Mrs. Elida Lungu

Moving forward with help

Elida and her four grandchildren live in a rural community in Livingstone, Zambia. Since the passing of her daughters and husband a few years ago, she has been the caregiver and head of the household for her family. She has persevered, though it has not been a comfortable experience.

She has persevered, though it has not been a comfortable experience.

The Bible Gospel Church, in Livingstone, Zambia, stepped in when they saw Elida struggling to take care of all of her grandchildren. The church started by helping to fund the two older children’s school fees but soon found an opportunity to help Elida grow her business and become sustainable.

The Bible Gospel Church granted Elida $100 to start a convenience store business in her neighborhood. She has established the store and now sells produce from her garden, packets of sugar, salt, candy, and soap. She has used the profits to aid her family and can now fully afford her grandchildren’s school fees, which allowed the church to start sponsoring other children in the community. Elida is also in the process of building a much safer and stronger one-room house for the family so that she can rent out the old house and supplement her income. She has also used some of her earnings to give back to the church so that they can invest in caring for other orphans.

Elida’s business was continuing to grow, but her physical store was becoming too small for the items she was selling, and it quickly became structurally unsafe. Friends of Forgotten Voices were moved by her resilience during a recent visit to the area and decided to help her build a bigger and safer convenience store.