Mongu -

 The Internet and time availability were not my friend.  I am now able to begin posting the Mongu, Western Province of Zambia 'blog posts'.   This awesome journey was done with my husband and friends from Hands of Hope, Barrington, IL. 

In a few short hours one can be ‘shot’ around the world.  I am not on line to Google the information I could add to tell you how long it would take to fly the world from Chicago back to Chicago or any other round trip point.  What I do know is that those of us who live in the western world, with our first world cultures are often so far removed from what most of the world experiences that to explain it to you would take the world best word master.

I am far from being that person but in the blogs to come I will continue to attempt to bring to you knowledge about people who live, breathe and need hope in a  culture worlds away.  The medium of a blog cannot give to you the smells, the touch, the surroundings, the dirt and the experiences of a culture and places worlds away but I will try.  Pictures will help as we have been told they are worth 1000 words. 
 

I desire to share facts, hope, emotion and to evoke a sense in you that says, “life does not need to revolve around me”. When the things of this world remain or become  our focus for happiness, contentment will never be found.   Hands of Hope,  in a corner of the world so far removed from what we experience each day, does just that. They bring hope and perhaps a better life.  I have watched the work of those who  have given of their time and talents to open up a new world for these people in Mongu! Lives are being changed! 

Mongu is not  the only place in the world where life is destitute and with out hope.  ¾ ‘s of the world can fall into this description.  India, Pakistan, N. Korea, Central America, Haiti, most of Africa and so many more countries are desperate too.  For me and for Hands of Hope, this is our place to make a difference!

The African people of Zambia have won over my heart.  With each blog I desire to convey two things.  One, that your heart too will be stirred to care about something beyond your personal wish list.   If you are reading this you are ‘rich’ by the worlds standards.   Two, is that you might journey with me as I peal back the layers of  world trapped in time and poverty.  Hope (Hands of Hope) is bringing change to people forsaken by their own.  

“No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.”  Charles Dickens