Final Observations (Day 7)

The way in which Zambian Christians welcomed us was something I have never before experienced on such a large scale.  Their hospitality and ability to welcome complete strangers into their family is a model many of us could follow.  Through the week many of them would tell me that I was now their brother or say “we are family now.”  Always with a smile (which is something I need to learn better) and with a joyful bounce in their step they made traveling half way around the world feel not so far from home.

One of the biggest things I will take away from this trip is something one of our team members observed and shared.  There is a difference between being poor and being broke.  Many people who are poor might have little or no money but they also have little or no joy in them.  Their spirit can be hopeless or discouraged.  People who are broke also have little or no money but they can still have joy.  Joy that comes from life not from material possessions.  Sadly I think in America we have many poor people who seem to be drained of life and in some way have given up.  Here in Zambia the people are just broke, they have no money but it has not robbed their joy.

Also, here they take care of the little they have.  Many of the homes we went into while installing Biosand filters were well kept, tidy, and as clean as possible.  My guess is this is due in part to the fact that their home is all they have and they probably worked hard on it.  There is no government program giving handouts which takes away a sense of ownership.  The same way that if you were to give some teenagers a car and they wreck it they might wonder when the next car will be given to them.  No sense of ownership.  Conversely, if a teenager works to earn their car there may be a sense of pride of ownership and maybe more care will be given because of it.  It was great to see this sense of care and pride in their homes.

Overall there are things that Americans and Zambians can teach each other.  Americans can share clean water and proper training for maintaining healthy clean water.  This is something I don’t think I can fully express with words.  Many of these communities lack a simple education of how to get clean water and keep it clean.  After being here only 9 days I can tell you it’s something you would have to experience to only begin to grasp.  In 9 days I learned briefly of the challenges even our team had in getting clean water.  It had to be filtered every time.  There did not seem to be any direct source of clean water unless you bought bottled water which might cost you a days wage here.  These are challenges Zambians have all the time, every day, every week, every month and year. 

On the other side of the coin Zambians could teach us Americans how to appreciate what we have.  That our circumstances don’t have to steal our joy. (or love, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, or self control)  Sometimes there is an underlying questioning of God during our trials in our life.  “Why God, when God, where are you God?”  Well I can tell you that I have never seen people who have less stuff and more trials than the people I have met around Ndola Zambia.  But instead of why, when, where God, they say “praise you Jesus, thank you Father.”  They have shown me that life is less about the what than the who.  They have shown me that a focus on Jesus can give us joy in any circumstance. 

Jesus answered and said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life." (John 4:13-14)

Thorn Clothing trip to Zambia from Dion Terry on Vimeo.