Meet my other girls (last five)

Ten beautiful little girls stole my heart. Not a day has gone by that I haven't thought of them and prayed for them. It just doesn't seem fair that I sit here in comfort behind my door, alarm engaged to keep out anyone that could do harm, while they live without even a door to keep out anyone that might harm – and so much harm does befall these beautiful children. 

Most evenings while we were in Zambia, people could share about their days with the kids, or what was on their hearts. Most evenings I was in tears as God was tugging at my heart with each word spoken.  One of those evenings my friend Tia's husband, Dave, shared. He told of one of Tia's previous trips to Zambia. He told of how she was so overwhelmed with grief for all of the heartache and horror that she was seeing in the lives of God's children, His beloved orphans, that He says He cares so much about. She cried out to God - 'God, how can you, a loving God, let this go on?' She clearly heard God speak to her heart - 'Tia, how can you?' I can tell you that she has worked continuously since that time, making a difference.  God spoke to my heart during this trip as well – he has filled it with the desire, no the NEED, to made a difference.  Oh, how I pray, He doesn’t let me forget. 

Now let me introduce you to 5 more beautiful girls:

Veronica was the first of my girls that gave me a smile.  When I first arrived at Camp Life from our tour of Lusaka, I found my Zambian Partner and she was standing in front of my group of ten girls.  As I was speaking with Febbie, the girls were all looking me over.  As I turned to look at my girls that I would get to know over the week, I noticed Veronica.  She was looking at me curiously, probably wondering what I was going to be like.  As I caught her eye, she gave me the most beautiful smile.  I can still picture it!  Veronica was one of only two of my girls that had been to camp before.  She did not get sponsored before, and I wonder if she truly trusts that God will find her a sponsor this time.  That is not something I asked her about.  There are hundreds of things that I have thought about since leaving that I wish I would have thought to ask.  Veronica lives with her mom and three of her siblings.  Her mom does not currently have work.  When I asked how they get money for food, she told me that her mom sold a radio that they had been given.  She hasn’t been able to go to school, though she would love to go to school and someday grow up to be a nurse.  Thank-you Mary Klement for purchasing these shoes for Veronica!

Lizzy is such a fun little girl.  To hear of the things she endures, and to see the scars that prove it, you would never guess the stories belong to this same little girl.  She was always trying to get into every picture with a smile.  Even when all of the other girls were looking at me with concern the first day, not sure what the week would hold, you could just see her little head popping up with an impish grin.  Lizzy lives with her Mom, her dad has died.  She has 5 siblings.  She is one of the older children in the family.  Perhaps that is why her mom takes her anger and frustration out on Lizzy.  She told me of the times that her mom beats her, yells at her, and tells her she doesn’t want her anymore.  I saw the scars all over her arms and legs of times when she was hurt.  Lizzy’s stories broke my heart, and by the end of the week, I knew I couldn’t just find Lizzy a sponsor, I had to be her sponsor.  When a child’s situation is so bad, their camp counselor (ambassador), that would be me, can recommend that the situation be researched.  If the situation is found to be as represented, FLMI can work to have them removed from the home and placed in the Tree of Life Village.  That is, if they have a sponsor.  I couldn’t take a chance, so Mark and I are going to do what is necessary for this little girl to have a safe environment.  It does cost more - $250 a month, for these kids to live at the Tree of Life, but so very worth it.  To give this little girl, with so much spunk, the opportunity to grow up safe, with a good education, knowing she is loved and knowing that she can make a difference in her country – PRICELESS!  Thank-you to my wonderful brother Doug Klement for purchasing Lizzy's shoes for her!

Sarah is feisty!  So often I found Sarah trying to be in charge of the other girls – in not so nice of a way.  By the end of the week, with lots of unconditional love, Sarah was ready to show the same love.  To see her face change from grumpiness to genuine happiness over the week was amazing.  Sarah’s story is hard, however, so it was so easy to give her unconditional love.  Both of Sarah’s parents were dead.  She never knew her dad, and her mom died when she was young.   She stays with her 18 year old sister, who works as a maid to help with food.   She sleeps on a mat on the ground.  She goes to a Catholic churchJ.   Some days she has to go without a real meal when money is tight.  Sarah does go to a community school, but the school has one teacher for about 150 students, and they have class for about 2 hours a day, if the teacher shows up.  She asked that I pray that God would help with school fees, to have food, and that her sister would be healthy.  She also prayed that she would get her own shoes.  The shoes she was wearing were given to her by someone that out grew them.  Little did she know that God had already answered that last prayer.   It was wonderful to get to hand those shoes to Sarah!  A huge thank-you to my sister, Kitie Hermes, for providing these shoes to Sarah!

