A New Hand

A note from Alissa…

Yesterday morning I woke up early and took ALL PCPC kids and chaperones to the airport. We had a group headed back to the states and another group going to Victoria Falls. It was sad to say goodbye to the states group because they have become such great friends. We couldn’t have asked for a better group to serve with.

After getting all musungus on their flights I headed back to our place to get ready for our day. I must admit, it is a bit easier to travel around as only one white person and not with 30!

We spent the morning in a meeting with one of our community schools discussing sponsorship and future plans. After that we grabbed a quick lunch and I met up with Benson.

Benson and I got to go visit one of the families that Arise Africa helps. The Muvela family are special friends of ours that 4 different Americans contribute monthly to assist.

We arrived at their home in the compounds and the mother had just returned from her job as a housekeeper. The kids were running around but we couldn’t find one of them, Langford. We decided to go look in the market for him because he loves watching movies there. Benson and I headed to the market with a couple of Langford’s siblings.

Now let me tell you, a white girl in the market gets lots of attention. We started hitting up all the Zambian movie theatres in the market. Imagine a tiny dark room with a TV that is about 20 inches wide with a pirated movie from somewhere. People and kids pay about 20 cents to be allowed in the room to view the movie. There are as many as 30 people in these tiny rooms standing and watching the movies.

We finally found Langford in a movie room. He was watching Rambo, yes the movie from the 80’s! Langford was reluctant to leave the movie but I bribed him by telling him I would pay for 4 movies if he would come home with us. He agreed and we headed back to the house.

Langford, was in a terrible accident as a child involving a fire. Langford suffered severe burns all over his body, especially to his hands. He received no medical attention. Both of Langford’s hands healed as clubs, leaving him with no fingers.

We have been working with CURE hospital for months trying to see if anything could be offered to Langford. This past fall, an American doctor visited CURE and along with an Italian doctor they were able to operate on one of Langford’s hands and make three fingers for him. Langford and his mother endured many weeks at CURE doing rehabilation. He was a trooper through all of the pain.
I was shocked to see the difference in Langford’s hands. He is now able to hold a pencil, grip things, feed himself, and even zip up the zipper on his jacket. Both Langford and his mother commented that it has helped him drastically in everyday life.



Benson will be going to pay school fees for the kids tomorrow and for the first time, Langford will be gripping a pencil, just like other kids in school.

We are beyond grateful for our partnerships in organizations such as CURE hospital. Without the body of Christ working together Langford would have never received such great care. We thank Langford’s USA sponsors, CURE hospital, and our Arise Africa Zambian staff for the service and love you have shown this family.



The rest of the day consisted of cleaning out homes where we have been staying and hanging out with great friends of mine that live in Zambia.

More later!

- Alissa Hollimon