SEED Program

We made it to Atlanta and have one more layover before arriving back in Grand Rapids this afternoon. It’s been an incredible week and a half with this team, and we are excited to see family and friends to share all about the trip.

We are so grateful to Sawyer for making SEED trips possible for Hope student-athletes. Each of us grew over the course of this trip and we will never forget the experiences we had distributing water filters and putting on the sports camp with Poetice. Thank you.

We are so grateful for Caroline Dykstra and all the work she does to make SEED such a great program within Hope Athletics. Second semester meetings and pre-trip training were a significant part of the team beginning to bond. We knew we were well-taken care of through the whole process with Caroline in charge. Thank you.

We are so grateful for Poetice and the opportunity to partner together this week. Their staff was a gift to all of us, and it is especially wonderful to see so many Hope College alumni on their team: Abby VanPeursem, Courteney Barnes, and Seth Almquist. The environment created for us to learn, dig deep in our faith, process, worship, and have fun is incredibly special.

And we are so grateful to all who followed along and supported this trip each step of the way. We can’t wait to see you soon!

-Zambia SEED Team 2024

Monday started very early as we played mafia until 2am around the fire at Poetice. After a few hours of sleep, we left Choma bright and early Monday morning and headed to Livingstone. Our first stop was Victoria Falls, which is one of the seven natural wonders of the world. We went on a hike, dipped our feet and swam in a smaller waterfall, and took a lot of cool pictures. We also saw several baboons roaming the trails on the way. After the hike, we shopped for souvenirs, and had the chance to work on our bargaining skills. After that, we had a good time connecting with each other at lunch, where we had pizza. Then, we went on a riverboat cruise on the Zambezi River. We saw many hippos, exotic birds, zebras, and even a giraffe! After the cruise, we headed to dinner, where we had to take a quick stop because there was an elephant that wanted to cross the road. We eventually made it to dinner where we had traditional Zambian food. Many of us tried fried caterpillars and crocodile. Overall, it was a fun day connecting with the group and enjoying Livingstone and its beauty.

Now it’s Tuesday, and we left the hotel this morning to start our journey home. We made it safely from Livingstone to Johannesburg, and we will be boarding our 16 hour flight at 10pm local time tonight. We’ve had an amazing experience, and made memories that will last a lifetime. We’d like to thank you all for your support while we’ve been in Zambia. We can’t wait to see you all soon!

Maddy and Ashlea

Sports camp for the kids ended yesterday, so we had a relaxing day and the chance to play sports with each other. The day started with sleeping in and breakfast at 8. In our session this morning with the wonderful Matt Margaron, we learned from him how God is a relational God who sent his son to earth to relate to us. Jesus embodied how to create, relate, endure, and restore people on earth. After this, the Global Health students went with Seth to put a cover on a local well, which will prevent children from stumbling into an uncovered well. They got to learn a little bit more about some of the amazing projects Poetice is doing in their community. The afternoon was filled with sports of all kinds. We played a softball game, many volleyball games with Poetice staff and youth from the community, as well as pickleball, Spikeball, and some frisbee. We also were able to rest after a busy week. We had our last table time and had a wonderful dinner before debrief. We are ending the day by hanging out around a bonfire and enjoying the relationships we have built with each other. Might be a late night, but we will see you tomorrow!

Eliana and Mike

The last day of sports camp and our water filter demonstration were today! We started our day off with worship and a teaching about living water to help prepare us for distributing filters later in the day. We had a great day having the opportunity to watch the campers excel in the sports they learned throughout the week. We watched the young adults play soccer, volleyball, and basketball. The level of talent we saw was impressive, especially in volleyball. After enjoying those sports, we were able to play a game of softball where we stopped and talked situations and rules as they came up as it’s a new sport to the campers. They were very involved in the game and a few even played with us. At lunch we were visited by Mama Katete selling chitenges, bags, clothing, and journals and we were able to purchase some souvenirs. In the afternoon, the younger kids participated in dodgeball, relay races, and hula-hoop games. It was fun to watch all of them cheer each other on and work together. We were moved at the impact their smiling faces and cheerful attitudes had on us. After camp, the campers who do not have a bucket water filter stayed to receive one and learn how to use and maintain them. Once the filters were assembled, our team taught them how to use them and clean them in the hopes of successful long-term usage. The campers were excited to see the unclean water travel through the filter and become clean. We used this as a message to them to explain that the filter represented Jesus, the unclean water represented your life before knowing Jesus, and the clean water represented a purified life after giving your life to Jesus. We then walked with campers back to their homes and we had the opportunity to talk about the water filters and the gospel with the campers’ family members! After dinner, we ended the night with powerful worship and a meaningful debrief. 

