It’s not often that the places we work in make the global news. And mostly I’m grateful for that, because it means that we’re not in the middle of a war zone, or the centre of a political scandal. But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t things happening here that deserve to get reported or shared with the rest of the world.
On March 4th, the Wall Street Journal wrote an article on the state of Zambia’s economic and social situation. You can find it here.
Read it? Surprised by what you learnt? It’s strange seeing an article in such a well-respected publication that references the mall where I do my groceries, or the market where I buy my fabric from.
I’d like to be able to tell you that this article is sensationalising the situation in Zambia; to tell you that people like Grace Kunda, whose husband killed himself with pesticide because of the hopelessness of losing his livelihood don’t really live here. But I can’t do that, because that wouldn’t be the truth.
Instead, I want to tell you about the other side of the story. I want to tell you about some twins I know, Bupe and Mwansa*, that live in a periurban community on the outskirts of Kitwe. They live with their grandparents, mother, aunt and a couple of cousins. Their grandmother has buried six of her eleven children over the past decade, and their eighty-four year old grandfather who was a miner now risks getting arrested to make charcoal. He’s been arrested three times so far for trespassing to collect the wood he needs to turn into charcoal, but he won’t give up because he feels that he has to do something to support his family. The drought that has gripped southern Africa means that this family along with many others are unlikely to grow enough food to support themselves this year. And theirs is just one story; there are so many other families I could tell you about living in the communities we serve across Zambia, facing similar challenges to Bupe and Mwansa.
The need here is so real, so tangible. It goes beyond the economic forecasts, the power outages and the drought. It reaches to the God-shaped hole in the heart of every human being.
And therein lies the answer to so many of the problems here in Zambia and across the eight countries Hands at Work works in. I don’t even want to start on the hypocrisy of saying there’s an ‘economic war’ from the comfort of a sprawling compound. The only way that things here are going to get better, and children like Bupe and Mwansa will have a chance at breaking out of the poverty cycle is through the church. It’s through the church in our communities waking up to the need around them, and sending Care Workers to bring hope and encouragement and the love of Christ into homes that are filled with hopelessness. It’s through the church outside Africa standing up for children like Bupe and Mwansa, praying for them and advocating for them, sacrificing so that they can access basic healthcare, basic education and food security.
I’ve seen the transformation that comes into a home when a care giver like Bupe’s grandmother understands the depth of God’s love for her. It transcends the hurts and the hardships, the suffering and the grief. It brings strength and life and the perseverance to care for our children even in the most difficult of circumstances.
Please keep praying for all those that work in our Regional Support Teams, both in South Africa and Zambia, as well as for our local offices, and our Care Workers in our communities across Africa, as each of us seek to reach out to children like Bupe and Mwansa. There’s still time to join 40 Days of Prayer as part of Lent; you can access the prayer guide here.
*names have been changed
