Sunday, October 28, 2012

Zambia Missions Trip 2012

Time Will Tell

When poverty in Africa is mentioned in the media we are often bombarded with photos of starving children. These photos touch our hearts to inspire us to give money towards a cause; but when we see too many photos of emaciated children we tend to criticize the organization and say that  they are trying to manipulate us into giving more money. 

I have taken my own photos of starving children in Africa. These are children who have crossed my path and touched my heart on missions trips with Seeds Of Hope in Zambia. I know that my motives have been altruistic, there are people who can never travel to Zambia themselves to witness first hand the poverty that has been overwhelming, I want to show them in photos. I also don't want to forget.

Photos help to communicate the great need


 It is hard to tell you what it feels like to hold an 11 lb child who is two years old, to put a diaper on him that is meant for a newborn -  and have that diaper be too big for him. I've stroked the swollen ankles of the child who's body is fighting in one last battle to save the internal organs and I've rubbed my hands along the bumps of his spine and ribs.  I've tried to feed the little one with a milk, sugar and egg mixture to get the nutrients into his dehydrated body; and then I've watched  that child take its last breath. How can I take a photo of what it feels like to bury that child, a child who has died of starvation?

The images in my memory are greater
 than any photo I have ever taken

Maggie and I with Peter Marcus
Thankfully some of these children have been saved. We have "before" photos of the children when they first arrive, then after some time has passed the "after" photos tell the story of hope. 

And that's why I was so pleased to have this photo taken a couple of weeks ago when I was in Zambia to set up a library (blog post about this will come). 

This is a photo of me with my friend Maggie. I met Maggie 10 years ago on one of my missions trips to Ndola. She was working with a group of  volunteers who would visit the sick in their compound (township). Over the years we have kept in touch and when I go to Zambia we usually see each other. Maggie and I have some things in common, we are both mothers and we have both lost family members to AIDS and we are connected through Seeds of Hope. Together Maggie and I have helped a few children.

Saskia with Peter Marcus in February 2009
In 2009 my family stayed in Zambia for two months. We asked Maggie if she knew of any children who needed help. She said she knew of a baby who was doing poorly, she introduced us to his mother who was willing for us to help her son. My family took this little boy in, and he did look like the child in all those starving baby pictures. The day he arrived my daughter Saskia took care of him staying up with him all night so that she could feed him small spoonfuls of high protein milk. By morning Peter Marcus had already improved. Gradually he gained his strength back, he started to smile and respond to our family and he began to eat regular food. 

Peter Marcus stayed with us while we were in Zambia and he eventually moved into the Buseko Children's Home where he lived for a year. Eventually his mother missed him so much that she took him home with her. 

He loved the apple
That was 3 1/2 years ago--this year, in October, I was in Zambia and I was reminiscing with one of the caregivers who remembered when Peter Marcus came to Buseko. I mentioned that I would love to see him. So we arranged for Maggie to bring him to meet me. And there he was, no longer a starving baby, but a healthy looking little boy. He had no clue who I was, and it didn't really matter, he was a bit shy to see me until I gave him an apple and then his face lit up. 

 I  do have a picture of Peter Marcus when he first arrived in very bad shape but I think I won't post it this time.

You'll just have to take my word for it. 






Saturday, July 28, 2012

A River Runs Around It


On my return visit to Belize last month I had to ask myself, did I do any good on that DTS outreach 28 years ago? I remember whacking a lot of jungle bush with a machete (pronounced with a silent "e" like a French word), if we chopped at a tall bush, fire ants would fall down our backs and sting worse than a wasp. We swam in Roaring Creek where little fishes nibbled at our legs, we all thought they were baby piranhas, but I found out this time they are only sardines.

YWAM Belize
Robin and I visited Banana Bank the YWAM base in Roaring Creek near Belize's capital city Belmopan. Belize is located in Central America on the Caribbean, south of Mexico, east and nestled beside Guatemala. My DTS outreach missions trip to Belize with YWAM Salem  was in 1984.

Santiago and Liliana Valencia, the directors of the YWAM base welcomed us and gave us a tour. I remembered the oxbow shape of the property that was all green jungle with a deep river winding around it, but this time we walked around neatly landscaped property, cement sidewalks and brightly painted  houses built Belizean style--raised off the ground, no glass windows, only screens.


I walked to the original prayer chapel, the first and only structure on the base in 1984, it is now the DTS classroom and I tried to imagine all the inspiring words that must have been spoken and prayed inside this building over 28 years. The memory of these words are infused in the hearts of those who passed through. Were they transformed and motivated to "go into all the world?" and bring glory to God? I'd love to know, but I like to think so. 