Thank you Sawyer for providing us with over 100 water filters to distribute and impact the community of Choma! What a great opportunity it was to leave a lasting impact on the lives of the campers and their families.

Meghan, Max, and Abby

We are now over half way through sports camp. Many of us were tired from yesterday and chose to sleep in and start our day with 7am breakfast. Coffee was definitely needed this morning. After Addison and Elianna braided people’s hair, we headed to our morning session. We got up and moved during worship. There was dancing and singing led by Moshon, Jerome, and Anita. Abby taught us different ways to hear God and how to seek His voice. She also led us through a prayer to help us talk to Him. We learned that God speaks in different ways. The dad of one of the Poetice’s staff members, Trip, got a word from God during this time and shared it with us. After worship, the first camp session started with the older group.  We played basketball, softball, ultimate frisbee, and pickleball. The basketball group played live games. The softball group learned base running rules of the game. The pickleball group learned the basics of the sport because it was new for most of the campers. The ultimate group practiced throwing a frisbee and playing the game. Before heading to the second session of camp, we had pasta with meat and veggies for lunch. We regrouped and got ready for the next session. During the second part of camp, the sports remained the same; however, we replaced pickleball with relay races. The basketball group continued to work on their skills. The softball group practiced hitting. The ultimate frisbee group remained the same, and the relay race group did different movements and stretches before doing fun races to see who would finish first. After the second session, we had a short break before heading to table time. We debriefed our day as well as our ideas on worship last night with the Poetice staff. At dinner, we had chicken curry, which was exceptional! Dinner slowly turned into a bonfire and s’mores. We played games like jungle stick, taco-goat-cheese-pizza, and bologna sandwich. There were many laughs and smiles with everyone on base. Overall, today was a great day, and we can’t wait for the last day of camp.

Mac and Courtney

The morning after the first day of sports camp looked a lot different. While we may have had many early risers yesterday, lots of us slept in all the way until breakfast to recover from the previous day. After a quiet and tired breakfast, we had the opportunity to have our first worship. The worship time brought all of us the energy we needed to start the day. Abby talked about God’s story in Genesis and the creation of man. Straight from worship we headed over to the recreational sports park to meet the first group (ages 17+). Today in camp we focused on volleyball, soccer, and basketball. Volleyball and soccer are a lot of the older groups main/favorite sports so we were learning more than teaching. We ran lots of drills that taught them specific things that they can use to work to improve their skills. During the break of the two camp sessions, we got to have some delicious lunch. They served us chicken salad sandwiches with coleslaw. We also had a group of the team head down to the local store to fuel up on some Coke’s, Fanta’s, and Kung Fu which is a Zambian energy drink similar to Red Bull. Pickleball is also a popular thing for us to do while passing time. Whether it is a very relaxed game or super intense, everyone seems to enjoy it. The young kids arrived and we were back to sports. With the younger kids they subbed basketball for netball. Netball is a very popular sport for the women in the communities. The kids are always filled with excitement and energy for all the sports. After sports wrapped up for the day, the team went back and put on our fancy clothes for dinner and Poetice’s worship night. At dinner, the whole base sang Nolan happy birthday for his 21^st birthday. We also got really tasty cupcakes! All dressed up after a sweaty day we started the worship time. This worship time is an opportunity for kids from the camp and also members of the local communities to join in. The main lesson during worship was allowing God to meet you exactly where you are on your faith journey. It was an opportunity to dance, sing, and invite God into our lives. The environment in the worship center was very comfortable for lots of the members on the team mostly because of the locals who welcomed us. After worship, a Zambian birthday tradition, Nolan got multiple buckets of cold water dumped on him. After he dried off, we got started with our nightly debrief. This debrief created a space for everyone who was called to express what they felt during worship. One of the main takeaways of this session was an overwhelming number of compliments given out from one member of the team to another. The whole team has grown super tight and has high aspirations to see how God will keep working in each and everyone of us for the rest of the trip.

