What you can do to fight poverty and be part of the solution

We sang this song by Tommy Walker at church on Easter Sunday. I was still processing everything that I saw and experienced on my recent trip to Zambia and when I sang these words the names and faces of the people that I met popped into my head.

The sermon was on Zacchaeus but mostly it was about grace. The focus was on the concept of being known. In today's society we are all struggling to be known. We post pictures of ourselves on social media, we tweet glimpses of our lives, we Instagram our moments. We have a desire to be known and to connect with others.

Every village that we entered into left us with the same message.  Go. Tell our stories. Let others know about our suffering and rejoice with us in our thanksgiving. I can't tell their stories without telling you their names. They want to be known.

Molly will forever remind me of what the daily task of fetching water is like. I will never forget what it's like to walk with a 25 liter {6 gallons and 50 pounds} jerry can up the path that she walks twice a day barefoot. 
Benny was a sweet little guy that flirted with me while visiting a rural clinic. He was there with family that was sick. 1600 children under the age of five die every day from diseases related to unsafe drinking water. My hope is that Benny will survive long past the age of five and that he will be able to live in a community that has access to clean and safe drinking water.
Kiston is an 11 pound 15 month old baby that is HIV infected and severely malnourished. His mother walked four hours to get him to the clinic for help only to be told that they didn't have the means to help him.  A level 1 hospital is being built to serve that area though right now, that does nothing to help this baby.
Bertha is an overworked nurse seeing patient after patient at a clinic that is understaffed. She loves to interact with patients and save lives. 
Patricia is a little girl living in the rocky hillside village of Hajamba. She has never known the taste of clean water.  She's never known a life without constant diarrhea.  

Nerott walks nearly 10 miles every day to school after spending two hours fetching water. She goes to school for several hours, only to turn around and walk 10 more miles home. She doesn't have the luxury of having time to play like a normal 13 year old girl. She only knows walking and work.Nature {bright blue shirt} is the most incredible volunteer I have ever met. He spends his time traveling from house to house around the village checking in on the sick and the most vulnerable. It's a full time job and he receives no payment for it.  He says that he does it because he knows what a life changing difference World Vision is doing in this community.
Beauty, Ruth and Lointia are now able to dream! For the first time in their lives they have access to clean water.  Their health has improved and they can think beyond the daily task of fetching dirty water that makes them sick.  They even have time now to play and to have a childhood that they missed out on. 
Ivy and Charity are sisters in law that live on the same compound.  It was easy to see that their family is quite successful.  They have a whole herd of cattle, they have the luxury of owning farming tools and they have goats and chickens and a garden.  The only thing that they don't have is clean water. They live near a school that does, and so during the night, at the risk of being beaten, their husbands sneak to steal water. 

This is Moses and his father Richard.  Moses is ten and lives in a village in rural Uganda. I know his name and he knows my name. That's because Moses is one of our sponsored children.  We have written Moses letters and we have sent him pictures. I even had the opportunity to meet him last year in Uganda. Moses and I are able to have a relationship because of child sponsorship. 

Moses is also able to have clean water, an education, health care and training all provided as a benefit of child sponsorship.  In fact, all of the children and adults in his community have those same opportunities because World Vision has a relationship in their village. 

Through child sponsorship lives are changed. For only $35 a month {a little more than a dollar a day} you can change a child's world for good. It's as easy as visiting this link, and selecting a child. It's amazing what good work World Vision is doing in the lives of children and their communities and you can be a part of that! You can know their names.  You can pray for them and write to them and encourage them.  You can be a part of their story.

If you are a runner, you can consider running as part of team World Vision. This year, I will be running my fifth half marathon, but my first with team World Vision. Every training run I take, I think about one of those names. I think about how clean water can be life changing for them and it pushes me. If you would like to make a donation to my team for the Uganda WASH {water, sanitation and hygiene} program you can donate here.

a training run in Zambia

You might even consider starting your own fundraiser. You could have a milestone birthday coming up that you want to be able to share clean water for.  Maybe instead of gifts for your wedding you want to make a different impact and have donations be made in your name instead.  Or perhaps you have your own idea.  

All it takes if $50 to provide clean water for life for one person. You can be a part of the water effect. 

