Thursday Jan 17

Here it is day four in Zambia and our minds and hearts are so full of what we have seen and experienced it is going to take us time to sort through it all. We are all  madly journalling  at every opportunity so that we do not forget anything.

John is carefully choosing our experiences - all ties in to the vision that he and Susan have for their project here. Their vision and plan is incredible and as their project grows, the number of Zambians they touch and assist will multiply proportionately. Their vision is  basically to break the cycle of poverty here in Ndola.

We stay at Buseko home, the orphanage which was the first part of their project. We have also been to Grace Academy which grew from the orphanage when these children were growing and thriving with the antiretroviral medication. At Grace Academy the children live in a family atomosphere, they are receiving a good education and the confidence to believe that they can do something greater and anything they desire. The children assist with an outreach feeding program for other children in the area. As John said, it is easy to feed a hundred children, but their program does more than that. They monitor these children, and when they are there, they do an activity and there is worship. It is truly joyous to hear these children praising God in Bemba.

They have just completed a rec hall where they will be able to do more community outreach and worship services. This is where we have been painting.

Yesterday we went to a Children's Hospital and started in the malnutrition ward - children that look like little old men, or are "swollen" due to lack of protein in their diet. This was a very emotional experience - in Zambian hospitals parents must stay with their children 24 hours/day. They sleep in hard chairs or lying on the cement floor. Although many did not speak English they understood and were thankful as we prayed over them. They may not have understood the words, but they knew that we cared. One of the next phases for John & Susan is to build a malnutrion clinic. It would not just be getting the childrens nutrition improved as they would only end up returning a few months later. The moms will also come in for nutrition classes and will learn some business skills.  They will be assisted to set up a small business so they will be able to support their families and feed their children properly.

We then went to visit one of the 7 compounds in the Ndola area. About 40,000 people live in each one - we will be able to show pictures of the very crude homes that they live in. This is the rainy season here and many roofs leak. We walked around and distributed tickets for plastic tarps.

We went back today and distributed the tarps from the community centre - the Zambian people are very friendly and thankful. They took the time to thank each one of us for the tarp. I'm not sure what  John and Susan have planned here, but these compounds are where many of their children come from and where people rarely leave.

Yesterday afternoon we visited a hospice run by Sister Alice, a feisty Irish nun. This is a completely hospice totally reliant on donations. Again we were able to pray over these women and men. The good news is that now that the antiretroviral medication is funded by the government, many people that come to the hospice improve and are able to return home.

John and Susan are working on funding for a high school, a mechanical school, and on and on it goes - as I said their vision is incredible and inspiring - all very well thought out.

I read James 1:9 from the New Century version. "Believers who are poor should take pride that God has made them spiritually rich. Those who are rich should take pride that God has shown them that they are spiritually poor." These people are totally reliant on God in a way that we are not - they are an example to us in so many ways.

God's Blessings,

Carol