictures should be spectacular...we had dinner Thursday night at our favorite pub in Livingstone and got a great night of sleep after a long and busy 36 hour stretch...
There is a great deal of tension when you move from a poverty-stricken village one day to a beautiful tourist area the next one...and yet that tension is what we as Americans have to struggle with and battle as we consider what it means to live in our world with the other world still in the front of our minds...
Friday--another early morning for us as we headed to one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World, Victoria Falls, which runs between Zambia and Zimbabwe...it was gorgeous, featured rainbows as the sun came up, and soaked us as we walked thru the massive amounts of spray that rise up from the bottom of the 400 foot drop...you are absolutely overwhelmed with the grandness of what our God has created, and the Zambians are so very proud of this piece of creation in their land! We also had a chance to shop in a real African market and are coming home with all sorts of fun things and African artifacts for you all (at least I hope you get something!)
In just an hour or so, we will head out for a final dinner here in Zambia and have a final extended team conversation about the moments that have touched us most deeply and the ideas and questions we are coming home with as to how this trip calls us to respond to what we have seen and experienced, and how are lives must be different as a result...your prayers are deeply appreciated for this final crucial dimension of the trip and for safety as we head to London tomorrow morning and to Chicago on Sunday...we are so very anxious to see you all and tell stories in the tradition of our Zambian friends...
We hear it is hot in Chicago...we are used to 75 and 50 with no clouds here!! I will try to send a few final reflective thoughts from London as a last blog...your comments and prayers have encouraged and blessed us more than you know!
With Love on the last Day in Zambia, CHIP
Monday, June 22, 2009
Final Day in Zamtan ADP
You have to remind yourself that we just arrived here Friday night...you get in a rhythm of life and begin to connect with people and become familiar with certain communities, restaurants, and activities in Zambia...
Today is our last day in this community before heading to the southern part of Zambia early in the morning...today was busy, emotional, joyful, and sobering...all in 8 hours!
We started with a devotional time with the World Vision staff in their office where I shared part of one of the chapters from the book I have been writing entitled "All I Really Needed to Know in Life I Learned in Zambia" where I talk about many things I have learned from the relationships developed and time spent in this place quite different than my home...I read a section from I Corinthians 13 and talked about the remarkable exchange of love we have seen here and how the love that comes from God truly does lead us to endure, to believe, to hope, and to bear all things...and I showed the staff our Ornage Bag video Matt Hockett made after distributing school supplies at the school last summer...the staff here love to see the videos made after our trips...
Tony and Tom and I had a chance to meet with the Head of Education for this area of the country for Zambia for a few minutes...he is incredibly grateful and excited about the impact he is seeing being made at Kakolo School and is giving them more staff and resources as a result of their progress...I love the chance to engage with the govt leaders who are so pleased with the work of the church and NGO's like World Vision in helping them to achieve their goals of improving education for all students in Zambia...
We then had a chance to participate in a feeding program sponsored by World Vision but run as a small business by several women in the community...It is called HEPS, whoch stands for High Energy Protein Supplement...we made a couple batches of this food by measuring out amounts and stirring them in a big barrel...the supplement is cooked over a fire and becomes a porridge for about 50 pre-school children each morning...they are also each given a hard boiled egg...our students passed out and helped feed the children, who readily polished off the contents of the bowl...for many of these children, it can regularly be the only real meal of the day and one worker told me that some students don't want to go to first grade because they will not get the meal anymore...
We then went out with caregivers, who focus in this area on taking care of about 50 orphaned and vulnerable children and their families each month...my home visit was with a grandmother taking care of her own kids and her children's children...this is in many ways the story of sub-Saharan Africa...a grandma caring for her own kids and those of her children, who have died from the AIDS pandemic...this dear lady herself is HIV-positive but due to the availablity of ARV's from the clinic WA supported, she is now feeling better after having been unable to get out of her home...I have read this story hundreds of times and seen it several myself, but today it just got to me again...life doesn't look the way it should here...this disease has torn apart families and threatened the quality and length of life for so many...I met up with some of my neighbor's sponsored girls in the community and one of them had dropped out of school for a while because her grandmother had been taken to the hospital by World Vision staff...she is the only adult living in their family and you are left wondering what will happen if she is gone to this precious little 8 year old girl...the questions are almost too big to handle, but they are personal questions you have to answer and not just choose to not hear...
We then visited the beautiful and state of the art medical clinic in Zamtan that specializes in stopping the transmission of HIV from moms to their unborn children...it was built with the help of some amazing donor friends from Chicago (we had dinner with them last night) and a few years ago WA students provided over $100,000 to help build a three room maternity wing where close to 300 babies have now been born...it is truly an amazing blessing for the whole region and also provides testing, count readings, and medicines for people dealing with HIV...a nurse giving us the tour was called to help with a delivery while we were there (we didn't watch that part!) and another patient was delivered for treatment on a World Bicycle Relief bike...and we took a picture of the Mauriello twins with the 2 year old twins the Dominguez family sponsors in Zambia!
As we drove up to Kakolo Village for the final time, hundreds of school children in their uniforms with orange school bags on their backs were lined up in straight rows outside the school and began frantically waving as they saw our bus coming down the road...it is one of those sights that you don't have words to describe...as usual, I turn into a puddle as I think about the fact that when I first saw this place, nothing was here...no finished school, no students, no soccer field, no hydraulic pump well, no electricity, no maternity clinic...The students sang their beautiful songs and the headmaster read a letter from the Zambian government to us after we prayed for the families of children who had been struck by lightning and died during the rainy season...We had a chance to tell the student body how much we believe in them and how excited we are for their future...each class was doing something special we could see or do with them...I did grammar with first graders and math with third graders while dancing, singing, and have them recite Philippians 4:13 to me...
We presented the headmaster with jerseys and school supplies in his office, and he told me he simply doesn't have the words to express his thanks for what God has done in this place thru the generosity of a generation of WA students...he is so proud of his school and now has 1052 students registered as the school continues to attract new students who were unable to get an education before...we even talked about a library and computers someday soon...Caleb and I then got a chance to lay a few bricks on the walls being built for the expansion that will triple the school size and give teachers a place to live in the community...we dug a hole last year and next year two new grades will be added as the school grows...and we also saw a maternity wing funded by WA that will allow children to be born right in the village rather than making a 7-8 mile walk during labor to the PMTCT clinic in Zamtan...
We listened to the students sing the Zambian national anthem before we started to leave...there were hundreds of hugs, high fives, fist bumps, and words of I LOVE YOU shared between children and our team as we left this village...the tears shed by several are just a reflection of the relationships God has invited us into...how remarkable to be deeply changed in a couple days by these people and this experience...