Make these needs known. Share their stories.  Know the name of someone whose life you can help change.The possibilities are endless and the needs are great! Please consider giving.

In case you missed it, here are the posts in this collection:

Hero's In Zambia
Living in Fear
A Child's LifeLooking Forward to the FutureThe Needs are so GreatWelcome HomeSpirit Lead Me Where My Trust is Without BordersPreparing for Zambia

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Hero's in Zambia

From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked. Luke 12:48

As I stood on that red dirt in Africa for the second time in less than a year, I realized that this verse is so true for me. I spent years dreaming of an opportunity to go to Africa, a land that I have loved since I first heard about it when I was a small child.  I have been grateful for the opportunities that I have had to visit and I am humbled that I get to be a small part of an organization like World Vision that is doing great things in not only Africa, but in nearly 100 countries world wide.I met so many amazing and wonderful people during my week in Zambia and nearly every time I met them, they were thankful that someone was willing to tell their story and rejoice with them in their successes and lament with them in their hardships.  I have been given their stories to share and I am thankful for the people like you who are reading them and who are being inspired to help. I want to take the time today to share with you some of the hero's that I met on the trip. Justina is so proud of her new dish rack! She is sharing the message of how important sanitation and hygiene is in her community as a hygiene promoter volunteer.  Justina is a mom of nine and grandmother to 15. It's become her job as a volunteer to take the information that she has learned from World Vision and share it with the members in her community.  This information is changing lives and empowering people to make changes that are affecting their health.

Before my trip, I read along at home about this community that I was so fortunate to get to visit this past week. A community that used to gather water from a hole that has become known as "the dead dog water source".  These are the faces that are benefiting from clean water and are now able to dream about their future. A luxury that they couldn't afford when they were sick and desperate for clean water. The energy was palpable and they are now able to live life to the fullest. Isn't that the best thing we can give a person? The ability to live up to their God given potential. Hearing Mera sing songs of praise and have the ability to dance after just being bedridden for years was one of the most eye opening effects of clean water.

Seeing women come from miles away walking hours to attend an under five clinic to check on the health of their children was evidence to the love that mother's have for their children. Every minute a child under the age of five dies as a result of diarrhea, caused by contamination of water, poor sanitation and hygiene. These clinics give mothers an opportunity to check in on the health of their children and be educated about proper nutrition and safe hygiene practices. 

Kids in school are teaching other kids and then bringing the message home to their family members about the importance of sanitation and hygiene.  For generations people have lived feeling cursed. They believed that diseases and sickness have been brought on by something that they have done wrong.  Perhaps even that their ancestors were upset with them. Now they are living in the truth and are being educated to know how to prevent disease and are sharing that message with others.

Nurse Bertha sees patient after patient working long days and even longer nights in a facility without clean water or electricity. The needs are great and the ability to help is limited. Not only is Bertha looking forward to the opening of the first rural level 1 hospital that will be located on the grounds of the clinic she is now working at, the community is overjoyed at the ability to seek medical treatment in their community.  A church partnership through World Vision is helping to bring the hospital and even ambulances to a community in great need. 

It's not uncommon to find girls like Nerott who is just 13, walking to school 15 kilometers {more than 9 miles each way}  after doing her chores and fetching water. She is often sick because of dirty water and sometimes fearful while walking alone.

Molly has been at the back breaking job of fetching water for decades and is looking forward to rest when a new borehole comes to her village.  Molly spends two hours in the morning and two hours in the evening fetching water.  An act that gives her back, neck, chest and leg pains not to mention stomach cramps and diarrhea from unclean drinking water.  The women and men in Molly's village are fearful of starvation and death because of the drought that is already evident this year.

Charity and Ivy fetch water from a water source that they share with cattle. Their husbands often steal water in the night from a local school since the water they drink makes them gag. They say it tastes like urine and is very salty. They are looking forward to having a new water source later this year that is not only closer to their home and requires less walking through snake infested fields, but water that they no longer have to steal and risk getting beaten while doing so. 

These are the stories of the people that I met. There are many more just like them. Their stories inspire me. I hope they have inspired you. I have been given their stories to share and I hope that you will take their stories and share them creating a ripple effect. These are women just like me and you with children just like ours living on the other side of the world.  The challenges they face daily are different and only by the location of my birth have I escaped their circumstances. 

