The crocodile-infested Zambezi River isolates a small slice of Zambia, just east of its western border with Angola. Because this area is so difficult to access, those who live there are cut off from most services and receive few visitors to their small, rural villages.
Due to the frequent flooding of the river, geographically, this area is a floodplain, named after the Luvale people who inhabit it.
Life on the Luvale floodplain is difficult. It's a daily battle to survive. For the daily water that they need to live, villagers dig holes in the ground or the women and girls spend most of their days hauling water.
Uncovered, these are contaminated by animals and pests.
Animism - the worship of one’s ancestors - is prevalent in Luvale culture. If bad things happen, often the blame falls on a family member who is accused of cursing another and may be attacked, lynched or hurt.
Johan and Lesley took everything they had and moved to the rural settlement of Chavuma in response to God's calling to share the Good News with the Luvale people. They built a garage as temporary living quarters. They cook meat on a barbecue or an open fire, they make oatmeal and maize in cast iron pots in the front yard.
They split wood for cooking, repair their own vehicles, use a generator to produce limited electricity and boil river water to drink.
Chavuma is their mission base where they could reach the forgotten villagers on the other side of the Zambezi River.
While there, they've developed relationships with local churches, built training programs and raised up leaders and evangelists to share the Good News on the flood plain. They continue to equip and teach so that healthy churches can be planted in villages where the Gospel message takes root.
