this is fostina. she is about 11 or 12 years old and has lost both parents to "the sickness" (most likely HIV/AIDS). they passed in 2007 making this sweet girl a double-orphan for the past 5 years of her childhood. in 2010 when i met her, she told me that she currently was living with her grandmother, who had also been caring for several other children in her old age. this is common really throughout much of africa, due to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. often grandparents, neighbors, or aunties&uncles will have several non-biological children that they care for because a child has lost both parents from AIDS. On a further note, according to the CIA world factobook zambia has the 6th highest HIV/AIDS rate in the world and botswana has the 2nd highest. as you can imagine situations like fotstina's are unfortunately common. fostina also told me that she eats just one meal a day and by "meal" she means one small serving of shema (the staple food of zambia-a rice based product that has almost no flavor but is filling) and a half a glass of tea. something that would be considered "snack size" here in the states. as if this weren't enough, fostina has malaria. clearly, the devil has enjoyed making a mess of this precious child's life, but the Lord promises in john 14:18 "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." and let me tell you, the Lord does not make empty promises. for 2 years, i have been praying that God would provide a sponsor for my sweet baby fostina. my parents and i have even gotten into arguments at times because i decided that i wanted to sponsor her with my small minimum wage on-campus job's paycheck. my parents being more realistic than i, would consistently tell me that i need to wait until i am more financially stable to provide for another human being and that if God had someone for her He would bring the sponsor to me. that's where sweet, kind-hearted betty cooper-magee comes into the picture. betty is from the houston area and we had served on a mission trip to honduras together last august. this woman is so full of love and ready to serve the Lord, it astounds me. about 2 months ago, she contacted me to tell me that she felt the Lord calling her to sponsor one of my zambian babies. seriously, i cried. WHAT. of course, fostina was who i thought of instantly. literally, a week before i had gotten into an argument with my parents again about sponsoring fostina myself and all along he had betty in mind for fostina. of course, my small faith didn't believe there was anyone else out there that would be willing to sponsor any of my children and so i thought i had to do it myself. God is so much bigger than that. and now here is the part where YOU can come in. i believe in the power of prayer. due to some changes in family legacy's sponsorship program, i will have to personally try to go find fostina in the compound (village, neighborhood) that she lived in two years ago called matero. reality is, is that fostina had malaria first of all. the question of whether or not she is still with us on earth is definitely up in the air. also, she lived with her elderly grandmother and that was 2 years ago! her grandmother may have passed, in this case fostina may have been moved to a different compound, different country or may even now be a street child, making it near impossible for me to find her. so, please pray. i will also only have maybe an hour or two hour time slot to find this little girl. pray that God puts the right people in my path that know her and know where she is. betty is so willing and excited to sponsor any child but fostina would really benefit from this sponsorship and honestly, i really want to be a part of being able to provide this for this sweet child. please, please, please be praying that i can find her. on a different note, i now have about 10 long skirts and have worn nothing but long skirts for the past 4 days. i am truly becoming african ;)
8 more days until departure! and lastly, I AM OFFICIALLY 20 YEARS OLD!! :) as of yesterday. i had a wonderful day full of love and people that are really special to me. i'm grateful to be alive and I'M READY TO GO TO AFRICA! romans 8:6 for to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.
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