Orphan Sunday, November 10 at McLean Baptist Church

Christians around the world acknowledge the unique needs of children who have lost one or both parents on Orphan Sunday. This day of emphasis began in Zambia where there are now 1.7 million orphans largely due to AIDS. With over half the population under the age of 18, there are fewer adults to support the children, so some households do not have an adult. Zambia is presently dealing with the worst drought in 30 years with resulting food insecurity.

On August 4, 2019, McLean Baptist Church commissioned Sherlie Scribner, Christopher Svestka and Mbuyoti Malenga for a mission trip to Zambia, August 10-24. The trip which was funded by Christian Children’s Foundation included visits to Chande Baptist Project school and orphanage that the church has supported for over a decade. Chande was founded in 2000 by a pastor in Kitwe, Patrick Chanda, who died in 2017. Chande has over 400 students in its community school and 13 orphans who live at the compound. Further information will be provided on Orphan Sunday.

The US team conducted a conference for Christian leaders from Chande, as well as from the Zambian Apostolic Church which supports the Elim Community School and the Come Back to God Church which houses the Kafue Community School. The theme of the conference was “A Vision for Sustainable Projects to Improve the Lives of Orphans and Vulnerable Children.” The US team took the leaders on a bus trip to visit sites around the country that have developed projects that generate income for missions. Some projects included farming to grow food for orphans, sewing schools and microenterprise grants that help widows who are supporting orphaned grandchildren. The US team listened to proposed ideas to promote sustainable projects that will help poor people in their communities, and to promote sustainable income generation to benefit and educate orphans and vulnerable children. The leaders were encouraged to cooperate with each other within the country for support. The team brought back requests for specific funding to meet their needs.