Chikumbuso

I know that it has been a long time since some of you have heard from us. No, we didn’t get eaten by crocodiles and no we didn’t go crazy with life in Zambia BUT we have been incredibly busy helping to “build” one of the best community centers in Lusaka! Seriously, so much has been going on at the center and lots of visitors have added to the excitement.

The school reopened with 250 very happy students. It was especially fun for our fifth graders to have a new classroom with Andrew as their teacher. Seventy-five of these children are sponsored and were thrilled to receive their blankets, mattresses and food and school supplies. Seventy children in upper grades are sponsored at local schools, we cannot thank you enough for all of this support. The new school year brings with it a new fifth grade classroom and a special shelter built “for kids only” to hang out it in, sheltered from the sun and rain. We are calling it the “Khala Pamodzi” which means “Sit together”. It is amazing how many kids actually fit in the shelter. The first day of its completion there were about 60 kids inside performing skits, drumming, and dancing. What a gift for them to have a place to call their own!

Thanks to Voluntown Elementary School we have been able to dig our borehole. We are now just waiting for a play pump to put on it. This should happen soon as the woman who is in charge is up this week visiting from South Africa.

The widows at Chikumbuso have added 30 new women to their group bringing the total to 60. This really fills up our community center on Wednesday afternoons. The bag project is growing and we hope to do more and more exporting of the bags. Over these past few months we have been able to sell bags at AIDS conferences around the U.S. which has really boosted the womens morale and our production of bags. Mary Fisher also returned in January to start another bracelet project with the women. We were all so happy to see her again and the women continue to be busy with the making of these bracelets.

The single moms group graduated at the end of December with 11 beautiful young women. These women have moved in with the vita goat production of soy milk and peanut butter. A new tailoring class of 20 single moms and four young gentlemen started in January. It is actually quite enjoyable having these four men. Not only are they successful with the sewing machines but they are also very helpful when it comes to moving 25 kilo bags of mealie meal and chopping wood for the stove!

Our 23 grandmothers continue to be cared for with monthly food, water cards, and health cards. We distributed mosquito nets to them again as many of the nets have worn out or been torn. Generally speaking they have all been in good health. Over the next couple weeks we will begin a microenterprise project with 7 elderly men in significant need. This project will teach them skills in wood carving beginning with canes and walking sticks. We are encouraged that they want to join the Chikumbuso community and hope their influence on our children will be good.