GO Missions!

Dear Friends,

Thank you so much for your continued prayers and support. May God richly bless you!

AIDS:

This is a difficult newsletter to write. It is not difficult because of lack of information. Rather, the subject is so disturbing, that it is difficult for me to comprehend, well off describe to you in adequate language.

Zambia is being decimated by AIDS. We have known about the problem for a long time, but it has been increasing rapidly in the last few years. Zambia has a population of 9.7 million people of which a little over 1 million are HIV positive. About 700,000 have already died of AIDS.

Numbers do not convey the problem in real terms. A better way is hear the stories of the people living through it. Here we will include the stories of two of our church members.

Patrick is an elder here in the Imwiko church. He is the third born son in a family of 15 children. The youngest is 20 and the oldest would have been about 50 by now. There were 12 boys and 3 girls. There are only three boys left now along with their mother and grandmother. The others have all died in the last 12 years. We know that one was killed in an auto accident, but the rest died of illnesses.

Getrude’s husband is a deacon at Imwiko church. We just buried her brother. There were 10 brothers and sisters and now there are only 4 living. The oldest would have been in his mid thirties. All died of illnesses.

These are not unique instances. Every family in Zambia has been touched, some are completely gone. AIDS is killing off the wage earners and bread winners of families leaving the dependants behind.

While evangelism is urgent, and we are responding with a broad based effort to reach the lost before they die, we must also respond to help the innocent victims of the AIDS epidemic: the orphans. Zambia has the world’s highest percentage of AIDS orphans. Although accurate reports are hard to obtain, it appears that between ¼ and 1/3 of all Zambian Children are orphans and the number is rapidly rising. By 2010 the situation will be much worse. This is a situation unprecedented in human history. Even the black plague did not create a situation so desperate for children. Zambian families have taken in as many as they can, but most are stretched to the breaking point. Many orphans have no living relatives.

While under normal circumstances we promote self-reliance and equip people and ministries to be self-supporting, this is not a normal circumstance. This is the most devastating plague that Africa has ever faced. None of the world’s people have ever faced a plague that killed the fittest and left the old and young alone.

Children are by definition dependents. They cannot become self-reliant until they are mature. The question then becomes "on whom will they depend?" Many are being cared for by relatives and neighbors. But there are so many orphans. Every adult we know here is keeping orphans in their home. Even the unmarried are taking care of orphans in most situations. But there are still more orphans and some are falling through the cracks.

Many of these, especially the very young (under 5) are slowly dying. Being forced to camp out with people who do not care for them, they are allowed to sleep inside, but are not fed. Rather, they scrounge for leftovers to survive from what is thrown out. They are malnourished and stunted. They are weak and susceptible to diseases for which they will not likely receive treatment. Death comes not from starvation outright, but from neglect. These are the vulnerable children that need rescuing. If they receive proper food, they will be strong. If they receive proper parenting, they will be safe.

What is the answer? There are many solutions: orphanages, day care centers, special care communities, adoption, etc. It will take all the solutions and all the effort that can be mustered. This is a problem completely outside the ability of Zambia’s people to solve. It is time for the church worldwide to respond. We can rescue a generation. We must. God has blessed us for a purpose, that is to pass that blessing along to the world.

James 1:27 says Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

We are going to be involved in a number of projects to facilitate Zambian Christians in starting or expanding ministries to orphans and vulnerable children. Two of them are Shalom Christian Care Ministries and Kids Alive Mongu Home.