Leaving Home to Come Home

So this has been such hard last couple of days. I never imagined it would be this hard to say goodbye. The last month has been very productive, exciting, but also sad. These people have become my family and have taken me as one of their own.

The last month or so there have been a number of things going on. I was able to attend a traditional kitchen party and wedding which was so neat to see from another world. There is so much tradition involved and also so much fun. Mostly though I was preparing for my parents to come to see me. I really enjoyed their visit and we were able to see so many things that I never had a chance to see. We went to many different villages, saw a million animals, and visited Alice’s family. I also had to do some crazy things with my dad like the zipline and gorge swing (off a cliff)! My parents also had the opportunity to meet the children they are sponsoring and their families. This was such a blessing to see them come together. They were so excited to see each other and took lots of pictures. They also brought many donated school supplies for the school that have been SO helpful. Thank you for those who contributed!

Apart from their visit, we also continued to visit the boys and have a bible study/encouragement group with them. Two of them have showed very much talent in their singing and producing abilities so they were sponsored to record a demo track at our local studio in the youth center. I believe they will go far and would love to share their music if anyone is interested. There is also one boy, Moses who has always been closed up to the idea of God forgiving him. He says that he has done too much to forgive and has gone through so much. The last week I was there I was happy to see him participating for one of the first times. We talked about the amazing grace and span of God’s love for him and he discussed how he was feeling. He showed interest in staying in touch to discuss more. His heart has gone through so much pain so it is so difficult for him to accept that he is unconditionally loved.

The other thing that we have been doing is spending the money donated for projects for the school. We received so many unexpected donations that ended up going so far. First of all, we bought new pots, utensils, and mattresses for the school as the old ones were very dirty and some were stolen. We also bought some books, and teaching materials. We were able to hook up a landline for the school and pay the big electricity bill. We were able to make it more secure by putting burglar bars and locks on all the doors since they didn’t all have them. We also put cement blocks in one window that was a security risk. After that, we bought a computer and all-in-one printer/scanner/copier that my parents brought and had a carpenter build a bookshelf and a desk for these. These were the most important things as they will generate money for the school. We have started this as a business and are also using them for administrative purposes. The remaining money was donated to a support a youth camp, buying insulin and a tester for a diabetic, paying for some very talented orphan boys to record a song, build a bookshelf for a small library in our church youth center, and various other small donations. The money that is generated will also go to buy supplies for a small shop to also generate money. This has made such a difference in the school and it was such a blessing to be the one the distribute it. It is always rewarding to help start something that is self-sustainable so that they can continue raising money themselves. Thank you again for those who contributed!

The last week was very busy as my parents left, I was preparing to leave, and we were also preparing a fundraiser. We planned to have a boat cruise for a fundraiser, but people didn’t pay in time, so we changed it to a game drive/tea and coffee. It was a lot of fun and we were lucky to see elephants, giraffes, crocodiles, impala, water monitor lizards, and other things. We didn’t make as much as we had hoped, but were still able to raise some money to help start the shop. It is stressful planning everything and making sure everyone is satisfied! After that, I was basically doing some last minute things to prepare to leave and of course saying goodbye. The day before I was supposed to leave, I was trying to say goodbye to everyone when my mom told me that my grandmother passed away. It just added to the blow of leaving and it was hard being so far away and having to go straight to a funeral when I get back. It was not reality being in another land so far away. I did get to speak to her a few days earlier just to tell her I loved her and pray for her. I know that this was to give me some sort of peace at not being able to have been there.

Now as I am returning, I feel my heart desiring to be back in Africa. A world where life goes slow and people are important, where greeting one another and respect are highly regarded, where modesty and sharing with your neighbor are required of people…and where people lose their friends and family members everyday due to the diseases and accidents that come in a world of poverty. I miss my friends there. It has been quite challenging and tiresome, but extremely rewarding as well. At first, I felt like I needed to fix everyone’s problem and meet every need, but as time went on I found that relationship was most important and then I could fill in the needs when it was possible. My desire is to someday open an orphanage where children mostly stay with foster parents and adoptive parents are searched for, where they are taught sustainable skills, and where the love of Christ grows them into people who reach out to the “untouchables”. This is my passion and it is the reason for me coming back to get my Master’s degree in social work.

Thank you to all those who have contributed to my experience either financially, in encouragement, prayer, or just in your blessing. I will see you all soon.

Blessings and Challenges

So the last month in Zambia has been good, but it is getting difficult as it becomes closer to my time to leave. I will miss this place so much as it really has become a second home and I have really become a part of a family here. There have been some exciting things that have come about in the last month and also some challenges as always.

One very exciting thing is that the neighbor boy who lives in the backyard (what is called the servant’s quarters) has finally accepted to start coming to church with us and now accepted the Lord and wants to be baptized! He and his brother are orphans and Alice told them they could live in the back for free if they help keep the place clean. The older boy works and the younger one goes to a free school for orphans learning about plumbing and welding. He is very smart and always comes to me with math questions that we have been working out together. It is very exciting to see him grow.

