In the heart of a village in northern Zambia, there is a woman named Agnes taking care of three grandchildren. And even though they are decades apart, Agnes and her grandchildren share a bond of loss. Years ago, a mother and father fell to HIV and, in their passing, left these four together.

Agnes has roots in this village. She has lived in Murundu for 32 years, her latest home is the most intricate and well equipped that we saw during our interviews. Each room is clearly distinguishable- a kitchen, living room and two separate bedrooms. Each of the beds is adorned with a mosquito net and small accent pieces. Her house and yard is clearly the social hub for other women as well. By late-morning, many other caregivers are gathered on her front steps, laughing and preparing lunch for the orphans at the neighboring site on which LRPI & Enfys run school classes. Agnes' income is provided by a stand she runs just outside of her front door. She sells charcoal, groundnuts, cassava and chikanda (Zambian bologna) from the merchant hut. All together, the items bring in about 120,000 Kwacha a week- just enough to feed the family once a day.

On a typical day, before the family’s only meal, Agnes begins by completing chores with the children. Once the children leave for school, Agnes begins cooking for her shop. Chikanda, the special Zambian bologna, is made every day and bought up every night by men who walk home late from one of the multiple village bars. By mid-morning, anyone walking near the center of the village is greeted by loud, aggressive tunes blasting from the bar huts with men staggering around the edges. In a place with already so many hardships, it is absolutely disheartening to see how much more damage alcohol can cause.

To supplement the income she needs to travel into the city once a month to buy supplies for her shop, Agnes also helps create specially woven bags to sell around the village. Megan and I saw many of these bags being made while we walked around. It's nearly the equivalent of watching your grandmother knit or crochet, except these women weave recycled plastic bags into intricate patterns, shapes and sizes that you would actually love to receive for Christmas.    

LRPI and Enfys work together to provide the women of the village with tools to help them grow as a community. This past season, Enfys provided money to the group so that they could fertilize and finance a 50x50 plot for crops. In return, Agnes and the women gave a tin back to Enfys in appreciation- a sign that the women are learning not only receive aid, but also give back.

Along with being a caring grandmother, Agnes also serves as a caregiver to two additional children in the village. When a member of our team asked Agnes to take a child to the clinic, an activity that requires a careful calculation of time and loss of profit to a villager of Murundu, she did it without hesitation. There are rare moments in life that I've had the honor to meet someone so incredibly strong and nurturing. It's as if Agnes has harnessed as much love in her heart as what's usually spread between three people. Like the love of those family members she and her grandchildren lost just swells up inside of her. She is a rarity and we are honored to be a part of her life and, more importantly, to have her as a part of ours.

At this moment, 20,000 inhabitants in a northern Zambian village called Murundu are lying down to sleep. You see, in Murundu, when the sun sets, the light is out for most people. Out of the 20,000 villagers, only four or five families are lucky enough to have electricity available. Judith is one of the 19,995.

Judith is the mother of six children: Abram, Carol, Dinnes, Davis, Rosemary and Josephine. Josephine, the youngest, is somewhere around ten months old, but she is already helping her mother cut the vegetables- with a rusty eight-inch knife. Judith is a rarity- She owns the land, which was inherited from her grandmother, her home is on. The house is self-built, well manicured, extremely tidy and has a vibrant red base trim, which Judith herself painted using a mixture of soil and a special root. As she takes Megan and I around, she shows us the garden as well as the shower and drop-toilet her and the children share with surrounding families. She also shows us the most important feature of her home- the brewing system.

Judith brews her own beer, illegally, to make enough money for her family to survive. The contraption sits and steams as Megan investigates, through a translator, how exactly it all works. Judith gathers 10kg of sugar and lets it ferment with maize for seven days. Then, she puts it in an extremely hot drum. The same drum she is holding Josephine just inches from as I snap photos. The mixture drips into two large jugs at the end of the spout and is so violently concentrated, it is potentially fatal if it is not first diluted with water. Judith makes one batch of the brew per week and makes about 100,000 Kwacha per batch- the equivalent of about $20.00 in the United States. Judith's business success is based off of word-of-mouth. Since it is illegal, homes like Judith's are the only place men looking for a stronger beer can get it.

Inside the house, Judith explains that she was once married, but her husband left about ten years ago. She spends most of her time working around the two-room hut. She prepares meals twice a day- once in the morning, usually sweet potatoes that she grows at home and once in the evening, always nshima and relish. The family gets meat on extremely rare occasions. Judith and the children sleep in the side room of the small house, most on the floor spilling into the main room. The family lacks finances to provide enough bedding and, even more importantly, for mosquito nets to protect from malaria-infected mosquitoes. This is in a country where, according to the World Health Organization, "A child dies every 45 seconds of Malaria, the disease accounts for 20% of all childhood deaths."

At one point, I interrupt Megan's interview to ask, "Are you happy?" Judith looks at our translator, lowers her eyes and just shakes her head. She doesn't want to brew beer. She hates it, in fact. But this is what she must do to keep her family alive and so she takes the risk.

Judith is a caretaker to orphans in the village and takes part in ENFYS, a group that is helping bring together the women of Murundu in order to help empower women and people of the village. Last year, she was part of a group that was given money through ENFYS to help provide fertilizer for their corn crop. Judith is an inspiration to the other women of ENFYS and the reason all of us at Life Restoration Partners, International continue to work so hard. We thank Judith for being so brave to share her story with us and for allowing everyone to be part of her life for a day. 

It has been a busy month of careful planning and prayerful anticipation for the STS clubs (boys and girls) of Kibaha Secondary School, located in eastern Tanzania.  They hosted a voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) event that allowed 41 students the opportunity to be briefed by local leaders and medical professionals on HIV/AIDS education, testing procedures, medical records, and family planning. The students visited the Tumbi hospital as part of this five hour VCT event that included classroom instruction and tours of the hospital facilities. One of the many praise reports from the event was that several students consented to being tested for HIV during the hospital visit. The STS Club-Kibaha students, facilitator, and parent leaders obviously prepared very well for this event, as it went off very smoothly and the participating students are now better equipped to make in difference for STS in their own lives as well as in their community.