Well it has been a really good day! I did a lot of reflecting on my journey here. It has been such a ride! I can’t wait to get back and teach what I have learned about this country.

Yesterday I got to go out on the Milk and Medicine distribution. It was incredible. The first stop Jenni and I had to interview several of the women getting support. They don’t have sponsors for the program, so we got their stories to help them through the process. Jeffery was our translator and it was really tough stuff. Although most of their stories were similar, they all touched my heart in different ways. Many of them had to walk for hours just to get to the site. Even though it’s a central location these ladies were walking 2 or 3 hours with babies on their backs. HIV has been a part of a lot of their lives for a long time. And it doesn’t stop with just them. Their babies are also coming up positive. I heard the same thing over and over. There was not enough food. They couldn’t find jobs. They couldn’t pay for medicine. I can’t even imagine having to choose between eating that day, or having a place to sleep. The day before we went out we cleaned out this big container full of donated clothes and things. So we got to distribute those things as well. They were so grateful to get such small amounts of stuff. Some of it was not worth getting excited over, yet they took it with gratitude. The cold season is coming and babies die because they have no means of heat. They take what they can get, especially this time of year.

We ended up stopping at 4 locations around Lusaka. We went from one end of the city to the other, and then back again. There were several moments that I found myself just speechless. While we were interviewing at the first site I noticed the looks on the childrens faces. I couldn’t get over the sadness in their eyes. It hurt me to see the way they looked up at me. I felt like they were begging me to help them without even saying a word. I looked over at the building we were parked by. It was a school. On the side of the wall was a water spicket. I noticed it earlier because there was a boy sitting near it wearing close to nothing. These toddlers caught my attention and I began to watch their every move. It didn’t take long for them to see the spicket and they went to check it out. They did everything they could to turn on the water but it was dry. They tried for several minutes looking up to see if just a drop would come out. I silently cried for them. I prayed that God would give them what they needed. That he would provide for these babies. I had to turn away to keep from losing it. A few minutes later they were gone. I think it got to me that I could nothing for them. I couldn’t give them what they needed. I had to trust that God would end his best angels to watch over them wherever they went. Since then, every time I take a sip of water I remember the babies from the compounds. I remember how parched they must have been on the sun and had nothing to drink. The water was dry.

At the last stop of the day we were parked outside what looked like an old Catholic church. The children are on holiday from school so they were everywhere. I saw in the distance a jumping castle someone had set up for the kids. It seemed to be a huge hit! We had been there for a little while and I saw Jenni talking to this boy. He must have 12 or 13 years old. I saw this man come over and start yelling at the boy. My first thought was that it was the kids father. The boy ran into the crowd of women we were giving formula and groundnuts to. The situation heated as the man caught up with the boy. They were yelling, and of course I couldn’t understand what they were saying. Then the man, very aggressively, grabbed the kid by the throat. There was screaming and the boy started to cry. I remember the look on his face. He looked just horrified as tears streamed down his face. He started to fight back when the man pulled out a stick. It looked like the end to a broom handle or something. The man started just beating this kid with the stick. A few minutes had passed and the man took off, and the kid ran after him. We left the site and Jenni asked what they were fighting over. Maureen told us that he was the owner of the jumping castle and that the boy didn’t pay to jump.

We went through the compounds of Lusaka and my heart just breaks for these people. They work so hard and yet it seems like it’s never good enough. I had the pleasure to talk to one of the staff today. She was telling us about how much it costs to go to college here. She desperately wants to go to school for Social Work, but can’t afford the fees. I asked her how much it would cost to go to school for a term. She said it would be about 1 million Kwacha. That is around 200 American dollars. I couldn’t even believe what she was saying. I was thinking about the money I have in my bag. I was thinking about how I could easily pay far her to go to school all four years. I wonder if that could be a new project. I wonder how different it would be in this country if the people could just be educated. I wonder what I could do about this. Ideas are just rushing through my mind right now...I need to pray about this. I would love it if you could all pray about this! And the babies too. They could always use a little extra prayer :)

Kylie