March 19, 2009

Today we visited children in the OVC program (orphans and vulnerable children). I could tell you about each of the children we visited, but I just can’t put what I’m feeling into words. There were more starving children, children with dreams that seem out of reach for a fourteen year old child who has never owned a pair of shoes. There was a girl who is stigmatized because her mother cannot afford $3.00 for a uniform. This makes her poor among the poor.

I gently laid my hand on the mother’s back as I prayed for her and her children, and she wept. It was the tears of a lonely woman who wants what all mothers want, a better life for her children than she had.

Today a fourteen year old girl, named Mercy, invaded my reality. Keep in mind that I have raised many girls with horror stories of their own. Can you, should you become sensitized to children's nightmares? This girl was obviously living by herself. She told us she was a Christian. I asked her who she could ask for help if she needed it. She looked at me for the first time and said, “no one.” She is attending school, because she wants to be a teacher. Her gaze never met mine again. She did what many females do here, look away or down. In the back ground of our circle sat an elderly man watching us. Most men in a village will approach the group, shake all of our hands and join the visit. I felt Satan’s presence. I knew there was a battle being waged for this young girl’s life. We laid hands on her and prayed for protection, prayed for her life in Christ to stay strong, for her choices to be God’s choices.

Poverty is in bed with Satan. It steals the hope of the oppressed. Without hope minds begin to see no way out. When you see no way out, creative solutions erode. It is like the imagination of a child who builds a sand castle and dreams of being a princess. The tide comes in and beats against the walls until they cave in. The child says, “Why build another one? The tide will come again.” In a state of defeat, the child’s thoughts do not see that building the castle farther from the ocean would bring victory.

It is so easy to be overwhelmed with the great need and do nothing. Doesn’t Satan just love that? We may not be able to save the whole world, but we can send one child to school. It will be one less child who will not sell her body for school supplies and a uniform.

On the lighter side: I will be leaving Choma, Zambia two weeks from today. We are going to Livingstone to see Victoria Falls (one of the Seven Wonders of the World) and go on a safari. I can’t wait for these adventures, and to be home. I miss my family and friends.

Today I was given a Zambian name, Mayi Bbusa, by my sister Maureen. It means “Wife of the Shepherd.” It is what a pastor’s wife is called here to show respect for her.

We also stopped at the mission house in Zimba and were served tacos and brownies. Joan Wallace, the missionary nurse, was a great hostess. We have come to really care about Joan, and not just because she serves us great food.

Our new guest house now has hot water, which we are very grateful for. If you live in Wabash, see you in two weeks.