Joann Gorham Champion of the Family: Blair and Cindy Packard

By Luone Brown
Spring 2003

So how is it, exactly, that two 51-year-old parents of six (the youngest of whom is 19) and grandparents of nine suddenly become new parents again--of a three-year-old African girl--while setting up a new organization dedicated to assisting people in a country suffering from dire poverty? Well, keep reading and perhaps you'll soon understand. And maybe you'll even want to help.

Welcome to Mozambique!

Blair and Cindy Packard, of Gilbert, Arizona, are a couple who has felt “the hand of Providence” upon them. So far, it has led them to Mozambique and it has led them to form a charitable organization named, appropriately, “Care for Life” (CFL) and it has led them to welcome a new little girl into their family.

About five years ago, Cindy, a trained mid-wife, went to Zimbabwe with a friend. She discovered the needless and ridiculously high child and maternal mortality rate and she felt she needed to do something to help. A year later, she returned to Africa, this time to Mozambique. Things as basic as soap and clean implements to cut and tie the cord of a new infant were sorely lacking and could mean the d if ference between life and death.

The war-torn country of Mozambique is one of the poorest countries in the world. Even so, the Mozambicans know exactly what they need. At the special opening ceremonies of the Care for Life center, someone was asked, “What do you need the most?” The answer, one might think, would include food, clothing and shelter, but it came back strong and confident—“We need knowledge.” Cindy and Blair launched the Care for Life organization to help fill that need.

Care for Life

One of CFL's central goals is to help people become self-reliant; and a major challenge is the need for strong, self-sustaining families to take care of the huge numbers of orphaned children who are victims of the overwhelming HIV/AIDS epidemic sweeping the African continent.

The Care for Life Learning Center houses a health clinic and a learning center featuring classes in agriculture, English, health and hygiene, music and beginning computers, among others. Recipients of the free health care are strongly encouraged to take part in the classes offered, and many do. They walk for miles to attend, sitting on benches in the sweltering heat, batting at the bugs who attend for no other reason than to bother those who are trying to learn.

There are so many children without hope in Mozambique--many with disabilities and no chance to ever receive assistance. The lucky ones end up in orphanages. The others often end up on the streets, like a couple of young men the Packards met. Gabriel and Moses suffered from untreated auto accident injuries and became beggars on the street. They were found by the Packards crawling on their hands and knees.

“Every person has a name and a story,” explain the Packards, “and the capacity to be more than we often see at first glance.” Blair and Cindy are now on the lookout for Gabriel and Moses who roam the busy streets of Maputo because a recent Care for Life shipment contained several desperately needed wheelchairs.

CHAMPIONS OF THE FAMILY

Every Child a Chance For Life

Cindy and Blair have begun a project called “ Every Child a Chance for Life.” The goal is to help develop self-sustaining group homes, and in the process create a loving family environment for many of these orphans. They will also encourage Mozambican families to take in orphans and make them a part of their own families. But there are so many children in need and not enough families to go around. Many orphanages house 700 to 800 children. It is not uncommon for 25 babies or toddlers to be housed in one room together without an adult to care for them. They sleep in laundry baskets because there aren't enough beds.

The “Every Child a Chance for Life” program will provide a way to help orphans live in families and provide those families with a way to sustain themselves. Land has already been purchased for the first model farming plot that will supply food for the group homes on the property and for the families that take orphans into their homes. A new Care for Life Center will be built on the land -- with a health clinic and a school where children will learn skills to help them be self-supporting as they grow older, as well as provide for the community right now.

She Adopted Us

And now for that little three-year-old girl mentioned at the beginning of the story. Last June, Blair first mentioned in his journal that, “Cindy is fond of a little girl named Linda.” A bond quickly developed between Cindy and Linda and although she tried to have other volunteers take Linda to avoid developing too strong a connection, somehow they always ended up together. At first, the Packards just felt a need to help Linda. Perhaps they were meant to find her family. Perhaps they could assist with paying for her schooling. But one day across the yard at the orphanage, with Linda snuggled onto Cindy's shoulder, Cindy and Blair locked eyes for a very long time. She thought he was trying to tell her, “Don't even think about it.” But as it turns out, he already felt what was to be, and what he was really communicating to her was, “It will change our lives forever.” After an extremely complex and amazing process, Linda became the newest member of the Packard family.

Nearly every day there is a reason for Blair and Cindy to feel discouraged. They ask, “What are we doing here, and why?” Blair remembers a quote from G.K. Chesterton: "How much larger your life would be if [you] could become smaller in it ...You would begin to be interested in [others]. You would break out of this tiny theatre in which your own little plot is always being played, and you would find yourself under a freer sky, in a street full of splendid strangers.” The Packards have found themselves under that sky, and in that street and they are making a difference. And both feel far richer than money could ever make them from their experiences in Mozambique. They are enjoying their time with Linda. She's adjusting well to her new home. And they look forward to the day when she will return with them to Mozambique to care for the people there with great love.

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