For me personally, it was a day of reflection in many ways...as I leave Wheaton Academy, I have an email and cell phone and facebook list of so many friends...so many students are now my friends and might remember a phrase or two I once said...and along with their stories, my legacy at WA is inextricably tied to the scene I saw when driving up to a rural Zambian school this afternoon...it is one I would have never imagined, but one I think is just about perfect...the chance to travel here with my students and colleagues and to watch together what God has done and will do, Lord willing, is something so unexpected, so profound, and so much about the Kingdom of God invading our hearts and a nation and people unknown by much of the world...with great confidence, my friends in Kakolo said we can't wait to see you again soon...somehow, I think they know better than me what God might have in store...
Overwhelmed by the love of God at the end of this day along with our crew here in Kitwe, CHIP
p.s. I will most likely not be able to blog for a few days...the community we are visiting next is a little more remote...we will spend tomorrow traveling and then hook up on Wednesday with my closest friend in Zambia who leads World Vision's work in the southern part of Zambia...
Today is our last day in this community before heading to the southern part of Zambia early in the morning...today was busy, emotional, joyful, and sobering...all in 8 hours!
We started with a devotional time with the World Vision staff in their office where I shared part of one of the chapters from the book I have been writing entitled "All I Really Needed to Know in Life I Learned in Zambia" where I talk about many things I have learned from the relationships developed and time spent in this place quite different than my home...I read a section from I Corinthians 13 and talked about the remarkable exchange of love we have seen here and how the love that comes from God truly does lead us to endure, to believe, to hope, and to bear all things...and I showed the staff our Ornage Bag video Matt Hockett made after distributing school supplies at the school last summer...the staff here love to see the videos made after our trips...
Tony and Tom and I had a chance to meet with the Head of Education for this area of the country for Zambia for a few minutes...he is incredibly grateful and excited about the impact he is seeing being made at Kakolo School and is giving them more staff and resources as a result of their progress...I love the chance to engage with the govt leaders who are so pleased with the work of the church and NGO's like World Vision in helping them to achieve their goals of improving education for all students in Zambia...
We then had a chance to participate in a feeding program sponsored by World Vision but run as a small business by several women in the community...It is called HEPS, whoch stands for High Energy Protein Supplement...we made a couple batches of this food by measuring out amounts and stirring them in a big barrel...the supplement is cooked over a fire and becomes a porridge for about 50 pre-school children each morning...they are also each given a hard boiled egg...our students passed out and helped feed the children, who readily polished off the contents of the bowl...for many of these children, it can regularly be the only real meal of the day and one worker told me that some students don't want to go to first grade because they will not get the meal anymore...
We then went out with caregivers, who focus in this area on taking care of about 50 orphaned and vulnerable children and their families each month...my home visit was with a grandmother taking care of her own kids and her children's children...this is in many ways the story of sub-Saharan Africa...a grandma caring for her own kids and those of her children, who have died from the AIDS pandemic...this dear lady herself is HIV-positive but due to the availablity of ARV's from the clinic WA supported, she is now feeling better after having been unable to get out of her home...I have read this story hundreds of times and seen it several myself, but today it just got to me again...life doesn't look the way it should here...this disease has torn apart families and threatened the quality and length of life for so many...I met up with some of my neighbor's sponsored girls in the community and one of them had dropped out of school for a while because her grandmother had been taken to the hospital by World Vision staff...she is the only adult living in their family and you are left wondering what will happen if she is gone to this precious little 8 year old girl...the questions are almost too big to handle, but they are personal questions you have to answer and not just choose to not hear...
We then visited the beautiful and state of the art medical clinic in Zamtan that specializes in stopping the transmission of HIV from moms to their unborn children...it was built with the help of some amazing donor friends from Chicago (we had dinner with them last night) and a few years ago WA students provided over $100,000 to help build a three room maternity wing where close to 300 babies have now been born...it is truly an amazing blessing for the whole region and also provides testing, count readings, and medicines for people dealing with HIV...a nurse giving us the tour was called to help with a delivery while we were there (we didn't watch that part!) and another patient was delivered for treatment on a World Bicycle Relief bike...and we took a picture of the Mauriello twins with the 2 year old twins the Dominguez family sponsors in Zambia!
As we drove up to Kakolo Village for the final time, hundreds of school children in their uniforms with orange school bags on their backs were lined up in straight rows outside the school and began frantically waving as they saw our bus coming down the road...it is one of those sights that you don't have words to describe...as usual, I turn into a puddle as I think about the fact that when I first saw this place, nothing was here...no finished school, no students, no soccer field, no hydraulic pump well, no electricity, no maternity clinic...The students sang their beautiful songs and the headmaster read a letter from the Zambian government to us after we prayed for the families of children who had been struck by lightning and died during the rainy season...We had a chance to tell the student body how much we believe in them and how excited we are for their future...each class was doing something special we could see or do with them...I did grammar with first graders and math with third graders while dancing, singing, and have them recite Philippians 4:13 to me...
We presented the headmaster with jerseys and school supplies in his office, and he told me he simply doesn't have the words to express his thanks for what God has done in this place thru the generosity of a generation of WA students...he is so proud of his school and now has 1052 students registered as the school continues to attract new students who were unable to get an education before...we even talked about a library and computers someday soon...Caleb and I then got a chance to lay a few bricks on the walls being built for the expansion that will triple the school size and give teachers a place to live in the community...we dug a hole last year and next year two new grades will be added as the school grows...and we also saw a maternity wing funded by WA that will allow children to be born right in the village rather than making a 7-8 mile walk during labor to the PMTCT clinic in Zamtan...
We listened to the students sing the Zambian national anthem before we started to leave...there were hundreds of hugs, high fives, fist bumps, and words of I LOVE YOU shared between children and our team as we left this village...the tears shed by several are just a reflection of the relationships God has invited us into...how remarkable to be deeply changed in a couple days by these people and this experience...
For me personally, it was a day of reflection in many ways...as I leave Wheaton Academy, I have an email and cell phone and facebook list of so many friends...so many students are now my friends and might remember a phrase or two I once said...and along with their stories, my legacy at WA is inextricably tied to the scene I saw when driving up to a rural Zambian school this afternoon...it is one I would have never imagined, but one I think is just about perfect...the chance to travel here with my students and colleagues and to watch together what God has done and will do, Lord willing, is something so unexpected, so profound, and so much about the Kingdom of God invading our hearts and a nation and people unknown by much of the world...with great confidence, my friends in Kakolo said we can't wait to see you again soon...somehow, I think they know better than me what God might have in store...
Overwhelmed by the love of God at the end of this day along with our crew here in Kitwe, CHIP
p.s. I will most likely not be able to blog for a few days...the community we are visiting next is a little more remote...we will spend tomorrow traveling and then hook up on Wednesday with my closest friend in Zambia who leads World Vision's work in the southern part of Zambia...
