The shanty town of Chibolya, Zambia is known for the open sale of drugs, robberies, extreme poverty, and gender-based violence. It is one of the poorest countries in sub-saharan Africa. One of our responses is to come alongside women who are prostitutes to build relationships and offer safety when appropriate. 

 

We are seeing Jesus at work in Chibolya in ways that we didn’t anticipate when we first entered this community. We've learned that it's safe to expect that the prostitutes will be eager to connect with us when we enter Chibolya's bars and nightclubs.  What we hadn't expected were that many of the men in these clubs were consistently striking up conversations with us. Not only do they ask us great questions, they seem to be genuinely interested in why we are there. 

 

We saw this clearly this summer while we were hosting a father/daughter short term team in this community. When we were in the bar speaking to the prostitutes, five men approached us and began asking questions. One man, Frank, encountered Jesus for the first time. As we stood in the back of the bar, Frank actually got down on his knees and decided to become a follower of Jesus.

 

Seeing transformation happening in men and women demonstrates how powerfully Jesus is at work in Chibolya.