‘Here on Earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart because I have overcome the world.'  

John 16:33

About a month ago, 2 girls and 3 boys from the Congo were rescued from being trafficked to buyers in Namibia. They were caught in Mwandi. A Zambian man who works for the mission hospital was on the bus with these children. He knew that something didn’t seem “right” with these 5 kids and their guardians. He called the local immigration officer and police, and they investigated the matter. These traffickers make a lot of money selling these children. They offered the immigration officer a $40,000 bribe for him to let them leave without reporting them, but he does not love money more than these children’s lives. The police arrested the traffickers and put them in jail. The children were sent to the only foster family in the western province, our missionary friends who took care of the previous 4 Congolese boys that I have mentioned before. I am so thankful that these children were saved from being trafficked. Our reverend spoke about this issue at church this morning. He said that Mwandi is a prime area for human traffickers because of the unregulated border of the Zambezi River that we share with Namibia. Traffickers can cross the river here easily without having to go through immigration - so, no legal documents are needed to cross. These traffickers come to Mwandi and take these children to Namibia because it is a country where there is a market for these children. Our reverend and many people here have said that kids are often sold in Namibia and South Africa for witchcraft rituals. A common practice used by witch doctors is to cut out the hearts of these children and use it for shark bait in order to receive demonic/mystical blessings. Other times, they are sold into slavery or for the sex trade. Evil does exist!

These kids are very different from the last group of Congo kids. They do not listen, they physically fight, steal, run away. They are a lot of work for the other missionary family who both have full time jobs. The missionary couple that is caring for them has done a great job with them in a really short amount of time. Their behavior is improving greatly everyday. They can even sit still and quietly on the front row at church for 3 or more hours at a time. I have volunteered to help watch these kids for a few hours each day. They have been difficult at times, however, I feel so blessed to get to be apart of their lives. I feel so blessed that God has saved these children from being trafficked and that I get to show them love. I hug and kiss each one each time that I see them. Since they only know French and Swahili, if I forget to hug and kiss them, they come to me and point to the top of their head for a kiss and motion for me to wrap my arms around them - even the 9 and 10 year old boys. Oh, this makes me feel so special!

Please pray for these children. Tomorrow, the International Organization for Migration (a UN organization) will be taking these children to Lusaka to be sent back to their home and to be cared for. It is a complicated matter, especially since they come from a volatile country and they may not even have parents looking for them. Pray that if they have parents looking for them, that they will find them, and if they do not, that they will be placed in a loving home. Also, praise God for the hospital worker doing God’s work and reporting their captors to the police.

Terrible evil does exist in our world. Sometimes I take my sin (my evil) way too lightly. Seeing this obvious evil, though, always makes me hate my sin, and reminds me of how desperately we all need a Savior. The good news is that we have hope in Christ. This hope is what moves us to care about others, to fight for justice, to love the helpless, to be the people that God wants us to be. Without it, we will get bogged down with the overwhelming needs in this world. With it, we can trust that God’s beautiful glory will be revealed and all things will be reconciled.

-Alicia