By Chris Cunningham
The Scene staff
Lushomo Chambwa got plenty of help as a poor African immigrant going to college in St. Louis, and now he’s paying it forward.
Last month, he and other members of his a cappella gospel group The Chosen Ones distributed supplies to the homeless in downtown St. Louis.
“We do music, but we were like, ‘Can’t we just take this to a whole new level as far as giving back?’” said Chambwa, 26, a chemistry lab assistant and Access Office employee at Forest Park and distance-learning student at University of Cincinnati.
The volunteers collected items from more than 50 staff, faculty and students at Forest Park.
“The response that we have gotten is humbling,” said Chambwa, a native of Zambia, Africa. “Some gave monetary donations, and others gave socks, hats, gloves …”
Chambwa and three other volunteers distributed the supplies to people at 18th and Market, outside The New Life Evangelistic Center and behind the Edward Jones Dome this month.
“We really didn’t know what to expect,” said The Chosen Ones member Ruben Gill, 25, a graphic communications major at Forest Park. “When we went down, it started small, but it got bigger, and a lot of people came through.”
The volunteers had distributed supplies before, Chambwa said, but they tried to make their recent outing more efficient, asking homeless people what they actually needed.
The “wish list” included gloves, hats, socks, trash bags and baby wipes.
Forest Park chemistry professor Venugopal Talkad helped the cause by donating contractor trash bags, which are large, sturdy and good for carrying belongings.
“(Chambwa) is a very jovial guy,” Talkad said. “He really tries to help students if they are in need.”
Asking homeless people what they needed seemed not only more efficient but more humane, Chambwa said.
“The thing is, when you go to downtown St. Louis, you find many homeless people. (But) many times we don’t take the time to recognize that they are people still. You see people walk by without greeting them or whatever.”
In addition to Forest Park donations, volunteers received 25 loaves of bread from the Jimmy John’s restaurant near campus. They used them to make 75 sandwiches.
One homeless man who identified himself as “Frank” claimed to have walked 20 miles after hearing about the distribution.
“One guy shared with us how he lost his family, his house, his jobs,” Chambwa said. “He was playing by the books, but he fell on hard times.
“It gave me the outlook that not everyone who is on the streets is lazy. It bothered me. It made me think, ‘What can we do to help? What can we do to be a part of the solution and not the problem?’”
Chambwa was born in Zambia, but he moved to Botswana when he was a boy.
His father encouraged him to pursue an education in America. In 2007, he moved to St. Louis, where his older brother, Nzumba, one of four siblings, already lived.
“(My father) told us we had to strive for the best in life,” Chambwa said. “He told us if we got accepted to a school, he would do whatever it takes.”
Chambwa enrolled at Forest Park because of its diversity. His first semester was “tough.” He didn’t have enough money for tuition, but the college and its African American Male Initiative helped him succeed.
Chambwa said at one point he walked back and forth from Maplewood to campus.
“I would look at the greater picture and keep focused on where I was going,” he said. “I wasn’t focused on my past, but the goal, even when things seemed like they wouldn’t end.”
Chambwa graduated with an associate’s degree in medical laboratory technology in 2012 and got married to his now-wife, Lizzie. They met in Mississippi doing church charity work.
“I had a beautiful wedding, and people thought I was in debt,” Chambwa said. “But I wasn’t, because friends and family helped with the cost.”
The couple had their first child, Lushomo Chambwa Jr., last year.
Chambwa’s sister, Ruth, 23, also graduated from Forest Park’s medical laboratory technician program. She moved to America in 2009. Today, she works in the college’s bookstore.
“(My brother and I) have the same goals and ambitions,” she said. “We are doing the same program, go to the same church, and we are in the same band.”
The Chosen Ones formed in 2010 when Chambwa started singing with Ruth and her friend, Jasmine Brown, at Central Seventh Day Adventist Church in St. Louis.
“The harmony was on point,” said Brown, 25, a student at Goldfarb School of Nursing at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. “Ever since that day, we have been together.”
Gill joined the a cappella group in 2001. He was Chambwa’s roommate at the time.
Chambwa later asked the other singers to help him with a charity project for the homeless.
“He had the idea of going out to the community and providing witness for them by not only providing them food and clothing, but also ministering through music,” Brown said.
Sometimes the volunteers sing on the streets while making their distributions.
“This is just the start,”Chambwa added. “We are going to be heavily involved with those guys in the future. We are going to be there quite often with winter coming.”
Chambwa said he wants to give back to the community because he has received so much help. For example, someone he knew casually through church once gave him $900 for tuition.
Chambwa is working on a bachelor’s degree in medical laboratory science by taking Internet classes through University of Cincinnati.
“It’s very good but tough,” he said. “A lot of people apply, but not everybody gets in.”
In the Forest Park Access Office, Chambwa helps disabled students use computers and take notes in classes, ranging from sociology to algebra.
“You learn a lot of things when you do this,” he said. “Some of these are classes I will have to take in the future.”
Through his ups and downs, Chambwa feels that religion and music have helped him most in life.
“I found strength in what I had been doing,” he said. “I have found peace when I found that alone time with God and when I made music. That was a major source of strength.”