Mary's Story

Imagine lying on a dirt floor with no mattress, in a one room house with no electricity, no running water, and no food, while flies buzz around your head and ants crawl across your limp limbs.

This is a piece of Mary’s story, a 13-year-old girl we met in a nearby compound not too long ago. Mary lives with a disability that took her ability to move and talk. She has a mother and father who do their best to care for her, but due to poverty they struggle to provide her with basic necessities, let alone the medical attention she needs. After visiting her and her family, we believed God was prompting us to improve her living conditions to help her stay as healthy as possible.

Just a few weeks later, a construction team from North America came to Zambia and quickly undertook the project of updating Mary’s home. By the end of their 2 week stay, Mary had her own room with a bed, a door wide enough for a wheelchair to get through, and her family had a solar panel installed on the roof to provide electricity. Still, Mary was in need of more assistance; she needed someone who would be able to bathe her, feed her, and lift her easily. As her parents age, these tasks become more and more difficult. Thankfully, we were able to hire Martha, one of our student’s older sisters, who was in need of a job. Martha’s previous source of income often put her in situations that were not safe for her or her children. We offered her a position with Lifesong to care for Mary with the agreement that it would replace her previous job, and she accepted!

Today, Mary is being consistently fed, bathed, and taken care of in her updated home. We are grateful to God who showed us this need and for our volunteers who so willingly devoted their time to helping.

The construction team with Mary’s parents