The truth is that there are children all over the world, sick, starving, dying, unloved and uncared for.
The truth is that the 143 million orphaned children and the 11 million who starve to death or die from preventable diseases and the 8.5 million who work as child slaves, prostitutes, or under other horrific conditions and the 2.3 million who live with HIV add up to 164.8 million needy children. And though at first glance that looks like a big number, 2.1 billion people on this earth proclaim to be Christians.
The truth is that if only 8 percent of the Christians would care for one more child, there would not be any statistics left.
This is the truth. I have the freedom to believe it. The freedom, the opportunity to do something about it. The truth is that God loves these children just as much as He loves me and now that I know, I am responsible.
(Katie Davis; Kisses from Katie)

The truth is, now you know, what are you going to do about it?

If you're wanting to hear see the latest on the school, you can follow on Facebook. Just updated it with some pictures from the first week.

In the last few weeks we have seen time and again the right people turn up to do a job at just the right moment. The mural and painted wall to the left is a prime example of this. It was finished yesterday afternoon by a family from the USA who came primarily to teach in the Bible College but whose 2 sons wanted something to do.  Not only had we just finished liming the wall but we had also had some designs done for us by another member of our summer team just the week before. This is the wall all our school buildings will face towards and so it is great to have something so colourful and actually quite African.  In the weeks that my Dad and Vic, from our home church, installed the wiring into the school buildings - a feat in itself - twice I happened to be with them on the site when ZESCO, the main Zambian electricity supplier, came to look at where to lay power lines etc.  If I hadn't been there when they arrived (unannounced) they would have put the power lines down the wrong side of the land, obstructing the view of the wall and also blocking off our access road!  Don't get me wrong, we are really happy that Zesco are helping us, it is just really good to be there when they do their work :-)

One of the other great things about the last few weeks is all the things we have received for Kapumpe and Kamfinsa schools.  Uniform for both schools as well as jumpers for children in KOP came from the UK as well as 28 boxes of school resources.  We literally had a phone call saying that 20+ boxes had arrived in Kitwe (1.5 hours away in a slow vehicle) with our name and number on them. They didn't seem to know who had sent them or what they were. We managed to borrow the farm bus to fetch them and were delighted with their contents. We knew boxes of resources were coming to Zambia from Kickstart in the UK but thought they weren't being sent until October so it was a great surprise and gave our summer team an extra task in sorting all the books etc out with Gemma.  The team also helped finally sort out the school office at Kamfinsa, painting the walls, putting up noticeboards and organising the bookshelves which had barely been used before.

We had a really good time with the team and enjoyed a day out at Nsobe game park.  The highlights of the day included Emily screaming as a crocodile lurched towards her (despite it being in an enclosure), various people holding snakes and baby crocs, mum, Mary and Lorraine canoeing (or trying to), failing at fishing, seeing giraffe close up and while this was a different occasion mum ordering a lemonade sticks in my mind for some reason! ;-)

Today I got completely drenched on my way back from Kamfinsa, cycling through water which most of the times touched or covered my peddles and lightning literally striking metres from me, but once again it was well worth it!  The kids in the class (a mix of grade 3 and 4) are making progress and certainly know the sounds and actions that go with S A T P I N M D but blending the sounds is still tricky.  Today, Enoch (who teaches grades 1,2,3 and 4!) was really happy to see the new resources Gemma has been making for us to use (she's the expert) and how well the children did at identifying things that begin with the different letters they have been learning.  The challenge these kids have is that they have to learn the new vocabulary as well.  While we are teaching them in English, we are still finding that we have to use the Bemba word for some things to make it clear.  Typically, however, words like "sweets" don't take much explanation!      

The children are really keen to learn and I think having a Muzungu to impress may help motivate them, despite not receiving any "sweets" from me as yet.  Today was also a success in that I was finally able to interview a second teacher for the school.  She, Violet, has been teaching since 2005 and obviously has a passion for the children.  She even brought her teaching certificates with her to show me which shows how seriously she is taking a position in the school.  It will be good to have another experienced teacher around and I'm sure Enoch will appreciate being able to focus on just 2 grades after the Easter break!   

Having arrived back in Zambia to quite a lot of changes it was really excellent and encouraging to meet with Pastor Albert this morning!

He told me that the parents are all very happy with Enoch, the teacher we took on in August and that the newly decorated school is being put to good use.  The decision to limit class sizes to 30 pupils (compared to 200 pupils in the grade 6 class at the local government school last year) wasn't popular in the beginning but now is showing dividends. The parents have been buying school uniforms from the sewing class this month and next month are aiming to begin paying K5,000 a month for each of their children.  Pastor Albert is hoping that starting this now will help them to be ready to keep paying Enoch's salary after August when his current funding runs out.

