Zambia Recap

Dear friends,

After a couple of weeks back, I'm finally getting around to sending this update. Thank you so much for supporting my trip!! I hope this trip recap gives you a good glimpse at what you were a part of.

Camp Hope

The first week of the trip was all about Camp Hope, where 300 orphaned kiddos from across Lusaka came together for 5 days of worship, good food, games, crafts and teaching. The camp was supported by six local churches, each able to nominate 50 children from their communities. I was there to be a group leader for all the fun stuff, and to teach the lessons for my group (which was also fun).

My group for the week consisted of 14 girls around the age of 17 who were joyful, thoughtful, and a ton of fun. I was curious how a group of older kids would respond to the teaching and crafts, but all of the girls were fully engaged in the teaching and loved doing the crafts. I didn't head to Zambia expecting to be a girl-dad for a week, but God knew what he was doing, and it turned out really great!

Some serious learning going on here

I got to hang out with some of the younger kids too, and they were SO glad we were there. Throughout the day I'd get a hug or at least a high-five from nearly every kid I passed. I don't know what we did to deserve all of the hugs that week, but after wearing the same shirt for 5 days of camp, I can safely say it was not because we smelled good!

300 kids inside for worship

I had two Zambian translators in my group with me, Jonathan and Sharon and a Colorado high school student named Braden. Jonathan, a 59-year-old father of four, brought so much energy and fun to the group and had a great presence with the girls. Sharon, in addition to being one of my groups translators, was also the worship leader for all of Camp Hope. We started each morning with a Zambian worship service... no instruments, just 400 voices in rich harmony that felt very unique to Africa. Those were some of my favorite moments of the camp! It would honestly be worth the long trip back just to experience that again.

Over the five days of camp, Jonathan and Sharon helped me have one-on-one conversations with each of the girls, and I got to hear a little about their lives and pray with them. Shekinah Glory shared early in the week that she badly needed glasses and was devastated she could no longer attend school. Needing glasses sounds like a minor enough thing, but she felt hopeless as she talked about this, and I honestly did too. But we prayed about it, and praise God, by the end of camp we found someone from a local church who said they would be able to help her get glasses!

Another camper, Agnes, shared her testimony of coming to faith about a year ago, after being healed from a heart condition. She was spending time in the hospital waiting for treatment, but the doctors were unable to get around to her and eventually told her to just pray for God to heal her... which she did, and He did! She told me she boldly shared that testimony in front of her church, still wearing her IV when she left the hospital. We prayed that she would continue to share her testimony. She asked for prayers for protection and the strength not to follow the bad example of some of her sisters/cousins. She was very earnest in asking for that.

All of the girls shared similarly touching stories and prayer requests. Most of them attend church, and loved their church, which I was glad to hear. Most also had tough challenges at home or school. Talking with each of them was a blessing, and the biggest blessing of all is that five of them made the decision to follow Jesus during the week! And not to worry, the other 9 professed already having a secure salvation. What an amazing gift to look at the girls at the end of camp and trust that God has each of them firmly in his hands.

Sharon (Left), Braden, Jonathan (Back), and the group

Post-Camp Visits

After Camp Hope wrapped up, we had a day to relax and enjoy some authentic African experiences with a visit to Chaminuka, a private wildlife reserve near Lusaka. We saw zebras and giraffes, fed elephants, and I even got to pet a cheetah (!!). 

From there we shifted from working with campers to visiting the core direct-care programs of Every Orphan’s Hope—the ministries that care for orphans year-round.

On Monday, we spent time at the Baby Homes, the only place in the region able to receive and care for infants and toddlers, from birth to age 5, typically brought in by the local authorities after being found abandoned. They care for up to 40 babies at a time, working to reunite them with extended family or find permanent homes. We helped put on a field day for the kids, complete with games, face paint, and even a bounce castle! That was a special day for the kids, and a very fun afternoon for us. We also spent time with the incredible team behind the ministry and heard the powerful story of how it all began. It was such an honor to sit with Helen and hear her story of creating the ministry in faith, struggling through some very difficult years, and eventually finding stability through her partnership with Every Orphan's Hope. She was proud that, after some practice, she was finally able to get through her inspiring story without crying! I encourage you to read her story here: “There is so much suffering, what can we do?” The God story behind Bethel Baby Home and Every Orphans Hope

Preschool classroom for the Baby Homes (I can't share photos of the babies, sorry!)

On Tuesday, we traveled to the campus of the Family Homes. This is the original ministry of Every Orphan's Hope that many of you are familiar with. At the Family Homes, a widow and 8 orphaned children from ages 5 to 18 live together as a new family. After arriving and getting a tour of the campus, each of us went to one of 8 homes on campus for lunch with one of families at their kitchen table. This is where I got to meet Jamu, the soccer-loving 2nd grader that Julie and I have been sponsoring for a few years! He was so sweet and was very happily surprised to be meeting one of his sponsors. After lunch, we visited the newly opened Afterschool Academy, which provides much-needed educational support to all the kids on campus, supplementing what they receive in their half day of Zambian public schooling.

Me and my reading buddy Ameesha in her Afterschool Academy classroom

EOH has been operating long enough now that there is a generation of young adults who grew up in these family homes and are now in college or launching into careers and independence. One of the young adults, Billy, shared with much enthusiasm about a business he’s trying to start in renting electric bicycles to delivery drivers. These are impressive young adults in every respect, including having a heart to give back. In fact, several of the facilitators at Camp Hope were EOH young adults!

It was a powerful thing to see the full breadth of the ministry over those two days, from rescued babies to thriving young adults.

Looking Back

I am so grateful to have witnessed what God is doing in Zambia, and for the moments of personal connection I got to enjoy. And I couldn't be more impressed with Every Orphan's Hope. They aren't organized around meeting some minimum standard, or following some government blueprint. Instead, they are recognizing needs and making wise decisions about how to best care for the orphans and widows in their community with love. It was truly an honor to meet the EOH team, witness what they are doing, and even get to be a part of it.

Thank you for being part of this with me! Your prayers and encouragement made a real difference, both to me and to the whole team.

Zikomo kwambiri
—Travis