John 11:40, "Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of what God would do..."
Join us in celebrating the challenges and successes of this past summer in the statistics and stories following. Thank you for helping this work move forward. As you can see in the above picture, one of those challenges/successes has been the building of the new World Hope Zambia training center. The following is a few snippets of what the Lord is doing.
Zambian Community Orphan Trusts
Our work with the trusts is ongoing and growing. We now have 75 villages with projects supporting more than 13,000 oprhans and vulnerable children, as well as caring for more than 1500 HIV+ patients. 655 kids who had not gone to school now have access to education. 1100 people have been trained to visit households supporting orphans. We have advocated and saved the land and property for 390 widows whose husbands had died.
More benefits:
165 livelihood projects
179 tons of fruits and vegetables produced annually
25 maize fields
10,000 eggs produced annually
14,000 chickens given to caregivers each year
45 vocational training projects providing marketable skills to 6000 caregivers
275 child headed households cared for weekly
1328 malnourished children fed weekly
378 church leaders equipped to provide spiritual/emotional support to orphans
1200 youth trained in income generating skills
More stories:
Pauline: "I am HIV+ widow. I have one small child and two orphans. I walk one hour two times a day to fetch water for my family. I live on a small garden plot and am forced to beg for food. The other villagers used to persecute me and say, 'dig your grave for you will be dead soon, too.' Now I am supported with food and medicine to control the HIV. No more do they tell me to dig my grave, because they see I will now live."
Gracious: This child was born HIV+. For the first two years she suffered repeated illnesses because of her positive status. She was pledged to a witch doctor and had permanent 'charms' placed around her waist to 'ward off' evil spirits. As a result of the nutrition program through the trust, the child has begun to thrive, demonstrating the blessing of God and the parents have been convinced to remove the charms. They have since brought the child to the church for dedication.
Bennett: A man dying of AIDS remarked to the caregives as they visited. "This is the first time anyone has ever visited me. My greatest fear was that I would die friendless. Thanks for being my friend." Later that night he passed away....
Well Drilling
The rains and flooding of Dec. - March caused a slow start, but since then 11 wells have been drilled in 11 different villages, providing fresh water for 9000 people. Previously these people had to walk more than 3 miles twice every day to get water.
Chabbaboma Regional Development Project
The Chabbaboma banana plantation is harvesting the first of ten acres of bananas this month. This project was designed to use the largest manmade lake in Africa, Lake Kariba, to irrigate a large plot of land for agricultural production. It will produce a revenue in excess of $100,000 that will be used to transform a region of 35,000 of the poorest people in Zambia. The money will be used to improve roads, remodel schools, enhance and expand the regional health clinic, and provide significant food relief to many of the people in the region. Plans are also being laid for adding fruit orchards and a fishing industry.
Zambia Training Center
Thirty-five staff now run our Zambia operations. We are also providing training for Zambia villages at least 42 weeks out of the year. Many weeks, as many as 35 Zambian villagers are trained at our headquarters in Choma. U.S. teams have also been growing. More than 16 teams have been on the field this year alone. The building of a new center has begun to best facilitate the growth in these areas. The target completion date is November of this year. (See above picture)
Reach for Life and Hopefest
Our hearts truly break for the youth of southern Africa. They hold the key to the future of this continent, as well as releasing the grip of HIV that satan has on the continent. Three large group events were held this past spring and summer, reaching 12,000 youth. These large events brought kids into real, dynamic encounters with Jesus Christ. Hundreds recommitted their lives to Christ and many received deliverance from bondages resulting from curses and witchcraft that had trapped them for years. We are currently planning a fall season of prayer and seeking the Lord as to how to expand this ministry. We are looking at not only Zambia, but Mozambique, Malawi, and South Africa.
Reach for Life (R4L)
A new turn to our ministry this year will be to oversea and lead the youth initiative in Souther Africa called Reach for Life (R4L). This is a 40-week school or church prevention based program that takes youth through four journeys: finding faith, getting growing, loving life, and choosing change. The program uses the International Bible Society's Reach4Life New Testament to share God's power to change people's hearts, minds and behavior. The program presents the gospel message, facilitates avenues for youth to connect with a church and encourages youth to study scripture and lead a moral lifestyle. This program is being launched in Zambia, Mozambique, Malawi and South Africa and presently reaches more than 25,000 youth. By the year 2012 almost 50% of the population of southern Africa will be under the age of 22. To give you a sense of this ministry, we've included a couple stories to help you understand the plight of youth in Africa. (See below.)
Miscellaneous other activities
We are excited about the beginning of a "Hands that Heal" training for AIDS workers in Azerbaijan. "Hands that Heal" trains humanitarian workers to begin to combat the trafficking of persons around the world. Azerbaijan is particularly sensitive because it is the processing point for trafficking young girls from Eastern Europe and Central Asia to the rich Arab nations in the Middle East for the purposes of slave labor and prostitution. This training will be held the end of September.
Jeff has also been engaged in other administrative duties. Not a lot of fun, but necessary. The coordinating and developing of budgets for all these programs has just finished. Jeff has developed an organizational wide measurement and evaluation scheme for World Hope and has facilitated the transition of new leadership on our Zambian field.
We hope you are excited at "seeing what the Lord has done" and continues to do. Check out the stories and pictures below, as well as family news in our side columns. Be blessed!