Life in Zambia

It is such a blessing to be back in Zambia again, re-connecting with friends and building new relationships. The community of people living here at the farm in Zambia is much smaller than the campus where we stay in South Africa but it means that we get to spend much more time with each person. With there being fewer people, it is easier to all get together and have communal events. One of these is

a regular event on Thursday evenings where everyone living at Kachele Farm (our base here in Zambia) comes together to have a meal together. It is known as Bring and Share Thursdays and this Thursday, we decided to theme the evening to a Mexican style. We also had the pleasure of having a team from the Forge (UK) with us and they joined us in eating Mexican food for the evening. It was great fun and the food was delicious and was great to spend time fellowshipping with others that often we don’t get to spend time with during the busy week.

The team from the Forge were visiting the community of Maposa and spending time with the Care Workers in the CBO (community based organisation). The goal for us at Hands at Work is to see international churches partner with local churches to care for the most vulnerable in their communities. The Forge is a great example of this and every year they send a team (sometime two teams) to Zambia for their congregation to get to know children and Care Workers in Maposa by name. On this visit, Morgan and I both had the privilege of joining them for a day each. The day I went to the community involved helping two of our volunteers here Devon and Mateo pick up materials for a home repair. From the sawmill and shops, we drove to the home and dropped off the materials and finalised the plans for the following week when the repairs would

actually be done. The day which Morgan joined the team was actually the day of the home repair, some team members helped out Devon and Mateo whilst others helped harvesting in the fields. Those who were not helping with the construction spent time getting to know the children and family who were living in the home. The family were so happy that they could now have a roof again which would protect them from the outside elements.

One of the new people we have met this time in Zambia is called Michael and he is our new bookkeeper with the Regional Support Team (RST). Some of my time over the past few weeks has been training him in how we keep our finances within Hands at Work. 

For Morgan, one of her communication team members Ashley, has joined us in Zambia for the remainder of our time. They can now have meetings and do work face to face rather than over the phone or internet. 

On May 11th Morgan and I celebrated our first anniversary. It was a special time as we got reflect on our first year together in all that we have done and grown together. We celebrated by having an outdoor movie ‘drive-in’ with a ploughman’s type dinner. We have also planned to go to Paris for a couple of nights in October as part of our anniversary. 

Once a month on a Friday morning we have the chance to go to one of the communities we work in and encourage and pray with our Care Workers. This month we went to a community called Kamakonde (in Kitwe, near one of our local service centres). I was asked to share a word of encouragement with the Care Workers, sharing scripture that focussed on God’s faithfulness. We then spent time in small groups with each Care Worker getting to know their stories and praying for them and their families and children. 

Next week, Morgan and I have the pleasure of travelling to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for 10 days. For both of us, it will be a first time visit although we have heard so much about the communities there and just how amazing the Care Workers and SC team are. Our bookkeeper in DRC, Angel, is someone who I have been working with for two years now so it will be great to spend time with her in her own country and also visit her family. Please pray for us as we travel and get to experience this beautiful country. 

Finally, an update on our new house in South Africa. The roof is nearly finished and the internal walls are taking shape. Friends from the HUB in South Africa are keeping us up to date with photos so we feel like we are part of the building process.