Report by BHW Zambia Partnership Facilitators Following Visit in March 

Key people: Joseph Kampelembi & Martin Kawani

Recent Events

Leadership

Sadly Joseph is very sick. It is something to do with his heart and blood pressure but he now struggles to talk and walk. However the inspiring thing through all this is to see the discipleship that has taken place in other members of the church who are taking up the baton to continue spreading God's love in the community.

The church community has rallied around Joseph and his family. They have taken up collections to ensure that Joseph has been to two different mine hospitals to have the very best care that they can offer. They are taking him to the hospital for check-ups most Fridays. The church ladies visited Joseph to pray for him while we were there.

Martin Kawina is now joined by Jonathan Ekona in a role to help out the vulnerable orphans in the community. Jonathan has taken on the role of visiting the many schools to pay for the fees and visit the children in the program. He uses public transport and a bicycle to get around the schools. He was unable to come to visit us as he lives 40km away in the bush, where he is the headmaster of a school. He is an Elder in the Apostolic Church and co-ordinates the Bible school that is run in Chisasa. This runs short courses for people to attend. Jonathan's wife, Omida, attended the Foundations for Farming course at Maplehurst in 2011. 

Orphan Care

Currently there are 60 orphans being sponsored to school.  47 of the children are spread between seven Basic Elementary Schools while 13 students attend Jiwundu Secondary School (where Martin Kawina is the head of the Business Studies Department).

Martin was telling us that in the secondary school, two of the top three students at the school were orphans in the program (see personal testimony). There is a good chance that these top students will get a government paid scholarship to university and Martin is chasing up some people for the right application forms.

One of the issues the secondary school is facing is where to house all the students. Once the dormitories are full, the rest of the students are going to rent houses in the local village but with little supervision they can get into trouble. Martin and other members of the church are running a program to meet with these other children regularly to evangelize and encourage them. 

Farming

The commercial mines in the area are now trying to help local farmers with “Conservation Farming” and are running training programs in the area. Martin has been farming using Foundation for Farming methods and has been wanting to change the view of farming in the area. This year Martin has 4 limas (50x50m), 1 maize, 1 groundnuts, 1 beans and 1 Soybeans.

Of the people that were trained in Foundations for Farming at Maplehurst farm in 2011, one school leaver Beauty has continued on the methods well. In fact she is now helping in a community development center that helps refugees from the Congo training them in farming. 

Income Generation

The hammer mill is currently down, due to needing some new nozzles from Lusaka.  

The four rental units that were built from the profits of the hammer mill are still being rented out for an income of US$700 per year which helps support the orphans program.  

Personal Stories

Jason Mwape

Jason started with the Chisasa OVC program when he reached Grade 9. His father had helped to pay for primary school fees but the secondary fees were too expensive. That is when he heard of Mr Kampelembi and they helped to pay his school fees and exam fees. 

His mum passed away when he was born. He says that he is a “half cast”, as he is a mixture of the Lunda and Bemba tribes. He likes going to church and he helps with the cleaning of the building. “Jesus is my personal saviour, it is not just a matter of going to church, but Jesus must save you”.

When he was in Grade 11 he had to stay in the village with three other friends from school but he found too many distractions to be able to study well. When he reached Grade 12 he was thankful to be able to live in the school dormitories. 

His results for Grade 12 that he sat at the end of 2014 are very good. He is currently waiting to see if he can get a government scholarship to attend Lusaka University to study mining and engineering. He has been helped to study hard and get good results by the mentoring and encouragement from Martin and Joseph.

For now he is at home helping his family on their farm, growing maize and beans. They use conservation farming methods, which he thinks is good, because they can continue to use the same piece of land.

Jason says; “I’m the kind of person who doesn’t like seeing people not going to school. It is important to help others to improve their standard of living, since I myself have been helped."

"You can be anything you want, I use the example of myself, what I am today is not what I was then. Every minute you use today is to destroy or build your future”.

“I always remember this help. These results are because of the people who have helped me. I appreciate you people, or Jesus through you”.

Prayer and Praise Points

1) Praise for the community's response to Joseph's sickness
2) Pray for Joseph's health and his family

Comments

The budget is to remain the same for the next year but needs to be sent all at once in December rather than divided in two payments throughout the year as schools are now demanding full payment up front.