Leaving the CRC

Driving away from Kanyama #1 CRC

With Week 1 kick off a little over a week away, Camp LIFE is fast approaching!  Please be in prayer for the kids in your group and yourself as God prepares both of you for what He has in store this summer.  Here are some important updates and reminders:

- Camp LIFE t-shirts and supplies have been mailed to all Ambassadors outside of the Dallas/Fort Worth area.  We ask that all Dallas/Fort Worth area Ambassadors please come by the office to pick up their t-shirts and supplies by Wednesday, May 27th. Contact Sommer or Rebecca to schedule a pick up.

-Every Ambassador should receive (or should have already received):

o   Their Camp LIFE t-shirt order

o   A Camp LIFE 2009 binder

o   An Evangecube

o   4 luggage tags (per person)

o   A bracelet

o   A Camp LIFE Song CD

If you have not received ALL of your Camp LIFE supplies by Monday, May 25, please let us know so that we can get you your missing items.

-Every Ambassador should receive a binder and must bring it to Zambia (Alumni, please use this binder even if you still have the one from last year).

-It is VERY IMPORTANT to use your LUGGAGE TAGS as these will help identify your bags in Zambia.  You should use one for each checked bag and one for your carry-on.

-Read the Evangecube message and instructions (located inside your Evangecube) and be able to present this message.  (Who knows, you may even have a chance to share it before you get to Zambia!)

-PRAY! PRAY! PRAY!  Pray that God will use YOU this summer to communicate HIS love for the orphans and vulnerable children of Zambia.  Pray also that He would reveal His indescribable love for YOU in a way that you have never experienced before.  We sense that God is up to something BIG and life-changing and anticipate that this will be a summer unlike any other.  Get ready!

It is estimated that in Lusaka 22-25% of the population is HIV positive, although those statistics are very rough estimates because over 90% of the population has never been tested.  400 people die every day in Lusaka from HIV/AIDS, and as a result, it is estimated that 75% of Zambian households are caring for one or more orphans.  Many of the children in our programs are HIV positive and through the Father’s Heart program we are able to provide transportation to a doctor who can give them ARVs (Anti-Retro Virals) which, for lack of a better explanation, puts the virus to sleep.

This year at Camp LIFE, we want ALL of the children in our program to have the same opportunity to get tested for HIV/AIDS.  We are praising God for the most amazing partnership with an organization called Tiny Tim & Friends (TTAF), which is an organization that treats children for 6 – 8 months or even longer if necessary in order to stabilize the children and get them on the right path with ARVs.  The results that they have seen have been REMARKABLE.  Over the last number of months, Heather Ransom, our Father’s Heart Coordinator, has formed a partnership with Dr. Meade and his staff.  We are so pleased to announce that Dr. Meade and his staff will be at Camp LIFE every Tuesday testing our children.

Thanks to TTAF, we will be able to test over 10,000 kids and follow-up with those who test positive for HIV, TB and various other diseases.  Dr. Meade and his staff will meet with the families of children who test positive and counsel them through decisions that need to be made.  God has been working so many miracles in HIS ministry to these kids, and we know that this partnership with Tiny Tim & Friends is yet another huge testimony of God signing His Name on Camp LIFE 2009, and also another example of His Heart to bring FULL restoration of HIS Kids here in Zambia.

Every sponsored child in the Father’s Heart program is assigned to a discipleship leader (DL) who works out of one of Family Legacy’s CRC’s (Community Resource Centers) in that child’s compound.  You would be amazed at the dedication our discipleship leaders have to their kids.  Literally, the discipleship leaders consider these children as their very own.  DLs are very passionate about seeing these kids’ lives changed for the better.  This is just an example of how a few of our discipleship leaders go above and beyond to minister to their children.

In our Father’s Family Lifeway homes, Family Legacy takes legal custody of a child and that child lives with us full-time.  A Father’s Heart sponsored child continues to live with their care-taker, but receives the benefits associated with their sponsorship.  Because of this we cannot prevent a care-taker from sending their children out of Lusaka (usually in exchange for money), and thus out of the reach of our Father’s Heart program and all the benefits therein.  Occasionally this happens and it is for the better, but many times the child is forced to move to live with care-takers who do not have the child’s best interest in mind.  In these situations, our discipleship leaders will try to find a relative who still lives in Lusaka and is willing to take the child into their home.  Over the past year, we have sent a few discipleship leaders to remote parts of Zambia to see if the care-takers would be willing to allow the child to move back to Lusaka.  It is a daunting task to travel a few hundred miles to go ask a stranger if you may take “their” child back to Lusaka to another care-taker, but our DL’s passion for these kids pushes them on.

Consider the case of Memory Chileshe, an 11-year old little girl from Jesus Cares – George school. Her discipleship leader, Kennedy, knew that Memory was being forced to move in with her violent uncle in Serenje, which is about 8 hours north of Lusaka.  After finding out that her aunt and uncle here in Lusaka were more than happy to take care of her, Kennedy took a bus to Serenje to ask the uncle’s permission. No one in Serenje knew Kennedy, as he had never been there.  The uncle absolutely refused to allow Memory to return to Lusaka with Kennedy “the stranger” and made all kinds of false accusations about Kennedy in front of a large crowd of people.  The people surrounded him and began to push and threaten him.  Kennedy thankfully escaped, but after a night of prayer he decided to confront the uncle yet one more time because he knew the bondage that “his child” was being forced into.  This time Memory was at home and when she saw Kennedy, she rushed up to him and gave him a huge hug.  When the uncle saw Memory’s love for Kennedy, he realized that he had been wrong in his accusations and Kennedy was able to convince him that going back to Lusaka was the best move for Memory.

In his trip report, Kennedy said “It appeared to be impossible, but God really saw me through.  I took her straight to her aunt and uncle in Lusaka and they were very happy to see her back.”  Father’s Heart also provided food to the family Memory would be staying with as a welcome home gift the day after they returned from Serenje.

We sent a video camera with Kennedy to help capture his trip, and below is some of the footage he took on his journey to pick up his sweet Memory.