“It only takes a spark” starts the old campfire song, which ends with the words “you want to pass it on.” In World Vision Zambia, that spark takes the shape of an animal, and World Vision definitely wants people to pay it forward.
The Tonga tribe populates much of southern Zambia, and in their culture, animal ownership determines a person’s wealth. Giving animals to a person in poverty means helping to transform their economic status.
The program is a way to keep the gift of animals reaching people who face the greatest need.
When a family received Gift Catalog animals from World Vision, they agree that at some future date — usually in about a year’s time — they will donate the same number of animals to another family in need.
“It’s a time of sharing the joy with others,” says Rosemary’s grandmother, Patricia. “They deserve the smile I also enjoyed when I first received.”
That new family agrees to the same conditions, and they donate when they are able.
It’s like candles at a Christmas Eve service where one candle glimmers in the darkness, then passes the flame to the next candle and then the next.
Soon the sanctuary beams brightly. Now replace those lights with a pasture filled with animals grazing, and you see the power of this program.