Child sponsorship is the most effective way to change a child's world. You can find a child available for sponsorship in nearly 100 countries worldwide here.  Put a name and a face to your hero and start telling their story! I promise you, your life will never be the same!

For the complete collection of stories from Zambia:

What Can You Do?

Hero's In Zambia
Living in Fear
A Child's LifeLooking Forward to the FutureThe Needs are so GreatWelcome HomeSpirit Lead Me Where My Trust is Without BordersPreparing for Zambia

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Living in fear and how you can be a part of the change

Disclaimer: this post will have some disturbing information that may be graphic in nature. If you are sensitive, please use discretion.
Before I left for Zambia I had heard about ritual killings.  I wasn't quite sure what information I would be able to learn while I was on the ground, but I asked the hard question of our World Vision staffer Collins, while we were driving into the city of Choma before our work had begun. He informed me that there had been one ritual killing that had occurred this year, and six that had occurred last year.  There is so much secrecy involved in these rituals that sometimes deaths go uncounted.  In South Africa, ritual killings are culturally accepted and usually go unreported. These practices continue to happen around much of Africa and usually involve hunting down a victim {usually walking alone}, mutilation, and murder of some of the communities most vulnerable people.

Most people who practice ritual killings believe that they are an act of spiritual fortification. Human body parts are used for medicinal purposes and are often believed to have supernatural healing powers. The individuals carrying out the killing are usually doing it for the large sum of money that comes with the desired body parts.  They are paid around $2-3,000 USD, a huge sum of money when 64% of the country lives on less than $1 a day.  They are told that in order to get paid the highest sum of money possible, that the parts need to removed while the person is still alive. Hearts are ripped out from the back, hands and feet are cut off.  Lips, genitals and nipples are removed. Sometimes heads are severed. It's brutal. In nearly every village that we visited I would ask if anyone had fears while they were walking to get water, or while they were going to school.  One village we were in said that there was a rumor of a man hiding in the bush but thankfully word traveled fast and he was run out of the village. Thanks to organizations like World Vision, modern medicine is becoming more common and has proven to be quite successful so fewer people are turning to witch doctors who depend on these ritual killings.In Uganda, World Vision staff person Obed Byamugisha, has devised a system that uses village drums to alert of a missing child. A village amber alert of sorts.  You can read more about his story here.There are other fears too. Mamba snakes are native to Africa and are seen daily by women walking to fetch water through the tall grass.  Baboons are very dangerous and have even been found to attack and rape women walking alone. Crocodiles lurk in the same water that women and children fetch water in. Several years ago a 9 year old girl was playing in the water by her mother who was doing wash and was attacked by a crocodile.  Thankfully, World Vision employee Clifford, was driving home and heard quite the commotion by the water.  He stopped and was able to save the girl from the crocodile. She lost a leg but thanks to her sponsor she has crutches and is still able to attend school.Gracinda's story doesn't end the same way.  Her 12 year old daughter Luisa went to the river to fetch water when their local well broke. Several of Luisa's friends came running back to Gracinda informing her that she had been attacked by a crocodile. Her body was found three days later. World Vision fixed the well and Gracinda is now part of the water committee that fixes and maintains the borehole. 

These fears are real for this children and I am so thankful to have the opportunity to sponsor two children in Uganda in hopes that one day they can live in a world without fear. One of the greatest things that you can do to is to find a child that is available for sponsorship. World Vision is able to work in communities forming a partnership that enables real lasting change.  Change that protects and empowers children and adults. Wouldn't you like to be part of that change? A child is waiting for you.

For the complete collection of stories from Zambia:

What Can You Do?