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Sunday in Zambia
In Zambia, Sunday is a day of rest and worship for the most part...we had a chance to do some of both while also spending time in the village...we went to a community wide church service in a spot outside in Kakolo...the service featured beautiful singing by an African student choir in robes and we had a chance to both sing and dance as we participated as well...they even sang Come Thou Fount of Every Blesing in bemba, their native tongue this morning...there is an immense reverence towards God in this nation as I think so many people see God daily meet their immediate needs, often in very tangible and surprising ways...as they sing and pray, there is so clearly an intensity in the worship and words spoken and sung...one of the local pastors spoke from Psalm 100 and talked about the reality of the unity of the body of Christ which we celebrated together in this worship service...His words spoke to how only God could have brought us together and how deeply they valued our relationship...His reminder to thank God often for all the good things He gives us carries great meaning in a place where from our perspective they might on the surface level need so much more to feel content...
Playing baseball on Father's Day in Zambia was something I was looking forward to all week...baseball is something I have done and loved all my life, and it is very much connected to my dad who played baseball in college like I did...and it is being passed on to my little guy Trey who watches baseball highlights on my phone every morning when he wakes up...so when one of my good friends and WA grads brought baseball to Zambia, it became one of my favorite moments on the trip to play the game I grew up loving with new friends who just embraced it a few years ago in a culture that had never seen it before...I am like a kid in the proverbial candy store standing on that soccer field at shortstop in an African village...
Nevertheless, evidently we taught the Zambians too well as the Americans went down in the game featuring their country's pasttime 21-20...lots of runs on both sides, and a grand slam from the old guy and a homer from a soccer playing girl was just not enough! Looks like the Americans will not produce a win in their athletic endeavors in Zambia this year, but I think we are all just fine with that...
ELEVEN Random Observations after the first week of our trip...
*Small kids are often hurting the worst in these communities, as being small denies you food and other things...many stomachs are distended from malnutrition in the children under 5 as you walk the dusty roads of the village setting...
*The village community always thinks we'll keep coming back...they just assume our friendship will continue because it is past the point of jsut surprise visits now...I'm not sure how to tell them I am leaving WA and that a group from WA most likely will never come again...part of the pain and questions when you enter into relationships, even with people in Africa...
*We are besieged by children...they literally pounce on your students when they see the bus coming...some run out a mile or so to welcome us and run following the bus back to the village...your students are pouring out the love of Jesus to His children seeking and drinking in that love from them...
*Power of music is real...there is such a bond instantly as we sing and chant and dance together...hundreds of children were singing and clapping a song taught to them by a student just a few minutes ago as we drove away this afternoon...
*Belief in a real and different future is real in this place...they can and do dream of doing significant and splendid things with their lives, just like we do...and perhaps some of these new buildings and programs can stoke that fire for the future...
*There is a joy and amazement in being part of other cultures...you learn so much, evaluate your own culture, and feel so much richer in how you can think and feel and understand after being immersed, even for a few days, in a dramatically different setting...
*There is great reward in serving the poor...the benefits often far outweigh any financial and time and personal sacrifices...we will come away filled up in our spirits after our time with those at the most risk in our world today...
*The ability to give and receive love is so deeply ingrained in us...it is so evident when we are asked to do so and gladly respond here...oh, how we want to tap into and release that love when we come home...
*Our resources can change life dramatically here...I still am amazed at the change the Zambia Project has and will brought to this community, in comparison to others we see, and in how they talk about the future...
*This is a country filled with beautiful and talented people, much like ours...it's just that so few of them have the chance to be recognized and highlighted and rewarded in ways like our culture and media does...
*God is at work in and through your students...I often wish you could see what they do and hear what they say on these trips...they believe God is at work here and they are excited to join Him in this place and those He invites them to in the days ahead...
We are off to the best pizza place in Kitwe for dinner and a good night's rest before our final day in this area tomorrow...Happy Father's Day from us all!
CHIP
Playing baseball on Father's Day in Zambia was something I was looking forward to all week...baseball is something I have done and loved all my life, and it is very much connected to my dad who played baseball in college like I did...and it is being passed on to my little guy Trey who watches baseball highlights on my phone every morning when he wakes up...so when one of my good friends and WA grads brought baseball to Zambia, it became one of my favorite moments on the trip to play the game I grew up loving with new friends who just embraced it a few years ago in a culture that had never seen it before...I am like a kid in the proverbial candy store standing on that soccer field at shortstop in an African village...
Nevertheless, evidently we taught the Zambians too well as the Americans went down in the game featuring their country's pasttime 21-20...lots of runs on both sides, and a grand slam from the old guy and a homer from a soccer playing girl was just not enough! Looks like the Americans will not produce a win in their athletic endeavors in Zambia this year, but I think we are all just fine with that...
ELEVEN Random Observations after the first week of our trip...
*Small kids are often hurting the worst in these communities, as being small denies you food and other things...many stomachs are distended from malnutrition in the children under 5 as you walk the dusty roads of the village setting...
*The village community always thinks we'll keep coming back...they just assume our friendship will continue because it is past the point of jsut surprise visits now...I'm not sure how to tell them I am leaving WA and that a group from WA most likely will never come again...part of the pain and questions when you enter into relationships, even with people in Africa...
*We are besieged by children...they literally pounce on your students when they see the bus coming...some run out a mile or so to welcome us and run following the bus back to the village...your students are pouring out the love of Jesus to His children seeking and drinking in that love from them...
*Power of music is real...there is such a bond instantly as we sing and chant and dance together...hundreds of children were singing and clapping a song taught to them by a student just a few minutes ago as we drove away this afternoon...
*Belief in a real and different future is real in this place...they can and do dream of doing significant and splendid things with their lives, just like we do...and perhaps some of these new buildings and programs can stoke that fire for the future...
*There is a joy and amazement in being part of other cultures...you learn so much, evaluate your own culture, and feel so much richer in how you can think and feel and understand after being immersed, even for a few days, in a dramatically different setting...
*There is great reward in serving the poor...the benefits often far outweigh any financial and time and personal sacrifices...we will come away filled up in our spirits after our time with those at the most risk in our world today...
*The ability to give and receive love is so deeply ingrained in us...it is so evident when we are asked to do so and gladly respond here...oh, how we want to tap into and release that love when we come home...
*Our resources can change life dramatically here...I still am amazed at the change the Zambia Project has and will brought to this community, in comparison to others we see, and in how they talk about the future...
*This is a country filled with beautiful and talented people, much like ours...it's just that so few of them have the chance to be recognized and highlighted and rewarded in ways like our culture and media does...
*God is at work in and through your students...I often wish you could see what they do and hear what they say on these trips...they believe God is at work here and they are excited to join Him in this place and those He invites them to in the days ahead...
We are off to the best pizza place in Kitwe for dinner and a good night's rest before our final day in this area tomorrow...Happy Father's Day from us all!
CHIP
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Day #1 in Kakolo Village
I still remember the first time five years ago I drove down this dirt road and saw the huts and brick homes that make up Kakolo Village, the community which sees Wheaton Academy and its students and teachers as its friends, its brothers and sisters, and so much more now in 2009...
This time when we drove in children of all ages came running out of their huts and did the now infamous chase of the bus into the center of the village where we stop...one boy named John who I gave a soccer ball to almost 4 years ago yelled out Chips Harbor, which one of the community leaders has dubbed me, and the students laughed and were blown away by the warmth and energy of the reception we receive...
