Gloria suffers from what Zambians generally consider a double disgrace – she is an orphan with no father or mother and she is HIV positive. Along with losing both her parents and four siblings due to AIDS, Gloria was raped as a young girl. Tragically, as the blame and guilt for this type of crime too often reside on the victim, Gloria’s drunkard uncle heaped shame and abuse upon her because she was an “embarrassment to their family.”
With no comfort and no love in the midst of her deep loss and pain, Gloria became extremely depressed and saw no hope for her life. Gloria even confessed “My disgrace is before me all day long…”
But the Lord heard Gloria’s cry. At 21 years old and extremely near death, Gloria attended Camp LIFE. Upon seeing how very ill she was, Family Legacy immediately brought her to live in a Community Resource Center (CRC) as a safe rescue house. Now she has 3 meals a day, a quality education, ongoing discipleship, godly house parents, and access to free antiretrovirals (ARVs) to improve her health despite her HIV.
One short year later, the girl who was too weak to walk around Camp is now the life of her CRC; she even walks to school each day. The emaciated girl with haunting eyes who carried a much-too-heavy burden of shame has been replaced by a healthy and robust young woman whose eyes shine with the light of Christ.
Her transformation from Camp LIFE 2009 to December of 2009 is evident. But after one year Gloria is almost unrecognizable. She now has a life and a body that fits her name. Although she was always a glorious creation in the eyes of the Lord, her vivid transformation now does nothing but give GLORY to God the Father.
“Those who look to the Lord are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame. This poor man called, and the LORD heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles.” – Psalm 34
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