Today is officially World Water Day. This is NOT the post IÂ was contemplating for World Water Day. That post would have said something like this:
Here at Shoulder 2 Shoulder, we wish for our brothers and sisters around the world to have the wonderful benefit of CLEAN WATER. CLEAN WATERÂ to drink. CLEAN WATERÂ to cook with. CLEAN WATER to bathe with. And we also wish for them to not have to spend hours daily to fetch it. To date we have provided 30 clean water projects in communities throughout our coverage area in Zambia. On average, these projects cost around $2,000, and they may be the single most efficient part of our entire ministry. I often say, "What could we do for another American with $2,000 that would greatly benefit their lives for more than a month or so?" Not much. But for our brothers and sisters in Zambia, that same amount can better the lives of an entire community - or even several communities surrounding the clean water source.
And that would have been a feel-good story. And IÂ would have enjoyed putting it out there for you to enjoy and consider whether you might have some surplus that could go towards the next project. You can still do that, by the way, even though this post is about to take a difficult turn.
This week in our most rural area called Mambwe, water was for a time the enemy of our brothers and sisters. Severe flooding took place, affecting crops, homes, and even at least one church building. The cover photo this week shows the damage done to just one of the dozens of structures that have collapsed.
The bottom line for me is this: life is hard; but life in Zambia is harder. For those affected by these floods there is no insurance, no government safety net, and sometimes no hope. Some members of our team were planning to travel to the Mambwe area in April anyways, so now we plan to shift their purpose just a little bit and ask them to go a little further in and lend a hand to some of these communities.
And we will continue feeding. I often mention the more than 3,300 families we are now impacting monthly. If we look a little closer, we see that we typically provide some food to over 600 families in the Mambwe area. Many, no doubt, have been affected by this disaster, and our HOPE is to provide those brothers and sisters some HOPE in the form of supplemental maize for their families.
Now two years removed from a drought that took their harvest, many in this region are now hoping they don't lose their entire maize crop to this flooding disaster. Our hope is the training ZIAP introduced will yield better than expected crops all around this region, and they are just a few months from some significant relief. Let me again share some numbers. You may have heard me mention that we have trained more than 7,000 growers throughout our coverage area. Nearly 1,500 of those growers are in this region. So let us pray their crops are not only spared from the flooding but produce such abundance that significant HOPE is just around the corner.
Disasters like this are a regular occurrence in Zambia and much of the developing world. They tend to pile on and create and sustain an economic environment that is very difficult to manage. Ours is to see their struggles and step in where we can. I turn once again to I John 3:16-17:
We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for one another. How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?
These words continue to propel us to share. God's love compels us to share. We can't let the setbacks deter us. We are making a difference. Our LOVEÂ is making a difference every month. God's LOVE continues to make a difference.
