Chipulukusu

The red clay roads are pocked with mud. In places, the road is more river of leftover rain than actual passable road. The houses are a mix of cement and crumbling homemade bricks from the same red clay that can't hold a road together. Even here, some homes are far superior to others. There are stands that sell homegrown vegetables and peanuts. Along the main road, there are small businesses, mostly bars. Children are everywhere. No one wears shoes. This is a city within a city.

This is the slums.
This is Chipulukusu.

From Lighthouse, Uncle Pasha leads us through a family's backyard, following a narrow, worn dirt path. Once we cross the railroad tracks, we are officially in Chipulukusu.

An example of a home we saw. Also, this cute baby.

We stop first at Enoch's home, a little boy Jen sponsors who hasn't been to school this week. She is eager to meet him. His uncle is home but Enoch is not. The home has a porch because part of the ceiling and the walls seem to have fallen. Relentless rain wears down the clay bricks if they are not secured with cement. Some of us lag behind the conversation with the Uncle, not wanting to overwhelm the families we visit. Enoch is visiting relatives, so Jen's gifts stay in the blue bag Jon is graciously carrying (on his 60th birthday, none-the-less) and we move on.

It does not take long for word to pass that the mzungus are walking through and we gather a parade of children behind us, running up to us, touching our hands, touching our arms, smiling shyly when we greet them with "Shani!" (hey!) or "Lesa amipale!" (God bless you!).

Mzungus! Mzungus!

This is not poverty tourism. We are not white messiahs here to save these children. We recognize that these are people whom so many never acknowledge, never even see. Genesis 16:13 gives us Hagar who proclaims, "You are a God of seeing... Truly here I have seen him who looks after me." It is our hope that by seeing these people, these children, by telling them "God bless you!", that they understand that God sees them. He looks after them.

We see that characteristic of God so evidently in the way that the African culture works. The extended family is paramount and so while many of these children are fatherless, or even parentless all together, they are not without family. They are not without shelter because grandmothers, aunties, uncles, they take in these children and love them as their own. That is a wonderful picture of God's sovereign grace. These children have lives that could easily be pitied and yet, there is hope. There is provision. There is light and joy in these children's faces; they are so much more than their living conditions.

This is the slums.
This is Mwape -- blessing.

Lighthouse students! In the back, there's Pasha who is the amazing liaison to these children.