Hero's In Zambia

Living in Fear

A Child's LifeLooking Forward to the FutureThe Needs are so GreatWelcome HomeSpirit Lead Me Where My Trust is Without BordersPreparing for Zambia

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Rainbows and water

I woke up to rain.  A rain that I was quite thankful for because this land is thirsty for it. We are at the tail end of the rainy season.  One that hasn't been very rainy.  Crops are stunted, rows and rows of maize are brown and wilted. As I walked onto the tarmac in Zambia to board my plane I said a little prayer for Zambia.  I requested a window seat so that I could see this land with the beautiful red dirt get smaller and smaller as we flew higher and higher.  I took a picture out my window and looked right to see the smallest glimpse of a rainbow in the distant clouds.  A symbol of God's promise.I have met a lot of amazing people while in Zambia.  They have stories that are hard for me to believe sometimes are even true.  Stories that are sometimes difficult to tell or even relate to because we have nothing like it in our world.I struck up a conversation with two peace corp volunteers at the connecting terminal in Johannesburg. They have been serving in Zambia for the past year and were finally able to leave on their first holiday out of the country.  They asked what I was doing in Zambia and the long and short of it is, I was observing. I wasn't doing anything. I was seeing how World Vision is partnering with community leaders in some of the most remote villages.  I had lots of comments on pictures that I have been sharing to the effect of "thanks for doing what you are doing" and I can't take a single ounce of credit for anything.I am a firm believer of child sponsorship, especially on the community based model that World Vision uses. It's amazing to see a community be transformed.  Simple practices like hand washing and having a designated area for bathing and a latrine so that open deification isn't spreading disease. More complex issues are being addressed like bringing clean water to areas where it is common to walk for up to six hours a day to fetch water that is making them sick, but it's all that they have. World Vision is training people to speak up to the government about education.  They are spreading that word that gender based violence is not acceptable and that children need to be protected. The people are being empowered to have a voice.Water is at the center of meeting the needs of these people. It's a basic necessity that we take for granted.  Water is life.  It's the livelihood of the people. Once the most basic need is met, then other needs can start to be addressed.  Until then, kids miss school at an alarming rate because they are sick from the dirty water that they are drinking. Community members who want to worship God on Sunday can't make it to church services because the chore of fetching water is too time consuming. Mothers who are overwhelmed with their day to day responsibilities can't even fathom taking the time to walk for four hours to the clinic with their malnourished child until it's nearly too late. Most of us couldn't even imagine dipping our toes in some of the water sources that these people use to drink from.  The large puddles most use are shared with cattle.  Dogs are often bathing in the water, carcasses of dead animals are found floating, fur is common to find in the water that they carry home. And speaking of carrying, I can't even begin to tell you how very heavy those 25 liter cans are to carry.  It makes a beautiful picture seeing women with a baby wrapped in a brightly colored chitenga secured on a mothers back with a bucket balanced on her head, but those cans are no joke.

Molly looking on as I start the time consuming task of filling the jerry can

I walked {literally} in my new friend Molly's shoes {actually Molly doesn't wear shoes, but I wasn't brave enough to try to walk up a rock covered path with a 50 pound container on my shoulder} when we did a water walk to see what the chore of fetching water looked like for her. I could think of nothing more than being finished with that walk with water on my shoulder up a 1.5 kilometer rock covered hill.  Molly doesn't have the luxury of being finished.  Ever. She fetches the water that makes her and her family sick with diarrhea and stomach cramps, returns to her compound, cooks {if there is food available}, cleans, does laundry and then turns around and makes the long walk again. Fetching water takes Molly three to five hours each day.

A long uphill walk from the current water source faces the people in this village every day. It's rocky, uneven and often times done without shoes on their feet. 
A water source has been designated for Molly and the 250 villagers living near her.  World Vision's goal is to have a clean water source within 500 meters of every community member. The location has already been identified for Molly's new water {praise the Lord that it will no longer be an uphill walk!}.  The only thing standing in the way are the less than desirable roads that grant access to the most distant part of the village where Molly lives.  The men in the community are working hard to fix the roads because they are anxious for clean water too.

