Tomorrow the journey begins, as my sister would say, at 0:dark:30, meaning waaaaay earlier than I'd like, but that's the way it is, so I'll suck it up and leave for the airport at 4AM. I'll arrive in Zambia Friday in the early afternoon, so plenty of time to read and think on the way there.
Why this trip, you might ask. Long story, short, "because". What cause? AIDS orphans. Over a quarter million of them. Where? Zambia. (What used to be Northern Rhodesia for those of my generation.) Specifically, Ndola.
For the past 15 years or so Reformation Lutheran Church in Rochester, NY has been supporting Hope Orphanage, and over the past 10 years I have been selling bottled water at the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival.
We set the price of the water at $1.50 after much discussion back and forth whether it should not be $3.00 because that's what others are selling it for. I wanted very much to challenge folks to be generous and we posted signs reading "Keep the change. 50¢ will buy a brick or buy a lunch and put a smile on a child's face". Over the ten years that we have done that I can count the number of people who have asked for the 50¢ back on the fingers of one hand. The generosity of the crowds at the Jazz Festival has been truly humbling!! I'm so proud of them!!!
Now it's time to see what we need to be doing to make a real difference. I'll be spending 12 days in country to get a handle on what we might be doing and then coming back and working to put a plan together.
I'm going to try to discipline myself to keep this journal up to date. You can help. Pray for me.
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ReplyDeleteMay the long journey keep you in His sheltering hands. May you find the answers you seek! This trip will surely have a profound impact on you. I wish you strength and courage as you continue to listen to that still small voice.
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