Key People: Steven Daka, Rosemary Daka
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We stayed for two nights at Rosemary's place in March, and her son Steven was also there.
Rosemary is doing well, but her knees are failing her. She now has her field of maize, sugar cane and beans right next to the house, so she does not have to move far. The crops are looking good, and other than some people stealing cobs when they know she is away at church, the harvest will be good. Sadly, someone also stole 22 of her village chickens which is a huge loss. A church member has given her one chicken to help.
Steven continues to live in Chipata town with his wife and three daughters. His transport business has been going very well earning between 100zmk and 300zmk per day 6 days a week. They no longer run a shop.
Rosemary's other children also visit often. Island works as a teacher in a nearby village and comes to stay with her most Fridays. Gift is a teacher in town and comes home at least every month.
It is election year, so they are expecting good power supply and good prices to be announced for the government buying crops off farmers.
The rains have been very good this year.
There are currently 19 children in the programme, most are a bit away from the village at boarding schools. They are asking if they can add more orphans to the programme, at least another three. One completed grade 12 last year and they added another in grade 2.
We discussed how they thought the programme was going in terms of spending enough time with the orphans to encourage them in life and the gospel. The ones that are close go to the local church Sunday school and they come to gather the school requirements, and they have a good time with them at that stage.
They only had one harvest two years ago and since then because of stealing, and other rogue fish that eat the bream fingerlings, they have not restarted. They had 6,300zmk (US$330) remaining from the sales.
With these funds they purchased 15 bags of maize at 420zmk each. The plan was to store them until the price went higher, but then the price reduced. They sold eight bags at 280zmk, giving cash of 2,240zmk. This was used by Steven to buy his own fertilizer as a loan.
The other seven bags they have stored for adding to the maize relief loan programme that Rosemary is running.
In July 2024 Bright Hope World gave US$500 for Chifundo to purchase maize as a relief programme for people in the community because of a very bad drought. They sourced 16 bags from Chipata OVC (ZAM23), but so far only eight have been collected as Steven has not managed to get there for the remainder.
In the hungry months coming up to the next season's harvest when people have run out of food, Rosemary loans maize. Then, at the next harvest the people bring back 1.5 times the amount they borrowed.
Last season she was able to loan out 80 gallons from the 8 bags to 10 families, and they all repaid 1.5 times, so they had 120 gallons. This has all been loaned out in the current season.
We discussed at what point they think they are storing too much maize, for both security and the size of programme they can manage. They are going to think about that and sell some maize at some stage to help in the orphan’s programme. They also will look at how to add extra security to the storage room in the house.
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Kennedy is 17 years old and in his 7th year of school. He likes Maths, English and Science. He has been with the Chifundo programme since 2016. The partnership helps him with a school uniform, books, school bag and pens. He sees Rosemary and Steven every couple of weeks.
Kennedy lives with his mum and four siblings. His mother is a farmer. Farming in Zambia has been hard in the last few years. Last season she harvested 11 bags of maize for her family of six for the whole year. At home they use firewood for cooking, and they have a small garden to sell vegetables from.
He would like to be an accountant as he likes maths. Kennedy goes to the same church as Rosemary, and they have a youth programme. They teach the youth things like being humble and respecting people. He sees that for young people in the community there are problems with drinking and smoking.
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Mesheal is 11 years old and in his third year of school. He likes school, especially English because through it he will have a chance of having a better life and a job. Mesheal would like to be a doctor when he grows up so that he can help people. He has lots of friends and likes to read ngaja books and write with them.
Mesheal stays with his uncle and aunty and there are three other children living in the house. He came to live with them after his mother died. His father is a drunk as in this area people like this tend to go from place to place looking for bits of work and then often get paid in beer. When his mother passed away he and his eight siblings got split up with different family members, he does sometimes see them though. He came to be on the Chifundo orphan programme through Steven visiting households in the community and seeing that Mesheal would be needing support. The programme helps him with a uniform, books, pencils and a bag.
Mesheal attends the same church that Rosemary goes to, he likes praying and praising God. He likes God because he helps us.
He helps around the house along with one of his cousins. The other kids in the house don’t help as one is too young and the other is too stubborn. He helps by sweeping, washing dishes and weeding the crops. His uncle grows tobacco and maize, but it doesn’t do very well. His aunty makes and sells Fritas or fried bread. They eat twice a day and Mesheal sleeps on sacks.
Moses Phiri Moses is currently in Grade 8 and has been part of the programme since he started in Grade 1 at Mbewe Primary School. He is provided with his uniform, shoes and books. He would like to be a teacher. His parents are soyabean and maize farmers. There are six children in the family, and he is the last born.
Patrick is 16 years old and started on the programme in 2016 in Grade 1. His father left the family. His mother is still alive. She grows maize and groundnuts. Patrick would like to train to be a nurse once he has finished school. (photo top right)
The family has oxen and are requesting if an ox cart could be funded for the ministry. This would help create income and also help the community with transport.
Rosemary is the heart and soul of this programme. The budget is to remain the same.