flying home made kites!
God was Amazed
Isaiah 59:15-21
The Lord looked and was displeased to find there was no justice.
He was amazed to see that no one intervened to help the oppressed.
So He Himself stepped in to save them with His strong arm, and His justice sustained Him.
He put on righteousness as his body armor and placed the helmet of salvation on his head. He clothed Himself in a robe of vengeance and wrapped Himself in a cloak of divine passion.
He will repay His enemy for their evil deeds His fury will fall on His foes.
He will pay them back even to the ends of the earth.
In the west people will respect the name of the Lord, in the east, they will glorify Him.
For He will come like a raging flood tide driven by the breath of the Lord.
“The redeemer will come to Jerusalem to buy back those in Israel who have turned from their sins.” Says the Lord.
“And this is my covenant with them,” says the Lord, “my spirit will not leave them, and neither will these words I have given you. They will be on your lips and on the lips of your children and your children’s children forever. I, the Lord have spoken!”

God was amazed that no one helped the oppressed! Aren’t these amazing words?! Our heart is that we can be God’s strong arm in flesh. That we would model after our ultimate servant leader to fight for the rights of the poor and needy, and speak on behalf of those who cannot speak for themselves! But what does this practically mean?

By creating this project from the ground up, our heart is to empower. Empower; this seems a simple enough word, but what practically does this mean to you?
Seriously – what would you do when you see children who look like they have never bathed, they are not in school, they wear the same clothes every time you see them and they always seem hungry. What would your response be?
Would you
A: raise enough money (from the west) to feed them every time you go out to the village?
B: Give them a new wardrobe out of your own closet?
C: teach them, give them pencils and notebooks?
D: something else?
This is the hardest thing we face. Are any of these empowering them? What does God’s justice look like? Do these feed into the mindset that missionaries and aid workers have created for years- African’s dependency on the west, on white people. They express through their words and attitudes that they believe “white people are richer, and must be smarter, and have what we, poor Africans need. We need to ask them (westerners) to give us things to meet our needs.” This may sound harsh but anyone who has ever worked tirelessly in a developing world; even just Africa knows this is often the case. And every day we seek God in how to face it and respond to it.
How do we EMPOWER them?
Our policy has become, teach them to thrive in their gardening skills, even the 15-year-old boys. They can gain pride in what they accomplish by growing and selling crops to allow them enough money to go to school. We have them memorize scripture (a passage from a psalm) before we give them a bible. We want them to value what they are given, to work and in response take care of the things they are given.
We do teach the boys English, that is what we can give them out of ourselves, our time and energy and love, but instead of buying them a work book (something that defines them as a student like the other kids who go to school) we had them make it with paper we provided, second hand card board and a leaf made into a binding. They loved it because they made it with their own hands! When they come ten times (in about 2 weeks) we will give them a small prize that they earned by attending class! This is what we are learning gives them pride, and combats the mentality that they need us. We want to teach them to inspire each other, disciple each other, lead their own Bible studies, and practice English with each other.
Wow it is hard, but to us it is so important that they grow into Zambians who see they can change their destiny, that they can be leaders, and stand for things they believe in even when they then become “different”. Please pray for us, pray for them. That we would walk this fine line according to God’s best for these beautiful people.