May 6, 2006

Brothers and sisters,

I am writing today to finish the story of my time in Zimbabwe last week.  I wrote to you previously about the people who are living in the garbage dump outside of Chinthimba in Zimbabwe.  One of the couples who was displaced in “Operation Restore Order” has had a baby.  They are currently living at the dumping site with their 3 year old son and their newborn baby girl.  I spent the day with them on Friday, the baby was 3 days old.

I cannot imagine giving birth to a baby under the best conditions in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe but to have to deliver a child in the hospital and then bring her home to the dumping site is unbelievably heart- wrenching.  This family lost their home and all of their possessions several months ago when the area they were staying at was burned down.  The unemployment rate in this area of the world is so high, that it is almost impossible for people to get jobs, especially when they are homeless.  The father is an artist and the mother is a talented seamstress, but they have both been out of work for over a year.

I heard about the birth of this child and wanted to go pray with her and her family.  As I held her I was so moved.  I remembered an email from a friend that said, “Fortunately we went over Acts at church this weekend where Paul is a prisoner and is going on a ship to be taken in front of Nero in Rome.  He goes through so much.  Our pastor asked us at what point of Paul's journey would we have said we had enough!  Paul never did.  He relied on Jesus Christ for everything.” 

I thought about this because I wondered at what point I would have said enough?  Would I have said enough when I lived in a shanty house in an area of an impoverished community that is in a country being ravished by poverty, starvation and HIV? Would I have said enough when it became impossible for me to keep a job because the economic system in my country was appalling?  Would I have said enough when the money in my country because less and less valuable to the point that even with a paycheck it became difficult to feed my family?  Would I have said enough when my shanty house was burned to the ground by the government in an attempt to “restore order” to the city I live in?  Would I have said enough as I and all of the people who lived near me began to search for a new place to live? Or would I have decided it was enough when my husband, my child and I had to move into a burned out car at the bottom of a garbage dump? What about when I discovered that I was pregnant?  I cannot imagine.  There have been times when I have said enough is enough because the line at the supermarket is too long or because a store didn’t have the shoe that I wanted in my size.  Those are the things that used to ruin my day.  This mother continues to smile as she breast feeds her baby surrounded by garbage.

The baby is amazingly resilient.  As I held her I thought about her future.  As I prayed I remembered Jeremiah 1:5 and I knew that it was just as true for her as for a baby born at the same time in America.  One of the best things about our God is that his promises are not biased based on race, socio-economic status or nationality.  This baby girl was known before she was formed in her mother’s womb.  Before she was born she was set apart.  Thank God got that!  I prayed that God place a hedge of protection around her until her parents were able to find more hygienic living conditions.  This baby is surrounded by bugs, baboons and disease.  She already has been bitten by mosquitoes and 2 of the men who live here are very sick with malaria. 

I am going back after church this morning to pray with the family and bring them some supplies for the baby.  We have begun making arrangements to help them get back to the rural area in which they have some relatives that might be able to help them get settled.  This is a challenging time for families here and often in the rural areas families cannot take in additional members because they rely on their crops to sustain them and additional mouths to feed can be overwhelming.  I know that God has a plan.  I thought about my birth.  I thought about the births I have witnessed and the babies my friends have had.  What an incredible testimony this little girl will have some day. 

She does not yet have a name.  Her parents are waiting to give her a name and they would like to give her grandpa the opportunity to choose her name when they get back into the rural areas.  She has a check up scheduled for Wednesday.  Please keep her in your prayers until then.  My friend Nico knows a woman named Ignastia in Mexico who lives in similar a similar situation and I remember when she said “Nico, I know that Jesus loves me because my children are healthy and the spiders don’t bite us.”  I am praying for God to perform similar miracles for this family.  Each day that this baby stays healthy is a miracle. 

If you would like to help this little baby, or with any of the work we are doing in Southern Africa, please send a check made out to ROCK of Africa to 20382 Venus Circle Huntington Beach, CA 92646 or see www.rockofafrica.org  In the memo please write Regina Jones for record keeping purposes.

Isaiah 58:7 Share your food with the hungry and give shelter to the homeless.  Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help.  Isaiah 58:10 Feed the hungry, and help those in trouble.  Then your light will shine out from the darkness and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon.

May 7, 2006
 

Here is an update: Blake, Bheki and I went to the dumping site with food, baby clothes and a blanket and supplies for a bath.  We bathed both of the children and then with a lot of prayer and discussion convinced the parents to go back to their village now instead of waiting for their chieck-up on Wendnesday.  We packed up their things and headed to the village.  We will pick them up Wednesday morning for their appointment and to see how they are doing.  Hopefully by then I will be able to share the baby’s name with you! Please keep this family in your prayers!

Your almost Africa Sister,

Regina Jones

May 10, 2006

I will continue this update since this email has not yet been sent out!

