Internet service down in Ng'ombe Compound for the past 48 hours. I have just a few minutes. Arrived in Lusaka yesterday. Went straight to the Kondwa Centre for Orphans in the Ng'ombe Compound of Lusaka. According to the CARE International and UNHCR people I have met here, this is one of the poorest in all of Africa. Almost 60% of young women and men are HIV positive (far worst than is widely reported.) I have also learned that 15% of the orphaned children in Kondwa are HIV positive. The suffering and poverty here are unspeakable. But the children of Kondwa are beautiful and joyous - beyond description. The children (all 93 of them in Kondwa) performed to celebrate my arrival - with dances, songs, poetry recitals and even some theatrical performances. I have never seen children like these before anywhere - they rush over to me at every moment, embracing you and just wanting to hold you close to them. They are filled with joy and humour and play and affection. They are covered in dried mud and dust, clothes torn and rotting, with sores and blisters on their tiny faces and limbs. I want to be with them at every moment. There is so much love and sense of family here - like nowhere else. The women of Kondwa, teachers and counselors and helpers (all volunteers), are endearing and bright and very kind. They are filled with dedication to and compassion for the children and the community. The quiet courageous healing power of women. The Ng'ombe slums have more than 60,000 orphans alone - a low estimate by all accounts. Some of the children are advanced in their HIV positive state and can barely sit up - but they never fail to want to be embraced and share a smile filled with hope and yearning for comfort.
In the past 36 hours I have met Angela - a saint by any measure, compassion and kindness beyond description - the volunteers of Kondwa, the nuns living and working in the Ng'ombe slums, the volunteer helpers, and aid workers from CARE International, OxFam, UNAIDS, other NGOs. I have also met with the some of the board members of Kondwa (Angela, for all intent and purposes, and by far, does all the real work and labour and management of the Centre.) She is Kondwa. I have toured around Lusaka - a city of more than 2 million. I have visited orphanages, AIDS support centres, clinics, local community centres - there are not enough hours to see it all and talk and meet with these gentle and kind and remarkable people. After 50 hours and going on 6 hours of sleep, my body is finally succumbing to fatigue, but you quickly forget how tired you are when you are with the children. I hope to get some sleep tonight to re-energise for tomorrow. I have cancelled my weekend trip to Victoria Falls and have decided to stay with the community and children of Kondwa for my remaining 3 days here. Here I feel - like I am home. How dull and lifeless and full of pretension London was by comparison - here people are alive and beautiful and joyful, filled with so much faith and humility and love.
Must go for now. May not be able to post my next blog until I get to Uganda in a few days' time. I wish I could stay in Africa for months. There is so much terrible and unspeakable suffering here - children alone left by the wayside, abandoned - and dreadful squalor and poverty - their meals at Kondwa, after they leave for the weekend, is most likely their last one until they come back on Monday. And yet there is no more beautiful and joyful place I have ever seen or been to. Here, life is God and love and hope. Will be visiting more places and people tomorrow. Staying at Angela's home to be closer to Kondwa. I feel like I have been here for weeks and everyone treats me like this is my home and they are my family. - G.