We made so much progress in Kamfinsa last year with establishing the Hammer Mill, building the pastor's house, finishing the school and starting a sewing class that I was expecting this year to be a year of consolidation.  However, having heard what is happening in Kamfinsa it seems they are determined to keep moving forward.  Normally, when we leave Zambia for a break in the UK we return to find little if any progress but today appears to have broken that trend!  Firstly, the borehole that was being drilled just as we were leaving Zambia has been finished and Seeds of Hope who drilled the well, didn't stop there, they have since been out to Kamfinsa and put together a borehole committee! They taught the committee to maintain the borehole and encouraged them to buy a lock and chain to ensure it is used responsibly!  This seemed to really inspire the villagers as they then also formed a committee for the hammer-mill.  They wisely decided to use some of the profits from milling to supply the village with fertiliser to help bring in a bumper harvest!!  More Maize grown = more milling = more profit!!   

Amazingly they also found a man who not only used to run a hammer mill but is also a skilled carpenter!  Last year, along with the sewing machines, we also helped take a whole variety of carpentry tools to Kamfinsa which the villagers were longing to use. Now they are managing to pay this carpenter (without outside help!) to both run the hammer-mill and teach people to make furniture in between!  I am delighted to hear that the village is starting to be able to fund things like this from scratch by themselves!!

And it gets better!!! :-)  The sewing class has been doing so well making school uniforms that they got a contract from MTN (one of the biggest mobile phone networks in Zambia) to make uniforms for a school MTN are sponsoring.  The MTN school is quite a way beyond Kamfinsa village but in the same direction from the main road and so MTN should be maintaining the road out to Kamfinsa once the rains have finished.   The sewing teacher, whose salary was being paid by a friend of my mum's, should have finished teaching at the end of January (when the money ran out) but this MTN contract has meant there is enough money coming in to keep paying the teacher... the ladies are not quite ready to go it alone, so they are really happy to have the teacher for a bit longer!

All this news is the kind of thing I have been wanting to hear for a long time - of course I mustn't get carried away, but the village just seem to be really making a go of everything! Praise God!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We've seen the events of this week unfolding for about a year now ever since Soapbox trustees came to Kaniki at the beginning of March 2012, but didn't think it would quite take the turn of events it did. It's been a highly emotional week. We, as a couple, have given our all to AQ for 3 years (2yrs leading, 1 year hosting), Tim was on team and then led for 2 years and Gemma was also on team back in 2001 -that's 7 years of our lives!! It was hard to see it ripped apart, never to be the same again. God can, and I'm sure will, continue to change people's through it if it even manages to continue beyond this year, but still it will never be the same again. The range of emotions has been vast. When we felt God was speaking to us last year about releasing AQ we never thought it would have been this tough and needing to be walked out in so much grace and the need to forgive. More grace is needing to abound.

In short, AQ is no longer at Kaniki. Sad times. It has been such a significant part of our lives, and we wouldn't be who we are without it.

Obviously God has called us to other things with the building of a school and overseeing KOP, though we do still hope to host teams and individual volunteers who come to help us with the various work at Kaniki.

Arriving in Zambia after three and a half months away and returning with an 8 week old baby was never going to be an easy task. Abigail did amazingly well on the plane and several people not only commented on how cute she is but also that they'd never seen such a quiet baby on a plane before. Immigration never cease to amaze - we thought we might have to pay for a visa for Abi (we don't need visas as we have a work permit, but she's not on that yet - it's in the pipeline - prayer would be good). A seemingly simple task turned into a fiasco. Firstly they wouldn't accept the advertised £35 as they didn't want to lose out on exchange rates and so sent Tim to get the exact amount in kwacha, which involved all kinds of shinanigans going forwards and backwards through security at both departures and arrivals to get to an ATM and then change the cash into the right denominations. When Tim returned to immigration after his tour of the airport, almost everyone had passed through immigration. We thought we were home and dry only to discover that the immigration officer had given Gemma's passport to someone else by accident and left hers with us. Tim again had to dash around the airport looking for the mysterious woman carrying Gemma's passport. Thankfully, in the car park she also realised the error and the passports were exchanged. To add to the early morning drama, the bus from Kaniki coming to pick us up broke down which meant we had to wait at the Flying Mission guesthouse (which was actually a huge blessing as we could be fed, watered and showered, plus a quick nap for Tim and Abi). However this meant getting 2 taxis (so we could fit our luggage in) costing a shocking $100, which got completely stuck in mud on the way and had to be winched out by the guesthouse staff. This all before 8.30am. We didn't arrive back in Kaniki until well after dark. Despite the tiredness we were seriously pleased to see friends again who'd cooked us a lovely dinner and bought groceries for us. We live with some good'uns!