We sat under a tree {where most community business seems to be conducted in the villages} and dreamed with the women about what life will be like when they have far more hours in their day once the new borehole is dug. The older women are looking forward to some rest.  This is a chore they have been at for half a century! Many are planning for their gardens and will be thankful for water that they can use to grow their crops even in the drought like they are having now.  Most communities plant gardens by the borehole and use the proceeds to pay the school fees for the village children. All of them are excited that some of the health issues they deal with now will no longer be an issue.  One man we met said he didn't even know you could live a life without stomach pain.We started our week in an area that has recently received clean water. I had read the story of Dorcas before I even came to Zambia.  We were able to see their old water source and fetch water from the new borehole. When I asked Dorcas' grandmother Mera what life was like now that she had clean water she answered by standing up in front of us and sang a song of praise while she danced. Mera was bedridden before having clean water. Dorcas and her sister took care of her and would miss school because of care taking. We heard story after story under the tree that morning about how life changing clean water has been for this village.  School attendance has increased for all of the children in the village. Eyesight that was blurry and made it hard to see for one girl {it is thought that she had allergies to the dog fur that was being left behind in the water hole they were using prior to the borehole} has been miraculously healed and she can now see the chalkboard at school. The children are able to play games and act like children for the first time in their lifetime!  Health is being restored and while they still have to fetch water, hours are being given back in their day. The people in the community are now able to dream. Something they were never able to do before. They have hope for their future.I smiled when I saw the rainbow over Zambia as I took off. I know God doesn't forget his people. His heart breaks for the challenges that these people face but He is there. He is walking that hill with Molly. He is celebrating right alongside Mera and Dorcas. He has not forgotten these villages With the help of World Vision in partnership with people who are compelled to sponsor children and support the work in the communities with just $35 a month, that rainbow was a sign to me that I don't need to worry about these people that I instantly fell in love with. I just need to tell their stories. God's got the rest.To find a child that is available for sponsorship, visit here. Click to learn more about the water effect and how World Vision is meeting that need in some of the most desperate areas.A collection of stories from my week in ZambiaWhat Can You Do?Hero's In Zambia
Living in Fear
A Child's LifeLooking Forward to the FutureThe Needs are so GreatWelcome HomeSpirit Lead Me Where My Trust is Without BordersPreparing for Zambia

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A child's life

I've been thinking a lot about how very different the life of a child is in rural Zambia than one in America. In an area where nearly 45% of the people are under 18 it's easy to find yourself surrounded by children. I've met newborns and teenagers, babies learning to walk and children who can count their age on their fingers.When I meet children who are the same age as my own three kids, I usually pay more attention to what those children are doing. I'm fairly certain that my 9, 12 and 16 year old children wouldn't be able to last a day in the village. My kids have it unbelievably easy.  They are responsible for very little.After driving for two hours up a mountainside on roads that we would barely call hiking trails in the Pacific Northwest, we came upon a 13 year old girl named Nerott.  Nerott was in a uniform walking to school.  It was nearly 10 am so I inquired what time her school started.  She pointed to the sun and we were told that school starts at 1 pm.  She was just leaving so that she could make it to school on time.  She had told me that she had already fetched water, made food and did work around the home before starting her nearly three hour walk to school.  A walk that she makes every day.

Nerott starting her long walk to school.  She walks about 15 kilometers (9.32 miles) one way to school

Charrlwe and Nsabata are 10 and 11 year old brothers. Every day they herd cattle, fetch water, cultivate the fields and as they put it "do anything else that we are instructed to do."  This could mean taking a maize crop to the hammer mill or bringing items to other village members in this very large community.  The boys said that they rarely have time to play because they are busy with chores and are usually in the home.Beauty is 13 and is often expected to take care of her ailing grandmother. She often misses school when her grandmother is sick.  Lointia, 16, fetches water, cooks and washes dishes and clothing.   The difference with Beauty and Lointia is that they now have a borehole that is very close to their home that provides them with clean water and a much shorter walk. Their health has improved and they are able to actually have free time now to play ball and be children.  A luxury that Nerott, Charrlwe and Nsabata don't have because a borehole has not yet been brought to their area {one is slated for the end of this year}.I've seen small children {some as young as four} with babies on their backs caring for their little brothers and sisters.  Toddlers fetching water in jugs that are as big as they are struggling to walk just a few feet before they have to take a rest. I've seen boys driving ox carts to plow fields, children watching over a herd of goats or cattle.  I've heard stories of early marriage and girls as young as eight having babies.My children rarely make the soft beds with the comfortable mattress and warm sheets and blankets that they have been given and that are regularly laundered. They seem to disappear when we ask them to set the table before eating the third square meal that we have provided for them with food that is usually pushed around and rarely finished. They complain when we require them to clean the bathrooms that they use or put the dishes that they dirty into the dishwasher that automatically cleans and sanitizes them with very little effort on their part. Clean clothes sit on piles on their floors just waiting to be put away.It's amazing how very different the life of a child is on the other side of the world. Children have lots of responsibility and are looked at as an extra set of hands.  Rarely do children in rural Africa get to be children.  Providing easy access to schools and bringing clean water to the community are some of the first things that World Vision does through their child sponsorship program.  These don't alleviate the amount of responsibility that a child has, but it certainly helps free up some of the time that a child misses out on to just be a child.  To find a child that is available for sponsorship, visit here. Click to learn more about the water effect and how World Vision is meeting that need in some of the most desperate areas.A collection of stories from my week in ZambiaRainbows and WaterLooking Forward to the FutureThe Needs are so GreatWelcome HomeSpirit Lead Me Where My Trust is Without BordersPreparing for Zambia

