Eagles Wings

Oh my stinkin’ heart.

I have to tell you about my day yesterday, I am over the moon people!

I visited another NGO that the Jubilee Centre is in connection with, it is called Eagles Wings and it began as a school and there is also a transit home on the premises. Jubilee Centre has an amazing social worker, Nissi, who keeps in contact with many other agencies and churches as well as the government social services in things such as foster care and adoption.

We arrived at Eagles Wings and met with the director Lackosn. He explained some of the backstory to Eagles Wings to me first. He began a new church after he moved to a new area, maybe around 2001. It was small and had members from a local, very poor community attend. He had a friend who is a missionary from the Congo come to visit and she was so moved by his church she donated some Bemba (common language) Bibles to the congregation. When Lackosn was showing the church these bibles, they appeared disappointed and lamented that they could not read. He was shocked- he would have never guessed. So he began teaching some of the women from the community how to read and then children began attending. Again, he wondered why they were not in school. Families explained to him that they did not have any income or work so they could not pay to send their children to the government schools (they are required to purchase uniforms and shoes). This is how the school began- now they have about 30-35 students per grade, with a primary and secondary school. They even had full science labs and a computer lab. Children from the village who are in the most need are identified and vetted to join the school. The school can only allow one child per family to attend. They also have classes for tailoring and are beginning knitting classes in order to educate village members so they are able to have a trade and create goods to sell for a profit. The profit will help them to get food or send their other children to a local government school. Since the school began, they have now successfully had children graduate and attend University. There are also children who lived in the transit home who have now returned to Eagles Wings after their schooling is complete to work.

After Lackosn began teaching, he met a boy who attended his classes that was directly from the streets with no home to call his own. Lackosn took him in to his own home and after a few days, the boy confided in him about what life on the streets was actually like. Lackosn’s heart broke. The boy also told Lackosn that he was very worried for another boy who had just recently come to the area from Lusaka, usually in the night this boy would be the protector for the new boy. Lackosn and the boy went into the village and picked him up as well. Eventually this became a transit home and they are now trying to use foster care in order that instead of using a transit home, the orphans can be living in families. This is where Jubilee Centre comes in- Nissi, the social worker, meets with prospective foster families and trains them with materials provided to her from Bethany Christian Services.

Eagles Wings has some official connection with Australia- it sounds like there is another branch of EW there. Australia sends mission groups a few times a year- one for building, one for setting up a medical clinic, and one that takes some of the children from the village on a trip to Livingstone to see Victoria Falls and elephants and everything else. Eagles Wings now has 35 employees- teachers, directors, and a social worker.

I had the privilege of spending most of my time with Ngoie, the social worker there. She works with the government social services and within the community to assist families and identify children who may qualify to attend the school or live in the transit home. I am blown away by the kind of work she does, and especially that she does it on her own. Emotionally, it is very tough work. She did confide that there are days that she just closes her office door and cries, to which I told her I have had the same experience. The difference is that I work at a place with other workers who are gifts from God that allow me to really, truly be me in their presence in my most vulnerable moments without an ounce of fear of judgement. This is a bit counter cultural in Zambia- often their guards are up. We discussed the possibility that perhaps she and Nissi could begin some sort of Social Workers support group or something in order to support, validate, and encourage one another.

The best part—I was able to bring some supplies with of interventions I might use in the states and show her and practice them with her. Games, ways to help children understand how their brain works, practice deep breathing, and to practice noticing their own feelings and body awareness. Then, we were able to meet with some of the children from the transit home, one-on-one as if it was a regular counseling session. For some she observed the way I interacted with the children, and for some I observed her and coached along the way. It was so incredible- and it worked! One of the children really opened up about her past and her feelings and ways that it can interfere with her schoolwork/studies. I was able to validate and normalize this for her. I was so honored by her vulnerability and so thankful to God for the relief she reported experiencing, just after talking about it for a few minutes. 

The passion and fire in these girls I met- I just cannot even try to explain it. Oh, I LOVE my job and I love the way the Lord heals through relationship. What a beautiful, life-reviving day.

Jesus, you are so, so good.