My Miracle Mervis was an amazing young lady.  She had been through a horrible ordeal earlier in the year.  She had been taken from her home at night, and brought to a home of a Satanic Cult.  She had rituals performed on her, and has the scars to remember those by.  She doesn’t remember how she escaped, but she found herself rescued about 4 months after she had been taken.  Mervis has been to Camp Life the last several years and knew that God was with her, so she didn’t succumb to all that the Satanists tried to force her to do.  She is so strong and determined.   She has not been sponsored even though she has been to camp 4 years.  I could see this young lady doing amazing things in her future, so I wasn’t going to let another year go by without her being sponsored.  Mark and I will be making sure that Mervis’ fees are paid so that she will get to go to a good school and will always know that we believe in her.  I truly believe that God has a great plan for Mervis!  My prayer is that when she sees the scars that evil men added to her beautiful body, that she will only think of God’s faithfulness!  Thank-you to my wonderful brother Regi Klement for providing Mervis' shoes to her!

Justina, also has a hard story.  She tells us that she is 10, although she looks more like she is 12.  Because she doesn’t know her birthday, I am not sure we will ever know her true age.  She stays with her grandmother, because her mom and dad have both died.  She does not have any brothers or sisters, but an uncle and cousin stay with them as well.  Justina’s grandmother doesn’t treat her well, withholding food from her and telling her she is not wanted.  Her grandmother delves into witchcraft, and Justina has nightmares often.  Justina is not able to go to school, though she really wishes she could.  Again, I couldn’t walk away from this situation, back to my comfortable home knowing that Justina is being so mistreated.  Mark and I have asked FLMI to step in and determine if Justina’s environment is as terrible as it seems.  If it is not, we will sponsor her through the Father’s Heart program, so that she can go to school.  If she is endangered, we will pay the costs to have her moved to The Tree of Life and will support her so that she will get an education and know that she is worthy of being treated with love and respect.  Thank-you to my sweet, and thoughtful brother, Ralph Klement, for providing Justina's shoes to her!!

So… of my 10 beautiful girls, Mark and I are going to sponsor 3.  I don't say that with pride, I just want everyone to know we wouldn't ask others to consider something that we aren't truly invested in ourselves.  My heart will yearn for the moment that I get to see these girls again.  My plan is to return to Zambia next summer, and I will go a couple of days early so that I can visit my beautiful girls that we have sponsored in their homes.  These are my girls forever, and I love them and care about every detail of their lives.  I so look forward to knowing them as they grow into beautiful women of God.  I pray that those people that God is calling to sponsor my other girls will feel the tug on their heart.  To learn more about sponsorship look at a Father’s Heart or call/text/email/facebook message meJ.  To sponsor a child, it is $85 to enroll her in the program and $40 a month after that.  Click on the search by ambassador and type in Margaret Hollinger.  You will see each of these girls. 

Meet my girls (first five)

Now, part of my mission going to Zambia, is to come back and find people that would like to fall in love with one of these amazing young people and help them to go to school and receive a good meal once a day in school.  Most of my girls don't get to go to school.  I had one-on-one time with each girl so that I could get to know her and her circumstances a little bit better.  With each girl, I found out what her hearts desire was.  What they want to do when they grow up.  If they were happy.  If they knew Jesus.  When I asked what I could pray about, each of them mentioned school.  They all want to go to a good school.  Somehow they all know that an education will help them to lead a better life.  My goal is to get each of these girls educated, each of Pat's boys educated, to go back year after year to help more kids.  To fundraise and build more schools.  To change this nation, one child at a time!

Now, meet my girls!

Regina is a darling little sprite!  She is fortunate to live with her mom, dad, 5 siblings, and her grandmother but her parents do not have consistent income and cannot afford to pay for school fees and uniforms.  She does go to a community school, but that is for an average of 2 hours a day, and the teachers only have an education up to around 7th grade.  She spends her nights sleeping on a mat with her siblings.  She would love to go to a good school where she will also get a very good meal every day.  Regina is 8 years old and in grade 1.  On the last day of camp the girls received new shoes.  They were so happy to have such a wonderful gift.  Thank-you Linda Bradshaw for purchasing Regina's shoes!

Cloudine is a beautiful, shy little girl.  Her smiles often come with a downturn of her head.  Her desire is that she would be able to go to school.  She prays that she would also be able to go to church and that she would be kept from temptation.  She sleeps on the floor with her brother.  She is fortunate to still have both her mom and dad.  Cloudine is 9 years old, but doesn't attend school at all. Thank-you Starr Worley for purchasing these wonderful shoes for Cloudine! 

