Nine
women and men from the Northwest traveled to the southern region of Zambia, Africa, in October 2002 to visit children and families served by World Vision. World Vision is working in this area to relieve suffering
from a decade-long drought and the devastation of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The group included four members of the Columbia-Willamette chapter of Women of Vision: Steffanie Anderson, Carol Flannery, Luann
Sohlberg, and LuAnn Yocky. Other members of the team were Waite and Patty Dalrymple, representing the Seattle chapter of Women of Vision; Dr. Terry Favero of Lake Oswego; Graig Flach, Associate Pastor at Lake
Grove Presbyterian Church; and Dr. Joe Riverson, from World Vision in Federal Way. This group visited four villages in Zambia that are being sponsored through World Vision's HIV/AIDS Hope Initiative. The
villages were selected for sponsorship through this program because their populations have been designated to be at a higher risk due to desperate living conditions and a high rate of AIDS orphans per capita.
The
Columbia-Willamette chapter of Women of Vision made a commitment beginning fiscal year 2002-2003 to sponsor Kangombe village through the Hope Initiative. In Kangombe there are 180 people living in 32 households,
including 98 children (56 girls and 42 boys). Twenty-eight of the children are orphans who live in 12 child-headed households. These are the most vulnerable families in the village. The average annual
income in Kangombe is $50US.
Kangombe has no bore hole within the village. Water gathering is a very difficult daily chore that falls to the young girls. During the rainy months water is collected
from contaminated streams or shallow wells nearby, but during the drier months, the girls must walk to a neighboring village over four miles away!
The $10,000 that Women of Vision has agreed to donate to Kangombe each
of the next three years will be used to begin improving living conditions in the village, but this is by no means enough to completely relieve the suffering the group observed during their visit. The key to
long-term solutions will be addressed through individual child sponsorships and hopefully a large contribution to provide Kangombe with its own clean water supply.
Steffanie Anderson reports, "This trip was a
sobering experience for all of us. Each of us came away with a better understanding of World Vision and the dedication of their staff. We also were left with a deep sense of the needs in that region of the
world.
"What can each of us do to care for the widows and orphans in Zambia? We can each sponsor a child — it is a commitment of $26 per month. We can pray for these most fragile children in Kangombe and
for their families and the World Vision staff, some who volunteer their time."
