Zambia
Month 10
It is crazy how fast 10 months can go by. It feels like just yesterday that we were in Central America. And then Asia flew by and before I knew it I was seeing my dad and then I was in Africa.
Africa has been an unexpected surprise. I thought I would be roughing it the three months leading up to returning home, but I was pleasantly surprised throughout Zimbabwe and Zambia. I wanted to spend this blog post working out one of the experiences I had in Zambia.
If you didn’t hear the team I am on was assigned to do Unsung Heroes in Zambia. What this means is we are not assigned a host for the month and we go out and find new hosts or potential hosts for Adventures in Missions. We had a slight twist on this as AIM set us up to test out three potential hosts and give them a taste of what it is like to host a World Race team.
So, for us, this meant we packed up and moved every two to three days. It was hard the constant moving and change of environment and I struggled, but that isn’t what I wanted to talk about in this blog. I want to focus on the last ministry we were asked to test out.
Streetwise Craft is a organization run by a couple from the US. These people are super passionate about what they are doing and the art they create. Their organization works with street kids in Lusaka and we had the privilege of spending three days in their company.
The first day we were with them we hit the streets to meet some of the kids and invite a group of girls to a crafting event. We started by going down into the market and as soon as we stepped from the car we were surrounded by a group of over 20 boys of various ages. We talked with them for a little bit, played a game, and then passed out bread. We then went in search of the girls. We stopped at one place where they are able to come and do laundry and take showers, but we found out that they had come the day before and were not there. We hopped back in the taxi and went in search of them. And we found them…
We pulled over and parked and then were led across the street and down the side of a tall white wall. We walked a little and there before me I was met with a sight I had not seen before. Clothes littered the ground, the smoking remnants of a fire, trash and kids sitting around in the sun. I stopped, stunned.
I looked to the left and then the right. Sandwiched between a very busy street and a security wall, these kids lived invisible. When I say invisible, I do not mean you could not see them from the street, because you could, I say invisible because nobody noticed these kids. If they did, they weren’t doing anything…
I say this because we had driven right by where these kids were sitting before we pulled over and I hadn’t even seen them. I was blown away by my own blindness. How could I have missed something this blatant right in front of me?
As soon as the kids saw us you could see the excitement on their faces as they came over to meet us. I received lots of hand shakes and smiles as some of the girls gathered around and began introducing themselves. One girl, Mercy*, attached herself to my side as soon as she introduced herself to me. She looked up at me and smiled such a sweet smile. The guy from Streetwise that was with us talked with them for a few minutes, inviting them to the event the next day and some of them seemed to get excited. Mercy looked at me and asked if I would be there. I smiled at her and said absolutely and asked if she would be coming. She smiled and said, “yes.” My smile widened and I told her I looked forward to seeing her the next day. Before we walked away, she grabbed me in a hug and declared that we were friends. I smiled down at her, then said good bye. Nancy* and Ashley* also came up and said they would also be coming the next day. I smiled at them and told them I could not wait to see them the next day. We said good bye to everyone and as we walked away, Mercy called after me,
“I love you. We are friends! Friends!”
I smiled at her and gave a big wave before turning and following the others. I don’t really remember walking back to the car or most of the drive back to the Streetwise shop. Thoughts ran through my mind. What had caused these kids to leave home? Were the girls safe at night or were they abused? I knew living on the streets was not safe and the word Why kept running through my head.
Why were they there?
Why did they feel the need to run away?
Why did they not go to an orphanage?
Why does God allow His precious girls to be at risk?
Why…
I didn’t receive answers for any of my questions and I probably never will. And while the situation is hard, the reality is it happens everywhere. Not just in Zambia or Africa, but everywhere. How many times have I driven through a city and just glanced at people sitting on the ground, looking hungry with nothing but the clothes on their back and maybe the bag at their feet?
Jesus said, “The poor you will always have with you…” (Matt 26:11a)
I knew I would be encountering hard things on the race. I knew I would come across things that would shake my world and this was definitely one of those moments.
*names changed
