Africa

First off, I want to say thank you for your thoughts, prayers and support for this mission trip to Zambia! This was our second year to go with Family Legacy and minister as camp counselors to the orphaned and vulnerable kids there (read about last year). It was such an incredible privilege for us to each meet a new group of kids this year and share the love of God with them!

Each day of camp we got to teach the kids the Word of God, play games, sing songs and hug them (some of which had NEVER been hugged before!). Throughout the week we spent time with each kid in our groups individually to give them a chance to open up and for us to really get to know them and pray for them.

I had a group of eleven girls, aged 12 – 15 years old. Each one of them was absolutely precious! They all have hardships in their lives that we can’t even imagine. Four of them were not in school because their caretakers could not afford to send them (we’re talking cut-rate schools that cost less than $10/month!). They all desperately want to go to school because they know that an education is vital for their future. One of my girls, Christine, walks an hour each way to school everyday!

On Thursday, we got to go out into the communities where our kids are from and share the Gospel of Christ with others. It’s really neat to see God work through them and in them as they share. Amazingly, I saw several of the girls from my group last year that had been sponsored (pic below).  They were all in a Lifeway Christian Academy (that Family Legacy owns and operates) and their English was much improved and they were all doing so well! It was incredible to see what a difference it can make when a child is sponsored! 

My partners were the best! Most of the girls in my group spoke a small bit of English but not enough to have a real conversation so these ladies were invaluable to me in communicating with the kids.

I cannot wait until Jack is old enough to come with us in a few years! I definitely hope we get to continue to go each summer, it is absolutely the highlight of my year (I can't imagine how much more so it is for the kids!). Zambia is incredibly beautiful and it was nice to escape the heat here (the highs are in the 70s this time of year). If you are interested in sponsoring any of my kids you can do so here. Again, THANK YOU all for your support!

countdown

I am pinching myself right now because my calendar says there is only 7 more days until we leave for Zambia, Africa! SEVEN!!!!! Yikes! I still have so much packing to do.

At the end of the week of camp with the kids, we give our two Zambian partners a small gift in appreciation for all their hard work in translating and helping us with the kids (we each have our own group of 12 kids all week). This year I decided I wanted my gifts to be a little more "from the heart" so I made these little zippy pouches.

I used this tutorial from Kelby Sews. Very straightforward and I love how they came out!


Also, we are allowed to have 3 fifty-pound bags for our checked luggage (that's a lot!!!) and they encourage us to fill all the extra space/weight with things that they desperately need over there.
A friend gave us a $100 Visa gift card so we went to Costco and bought as much as we could. My picture doesn't show it very good but this is a lot of stuff!

Our dentist gave us 570 toothbrushes!!! So cool!


I'm so excited that our trip is finally here!!! I feel like I have so much to do still but I know it will all come together. I still have another finished quilt to show you so hopefully I'll find a few minutes to share that with you this week.
I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

wow.

We're back!!! How can I even begin to sum up what an amazing trip we had to Zambia, Africa? Absolutely impossible! but I will do my best to give you the highlights.

I've mentioned it before but my husband and I went with an organization called Family Legacy and participated as camp councilors for 12 orphaned/vulnerable kids for 1 week at their CampLIFE program. I had an awesome group of girls between the ages of 10 and 15 years old and throughout the week we really got attached to each other. Most of their stories are so sad. Most live with a grandma or aunt, which at first glance doesn't sound so bad but in their culture everyone is in survival mode and they don't have those close family bonds that we do. They are often treated as an unwanted burden. With the unemployment rate near 80% in Zambia, it's hard for these kind of families to afford to send their kids to school. Four out of my 12 girls are not currently in school. One of those girls has never, ever been to school and she is 15 years old! It is absolutely heartbreaking. These kids desperately need hope! A big reason we go is to share with them the Gospel and the true hope that Jesus offers. However it is also an opportunity for us to find sponsors for each of them because that is what will help them get a good education. That's what I love about Family Legacy, they really want to help these kids to help themselves when they grow up by focusing on education.

These are my group of girls that I had the whole week:

Two of them said they were 9 and 10 years old but I think they were more like 7 and 9.

