Church mission to Zambia changes Elgin sisters' lives

It was four days of service in an African town called Samfya but for Courtney and Shelby Hirschberg of Elgin, it was four days that changed their lives.

Before the trip Shelby, 18, was a high school senior full of plans for her future: take a year of classes at Judson University, transfer to Columbia College in Chicago, study theater and eventually go to Hollywood.

Now Shelby doesn't know what she wants to do — she lists off the possibility of serving in Uganda for a year, helping Chicago's homeless or taking a mission trip somewhere else in the United States. She said she had plans but Africa upset them all.

At 16, Courtney has a little more time to decide than her older sister, but nonetheless felt a shift in her priorities after taking the mission trip with Willow Creek Community Church.

“I don't know what I want to do, but it lights a fire in me to change the world,” Courtney said.

To go to Zambia, a country in southern Africa, the sisters left the United States for the first time. In fact, they boarded their first plane for the international flight.

Two days of traveling left eight students and four team leaders at their destination, far from home and much of what they knew. The mission trip was dedicated to rebuilding the house of a widow who lost her husband and 10 children to AIDS, leaving her to care for eight little kids all alone.

The students helped skilled tradesmen from the community mix cement and lay bricks to transform her mud hut, add a tin roof, build a veranda for the 86-year-old woman to cook in, plant a garden and dig a well.

While they were helping the other workers, younger children were helping them.

Students from a local school would leave class when the church group drove up, joining them in the walk to the woman's house. Some would run around carrying bricks to be helpful but others would just sit and watch. Courtney said there was one tiny child with a big stomach, bloated from malnutrition, who sat on the sidelines.

“He would space out,” Courtney said. “You could tell he was so malnourished he didn't have enough energy for anything.”

The Hirschbergs worked on the whole project from start to finish, with a final community celebration to mark its conclusion. They also spent two afternoons playing games with kindergarten-aged kids just learning English and visited their Zambian counterparts at Samfya High School — where they saw a stocked library showing the result of a past church fundraiser.

Both girls recognized their own privilege during their short trip living with people who lead such different lives.

Shelby said she felt the blessing of her own potential to succeed.

“I'm in a place where you can fulfill your dreams,” Shelby said. “America is the country of dreams.”

The trip to Zambia gave the Hirschbergs a chance to fulfill a dream they latched onto a year ago when another friend went to Africa. They sent out hundreds of letters asking for donations from businesses and family friends. They also worked to pay for the $3,100 trip by making and selling friendship bracelets.

The sisters are home-schooled, so they don't have a wide market for sales but other friends helped distribute at Dundee-Crown High School.

Though the trip ended on March 27, Zambia is still alive for the Hirschbergs. Courtney said her heart is aching to go back, a real possibility.

The Hirschbergs are planning to reach out to other churches and raise money to finish paying off this trip, first, but then fund a future trip or a donation to a Zambian community.

It was just four days, but for Courtney and Shelby, it meant a lifetime.