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Looking forward to the future

My oldest son is a junior in high school this year.  We've spent the year going to college fairs and planning for what his future will look like after graduation.  It's exciting to plan because I know he will do great things in life.When I am around my son's friends, it's not uncommon for me to start asking them what they are planning on doing in the next few years.  I posed the same question to a group of girls that ranged in age from 14-16.  These girls may be the same age as my son and his friends, but that is where the similarities stop.  

The old water source that was shared with animals and often times dogs would die in the same water they would drink

Dreaming of a future is a new concept for these girls and their families.  Until just five months ago they were using a dirty hole as their only water source.  They shared the water with their cattle, pigs, goats and dogs. The water is shallow at the edge but it is very deep where it runs under tree roots and goes underground. Dogs would often times go and drink from the water and fall in getting caught under the roots.  They would die and only resurface after their waterlogged bodies bloat and explode. Some of the water they would draw would have fur in it. Once the dog would surface, they would scoop the dog out and continue drawing water as if nothing had occurred.  The alternative to using this dirty water source wasn't any better.  Mera Bumda, 55, said that people would openly go to the bathroom in the other water source and that the animals used the water for baths and drinking.  Not to mention that it was much further away.Mera is a widow who has asked her two granddaughters to come and live with her to help her since she is often sick because of HIV. Before the new water source was dug she was rarely able to even get up during the day.  She would have constant diarrhea and relied on her granddaughters, who would often miss school, so that they could take care of her.  Today, just five months after the new borehole was dug, Mera was dancing and singing songs of thanksgiving.  Mera feels like now that they have a clean water source they can have a future.  Before, they were living day to day and being overwhelmed by their circumstances.I walked down a dirt path worn through the grass to a borehole.  I met up with the girls and was able to ask them what they dreamed of and what their hopes were for their children and grandchildren. The girls were quick to tell me the professions that they dreamed of {nurses and teachers} and were hopeful that their children would have a better life since they were excited about the improvements that were already being made to their own lives.  They dreamed of leaving the village and moving to the city.  

Listening to the girls dream about their future at their new water source

"The borehole has brought us together.  Things have changed!" Bazaar

These dreams were not dreams that they would have imagined could be reality. It's amazing how a simple thing like clean drinking water can change the face of a whole household and in Bazaar Buwmba's opinion, a whole community.  Before the borehole Bazaar said that people were living for themselves.  Now the community can live as one family-people looking out for each other.  This community is now able to dream.  They are able to think about the future.  They are thankful. World Vision has brought water to their community and Mera feels important and loved because someone cared for them enough to give sponsorship dollars to their community.

Walking from their new borehole is much easier and their health problems have all nearly disappeared!

To learn more about the area I visited and what the impact of clean water can be like in a community check out the information about the water effect.   To find a child available for sponsorship visit here.It only takes $50 for one person to have clean water for life.  You can make a difference to that one person.You can read more about this community and what life was like before and after the new borehole on the World Vision Water Effect site.A collection of stories from my week in ZambiaRainbows and WaterA Child's LifeLooking Forward to the FutureThe Needs are so GreatWelcome HomeSpirit Lead Me Where My Trust is Without BordersPreparing for Zambia