We immediately went into a beautiful building called the GOOD NEWS CLUB funded by funds raised during the 2007 school year at WA which we officially opened as the place in the village where all the children from all the churches can come to hear about the person and love of Jesus, and study and learn the Scriptures...several children read from their Bibles and recited memorized verses for us and we offered great hopes for how God would be at work in this place in the lives of the next generation of Zambia...
We also had the chance to help commission a new church in the village with a beautiful roof (they are a huge deal here, especially during the rainy season...) and listened to a spectacular worship choir of Zambian students...many of the older members of the community shed tears of joy at how the faith would be passed on in this village community...
As a gift we received a live dove, a symbol here of new life from Scripture and of the promise of the future...gifts of animals are common and incredibly meaningful as they are some of the most precious possessions a family may have...we gave this gift later to a World Vision staff lady named Maggie who has recently lost her husband to AIDS and is herself living with HIV daily...
We also had a chance to visit two microfinace clients in the village who run small shops from their loans given by World Vision's HARMOS division and they are now able to support their families and create economic development in the village setting...it is a strategy that so deeply empowers the poor and lets them become self sustaining and proud of what they can do as business owners...
I also had a chance to spend time with Monica, a 5th grade girl who our family sponsors...for most of the millions of sponsors, it isn't possible or likely to meet your child, but this is my third visit with my quiet and bright Zambian friend...I love delivering gifts from my kids to her and now will pray for her as her mom is away from their family taking care of her sister who is very ill...
And finally today, we played the long awaited soccer match at Kakolo Village..they built a field for us to play on together as a thank you to our school community 2 years ago, and these matches are most definitely some of the most prized moments in my life...the community turns out in great numbers, a man does play by play on a megaphone, and they always know if we have won or lost the last time we played...this sport has drawn us together in a remarkable way and given us a common love that allows us to build friendships from that place...unfortunately, just like the Zambian national team today, we fell 2-0 to a better team!! Maybe we will do better when we play baseball tomorrow, which was brough to the community by a former WA student who lived in the village a couple summers ago and is now known affectionately as the Father of Baseball in Zambia...
This village is a very special place...a place I love deeply and a place that always loves us back...every time you step off the bus and walk anywhere, you always have children holding both hands and often have others trying to climb onto another limb or two as well...the love of God connects us physically and spiritually despite coming from such different homes and life stories...we can't wait to worship in a community wide church service tomorrow morning outside in the beautiful African sun...we hope your Sunday will be brightened as you pray for us and think of us dancing and singing and listening to God speak on the other side of the world...
Every student and team member sends their greetings and love back to you...CHIP
This time when we drove in children of all ages came running out of their huts and did the now infamous chase of the bus into the center of the village where we stop...one boy named John who I gave a soccer ball to almost 4 years ago yelled out Chips Harbor, which one of the community leaders has dubbed me, and the students laughed and were blown away by the warmth and energy of the reception we receive...
We immediately went into a beautiful building called the GOOD NEWS CLUB funded by funds raised during the 2007 school year at WA which we officially opened as the place in the village where all the children from all the churches can come to hear about the person and love of Jesus, and study and learn the Scriptures...several children read from their Bibles and recited memorized verses for us and we offered great hopes for how God would be at work in this place in the lives of the next generation of Zambia...
We also had the chance to help commission a new church in the village with a beautiful roof (they are a huge deal here, especially during the rainy season...) and listened to a spectacular worship choir of Zambian students...many of the older members of the community shed tears of joy at how the faith would be passed on in this village community...
As a gift we received a live dove, a symbol here of new life from Scripture and of the promise of the future...gifts of animals are common and incredibly meaningful as they are some of the most precious possessions a family may have...we gave this gift later to a World Vision staff lady named Maggie who has recently lost her husband to AIDS and is herself living with HIV daily...
We also had a chance to visit two microfinace clients in the village who run small shops from their loans given by World Vision's HARMOS division and they are now able to support their families and create economic development in the village setting...it is a strategy that so deeply empowers the poor and lets them become self sustaining and proud of what they can do as business owners...
I also had a chance to spend time with Monica, a 5th grade girl who our family sponsors...for most of the millions of sponsors, it isn't possible or likely to meet your child, but this is my third visit with my quiet and bright Zambian friend...I love delivering gifts from my kids to her and now will pray for her as her mom is away from their family taking care of her sister who is very ill...
And finally today, we played the long awaited soccer match at Kakolo Village..they built a field for us to play on together as a thank you to our school community 2 years ago, and these matches are most definitely some of the most prized moments in my life...the community turns out in great numbers, a man does play by play on a megaphone, and they always know if we have won or lost the last time we played...this sport has drawn us together in a remarkable way and given us a common love that allows us to build friendships from that place...unfortunately, just like the Zambian national team today, we fell 2-0 to a better team!! Maybe we will do better when we play baseball tomorrow, which was brough to the community by a former WA student who lived in the village a couple summers ago and is now known affectionately as the Father of Baseball in Zambia...
This village is a very special place...a place I love deeply and a place that always loves us back...every time you step off the bus and walk anywhere, you always have children holding both hands and often have others trying to climb onto another limb or two as well...the love of God connects us physically and spiritually despite coming from such different homes and life stories...we can't wait to worship in a community wide church service tomorrow morning outside in the beautiful African sun...we hope your Sunday will be brightened as you pray for us and think of us dancing and singing and listening to God speak on the other side of the world...
Every student and team member sends their greetings and love back to you...CHIP
Friday, June 19, 2009
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
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
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Bikes, Bikes, Bikes
We are just back in town tonight after a day spent participating in the first World Bicycle Relief distrbution of bikes to students who will need them for transportation to attend school both now and in the future in zambia...we distributed 100 bikes to students and teachers at a primary school in Chongwe...there was a big celebration and ceremony with the whole school and community to mark this event...the high school students would attend after finishing 9th grade is over 12 miles away, making it basically impossible for them to attend without transportation...some students live in shacks by themselves away from their families and on their own in every way currently to continue their education...
The ceremony featured dancing and skits and poems and thank yous from the students and parents in the community, and our team sang several verses we created to fit the context of He's Got the Whole World in His Hands and a poem a few of the guys wrote entitled an Ode to Bikes...
All of the students spent a couple hours hanging out and being hung on by hundreds of children...playing duck duck goose, follow the leader, and hearing the stories of people in this village area...I am always amazed by the immediate connection created between students from Chicago and the children of Zambia...lots of joy is so present...and I was reminded today of how a rather small gift our students provided from many students in Zambia will have dramatic life-long implications for their future, theie current families, and the next generations of Zambians as they are able to receive the gift of education...
