The foundation has done it again. This expedition experience in Zambia, Africa has reached in and pulled our hearts right up onto our sleeves for all the world to see. The Mothers Without Borders compound, called the Children’s Resource Center (CRC), is beyond description. What this organization has done to help the disadvantaged children of Lusaka is incredible. Took lots of photos but it’s the stories that tear your heart out. Josephine, aka Auntie Jo, the main lady, is love on legs. These children, 64 residential orphans ages 5-18, and the school kids (850!!) are so happy to be there it just shines out of their eyes and smiles…beautiful, happy, unbelievably resilient kids who’ve already been through Hell and feel like they’ve landed in Heaven on earth.
We spent the morning touring the grounds (Auntie Jo kept saying “this was built with money from ASĒA- we can’t express how much gratitude we have for ASĒA”- kept thanking US. We were allowed to watch the classrooms of the primary school in action and were struck by the kids’ enthusiasm for learning. They were all engaged and participating, eager to celebrate their own accomplishments and those of their classmates. Then we split into groups of 3 with a social worker (Fred) and teacher (Precious- they go to school half day on Friday) and were assigned a student to walk home to their residence. We gave them the lunches we’d prepared earlier and ate together (pbj sandwiches, etc) and tried to get to know the kids, but our sweet boy Patrick was very shy, so Fred had to translate. We walked the route Patrick walks every day to and from school and it took 1.5 hours- they wanted us to see what these kids go through just to come to school. Most of the school kids only eat once a day- lunch at school- but we took extra food to leave with the family for the weekend. Patrick’s mom died and his dad is doing the best he can with nothing and his sister lives with them, who has a 2-month old baby. We were instructed to try to do small chores around the house, but there was really nothing to do because the word “house” is used very loosely in this case. So I snagged that sweet baby (Moses) and held him the whole time we were there. Finally, the truck came to the area and we only had a 20-min walk to catch our chilly, very windy hour-long ride home on the MWB military truck (that the ASEA foundation bought for them) with full and humbled hearts. From our nightly debrief, it was clear everyone was as moved as I was.
Through the course of the week, we were immersed in the culture of the region and had several opportunities to play with kids, visit people in their homes and purchase items made by the women in the villages. Though it was heart-wrenching to see how little they had, the people of Zambia are beautiful, kind and filled with a sense of kinship that I suspect helps them cope with the hard times. And the children…oh, those sweet, beautiful kids would swarm us everywhere we went, wanting nothing more than hugs and attention. We played football (soccer), turned jump ropes until our arms hurt, threw frisbees and read books to them. And not once did we see any dissention or bickering or selfishness, down to the smallest child. The spirit of UBUNTU is lived there every single day; it is woven into their very nature…”I am because we are.”
Thank you again, KimMarie, from the bottom of my heart for providing this glimpse into their world and the part our foundation plays in trying to help alleviate extreme poverty. It’s always an honor to represent our foundation but I come home from these trips changed in ways I cannot express, especially this trip. Sometimes words are not enough.