Years ago I traveled to Zambia, Africa with a One World Missions team. We were scheduled to hold four nights of crusades in the city of Kitwe. Our first night attendance was moderate with maybe 200 people attending.
Among them I noticed several children and youth that were poorly clothed and obviously quite poor. During the music the children danced and enjoyed themselves very much. During the message they listened attentively and a few of them even responded to the altar call.
I later asked about the children and was told that there are thousands of youth in the city that have no place to live and beg for food during the day.
They range in age from seven years old to early twenties. During the day, as they beg for food, they are always on the move to avoid gangs of young men that beat them and steal from them.
These gangs are themselves former street kids. They rule over the younger children, often using violence to intimidate the children out of the money and food they have gathered. At night they sleep wherever they can in small groups to try to stay warm and safe.
The young girls complain of being sexually abused and drug use is very prevalent. Almost all of the street kids are HIV positive - either having been born with AIDS or contracting it on the streets.
Each child has a tragic story of how they ended up on the streets; most would do anything to get off of the streets and back into school. But, without proper clothes and money to purchase books and supplies there is no hope of receiving the education that would lift them out of their desperate situation.
Night after night they would come, always the first to arrive and the last to leave. On the last night there were approximately 30 street kids at the meeting.
The evening was colder and after the music ended, the smaller children huddled together to stay warm, eventually curling up and entwining their bodies in a child-like mass in order to try to conserve body heat.
Most of the children were barely clad. The clothing, dirty and full of holes, provided little warmth and temperatures were near freezing. After the meeting the children seemed hesitant to leave. After the equipment was torn down and loaded and the lights were turned out, the older children woke the younger ones and together they walked off into the darkness of the night.
It was one of the saddest things that I had ever seen, as I watched those children walk off into the dark cold night, knowing that they had no soft bed, no warm meal, much less a home to go to.
That wasn't the last we saw of the street kids. We had promised to visit them the next day. We agreed upon a meeting place early the next morning. They agreed to come to a meeting as long as it would be early enough that they could still make it to the market to beg for the day.
We arrived early with peanut butter sandwiches for breakfast and sweaters for the girls. We did music for them and you should have seen them dance! We did a craft and shared a short message. Each of the children responded when given the chance to receive Christ and many asked for further prayer over their lives.
That day there were lots of photos with new friends, lots of smiles and lots of long hugs. The local ministry that we were partnering with has committed to following up with the children, even holding a regular service for the children.
On our last day in Kitwe I was asked to be interviewed on Zambian-TBN. We were asked about our work in Zambia, specifically our work among the street kids. I was asked whether I thought the situation with the children living on the street was a result of their spiritual condition.
My response was that I thought it was a reflection of the spiritual condition of the local church. I told them: "We have a spiritual obligation when we see such spiritual and natural needs to respond with the love of God." Our answer cannot be to simply to look away - to not see.
We cannot simply turn a blind eye to the need of the world all around us. We cannot simply ignore the problem because we feel overwhelmed by the need. We cannot simply let them slip into the darkness.
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Randy Mitchell and his wife Jessica have been married for 29 years and have three daughters. They currently live in Minnesota where Randy serves as the International Director of One World Missions. Randy graduated from Oral Roberts University and ministered in a pastoral role for ten years before starting One World Missions. Randy holds an earned Doctorate of Ministry with an emphasis on the Mission of God’s People. Randy was an original signatory of the Toyko Declaration in 2010 and serves on the leadership team of the Global Great Commission Network (GGCN). Randy also serves on the Executive Leadership Team for the Global Mobilization Network (GMN).
