INSPIRATION
"IN LIGHT OF AFRICA" is a collection of photographs taken during a three-week trip to Africa in January 2005 when I was a member of the team sent by Westside King's Church, Calgary, to Zambia to build a school and bring medical supplies and support.
We were stationed in Kabwe and built the school in the township of Makululu. These photographs are mainly of the orphans and vulnerable children from Makululu and also from the Copperbelt, an area in the northern province of Zambia.
Poverty and AIDS are irrevocably devastating the population, and those who remain to carry the burden are left bewildered and resigned to the fact that their world is rapidly changing. As Pastor Eric, the coordinator of Hands at Work in Zambia, said to us, "Africa is a disappearing continent. Within 20 years the face of this nation will be completely different." This is mind boggling. Numbing.
Africa is a pocketful of paradoxes and contradictions. So much beauty, yet such despair. Spirits with so much life and vigour, yet bodies ravaged and so much death. So much joy, yet so much turmoil. So many questions. So many dreams and unanswered hopes. Great patience, yet so little time. So many people, yet not enough. Not enough of anything, really. Food. Medicine. Clothing. Jobs. Motivation. Aid.
Compassion has compelled me to speak up on behalf of those who have no voice. Let the camera be my voice. Let the pictures do the talking. Let the children speak. Although they are young and naive, their innocence has been robbed. They are ancient youth. Their stories began generations ago and will end generations too soon. Look into their eyes and see for yourself.
Listen to their stories, their songs and chatter. Hear the patter of their bare feet on the red clay. See their happy grins and feel their silent presence. Let their incredible lightness of being hang heavy beside you. Their hearty laughter and soft syllables, their sad tears and teasing ways, their dusty skin and torn clothes . . . let them speak to you. See if you can avoid their charms. Their wide open arms. Their pleading hearts. See how long you can look at the empty pockets and open sores before your strong heart completely crumbles.
When it does, let it crumble. Feel the tears tumble, burning your hot, dry skin. Let it sear your soul with compassion and provoke your spirit to love. Let it lift you up to the only One who knows how to translate the sounds behind the sighs and grunts and tears. This is the One who weeps with you, who can comfort your broken heart and use your offerings to heal the pain of those already wounded and crying. Those decaying and close to dust. Kneel down beside them on their straw mat. Bind their wounds with love. Join them in their sorrow. Let their pain engulf your heart.
But wait! Just when you begin to despair, you pick the pocket of contradictions. See the love. There's so much love! Still much hope and vibrant life. Many dreams. Dreams for a better future. It can only get better, can't it? Take your tears and turn them into prayers. Lift up these dreams and hopes to the One who responds to grief and sadness and despair with compassion and healing and love. You will be heard. The gifts you bring will be broken and shared. Africa will be transformed! Believe it. God cares.
Bless you for taking a closer look.
Cathryn Ironside
Calgary, AB
June 4th, 2005