The Lonely Kafubu Hippo
In late 2012, I released my children’s book, The Lonely Kafubu Hippo. The sales from this book were used to continue funding for an assistance program we had with a partner ministry called Good Samaritan School for Orphans & Vulnerable Children, in Kazembe, Zambia. The book was based on a Zambian folktale about a lonely hippo that swam the waters of the Kafubu near Ndola, Zambia as the town became more and more developed. As the story goes, all the other animals left and this hippo was all alone…a mascot, of sorts, for the town.
My little book was a combination of that story, coupled with a song I heard on a mission trip to a place in the far north,
not long after I heard of the hippo for the first time.
I was on the back of a Canter truck for hours on end. The potholes were endless and the road condition abhorrent! But I couldn’t complain because the Zambians I was traveling with didn’t seem affected one bit! The whole way up the mountain, they sang a song that was beautiful. Nalikwa tata, ta, ena tafilwa iyo…Translated, it meant, “I have a father that will never ever fail me. I have a father that will never ever fail. Jesus is my father, and he’ll never ever fail me, rock of ages you never ever fail.” For some reason, in my mind, the hippo and that song linked up, and the idea for the book was born.
Last year, I spent a lot of time on ambulances, working as an EMT and a firefighter, responding to emergencies, and I was often struck, as I sat in the back with the people we picked up to take to the hospital, by the loneliness that seemed to exist deep inside them. Sometimes, I even wondered if the loneliness is why they called. I wondered if friendship was better than any of the medicine that we could give them. There are people everywhere, maybe even neighbors of yours and mine today, that are feeling so lonely, so left out of the story, so stuck on the sidelines of this life, that they are ill, and afraid. And that breaks God’s heart.
In the story of the lonely hippo, an unlikely friend, Mozzy (a mosquito) finds our hippo and leads him to a place where he can meet Jesus. What if you could be that kind of friend today? What if we could be ones that point the way to a life of belonging and wholeness? Take a walk across the street this week and check in on someone. If you notice someone who looks sad or alone, the Holy Spirit in your gut might be speaking to you. Go over. Extend a hand. Be a friend.
God has a heart to place orphans and the lonely into families. God has a heart to bring people together in friendship and brotherhood. And God has a heart to be a friend to the lonely. His heart is for His people to know their worth and value and to live in life-giving community that uplifts and upholds them. This Thanksgiving week, lift your head in gratefulness for those around you.
And if possible, extend that gift to another…
Lions notice and value others. Gratefully, they extend God’s heart.
Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at Orchard!
And thank you for loving us and loving through us this year!