We were hoping we might be able to use an AQ vehicle when we first got back to Zambia  as Abigail needed to be registered here and have her all important  vaccinations. However not even 2 days after we arrived both AQ vehicles were taken from Kaniki and so we were left looking to borrow a vehicle from somewhere. God provided a way and so far we've managed to borrow an automatic which took some getting used to and a vehicle with barely any brakes! Good news though is that Abigail has finally had her Hep B and BCG vaccination today, and after 6 months in the making we finally have our Zambian driving licenses - and the search for our own family vehicle begins....

For Kamfinsa Video : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uk7Jx5yPClw

To look at our ridiculously good value summer team :  http://www.kaniki.org/get-involved/summer-team-2013

To read more about our new School : http://www.kaniki.org/kop/primary-school

Thanks! We will be back in Kaniki in a few weeks and will be blogging more then!

Love Tim, Gemma and our new baby daughter - Abigail!

We arrived back in the UK last night after an amazing yet busy few months.  As I said in the last blog, our summer teams worked hard and achieved a lot but I didn't mention the ongoing progress we were also making with organising the building of our new school.  I am still processing the fact that we were able to leave Kaniki on Friday with everything in place and ready to go!  It can only be God and for sure the faithful people he put in place to help us.  Pictured left are Simon and Samuel who have both been an amazing blessing.  Simon has from the beginning (when we first decided to try and purchase land for the school) been offering us his advice and incredibly long man hours.  The land we bought was essentially farm land and had massive furrows across the whole area which would have taken a team of Zambians months to level with their traditional hoes but Simon, who works for Baluba Valley Farm - opposite the college, came with their digger and did it in a few days, clearing ant hills as high as 4 metres tall as he went.  Simon has also helped me find workers to finish our security fence and allowed us to order the necessary materials through the farm.  If you're reading this mate, we couldn't have done it without you - THANKS!  Samuel has come on board in the last few weeks as our builder.  While we had used a Zambian foreman to assist us with our wall fence, we weren't convinced he would be able to build our school to a high enough standard.  Samuel, however, has a long history with Kaniki and has proven his high standards in building through projects he has done for friends of ours.  Most importantly he shares the same vision and heart for our school as we do.   We are extremely grateful to both Simon and Samuel!

The first thing we did once we had bought and leveled the land was to secure it by building a wall fence. (Don't forget we are only 1-2 km from the DR Congo border.)  Again this was something the first 3 summer teams helped us with.  Once the fence around the perimeter was finished (sometime last week) we then had to actually make an entrance!  As we are in effect expanding the college grounds it makes sense to use the main college entrance (which already has a security/gate man) and then have an internal through-way from the college into the school grounds.  Above you can see where yet again Simon and his digger came in very handy!!  Again I was very relieved to have this entrance made before I left Zambia so that building can begin even in my absence.  Having that access meant we could also mark out exactly where Samuel should begin building the first classrooms.  

Samuel will begin building before the end of this month and on our return to Zambia in February next year we should find the buildings (2 classrooms, offices and a toilet block) up to roof level.  We will continue to give updates of progress on this blog and of course our new baby and its safe delivery!  God is good, all the time! 

Over the last 3 months Gemma and I have had 4 summer teams come out to work with us in Zambia on many of the projects we are involved in.  This last week saw the final team leave us and as we begin organising for our trip home it is amazing to see what has been achieved and indeed how God has brought things together right at the end.

One of the ministries Gemma and I have been involved with since we arrived in Zambia together in January 2010 is St Anthony’s Children’s village which is an orphanage looking after many children orphaned due to HIV/AIDS or because of disabilities their parents were unable to cope with.  God provided a physiotherapist to teach us some techniques we could use with children with Cerebral Palsy and that made a massive difference to what we could do as volunteers.  It kick-started a whole host of work with the orphans and even volunteers from other outside NGO’s have followed suit so that the interaction the children have with people each day has improved immensely – even the carers who live and work at the orphanage seem to now enjoy being with the children more.  This summer we made sure all the teams that came out to us had time to go and visit St Anthony’s and they loved their time there, whether simply holding the babies, playing football or skipping with the toddlers or trying out various new craft activities.  What capped it off for me, however, was this last team who spent a week building a playground for the children – swings, see-saw, monkey-ladders and even a cargo net.  It was a pleasure to work with the 4 guys we had to do that task, not only did they work hard and excellently as a team but the finished result is excellent!!

