Lusaka

While half of the mission team was working to give the gift of hearing in Panama, the other half of the team was working on the same thing more than 7,500 miles away in Lusaka, Zambia.

We were delighted to be joined by the first lady of Zambia, Esther Lungu. It was motivating to see the passion she showed for helping to provide hearing for the people of Zambia.

We were also thrilled to have with us Zambian native Portia Clark, who was fresh off of her performance at the 2015 So the World May Hear Awards Gala, and her husband, Brendan. They worked tirelessly with us as we changed the lives of hundreds of people each day.

One patient who will always stay with us is five-year-old Alimwi. After we fit him with hearing aids and he began hearing for the first time, his priceless laughter rang throughout the mission site.

Another story that took our heart in Zambia was that of Avaless Lungo. She lost her hearing when she was struck with smallpox at age 13, while growing up in Tanzania.

As she grew older and had a family, Avaless had a difficult time communicating and eventually stopped speaking altogether. She couldn’t hear the voices of her five children, which of course made it challenging to be a mother.

She lived like this for more than 40 years, until she met us! She was beyond thrilled to have her hearing restored and quickly began to speak again. “It was a miracle. I couldn’t believe what was happening,” Avaless said about being able to hear again. “The first thing I did was go to church. I was singing all the songs and was able to hear what the pastor was preaching!”

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Special Thanks

Dr. Alfred Mwamba; Kelvin Mulenga; Portia and Brendan Clark; Tim Ebbers