Pics

Sunset in Livingstone
Safari in Chaminuka



Praying at Camp
We made balloon animals for the kids at the camp in Chongwe! My aunt Ellen taught us how...
Me and Chuma at My Father's House in Chongwe

Final words

I apologize for neglecting to update this blog, but I can give you a short update:

My last week in Africa, my aunt came to visit me as well as volunteer to teach a group of children at the last camp in Chongwe. A whole group of people from all over the US came to help spread the word of God to these children, and I must say that it was a privilege to watch these volunteers love on and mentor to these children. God was really moving through the camp that week, and me and the other interns got to watch it firsthand while working on the sponsorship photos and just helping out around camp.
The last day before I got on a plane to London, the whole volunteer group as well as the interns got to go on a safari at Chaminuka in Lusaka. It was a lot of fun to see elephants, lions, giraffes, and impalas up close! But I was very sick with some sort of flu the entire time we were at the safari, and the sickness continued the next day on the plane, making my plane flight out of Zambia one of the most miserable flights I've ever experienced.
The day that I flew out to London with Sophie, the 21st of July, was also my birthday. There wasn't much time to celebrate though, cuz me and Sophie were pretty preoccupied with saying our goodbyes, and then trying to adjust to the fact that we were actually leaving Zambia, it was a lot to take in.
When I arrived in London, I was able to reunite with my parents in the Heathrow Airport, still sick as a dog! I had a terrible fever while on the plane, and it started to go away once we landed. My parents had bought me a birthday cake, and I didn't even feel well enough to eat it! But the waiters at our hotel sang happy birthday to me anyways :-). I got much better after that first night in London, but I must say that being sick definitely hindered my ability to accept that I was out of Zambia, and back in a place where I could drink water straight from the faucet, the shower water is warm and comes from above my head, and there was carpet everywhere! My little sister laughed at me the first night that I kept getting so shocked at little things like cable on the tv, or the free shampoos in the bathroom. (I mean how great is free shampoo??)
My family and I then went for a week touring Scotland. We saw so many castles and beautiful spots in Scotland. We went to Edinburgh, Loch Ness, Luss, Loch Lomond, the Highlands, and many other places! It was another shock to see so much green everywhere! In Zambia, since it was the dry season and we lived in the city, there was nothing but concrete and dirt everywhere, but in Scotland, there was nothing but green grass, mountains, and LOTS of sheep! It was great though to spend some time with my family after 7 weeks of being away.
So all in all, it was an amazing blessing to be able to experience the people, the culture, the food, and the spirits of Zambia, and I am so thankful to all of you who made it possible for me to get there. I would also like you to know that at the end of the trip, I had a lot of leftover money that I hadn't used, so I donated the money to pay for all the orphans who live in My Father's House in Chongwe AND in Kalingalinga to go on a field trip/vacation for a day to Chaminuka. So you helped to bless so many little kids with a great day at a safari resort, something that they don't get to experience very often!
So thank you so much for your continued support, prayer, and dedicated faith in God's ability to do wonders in Zambia and in these children's lives. Whatever change that me or any of the other interns made during our time in Zambia wasn't done by us, but by God alone. Please continue to pray for Zambia, Every Orphan's Hope, and especially Gary Schnieder, the founder of this organization, who was a huge job delegating and helping to solve the differences between the Zambian EOH partners and the American partners. I know that I could never do his job, and he does it amazingly! Every Orphan's Hope will also be going through a staff change this fall, so please pray that the transition will be smooth, and that EOH finds the right people to fill the holes left by the staff members who will be moving on for the time being.
Thanks again and God Bless!
~Jessie S

Romans 15:13

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."

Last Day of Camp

June 26th, 2009
Today was the last day of Camp Hope and it felt like such a blessing from God to be there and witness it. Today we passed out more than 250 pairs of shoes to all the campers; shoes that we received from two girls from the Teen Mania trip and their church. It was amazing to see the children’s faces light up when stepped into the room of bright and shiny shoes, and then to realize that they could take a pair home! One boy, while helping him try on a pair of new sneakers, jumped up and shouted “fresh, fresh!” and did a dance of joy. Some children had shoes were broken, had holes in them, too small for them to wear anymore, and some worn out beyond belief. Some kids had no shoes at all and they wore their new shoes out of the tent! Later on, while some of the kids were playing football, I watched other children switch from their old shoes to their new ones and dance joyfully.
I also got the change to love on a boy who never got to attend Camp Hope this week, but was there everyday. Everyday when I walked around from group to group, I would see him listening to bible studies, playing football with them, or just watching them from afar. I always stopped and greeted him, shook his hand, even took his picture one day and showed him. But the language barrier was a problem so there wasn’t much more I could do with him except play. On the last day, I was wandering around the field as the sun was setting when he found me. He wrapped his arms around my waist when I said “hello” and then took my hand. I started pointing at the sunset and said “pretty” and he replied in njanji which I think was the word for pretty. Then I pointed to the moon and asked, “what’s that?” and he said “muez”. We continued to name the stars, the sky, the sun and anything else we could find; all the time he wouldn’t let go of my hand. When I finally had to go back to My Father’s House, he wouldn’t let go of my hand. He walked back with me almost to the house. It was hard for me to explain that it was getting dark, and I had to go home, especially since I wanted to get to know him better. He eventually understood that he was supposed to return to his house, and went his own way down the road. It was amazing to bond with a child, even though we didn’t speak the same language.

Illegal?