The original prayer chapel is now a DTS classroom.
This was the only building on site in 1984. 
Lily introduced us to her two sons plus a few of the six boys that live with them. She explained to the boys who we were, and mentioned that I had helped cut bush at the very beginning. Then she said, "so you need to say 'thank-you' to her for the work she did." I was taken aback as I had not expected this, after all, I really hadn't contributed very much to the entire project.

The YWAM base runs regular Discipleship Training Schools but they also host mission teams from the USA. An organization called Wonder Voyage will arrange missions trips for churches and groups, Belize is one of the countries they work in.  

So what good came from my doing a DTS outreach? What is happening with YWAM in Roaring Creek? These days there is a soccer Football Ministry with the boys that came over the bridge from the neighbouring Roaring Creek which is known to be a "dangerous community"--shootings are common--the soccer club offers a safe environment for teenage boys.  The soccer players are now competing, winning and FIFA is taking notice of them. The boys benefit from learning how to play soccer in a safe environment, and they get good Christian teaching with discipleship classes.

Would this have happened even if I had not gone to Belize all those years ago? Absolutely, my contribution was not crucial, but I participated in something that God wanted to do there.

And maybe it's not about what good that I did on that outreach but maybe it was more about what good the outreach did for me. My time in Belize in 1984 instilled in me a desire to be involved with missionary outreach and a confidence that God wants me to be a part of what He is doing in my community and in other parts of the world. I learned about working together as part of a team with all kinds of people in an environment that wasn't exactly comfortable. 

This outreach was a training time for me, a primer for the rest of my life. Like the water in Roaring Creek, I didn't stay long but I passed through. It's a part of my life and perhaps I was a little part of the life in this place. 

Roaring Creek 
I think Robin and I will return one day to Roaring Creek, perhaps for a summer of service. I heard that there is a mobile library travelling around Roaring Creek, Robin likes to coach soccer and well, the base has a big beautiful kitchen, I can always get busy baking cinnamon buns! 





Monday, July 2, 2012

Back to Belize

The main road in Hopkins, ending at the Caribbean
"The bus to Punta Gorda has just left" said the taxi driver, hoping that we would be willing to pay the $90 US fee to drive us to Hopkins Village. We had just arrived at the bus depot in Belize City from Ambergris Caye. The traffic was held up and we missed the bus to take us to our next destination. No worries, we climbed unto the next bus headed for Benque, knowing it would stop in Belmopan where we could connect to Dangriga. Belize is such a small country that the bus system is very easy to use, even for us tourists--very inexpensive.

This wasn't my first visit to Belize, I was there in 1984 for my Salem, OR YWAM  DTS outreach. That trip about 30 of us had traveled for ten days from Oregon through California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, down through Mexico to get to Belize. Robin and I weren't married yet, but he heard all about my two month outreach and he had always talked about going back to Belize to visit the places I had stayed at.This June we had two weeks holiday and we decided it was time to visit Belize. I will write about our last three days first. We rode the bus from Belize City to Dangriga and then took a taxi to the Garifuna village of Hopkins. 

Miss Bertie's Library
 Last time I was there we had no electricity, we drank bleached lukewarm water, were eaten by sand flies and well, let me say the bathroom facilities were "primitive." Most of Hopkins has changed, except for the road into the village, it is still unpaved, potholed and rough on the suspension of the vehicle.

 I walked around the village hoping to see something familiar, but I didn't recognize any of the buildings or the people. There are resorts going up just outside the village, there is a school several churches and best of all we found a library. 

The library has 1500 books and a view of the Caribbean Sea
This library was built by a Peace Corps worker called Miss Bertie. After she passed away unexpectedly the library was named after her. I met with a couple of volunteers who open up the library in the afternoons. The children come from school to check out their one book or to look at the books on the shelves. The boys especially like to look at the picture books of animals. I wasn't sure what to expect when visiting this remote Garifuna village by the sea, I did not expect a little library and this was a serendipitous surprise. This is my first post about my trip to Belize, I have more to say and more photos to post.






Tuesday, April 24, 2012

First Blog Post For Me Ever

My first blog post, taking the leap from just thinking about writing a blog to actually typing out my thoughts and posting them online. After this initial post I plan to get over trying to make a perfect grand entrance to blogging. I'm not sure what topics my blog posts should cover, libraries, missions, helping HIV affected children in Africa, writing, being a mom of children almost grown, human trafficking, being a Christian and all the things I can't write about but want to!! It's intimidating to write a blog but something I want to do. So here goes my first post, so I can get writing and hopefully inspire, encourage and inform some people out there.