Facilitators and/or peer leaders from each of the STS clubs met - some for the first time - in Mufulira, Zambia on Saturday, July 30th. Each club had a representative who shared specifics about themselves and their club. This included information such as recent activities, vision/goals for the future, and a short lesson. This meeting also served as an opportunity to simply get to know one-another and encourage each other in this work. It was good to observe how each of the leaders' giftings (student or adult) are being put to use for the benefit of others in their clubs & community. This diversity in personal strengths as well as locality and age was balanced with the mutual respect that each had for the others. The winners of the STS Club student essay competition were announced on the same day. Students had been provided the opportunity to submit a personal testimony for an essay competition on one or both of these topics: "My Experience with HIV" "What Impact STS has had in My Life" We encourage you to read these essays so that you may get to know the youth whom we are serving: /uploads/2/7/8/2/2782896/sts_essays_july_2011.pdf. We hope that their lives and the courage they have to share it will inspire and motivate you as it did us.
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A team of seven from the US has arrived safely in Zambia. They will spend approximately 2 weeks working with the STS clubs, OVC partners, and playing with many children. If you would like to see what is going on, please visit http://stszambia.blogspot.com Blogs are being updated while they are on the trip, so check back often to see their stories.
It has been a busy and exciting year for the STS club at Butondo High School, located just outside of Mufulira! The club hit the ground running after it was revived in mid-2010 by the dedicated Joseph Simumba. Together with Joseph, the newly-elected club leadership (known as Peer Leaders) crafted a Mission Statement with the following goals: · “To educate and sensitize the students whilst grounded on biblical standards of living. · To seek to change a generation to live according to God's plan, with knowledge of stopping the spread of HIV/AIDS around the community. · To support efforts that seek to achieve in reducing the impact of HIV/AIDS, through community and school based programs. · To provide advice and guidance to positive living people, government/private institutions in relation to prevention and stigmatization in general. · To provide assistance to the various needs of community to support sustainable projects that are designed to address to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS. · To provide sports activities among the youths in both schools and community.” To that end, the Peer Leaders decided to conduct a field trip to New Start Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) Center in Kitwe- nearly an hour away by bus. The primary goal was to learn about the center and thus be able to be role models for fellow students. This was a brave and compassionate decision for these students. In Zambia, as in many African countries, there is a powerful stigma attached to “getting tested” that often prevents those who need it most from receiving this most basic service. These students knew the risks of their decision, but chose to pursue it anyway and set an example for their peers. The Butondo club prepared well for their excursion, meeting for two hours, on two occasions prior to the trip to prepare and discuss expectations for the visit. On the day of the trip, 17 students and two teachers accompanied Joseph on the dusty, bone-jarring ride to the New Start VCT Center. After the tour of the clinic and an explanation of the process, even Joseph was surprised and delighted when all 17 of the students volunteered to be tested! What a testament to these students’ faith and passion to set an example for their peers. Praise the Lord for giving them the passion and courage to step up and shine a light, even through the dark shadow of stigma. In the beginning of May, the STS clubs focused on community service. They read from the Bible about Nehemiah, his love for his homeland, and his faithfulness in service. In the story, after the city of Jerusalem had gone into exile, the wall around the city was broken down and the gates burned. With God’s help, Nehemiah was granted permission by the king to fix the damaged wall around Jerusalem. He first surveyed the damage and then joined together with his countrymen to begin the good work of rebuilding. The members of STS clubs were challenged to take this example and apply it to their own communities. When given the challenge of practically applying the lesson, the members of the Kibaha Secondary School club surveyed their community and decided they could serve at the local hospital. In May of 2011, a group of 17 students led by facilitator Kangwa Chibesa spent the afternoon cleaning at the Tumbi Hospital. This type of service project is not common at the hospital. As people watched and asked questions, the group had the opportunity to share the reasons that led them to go and work alongside the cleaning staff. For the STS members, this was an enjoyable outreach project through which they were able to both learn from and serve in their community. Their actions embodied the meaning of the words recorded in Matthew 5:16, “In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” (NIV) You can feed many, a few hundred even, but that doesn’t keep them from dying from diarrhea. You can pay for medicines, but some will not eat. How does one make these decisions? In a community where the need outweighs the resources, how do you balance quality of care with quantity of need. This year, LRPI had to pray hard and listen harder to what the Lord would have us to do with the orphan outreach ministry that is happening at Enfys. The number that both the American and Zambian partners came up with was 80.