July 2nd, 2009
So the past couple of days have been really trying for us interns. We were supposed to have left for Livingstone yesterday, but we had to go and renew our visas before we left because we had only applied for a 30-day visa when we first arrived here in May. With the car packed with all of our stuff for Livingstone, we headed to the immigration office. After waiting in a line for about 20-30 min, they told us that there was a problem with our visas, we couldn’t renew them, but had to get a business permit to stay in the country, but the business permit was going to cost us a whole lot more than planned! So they told us to go to another office further into town the next morning. After searching forever for the office in downtown Lusaka, we got there and they told us the same thing: that we would have to pay about $400 each for a business visa to stay in the country, plus a late fee for being late in renewing our visas. It was all really frustrating because we thought all we would have to do was get our passport re-stamped when we went to the immigration office. We pulled all the money that we were going to use for our Livingstone trip together to pay for the visas, and we still aren’t sure if we are going to get to go to Livingstone now, because there might not be enough money in our budgets anymore. That would be disappointing, since we were supposed to see Victoria Falls and go on a safari, but I feel like God has a plan for us. For example, most of us girls have been getting sick in our stomachs from something we ate, and I stayed in my bed all day yesterday after we got back from the immigration office. It wouldn’t have been good if I had gotten sick on the 8-hour bus ride to Livingstone, so I thank God for timing! But as of now, I am officially an illegal immigrant in Zambia, with my passport locked up in an immigration office in downtown Lusaka, waiting to be processed so we can get business permits.

PIC

Me and the My Father's House kids...they're such goofballs at night!

Realities

I feel that I need to share some of the harsh realities that I have come to know about Zambia and its culture. The hardest lesson learned is this: we can’t help everybody. Everyone needs more food, water, coal, clothing, shoes, money…and we don’t always have the resources to supply them with all that they need. A couple of days ago, there was no water in Mutendere (providence where we live) and we were sitting on a bus outside of the Every Orphan’s Hope office. The security guard, David was giving people water in a hose. We watched him fill a couple of buckets full of water, but then he started shooing the people away and watering the plants and the ground. We all got confused as to why he wasn’t generous with the water. One of the EOH staff, Ester, asked David why he stopped, and that’s when he pointed behind us. We spotted a huge crowd of people with water buckets filling the road behind us, all walking towards the EOH office. They all looked so tired and so desperate. David said that he didn’t have enough water to give to everybody, so he had to stop giving it out.

It’s hard to understand that a Zambian might have to walk for an hour to get water for his/her family for a day. They don’t complain, because that’s their life and they don’t know anything else. I guess that is why it’s so important to give these people the love of Jesus in their lives. He is the only way that we can truly help these people. 

            What’s also hard to understand is the hierarchy of respect in Zambia. The men always come first. Then women and children come last. In American society, children are always regarded as first priority because they are helpless without adults. But here, it’s mind boggling sometimes to see how their culture works. Last Sunday we had a grand opening for the children living in My Father’s House in Chongwe. The big celebration was set up with a tent and chairs, and a mat outside. Big important head men in the village, as well as businessmen, and the head chief of the village was invited to participate in the ceremony, so they were all invited to sit in the chairs in the tent. The children sat outside. The ceremony was wonderful, the children got to sing, dance, and give some testimonies about how they use to live before coming to My Father’s House. Throughout all the speeches that the people made, the emphasis of the ceremony was celebrating the children. When it came time to serve snacks and food to the crowd, it was planned for the children to get food first. But the headmen and the businessmen jumping in line first, grabbing all the sodas and grabbing seconds so there was barely any food left for the children. The women got in line next, and then the children, who the ceremony was for, finally got some food. It’s heartbreaking though to see, that even when you are celebrating children in the name of God, that the Zambian culture will always be observed. So I guess I have to realize that it’s not our job to change their culture, but just to change their hearts toward God and God’s children.

More Camp

June 23rd/24th

Well, after sleeping in a tent the first night of camp, most of the interns wanted to come back to Lusaka for the night. While camp is amazing to participate in, we aren’t needed at night in Chongwe, and it’s nice to get away for a bit, have some quiet time, get a shower, and be ready for the next day. Today at camp I got to sort out over 300 shoes that two missionaries and their church donated to the kids. It was a wonderful gift! But after going through all the shoes, we realized that there wasn’t an even number of shoe sizes, which means that if we give the shoes out during camp, some of the kids won’t get shoes in the right size. So after unpacking the shoes and sorting them into sizes, we had to re-pack the shoes according to size and put them away again. We will be able to give the shoes away, but if we tried to give them out during camp, one child could go home with shoes that don’t fit them, so they would be useless.

I also had an unnerving experience the other day at camp that made me realize that not everyone in Zambia is perfect, even if they are picked to work for an organization like Every Orphan’s Hope. I had the job of going around from group to group and giving out nametags to all the children. So I came to this group of 11-12 year old girls, and their Zambian partner/ translator had a baby with her. Her baby was no more than a year old, it could sit up but that was most of what it could do. While I was writing down some of the girls’ names, the Zambian partner put her baby up on a small hill so she could go and help translate. The little baby, not crying or whining, lifted up his/her arms for the mom to hold him/her. The Zambian woman then slapped her little baby hard across the face multiple times. . I went to Mama, told her what happened, and Mama stormed outside to talk to the Zambian woman, and let her know that slapping her baby in front of the girls wasn’t appropriate. All the girls in the group, as well as the Teen Mania girls, saw it happen. I was stunned along with the Teen Mania girls, but the Zambian girls barely batted an extra eyelash. It must be common for them to see women punishing their children harshly like that. Children come last in the Zambian culture. Men are honored first, then women, then children. So it’s not uncommon for a Zambian to abuse their child.