Partnership Report

Zambia, Africa

ZAM23 - Chipata Rural Church Orphan Care

View report dated: April 14, 2015
View report dated: March 24, 2016
View report dated: July 22, 2016
View report dated: August 8, 2017
View report dated: April 13, 2019
View report dated: December 12, 2020
View report dated: June 25, 2021
View report dated: August 8, 2022
View report dated: May 16, 2023
View report dated: May 27, 2024
View report dated: June 24, 2024

Report Date: April 4, 2025

Update from BHW Zambia Partnership Facilitators

Key Person: Norman Tonga

This update has been compiled following a number of WhatsApp messages from Norman.

Recent Events

Orphan Care

After last year's drought, they have received good rains during the current season in the Chipata area of eastern Zambia.

For the orphan’s field, the church has managed to plant 5 acres of land and are expecting a very good yield which will be sold to help with the support of the orphans in the program. There are currently still 25 orphans on the program receiving assistance for school requirements.

Soyabean Farmers

better season The soyabean farming project has consolidated to 100 faithful farmers who were selected from the 342 growers from the previous season. The criteria for selecting these farmers were based on who followed the training methods, and which farmers had been faithful to repay the loans.

The reason for dropping the number of farmers was to do with capacity of the team to complete follow ups. Also, for the previous season, due to the drop in price they had held a lot more soyabean seed that needed to be used, hence the high number of 342 farmers who were given seed.

Each of the 100 farmers were given 25 kg of soyabean seed, and with the good rains they are expecting the yields per farmer to average 800kg meaning 80,000kgs will be produced by the group. 100kg per farmer will be collected to repay the loan, i.e. 10,000kgs.

They also have the capital fund that was given in 2023, which they will continue to use to buy off growers to allow for a better price for people that need to sell early due to cash flow. This will be stored and sold later when the prices are higher.

Currently the price is ranging between 10 - 12 ZMW per kilo (28 ZMW is US$1).

Personal

Norman and his family are doing well. They celebrated the birth of their eighth granddaughter in February.

Comments

We are planning to visit Zambia in June/July and will spend a few days with Norman during that time.