As for the school, we took the kids on an educational tour to a “fake village” (it was a lodge overlooking the gorge) and although a beautiful and fun experience, also a very stressful one as we had to keep 30 kids away from the edge of the cliff. We also did a project in class that includes a Polaroid of themselves on a tracing of their hands and feet. Parents were very excited to receive these.

I also had the chance of speaking to the parents about child abuse and telling them the ways to prevent it. It was a chance to share some of my knowledge with them, but it was also difficult as the social welfare system is not well organized as it is in the U.S. to deal with cases such as child abuse. It is not always a good thing to report abuse to them or the police because you may find that nothing will happen or they will actually make the situation worse. When I went to child welfare to get information, they really knew nothing and had no concrete laws on it. We just encouraged them to come together as a community to discourage child abuse and we also told them that if there were cases that were not being correctly dealt with due to corruption in the police, that we could help them report it to an organization called International Justice Mission who helps in these sorts of extreme cases. It has been a difficult thing for me to find the balance as my duties as a social worker, but also respect the culture and understand the justice system. It is very frustrating to me that people get away with such things. This topic came up when I suspected abuse on one of the boys at the preschool as he was so terrified of showing his mother that his bag broke because she whips him with a stick on his legs so that there are marks. This is normal here, but it is never right for a child to grow up in total fear of his mother. Anyways, it is hard, but I am growing.

The school closed this week so now I will be working on a few other projects including helping the youth center create a library with some books that were donated by former missionaries in Africa. Books are so hard to come by in Africa so this will be such a great resource for the youth especially since they aren’t just old books. I hope to start this project soon. The youth also had a youth rally where they had HIV testing again and a youth Sunday where they ran the whole service. They will be hosting a youth camp soon so they also did a fundraising Braii (BBQ) which was very fun. Once more, I tried to start a girl’s bible study with the teenage girls as I really want a chance for us to talk about the issues teens go through and be open with each other as it is so rare in this culture. The problem is that the girls do not show up to many things so it was very difficult to get them to come. This was a bit disappointing, but I will continue to reach out to these girls.

The boys are doing well. They are continuing to grow and be excited about God. The last couple of weeks we started having them each share something. It could be a testimony, encouragement, song, verse, etc. We really saw some amazing talents in these boys as well as incredible potential. It was so good to hear from them and be excited that God really is doing big things in their lives! It is so worth the time we have taken to invest in these boys as I believe they will grow up to do big things. We have also had some new faces from church become excited about coming to encourage them.

One of the most encouraging things that has happened this month is the generous contributions of friends, my lifegroup, and Rockharbor. It has been so exciting because I found that Rockharbor donated $1500 which we have used or are in the process of using to buy a computer, printer, photocopier, burgler bars, locks, mattresses for the kids to nap on, and possibly some other small items. The computer, printer, and photocopier are not only for the school to become organized, but also to generate money for the school. We will be charging the public to use these things and generating money to help pay school fees for those who can’t manage. We will also most likely start a small shop with basic necessities to also generate money.

There was also a few other donations that I am so grateful for. One is a monthly supporter who will be helping a few orphans that are being looked after by their grandparents. We visited these kids and it is so crazy how AIDS has swept through their family. The grandparents had 15 children or something and I think only about 3 are still living. And it is so common for people here to have lost 1 or both parents very early on in their life. The other donation is my lifegroup who has been so amazing. If I don’t have to use much money for immigration, most of this money will also go to buying materials for the school and paying school fees for kids who can’t manage, as well as helping a few people with general needs, such as the boy living in back of us who needs a scientific calculator for school.

I am also helping to put together a fundraising boat cruise for the school that will take place on May 10^th. God is really blessing the heart Alice has for children and the ways in which she sacrifices for them. The other big thing I have been doing is preparing for my parents to come and visit. I am very excited to show them around where I have been for almost a year and also get to enjoy Africa a bit as a tourist. The Lord has been beside me during this time and I am so grateful to be in His arms and to also be His arms and legs to others. God bless you all.

Erin

New Adventures

My past month here has been a different experience from the time I was here before, but a chance to see other parts of Zambia and experience other things. As I said before, we visited many families in areas of extreme poverty. During this time of visiting, we also visited a man who was very sick. They said he had Tuberculosis, but that usually means the person is also HIV+. They do not say this because of the stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS. I have never been with someone so sick and it literally broke my heart to see him in the condition he was in. We prayed for him and I could not help but weep and pray for God to comfort him and his family. This was the first time I was faced with the reality of this disease in someone’s life. A couple days after visiting this man, we heard that he passed away. This was a huge loss for the community as this man was involved in many different projects benefiting the community. We attended the traditional funeral and burial which is a long event, and in the end we were exhausted. Although I didn’t know this man, I had spent that short time with him and I experienced the pain and heartache that him and his family were going through. At least I was able to stand with them during a hard time and know that there is hope in Christ in the darkest moments.

