I hope you’ve kicked off 2016 well! Maybe started a resolution or two or lets be real, dropped it like its hot. We, on the other hand, are getting ready to say goodbye to Zambia and hello to South Africa. This month ended up being nothing that we expected, but full of so much goodness. I became a teacher for any grade you can throw me in. Pastor Peter runs a private school, Destiny School, which is a school geared towards the local community, Matero community. Matero community is an impoverished area full of orphans being raised by their grandparents or just one parent due to the impact of HIV/AIDS. This a school full of vibrant children and teachers with big hearts for those kids. Destiny school is also currently supported by an organization called Arise Africa. They’ve been partnered with the school for five years now and have funded them to have a school building full of the necessities like desks, chalkboards, and other things. Arise also provides every child with a hot lunch everyday. So, while it looks beneficial and helpful on the outside, having the chance to see a small glimpse into the inside workings of things hasn’t been fun. This is an organization that provides and supports via the all-too-familiar adopt-a-child funding. The problem comes in when some children are funded, but not all so some children in a class will be sponsored and have what they need while the rest are left without the basic things they need for school. Now, don’t let my words fool you. We are aware that there has definitely been some real life miscommunications between the organization and the church. I’m sure somewhere along the way, the school should’ve had classroom cap offs and they didn’t or there was some other sort of agreement that wasn’t followed through. Like I said, we’ve only been given a mere glimpse in 3 weeks time, but it has been no less heart breaking. We ended up being here at the same time that the children received their christmas shoeboxes from their stateside sponsors. While it was fun to share the joy with the kids who received shoeboxes, it was absolutely heartbreaking to see unsponsored children being shooed away like flies because they just wanted a taste of what their friends had. All of that being said, Arise Africa sent out letters to all of the sponsored children letting them know that they would be canceling their 5-year long partnership with Destiny School. In this letter, they bashed destiny school using very manipulative language. Its been hard to be in the middle of that and see the messy said of a well-meaning American organization. They have left a lot of African people confused and hurt with how things have been handled. Please be in prayer for Pastor Peter and Destiny School. We know God has a plan for this school and He has their best in mind amidst the chaos and confusion. And, please, please, please do your research before jumping aboard a child sponsorship program. So much of my conflicted heart this month has been knowing that American families sacrifice to be a part of this organization and have no idea whats happening.
We also went to another village for a few days. We were shipped off to Mumbwa, Zambia which is about three hours from Lusaka. We dabbled in a little bit of everything in only four days. It ended up being a scouting out sort of trip for future racers to be sent there. We did some door-to-door evangelism where we were invited into people’s tiny homes and offered the little they had. We prayed with so many, laughed together, and shared a little bit of life and love for the moment. I held (stole) my share of tiny brown babies and my heart was full. They showed us around the area and introduced us to a lot of friends. There were times where we certainly felt like a bit of a circus show, but they had never had Muzoogoos(white people) staying as guests in their home. They took us out to his parent’s home in the boonies (bush) of Africa in the back of a truck. So fun and, I don’t say this to be boastful, but white people are a big deal around these parts. We also led a village “small” group which is nothing like it sounds. We went to a hospital to pray for people and pass out soap. We shared in their church service on Sunday by leading some worship and Jess and I did the sermon. To top it all off, I had the black death AKA black diarrhea the entire time we were there. Seriously, everything jammed into four days.
So, that’s the gist of Zambia which was month five. That was a bit of a roller coaster month, but I am certainly still seeing the fruit of the good, the hard, and the messy three months later.
