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!!! ;-)