Special Post: Zambia Debrief 2016

Yesterday, I finally came home from my two week missions trip to Zambia. I’ve tried to sum it up concisely for those who have asked about it already, and the best I can do is to say that it was an adventure.

Beyond that, all I can do is tell the stories of what happened.

Our main purpose in Zambia was to help run a summer ministry headed by Every Orphan’s Hope called Camp Hope. It was essentially a beefed-up VBS program. Between a translator and a missionary, the kids learned about the gospel, made crafts, sang songs, played games, and answered some questions that will allow social services in Zambia to identify who is in need of intervention.

You see, these kids were identified by local churches as being single orphans (lost one parent), double orphans (lost both parents), or vulnerable (having a mother and a father, but not a healthy home life based on abuse or malnutrition due to poverty, etc.). And there were 300 the week that we were there. And what’s even more incredible is that there were two other Camp Hope events in weeks prior to the trip I happened to be on, so we ended up serving 900 young kids a meal and getting them some real help to real problems, as well as sharing the gospel.

A lot of the kids have heart-breaking stories. One young lady that was in my group was a single orphan. She slept on the ground, and while her mother was in the fields farming and earning a living, her older brothers would abuse her. Others didn’t eat more than a meal a day; some got no food at all. Completing the interviews really revealed to me how bad things could get.

And yet, despite what us Americans would call wretched living, these kids BEAMED with joy as they sang, and absolutely loved it when us Americans attempted to speak in Nyanja, one of the local languages. Our favorite phrase was to shout “gulu mutu” at each other, which means “fat head”. The kids laughed hard at that one!

The most impactful part of the trip, however, was when I was able to meet the sponsor child of a family I know very well. I was given the opportunity to deliver the sponsor’s gift, since they couldn’t go themselves. Seeing her eyes light up when I mentioned I knew her sponsor family well, and then trying to contain the excitement as she opened her gift - a beautiful assortment of homemade hair bows - was so awesome.

Before leaving, one of the young ladies in the sponsor family - and my good friend - said something to me that stuck with me the entire trip, and will remain with me for a long time afterwards. She mentioned that she saw their sponsor child as family, and that she loved her so much. I was really impressed by this love, and I turned it over in my head… my family too sponsors children in other countries, but I had never taken the time to invest in their lives, read the letters, or even give them much thought.

Seeing the sponsor child beam so beautifully really made the whole thing real to me, even though we only spent like five minutes together. There was a real child behind the money and the gifts that seem to disappear from the mailbox. There was a beautiful child, an image-bearer of Christ Himself, on the other side of the world. I have a whole new respect for sponsorship programs!

While there is so much more I could share, it’ll have to bleed out into other blog posts. I’m so thankful for those of you who prayed for me, supported me financially, and encouraged me with your words and presence. Joining God on this adventure was so, so cool. I just don’t have adequate words for how to describe it!