Day 3

Mothers Without Borders has been in Zambia for six years building local contacts and volunteers. One particular, very important project that they have been working on is called the children’s village. Some of the most amazing people have dedicated their lives to helping these vulnerable children, and the village is full of incredible stories of children who needed someone to help them. The website has a full write up about each and every one of them. I want to spend a few moments writing about a few of them.

We went to the village early Saturday morning to help the children with their chores and then we prepared a Hawaiian luau. As we pulled up in the bus the children were on the front porch singing a greeting to us. Evans, who is 15, was directing the choir. Not just waving his arms but he was so into conducting his little choir!! They were wonderful! They sang their hearts out at the top of their lungs, and they were just beautiful!! They sang of Heavenly Father, faith, and the suffering they had endured!

Everyone has a job to do and to help out at the home, even Emanuel who is three (and looks like he is a year)! His job was to help with the laundry. A three year old, doing wash. He washed laundry! Some scrubbed the house, others washed clothes and still others tended to their enormous garden. It took all of us volunteers three hours to finish watering and weeding in that garden. It was great to meet the children and spend time with them. I will post a short list of the children and their stories, all of which are heart wrenching!

It was as I worked in the garden that I met Carol who joined the village this last year. She has such a huge spirit in a tiny little body! Carol sang and sang as we worked, singing with a voice that touches your soul! Carol is not doing well physically. She is doing so badly in fact she does not go to school or church because she is too tired! That is a big deal to these people because education and God are everything to them. Carol stole my heart.

I also meet Darlington as we worked in the garden. He is preparing for a mission and helped out at the village. He has been through so much in his life and we really enjoyed talking about missions and other experiences. He could not believe that I had served in Brazil!

Today was busy working and teaching the children at the village. At the little school, we tutored them with their school work. They take it so seriously and they really enjoy learning. Education is their way out of poverty and they try hard to make the most of it because not everyone gets the opportunity to go. The little ones we read stories to and the older ones had extra tutoring. Some of the older children have never been to school so we worked with them to be able to skip grades and catch up with their age group.

That afternoon we planned a special program, a Hawaiian luau. I read a book about a turtle that lived in Hawaii and was a different color. They loved it! We brought grass skirts and learned a simple hula dance. We had music to listen to while we made volcanoes out of play dough. Later after they dried we made them explode. We watched a video about Hawaii with scenes of the beaches, surfers and the animals. They loved learning about other cultures and areas. I was so impressed with how polite they were and how quiet and attentive they were when we taught. We had an opportunity to teach our values as well.

My favorite part of the day was spending time with these children and feeling of their spirits and love. They taught me so much about life and the gospel. It was so easy to form relationships with them. They were so loving! Some of them sat so close to me and others would just grin at me!!

Emanuel is my favorite little boy in Africa, even though we couldn’t talk together because he could not speak English. Emanuel and his siblings had been living with their grandparents in a village close to Bwafwano because their parents had died. All three of them were starving and were being abused by their grandparents. The organization helped to rescue them and take them to the village where they could eat, go to school, go to church and live safely with a great family of 20!!

Emanuel is three years old and up to that point, his world was filled with death, starvation and abuse! He barely had clothing. For him to trust someone was a big step.
When we first came to the village he was scared of us and frightened. He would hide and cry. I do not think he had ever seen a white person. He slowly warmed up to me and began to sit in my lap but was still very stiff. It took him several hours to relax his little body and slump into my lap. By that afternoon he was hold my hand and pulling me around by my finger to show me his world. He had become my friend and he smiled and really opened up to me.

I was able to work with him, his sister and his brother to learn some simple English words and songs. My favorite was “You are my sunshine” which they picked up quickly and would sing in their very broken English every time I came. I do not think he understood a word that we sang but he would light up every time we sang it.

These children who had been through so much taught me a great lesson about trusting. Trusting our Heavenly Father! They could not understand me or even communicate with me but Emanuel is my friend and I will never forget him. Emanuel taught me the principle of submission to His will and His desires for us!

“When people come from other countries from around the world, sometimes communication in a common language is impossible. The language of a simple touch and sympathetic glance however is universal.” -M. Callopy

I love these scriptures about being submissive to the will of our Heavenly Father! Mosiah 3:19, D&C 50:40-41

Carol taught me to love life and everyone in it because it could be over in an instant! These children, who I had come so far to help, in turn helped me and taught me more than I could have imagined.

“Which child is not mine?
Which one do I choose to keep from the warmth of my hand or the warmth of my heart?
Which child on earth do I choose not to be mine?
Which eyes do not carry His light?
Which eyes do not carry His hope?
Which eyes do not carry love?
Which child on earth is not His?
Which child on earth is not mine?”
-S. Shaw