With the region’s abundance of lakes, parks and other natural resources, residents of Dowagiac are used to greeting their fair share of tourists, especially during summer.

Meeting people who hail from thousands of miles away, on the other side of the world,  however, is not as common an occurrence during any time of the year.

Over the past week, locals in Dowagiac and beyond may have gotten the chance to meet a group of seven Christian travelers from the Republic of Zambia.

Since arriving in the Dowagiac area last Tuesday, the travelers have visited different churches and events in the area, including a trip to the Berrien County Youth Fair in Berrien Springs and a tour of Calvin College in Grand Rapids. They also volunteered several times with Dowagiac’s ACTION Ministries food pantry, where they helped hand out food to local families.

“It’s been great so far,” said Caleb Mwanza, a pastor with The Reformed Church of Zambia, one of the sponsors of their trip. “People have welcomed us everywhere we have gone. We have felt very blessed.”

Mwanza and the others made their latest stop at Dowagiac’s First United Methodist Church Wednesday night. After sharing a potluck dinner with several members of the church, the travelers helped lead a service in the chapel, where they sung several hymns in their native tongue for the audience.

The following day, the group departed for a two-day visit to Chicago, where they planned to visit several churches in the area.

The Sister Lakes Community Church is hosting the visitors during their visit to the region, which will run through Sept. 11. Helping the Reformed Church put together the trip was Dowagiac’s Steve Zebell, who visited the African nation with his family in 2011.

Zebell, along with his wife Claudia and their three children, stayed in Zambia for a month, where they helped build a new school and well for a small impoverished village. Throughout the course of the trip, Zebell and his family grew close with the community, with the Dowagiac man feeling as if he was “an uncle” to children living in the village.

“I felt as if I was meeting people I had known forever,” Zebell said. “We all felt so loved and accepted over there. I couldn’t wait for the day where I could see them experience the same feelings when they came here [to the U.S.].”

Since coming back home, Zebell has remained in contact with members of The Reformed Church. After years of planning, he and the church were able to arrange a trip for several of its members to head overseas and experience what life is like in America.

Between the nation’s diet, abundance of technology and even the way farms operate, Mwanza said that the U.S. and Zambia have many stark differences. However, he has found many similarities between his home and Dowagiac — mainly that people in both lands share a strong sense of family loyalty, as well as a strong belief in the word of God.

“I feel like anywhere you go, you are not a stranger,” Mwanza said. “You’re like part of one giant family.”

Churches or other organizations wanting to host a visit from the Zambian team are encouraged to call Zebell at (269) 424-7701 or email him at zebells@hpsmi.org.