(The result of some of the diligent work that has been going on at the village to prepare for new arrivals)
The construction of homes and furniture is going on briskly at the Village of Hope in preparation for the coming of about forty children from Livingstone. The social welfare offices in both the Southern and Central provinces of Zambia have already begun the paper work needed in order to implement the transition.
We have also been hosting a team from a church in Australia that has been visiting for two weeks.
(Our Australian brother, Dion, spending the day with Kamau to gather information about the role of Village Administrator)This is the second visit from the Australians, they stopped briefly last year and decided that they wanted to return to for an extended visit and experience the day to day running of the Village of Hope. The team helped paint one of the houses and the community center which we have been using as our school and beginning May 3rd, we will began to use the same facility for church on Sundays.
(Easter Service was held in our front yard as Kamau gave the message and the children performed a special presentation)
In the past we have been ferrying the mothers and children to the local churches in
the few vehicles we have, but as we continue grow, this is becoming increasingly harder to do because of the numbers involved. Mothers and children have often missed church since we did not have enough space to take everyone. Pastor Emmanuel, Pastor Zulu, Kamau and later on Paul Hamelryck, a missionary who will arrive with his family in June this year, will take turns filling the pulpit at the Village of Hope Church.
It has been an interesting observation that the team from Australia as well as other visitors that have come recently, have been seeking the Lord and praying about involvement in orphan rescue and the trips to Villages of Hope have been sort of an exploration venture.
This particular team is hoping to start a children’s home in Zambia in the near future. It appears that orphan rescue is something that is close and near to the heart of the Lord. He is moving people from across the globe with a deep passion and desire to create a safe refuge for these children as well as disciples of Jesus Christ.
Others just cannot help it; case in point, last year, just out of the blue, we received a call from the social welfare to go to their offices to collect some donations, upon arrival; we were given about ten large boxes packed with all kinds of foodstuff such as rice, sugar, flour etc. The logo on the boxes stated that this was a donation to the people of Zambia from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, a Muslim country! Truly God knows how to take care of His people!!
(Malaika & Kimani admiring the harvest of newly picked tomatoes)We are in the process of harvesting our maize and are hoping to receive a bountiful harvest this year. We planted lots of maize before the rainy season in the new fields which we cleared. Last year we harvested over 100 50kg bags, I am curious to see how many we will gross this year. We have also grown many tomatoes that we have been able to sell to people coming from Lusaka, Zambia’s main business hub and the capital center which is about an hour away. We have sold about one ton of tomatoes so far. We are very encouraged about this since one of our goals is to develop businesses which will enable our children’s home to become economically sustainable locally.
Praises & Prayer Requests
- Much wisdom & grace will be needed as the children from Livingstone arrive and transition into life here at the Villages of Hope. They speak the language of Tonga, which is not frequently spoken in our district. However, we think that they have been exposed to more English than our children who are currently living here, were when they first arrived.
- Pray for the family of some friends that run the Ibis Gardens Conference Center across from our property. The husband of one of the owners died last week. They are not Christians but they have many Christian friends who have encouraged them to seek a relationship with the Lord.
- Pray for the Delaware team that is preparing to come sometime in July
- Pray for the team that is working on getting the container together that will be leaving sometime in May.
- Continue to pray for unity among staff especially as we are preparing to grow considerably.
Peace & Grace
The Kamaus
