Let the Poor say I am Rich

     The past two days have been pretty low key since the office closes and we do not have work on the weekends. At first I was a little bummed about the time away from my new friends after just meeting them, but it has turned out to be a great time of adjusting to the culture and lifestyle while bonding with my fellow interns.

     We spent several hours journaling and getting organized at a local internet café while people watching in the marketplace all around us. As we were sitting there taking it all in it was so fun to examine and mentally note all the differences in the culture. But probably one of the biggest things I have noticed in my time here is how relational the people are here. As I sat and watched people’s interactions with one another and even their interactions with us, I couldn’t help but notice how people just simply want to get to know you and are all super friendly. It has been interesting to truly immerse ourselves in the culture and see across the board the similarities and differences with regards to the American culture we are all used to.

     One thing that I did not expect when coming to Zambia though was the drastic demographic differences we have seen between the wealthy and poor. Today we spent some time at the internet café and then walked over to Mandahill, the local mall in Lusaka and I was honestly shocked when I saw how nice it was. Maybe it is totally arrogant and western of me to think this way, but coming into Africa I knew I would be exposed to extreme poverty, having the perception that would be the only thing I saw for the next two months. Clearly, after today that is not the case. As we walked around and saw all the expensive stores and restaurants, surrounded by the same materialistic world we live in every day in America, my heart broke even more for the kids living in Chongwe. How is it possible that just a few miles down the road there are kids running around the dirt roads, living off of one meal a day, without mothers and fathers, doing everything they can to not only take care of themselves, but also their brothers and sisters while these people enjoy the luxuries we so often take for granted every day? How is this fair? Why do these kids have so little while the people that surround me in this mall have so much? As I continued to wrestle with these thoughts, the Lord reminded me of these sweet words that have truly taken on a new meaning and truth in my heart.

 "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich."

2 Corinthians 8:9

“And now, Let the weak say I am strong. Let the poor say I am rich. Because of what the Lord has done for us.”

These kids may not have the materialistic luxuries and lifestyles we saw these other Zambian families at the mall enjoying. They may have never even seen a place like that before. But I do know this: these kids are rich in God’s love and mercy and are all the more blessed because of it.