Final Recap of Zambia

Jacob, a boy who was recently moved to the shelter, told Chelsea once “there is no god in the ditch.” My heart broke. The ditches are their home, where they sleep when they can at night. It explained the hopelessness that I saw in all the boys’ faces. The ones on the street say they want to get out, go to school, or go home, anything but the street. However, it’s just a fairytale dream. It’s so far off that they laugh at the thought sometimes. They don’t know if they will even be alive in 2 years. Every day they come to Chisomo and are fed, wash, and attend a Bible study. Every day they still leave hopeless. Satan has fed their minds for so long with lies of worthlessness and hopelessness. They are convinced that they are no better than monkeys. They feel they might as well be monkeys. Tomas told me he had “monkey hands” compared to my soft hands. These lies have convinced them that they are not worthy of a normal and good life. They are convinced that the street is better than homes because in the street at least you’re able to do what you want and maybe, just maybe, you can get through the night without being beaten. That’s more of a guarantee than at home. The community looks down on the children living on the street. They say, “They should be at home with their parents. They’re just dirty delinquents.” But what the community doesn’t understand is that each child has a specific and different story and reason why they came to the street. Take Nicolas for example. Nicolas still has both parents, rare for Zambia, but they are divorced and both remarried. His step-father beats him and his step-mother hates him. Neither home is safe for this 17 year old. So he tells his parents that he’s living with the other and heads to the street instead. His parents don’t care enough to make sure that he’s actually with the other parent. Little do they know that Nick is a leading drug dealer and hasn’t been clean for about 6 years.

The community looks at Nick with disgust, but they don’t know that his body is so addicted that it needs the drugs more than food. They don’t see Nick as the leader that I see him to be. They don’t see what the gospel could do for this boy and the entire community that he affects. But Satan has such a hold on Nick. It breaks my heart to know that Nick with probably never become clean and very likely die young. But it’s Nick that keeps me hoping. It’s Nick that inspires me to go to the outcasts of society. And it’s Nick that changed my heart. It’s the unloved like Nicolas that have given me a new drive to study occupational therapy in a new light, to focus on the psychology more than the motor skills. The drugs have killed so many of Nick’s brain cells that he is not unlike a stroke victim. Occupational therapists work with those people all the time. I don’t know where God is calling me. I am willing to go anywhere in the world as long as I know that God is ahead of me. I do know that I have been called to seek out the orphans and the widows, those unloved by the community, and to bring them hope using the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I am not going to heal them using OT, but God can and will heal. I just want to be a tool in that healing process. In the words of John the Baptist, “I must become less so that He can become greater” (John 3:30). Being at Chisomo, I have learned that I cannot minister if my goal is for myself. I must humble myself before God and man, following Jesus’ example in becoming a selfless servant. The caregiver at the drop in center and also my host father, Josephat, is a selfless servant, which can only come from God. Day in and day out, he ministers to the children on the street. He does not get any glory or recognition. He is under-staffed and never complains. And his heart has such patience and understanding that I have never seen before. He is my role model of a Christ-like servant. He is a carpenter by trade so maybe these are character traits innate in all carpenters, but Josephat’s love for Christ is what has driven him for 10 years at Chisomo. He has seen the same boys every day for years, and yet he is not frustrated with the slow progress. He does not punish them when they go backwards instead of making progress. He only continues to love them and disciplines with grace. So I guess to say what I have learned is complicated. I have learned that God is the God of all people and calls me to the same behavior in America that I was challenged with in Zambia. God has shown me that I am called to love the unloved, the outcast of the world. Something that I have been discovering since I’ve been home is that God has placed me where I am for a reason. While I was in Zambia, I was there for my eyes to be opened and my heart changed. While I am in America, I am called to make a choice about my faith and my life. This is where the lifelong change happens for me, the character building. I find it so much easier to love the boys of the street than people at home. But Jesus does not only love Zambians. So while I am in America, I will love people through the Holy Spirit (God knows that I don’t have enough love in me to do it on my own). I will lean on Him and strive to be more like Christ every day. In regards as to what I have learned academically, I have discovered a true passion for psychology, which I never thought I would say. I have a passion for applying occupational therapy to some unconventional circumstances, but applicable nonetheless. I have changed my major to biopsychology with a minor in community psych with hopes of understanding more of where people like the Chisomo boys come from. But most importantly, I have learned what it means to be a Christian, a true follower of Christ. Honestly, I’m scared and nervous of falling back into my own routines. But I thank God for these trials because they form endurance. And endurance builds strength of character. Strength of character leads to hope which will not lead to disappointment because we know how much God loves us since He sent His Son to die for us while we were still sinners. Romans 5:3-5