Though this was a sad story, there have been many other exciting stories. There is a teacher that I work with who is pregnant, yet could not afford a scan to see if her baby is healthy, much less pre-natal care. The scan was only about $10 and so I was able to help her and it was so exciting to see the picture and hear that she was having a boy and he is very healthy. The little things we do for others are those that they remember. Another exciting thing was that money for a stove and freezer for the school were donated. As I mentioned before, these things were stolen by a previous housemaid and therefore the school was struggling to prepare lunch each day for the children and teachers. We recently bought the new freezer and stove and I have never seen anyone so excited. Alice (the director of the school) was so thankful to be able to cook faster and keep food longer. We were also able to buy a part for the mini-van so that we can fix it to start picking up kids for school.

Recently, Alice and I went to see a beautiful area overlooking the Zambezi river in the middle of the bush where we want to take the kids on a picnic. It was so relaxing to just be in nature. We also went on a trip to a place called Kafue Gorge to see an area where Alice may open another preschool due to the need in the area. This town is in the hills and filled with all sorts of trees, plants, and other greenery. It overlooks a beautiful gorge where they generate electricity from the Kafue River. We ate so much sugarcane, bananas, guavas, corn, and other fruits and vegetables that grow in the area. It was beautiful.

I have really come to love the kids at the school and also the people I stay with. We have laughed together and have been sad together. Alice is teaching me to make African food and I made French toast and tacos for them (with homemade tortillas!). At the school I mostly help the children one on one or sometimes I help teach them songs or rhymes. If there is anyone that has resources to teach reading, writing, or other good teaching resources PLEASE pass them along. Most kids here can’t read until they are age 9 or 10 because not only are there few resources to teach properly, but also there are not many books available. I have also seen that the teachers are only taught that there are “slow learners” and “fast learners”. They don’t learn about learning disabilities. There is one child who doesn’t talk and he is four years old. I think he may be slightly autistic, but they have never heard of autism. They just say he is “dull”. Since I worked in a school for special ed kids, I may start trying to work with him one-on-one. As far as “social work” here, I have been trying to access the needs of the families and find out why there are certain problems with children. Mostly, it is poverty so lack of resources makes it hard to help in this area. Alice tries to help by forgiving them of paying school fees and providing lunch, but it becomes hard to run the school when so many people have problems paying school fees.

So this is mostly what I have been doing and learning recently. If you know of any organizations that can help a developing preschool in Zambia or you would like to support yourself, please contact me at erinnhartzell@yahoo.com. I am trying to help Alice raise money for the good thing she is doing here. I will also be applying for a work permit soon so that I can at least stay until May since it is more expensive to extend my visitor’s permit. Please pray that I get my work permit and also that God continues to lead me in the direction he has for me in Zambia. I still desire so much to work in adoptions and I am trying to find out more about that here in Zambia. Thank you for your support and prayers!

New Beginnings

So I am back in Zambia now and on a different path. I had to make some very hard decisions and go through some very hard times, but the Lord has been faithful through it all.

I am now volunteering at a local pre-school here with one of the women, Alice, from my church. We have been visiting families who have children at the school since many of them are orphans or vulnerable children and go to this school for free. Alice has a big heart and she gives so much even out of the little that she has. The houses we visited really amazed me even after living here for 5 months and visiting villages. It is amazing to me to see how people can live, but somehow they are sustained. I have also visited many of the families of the kids that are being sponsored. All of them had stories of how God miraculously provided for them and their faith is so amazing through all they have gone through. I will be visiting the boys’ home soon as well and hopefully continue the program that was started.

My living situation is not as scary now after some improvements, but still a huge adjustment. I actually live in a school building in one of the rooms. My room at least isn’t so scary anymore because I now have a lightbulb in (imagine electricity!), as well as a mosquito net (to also keep other scary bugs away like cockroaches which I see way too much), and a door with a lock (yeah I didn’t have a door), oh and a curtain on my window. The next project is putting a light in the bathroom (very scary at night) and a new plug in my room so I can use it. Still, all the appliances in the kitchen were stolen so there is nothing: no stove, no fridge, nothing. She cooks on this little makeshift stove and she buys meat each day since we don’t have a fridge. Also, I have to buy bottled water so I don’t get sick. The bathroom is scary looking, but somehow I manage by taking baths with a bucket, but there is only water coming from the tap twice a day at certain times, and sitting on a seatless toilet that a million kids use. Oh, and I don’t have a pillow J But, honestly by some miracle the Lord is giving me peace here as my room is much more cozy now and the girl I live with is a blessing. She really sacrifices to give to the kids at the school by giving up other comforts.

It has been so good to see all the people I have missed so much. I feel like I really have a family here and they have given me so much more than I could ever give them. Their hearts are so soft towards others and listening to the Lord. Please continue to pray for me as I try and find my new routine and adjust to the most recent changes. Please also pray for the families and children I am working with, that God would continue to provide for them and empower them in the gifts and talents He has given them. I pray they don’t ever give up hope. Thank you so much!