World AIDS Day, which falls on December 1^st each year, is dedicated to bringing awareness of the HIV/AIDS pandemic across the globe. Unfortunately, the effect of AIDS is clearly visible in Zambia. Out of a total population of 12 million people, 6 million are under the age of 16. Of the 6 million children in Zambia, more than 1 million of them are orphaned. This is primarily due to the high death rate from HIV/AIDS.  Zambia has the 7^th highest AIDS infection rate in the world and the 5^th highest AIDS death rate.  As a result, the life expectancy in Zambia is only 38 years.

In Zambia, a child is considered a disgrace when they are HIV positive. They are stigmatized, left alone, and often abandoned.

But the Americans who come to Camp LIFE Zambia each year meet these seemingly forgotten children and look at their faces, learn their names, and hear the stories of these kids who are crying out for help daily.  We want to spend the rest of the week highlighting AIDS orphans that have become dear to our hearts.  We want to raise awareness of the horrific effects of the AIDS pandemic in Zambia, but we also want to simultaneously share their stories so that we can be their advocates, their voices, and their hope.

We ask that this week as we post stories, you do the same.  Join us as we tell all who will listen about the cry of the AIDS orphan and what God is doing in Zambia to meet their needs!

Camp LIFE alumni, do you ever find yourself humming your favorite Zambian praise song, or wanting to dance around in church, or remembering your final minutes at Camp as Zambians sung a joyous praise over you?  Well for the first time in Family Legacy history that feeling can become a reality right here in the States.

Family Legacy is very pleased to announce that we are releasing the very first Zambian praise and worship CD in early December full of all of your favorite Zambian songs. These songs have been made acappella by our very own Zambian staff. The song list will include songs that are sung at Camp, at church, and will even have a few selections done by our Tree of Life children!

We will be selling these CD’s for $15 dollars.  The great news is that your $15 dollars will not only get you a CD, but all of proceeds from the sales will go directly towards our new Lifeway Christian Academies!  We feel that the education of our children in the Father’s Heart Program is vital to making those same kids into the movers and shakers of Zambia.

So use your CD as a stocking stuffer, as a way to build interest in your upcoming Camp LIFE trip, or simply to bring your heart back to the orphans you love in Zambia. But no matter the reason, remember that by purchasing this amazing music, YOU can help properly educate impoverished Zambian children!  So click here and order your CD today!

We have so much to be thankful for at Family Legacy this Thanksgiving week. The Lord is gracious and good. Camp LIFE signups are overflowing, children continue to be sponsored in our Father’s Heart Program, and the Tree of Life Children’s Village is full of healthy children, and we have seven LCA’s up and running. But we are also extremely thankful the Lord is enlarging our territory! As many of you are well aware we have added multiple staff members over the course of the fall and have a few more coming on at the start of the new year. Because our office space had become a little cramped, the Lord has graciously given us the space next door.

For those of you avid blog readers you might remember when Family Legacy added space two years ago, our fearless leader, Greer Kendall, decided to christen the new space by using a hacksaw to bring down the wall in between.  This time he was ready to go with his hard hat and hammer, but we decided to leave the work to the professionals.

We are thankful for the new space. It will allow us to spread out, have a new conference room that we can all fit in, and a larger donation room. We will also have a new entry way and reception area. It is a great way to enter into our next decade of ministry. We had a staff prayer walk over the new space and are ready to move in when construction is done.

Please come by and visit and have a wonderful Thanksgiving!