Raised by Wolves?

Even wolves would be better parents. Wolves (as far as I know) don't get AIDS and die and leave thousands upon thousands of their young without homes, love, food, clothes, education, direction, and dignity. Zambian orphans (the ones who were tough enough to survive) are growing up. They are becoming teenagers who are forming gangs that forage for food. We of the western world who don't know what it's like to go hungry for days cannot appreciate the desperation and determination that would drive someone to do anything for a meal. These gangs will probably start to make 'Lord of the Flies' look like a church youth camp. What is going to happen 10 years from now? Who is going to lead the country?
Christians have a monumental task ahead in Zambia (and all of Africa). This is the time for the people of God to step up and take care of the widows, orphans, and the oppressed. Many families in Zambia that are already stretched to the max have taken on an extra child or two. Even if they are taken in, orphans don't always receive the best of care. There is only so much food to go around at dinner time and sometimes the orphans get the short end of the stick.
They tell us that they get mocked at school for not having parents (if they're even lucky enough to have a school), and I hear that some of them have been 'adopted' by people who use them for slave labor. It's no wonder they form gangs to look out for each other.
The thousands of orphaned boys and girls in Africa are going to remember who took care of them - and someday they are going to be running things on the continent. If the church wants to have a witness in Africa 20 years from now, it would do well to consider what it is doing for orphans today. "Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in His holy habitation..."- Psalm 68. Just as God cares for them so must we. More to come...

Getting Juju'd

In Zambia, the juju gets around. 'Juju' is the practice of magic used by witchdoctors, witches, traditional healers, AND an awful lot of Christians. Many Zambian Christians have one foot in the Bible and the other in traditional practices that depend on the favor of dark forces.
I heard a firsthand story about a Zambian Christian who had an intense pain in his abdomen. He couldn't get any relief from the medical clinics so eventually he went to see a witch doctor. The witch doctor cut him open, put some herbs and a little scroll with a magic incantation into the wound and sewed him up (with the herbs and the scroll still inside!). A few days later, the guy was healed. There's no good medical explanation for why he was healed. Shoving leaves and paper into your abdomen and then closing it up should lead to a bad infection. He believes (as do I) that something supernatural happened. That's why one of his Christian brothers got on his case when he saw the scar, and asked him "where was your faith in Jesus?" The healed man was ashamed he had gone over to the dark side for some help but said he needed healing at any cost.
I'm not judging this guy - I'm no better than him, and I feel for him. I think his struggle is a little picture of what all of us who are trying to follow Jesus go through. Western Christians run to ungodly stuff too...we just don't call it juju. We flirt with the world and it's beliefs and it's systems all the time. We sorta believe in Jesus and kinda listen to what He said, but when something comes along that we really want or we go through a tough time, we often put truth aside and run for the easy fix. Let me ask all of us a question: When we are in a tight spot (or there is something that we really want) and the only way to get out of the jam (or get what we want) is to disobey Jesus...what will we do? Who will we trust? Do we really believe that Jesus loves us and wants our best, or will we trust something else? I'm thinking it would be better to stay sick (or lonely, or poor, or fill in the blank) if that's what God wants rather than be healed by the wrong means. Anything that is opposed to Jesus is bad juju whether you're in Zambia or America. More later...

Cafe Musungu?

'Musungu' in Bemba (the tribal language of the Bemba tribe - a people group indigenous to the nation of Zambia) means "white boy." I just got back from Zambia (it was my 11th trip) and was called this over and over again by the kids...hence the blog name.