Zambia, in the heartland of southern Africa, is one of the most urbanised countries on the continent. It is also home to the amazing Victoria Falls – whose African name Musi-o-Tunya means ‘The Smoke That Thunders’.

Heavily dependent on mining copper, when the price of copper fell and the mines started to run out the country went into a tail spin. People were fed up with the corruption of Kaunda’s government, which had been their only option for nearly 30 years, and demanded more power to choose someone better.

Elections in 1991 elected Chiluba as President, but he has failed to deliver the ‘democracy’ that people want and not addressed the crippling poverty faced by most Zambians.

Zambia has the highest level of AIDS orphans in the world (over 650,000). Families are overstretched and too poor to look after all of them - 90,000 are left to live on the streets.

President Chiluba has allowed greater freedom for Christians to share the gospel through the press and on TV.

The church is in Zambia is continuing to grow.

Chiluba openly dedicated Zambia as a Christian country in 1991 – but many are disillusioned with what he failed to do. Pray that the people and government in Zambia would seek after God’s heart and mind.

Pray that the government can find a way to bring relief from poverty. In real terms most people are worse off now than they were before independence. Pray that any disillusionment and unrest would not escalate further.

Churches are growing – people are coming to Christ across all different ages and in towns and cities. Pray that effective discipleship can help them know God more each day and understand all the freedom that God has for them.

As many as 25% of the population have AIDS, rising to 50% for those in prisons. Hospitals and doctors are poorly equipped to deal with the crisis.