Eighty children this year will eat one meal each day. Eighty children this year will have clean water. Eighty children this year will have medical care. Eighty children this year will go to school or receive tutoring to help break the cycle. Eighty children this year. God holds each child in Murundu in His hand. While LRPI would like to assist each child, God has set our number and instructed us to be faithful. He will be faithful to care for the others in the village. Perhaps one day our number will be higher, but for this year, LRPI is happy to be a part of these 80 children’s lives. This year a VBS in Alliance, Ohio took their craft project to a different level. Rather than making the standard popsicle stick cross or plaster of paris hands, children made blankets to send to orphans in Zambia. Fleece material with “God Loves You” printed on it was purchased and fringed. The students then tied two pieces of fleece together adding a special heart in the middle. What makes this project extra special is that while making the blankets, these kids got the opportunity to pray for the orphan who would receive the blanket in Zambia. The American kids also made cards to send with the blankets. A month later, blankets were passed out in Zambia. The children beamed with excitement as they were presented their blankets and told of the love of Jesus. Even the teen age students who received blankets wore them around their necks like a badge of honor. Each was excited to know that children on the other side of the world had been praying just for him. Each blanket was given to one child, but in most homes will be used by two or three children. A blanket, something many have never had, to share with their family and protect from the chill of winter. For everyone involved this was an experience to remember. For the American children, they were able to make a meaningful contribution to an orphan across the globe both in a physical way through the gift of the blanket, and a spiritual way through their prayers. They lived out Matthew 25:40 “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” The Zambian children were shown the love of Christ and have a constant reminder that “God loves you” as well as the knowledge that they have been held in prayer. What a joy to see so many children’s lives connect through the love of Christ. Jill & Jami stand with the winners of the skit competition The May-June 2010 trip to Zambia was a positive, encouraging experience for everyone involved. Four STS-USA members teamed with John Payne (HIV/AIDS Missions Officer) to lead intensive programs clubs at 2 schools a day for a week, for 2 weeks and 4 schools total. The students were divided by age and gender into 4 groups of 25-50 students, each taught by an STS-USA member and a translator/facilitator of the same gender. This smaller, classroom-based model seems to be our most effective model yet, and separating the boys from the girls allowed the students to be much more open and honest than they would have been in a co-ed setting. Each day began with a Life Lesson that was designed to get the students thinking about their lives in general and how HIV can affect them, then moved in to a 45 minute lesson about a specific topic related to HIV- Biology, Anatomy, Transmission and Prevention, and Getting Tested. We even designed a skit about how HIV attacks the immune system and had the students participate, amid much laughter and nervous giggling. We also devoted time during each session to allow the students to work on their Presentations- skits that they wrote and directed that explained some aspect of HIV/AIDS and its physical, emotional, and/or societal effects and causes. Most of the students loved performing the skits and did a wonderful job! At the end of the week, we hosted a Sports Clinic that allowed the students to play games in a safe environment, as well as learn about STS and basic sports injury hygiene. A great time was had by all- Tug of War was the most popular game, with the 3-Legged Race coming in a close second. Trip Theme - 'A Generation of Restoration' We were also encouraged by the number of students in our groups who were members of the STS clubs at the schools, and by how much many of them knew about what we were teaching them. In many cases, they taught us things about how HIV affected them and about how their culture and society responded to the virus. We also enjoyed spending time with the facilitators, both official and unofficial, and the Executive Committee. Through meeting with them, we were able to learn some valuable ways in which we can interact more effectively and streamline our teaching so that we can truly be a Generation of Restoration. The upcoming August trip will also help us revisit administrative tasks and hopefully streamline the leadership practices even further, in addition to the primary trip objective of working with Enfys Orphanage in Murundu. In case our hearts managed to make it this far and still be intact, yesterday morning brought more bad news. Eight-month-old Shadi Jr. died during the night of malaria / diarrhea. He is the youngest son of Shadie and Josephine, who take care of and guard our house in Mufulira, Zambia. They live in a small place outside of our back door and have been part of our Zambian family since the very first time we visited in 2003.
The pictures that you see below are from January when he was looking healthy, chubby, and of course very cute. His death came very much as a surprise to us. His mother, Josephine, was also in the hospital for malaria and we have not heard anymore word on her condition. As for Murundu, the malaria situation continues to be bad, but we have not lost any more children in the village this week (despite losing one who is very dear to us in Muf). Five children were taken to the DRC clinic and one was kept overnight. The good news is that the child whose mother died is no longer in critical condition. I cannot think of anything worse than losing a child, and have had the unfortunate experience of seeing the profound impact that this has on the lives of parents. As I let myself imagine the pain that will ache in this family for years to come, it reminds me of Matthew 2:18, "A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more." Please join us in praying for this family as they mourn the loss of their child. ~Tannen The malaria outbreak continues in to affect those associated with the Enfys Foundation in Murundu. Sylvester Mwape (pictured on the left) was the first death that we heard about. He is a nine year old boy who attended AWANA and the daily feeding program. Last week a caretaker became ill on Sunday and died Monday morning. Her child is currently hospitalized and on breathing machines. So far these are the most severe cases that have been reported, but many more have been infected by this illness. Hildah continues taking children across the border to the Democratic Republic of Congo to be treated. This week she took four children with her. STS is working with Joseph and Hildah to get much needed mosquito nets that can reduce the children's risk of becoming infected with Malaria. Malaria has struck the children in Murundu hard this year. Hildah (Joseph's wife) is taking an average of 6 kids each week to a clinic that is across the border in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to receive treatment. They must travel to this clinic since the one in Murundu often does not have the needed supplies. Grace's Place (the clinic that STS/Enfys has built) is nearly operational and should be able to help to bring supplies in for these children.
The knowledge of this struggle was put into perspective this morning when we received some heartbreaking news -- One of our children died today in Murundu. "Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints." ~Psalm 116:15 |
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