In recent newsletters, we’ve focused on the incredible progress and partnerships we are making in our water and health efforts with help of donor partners like you. For this newsletter, we’ll focus on one family in Zambia who are in desperate need of access to clean water and adequate healthcare. The following is a reflection we're sharing with permission from Bobby Majka, who until January of this year was the Mother and Child Health fundraising lead for World Vision.
"Remember Me"
We often state at World Vision that we work in the most remote, hardest to reach places. My November 15, 2022 visit with Teddy and Elaine was an example of this. A group of nine of us from the US decided to put our lives on hold for a week and fly twenty-four hours across the globe to Zambia to visit families we’ve never met who live in extreme poverty. This wasn’t a vacation — this was a group of us saying “yes” to being with families in their poverty. It was an opening of our hearts.
After a seemingly endless, uncomfortable bumpy drive into the bush on dirt ‘roads’, we finally arrived at Teddy and Elaine’s compound. It was just a few small, ragged huts in what felt like the middle of nowhere. They greeted us warmly as all Zambians do, and we began to chat. We learned about Teddy and Elaine’s lives and struggles. We learned that their average annual income is roughly US $50 to $75 — about 14 cents per day. We learned that Elaine gave birth to all six of her children on the dirt floor of their mud hut. There’s not much healthcare to speak of and no community health workers in sight. The nearest clinic is 23 kilometers away. Elaine is pregnant with her seventh child, and she’s scared to deliver. We learned that their children rarely go to school — it’s a two-hour walk each way. Their oldest son is 18 and is in 8th grade. He wants to be a teacher. The children were lethargic. Tired. Teddy wore one weathered Croc shoe on his left foot. On his right foot was random parts of four other shoes that he somehow assembled and tied together. We learned that Teddy and Elaine have no assets to speak of. They’re subsistence farmers who average one meal per day. Their children sleep on the dirt floor of the “kitchen” every night, out in the open with dusty, thin rags as their bed.
Breaking from conversation, we walked with Teddy and Elaine to their water source. They scoop water into a bucket from a dirty, brown river where their neighbors’ animals bathe and drink. The thick brown liquid they drink every day makes them sick with diarrhea and other waterborne illnesses. Elaine fetches water three to four times per day. She starts early in the morning and finishes in late afternoon. Each bucket weighs about forty-five pounds. She does this while pregnant. It was hard to imagine her reality of fetching that toxic water every day, almost all day, for her family to consume.
This was a hard visit.
We returned to the compound with about six buckets full of water... to think we were actually doing them a favor, bringing this water back. We came back hot, sweaty and struggling to process their daily reality. We were all a bit bewildered and a little disoriented, I think. We sat down again, exhausted, with Teddy and Elaine. At one point in our conversations, Mutinta, the local World Vision staff who had accompanied us asked Teddy and Elaine if they had any questions for us. Without much hesitation, Teddy asked, “What’s it like in America?”
Silence. The air is thick. We didn’t expect that question. We didn’t know how to respond. We were hit over the head with the reality of our disparity. Teddy’s question was crushingly illuminating. Here he was, inviting us into his life for all to see. I wonder what that must have been like for him. I wonder if he felt exposed. Then to ask that question of us. How vulnerable. Teddy’s longing was obvious. He longed to taste what it’s like ‘on the other side’. What a courageous question.
Thanks to World Vision staff on the trip, we were able to confirm that World Vision has plans to deliver clean water to Teddy and Elaine’s community next year! After confirming this we agreed to share this good news with Teddy, Elaine, and their children. As they heard this news they jumped to their feet, dancing and clapping. The joy was palpable. Smiles were everywhere. It felt so good to be able to deliver this news. Without this bit of hope, I’m not sure how our experience would have left us feeling. Teddy and Elaine made their rounds like a wedding line and shook each of our hands, thanking us with huge smiles on their faces. This was a holy moment.
At the end of the visit, we prayed over Teddy, Elaine, and their family. Then, as we were leaving, Elaine said something I’ll never forget. “Remember me,” she said. “Please remember me.”
The space suddenly felt thin. Her words echoed in my mind and touched my spirit. Her words felt ancient. Biblical. Almost eerie. “Remember me.” The spiritual realm suddenly seemed palpable, as if it wasn’t just Elaine talking. Elaine’s plea felt biblical in nature. I felt the presence of Jesus. We told Elaine we would remember her. And we will.
I processed our encounter with Teddy and Elaine even weeks afterward. I’m reminded of Mother Teresa’s words when she said, “in the eyes of the poor you will find Jesus in his most distressing disguise.” I’m also reminded of Matthew 25 where Jesus said “I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink. Whatever you did for the least of these, you did for me.”
Still, I was perplexed by this cry to “remember me”. I heard the same longing and vulnerability in Elaine’s voice as I did in Teddy’s. I turned to Scripture only to find hundreds of passages of people calling out to God to...” remember me.” I heard these same cries in Elaine’s voice. And as I kept digging, I found that for all the passages containing “remember me” in the Bible, there are equally countless passages that contain the words “And God remembered.” In Exodus 2:24, “God heard their groaning and remembered his covenant.” In Genesis alone, God remembered Noah, he remembered Abraham, he remembered Rachel. God remembers and delivers on his promises.
I began to see this beautiful flow in the Bible of people crying out to God, and God remembering. We experienced this biblical flow in our visit with Teddy and Elaine in an intimate, real way. The encounter we had together was sacred, holy ground. I am profoundly humbled that we get to take part in delivering God’s promises. And therein lies the joy and ensuing reverence. To me, the encounter we had exemplifies the essence of what World Vision does — hears the cries of the poor, the oppressed, the suffering. And as Christ’s ambassadors, we seek to heal, restore, and bring life in all its fullness. Each one of us on that trip needed the the reorienting effect of humility that this experience had on us.
We will remember you Elaine and Teddy. May each one of us remember the cries of all God’s people, and may we remember that what we do for the least of Jesus' brothers and sisters, we do for Him.
Postscript
Recently, Elaine gave birth to a healthy boy. World Vision staff have helped the family by providing Teddy with a bicycle so that they can reach an upgraded health clinic. A World Vision donor who accompanied us on the trip, Laura Abernathy, provided the blankets and a wrap for the baby. We are making the plans to provide Teddy and Elaine with clean water access later this year. We continue to remember and pray for them.
Prayer requests
Pray this prayer by World Vision founder Bob Pierce: “Let my heart be broken with the things that break the heart of God."
Give thanks for the generosity of our donor partners, which enables us to empower people like Elaine and Teddy with with access to critical resources like clean water and improved healthcare.
World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families, and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice. Motivated by our faith in Jesus Christ, we serve alongside the poor and oppressed as a demonstration of God’s unconditional love for all people. World Vision serves all people, regardless of religion, race, ethnicity, or gender.
In 2022, 89% of World Vision's total operating expenses were used for programs that benefit children, families, and communities in need. Learn More.
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