'Encounter Zambia' Educating Street Kids of Africa

Despite temperatures soaring to over 30°C in Africa, the passion of the Encounter Zambia team seems to rise above the extreme temperatures. Encounter Zambia is working alongside local Zambian churches and the charity 'Hope For Africa', a Christian organisation based in Lusaka.

The team consists of 20 people led by journalist Peter Wooding, UCB Europe. They and are all from Northgate Church in Chester, England and will carry out the work from 23rd July to 7th August with the aim of sharing God's love with some of the world's neediest children, many whom are homeless and orphaned.

In the first week, the team will split into three groups. One of them will be performing street entertainment with a clear Christian message to the homeless kids of Lusaka. This will include mime, singing, clowning, and escapology. Then the children will be invited to take part in fun activities including balloon modelling and juggling workshops, and sports clinics.

Another team will be running a series of workshops for local pastors and church workers on the topic of children's ministry. In many churches in Zambia, there are very little or no children's activities, nor any children's teaching during their church services. Therefore equipping the church workers to reach out to these children using a variety of creative means is very essential.

And the third team will be travelling to Chililabombwe (meaning happy) home -- to take destitute orphans off the streets of Lusaka. They will provide a leadership school for local pastors and set up the micro enterprise initiative for the orphans.

In the second week working with a local church in Lusaka, the Encounter Zambia team will demonstrate how to apply the teaching by putting on a series of outreach events, including how to run a children's holiday club, with a clear gospel message.

"This will be very much a pioneering mission, as children's outreach events and Sunday schools are almost non-existents in many of the churches in Lusaka. It's our hope that the churches will be inspired and equipped through our team to carry on this work. Many of the churches don't even have a room for their children to meet in, so they often sit through the main meetings or sit outside in the blazing heat. So we are funding the construction of children's shelters for the three churches we will be working with." says Wooding.

Zambia is a country situated in the southern half of Africa, it is 4 times the size of the UK, with 10 million people, most of whom survive on an income of less than £20 per month. Due to the high incidences of AIDS and poverty, the average age is just 17.

In Lusaka, Zambia's capital, it was estimated in 1998 that there were at least 80,000 children living on the streets. Many of these kids who are aged from 4 to 16 have been orphaned by AIDS and abandoned with no one to care for them. In addition, due to 85% of the population living below the poverty line, there are many vulnerable children in Zambia.

The Encounter Zambia team will have many opportunities to show God's love to vulnerable children. Most importantly, educating the next generation of the love of God is the great responsbility and commission of today's Christians - and this is what the Encounter Zambia team are trying to initiate.