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The needs are so great

I've always dreamed of being a midwife in Africa.  I realized that since I pass out when my dog gets her vaccinations that it may just not be my God given calling but that doesn't stop me from being passionate about mothers and their babies.Today I had the opportunity of observing an overworked nurse {she had at least 50 patients lined up before 9 am and before we left at least 25 more had arrived} while she did intake of patients.  There were only a few men, most were women having walked upwards of four hours to come to the clinic to be seen.She saw a mother with a baby on her hip in for her STI {sexually transmitted infection} injection, a grandmother bringing in her five year old grandson for treatment of chicken pox, and a four month old with malaria. Bertha Himaanga, 28, was the only nurse we saw on site.  She worked quickly and listened well seeing patient after patient in the clinic.  One patient would walk out the door, and another would walk in.  I walked out to speak to the mothers that were waiting and when I returned I saw Bertha speaking with a 30 year old HIV positive mother of four with a 15 month old baby in a sling. I didn't speak the same language, but I could tell that Bertha was very upset with the mother for not bringing her baby into the clinic.  Bertha asked several times, why did you not come sooner? This child was 15 months old and from an untrained eye I could see that this child was suffering from malnutrition.  Kiston weighed only 11 pounds.  A typical toddler his age usually weighs twice that!

I was drawn to little Kiston Hadanji.  His mother made several excuses for not bringing her son into the clinic sooner, but with some more questioning, it was found that the mother has four children at home and her husband is no longer around.  She is doing it all on her own and just hasn't had the time to come to the clinic.Her last visit to the clinic was in January when her child was tested for HIV.  The test results have still not come in since they need to be sent out to Lusaka several hours away. Getting important test results takes a lot of time in rural Zambia in the small rural town of Moyo.  Though physical examination confirmed that this baby is more than likely HIV positive just like his mother.Something else that is difficult to get in Moyo is health care.  The village has a very busy clinic that is not easily accessible to most of the members in the community.  Kiston's mother was instructed to gather some money and take him to Choma an hour drive away and be admitted to the hospital. I could see in this mother's eyes how difficult it would be for her to find the 50 kwacha {about $7 USD} for the round trip car fare to get her child the treatment that he needed. Where would this single mother of four find the money?World Vision has been participating in this community for six years.  The need is great and when speaking with the director of the ADP {area development project} it seems overwhelming to meet all of those needs.  Where do you even begin? The roads have been inadequate and too narrow to even bring a drilling truck in to bring clean water. The community and government have been working to fix that so that World Vision can make good on their promise to bring water into the community.  Once members of the community have clean water, it is the hope that the lines at the clinic will shorten.  Every day the clinic sees cases of diarrhea and urinary tract infections.  Twenty three boreholes are slated to be drilled this year in Moyo.

The new Moyo hospital just steps away from the old health clinic
In partnership with World Vision, the first rural hospital is being built in Moyo.  We were able to visit the facility that will have running water through a mechanized pump system and electricity from solar panels.  It's a far cry from how they are currently operating. Bertha says babies at night are being delivered with just two small solar panel lamps that provide inadequate light and a laboring mother is told to bring a bucket of water in with her when she comes to deliver.  The hospital will have it's own lab so that test results for things like HIV can be done that day and the results won't take months to receive.The facility will also help patients like Kiston whose mother will be able to receive treatment without going into the city.  I know children like Kiston and adults are being turned away from treatment every day because the facility is just not able to handle the cases that it is seeing.  I can't rush the process, and I know that there have been lives lost because of the inability to get the funds together to get into the city to proper medical care.For now, I didn't hesitate to ask the World Vision staff if I could privately gift this mother the 50 kwacha to get her and her baby into the city for treatment.  I am hopeful that Kiston will receive the treatment that he needs in Choma and that with the help of World Vision this mother will receive the training on proper nutrition that she is lacking.  All of this is being done in the community because of the child sponsorship program.  Sponsoring a child is more than just giving money to one child, it's giving money to the community.  For only $35 a month, you can change a child's life forever. Please consider child sponsorship. The needs are so great and with your help, those needs can be met.Twalumba! To find a child that is available for sponsorship, visit here. Click to learn more about the water effect and how World Vision is meeting that need in some of the most desperate areas.A collection of stories from my week in ZambiaRainbows and WaterA Child's LifeLooking Forward to the FutureThe Needs are so GreatWelcome HomeSpirit Lead Me Where My Trust is Without BordersPreparing for Zambia

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