Letters from Africa - Day 6

Friday, June 22nd, 2012

"...'How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.'" -Luke 18:23-25

There is a side to Zambia that everyone ought to see. It is a side that it shares with many other countries on this earth. Yet even so, it goes unseen to many. I am talking about the Mwapona's of the world.

Poetice and Fortress Vision run a program called the 365 Campaign. This campaign identifies children who are orphans or otherwise vulnerable due to circumstances such as poverty, and then seeks to support them where possible. Today we were able to meet some of these children in their own homes, hear their stories, give them words of encouragement, and pray for them. For those who have so little company is an honor, kind words are treasures, and prayer carries real power.

I don't think there's anything that can adequately prepare a soul for a first trip into the third world. It is utterly foreign for us, a different mode of existence. In America, we live to achieve. Here, they live to survive. For the family of one academy student, it means squatting in an unfinished home that doesn't belong to them. Doorways have no doors, windows no glass. A metal roof, walls, and concrete are all that shelter them. The seats offered were a bucket and a few pieces of cinderblock. Vincent, the father, unemployed, barely manages to scrape enough money together to send his kids to school. It's a miracle even he can't understand. For the grandmother of another supported child, it means running a small produce stand, not knowing where to go once she can't afford rent. For yet another it means not being able to afford the cost of traveling to a hospital to have a tumor checked, let alone a surgery, or school, for that matter. These are the poorest of the poor, the "least of these." But in spite of the conditions,  you will find giants hidden in these humble homes.

We all need Christ. We are all nothing without him. It's easy for us to forget that as Westerners. The question of our own survival is not one that we often have to entertain. But Christians get it here. They understand. Beyond faith in Christ and family they have next to nothing. Literally. They do what they can to survive and trust God to provide what they can't. This kind of faith says "It is enough. I have accepted what I have been given by God in life," as Vincent has. Though we came to meet with the poor, we shared company with royalty.


For more information about Poetice International, its ministry in Zambia, and updates on this trip be sure to check www.poetice.com and follow @livepoetice on twitter.