Josephine is a very bright young girl.  She lives with her mom and dad and 6 siblings.  Her older brothers help support the family, but she is unable to go to a good school as there is just not enough money.  Her prayers are that her parents would find good work, that she would be able to go to school and become a teacher (I truly believe she will - she is very determined!), and that she would be a good girl.  Josephine is 7 years old....and she gives the sweetest kisses!  Thank-you Starr Worley for buying Josephine's new shoes as well!!

Mwansa lives with her Mom and her Grandmother.  Her dad has died.  She does get to go to a community school, but again, that isn't a great education.  She and her one sibling sleeps with her mom.  She gets to eat one meal a day, usually nshima.  Mwansa would like to grow up to be a nurse.  She goes to a Catholic Church.  She could make great strides if she were able to get a good education!  Thank-you to my wonderful husband Mark for buying Mwansa these shoes!

Sweet little Natasha.  Natasha came to camp not feeling real well.  She was on medication that made her sleepy and she wasn't able to focus completely, but when you asked Natasha to Sekelela (smile) she lit up the whole area with her smile!  She stays with her Mom, as her dad left with another woman.  She would love to go to school.  When the children are sponsored, a member of FLMI staff called a discipleship leader, also checks on the children regularly.  I so hope Natasha is sponsored, so that someone will be keeping up with her health.  Her mom is also on medication, and I worry about the stability in the family!

Day 2 - Church Day, Day 3 - meet the kids

Day 2 -

On Sunday, our second day in Zambia, we took busses back up to the Camp Life grounds.  On this amazing piece of land is The Tree of Life Village, a village of homes for orphans.  I will talk more about that later.  The children that live at the Tree of Life came up to the Legacy Center, the building where so much of the fun happens from Camp Life. 

In the Legacy Center, we all had church together.  When we arrived, we were told the orphans would already be there spaced out in the building.  We were to go find a seat amongst the orphans.  I believe God knew right where he wanted me.  I had a seat between two wonderful boys.  Pat was directly behind me.  The very first Zambian boy that I met, Matthews, was as sweet as could be.  We talked only briefly, before the service began.

My very first Zambian friend, Matthews!

The worship of these children was so pure and touching!
 I truly felt God in this place.

The service began with beautiful worship by a choir of children from the Tree of Life Village.  I didn’t tape this, though I wish I had so that everyone could hear the amazing sound that came from these children – beautiful!  Next, a pastor from Zambia spoke.  I really desire to relay his message, as it was wonderful, but as I sit and try to type out even the theme, I find my words are so inadequate.  Bottomline: God sends men to do the work that He wants done.  He used Moses to bring the Israelites from Egypt.  He used Mary to birth Jesus.  He used Greer Kendall to begin Family Legacy Missions International.  I want to be used to do his work as well!  He does the miraculous part, but he calls people to be his hands and feet that he can work through.  Oh my God, USE ME!

After the service, the children left and we had a nice lunch, then we were able to meet our Zambian partners.  Mine was an amazing godly woman named Febbie.  She loved the Lord and you could hear it in all that she said and see it in everything she did!  I felt ready to do anything the Lord called me to and I was so thankful to have Febbie by my side!

Day 3 -

On Day 3-Monday, we started our day with a tour of Lusaka. We drove past the areas that the children live that will be coming to Camp LIFE. These areas are called 'The Compounds'. Each compound has a name that identifies it. These compounds would compare to the Slums of the U.S only the housing structures in some are just made up of sticks and black garbage bags.  Between 60 and 70 percent of Lusaka's 1.4 million people live in the compounds. Some compounds are worse than others. We stopped at one (a less dangerous one) and took a walk through. There were children everywhere with not a lot of adults to be seen. The average age in Zambia is 16 because of the HIV/Aids epidemic that continues to ravage the country.   We saw many ‘businesses’ that were stands with homemade alcohol that they were selling. 

Here are some pictures taken from the bus.

When people were able to live in a structure they were most often cinder blocks with no insulation at all.  Heavy rocks or
other items were place on the tin roofs to keep them from flying off in the wind.

A big business was selling charcoal.  People would bring in burnt wood (charcoal) and bundle it in to smaller portions to sell to the people in the compounds.  The people that could afford it would use it to cook..




Here are pictures taken while walking around the compound.


This was the inside of a 'school'.  The community schools usually have kids that attend about 2 hours a day and the teachers have an average of a 7th grade education.  Not all of the kids are even able to affort to attend those.



Many people carry things on their heads.

a church in the compound

The tour prepared us to fall in love with these children who were born into circumstances so unlike our own, by no fault of their own.  I was ready!

We went back to Camp Life, and the children were waiting for us.

