The People at My Door

We have a constant stream of people at our door, so I'm going to feature a few of them in blog entries.

Daniel has been a frequent visitor for the past year. He is partially blind and lives with his mother some distance away. He had been seeking help for his eye condition, and we were working with his local congregation to get the funds for an evaluation. When he finally was seen at a special clinic, the doctor said there was nothing more that could be done for Daniel's sight.

Then Daniel asked for help to go to school. He had stayed home in 2008 because he didn't have the money to continue at the special school for the blind run by the Lions Club in northern Zambia. About that time a family in Austin sent us some funds to be used as needed. I managed to contact the school and arrange for Daniel to re-enroll. He had to have school shoes and funds for the two-day train ride to Ndola in addition to the school fees, so I arranged all that.

The day came for Daniel to leave on the evening train. He would be traveling alone for two days and two nights, so there was obvious danger that his money might get stolen. Some of my Zambian friends gathered on the veranda as we debated the best way to safeguard his funds. One who had survived a robbery on the train thought he should keep the money in his socks. Daniel was afraid it would fall out. The zipper on the back pocket of his jeans didn't work, so that was out. We finally decided that he would keep out only what he needed on the train, and the rest went into an envelope that we safety-pinned into his front jeans pocket.

We said a prayer for Daniel and sent him on his way. If he was fearful, he never showed it as he headed off on foot for the train station in Kalomo. I'll see him again in April when there's another knock at the door.