We woke up in Zambia this morning feeling a WOW moment that we are finally here!! The day was started off with devotions and a Biblical meditation session on Psalm 91 with Mumba, a Poetice staff member. It was cleansing and a great way to start our day. We then had a cultural talk with Bruce, a speaker from Livingstone and staff member of the Elijah Mission. He has traveled around the world and is a very wise man who spoke about the cultural differences between Africa and the U.S. and how we prioritize task, teams, and self differently when working in groups. They were very valuable lessons for our group.
After lunch we were split up into groups and visited different villages in the community. We were faced with poverty many of us had never seen before. Some of the houses did not have a roof, and most of the houses did not have electricity or running water. As we walked through the community, there was joy and excitement from the kids as they would gather around us and give us hugs and hi fives and ask us “How are you?” We could see that the Holy Spirit is very powerful in this community by their welcoming nature and kind hearts. Our staff member that showed us the community said “even a simple smile or wave will bring the members of the community happiness and a glimpse of hope.”
After viewing the community, we were assigned different groups that will participate and work with the various age groups of the soccer teams with Poetice. There are four teams: 10U boys, 12U boys, 16U girls, and the local amateur men’s team. The kids seemed to be very shy when we first arrived, as were we. We played multiple icebreaker games and taught the kids some games that we learned from the U.S. The children also taught us some Zambian childhood games like: 7UP, the Zambian version of Simon Says and Red Rover. Towards the end of the day, the children were very comfortable with us and were very passionate about including us. It is crazy how a simple little game or sport can break barriers. The kids would dance with us and follow us everywhere we stepped. The little children did not know much English so this was a small challenge for us. To overcome this we spoke in God’s language showing each other love and compassion for one another in whatever activity we were doing. Seeing the smiles on each of the children’s faces showed us that God is truly with us this week.
Britta Johnson & Eddie Ip