Recently, we received an amazing update from one of our partners in Africa, the Association for the Life of Africa (AFLA). Headquartered in Zambia, AFLA is a network of 245 crisis pregnancy centers and life-giving ministries across the continent. One of these centers is Silent Voices in Zambia, which offers crisis counseling and a maternity home for women. In their two decades of operation, Silent Voices has saved over 7,000 babies from abortion.
In Zambia during the COVID-19 pandemic, government regulations have allowed pregnancy centers to remain open. Because of this, the Silent Voices Center has been able to counsel 32 women over the past 4 months. As a result of this, 22 of these women have decided to choose life for their unborn child, and Silent Voices is continuing to follow up with the remaining 10.
Despite this amazing news, there’s even more happening at Silent Voices that we can celebrate! Like many other ministries and churches around the world, our partners are seeing tremendous growth by growing in their use of technology. While worldwide lockdowns have forced many to do ministry differently, they are not only gaining skill in online outreach, but more people are actively seeking online help from these ministries.
Barbra Mwansa, the founder and president of AFLA, describes the opportunities they have had these past months:
“One of the most positive things about the coming of the COVID-19 is that we as a center at Silent Voices (and many other centers across Africa) are now getting used to hotline communication with clients and becoming more skilled to handle clients through phones and social media. We have also seen babies saved through these means, which in former times looked so impossible and [we] believed so much in bringing clients to the center physically so that we can see them while having a conversation. We are now seeing lots of changes in the way that we will continue to handle our clients. To us, this is a positive thing and an added new skill.”
This isn’t a testimony limited to Silent Voices, or even to AFLA. Repeatedly during these past months, we have heard similar things from partner after partner. The global Body of Christ is 1) growing increasingly adept at using the internet and social platforms for the cause of the Gospel and 2) is seeing a surge in people seeking hope in the midst of difficult situations. It’s easy to lose sight of the work God is doing as we feel isolated and depressed by the news around us. Be encouraged by testimonies like that of Silent Voices and know that God is still at work! He is neither surprised nor limited by lockdowns. We can take refuge and comfort in this amazing knowledge! Our God continues to work all things for our good (Romans 8:28) so that we may have life to the full (John 10:10)!
Even in the most trying circumstances, we see how God uses it for life. The ministry of Silent Voices is a testimony to this. Some of their recent clients who chose life are young women planning to start college in the fall. Because the pressure of starting school has been removed due to shutdowns related to COVID-19, these clients didn’t feel as though they needed to choose between motherhood and an education. As one client said: “[I want] to tell you how happy I am and how beautiful I am looking inside and out. Thanks so much for helping me keep this baby. If I had aborted, I was going to lose two things, both school and the baby, because no one is allowed to go to school today because of the pandemic. God had a plan for me. Thanks so much.”
We celebrate the lives that are still being saved around the world, as well as the gift of technology God has given us and the skills to use it for the good of His Kingdom! Despite societal lockdowns and fear of infection, His global movement for life is accelerating in new and exciting ways. We are honored to be a part of it!
Stay tuned for more exciting information about some of our own digital outreach and training advances, and to learn more about what AFLA is doing, check out the video update below from earlier in the summer!
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