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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you so so much to those of you who have already donated - we're a third of the way to our target in just under a week! PTL!

Kaniki is 12km from the nearest town, Ndola, Zambia. It is within a few hundred metres of the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. Unemployment is high and many families can’t provide for the basic needs of their children. HIV/AIDS is a huge problem, with almost 50% of the adult population in the immediate area infected with the disease. This has led to a missing generation with many children left orphaned and being brought up by either grandparents or their older siblings. With such immediate needs education is often considered a low priority which means that many people are unable to read and write.  Children growing up here have little to aspire to when they look at the poverty which surrounds them.

For the last 12 or so years a project has been run from Kaniki Bible University College that have been providing for some of the most needy children in the area. The Kaniki Orphans Project (KOP) currently supports just over 300 orphans, paying for their school fees, uniforms, books and food. We encourage and support them along with any family members within their home environment. Within Zambian culture family is important and so we do not want children to be separated from their few surviving relatives. However we have become increasingly aware that paying children’s school fees in the current system is not enough. 

It was in 2011 that ideas of starting a school started to fill our minds.  As part of KOP we work relatively closely with the only local school in the area. It became apparent that many of the children were failing in school because of lack of English and huge class sizes. The school has over 1400 pupils and just 17 teachers. Many children go to school hungry and the teaching they receive is substandard– the problems are so complex that there is no easy solution for the school. 

Having been teachers in the UK, we know that education needs to be holistic and cater for all the individual needs of pupils – something which the Zambian system does not leave room for. We are going to start a school in conjunction with KOP that will provide holistic education for children in an environment which makes them feel valued, safe and secure, where they are able to develop and reach their potential and help them out of the poverty cycle so many Zambians are trapped in.

Class sizes will be limited to a maximum size of 20, teaching and understanding of English will be given top priority and we will ensure the children are given at least one good meal each day. The school plans to open to its first year group in September 2013. Adding an additional year group every subsequent year.

We have received most of the needed funding for the school building itself, but until 13th April did not know where we would find land. The perfect opportunity has arisen and we have been able to pay the 10% deposit because of this week’s donations. The plot of land is adjacent to Kaniki Bible University College and is 3.5 hectares (35,000m2). The price was negotiated down to K95,000,000  (that’s 95 million Kwacha or £12, 667). This is actually a good price for such a large area of land and will enable the school to be built in the ideal location. However, we have just a few weeks left to raise the rest of the money needed to secure the land! 

 
In a little less than a week we have raised £4434 (praise the Lord!!!!!) – so we’re a third of the way there! We need this momentum of giving to continue until we have the amount we need. We have until May 16th to raise the remaining money and have it paid into the account, details of which are below.

 
To donate money, please pay into the following UK account; 
 
Name – KANIKI BIBLE COLLEGE
Acc.no – 50086517
Sort Code – 20-08-44
Branch – Birmingham Kings Heath
Mark ‘land’ for reference

Donations of all sizes are welcome but they are needed urgently. One way you can help us raise the money is by selling off metre squares of land for 40p+ each to your friends, family, work colleagues, or classes if you’re a school teacher etc. Contact us (via the ‘get involved’ tab on this website) for a copy of the land grid to record people’s names who have bought metre squares and receipt tokens for those who would appreciate something showing that they’ve purchased some land to build a school for vulnerable children in Zambia.

Each person that buys one or more squares of land will have their name logged and kept within the school in Zambia alongside all those who have helped make this school possible.  

PLEASE HELP US GAIN MORE GROUND!!