Preparing for Zambia - 2009!!

I am amazed that after so much thought, prayer, planning, and effort on the part of so many people, we are now finally ready to embark on our three-week journey to Zambia!
Our team is composed of a unique and diverse group of people. There are 5 Messiah college students of varying ages and majors, along with myself (Matt) and a Messiah professor, Christine Forsythe. We are so excited to have the opportunity to go serve in Zambia together! This is the second year in a row that we've sent a team of this size to Zambia, and we're looking forward to seeing our friends again and continuing to build relationships with them. We are working with the Tonga people group who have a warm, beautiful culture which we have come to love and appreciate.

For lack of a better term, there are two different "projects" our team will be working on (keeping in mind that the true value of our work is in relationships, not "projects"). The first is in Choma, where we will be helping a small group of people living with HIV/AIDS to improve their craftsmanship in making hand-made paper and tie-die products. We will also be doing some training with them to increase their business acumen so that they can generate income for themselves and their families through this project.

The second project is in a rural village called Simaubi about 70 miles north of Choma. We will be working with two (possibly three) self-formed groups of 15-25 people. We will be training them to operate and independently manage their groups, which will become a type of savings a credit association. They will agree on an amount of money to save on a regular basis, keep it all in a lockbox, and then make it available to group members for loans as needed. The goals of these associations are to increase household security through mobilizing savings, provide the opportunity to access loans for business investment and other needs, and create a "social fund" as a form of insurance that will provide small grants to people in cases of desperate need.

As I write about these goals of these two projects, it strikes me that they are very objective and maybe even "Western" in nature. Perhaps some other goals which might better align with the Zambian culture would be to create solidarity through relationships, increase the social power of the marginalized, and become a stronger and more whole community.

Some of the main prayer requests that we have are as follows:

-Sensitivity to the culture that we're working in.
-That we would have servants hearts and the attitude of learners.
-That meaningful relationships will be formed and that lasting fruit will result from our work.
-That God will be glorified in our lives and the lives of the Zambian people we relate with!

Thanks to you all for your prayers, support and encouragement!

Matt