This is an article thing that I had to write for my church newsletter, I figured it would give you a pretty good idea of a little bit of my African experience...
Africa is a place that I have wanted to go to for as long as I can remember. Ever since I was a young child, I can remember being very excited when I found out that a missionary was going to come and speak in our church. I would watch the slide show of the pictures of some far away place and then I would dream of the time when I could go and be a missionary myself. As I have grown up however, I have realized that I do not automatically become a missionary just by landing on foreign soil; I first have to be a missionary right where I am. For who I am and how I act and live my life here in my hometown is the same way I am going to act and live my life when I am in a different country. And so I have tried to live my life in such a way that Jesus would be evident through my actions and words, regardless of where I am in the world.
I do not know why Africa in particular was always on my heart; all I know is that my heart would start to beat more quickly whenever anyone would talk about missions or when I would hear the drums that reminded me of African music. God however had a plan for the dreams that were on my heart, and during my first year of nursing at the University of Manitoba I met a friend who also had the desire to go to Africa on missions. We talked about it for a year and then this year during May and June our dreams became a reality as we landed in Zambia, Africa for two months. I do not really know what I was expecting in Africa, probably a lot more wild animals and more huts, but then again, I was not able to go into the real rural bush area of Africa, where many people live in huts and farm.
We were able to minister in Kitwe, Zambia, which is a city of 65,000 orphans. Some households are run by children no older than 15 years of age and many families only have one parent, either the mother or father has died because of HIV/AIDS. Everyone in Kitwe is affected by HIV/AIDS, if one particular person does not have the illness, then either someone in their family or someone who is close to that person will. I can remember walking down the dusty streets (a street in a poor community is just a dirt / sand walkway) and I could see so many people outside or at home during the middle of the day, not really working at a job that would make them money to live on, but just sitting around. I wondered what these people did all day, and how they were able to buy enough food to survive. The truth is that many of them do not make enough to survive.
Malnutrition is one of the main killers, since food is also a medicine. Anti-retral viral medication is a medication that has greatly improved and prolonged the lives of those who suffer with HIV/AIDS, and is now provided for free by the government to those who suffer with HIV/AIDS. This medication, however, is very hard on the stomach, especially when the people do not have any food to take with the medication. So they often will die of malnutrition and starvation. People with HIV/AIDS are often very weak and tired so they are not able to work as much as they did before they contracted the illness. This means that their family may now have to rely on other families or relatives for food, an option that is not always very reliable. Some of the women try to start a little business from their home by selling charcoal on the street or selling some food. Often they will make just enough to buy food for one meal for their family per day.
Many times I asked myself why there is so much poverty in Africa and why so many people there are starving. I know there is a lot of aid that is sent over from Canada and other developed countries, but one of the pastors was telling me that the Africans have gotten used to hand-outs and so some of them are actually just lazy. There are many however, who are able and willing to work, but there are few job opportunities. I think that many of the people lack the capital and funds to start their own business, and so they are not able to get ahead very easily in life. I was talking with one of the pastors in Twatasha, which is a poor community near Kitwe, and he was saying that the people need to be empowered. One of the ways to empower the people would be for someone to come with enough capital to start businesses, and then hire the Africans to work for them. Then at least some more job opportunities would be created. As it is now, many people rely on piece works, which are odd jobs, to make enough money for one day, never sure if they will find work the next day or not. Many times I was just overwhelmed at how hopeless it seemed, because there are so many people who have virtually nothing. And yet the amazing thing is that they are the most friendly people I have ever met in my life and also very giving. If one person in the family gets a little bit of food, they will share it with everyone in the family and with other people as well.
While in Kitwe I was able to work with a pastor in Twatasha for three weeks. We visited people with HIV/AIDS, prayed for them, encouraged them and listened to their stories. There were ten people that we would visit on a weekly basis, and all of them said that they did not know about HIV before they contracted the illness. It was only after being diagnosed with HIV that they learned about the disease and how it works and how it is spread. Many of these people contracted HIV around the year 2000. There is a lot of HIV/AIDS education in the schools now, so the youth and children are learning about it from a young age. My friend and I were also able to teach about HIV/AIDS to the youth of the community and also played soccer with them.
For my last three weeks in Africa, I was also able to work at Beautiful Gate ministries, which is part of the mercy ministries of Youth With A Mission. I taught grade 4 and 5 for about 1 week. Many of the schools for orphans and vulnerable have very few school supplies; a child would maybe have one little notebook and a pencil. I was surprised at how much the children could learn with so few supplies and books.
One of the highlights of my trip was working with the street children in Kitwe. There are so many children living on the streets, many of them are orphaned and have nowhere else to live, or they have chosen this life because they are able to beg and get more food than they would get at home. Some street children do not look like they live on the streets because they bathe everyday by a water pump, while others are quite dirty and have many infected wounds because they do not clean themselves. The children often sleep together for warmth, which also encourages the spread of infectious skin diseases. I was able to take my first aid kit to the streets and I started cleaning and bandaging the wounds of the street children. There is a clinic downtown that is supposed to be free for the street children, but many of the staff are corrupt and take the supplies for themselves and their families. Many times they only help the street children if they feel like it, and will assist a street child only if that child is escorted by an adult who is not a street child. So, maybe when I am finished my nursing degree I will be able to go and start or work in a clinic for street children…wherever God leads!
Another thing that I started to learn about was spiritual warfare. I have learned a bit about spiritual warfare while in Canada, but I have definitely not seen it practiced as much as I did in Africa. There are many witch doctors in the villages and quite a few of the people go to these traditional healers for aid when they are ill. There is still so much I want to learn about spiritual warfare and casting out demons, but I was able to learn some things from people who practiced this in Kitwe.
So, my dream of going to Africa was realized a lot sooner than I ever thought it would be. I would love to go back and live with the people and love them and tell them about Jesus and actually help them to become self-sustaining. I definitely learned the meaning of the quote that says, to the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world.
I was also challenged by a picture that God gave me during the pastor’s conference that we helped out with. I saw this African grandma who was sitting in the doorway of her hut and she was reaching out her hand towards me, saying, “Do not pass me by.” It was an image that definitely stuck with me throughout my entire time in Africa. Every time I was tempted to pass by someone or ignore a beggar or street child, I would think of this picture that God gave me. In a way the street children are like the lepers, they are the untouchables that people ignore and brush aside; they are like the forgotten children having to fend for themselves.
Once the African children have lived on the streets for a few years, they often do not want to leave the streets because that has become their home and family - the life that they know and are comfortable with. I would like to develop some kind of program where the children on the streets can still live there if they choose to, but that there would be a type of job where they can work for their money and food, some occupation other than stealing or begging.
Some of the HIV positive ladies do not have a lot of energy to work, but they are able to make some money by making AIDS pins. I have brought about three hundred of these pins over from Africa. If you are interested in receiving a pin and making a donation that would go towards assisting HIV positive people and also those living with AIDS, just let me know!
