Tanyan Chandran, a WOW STM team member writes a reflection on her time in Kabwe, Zambia.

A candle is not only a source of light, but a symbol of hope. On August 6th, a team of eleven gathered from various churches across Canada, looked to God to light their candles and journeyed to Kabwe, Zambia through the organization Women for Orphans and Widows (WOW). 

It is hard to grasp the reality within a country that is strangled by poverty, devastated by the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and enveloped by hopelessness. Working alongside Kabwe Home-Based Care, we visited the sick and dying. We met young Carolyn (15 years old) who lost her baby at birth and is HIV positive; Agnes who can barely walk, has severe chest pains, cannot afford to see a doctor, and cares for eight orphans; Edward who has had four operations because the stitches keep opening up, and several other heartbreaking stories. One might wonder where God’s fingerprint is amidst the sorrow and suffering.

Despite the shattering truths that lie within Zambia, God is at work. With the little they had and though they were literally walking through the valley of death, they gave glory to God in everything. Whether it was children doing cartwheels down the road trying to catch up with our bus, a mother clinging to God with faith that He can heal her daughter, or a group of widows singing praises to God as they watered their garden, it was evident that they were overflowing with joy and hope.

During the three weeks, our team shared Bible studies and testimonies, presented puppet shows of the Christmas story, organized workshops such as first-aid and rope making, handed out school supplies and uniforms, served meals, cooked with the widows and created memory books for the sick. One of the highlights of our trip was attending Pastor Darius’ church in Chibanga. The church plant was a result of the WOW team showing the Jesus film in October 2010, which drew many to Christ. Through the sweet singing of the children’s choir and the motivating message of trusting in God in all circumstances, our faith grew stronger. Whether you attend a church with a congregation of 3000 people in a large building or gather with a few people in the village of Chibanga, God dwells in our hearts. True joy does not lie in the material things we have around us, but in the One who is in us.

I flew to Zambia praying that God would use me to touch a few lives there, but before I could realize it, He used the people of Zambia to transform mine. Through their warm welcomes, bright smiles, cheerful singing, joy in all situations, and complete trust in God, they brought light into our lives. God doesn’t call the qualified, but He qualifies the called. Once you make yourself available to Him, He will use you to light the world with His love.

Eight women from Edmonton, AB joined WOW in ministry in Kabwe, Zambia last May.  As always, the mission of the team was to build relationship with the orphans and widows in WOW sponsored communities.  The majority of our time was spent in the village of Chibanga, a small community of 545 people, 35 km away from the nearest town.  The Chief, Eleness Chilupula, was with us each day as we shared testimonies and the salvation message with the widows. 

There are 62 widows who are working together, training in sewing and working on gardening projects.  We were amazed at the progress that has been made in such a short time.  Because fresh water has been brought to the community, through the digging of a deep borehole, vegetables can be grown three times per year instead of just once when the rains can be relied upon.  The fruit of the widow’s labour will benefit the orphans and vulnerable children in the community as well as the widows themselves.

 A feeding program has also been initiated due to a fantastic donor response to this project request and soon every child in Chibanga Community School will be feed each school day for the entire school year.  Because Chibanga has recently become a WOW sponsored community there is funding available for a new pig rearing project for the teenage boys in the community as well as a goat rearing project among the widows.  Here is a picture of the stables that the boys have built themselves.

Part of the team’s mission was to create and distribute memory books to the widows.  We visited their homes, including the Chief's home, who is also a widow.  We took photos and recorded things like each family members name, birth date, favorite food, color and bible verse.  We even hosted a party where every widow received a chitenge (wrap/skirt), t-shirt, umbrella and soaps, as well as a hot meal and drinks.  What a joy to be able to celebrate in song and dance with these beautiful women.

One day of our trip was spent visiting a very remote community called Twafane.  It was so remote that one of its elders had to walk from 4 am to 8 am just to reach the dirt road where he was to meet us so that we could find the village.  From the dirt road we travelled over an hour on cow paths before we arrived.  It must be noted that the cow paths were much smoother to travel on then the dirt roads which are riddled with large potholes caused by many rainy season and no repair.  Before we arrived in the village we could hear beautiful singing in the distance growing louder and louder as we neared our destination.  The entire community came out to meet us, men, women and children.  We were greeted on the road and we all walked/danced together into the village.  This is the first village where the men have come out to greet us and can the chief ever dance!!  (We'll post a video of this trip on the mission trip page for you to see.)