One day we spent out in the communities (the compounds) where our group of kids were from sharing the Gospel and serving others by cleaning their houses.

We did laundry at one house.

Here is one of the schools that Family Legacy operates. It is lightyears better than the community or government schools (you can see more here). That's hubby ready to learn his lessons. :)

This is a super cool little 2 minute video that shows the importance of education in Africa. It was actually a commercial (not associated with Family Legacy) that was made to be aired during the world cup last year.

This is one of the most awesome mission trips I have ever been on. We actually forged personal relationships with these kids and it was amazing getting to know their stories. I believe God put us on this earth to help each other whether they live across the street or across the world. If a difference was made in only one of my kids life on this trip then that is awesome. It starts with one kid at a time.

Zambia was an absolutely beautiful country and the people were even more so. I would love to go back and do it again next summer.

Thanks for reading and thank you to those who supported me to go in the first place!

packing

We've had to get serious about packing this weekend. We leave for Zambia, Africa next week (read about our trip here)! There are so many details to take care of still but we are making good progress.

Because our flight tickets are special "missionary" tickets, we are allowed to check three 50 lb bags per person at no charge. That's 300 lbs for us together! We've gotten lots of donations of kids clothing, school uniforms, school supplies and Bibles so they are mostly filled up. Just about everything we are taking we are leaving there as donations.

I am SOOOO excited about this trip! I can't wait to get going!

These are all the bags.

They look smaller in the photo than in real life.

And see, I sewed something practical too.

A pouch that you can tuck into your pants with the loops secured to your belt (we're to have our passport on us at all times).

One thing I am definitely looking forward to: daytime temps of 75 degrees in Zambia (vs. 102 that it is here right now).

Hope everyone is having a great weekend! Hopefully, I'll get to post once more before we leave.

Raffle for Zambian Orphans

Today I would like to go somewhere I don't often go on this blog: personal! It's something I'd thought you'd like to know about though because it has and will be affecting my life in a big way.

Last fall my husband and I decided to sign up for a mission trip to Zambia, Africa this summer. A lot of people from our church went last year and the stories they came back with were so amazing we decided we wanted to be a part of it.

So, in June we will be heading out with a highly experienced missions organization called Family Legacy to serve as camp counselors. This Camp Life program for the orphans of Zambia is one of many programs Family Legacy started doing 10 years ago. They also are building schools and safe havens (for orphans that are in life-threatening situations) and running sponsorship programs. It's really amazing all that they do and how effective they are!

Our involvement will allow 25 orphaned kids to spend a week at Camp Life. Each day at Camp Life we will be working directly with the same group of orphans: playing games, teaching Bible lessons, singing songs, and simply hugging and loving these kids in a way most have never experienced. This week of camp will be the highlight of their year!

Zambia is a peaceful country located just north of the country of South Africa and as you've probably guessed, is extremely poor. Because of HIV/AIDS, it has the highest per capita orphan rate in the world. And what's really sad is that there really are no state-run orphanages where these kids can go so they are left with relative who don't want them or they fend for themselves.

As you can imagine, we have quite a bit of money to raise, mainly because of the cost of airfare. We are getting close to our goal though! We still need about $2,500 out of the $7,500 required for the both of us to go.

One of the things I am doing to help is I am raffling off one of my handmade quilts! I thought I would give all of my blogland friends an opportunity to join in! (please do not feel obligated in any way!)

TO ENTER FOR A CHANCE TO WIN:

• give $5 for 1 chance
• give $10 for 3 chances
• give $20 for 6 chances, etc.
• link to this post on your blog for an extra chance!

1. Click HERE to give (this is our fundraising page and the money goes directly to Family Legacy for our trip) OR if you'd rather send a check email me at quiltsbyemily(at)yahoo(dot)com.
2. Just leave me a comment or send me an email at quiltsbyemily(at)yahoo(dot)com to let me know you've entered and if you've linked to this post
3. I will be drawing a winner on April 1st!

Quilt Details: This throw quilt is my own pattern, Optimism, which will be available soon. It is 43" by 57" and is made with fabric from the Cotton Blossoms collection by Moda.

Thank you! I cannot tell you how excited we are to have the opportunity to do this!!!