I am so happy to report that today Jasper, Bheki and I picked up this little baby and her mom and dad and took her to the hospital for her check up.  At the hospital we paid the bill for her delivery so that they could see the doctor.  We waited in line for quite a while, and the doctor cleared the baby without even unwrapping her swaddling.  He said that we could head over to the clinic for further examination.  After we made our way to the clinic it appeared that there would be a long wait.  Jasper, Bheki and I headed over to a school to see when we might be able to show Narnia for the kids.  I am so excited to show this movie!  By the time we returned to the clinic, the doctor was finishing up with the family and the baby was given a clean bill of health!  What a miracle.  I do not know how I can describe for you what the pictures show, the place that this little baby was living was in no way safe for her to be in.  My heart is so full of gratitude to God for saving this little baby’s life.  I am not sure if she will ever know what a miracle she is, but imagine what a testimony she will have some day! 

The baby has been named, however I am not sure if the name will stick.  Her mom seemed to want to change it.  Her mom wanted to name her “Camero” however the name she had been given by her grandfather means “the accused” in their vernacular language.  I hope that her mom win’s that battle!

Daniel, the baby’s father asks us to drop him off in town on our way back to the village and I fear that my instinct was right, that he did not want to return to the village.  Daniel risked his baby’s life by taking her back to the dump after she was born.  His wife wanted to return to the village, but was obviously upset that her husband would not return with her.  Daniel said he would come home later that night, but I doubt that he will.  There is something inside some of the people here that makes them dislike the life in the village so much that they would stay in terrible, even dangerous situations in the towns.  I pray that Daniel will make it back to his family in the village. 

Your almost Africa Sister,

Regina Jones

May 20, 2006

I am so sorry that this update has not yet been sent, I long so much to tell you of this amazing story!  I just received an update about the family.  The baby is doing well, and her official name has been changed to something I have not yet learned to spell or pronounce, however it means “God Saves”.  I think that is just perfect!  Her father is still in the city.  He has been seen roaming through town several times and it has been reported that he is back living in the garbage dump.  My heart aches for him and I hope that I will make it back there to talk with him, however I know that he is an adult and can make his choices regarding where he will live.  The important thing is that we were able to help get his children into a more stable and safe living condition.  Please keep this family in your prayers.  The winter is here and they are very cold.  I was reading in 1 Samuel the other day and I couldn’t believe what I read, it was one of those moments when I needed a little gift from God – and it came at the perfect time!  I hope that some day I get to share this with these two beautiful girls that were living in a garbage dump: “The Lord makes some poor and others rich; he brings some down and lifts others up.  He lifts the poor from the dust and the needy from the garbage dump.  He sets them among princes, placing them in seats of honor.  For all the earth is the Lord’s and he has set the world in order.”  1 Samuel 2: 7&8.  These past two months I have really been learning about the Lord’s order.  I think that we can all gain a lot from this verse, whether we are in a garbage dump or sitting in a place of honor.

I am so grateful to all of you who have contributed financially and through prayer to ROCK of Africa for my ministry here.  I hope that you can feel even a percentage of what I have felt being here.  Lives have been changed and God has been glorified. 

“Why do I get to live in California and know little about really struggling to live a day to day life?”   I have received many emails during my first few weeks in Africa, several of them have asked questions like this.   These questions are similar to the ones that invaded my heart on my first trip to Zimbabwe. 

The past week, the Holy Spirit keeps leading me to Philippians in my study time.  This book is a letter written by Paul while he was in jail in Rome.  He is writing it to thank the people of Phillippi for supporting him.  They had paid his living expenses while he was awaiting trial.  I love this book.  It is filled with Joy.  Paul was filled with Joy even though he was jailed for spreading the Gospel.  This past week I have felt like I am struggling to keep my joy.  I read verses like Phil 4:4 “Always be full of joy in the Lord.  I say it again—rejoice!”  I ask how I can be filled with joy when I see so many hurting people.  When I am surrounded by extreme need without extreme resources!  I read that joy is the quiet, confident assurance of God’s love and work in our lives, that he will be there no matter what!  Oh my gosh! I have had it all wrong.  I have that!  No matter what I know that God is with me.  I have been confusing happiness with joy.  I have allowed my circumstances to dictate attitude.  I have so much to learn, there is so much that the people of Africa can teach me.  They have mastered the concept of joy. 

I know with everything I am that God loves all of his people.  Why would he give some so much and others so little? I have no answer to that.  I know that our God is just and merciful.  Our world is unjust, we as humans are unjust.  We support injustice with our selfish desires.  I should warn you, this email could bring up a variety of emotions, for some of you it will make you excited for others it will make you angry.  No matter what emotions it evokes, I hope that it inspires action.

