craigdailypress.com

Buy one dollar's worth of goods at Debra Lueck's yard sale in the next few days and you'll likely help feed one Zambian child for a week.

Lueck is selling the rest of her belongings (her house and her car are already gone) in preparation for a trip geared to help children in Zambia, a south central African country.

She took her first trip to the town of Kamaila in February when four people from Canyon View Vineyard Church in Grand Junction agreed to deliver clothing donations. The town is 21 miles outside of Zambia's capital city, Lusaka.

That first trip lasted a little more than two weeks, but Lueck's experiences set events in motion that altered the course of her life. She plans to stay in Kamaila as long as her funds last.

"I kind of left my heart there," Lueck said.

The school building, situated in the middle of town, serves the children of Kamaila's population of approximately 9,000, Lueck said. Among those children are 220 orphans, and 40 of those don't have any living relatives to care for them. The orphans sleep on the cement schoolhouse floors after the other children have gone home. People of the village take turns spending the night with the children, but beyond that, the kids have no one to hold and hug them, Lueck said.

On the first trip to Zambia, the church group gave all the orphaned children a new set of clothes, a blanket and a toy bear holding a heart with "Jesus loves you" on it. Group members also drilled a well in the middle of town, saving local women a daily mile and a half walk to a stagnant, fetid water hole, Lueck said.

But two years of drought have had a tremendous impact on the farming community and Lueck said much more could be done to improve life there. When she returns, she said she hopes to educate people about dryland farming, crop rotation and raising goats and chickens. Sanitation is another big priority for Lueck.

Tears threatened to spill from Lueck's blue-gray eyes when she described the warm reception they received upon their arrival to Kamaila. The villagers played music, danced and set out food for their new guests. It was only later, Lueck said, that she realized that what had seemed like appetizers to the Americans was all the food the villagers had.

Despite the fact that they had very little money and don't have enough food to eat every day, Lueck said the children seem happy for the most part. When the group brought out the soccer balls they had brought with them for the children, Lueck said most of them had never seen a ball and didn't know what to do with it.

"When you have to teach a kid to play, that breaks your heart," Lueck said.

Although most of the children were responsive to the Americans' attentions, one little girl never smiled and never spoke a word, Lueck said. She said it's hard to know what traumatic experiences some of the children have had.

More than 10 percent of those in rural Zambian villages and nearly 25 percent in urban areas were infected with HIV in 2001, according to a United Nations report. It's an enormous problem made worse by misinformation, Lueck said. One example is a rumor that infected men can cure themselves by having sex with a virgin -- and the younger the girl the better. The myth is thought to have led to even more infections in young girls.

Lueck stressed the need for everyone to get involved even if they can't travel themselves.

"I don't want it to be about me. I want it to be a challenge to the people here to step up and adopt this community. It would take so little to make such a big difference," Lueck said.

The yard sale takes place today through Saturday at 621 E. Seventh St.