We spent a great time sharing together as a team about what our hopes were for this trip (after an African dinner complete with the chance to watch and dance with a real life Zambian dance group!) and I was so blessed by the real desire so many have to be so open to God's voice and leading here in a place far from our known culture and lives...thanks for your prayers that God's Spirit will be moving thru the experiences we encounter...we closed last night thinking about Genesis 1 and the incredible implications of the reality that each person and each life we know at home and will see in Zambia is made in the image of God and bears His love and character...that truth causes us to care so deeply about the lives we see as we drive thru this land and meet in all the places we go...
We are headed out to dinner in Lusaka and then will be spending our day tomorrow in a community seeing a school, platying soccer, and going out with caregivers who are caring for those suffering with AIDS in villages here before heading out to Kakolo Village on Friday...
We had a wonderful day today and I love watching students grow, embrace people here, and be able to participate in life changing experiences...so much fun to see first hand what many WA students made possible this past school year...
We Love You and Miss You...CHIP
The ceremony featured dancing and skits and poems and thank yous from the students and parents in the community, and our team sang several verses we created to fit the context of He's Got the Whole World in His Hands and a poem a few of the guys wrote entitled an Ode to Bikes...
All of the students spent a couple hours hanging out and being hung on by hundreds of children...playing duck duck goose, follow the leader, and hearing the stories of people in this village area...I am always amazed by the immediate connection created between students from Chicago and the children of Zambia...lots of joy is so present...and I was reminded today of how a rather small gift our students provided from many students in Zambia will have dramatic life-long implications for their future, theie current families, and the next generations of Zambians as they are able to receive the gift of education...
We spent a great time sharing together as a team about what our hopes were for this trip (after an African dinner complete with the chance to watch and dance with a real life Zambian dance group!) and I was so blessed by the real desire so many have to be so open to God's voice and leading here in a place far from our known culture and lives...thanks for your prayers that God's Spirit will be moving thru the experiences we encounter...we closed last night thinking about Genesis 1 and the incredible implications of the reality that each person and each life we know at home and will see in Zambia is made in the image of God and bears His love and character...that truth causes us to care so deeply about the lives we see as we drive thru this land and meet in all the places we go...
We are headed out to dinner in Lusaka and then will be spending our day tomorrow in a community seeing a school, platying soccer, and going out with caregivers who are caring for those suffering with AIDS in villages here before heading out to Kakolo Village on Friday...
We had a wonderful day today and I love watching students grow, embrace people here, and be able to participate in life changing experiences...so much fun to see first hand what many WA students made possible this past school year...
We Love You and Miss You...CHIP
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Hello from Lusaka
We arrived early this AM and are flat out exhausted...we got settled into our very authentic African accomodations at out lodge and then Tony Frank and I had lunch with the President of WV Zambia...great guy who is a huge fan of Wheaton Academy...we were talking about an internship program for college students from the States...the rest of the group got some pizza and burgers at the main strip mall in Zambia and then we all got afternoon briefings on WV Zambia (about 600 people working full time touching almost 3 million lives here in Zambia), RAPIDS (over 18,000 caregivers who go out and care for those suffering from AIDS), HARMOS (microfinance loans to clients) and WORLD BICYCLE RELIEF...the head of the Rapids program challenged us all to unwrap the gift we will receive during our time here and to let this trip reorder the way we look at our lives and faith and world...
Tomorrow AM we drive out to the school site for the big bike distribution event...should be a big deal and very fun...World Bicycle Relief has several employees here and can't wait to kick off this distribution of 50,000 bikes to help with making education possible for students thru high school...
It is always good to see many friends at WV Zambia and the weather is gorgeous this time of year...the Zambian people are so welcoming to our teams...
The students are excited to be here and we were all pretty mesmerized walking off the plane onto Zambia soil after lots of prep and such a long travel experience...
Off to dinner and a conversation about the image of God and our reasons for coming on this trip before an early bedtime...pray for sound sleep tonight!!
With Gratitude and Excitement to be Here,
CHIP
Tomorrow AM we drive out to the school site for the big bike distribution event...should be a big deal and very fun...World Bicycle Relief has several employees here and can't wait to kick off this distribution of 50,000 bikes to help with making education possible for students thru high school...
It is always good to see many friends at WV Zambia and the weather is gorgeous this time of year...the Zambian people are so welcoming to our teams...
The students are excited to be here and we were all pretty mesmerized walking off the plane onto Zambia soil after lots of prep and such a long travel experience...
Off to dinner and a conversation about the image of God and our reasons for coming on this trip before an early bedtime...pray for sound sleep tonight!!
With Gratitude and Excitement to be Here,
CHIP
Monday, June 15, 2009
Hello from Heathrow
Hi from London...in about 30 minutes we will board our flight for Lusaka...we had a fun day touring London for about 3 hours after gathering Lauren and Allie from their flights...a sunny day here in England and we saw all the sites thanks to a great tour guide named Suki who took great care of us...hopefully we will all sleep tonight on the 10 hour flight to Lusaka and we will be ready for Day #1 in Zambia...all are doing well and tomorrow we will we getting briefings at World Vision Zambia headquarters and with RAPIDS, an incredible program focusing on care and prevention specifically dealing with HIV/AIDS in Zambia through a major grant from the US govt's PEPFAR program...it is an amazing program that WV Zambia is the lead group on in Zambia...they support and train caregivers who care for people suffering with AIDS, do prevention education work, and help get people access to anti-retro viral medicines that allow people who are HIV-positive to live long and healthy lives...and Wednesday will be a big day with our bike distribution to students in the Chongwe school community in partnership with World Bicycle Relief and the Zambian govt...it is always fun to see in person the impact resources raised by students during the year truly have on the ground in Africa...we will participate in the ceremony along with the African students...can't wait, as there is nothing like celebrating in Zambia at what God has brought about! Hope all is well in Chicago and many, many hellos from your kids here! I most likely will not be able to blog the next few days as our guest house doesn't have internet access...I will be writing down notes and look forward to sharing all the details later this week! OK, it is time to board...here we go...
With Love for the Group...CHIP
With Love for the Group...CHIP
Sunday, June 14, 2009
PRAYERS FOR THE TRIP OF A LIFETIME
Dear Friends and Family and Parents/Relatives of 2009 Zambia Trip members…writing from the food cafe at OHare...
In a couple hours we will be heading out over the Atlantic Ocean on our way to Zambia...this is my 5th visit to Zambia and I'm always remarkably excited and more than ready to go back to a place that holds a big chunk of my heart...this year's trip comes at a time of quick and profound life change for me and my family...and in the midst of all that the past 2 months have brought and the next 2 months will bring, a constant source of strength and courage and a strange security for my life has been a place on the other side of the world...no one understands more what it is like to deal with pain and questions and fears and new things, and in the midst of everything rises up with hope in the power and presence of the living God than the people of sub-Saharan Africa...so in many ways this June I don't only want to go to Africa, I need to go to Africa...and so do many of those traveling with me...for we get to travel with amazing fellow students and friends as we take a radical faith journey together and the people of Zambia offer joy and empathy and ministry to all of us in a way that only God could have designed for a group of folks from the suburbs of Chicago...
