Hope springs eternal

Mission Direct’s Overseas Director Tim Martindale witnesses an amazing act of generosity in the heart of the African bush.

We were fifty kilometres outside of Lusaka in the heart of the Zambian bush. Brick houses had by now turned to mud huts. Men sat outside, and scraggy animals milled about. Then we went off road. A dirt track turned into a dried, rutted riverbed. We ask a young man where we can find the tribal elder and he directs us to a smart complex of huts.

Appealing for money or resources is not my favourite part of the job, but it does not usually take me far out of my comfort zone like this. We are here to plead for a piece of land for The Fountain of Hope project in the capital. For many years The Fountain of Hope has been rescuing street children and giving them the skills and attention they need for a fresh start. But financial support has dried up with the recession and this was a grim time for the project.

It was Priscilla the Chief Executive that suggested we might be able to beg a piece of unused land from a tribe she knew, and she travelled with us to this remote village. We entered the hut where the tribal elder was adjudicating in a court - the ‘bench’ and all seating made of mud.

A white man appearing from nowhere was sufficiently novel for all proceedings to be halted for the afternoon. The elder and his assistant joined us in the car as we drove off in search of the land and its owner. We paced around the bounds of the land - currently unused and a little overgrown - it was a good ninety acres and potentially fertile. How hard was it going to be to persuade the farmer to part with a piece of land of this size?

It was remarkably simple. God seemed to have the matter in hand. The farmer accepted a few token gifts and the deal was done, bar a little paperwork.  The land will be used to grow a number of crops, aiding  self sufficiency for the project and giving the young men more skills for the future.

The gift could not have come at a better time for the project, having faced closure head-on. It reminded me that sometimes those with little in the way of material goods can be far more generous than those of us with plenty.

 

To give to the Fountain of Hope project: click here and put 'Fountain of Hope' in the notes.