This last team also had the privilege of finishing two major tasks the previous summer teams had also been working on.  With so many teams coming we really wanted to make sure the hammer mill, pastor’s house and school in Kamfinsa village were all finished and ready for use.  And I can’t believe how much that hope has been met!  The first team finished plastering the school, and then painted everything inside fresh and vibrant colours.  They also started to lime the inside of the pastors house (lime is a cheap form of undercoat but not especially pleasant!).  The second team continued further, drawing and painting a number line and alphabet on the school classroom walls as well as painting more of the pastor’s house literally with floors and walls still being finished all around them as they went.  The third team were able to finish the interior of the house to a good standard.

We had a 3 week break between teams 3 and 4 during which time we managed to plaster/rough cast the outside of the pastor’s house and begin white-washing the walls with lime.  We also were able to interview and appoint a new teacher for Kamfinsa school, employ a sewing teacher who has been teaching the ladies to make uniforms (which look great) and organise for a ZOE pump to be put in.  The borehole at Kamfinsa has never really provided a reliable water sauce due to mechanical break down and rusting metal pipes, we have tried fixing it several times but never with lasting results.  A few weeks ago the whole village had diarrhoea as a result of having to go back to drinking from the closest river (5 or so kilometres away) and so we decided to install a ZOE pump on a hand-dug well.  Lifeline in Zambia provided the plastic piping, simple hand pump and all necessary expertise to fit it and at a low cost – really amazing.  So it was a productive few weeks even without a team here.  Once the fourth team had finished the playground at St Anthony’s they also wanted to help with the projects at Kamfinsa and so started by finishing off painting the pastor’s house and in record time.  Then they noticed the house lacked a veranda and so set about making one.  They completed that and still had time to paint the outside of the school building!  Brilliant!

Then yesterday I was called by Seeds of Hope, which is an NGO in Ndola that I have been liasing with since June to see if they could also help at Kamfinsa.  Out of the blue they called to say that they had found someone to fund a new borehole – which costs around 23million kwacha (£3000) – and wanted me to show their staff where we would like it to be drilled!  Soon after phoning me they arrived at the college with a lorry and drilling rig which they immediately took out to the village with me showing them the way.  It was just incredible to arrive in Kamfinsa and see not only the reaction of the community as they saw these huge vehicles arriving and setting up camp in their village but also to see the sewing class in full swing, the children in the school all shouting and learning IN ENGLISH and the school itself along with the children in new uniforms all looking so beautiful!  What a way to end the summer! God is so good!!!

And I haven’t even mentioned the new school we are building here at the college – but I will very soon! Watch this space!!! ;-) 

Yesterday I went to Kamfinsa to help the community finish plastering (rendering) and liming Pastor Albert's new house.  His family had spent a good 2 weeks with us at KBUC where they had a well deserved holiday.  Remember they moved out to Kamfinsa village last summer in order to see the community grow and prosper and left behind both power and water supply to do it!  Here they were able to enjoy swimming in the Kaniki pool as well as even going out for Italian Ice-cream!  It was the perfect end to their holiday to take them back to their new house, fully finished inside and out.  And of course all this is thanks to the amazing work of the AQ team and especially our summer teams who have worked over the last 6 weeks to make this possible!  THANK YOU!!

Our teams have not only worked on the pastor's house but also on making the school ready for it's opening this week.  Both classrooms were painted over the summer as well as all 78 panes of glass being cut and put into their long awaiting window frames.  Firstly, this made the classrooms so much lighter as until the glass was in place huge bookshelves had been used to block up the windows to prevent dust and rain blowing inside.  Secondly the general learning environment is massively improved, it is brighter, cleaner and has alphabet and number lines on the walls to stimulate their interest in learning.   It is so good to also be able to share the news that the school is now open and has a good teacher in place - Mr Enoch Kaseke (right). Enoch is on a trial 12 month contract and is determined to have both the children and any willing parents speaking English by the end of the year.  

We have also been blessed with the provision of a much needed sewing teacher and also funding for materials so that the ladies of Kamfinsa can learn how to make School uniforms.  They are starting by making yellow and brown uniforms for Kamfinsa's own school and then they will begin making blue uniforms for sale to children who go to government schools which are much further away.  While I was in the village yesterday, the sewing teacher made the first uniform for the grade 1 children and Pastor Albert's youngest son, Saviour, enjoyed modelling it as he is 4 years old and so is starting school this week.  Saviour is the boy above looking through the 'Who's in the Zoo?' book.  Having spent the last 2 weeks with him I am sure he is going to learn English very fast - he certainly enjoyed trying to repeat everything I said anyway, just a shame he picked up the Brummie accent as well!

THANK YOU ONCE AGAIN TO ALL OF YOU WHO SUPPORT US AND THE WORK OF KAMFINSA!   IT'S AMAZING!!