A Mission to Zimbabwe

Baby in tow, Daniel and Amber Lufiyele are leaving their mission trip to Zimbabwe in the hands of God.

To be sure, they planned, they raised money, and they have a goal – to build an education and farm center that assists widows and orphans. However, there is still much that must be done after landing in Africa three days from now.

Quoting famed missionary Elisabeth Elliot, the Lufiyeles believe God's "plans are proceeding exactly as scheduled, moving us always 'toward the goal of true maturity.'"

They do not know for sure what will happen. And, that’s OK. This mission trip isn't about them. It's about the people they want to help.

"I've always been headed toward helping people that don't have the strength or the voice to do it for themselves," said Amber Lufiyele, 33.

The couple (with their 3-month-old baby girl), members of , felt compelled to leave their home for the five-month trip. They are hoping to acquire land for international branch of their local nonprofit Pillar of Legacy.

Organized in 2010, Pillar of Legacy's mission is to transform lives and impact communities in southern Africa to commit themselves fully to God. They are beginning their international work in Zimbabwe, Daniel Lufiyele's native country. 

“I am more of a neighbor who wants to bless his neighbor to stand up for himself, to take care of his family,” said Daniel Lufiyele, 41.

Lufiyele knows first-hand the devastation that women go through after losing their husbands. They lose themselves. Impoverished and uneducated, many widows end up living on the fringes of society, and some care for children orphaned by the AIDS crisis.

Based on recent surveys, UNICEF estimates that approximately one-quarter of all children in Zimbabwe are orphans.

"Children and women in a lot of cases are often the unheard and the weaker of society," Amber Lufiyele said.

They are hoping to change that, if only a little bit in southern Africa. The couple is hoping to empower the women, and to support orphans, through education, health care, farming and financial literacy. They initially hope to help 10 widows and 10 orphans.

The key, said Daniel Lufiyele, will be to help the natives see that they can succeed in their native land with what they already have, despite their circumstances.

"They've been kept so much in poverty and hardship that they getting used to it, and they begin on their weakness, instead of beginning on their strengths," he said.

Angela Lasiter, a friend who works with Pillar or Legacy and plans to join the Lufiyeles on their mission trip. This will be her third time to Africa. Reaching one person at a time, praying with families and seeing the smiles on children's faces, that's what it's about to her.

"It's just something that God put in my heart," Lasiter said.

She hopes, with the Lufiyeles, to be able to show Africans she meets that "they're not a forgotten people, that they're not a people who are tossed aside.”

Yes, it may seem like an awesome goal, one that is improbable, if not impossible. But, Lasiter said, "there's a whole lot that God can do."

If you would like to donate to Pillar of Legacy to help Daniel and Amber Lufiyele's mission, click here.  Your donations will be tax deductible.