Yesterday was our first day of working, and I am in love already. In the morning
Humphrey (Zambian EOH Staff) picked us up from the local university where we
are staying to start our first morning off in the office in Lusaka, where we
will begin each of our days of work. Of course he came an hour later than
expected, so we are quickly learning and adapting to the event-orientation lifestyle
of the Zambian culture (time is never a priority). Each morning the staff opens
with a devotional of prayer and digging into some scripture. As interns, we
have now joined the makeup of a family the staff team resembles, and let me
tell you how beautiful that dynamic is. From the moment we stepped off the
plane, the staff literally welcomed us with open arms into the warmest hugs and
most sincere joy and excitement to meet us.
We began the morning with a
devotional starting with a time of worship, singing the most beautiful worship
songs in Nyanja. (I have no clue what they were singing the whole time, but it
was so neat to be able to worship alongside them to the same Father and hear
their genuine yearning for the Lord in their lives.) After worship came a time
of prayer. The way these men and women pray is unlike anything I have ever
experienced before. There is such passion and diligence in the way that they
communicate to the Lord and come before Him, and it is so neat to be able to
experience that. It has humbled me and given me a new perspective on my own
prayer life and the way I come before our Father, so I am excited to press in
deeper to that throughout the summer. After prayer we dug into the passages in
Isaiah 60:1-5 and discussed how we are to be lights for the Lord in order that
we and others might see the glory of the Lord.
Later in the afternoon we got to make our first drive out to Chongwe where some of the My Father’s House kids live, which is about 45 minutes away from the office in the country. During the drive to Chongwe I learned another valuable cultural lesson about Zambians –they are kind of scary drivers and yield to no people or animals. As soon as we pulled into the gates of the My Father’s House homes in Chongwe, a flood of children surrounded the vans and began screaming and literally jumping with joy that we were there. They each had the biggest smiles on their faces I have ever seen, and before we could even get our whole bodies out of the van, they were tugging on our arms and impatiently waiting their turn to learn our names and touch our hands. We got to spend the next couple of hours running around and learning these kids by name and face, what they like to do for fun, and simply just sitting and watching them. It is so exciting to finally meet these kids, and I can already see such shining personalities in each of them after knowing them just a couple of hours. Here are just a couple of funny and sweet memories off the top of my head from our first couple of hours together: 5 year old Doreen singing big booty while enjoying a piggy back ride from Kate, Juliet making up dance moves to every game we played and shaking her booty like none other, 5 year old Michael doing cartwheels and karate moves nonstop, playing soccer and volleyball with Andrew, Aaron, Alick, and more, getting my hair braided by what started as one –no wait now 10 girls surrounding me, and sitting in the dirt with Precious who is a new addition to MFH and is deaf and only speaks Nyanja. Despite all that these children do not have, their joy far outweighs their painful pasts and heartaches, and I cannot wait to learn and experience more of them throughout the summer. Needless to say, after spending less than 3 hours with these kids, they have already stolen a piece of my heart that I don’t think I will ever get back. And I don’t think I want to get back.
Later in the afternoon we got to make our first drive out to Chongwe where some of the My Father’s House kids live, which is about 45 minutes away from the office in the country. During the drive to Chongwe I learned another valuable cultural lesson about Zambians –they are kind of scary drivers and yield to no people or animals. As soon as we pulled into the gates of the My Father’s House homes in Chongwe, a flood of children surrounded the vans and began screaming and literally jumping with joy that we were there. They each had the biggest smiles on their faces I have ever seen, and before we could even get our whole bodies out of the van, they were tugging on our arms and impatiently waiting their turn to learn our names and touch our hands. We got to spend the next couple of hours running around and learning these kids by name and face, what they like to do for fun, and simply just sitting and watching them. It is so exciting to finally meet these kids, and I can already see such shining personalities in each of them after knowing them just a couple of hours. Here are just a couple of funny and sweet memories off the top of my head from our first couple of hours together: 5 year old Doreen singing big booty while enjoying a piggy back ride from Kate, Juliet making up dance moves to every game we played and shaking her booty like none other, 5 year old Michael doing cartwheels and karate moves nonstop, playing soccer and volleyball with Andrew, Aaron, Alick, and more, getting my hair braided by what started as one –no wait now 10 girls surrounding me, and sitting in the dirt with Precious who is a new addition to MFH and is deaf and only speaks Nyanja. Despite all that these children do not have, their joy far outweighs their painful pasts and heartaches, and I cannot wait to learn and experience more of them throughout the summer. Needless to say, after spending less than 3 hours with these kids, they have already stolen a piece of my heart that I don’t think I will ever get back. And I don’t think I want to get back.
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