My Journy to Zambia-The Beginning

My journey to Zambia began three years ago.

It all started with a missionary report by one of our church deacons. The report was on the Namwianga Mission that the Smith Springs Church of Christ had been supporting for over 25 years.

Here is a synopsis of the report.

• Roy and Kathi Merritt live at the Namwianga Mission in Zambia where they run an orphanage with the support of many Churches of Christ. The whole compound is called "The Haven". At the time of the report, it was comprised of Eric’s House, Eleanor's House, Kelly's House and a new baby house to be built.
  
• "Eleanor's House" is named in memory of Eleanor Mann of Victoria, Canada. Eleanor supported orphan care in Zambia as far back as the 1940s.
  
• "Kelly's House" honors Kelly Hamby, a great supporter of the work in Zambia.
  
• "Eric's House" is named after Eric Rickner. Eric's family has supported work in Zambia from back before World War II. Eric's legacy built the house where older children stay with Kathi and Roy.
  
• Roy and Kathi hoped to begin building a new house for the babies as the mission deals with AIDS daily. Many babies have syphilis and HIV and most of the deaths are AIDS-related. However, 95% of the children are in fine health. Without the Haven, nearly all of these would have died a week or two after their birth.

At hearing of this mission particularly about the babies, my heart just seemed to reach out. On the way home from Church I told Jack, “I would really like to see the AIDS babies one day”.

Little did I know that this would be the beginning of my journey to Zambia!!!