One of the quotes I committed to heart before traveling to Zambia from David Livermore's book, "Serving with Eyes Wide Open", was this one: “Here is what some African church leaders said when asked what they wanted most to say to American churches: 'Please raise our dignity before the Christians and citizens of North America. We are not naïve, backward, and ignorant black people. Instead, we are your brothers and sisters in the family of God who are seeking to be faithful to his calling on our lives.' (Serving with Eyes Wide Open, Page 169)
One of the promises I made to the Lord was that I would watch for stories and images that would do just this - raise the dignity of the Zambian people before the Christians and citizens of North America within our sphere. Such stories and images were not hard to find - in fact, they were everywhere. We are hardly experts after being guests for just 9 days. And we did see great need. Particularly at the hospitals and clinics. But it did not take long at all to realize that the people of Zambia do not need more of what we in the west have in terms of material wealth. We need less of what we have.