Zambia, the Next Step

By Lee Goodson

Members of the senior and junior high youth groups have been meeting over the course of the past few weeks to discuss the trip that 13 members of our church went on this past August, to Zambia. The main topic of the recent meetings has been to choose the next project to be undertaken in Twachianda.

We have agreed that we would like to our new mission to be the renovation and expansion of the main health clinic in Twachianda. The clinic serves the whole population of Twachiyanda which is over 30,000 people. It currently offers very limited services and it is not fully equipped with the quantity or variety of medicines that are needed there. While in Twachiyanda we learned that people there are able to be tested for HIV/AIDS, but they do not have access to the antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) that can prolong their lives and enable them to parent their children to adulthood. The only place to get further help for this is to go 6 hours to the city of Choma. That is where the only hospital for a very long distance is located. Choma is the only place where a person, who has tested positive for AIDS, can get ARV’s . This is a huge problem for the citizens of Twachianda because very few have the means to secure transportation.

Through World Vision we have been in contact with our friends in Twachiyanda. They are gathering the information needed to help us understand what it would cost to improve the services offered at the clinic. We are anxiously waiting to hear what they have to say. Once they respond we will communicate with the congregation about our plans to move forward. We have built a well. Now we want to keep people well!