Zambia, Africa
Key Partnership Information:
Partnership Ref.: ZAM15
Partner: Martin Kawina
Commenced: 25/02/2006
Funding Status: No Current Donor
Partnership Type: Orphans & Vulnerable Children, Training / Education
Funding Size: $3,000 - $7,999
Annual Budget: US$ 5,500
Connected To: ZAM26b
Current Partnership Impact:
96 children are being supported into schooling
Number of kids in school to be confirmed by Standford - Jerry thinks is a bit high
Other Partnership Information:
No partnership video available yet
History Of Partnership
At the end of 2005 BHW received an emergency call from one of our partners - Andy Patching from Isubilo - in Zambia. He knew a person in Solwezi, Zambia who was caring for orphans and vulnerable children. Joseph Kampelembi and his wife had been sending these children to school but found they could not afford to pay the fees for the 2006 school year.
Bright Hope World commenced sending funds for school fees and school requirements from 2006. In early 2008 the Bright Hope World Field Director visited the partnership, met the leadership team and heard the story first-hand. We also met and heard the life stories of many of the beneficiaries. We were amazed at the quality of the children that we talked to, speaking very good English and being very engaged in life. It was a testimony to the level of input that Joseph and his team were having into these vulnerable children. We have been in partnership with them since then, helping to send the children to school.
Sadly, Joseph Kampelembi passed away in June 2015. Joseph was a real leader in his community. He had a huge heart for orphans and vulnerable people because of the hardship he grew up with himself. He was a refugee from the Congo and had many sad things happen to him there. Joseph has now passed the baton on to Martin Kawina and Stanford Mufwata so that this partnership can continue to look after the vulnerable in the community.
Beneficiaries
The immediate beneficiaries currently are the children who are enabled to go to school. This is from a list of over 200 orphans they have on their books in the region. They have to select the most vulnerable cases to help. Indirectly their guardians are benefiting also. There are also ladies who have been trained in Foundations for Farming.
Leadership Profiles
Martin Kawina
Martin is a secondary school teacher who we first met in 2009. Joseph always used to point at Martin and say, “This is my spiritual son”. Martin does a lot of work at the secondary school where there are 12 orphans attending. He runs a bible study with these children every week and helps teach them things of life. It is obvious to see his care for these ones. He has also helped them to have a small plot of land near the school that they work in, learning about farming.
Martin has his own field where he practices Foundations for Farming methods. His yields have been very good compared to what he used to get.
Unfortunately, Martin's health has been getting worse since he had a stroke in 2018. In January 2025 he was given time off his role as deputy head teacher for sick leave. Sadly, he has not regained strength and is now looking to hand over responsiblities in the partnership.
Stanford Mufwata
Stanford joined the leadership in 2022, after being involved for many years as a coordinator.
Joseph's Story
Joseph Kampelembi was born in 1953. When he was young, he lived with his aunt and went to the Democratic Republic of Congo (Zaire). He had an extremely violent upbringing and there was always fighting at home. For seven years at home, he suffered abuse, neglect, and a lack of food and clothes. No one took care of him. He remembers being chased out into the street at times.
His uncle, who had a similar upbringing, took care of him for a short time, but he started fighting like his parents had done. His aunt then took him back, but it got to a point where they threatened to cut his fingers off to “take his power“.
When the other children were being fed, he would be sent away to do jobs, wash nappies etc, and by the time he got back all the food was gone, and he would go hungry. When he was given clothes, he would be threatened not to damage them because he would get no more. When his clothes needed mending, he would try to fix them with wire.
As a young man he moved to Zambia, where he met a young woman and they fell in love. He got married, unusually for the culture, when he was a still a very poor man. “I didn’t know why she married me, but she loved me.” They were married in 1970. Joseph and his wife had their first child in 1971, but the child died in 1978. In fact, their first four children died while they were serving in ministry. Joseph also lost both his parents.
He and his wife began to notice the number of orphans in their community. They bought shorts and dresses and gave them to the orphans. They came across one small and sick child whose parents said if the child died, they would eat it because of malnutrition. They took the child to hospital for four days. God heard their prayers and the child survived.
Joseph and his wife share all they have; they even give their own children’s clothes to the ones in need. They want to see these children on their own and coping well.
The church they were leading started caring for children and then it started spreading to other areas. One day they met Andy and Eira Patching. Andy asked them about their orphan care work and started providing support for them.
In 2025 the partnership sadly hit some road bumps, with Martins sickness meaning he was very incapcitated. After visiting in July 2025 and seeing the diffuculty faced by the members of the partnership, we have taken a step to passively wait for any new leadership to develop. Currently there are no funds being sent, as we wait for the new leaders to show the are wanting to carry on with this vision.
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