Our mission was to assess the needs of the community.  We noted that it was extremely isolated and with no access to clean water.  Because the village is surrounded by small streams, the children were not able to attend the local public school 8 km away during the rainy season.  To remedy this situation some of the most educated people in the community volunteered to help build a school and teach the children but it was clear that much assistance was needed. It was great to see the community rally together on behalf of the children regardless of their difficulties.  It is our prayer that this small remote village will one day become a WOW sponsored community.

The last few days of our trip was spent in fellowship with the widows of Shamabanse.  The women proudly showed us the uniforms and dresses that they have been making and even prepared a speech of thanks for our support and believing in them.  They showed their appreciation for the sewing machines and training that WOW donors have provided by teaching us to sew on sleeves and stitching up the side seams of the shirts they were making.  The next day the widows taught the WOW team how to make 8 authentic African dishes over small open fires.  What a treat it was to learn from these women, and then to taste each of our dishes.  It was an incredible time that we will never forget.

If you would like to join WOW on a STM trip, prayerfully consider where the Lord would have you serve and then go to the WOW mission trip web page to download and complete a STM application.  Upon receipt someone will be in touch with you with more details.

In August of this year a team of 19 women and 1 man visited the Njewa, Mgona and Kawale communities of Lilongwe, Malawi through our partners Somebody Cares and Kawale Orphan Care.  In the first week the team split up between Njewa and Mgona and spent the mornings praising God with the widows and children through lots of dancing and singing.

Even though everyone felt the dancing could continue forever, we did eventually split again so that some team members worked with the children teaching bible stories and playing lots of games and the other team members sat with the widows in the community shelter, where all community meetings take place, and talked about basic health care, taught simple bible lessons and shared testimonies.  It was such a rich time of relationship building with both the children and the widows in these WOW communities.  The team enjoyed hugging the children and encouraging the widows in their everyday lives.

The afternoons were spent joining the home based care workers on their home visits with families in need.  We had a special treat for these families because we came equipped with materials to make beautiful Memory Books.  During our first home visits we would introduce ourselves, talk with the families, pray with them and share about our memory book project.  We would take pictures and gather family information such as names, ages, favourite foods, colours and bibles verses which would then be organized into a unique memory book to be left as a gift for each family.  I can’t tell you how impressed each family was to receive such a treasure.  It’s important to know that most children have never seen their own picture apart from the reflection they would find in a puddle or bucket of water.

Our home based care visits had each team member joining in on the normal tasks carried out by the volunteers such as mudding floors, carrying water, splitting wood, preparing food, pounding maize and washing dishes.

The Njewa widows have been working on their IGAs, (income generating activities) for about a year now and were so pleased to show our team their work.  We enjoyed sitting and watching their skilled hands work their crafts.  Some even handed over their half finished work so that we could try doing what they do.  It was with immense joy that we were able to be a part of these new small businesses that they widows had begun. 

Gloria Sululu is part of the widows group that is making blankets for orphaned children from the WOW patches Canadian women are decorating and sending to Africa.  She shares this: 

“You know I am now a tailor. I have a trade!  The uniforms the children wear are made by me and my fellow tailors.  I have a source of income now.  I even make clothes for women in the community.  This is life. I have a life now.  Thank you for encouraging us and believing in us.  We now believe in ourselves, we can do it.”

 It was a thrill to see the blankets being sewn while our team was in Njewa.  The widows who were sewing on the day we visited were just beginning their training with the tailor but they turned out to be great students because their blankets where beautiful.  The WOW team had brought over more than 500 patches, each decorated beautifully and prayed for by many women here in North America.  It was pretty neat to see these patches being turned into blankets knowing that a child would be spending  many hours looking at each patch and enjoying their unique patterns and colours. Because of these blankets, many children will no longer have to suffer through the cold nights.  

The second week of our trip took us to the Kawale community which was quite different from Njewa and Mgona.  Kawale is a community within the city of Lilongwe and is more of an urban ministry to those in need around them.  Kawale Orphan Care is run by a group of local pastors from surrounding churches and they were so excited to receive their first mission team.  They had many activities planned for us – in fact, more than could be done in any given day.  But we were pleased to see that they were so ambitious.  The pastor’s intent was for us to help the volunteers in their daily work and by doing so, learning just what it is like to walk in their shoes.  We quickly found out that there were some pretty big shoes to fill.  We spent time again each day teaching biblical principles to both the children and widows, helping to cook the daily meals for 100 children, carrying wood, hoeing fields, washing dishes and even playing netball with the volunteers.

 

It was just such an honour to see what God is doing in the WOW communities and to build relationships with the women, children and pastors in these communities.  Each member of the team came away blessed for having had the chance to become good friends with many of those who are sacrificing their lives to help others and we came away reevaluating their own lives.  It is really by the grace of God that we have the privilege each day to participate in His plan for the orphan and the widow.