I always deeply feel like I am going on behalf of so many of you to meet some amazing Zambian folks and to discover what God continues to do and what still needs to be done in the midst of the AIDS pandemic that is ravaging southern Africa…we will help distribute the first set of bikes to students who will use them to be able to attend further schooling which will literally change their lives and the future generations of their family and community...we will have dedication ceremonies at a new ministry center that is telling the children of this area how much Jesus loves them, seeing the new water tank that will supply clean water for the children of Kakolo Village as they grow up, and at the future site of a schoolhouse addition that is truly the completion of answered prayers and dreams…we will see students in a schoolhouse learning and growing as they seek to create an incredible future for themselves and the next generation of Zambians…we will visit a medical facility that gives life to the sick and life without AIDS to those being born...we will play soccer matches and hold clinics for children along with a baseball game as we use sports to help bring change in a community…we will meet many of our sponsored children who we have only known via letters and pictures…we will participate in worship and dance and music and discussions as we celebrate and talk about life and faith in America and Zambia with other students…and we will get to work alongside and get to know and become brothers and sisters with those on the frontlines of God’s Work in Africa…and we are constantly seeking a new vision/project for the next school year where we can continue to help bring God’s Kingdom work to earth…we will be traveling all over Zambia and we will be involved in many, many projects and conversations with the World Vision Zambia staff God is using to meet the needs of so many impacted by poverty and disease in this generation…we will even see a place where there is a desperate need to begin the work of holistic transformational development in a community trying to deal with the consequences of absolute poverty...Our team is absolutely thrilled God has given this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to us…I expect God to change the lives of 18 students and adults and to break my own heart all over again as I am going to see how He wants me to continue to be His advocate for the people and the church in this nation and the continent of Africa…
As we head off to Africa in a few hours, here's a prayer update I want to offer to you...we covet your prayers as we seek to have a transformational life experience together with our dear brothers and sisters in Africa...I'll be blogging from Zambia several times over the next 2 weeks...…here are ten specific prayer needs you can pray for us:
1.Safety and health in our lengthy travels to and back from and around Zambia over the next 14 days
2.A good working out of schedule and administrative details as we attempt to see and be part of many different experiences in a short time period
3.Ability to connect with and love and learn from our Zambian brothers and sisters
4.The continued impact of the Kakolo Village schoolhouse which is being used by hundreds and hundreds of students in this community, and the further expansion of this school to serve the needs of children through grade 9
5.The work being done to save and extend lives and prevent the spread of the HIV virus through the new medical clinic and maternity ward in the Zamtan community
6.A deep sense of community and growth in our team as we seek to discuss and mull over the experiences and resulting questions we will encounter...we are excited to build new friendships with each other and as students from WA and Leyden high schools...
7.A fresh vision for future projects and personal involvement in the work God is doing in Zambia and other nations in Africa and around the world
8.A greater love for Christ and a heart that beats and cares and loves the poor and oppressed and sick people in our world
9.Opportunities to pray for/with and encourage believers and churches and the World Vision staff in Zambia as they share the Gospel in word and deed with the children and adults of their communities
10.Ability to write and video and receive stories and learnings that we can then take and use as powerful resources in being advocates and leaders when we return home
We can’t wait to return and give you the stories of our trip along with some photos and videos we will have taken…once again, thank you for being part of God’s grand vision in Zambia…your overwhelming generosity and partnership is truly a remarkable blessing in my life…I thank God for your friendship, gifts of love, and your prayers…
Together in His Work, CHIP
In a couple hours we will be heading out over the Atlantic Ocean on our way to Zambia...this is my 5th visit to Zambia and I'm always remarkably excited and more than ready to go back to a place that holds a big chunk of my heart...this year's trip comes at a time of quick and profound life change for me and my family...and in the midst of all that the past 2 months have brought and the next 2 months will bring, a constant source of strength and courage and a strange security for my life has been a place on the other side of the world...no one understands more what it is like to deal with pain and questions and fears and new things, and in the midst of everything rises up with hope in the power and presence of the living God than the people of sub-Saharan Africa...so in many ways this June I don't only want to go to Africa, I need to go to Africa...and so do many of those traveling with me...for we get to travel with amazing fellow students and friends as we take a radical faith journey together and the people of Zambia offer joy and empathy and ministry to all of us in a way that only God could have designed for a group of folks from the suburbs of Chicago...
I always deeply feel like I am going on behalf of so many of you to meet some amazing Zambian folks and to discover what God continues to do and what still needs to be done in the midst of the AIDS pandemic that is ravaging southern Africa…we will help distribute the first set of bikes to students who will use them to be able to attend further schooling which will literally change their lives and the future generations of their family and community...we will have dedication ceremonies at a new ministry center that is telling the children of this area how much Jesus loves them, seeing the new water tank that will supply clean water for the children of Kakolo Village as they grow up, and at the future site of a schoolhouse addition that is truly the completion of answered prayers and dreams…we will see students in a schoolhouse learning and growing as they seek to create an incredible future for themselves and the next generation of Zambians…we will visit a medical facility that gives life to the sick and life without AIDS to those being born...we will play soccer matches and hold clinics for children along with a baseball game as we use sports to help bring change in a community…we will meet many of our sponsored children who we have only known via letters and pictures…we will participate in worship and dance and music and discussions as we celebrate and talk about life and faith in America and Zambia with other students…and we will get to work alongside and get to know and become brothers and sisters with those on the frontlines of God’s Work in Africa…and we are constantly seeking a new vision/project for the next school year where we can continue to help bring God’s Kingdom work to earth…we will be traveling all over Zambia and we will be involved in many, many projects and conversations with the World Vision Zambia staff God is using to meet the needs of so many impacted by poverty and disease in this generation…we will even see a place where there is a desperate need to begin the work of holistic transformational development in a community trying to deal with the consequences of absolute poverty...Our team is absolutely thrilled God has given this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to us…I expect God to change the lives of 18 students and adults and to break my own heart all over again as I am going to see how He wants me to continue to be His advocate for the people and the church in this nation and the continent of Africa…
As we head off to Africa in a few hours, here's a prayer update I want to offer to you...we covet your prayers as we seek to have a transformational life experience together with our dear brothers and sisters in Africa...I'll be blogging from Zambia several times over the next 2 weeks...…here are ten specific prayer needs you can pray for us:
1.Safety and health in our lengthy travels to and back from and around Zambia over the next 14 days
2.A good working out of schedule and administrative details as we attempt to see and be part of many different experiences in a short time period
3.Ability to connect with and love and learn from our Zambian brothers and sisters
4.The continued impact of the Kakolo Village schoolhouse which is being used by hundreds and hundreds of students in this community, and the further expansion of this school to serve the needs of children through grade 9
5.The work being done to save and extend lives and prevent the spread of the HIV virus through the new medical clinic and maternity ward in the Zamtan community
6.A deep sense of community and growth in our team as we seek to discuss and mull over the experiences and resulting questions we will encounter...we are excited to build new friendships with each other and as students from WA and Leyden high schools...
