And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.

~ Abraham Lincoln
As a family we've been having a pretty tough financial time this past year. Money I had squirreled away and was hoping to put towards my next trip with World Vision has been getting used up, getting those few little gifts for the grandchildren for Christmas, having a tooth fixed...you know how it goes. But when I sit and think of my last two trips and the poverty I saw in Africa, well you know, we're doing pretty good, all things considered. We have a warm dry home, electricity, running water, we've even been able to put food on the table (maybe not what everyone wants, but there you go). Life's a lot tougher over there.

Life expectancy has fallen to 33 years in Zambia, making it the lowest in the world.
According to new government figures the average life expectancy fell from 44 to 33 years of age between 1990 and 2000, in a dramatic collapse brought about by rampant poverty and the spread of AIDS.
The average income in Zambia is $380 a year, a 60 percent fall from its 1975 level. This means that the vast majority of Zambians are unable to afford anti-retroviral drugs, hospital treatment, or even an adequate diet.
In 1991 69.7 percent of the population was officially classified as living in poverty. That figure rose to 73.2 percent by 1998.
On average one in five Zambians is HIV positive, but the rate is higher in urban areas. According to Zambian treasury data AIDS is killing 200 people a day. As a result half a million children are already orphaned and the figure is expected to rise to one million by 2010. Half of all Zambian children under 15 have lost one parent. Three quarters of families are caring for at least one orphan. 
By Barry Mason
26 May 2003

Yes life is certainly hard when you have to spend all day pumping water on a treadle pump to be able to water your crops. It's not a one man job though, it usually takes 2 or more, as often the pumps are in serious need of repair and must be constantly 'primed' with buckets of extra water to keep the pressure up. Then there's the leaks in the hoses going to the crops, patched with rags, duct tape and pretty well anything that might hold the water in the hose. All that hard work to try and get some proper nutrition into the bellies of their hungry children, and even perhaps raise a little income selling some of the produce. 

 
Yes the life expectancy is low. We learned that a couple weeks after we returned from Kalomo, the wife of Keyana, one of the most warm and caring men that worked in the ADP office, died of a sudden heart attack while visiting relatives. She was a fairly young woman. Now I have learned that another of the ADP staff has passed away. Young Kingstone was a wonderful young man, full of life, with much more left to live. I've since learned it was a motorcycle accident, which happens everywhere in the world, but guess how the workers deliver mail to the sponsor children in the rural areas of Kalomo.

Yes, by motorcycle. I'm not sure how his accident happened, but I have to wonder, especially after the back roads we traveled to get to some of the homes we visited.. Kingstone was one of staff with us when I met with Jane and Velody. He was full of laughter and he was the one who cleaned up after that friendly rooster Henry, pooped all over the back of the truck that day. 
Christy said it best in her blog about Kingstone:
Kingstone was so easy to love. I don’t remember ever seeing him without this enormous, infectious grin that made you reciprocate just by sheer enjoyment. You know the kind of smile that someone gets when they are outrageously delighted? It’s the kind of smile children get when they are trying to tell you something and are about to explode with the magnitude of it. It takes up their whole face and radiates from their toes and bubbles out of them. Well, that was Kingstone’s smile, all the time.

 
I'm sure he will be much missed by his fellow staff members and I know we will always think of him with the fondest of memories.

Death is not extinguishing the light; it is only putting out the lamp because the dawn has come.  
 - Rabindranath Tagore
Photo's courtesy of Christy Zacharias