Throughout my life I have had many different role models, many different types of people have inspired me and helped me grow into the person I am today.  When I was younger I wanted to be like Janet Jackson or Paula Abdul, I didn’t care that I couldn’t sing… I was going to dance just like them.  Through my adolescence I focused on celebrities to show me who I wanted to be.  For a long time this has changed.  My role models were leaders in the areas of social justice.  Recently though, a celebrity has inspired me again, not for his dance moves and not even for his music, which I have never really cared about… but because of his passion and his intense drive to spread what he has learned.  This man is Bono.  He has become one of my hero’s! 

In February I first heard a speech he gave at the Presidential Prayer Breakfast.  I have heard him speak several times about the One Campaign.  This is a very honorable cause.  I love the way he brings Africa into our lives.  I want to share with you some of his thoughts, but I also want to add some things that God has been speaking to me while I have been here. 

I have spent a lot of my life “searching for God.”  I looked for him in bars, churches, schools and libraries.  I love what Bono says, “God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house… God is in the silence of a mother who has infected her child with a virus that will end both their lives… God is in the cries heard under the rubble of war… God is in the debris of wasted opportunity and lives, and God is with us if we are with them.” He then uses the words from Isaiah 58:9.

Bono praises our president and the American people for the money that we do give to Africa.  He tells us that Americans are good at charity.  We are.  I know that I feel so good when I sponsor a little girl in Mexico by paying her school fees and buying her school supplies.  What he says next is what makes him my hero, “6,500 Africans are still dying every day of a preventable, treatable disease, for lack of drugs we can buy at any drugstore. This is not about charity, this is about Justice and Equality.”  I believe he is talking about malaria.  The drugs to prevent malaria related death cost less than $60.  I saw a little girl this week who was very sick with malaria.  Today she is running around playing with her twin brother because she was able to get the medicine.  In Zambia there are 4 million cases of malaria each year.  Many of these cases are fatal because of a small amount of money.  Bono is telling us that we not only need to send money for the medicine but that we need to fight so that the families here can buy medicine as easily as we can.  If your child was African how would you feel?  How much would their life be worth?  As Americans we do give, some of us even give a lot but as Bono says, “There's a gigantic chasm between the scale of the emergency and the scale of the response.”

When I read Phil 4:12 -15, I think of so many of the people I have met in Africa.  “I know what it is to be in need and I know what it is to have plenty.  I have learned the secret of being content in every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.  I can do all things through him who gives me strength. Yet it is good of you to share in my troubles.” I think of the people of Zimbabwe, the people who used to live in the breadbasket of Africa and now cannot feed their families.  They have learned how to be content, they are not revolting or complaining.  They are walking long distances to find a store with food in it.  They used to be able to afford transportation, but that was when you could buy fuel in their country.  Today you must cross into another country to buy fuel or buy it on the black market with U.S.  dollars.  While they walk they carry their babies on their backs, while they walk they sing.  The songs that they sing are songs of worship.

Our children say these words every day in school, “ I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.  And to the republic for which is stands, one nation under God with liberty and justice for all.”  Does that mean for all or for all Americans?  Bono talks about the difference between justice and charity.  “Justice is a higher standard. Africa makes a fool of our idea of justice; it makes a farce of our idea of equality. It mocks our pieties, it doubts our concern, it questions our commitment”  He is not saying this to be mean or to question our hearts, but to bring light to the extent of the problem.  “there's no way we can look at what's happening in Africa and, if we're honest, conclude that deep down, we really accept that Africans are equal to us. Anywhere else in the world, we wouldn't accept it. Look at what happened in South East Asia with the Tsunami. 150, 000 lives lost to that misnomer of all misnomers, "mother nature". In Africa, 150,000 lives are lost every month. A tsunami every month. And it's a completely avoidable catastrophe.” Bono calls us to rally with Africa the way we did with the Tsunami, the way we did with Katrina. 

In Phil 1:29-30 “For you have been given not only the privilege of trusting in Christ but also the privilege of suffering for him.  We are in this struggle together…” I love this verse because it fits so well for the people I meet here.  They are no stranger to suffering.  I have met so many people who are teaching me how to rejoice in the privilege of suffering for Jesus.  I think of the Christians here who continue to spread the gospel as they watch people die from starvation, malaria and AIDS --three completely preventable causes.  The note in my Bible says, “Paul never urges Christians to seek suffering, as if there were virtue in pain.  But we should not forget those who suffer.  If your cupboard is full, share your food.  If you control the wheels of power, work for justice and mercy.  If you are wealthy give generously to the poor. When life is comfortable, willingly take a share of someone else’s pain, and so tell the world that the gospel is true.”  When I read this note, there is no doubt in my mind who Paul is speaking to.  I think this is the same message Bono is giving. 