These two pictures were from the first time I laid eyes on my girls.  As I look at them now, it amazes me to see the sadness, the look of uncertainty.  They didn't know what to expect, but they did know that life hadn't given them a whole lot to look forward to, so what could change now.  All I knew was that I wanted to show them the love of Jesus.  I wanted to be the hands and feet of Jesus and let every one of these girls know how very much they are loved.  

The first thing we did together is have lunch.  We Americans make our lunches, as well as our Zambian partners, every evening.  We fix peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  That is what we have every day of Camp.  The children get 4 pieces of bread and a drink that contains lots of vitamins.  They love it, as most days all they can expect at home if anything is something called nshima - similar to grits.  Here at camp they also received a banana every day and an apple.  Good stuff for these children.

After lunch, we had our first big group, where all of the children, the Americans, and their Zambian partners went into the Legacy Center together.  That was about 1200 people.  It was so organized.  You would have thought it would have been chaos, but it was perfect.  Pat  shared that evening that he had never felt such JOY as when the music started and those kids were watching his every move and trying to sing along.  It was AWESOME! After the music the children learned about God and the Power that he wants to give them.......I could go on and on, but what I really want to do is introduce you to my girls, the girls that I fell head over heels in love with over the next 5 days.  The girls that, when I had to say good-bye to, I bawled like a baby.  The girls that have so very little, while I have so very much.  The girls that blessed me so very much, while I thought that I was going to be doing the blessing.  Tomorrow, I will introduce you to some amazing little ladies!
 Thank-you for reading!

Arrival Day

On the day that we arrived, we first went to our ‘villa’.  This villa was actually perfect – showerheads that were broken, a floor that looked as if it hadn’t been cleaned in months, an oven that had a big sign near it with the words – ‘use breaker to turn on and off, knobs do not work’.  Why was this perfect?  Because the villa mates were some of the best people I could imagine with which to share this week, and because we were serving children that were sleeping on the dirt, with sometimes barely a blanket, in temperatures that were in the 40’s.  How could I sleep in complete comfort knowing that there were so many that had so little?  ….And YES, I have asked myself that every day that I have been back from Zambia as well.

The most wonderful villa mates - minus Robyn Petty who was behind the camera. 
All from Stonebridge Church in The Woodlands

After getting settled into our villa, we were bussed to the site that Family Legacy Missions International (FLMI) purchased for Camp and the Tree of Life village.  We were introduced to some of the culture and the language.  Some interesting tidbits – ‘You are very fat’ is a complement….  ‘It’s just OK’ means all is very well…’You are silly’ is an insult – silly is not a good word-, and talking during a meal is not something that the Zambians do.  This was all quite entertaining and useful as the week progressed! 

The founder of this mission, Greer Kendall, then spoke wonderful words of encouragement to us all.  My prayer in my journal the days before we left was that God would prepare Pat’s and my heart for all that He would fill it with on this journey and that he would give me a servant’s attitude,  heart, and mind…. all for His glory.  As I look back, I truly believe he answered that prayer.  My prayer continues to be that he would keep me on that path.  Greer asked that we read Isaiah 61:1-3, and pray it for ourselves.  It remains my prayer to this day.

I pray, my God, that the Spirit of the Sovereign Lord would be upon me.  I pray that you, my God, would anoint me to preach the good news to the poor.  I pray that you would send and help me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor…..to comfort all who mourn.  I pray that you would bestow upon them, my God, through me, a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair, so they will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.

Praying God’s word, I have found, becomes the most amazing and effective times of prayer for me.  God’s word is truly powerful!

Here I am....send me!

Where to start......Not sure when God started tugging at my heart.  I have often prayed that He would use me, lead me, send me.  My friend Tia Plum (read her blog at www.myheart4Zambia.blogspot.com) went to Zambia for the first time in 2009.  As with most things in my life, I don't remember exactly when her love of this nation and its children started speaking to me, but I know that I was moved at some point over these last few years.  God used her life, books that I read, songs that I heard and radio programs and podcasts that I heard to further speak to me.  It wasn't until my son, Pat spoke the words, 'Let's do a mission trip together after I graduate' that I was finally moved to go.  I know that God has been preparing my heart - it is SO obvious in hindsight.  I am overwhelmed as I think of His sovereignty in all of this.
So, since we had helped Tia and another friend with like mind, Robyn Petty, with some fundraising for Family Legacy Missions International, Mark, my husband said, why not Zambia.  Tia could tell you that she knew I would be going long before I did - she could see God moving my heart.  So after much prayer, preparation, shots, and packing, Pat and I went.  I am certainly not eloquent with words - I am no writer, but I have a strong desire to share this amazing journey and mission.

About to be changed!