-Jack, Nolan, and Kennedi

We are a team of early risers who have been waking up and starting our day together during the Choma sunrise. Today we were pumped knowing it would be the first day of sports camp at Poetice. We are lucky enough to get to be here and helping to run the first ever sports camp on Poetice’s brand new recreational park. After breakfast we heard word from the gospel of Matthew teaching us that God will meet us wherever we are at in our faith walk. Hearing these stories were very inspirational. We were challenged by the speaker with the concept of learning throughout our lifetime and were encouraged that it’s OK to not know or have it all figured out. This made us excited for the new experience of working with the campers who came in full of joy and ready to learn. During camp today, we helped coach the youth in both basketball and softball. These are two sports that are not currently as common in Zambia. The campers were ecstatic to play both and earn new skills. During softball the campers were coached through stations of hitting, throwing, and defense. Basketball players were coached through passing, shooting, dribbling, and lay ups. Today as a team we had the takeaway that showing others even small bits of encouragement can be life-giving. Following sports camp, we were introduced to table time groups where we got the chance to have conversations to answer any questions that arose throughout our day and have the chance to get to know each other a little better through fellowship in smaller groups. After table time, we were able to have a traditional Zambian dinner called Nshima. Nshima is made from pounded white maize, corn meal and water, and it is eaten with your hands along with chicken and delele a green relish like topping. We ended our day with a team debrief and a lot of excitement for tomorrow’s camp.

Grace and Riley

Kamwamba!   (Hello, how are you doing?)
Kabotu   (We are doing well)
Ndime Addison and Vamsee  (Our names are Addison and Vamsee)

We wanted to greet you in the native language of Tonga which is what is spoken here in Mwapona!! Today we had a very full first day in Zambia!! We started out with a delicious breakfast and opportunity to talk with our team and the Poetice staff. Many of us enjoyed coffee from the coffee house on base along with our food. Afterward we participated in a Bible study on the encouragement provided by Barnabus and how we could embody that during our time in Zambia. We got a tour of the base from John, and then after sorting through the sports equipment we brought and preparing for sports camp tomorrow, we ate lunch. Following a quick outfit change, long skirts for the girls and trousers for the boys, we headed out on a walk lead by Poetice staff to explore and see the community right outside of the base. We were able to meet people from their church family and see the market and stores in town. Our group was struck by the joy and love that was poured out on us, especially from all the kiddos as there were countless smiles and waves. While waiting for dinner, we got to break out the pickleball sets and volleyballs to play some games with the team and staff and continue to build community together. We were also able to welcome the Northwestern College Women’s Basketball team (we will be putting on this week’s camp together). We really enjoyed getting to know each other over dinner. We ended the night with final preparations for tomorrow and a team debrief to process and discuss everything we saw and did today. We ask for prayers as we prepare for our first day of sports camp tomorrow where we will focus on softball and basketball!!

Addison & Vamsee

We woke up early in South Africa for another flight, this time to Zambia! After breakfast in the airport, we boarded a small plane that took us on a two hour trip to Zambia. It was slow getting through security at the Livingstone airport, but it all worked out and we made it onto a bus that took us to Choma. The bus was a tight fit for our group of 23, so we were able to use another car for luggage. Our 2.5 hour drive was filled with lots of games, conversations, and a beautiful sunset. When we finally arrived, we were greeted with so much excitement right away. We had a delicious barbecue dinner outside and got to meet lots of new people from Poetice’s staff. After dinner we had a debrief with the team. We journaled, talked about the first few days of the trip, and a couple people shared their testimonies. Our team is looking forward to the week to come and we’re excited to meet many more people, create memories, and see how God works through the group on this trip.

– Alex & Breck

Our team had a long day of travel that started in Atlanta, and ended in Johannesburg. After 15 hours in the air we arrived safely and made it to our hotel in time for a great meal, and a chance now to sleep. Tomorrow we will take what will feel like a very short 2 hour flight to Livingstone, meet staff from Poetice, and head to Choma!

Blog recaps from students will begin tomorrow, as we all headed to our rooms after dinner to shower and get to bed. As leaders of the trip, we are grateful for the amazing attitudes the students have brought to our entire time together so far. Their eagerness to get to Zambia, patience as we navigate airports and group travel, and willingness to jump into conversation with whichever teammates are around them has been really great to see. We are definitely ready for a great week with this crew!

A couple more pics below of our airport travel today, including one in Johannesburg of the whole team.

Thanks for following along!
-Zambia Team Leaders