Zambia Mission Trip - July 2009
Into (and out of) Africa
By Simon & Sue Morgan and The Paisley Family
Thank you so much to friends who prayed for us during our recent trip to Zambia with Mission Direct. We felt very equipped and sustained by the power of prayer of friends and family.
We stayed in lodges owned by the Evangelical Church of Zambia (ECZ). The main aim was to work with the ECZ by helping improve the facilities at Kiine school run for 138 local children living in an adjacent shanty community called Kaunda Square in the north of capital city Lusaka. We worked on the building site most mornings alongside 7 amazing Zambian builders learning such skills as cement mixing, block laying, pointing, carrying materials, rubble moving, steel rod bending .
The afternoons were spent visiting existing projects in the area but very needy of our interest and support. Everywhere we went we were shocked by the lack of basic facilities and equipment which we in the west take so much for granted. The 2 schools and the home for former street boys had no basic first aid and so we were able to leave kits with them. Wherever we went though we were greeted very warmly often by excited children running to hug us and often sing songs to us!
We were taken to a Lusaka market area to meet children from age nine who do not have a home; they attempt to blur the reality of a difficult life on the streets by sniffing solvents, for them the only rule is ‘’survival’’ . The meeting ‘’area’’ was where the rubbish is tipped and spread around. Subsequent visits to MacDonalds Farm and the Fountain of Hope hostel showed how boys previously living on the streets had chosen to live in a loving community with discipline, work and a regular meal.
We were privileged to be able to make visits in small groups with Home Based Care Workers, giving practical help like food, blankets and mosquito nets as well as talking and praying with them. We visited a home where TB patient, Caleb became a Christian right there and then!
At Kumbayah school we helped feed 400 children a hearty meal of nshima (maize based), meat stew and cabbage with onions which was probably their only meal of the day.
Towards the end of the trip we travelled for 9 hours to Livingstone. Here a sunset cruise on the river Zambesi was arranged with the next day being reserved to see famous world heritage site Victoria Falls. The Falls are just breathtaking being approximately a mile wide with the water dropping into a deep canyon where the sun shines through the spray creating brilliant rainbows.
It was a truly amazing experience, which has changed us forever. Although it is good to be home, our hearts are still in Africa.