(you can see all my blogs about Africa by clicking here)
Since I’ve been back, people ask me all kinds of questions about Africa. The most obvious one is “How was it?”
It’s tough to answer. It was good. It was also hard. I missed my family something fierce. I also saw some of the most incredible things. I met the most incredible people. I saw some really hard things. An 11 year old boy carrying around his baby sister, who was covered in filth. Kids walking around barefoot everywhere. A guy at a market wanted to sell me stuff in exchange for my socks.
I honestly don’t know how to answer it yet. The question is too broad.
What I do know though is something I mentioned above. I’ve never met such extraordinary people who just want to help others. Some of the people who we traveled with around Zambia had come out of their OWN POCKET over $6,000 just to be able to go and help others. I can’t imagine! I couldn’t do that. But they can. They are made to do this. God gave them hearts to help people joyfully and without agenda. From the team of people from outside Africa to all the amazing World Vision people that we met there…wow, I was just blown away.
Today’s post encompasses one last visit to the Makonkoto school before we left to head to Twachiyanda. On the way we stopped at a clinic in Kanchomba to learn about the stuff they are dealing with. Which is bad. So awful.
Austin wanted one last chance to just hang with the kids, so we stopped by and had a blast!
This first picture is again outside my front porch at the Lakeview Lodge. I really was fond of that place. So peaceful and beautiful. Other than the spiders.
Fred from the World Vision ADP in Sinazongwe gave us gifts before we departed.
I got this RAD little zebra plate!
Malaria pills. Eww.
Before heading to the school we stopped at a health clinic that Austin and Hoops of Hope helped build. The caretakers there are amazing.
I don’t know if I mentioned it before, but I love this kid Austin.
Another of my favorite images from the trip.
This kid on the right is supposedly named Sam…he’s all personality. I wish I had gotten to hang with him a bit more.
See, there’s Sam again in the red shirt. Sooooo happy. All of them were really.
Here’s a quick video of us entering that classroom…it was pretty amazing!
Can’t even tell you how much I love these photos of the kids from these classroom windows as we left.
The girl on the left sticking her butt out was SO VERY PROUD of that haha. I showed her the photo and she laughed hysterically 🙂
On to Kanchomba.
At a stop to grab some food for a visit we were making, I spotted this kid hanging by himself. I hesitated to snap a photo because I don’t like being someone who just exploits people for the sake of a photograph, but I eventually took it anyways. It’s one of my favorites from the trip.
Meeting the ADP head for Kanchomba.
This used to be the medical clinic in which this region did a lot of work. The roof is gone now, there are holes in the walls and it’s unusable.
The building behind this is still okay, so that’s where most of the care is being done.
The medical staff explains how bad things are. No vehicles to transport patients who need desperate help to other hospitals. No electricity. Not much help. And a bad water supply nearby.
This is where on average 25 women give birth every month.
This woman delivers babies and does the best she can, but she’s actually not even qualified to do most of what she does. She has no help. She also has an amazing heart.
One of the hardest parts of the trip was a visit to this house. They lost their son a few years ago and we were bringing them food to help out and also to hear their story.
This man and wife had a little boy who was only a few years old. Their water supply is a nearby pond which animals also use to drink and to go to the bathroom. Their son got a case of diarrhea and was dead in three days. If they would have had a proper medical clinic or even a vehicle to get him help, he probably would have lived. It was just diarrhea. Such a sad story, I can’t even imagine.
When they were done telling the story…Austin asked if he could pray for them. He went over to sit by the man and put his hand on him. It was incredibly moving. I tried to capture it best I could. Everyone was in tears.
And in the midst of all that sadness and hurt, I spotted this little girl and was almost knocked over by her cuteness.
Oh my.