MONDAY
We got up and had breakfast (cereal/oatmeal) and then had a villa meeting. We talked about what we were nervous about and our prayer requests for the day. Dad and Rob prayed for us and then we headed out to the bus.
Before we met our kids, Family Legacy wanted us to get a sense of where our kids would be coming from. So we had a tour of Lusaka. Our bus started in the slums of Garden. It was absolutely heart breaking. The children in the area began to follow us everywhere as we moved through the compound. They ran through the "streets" with no shoes and minimal clothing. Why was I born in America with so much and they were born here with almost nothing? This made for a very emotional start to my first day.
The kids following us
A shop in Garden with walls lined with trash bags
Some of the precious children in the compound (they loved seeing their picture)
Sweet Gift (left) made fast friends with Bekah
Mom and Dad talking to some of the kids. Having to say good-bye to these sweet babies!
These are some videos I took as we were driving away...
After we left Garden, they took us to the extreme opposite side of the spectrum. Big expensive houses and government buildings right beside other slums. We also saw a local cemetery that had mounds and mounds of dirt everywhere for miles. Our tour guide said that when you go to a funeral there is not a lot of room and often times you have to stand on other graves. It was mind blowing. The average life expectancy in Zambia is only 38 years old. This is highly due to HIV and it is also why there are so many orphans. Zambia has a population of 12 million people. Half of the population is under the age of 16 and one million of those kids are orphans. Those are tough statistics! And that's just what they were before I came to Zambia and put faces and names to those numbers. My heart breaks for the orphans of Zambia and though I can't touch 1 million I can touch the one in front of me. And that's just what I did during my week there.
We drove out to the Legacy Center to meet our kids. They were all lined up at the top of the hill waiting for us. When they saw the buses their cheers got louder and louder! I (of course) started to tear up. These kids don't know us but they were so excited that we were there!
When we got off the bus we had to find our evangelist. That proved to be a little difficult with over 1,000 kids and over 200 Zambian partners! But I found Miriam and she brought me over to my girls. I had heard before I came that a lot of these kids would be the "walking dead"- they're alive but their spirit and emotions are dead. I had prepared myself for a group of girls who would be stand-offish and would need time to open up to me. Boy was I surprised when they all ran up to me and almost knocked me over from their hugs!! I just started to cry (big surprise!). I was finally meeting the 10 girls that I had been praying for for months! We sat down and got to know each other and then had lunch. Each one of my girls got 4 pieces of bread (nothing on them) and a mahyeo drink (corn-based protein drink). This was a feast to them and many were not able to finish it. They would save the leftovers for dinner. I wasn't even able to finish my second PBJ...how could I eat another sandwich in front of them??? My appetite just went away.
We played a few games after lunch and then headed to the Legacy Center for our first group session. We found our number on the floor and then lined up. We sang a few songs and jumped and danced along. Then they played our "prayer" song. This year they chose Chris Tomlin's "Our God" to play while we prayed over each child in our group. I was a little nervous about this part. If you haven't figured it out yet... I'm pretty emotional normally, but then you ask me to pray over these precious children, OUT LOUD and no words are going to come out! Part of the song says, "Into the darkness you shine, out of the ashes we rise" what a powerful picture to describe these kids! I prayed that they would know our Father's love, that chains would be broken and that they would have the freedom that comes with knowing the Savior!
Our first group session was about the Power in the Word of God. To have this power we must do 4 things:
1. HEAR it
2. UNDERSTAND it
3. BELIEVE it
4. SPEAK it
We also learned about the first part of the Armor of God (our theme for the week), the BELT OF TRUTH. Greer (founder of Family Legacy) told us to use the BELT against the lies of Satan. These kids are told that they are worthless, a problem, no one loves them and they have no value. All lies from the pit of hell. We then reviewed what we learned in our small group time and then I started blessing times. (I'll have to do a separate post for all of my girls blessing times)
We then handed out their apples for a snack and their "sweeties" (tootsie roll) and a sticker. We lined up and they loaded up on their buses to Chianda (their compound). They were all telling me "tiza oana mayilo!" which means "see you tomorrow!" I needed to work on my Nyanja phrases! :)
After all the kids left we got to talk about the day with our evangelist (Miriam) and apostle (Sharon). We also got to have praise and worship in Nyanja which is an incredible experience! They know how to praise Jesus! We headed back to the villas, ate dinner and headed to bed.
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