7.A fresh vision for future projects and personal involvement in the work God is doing in Zambia and other nations in Africa and around the world
8.A greater love for Christ and a heart that beats and cares and loves the poor and oppressed and sick people in our world
9.Opportunities to pray for/with and encourage believers and churches and the World Vision staff in Zambia as they share the Gospel in word and deed with the children and adults of their communities
10.Ability to write and video and receive stories and learnings that we can then take and use as powerful resources in being advocates and leaders when we return home
We can’t wait to return and give you the stories of our trip along with some photos and videos we will have taken…once again, thank you for being part of God’s grand vision in Zambia…your overwhelming generosity and partnership is truly a remarkable blessing in my life…I thank God for your friendship, gifts of love, and your prayers…
Together in His Work, CHIP
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
The Gospel and the Gosselins
A strong piece written about ethics by Julie Vermeer Elliott, a faculty member at Eastern University, about a very real life situation that has being watch by our culture so closely...
Evangelicals and the making of Jon & Kate Plus Eight.
If you have recently stood in line at the grocery store and glanced at the tabloid covers, chances are you have seen the faces of reality TV stars Jon and Kate Gosselin. Jon and Kate are stars of the wildly popular TLC show Jon & Kate Plus Eight, which documents the life of this Pennsylvania couple as they raise their eight children, 8-year-old twins and 5-year-old sextuplets. Until recently, Jon and Kate were celebrated as models of wholesome family values. Sure, they bickered a lot, but they were committed to staying together for the long haul. Indeed, last season featured them renewing their wedding vows on the beach in Hawaii. Such commitment endeared them to the watching public and made them TLC's most profitable commodity.
Of all the viewers who followed the Gosselins, evangelicals were among the most faithful. Jon and Kate's refusal to resort to "selective reduction" when they found themselves pregnant with sextuplets, their membership in an Assemblies of God church, and their Isaiah 40:31 T-shirts all helped to make them icons of evangelical piety. Churches from across the country clamored to be added to their speaking tours. In the last two years the vast majority of Jon and Kate's presentations took place at Christian conferences or at evangelical churches, most often Baptist, nondenominational or charismatic.
Zondervan, one of the foremost evangelical presses, published two books with the Gosselins, both of which hit the New York Times bestseller list. The popular tongue-in-cheek blog Stuff Christians Like listed "Watching Jon and Kate Plus 8" on its list of favored Christian products or activities. Evangelicals dependably tuned in to the television show as the family received free trips to posh resorts, when the couple underwent plastic surgery, and when they moved from a comfortable house in the suburbs to a sprawling estate in the country. If they noticed that Jon and Kate's family and friends—most notably Aunt Jodi and Beth—were, one by one, being estranged from the family (reportedly over financial disputes), it did not stop believers from looking to this couple for inspiration on how to be a good Christian family.
Then everything changed. Reports surfaced that Jon was out partying with co-eds and getting too friendly with a 23-year-old teacher. Shortly thereafter the tabloids claimed that Kate was having an affair with her bodyguard and that she had given Jon the go-ahead to see other women, as long as he showed up for filming. The truthfulness of all of these claims has yet to be established. But one thing is clear—the marriage is crumbling. In fact, on the season five premiere, which aired on Memorial Day, the couple expressed no love for one another and made no promises about being together in the future. Both appeared ready to file for divorce.
Viewers, and especially evangelical viewers, are aghast. How could such a loving, Christian family disintegrate so quickly? Is the failure of their marriage due to the stress of parenting multiples? Can it be attributed to Kate's love of celebrity versus Jon's desire to retreat from the limelight? Might it be the result of living under constant (albeit self-imposed) surveillance? I suspect that each of these theories tell part of the story. But the story that has not been told is the one that sees in Jon and Kate the shortcomings of evangelical piety itself.
We evangelicals tend to be easily impressed. We cheered on Jon and Kate's decision to carry all six babies to term but rarely considered the prior question: Was it right for them to undergo risky fertility treatments in the first place? They had been married only a matter of months when Kate, who was in her mid-20s at the time, took fertility medication to stimulate her ovaries for intrauterine insemination and became pregnant with their twins, Cara and Mady.
Only a few years later, Kate's ovaries were stimulated once again, but this time they were hyper-stimulated. Warned by their doctor during an ultrasound examination that the fertility medication had worked a little too well and that four mature follicles were present, Jon and Kate nonetheless went ahead with the insemination. Apparently their doctor had miscounted on that fateful day, because Kate soon discovered that she was pregnant with seven embryos (one of which miscarried a short time later). Six babies were growing in a space designed for one, posing great risks to the life of each baby as well as to the life of their mother. Faced with this unintended but preventable situation, Jon and Kate were right to carry all of the babies to term. But this decision is not enough to warrant their status as models of Christian faithfulness. That most evangelicals were satisfied to celebrate the end—six miraculous lives—rather than assess the morality of the means whereby those lives were created, betrays the thinness of evangelical reflection on reproductive ethics. Too often our ethics have focused so singularly on the question of abortion that we have given comparatively little attention to the morally-significant issues surrounding infertility, reproductive technology, childbirth, and parenting. As such, we have a hard time challenging the assumptions of our consumerist culture or those who, like Jon and Kate, seem to be beholden to it.
As fellow Christians, we should have reminded the Gosselins that life is a gift to be received in gratitude, not something to be grasped, purchased, or sold. In many ways, the last four seasons of Jon & Kate Plus Eight is the story of a family that seemed to progressively lose sight of this truth. Of course, they had help along the way from TLC, from the show's producers, and not least of all, from their Christian viewers.
When the first few episodes revealed the earning potential of this "everyday family," Jon & Kate Plus Eight became a brand name that was packaged and sold. And many Christians were happy to comply by opening up their wallets and their fellowship halls. When the network and the couple were not satisfied with the money generated through high ratings and book sales, the Gosselin home was filled with product placements and the children were filmed for long hours each week. All the while many (though not all) evangelicals watched with undiscerning eyes. Somewhere along the line we, like Jon and Kate, seemed to forget the warnings of 1 Timothy 6:9-10:
But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains. (NRSV)
It was not until the recent allegations of sexual impropriety arose that a significant number of Christians began to question whether Jon and Kate were indeed the examples of faithful living that we had imagined. Somehow most of us missed the long trajectory that was, day by day, moving them farther from a life of Christian virtue. Sexual immorality—whether actual or merely suspected—caught our attention, but the materialism, narcissism, and exploitation of children that preceded it was largely overlooked.
As such, the breakdown of Jon and Kate's marriage is but a symptom of the larger weaknesses of ethics in the evangelical community. We are easily seduced by wealth and fame. We are easily contented by the shallow rhetoric of hot-button issues. In short, we are easily deceived by cultural values painted in Christian veneers (or clothed in Isaiah 40:31 T-shirts).
