After comparatively low rates of COVID-19 infection throughout most of 2020, Southern Africa experienced dramatically increased caseloads in the wake of the holiday season.
Like many Presbyterian mission co-workers, Dustin and Sherri Ellington have a foot in two worlds.
Charles and Melissa Johnson served as ruling elders in their home congregation, Northwood Presbyterian Church in San Antonio, and now as mission co-workers in Zambia. In both places they found joy and strength in the strong sense of community that surrounded them. Now sheltering in place in Atlanta at Mission Haven, short-term housing for mission co-workers, they are busy staying connected to partners, supporting churches and finding that sense of community in new places.
After taking the time to use a theology library and see family in the United States during December and early January, I returned to Zambia. My flight from the U.S. was delayed, causing me to miss my connecting flight in Istanbul. The next plane to Zambia was four days later. I gladly received the airline’s gift of four free nights of lodging, all meals included, in a city I’ve wanted to explore.
With support provided by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP)’s Synod of Zambia created a Health Department in 2016. During its first three years, the CCAP’s Health Department has focused on building and improving infrastructure, strengthening the health of women and girls and ensuring availability of preventative medicine and personnel.
The Rev. Cheryl Barnes was at her computer getting ready to go teach Bible school when the Lord sent an email.
When the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian Synod of Zambia was established in 1984, it had four ordained ministers, 16 congregations and two presbyteries with fewer than 10,000 members.
“This harvest, there will be much food. We will not go hungry. And we have time for other things, too. We do not spend all our time in the fields. We have time to enjoy the life that God has given us.” Her pride was almost tangible, her joy infectious.
It was the fifth house, and I had no idea what we would find behind the curtain that hung in place of a door.
So far we had prayed through the coughing of a woman with tuberculosis, witnessed the faithfulness of an HIV-positive grandmother, and sung praises in Chichewa with an elderly woman whose eyes could no longer see.
I took a deep breath and followed the church ladies through the curtain. Sitting in the corner of the small, dark house, a young woman looked up at us with a radiant smile. In her arms a tiny little face glowed with life and vitality, and I was introduced to her brand-new son, a beautiful baby named Vincent.
Roman Catholic bishops in Zambia are protesting a government attempt to repatriate nearly 5,000 refugees who fled different episodes of inter-ethnic violence in Rwanda between 1959 and 1994.