Bono said something that touched me.  It changed the way I thought about my life.  “There is a continent—Africa—being consumed by flames.  I truly believe that when the history books are written, our age will be remembered for three things: the war on terror, the digital revolution, and what we did—or did not do—to put the fire out in Africa.  History, like God, is watching what we do.”  He is right.  There are so many things going on in Africa that we would not accept anywhere else in the world.  I am not saying that there are not places all over the world where life is hard, there is poverty all over the world.  There are other places that are feeling the weight of oppression.  This entire continent is in need.  We can change the world.  We can partner with Africa and see what affect it has on our entire planet.  When my kids and grandkids are reading about my generation, I want them to hear the truth about what was happening; I want it to be history, not the beginning of a still worsening problem.  I want them to ask, “grandma what was it like when little kids in Africa had no parents because of AIDS, starvation and malaria?”

When they ask I will tell them.  “Oh it was so sad.  There were babies who had nothing to eat, they couldn’t afford to go to school and their governments wouldn’t wave the school fees.  People were dying because of preventable diseases.  There was no clean water to drink.  The continent was hurting.” 

I imagine them asking, “What happened?”  “Well Bono and a whole bunch of celebrities motivated America to help.  Our president gave lots of money and there were people who loved Africa so much that they came over to make sure that it was spent on the people, not the government.  Our country helped change the world.” 

“Were you there grandma?” “You better believe it! I wouldn’t have missed it for anything in the world!”

 What will you tell your grandchildren when they ask you?  Were you a part of this? Did you help?  Will you help?

So again we are brought back to the initial question.  Why was I born in the U.S., why did the location of my birth decide that I would get to go to school, get a job, have a place to live, have food to eat? Why was I born in a place where life saving medicine is available at the corner drug store?  I believe that was a divinely made decision, but I think the real question is this: What am I going to do with the resources I have been given? Am I going to see them as a gift that I can share with my brothers and sisters or am I going to continue to use them to better only my life, to continue to widen the gap between the rich and the poor?   I know that God wants us to work together.  Maybe it is part of the plan that some have so much and some have none so that we are forced to be a team, to work together so that we all might live.  Rick Warren gave an amazing challenge in a leadership meeting when he asked, “Are you willing to live simply so that others might simply live?”  How are you going to respond?

Some of you might think that I responded by raising money to come to Africa.  That I am working with an organization to open an orphanage.  These are things that I am doing, but those are long-term goals, which I hope will make a difference.  I want to share with you some of the things that I do on a daily basis that I see make a difference.  Each day that I am in Livingstone I need to go into town.  From the house I am living in it is a 45 minute walk or a taxi ride that costs anywhere between 3,000-10,000 Kwacha (90 cents to 3 dollars).  Each day I choose to walk both ways.  It makes my life much less time efficient, and I have to carry a lot of stuff, but I know what 1 dollar does in Africa.  Each day I fast for one meal, either breakfast or lunch depending on my schedule.  I do this because there are people in Zimbabwe and Zambia that I meet that eat only once a day, sometimes they go several days without eating.  Even here with them, I need to be reminded that stomachs are empty. 

I would like to challenge you to look at your life: is there something that you could give up that would allow you to help someone else?  Maybe you can give up eating at a restaurant once per week; the $25 you will save can make a big difference.  Maybe you take your girlfriend to the movies on Saturday.  How would it feel to tell her that you would like to skip this and send the $40 you would spend on tickets and snacks to Africa?  $40 buys a child’s school uniform in Zimbabwe.  Most parents here do not make enough to send one of their children to school, much less all of them.   Maybe you are living on as small of a budget as you can, but you know how to sew.  I have a friend who is making dresses for the little girls in Zimbabwe.  If you would like to help in this endeavor email me and I will get you connected.  Maybe you are in a Bible Study, as a group maybe you can collect clothing for the children here, winter is coming for them and most do not have blankets.  Everyone in America is rich to the people of Africa.  We can all do something.  Maybe you are saying, think bigger I want to do more: maybe you were planning on taking a summer vacation, how about 2 weeks in Zimbabwe on an outreach trip?

Many of you will not feel a desire to help people in Africa.  There are people in your own community without… give to them.  If you would like to help those in Africa, but do not feel called to support my mission, there are so many organizations that are working here.  If you would like help finding one, contact me I will help.  Let’s do what Bono says his organization does, let’s get “united in the belief that where you live should no longer determine whether you live.

In His name,

Regina Jones

Thank you all for your prayers and support.  Without all of you this trip and so many like it would not be possible.  I just wanted to add an update as many of you have been praying for Wanagwa M’Kandawire.  She is still receiving injections for her malaria and feeling much better! Please keep her and her family in your prayers.  If you would like to contribute financially to the work we are doing in Africa please visit www.rockofafrica.org.