The hope for us—and the hope of Jon and Kate—is to turn once again to the rich, complex, and difficult ethics of Jesus and to let those ethics form us into a more discerning people in the world. It is time that we look for role models who value self-sacrifice over material gain. It is time that we practice forgiveness and the healing of broken relationships and call fellow Christians to do the same. It is time that we take our own marriage vows seriously and hold our brothers and sisters to be true to their commitments as well. Most importantly, it is time that we develop a view of faith and life that is capable of asking deep questions and courageous enough to embody real answers. Then, and only then, will Christians have something to offer the world and something to offer Jon & Kate Plus Eight.
Evangelicals and the making of Jon & Kate Plus Eight.
If you have recently stood in line at the grocery store and glanced at the tabloid covers, chances are you have seen the faces of reality TV stars Jon and Kate Gosselin. Jon and Kate are stars of the wildly popular TLC show Jon & Kate Plus Eight, which documents the life of this Pennsylvania couple as they raise their eight children, 8-year-old twins and 5-year-old sextuplets. Until recently, Jon and Kate were celebrated as models of wholesome family values. Sure, they bickered a lot, but they were committed to staying together for the long haul. Indeed, last season featured them renewing their wedding vows on the beach in Hawaii. Such commitment endeared them to the watching public and made them TLC's most profitable commodity.
Of all the viewers who followed the Gosselins, evangelicals were among the most faithful. Jon and Kate's refusal to resort to "selective reduction" when they found themselves pregnant with sextuplets, their membership in an Assemblies of God church, and their Isaiah 40:31 T-shirts all helped to make them icons of evangelical piety. Churches from across the country clamored to be added to their speaking tours. In the last two years the vast majority of Jon and Kate's presentations took place at Christian conferences or at evangelical churches, most often Baptist, nondenominational or charismatic.
Zondervan, one of the foremost evangelical presses, published two books with the Gosselins, both of which hit the New York Times bestseller list. The popular tongue-in-cheek blog Stuff Christians Like listed "Watching Jon and Kate Plus 8" on its list of favored Christian products or activities. Evangelicals dependably tuned in to the television show as the family received free trips to posh resorts, when the couple underwent plastic surgery, and when they moved from a comfortable house in the suburbs to a sprawling estate in the country. If they noticed that Jon and Kate's family and friends—most notably Aunt Jodi and Beth—were, one by one, being estranged from the family (reportedly over financial disputes), it did not stop believers from looking to this couple for inspiration on how to be a good Christian family.
Then everything changed. Reports surfaced that Jon was out partying with co-eds and getting too friendly with a 23-year-old teacher. Shortly thereafter the tabloids claimed that Kate was having an affair with her bodyguard and that she had given Jon the go-ahead to see other women, as long as he showed up for filming. The truthfulness of all of these claims has yet to be established. But one thing is clear—the marriage is crumbling. In fact, on the season five premiere, which aired on Memorial Day, the couple expressed no love for one another and made no promises about being together in the future. Both appeared ready to file for divorce.
Viewers, and especially evangelical viewers, are aghast. How could such a loving, Christian family disintegrate so quickly? Is the failure of their marriage due to the stress of parenting multiples? Can it be attributed to Kate's love of celebrity versus Jon's desire to retreat from the limelight? Might it be the result of living under constant (albeit self-imposed) surveillance? I suspect that each of these theories tell part of the story. But the story that has not been told is the one that sees in Jon and Kate the shortcomings of evangelical piety itself.
We evangelicals tend to be easily impressed. We cheered on Jon and Kate's decision to carry all six babies to term but rarely considered the prior question: Was it right for them to undergo risky fertility treatments in the first place? They had been married only a matter of months when Kate, who was in her mid-20s at the time, took fertility medication to stimulate her ovaries for intrauterine insemination and became pregnant with their twins, Cara and Mady.
Only a few years later, Kate's ovaries were stimulated once again, but this time they were hyper-stimulated. Warned by their doctor during an ultrasound examination that the fertility medication had worked a little too well and that four mature follicles were present, Jon and Kate nonetheless went ahead with the insemination. Apparently their doctor had miscounted on that fateful day, because Kate soon discovered that she was pregnant with seven embryos (one of which miscarried a short time later). Six babies were growing in a space designed for one, posing great risks to the life of each baby as well as to the life of their mother. Faced with this unintended but preventable situation, Jon and Kate were right to carry all of the babies to term. But this decision is not enough to warrant their status as models of Christian faithfulness. That most evangelicals were satisfied to celebrate the end—six miraculous lives—rather than assess the morality of the means whereby those lives were created, betrays the thinness of evangelical reflection on reproductive ethics. Too often our ethics have focused so singularly on the question of abortion that we have given comparatively little attention to the morally-significant issues surrounding infertility, reproductive technology, childbirth, and parenting. As such, we have a hard time challenging the assumptions of our consumerist culture or those who, like Jon and Kate, seem to be beholden to it.
As fellow Christians, we should have reminded the Gosselins that life is a gift to be received in gratitude, not something to be grasped, purchased, or sold. In many ways, the last four seasons of Jon & Kate Plus Eight is the story of a family that seemed to progressively lose sight of this truth. Of course, they had help along the way from TLC, from the show's producers, and not least of all, from their Christian viewers.
When the first few episodes revealed the earning potential of this "everyday family," Jon & Kate Plus Eight became a brand name that was packaged and sold. And many Christians were happy to comply by opening up their wallets and their fellowship halls. When the network and the couple were not satisfied with the money generated through high ratings and book sales, the Gosselin home was filled with product placements and the children were filmed for long hours each week. All the while many (though not all) evangelicals watched with undiscerning eyes. Somewhere along the line we, like Jon and Kate, seemed to forget the warnings of 1 Timothy 6:9-10:
But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains. (NRSV)
It was not until the recent allegations of sexual impropriety arose that a significant number of Christians began to question whether Jon and Kate were indeed the examples of faithful living that we had imagined. Somehow most of us missed the long trajectory that was, day by day, moving them farther from a life of Christian virtue. Sexual immorality—whether actual or merely suspected—caught our attention, but the materialism, narcissism, and exploitation of children that preceded it was largely overlooked.
As such, the breakdown of Jon and Kate's marriage is but a symptom of the larger weaknesses of ethics in the evangelical community. We are easily seduced by wealth and fame. We are easily contented by the shallow rhetoric of hot-button issues. In short, we are easily deceived by cultural values painted in Christian veneers (or clothed in Isaiah 40:31 T-shirts).
The hope for us—and the hope of Jon and Kate—is to turn once again to the rich, complex, and difficult ethics of Jesus and to let those ethics form us into a more discerning people in the world. It is time that we look for role models who value self-sacrifice over material gain. It is time that we practice forgiveness and the healing of broken relationships and call fellow Christians to do the same. It is time that we take our own marriage vows seriously and hold our brothers and sisters to be true to their commitments as well. Most importantly, it is time that we develop a view of faith and life that is capable of asking deep questions and courageous enough to embody real answers. Then, and only then, will Christians have something to offer the world and something to offer Jon & Kate Plus Eight.
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