Report from BHW Zambia Partnership Facilitator Following Visit 

Key people:  Sarah and Roy Mwansa

Recent Events

Children

Arriving at Sarah and Roy’s we immediately met a boy named Steven, he is the most recent child to come to stay. His father had been raising him in Kapiri, about a 1 hour drive away, after his mother died. Steven is deaf, was not able to communicate and would show his frustration through anger and beating people up. There are traditional beliefs in the village he is from where people believe that to be deaf is to be cursed. He himself was also being beaten and actually came to Sarah and Roy’s with a broken arm. 

Sarah said she would have him stay for a week to see if he would respond to their love and understanding and see if he could go to the local deaf school. He is still living there and is happy and very settled.

Because of the flux of the place it is hard to pin down exactly how many children are staying at Roy and Sarah’s at one time. At the time of writing this they have 10 deaf children staying with them and seven deaf children who are staying locally that they help when they can, along with teaching the community that they are responsible for their children. There are also eight other children staying with them (their own children and vulnerable hearing children).

The social welfare office knows them well and will often come to them with a child and a story but they are not able to say yes to everyone as they don’t want too many children all at once.

Another one of the newer deaf children was pregnant and her mother gave her medicine to get rid of the baby. The girl and the baby both nearly died. Sarah looks at lives like this and thinks 'what will it be like for a girl like this in 10 years time?'  For this girl, Sarah believes, she would have ended up on the street. 

Girls Club

Every Saturday Sarah meets with the girls in their nsaka. They are learning about their value and self-worth. When these young women look ahead to their future they see finishing school by year 7 and getting married and having children. They believe they are born poor and will die poor and their future children will also live in poverty. 

There is the cyclic nature of this poverty that needs to be broken. Young women will marry young, have children, get divorced and be left trying to raise a family on their own and so the cycle continues for their own children.

Sarah is addressing these beliefs firstly in the girls. Changing the culture like this affects the whole family as the children’s guardians also see the girls future in that same way, that they will be able to marry off their daughters at a young age and then not be responsible for them.

For the young women living with them it’s a healing process. They are able to live there and be safe and be loved and belong. Love restores and heals them.

Sarah looks at the group and says that they are teaching her more than she could ever teach them. She is working with them and looking ahead to the next generation - to stop the cycle of poverty. 

While the girls meet, Roy meets with the boys and plays football and mentors them. He is working with them on values, that they have a purpose, if they are married - how to treat their wives and that life is not about chasing girls. A number of them are stepping up and showing strong leadership skills. Roy gives them some responsibilities in leading the group.

Roy has been taking the older boys who have been joining in with the football to help work on the road to their place. It’s good for them to work and help with physical work.

(See photo of whole group below)

Taonga

BHW helped one of the young girls, Taonga, have surgery in February 2018. Taonga had come to the deaf house when she was two years old. At that stage she had no way of communicating because of her deafness. Sarah and the family loved her and taught her some signs, she settled well but then they found she had an enlarged heart. After having the surgery she has recovered well and is with her family. Her mother finds it hard to have a connection with her because of her being deaf and the mother not knowing many signs. Roy and Sarah see it as important for her to recover and live with her mother and for her mother be responsible for her. Taonga is also now going to school.

Current Issues and Challenges

Early marriages
Sarah’s health

Prayer and Praise Points

1) Roy and Sarah’s obvious love for these kids and vision for a change in culture in the next generations
2) Sarah’s health
3) Continued wisdom specific for each child that comes to them 

Comments

Sarah and Roy continue to have an incredible vision for the future of each of these children they are working with. They have a very deep understanding of the power of God’s love being shared through people and being powerful enough to heal and restore lives. They rely on God’s strength daily as they sacrifice their own lives to live in a way that serves their community.