Eating in the Dark

As we wander the maze of unfinished buildings Kate and I remember pouring the floor of the house of the Ilunga's. Then it was only a foundation in the middle of a field. We had brought our youth group from Guelph to come help the 10 child family, build their first home. The Ilunga's are church planters of amazing caliber. Without a car, they would pile their kids on backs of trucks to head out into the bush of Zambia and beyond telling people about Jesus. A lot has happened in the 10 years we have been away. There is not just one building at their home, but many. Barry shows me the frame of a new project which is to be a missions training center. We tour another nice finished house that is housing a woman from the UK who has come to help in the clinic the Ilunga's have started in the north that services 15,000 people.

If you haven't gotten the underlying picture yet, money is no barrier to this amazing family. When money comes in it is spent, building the things that God has put in front of them to do. As we talk around the outdoor fire as our cassava leaves are being cooked I marvel that for a couple that never has cash a lot has been built including their own house. We talk about the projects he has on the go I ask well how are you supporting yourselves?

Barry tells me how they have been given 2000 hectares of land and all they need is an investor. The land is virgin forest on the edge of a river. Barry is planning on building an executive lodge to cater to a nearby mine. He tells me how the mine has agreed to buy food locally if it can be produced. All we need is some start up capital he says. If we can start out then we can build another school and a clinic. 'I want to start by putting in 20,000 pineapples,' Barry says, 'I have 200 already.' Two hundred pineapples is no where near 20,000 but for him it is a start.

When we came to Zambia I had a feeling that what we were here to do was to help people like Barry build sustainable businesses that would help put money back into the rural poor and neglected communities of Zambia. For some time I have been saying to Kate, 'All I need is some land.' Here Barry is sitting on 2000 hectares of prime agricultural and leisure land.

We left Barry and his wife Frida in the dark after a great dinner- no power to pay the hydro bills I guess. As we drove home in the setting sun, I was wondering how I could help. What potential could be tapped to create jobs for Zambia's rural poor? Little did I know that the very next day another piece of the puzzle would be put in place when I meet with a new guy in town Don Mann and he tells me why he is in Zambia.