My Call

During training today, I was asked to come up with a 5 minute talk about my sense of call and my ministry in Zambia.  So, I thought I would share it here, too....

My first trip to Ethiopia occurred four years ago, and I spent most of my time at an orphanage for HIV positive children.  A couple days into my stay, a young woman arrived, a look of weary agony on her face.

Genet was about 17 years old, and from a sling around her back, a tiny face peeked out.  He was a little over one year old, and when she sat him down on the ground, he crawled straight to the toy that my son was playing with.  She looked up at me, uncertain, as I got out another toy and handed it to her little boy.

In a few minutes, the social worker came out, and what followed was a wrenching conversation.  I couldn’t understand the Amharic, but I could understand the pain in this young woman’s voice.  I need you to take my child.

Like many mothers who are HIV positive in Ethiopia, Genet faced a horrifying choice.  She knew she would die and she needed to be sure that her child would be cared for upon her death.  Her hope was that her son would be adopted, but she knew that the longer she waited, the less likely it was that he would find a permanent home.  And so her choice was to continue to hold her baby, for as long as she could, or to place her little boy in an orphanage early, in hopes that he would find a home.  Genet chose to lose that precious remaining time with her son, placing him in an orphanage at a young age, knowing that this increased his likelihood for adoption.

Genet was HIV-positive and with treatment, she could have lived a long life, she could have watched that beautiful boy grow into a man.  But she didn’t have access to the life-saving drugs that would keep her alive.

And so here she sits in an orphanage, saying good-bye to her beloved baby, as she waits to die.  How can this happen?  The most distressing thing is that is has happened, over and over again, to millions of parents, to millions of children, to millions of people in Sub-Saharan Africa.

As a mother, I cannot forget Genet's face, or that little boy's smile as he picked up the toy rattle.  For the past four years, I have been blessed to work with a program for HIV affected families in Ethiopia, and to support social workers in a community care program, which seeks to keep families together through education, medication, and community development.  As I have witnessed transformation occur in families and in communities, I have felt God's call to do this work on a full time basis, and to move with my family to Africa, walking with partners to address issues of poverty, public health, and spiritual growth.

My new ministry will take place with the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian, Synod of Zambia, where life expectancy is 39 years old.  Zambia is among the poorest nations in the world, and in addition to poverty, it struggles with the burdens created by the rapid spread of infectious diseases, including HIV and AIDS.  Zambia has one of the world’s most widespread rates of HIV/AIDS, with more than 1 in every 7 adults living with HIV.

While I am in Zambia, I will be working with church leaders, clergy, and community figures to address the physical and spiritual well-being of the people in Zambia.  I will work with congregations throughout the country, using a model called Community Health Evangelism, a form of outreach that combines community health and development, and evangelism and discipleship.  It is a holistic approach to health, proclaiming that God cares about our spiritual and physical well-being, and that together, churches in the United States and churches in Zambia, can seek to improve the health of the Zambian people.

As Christians, we have good news to share!  We worship a God who loves us and cares about our minds, our spirits, and our bodies.  We worship a God who wants us to be whole, a God who invites us into transformation.  As we share the good news of God's love in Jesus Christ, we are able to walk together on the journey towards wholeness.

The Bible tells us, over and over again, that God wants us to experience life in abundance!  God does not desire that so many children die of malaria, God does not desire that so many mothers die of AIDS, God does not desire that families suffer malnutrition, God does not desire polluted, contaminated water, causing so many children to die from diarrheal disease.  God wants us healthy and whole; and so my ministry in Zambia will focus on ministering to the spirits, minds, and bodies of the Zambian people.

You are invited to join me in this, to be a part of the miracle.  You are invited to believe, right along with me, that God can do something amazing in, and through the people of Zambia, in, and through, you and me.  You are invited to give of your time, your prayers, your money, your presence, to be a part of this blessing, to be a part of God's work in the world.

Women like Genet, mothers just like me, have a right to watch their babies grow.  They have a right to sing lullabies to their grandchildren.  Just as much of a right as I do.  And there is hope, today, for mothers like Genet.  In the past four years, I have seen amazing changes in Ethiopia, and the numbers reflect the reality that things are getting better for HIV positive people in Sub-Saharan Africa.  The rates of new HIV infections and HIV-related deaths continue to decline.  Education, treatment, and prevention are on the rise, and mother-to-child transmission is continuing to fall. There is great hope in Sub-Saharan Africa, and it is incredibly exciting that we all can be a part of this miracle of change, of health, of wholeness.  We get to work with God on this transformation!

So, thank you so much for your interest in this ministry and for your time today.  And thank you in advance for your prayers and support.  May God bless you.