I have been to many places in Africa: Zambia, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, Ethiopia, Ghana and a couple of other places. Last time I was in Africa, I was presented with a shirt from the people that I was working with, so I’m wearing it today in honor of them. We don’t go to Africa every year because we have some partners in Africa that we really invest in and they do a fabulous job. I wanted to introduce some of them to you today.
The first couple is Barbara and her husband, Pastor Edward Mwanza. They lead an organization called Association for Life in Africa. Among all the people I know in this whole world, this is one couple that I would say is in my top 10 list. I have known these people for close to 25 years. They teach the four questions all over Africa, and they start pregnancy centers all over Africa as well. Whatever we do in Africa, we try to do it in a partnership with AFLA.
I met Barbara and Edward at a Heartbeat International conference. Heartbeat International is an organization that trains people on pregnancy crisis intervention. From there we began to support the work that they were doing at that time in Zambia. About 15 years ago, I visited the first pregnancy health center that they started and it was located in Zambia. I went there because I wanted to see a home that we had helped to build. We had raised about $20,000 to build a home for pregnant mothers. I went there to see when it was almost finished and to take some pictures and to report back to some of the people who had given that money. It was just wonderful to be there on site and to see where generosity meets need and the good work that this produces which leads to babies being saved and lives being transformed.
One of the young mothers I had a chance to talk to and I got to hear her story about how she had been rescued out of some very serious situations with drug addiction and sex trafficking. Her baby saved her and she needed help and the help that she got led to her baby living and this young mother’s life being transformed. I love these people in Zambia because they not only help the mothers do that birth process but in all phases of life after having the baby.
They teach these young mothers how to raise pigs and sell them. They also teach them how to raise chickens, either for meat or for the eggs, and be able to sell the eggs. In other words, they’re trying to help these mothers have a way to go back to their villages, wherever they live, and have a way to provide for themselves and the baby. It’s very holistic and life changing.
The AFFA team took a trip to Malawi where they taught pastors all over Malawi in our basic Four Questions training that allow and encourage and inspire people to start to rescue the innocent and do it in a life changing way. Why would I spend a lot of your donations going back and forth to Africa when I can partner with some people in Africa to teach these four questions and then directly connect them to an all African organization that’s helping nurture the development of pregnancy crisis clinics all over Africa.
I do believe that The Association for Life in Africa has several hundred pregnancy help centers now and I have started to host training events in different African countries in these centers. On my last trip to Africa, I got to help give out handheld ultrasounds. We took eight ultrasound machines with us to Uganda in December of 2022. And I got to show the team there how to use it and why it works so effectively. It’s easy to carry. It can go to remote places. It doesn’t need to find an internet connection because it’s got one built into the unit.
This is just one of those things that I want you, as partners with us at Passion Life, to know that sometimes we’re the “point of the spear” going into places like China or Cuba or Vietnam or other places. But in some parts of the world, it really makes more sense for us to come along and partner with those who are the point of the spear. That’s a good stewardship principle. It’s a good kingdom principle.
I just want you to know that if you have any year end giving to do then we would be excited to use that giving in partnership with the Association for Life there in Africa.We plan to be in Africa in 2024. We plan to bring more ultrasounds there if we have the right places to put them, which I expect we will. It costs about $6,000 to place these machines and equip the local medical staff. Whether you are able to give $50 a month or $100 a month or if you want to underwrite a trip to Africa, these are all things that you can do to bring the gospel of life to the greatest places on Earth.
I also want you to know that we have people in those areas that we’re just so proud of to be in partnership with. They thank you. They thank us all the time, and I want to extend their thanks to you. And I want to encourage you to pray for our friends in Africa. If you want to make a difference for life in Africa, we can show you how to do that. It’s going to be a great year coming up in 2024, especially when we have partners like Edward and Barbara Mwanza. Thank you.