A Fighting Chance

Does the name “Marcia Brady” ring a bell in your mind? You might be interested to know that the woman millions of people remember as Marcia Brady of “The Brady Bunch” fame traveled to Africa recently on behalf of Children International.

CI team members Gretchen Dellett, Scott Cotter and I were in Africa with “Marcia” (Maureen McCormick) and her husband, Michael. They were gracious traveling companions who truly connected with the needy children of Lusaka, Zambia. In this piece, Gretchen reflects on Maureen’s visit.

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A Fighting Chance
Posted on behalf of Gretchen Dellett

“I think about that hug every day.”

You can hear the emotion in Maureen McCormick’s voice as she recalls an emotional embrace with Mary, a 14-year-old orphan she met on her recent trip to Zambia, Africa. It’s evident as you speak to her that the journey – and the people she met – profoundly impacted her life.

The well-known actress and television personality spent ten days in Zambia on behalf of the nonprofit humanitarian organization Children International.

Maureen visits with Mary (left) and her sister, Manase.

Maureen met many children during her visit, but Mary, in particular, touched her heart. Although Mary is only 14, she has known a lifetime’s worth of pain and loss. Three years ago, Mary’s parents died of AIDS, leaving her in charge of her four younger siblings.

Each day, Mary wanders the nearby neighborhoods, looking for household work that may bring a little money for food. Her siblings also seek work. When that fails, as it often does, they beg on the streets. There are days when they eat nothing.

As Maureen took a tour of Mary’s barren home, she could hardly believe what she was seeing. The five children live in a cramped room with only a tattered, foam mattress and dirty blankets to sleep on. “Wow,” she said. “They could really, really benefit from Children International.”

Through an interpreter, Mary told Maureen of the difficulties they face. “I feel more like a mother than a sister,” she admits. “It’s been really difficult. I can’t afford food for them, or to send them to school.”

As she listened, Maureen shook her head in disbelief. “I have a daughter, and I just can’t even imagine her, you know, at this age, doing what Mary’s doing,” she said. Impulsively, she reached out to Mary and hugged her. Mary’s eyes filled with tears as she felt what had been missing in her life for three long years: a mother’s touch. “It was a moment I’ll never forget,” Maureen said.

When Maureen departed Zambia, she left Mary with far more than just a warm embrace: she and her husband, Michael, gave Mary the gift of their sponsorship.

Sponsors have also been found for Mary’s siblings. Now, as sponsored children, all five have access to Children International’s nearby community center, where they can receive medical and dental care, educational assistance, emergency food, vocational assistance and perhaps most importantly for these young orphans… attention and support from caring adults.

Maureen and Michael have already helped put new beds in Mary’s household, and they look forward to being a part of her life – and giving her a fighting chance to rise above the poverty and sorrow that has marked her young, difficult life.

If you’d like to discuss this post with other Children International sponsors, why not join the Children International Google Group?

Read more about Maureen McCormick and Children International.

What it Means to Be Alone

I just returned from nearly three weeks in Lusaka, Zambia, where my colleagues and I spent many hours working in the desperately poor communities of Chibolya and Kanyama. Children International’s community centers have made a remarkable difference in the less than four short years we’ve had a presence there.

One of the most touching stories I encountered was that of Mary and her four younger brothers and sister: Mwanza, 12, Clever, 9, Manase, 7, and Lavmo, 5. Mary is just 14, and she’s been both mom and dad to her siblings for nearly as long as any of them can remember.

These five children live completely alone. No relatives care for them. In fact, when their mom died and left them the tiny shack where they live, their relatives showed up just long enough to take whatever furniture was in the house and then left the children to fend for themselves.

One of Children International’s volunteers lives nearby, and she does what she can to look after the children, who survive any way they can. Mary goes through the neighborhood looking for opportunities to wash dishes or do laundry for her neighbors, and the older boys, Mwanza and Clever, roam the streets looking for odd jobs or just begging for food.

The day before we visited these orphans, Clever had gone to the city market to beg. When darkness fell, it was too dangerous for him to go home – so he slept all night in a ditch in the city market. Nine years old.

We’re excited because we’ve found sponsors to help Mary, Clever and Manase get on the right track. You should have seen Mary’s smile when she realized she would be able to fulfill her dream of going back to school!

But we still need to help Mwanza and Lavmo. Would you consider sponsoring one of them today? It’s bad enough to be a child living in desperate poverty…but it’s even worse to be all alone.

If you’d like to sponsor one of these children, please drop an email to blog@children.org. We’ll handle your sponsorship personally.

Photo by Scott Cotter.