Emily Marshall, Zambia 2009

Right now I’m listening to my iPod and it’s playing a song that says “I left my heart in Tokyo!” That is true for me of Zambia. That is where my heart is and I cannot wait to go back. 

I left for Zambia straight after I left school in June of 2009 and what came next was the most amazing 5 months of my life. I could talk for hours about Zambia and never get tired of it. I did 2 placements whilst I was in Zambia, the first was a 4 month staff placement which was amazing, challenging, eye opening and so much more.

Whilst I was on staff I visited lots of smaller projects, they all have a place in my heart, but I’m just going to tell you about some of the ones that really impacted me. The Fountain of Hope (FOH)is an amazing place to be and if I’d had a big enough suitcase I would have bought some of the boys home with me. Don’t worry though, I didn’t! FOH is a place for boys off the street to go and get an education, care and love whilst trying to reintegrate them back into their families. I spent a lot of time both at the centre and on the street with the boys and I was completely blown away. Home to these boys is the rubbish dump behind a busy market in town. The boys were moved here by the government because they “didn’t fit in” with the place that they had previously lived. That broke my heart, that the people leading the country care more about image than human lives.

 There are more than 2000 street children in Lusaka alone and there are another 8 provinces with a similar number of children living on the street. I built up some great relationships with some of the boys and went through a lot with them. Whilst I was in Zambia the director of FOH was killed in a car crash. I was with the boys after it happened, I saw them grieve, saw them cry and it hurt. They feel emotion just like any other child and that isn’t seen by so many people. Although we went through some really awful stuff, we also had so much fun together. We laughed and joked and they boys loved it! At the end of the day, they’re just normal kids who want to have fun and need someone to be there for them in the hard times.

Kumbayah Ministries is amazing! A man called Amos walked past a pub in Zambia and God gave him this vision of the pub being a school with hundreds of children. He thought he was going crazy, but 6 months down the line his vision came true. That was amazing enough for me, but that is only the beginning. The school teaches over 300 pupils a day in really tiny classrooms. They have 2 teachers, both of whom work for nothing. Over the summer Mission Direct sent a team to re-decorate the classrooms. The kids were so grateful and all we had done was paint a few walls. The children of Kumbayah School are some of the nicest children I met in Zambia; all they wanted was love and affection. As well as having some fantastic times with the kids there were some times that were heartbreaking.

We ran a feeding project whilst we were there, but as news spread round the compound, more and more children came and you always reached the end of the food supply long before the end of the line of children. Amos and his wife are amazing people who do so much for their community and the passion they have is beyond imagination.

These are just 2 of the projects that I worked with, there are so many more and if you want to know more about them, I would be more than happy to talk to you.

One thing that really struck me whilst I was in Zambia was the gratefulness of the people. The picture to the left is of my staff team, our driver Mr Chika and his beautiful family. Mr Chika did so much for us, he was just amazing and I thought it would be nice to meet his family and spend some time with them. Chika is married with two children, Henry and Jethro. We went to a crocodile farm with the boys and their faces just lit up, they had so much fun, and so did I! We played on the park with them and they had so much fun. After that we bought ice creams and the boys couldn’t understand why we were doing this. They thought that was the end but we took them home for movies and pizza! The point of me telling you this is that the boys blew my mind. They were so grateful for our tiny gesture and they just smiled the whole time!

To finish I want to tell you about the place that stole my heart. At the end of my 4 month campaign, I moved to a farm, but this was no ordinary farm. It is home to 28 ex-street boys who are now all one big family. Don and Christine moved to Zambia in 2002 to further their careers. Don works in one of the shopping arcades in town and each day he would pass this group of boys asking for food. Over time he built up relationship and trust with the boys. Sadly though, one boy got really ill and passed away before Don and Christine managed to visit him. They felt terrible, they knew they couldn’t have saved him, but they could have been there for him. From then on they said “they would never let another child pass by” and now 28 boys live with them! Whilst at the farm, I ran a preschool for the farm workers children. They were such special kids with so much potential. I had such fun and found a new love of the song “the wheels on the bus” Although I’m not sure if that is a good thing or not! Whilst working and living with the boys we had a few ups and downs. I tried not to let it get to me but it was hard. They don’t always get what you mean and take offence very quickly, so that was tricky! One of my best memories was of a boy called Davis. He came and got down on one knee and proposed to me! Sadly I had to decline his offer. The boys were all so different and each one hid a heart wrenching story about their past. I had to interview the boys and listen to all of these stories first hand. Nothing has ever pulled on my heartstrings so much, it was one of the hardest things I have ever done. 

Zambia feels like a second home to me and I cannot wait to go back there. The place, the people, the sights and the smells will stay with me forever, but I believe that God has so much more planned for me in Zambia. I am going back this summer for just over 2 months before university starts. I will be spending around 2 months at the farm with the boys and then my final 2 weeks will be with the Wharfedale team in Chamba Valley doing a 2 week mission before returning to the UK.

I hope that I’ve expressed my excitement and love for Zambia and it’s people to you, I can’t fully explain how much it means to me.

Thank You so much for taking the time to read my story and like I said, if you want to hear even more, I would love to tell you!

Emily