The Lord Stirs Hearts for Orphan Rescue

(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

March Village Happenings

( Rose Chipoya & her children)

Bwanji Everyone,

One of our great joys this month is welcome Rose Chipoya; one of the House mothers back to the Village of Hope. Rose had been away for three months after she came down with a severe case of appendicitis.

She was rushed into the hospital which is an hour away from the Villages of Hope, it took awhile for the doctors to figure out what was wrong with her but, after she was diagnosed as suffering from appendicitis, for whatever reason, the decision was made to do the surgery early the next morning. Rose stomach swelled up during the night and by the time the doctors made the incision, the appendicitis had ruptured and as a result, there was concern of blood poisoning. The recovery took longer than usual, but she has now returned to her family at the village.

(Some of the children at the Sons of Thunder Orphanage)

Another one of my highlights was a week spent in Livingstone at the Sons of Thunder farm and orphanage. A team of seven left the Village of Hope on March the 9th, this team consisted of Pastor Zulu, Benedict and Kathleen, their daughter Sena and two visitors, Julie and Rose both visiting from the Midwest. I first visited the Sons of Thunder orphanage in October 2005 when Benedict and I visited Zambia for a week to scope out the land. We also spent that time praying and seeking guidance and direction pertaining to possible future ministry involvement in the country.

The purpose of our recent visit was to explore and discern the possibility of taking in the 44 children currently living there. To our delight we were encouraged by the management and the government Social Welfare Officers to pursue the steps necessary to begin the process of admission into the Village of Hope.

When I first visited the orphanage in 2005, I found a lot of babies who were crawling all over the place and others feeding on bottles, these babies have now grown and most of them are now three and four years old. The wonder of it all is that providentially, they may become part of the Village of Hope family soon. Admitting the children will be gradual as we will only be able to take in eight children at a time as each house is completed. This process will continue over the coming months as the Lord provides the resources needed.

We are asking that you join us in prayer for the following:

• The housing for the new children that will be arriving will be completed on time.
• Pray that the transition will go well.
• Pray that God will send the right housemothers to care of the next group of children to arrive.
• Continue to pray for unity among all of those serving at the Village of hope.
• Please pray that we will be successful in getting Kimberly's mother to Zambia for a visit.

God's Blessings to you all!

The Kamaus

Blessings

…From Kamau

Greetings,

We hope this finds you doing well, It has been raining heavily on and off since our return in January. Not far from the Village of Hope, some grass and mud huts have collapsed as a result of the ground being saturated and submerged in water. The crops are doing great though, we are praying that the Lord will give us just the right amount of rainfall we need. Too little and the crops will not mature properly, too much and the water will flood the fields and completely wipe out the crops. We trust that the Lord knows our needs and He knows also how to take care of His own.

We are rejoicing at the arrival of three children who arrived on Friday, February 6th, the children are 11yr old Paul, his sister, 6yr old Precious and a cousin, 9yr old Prudence who has lived with them since she was 4yrs. Their journey to the Village of Hope started on the morning of February 2^nd. I received a call from a farmer who informed us that a woman who was his house help and lived at his farm had died suddenly the previous day and left 7 orphaned children ranging from a two week old baby to a 15yr old.

(Prudence, three days after the death of her Aunt. She lost her own mother when she was four, she has been orphaned twice.)


The woman's husband passed away in 2003. The farmer stated that these children had nowhere to go and that the father of the two week old baby who was a guard at nearby farm, had disappeared when he found out that the woman had became very sick soon after the birth of the baby.

(Baby Blessings just before being taken to the infant rescue ministry)

We took two week old Blessings, their little sister, to an infant rescue ministry in Lusaka. The plan was for Blessings to be reunited with her siblings at the Village of Hope after she was weaned for 6-12 months unfortunately, she died two weeks later on February 18th due to complications related to acute pneumonia.

The children's 13yr old sister and 15 year old brother were taken in by an Aunt and uncle, who suddenly found themselves overwhelmed with the latest death of their sister and were wondering how they were going to provide for the seven newly orphaned nieces and nephews since, in addition to their own children, they were already taking care of other orphans belonging to two of their other siblings who have also passed away.

(Prudence, being welcomed by Joyce, Terence & the other children)

(Paul's introduction to Legos by Sharpi)

(Front from Left: Paul, Precious & Prudence; Back from Left: family friend, Uncle & Aunt when they brought the children to their new home at the Village of Hope)

…From Kimberly

Our time visiting friends and family was wonderful for us and we are very grateful to the Lord for allowing it to come to pass. We are happy to be back in Zambia and settling into our routine of ministry and homeschooling.

(Saturday morning at Hope Club)

It was great to get back to Hope Club as well. In school, the teaching theme for part of the year is "Who Am I?" They have been learning various things about themselves, their bodies, etc. In Hope Club we have be learning about the ways that Jesus grew during His time on earth; growing in stature, wisdom, favor with God and with men and that we need to grow in the same ways. Right now we are learning about what it means to grow in wisdom and in the different ways we can be wise. So far, we have talked about the wisdom of obedience, receiving counsel and in the use of our tongue.

(Returning to their homes after Hope Club)

Two weeks ago, we held our first church service in the community center. It truly was a day of blessing as we hosted members from Pastor Emmanuel Lusumpa's church and neighbors in the community. It was a very joyful time of singing and celebrating what the Lord has done over the past two years.

(Malaika and Sharon after the church service at the community center)

Prayer Requests

• The opportunity to return to Okada School to hold Bible Clubs there has opened up again, so Mary Zulu and Kimberly have begun this new time of ministry with the children in the surrounding communities. Pray for the Lord to prepare the soil of the hearts of the children to receive His Word. Praise also for the excitement and receptiveness that was shown by the children as the Bible Club began again.
• Due to the growth of the Village of Hope and need for everyone to receive regular spiritual nourishment, we will be starting church services at the community center beginning on the 15th of March. Please pray for God's direction as we begin.


• We have some discipline issues with two of the children who are showing some defiance and disobedience toward their house mother and their teachers at school. We are asking for wisdom to address the problem and that God will work to change their hearts.
  


• Pray for continued unity in our ministry and for strong interpersonal relationships.
  


• We are currently in need of born-again, godly housemothers and aunties. Please pray that God will lead us to them.
  


• Pray that Kimani & Malaika will continue to receive all that they need to thrive in home school as Kimberly instructs them.
  


• Pray that Kimberly's mother will be strong enough to travel for a visit this year and that the finances for her ticket will be available when it comes time to purchase her ticket.

With Gratitude,

The Kamaus

Travelers

Greetings!

Hello friends, I hope this finds you doing well, we are presently making our preparations for our return to Zambia after visiting in Wilmington, Delaware for about two months. Our journey began in Zambia on September 26th when we bounded a train for a trip to Kenya through Tanzania.

The train trip from Zambia to Tanzania took two days and then from there we took a bus ride into Kenya which lasted about ten hrs. The cost of the train trip was U.S. $206 for a first class cabin with bunk beds; the bus ride from Tanzania to Kenya cost U.S. $100, this brought the total cost to U.S. $306 dollars. Prior to our train trip, we had inquired from the airline how much it would cost to fly to Kenya which is only a two hour flight from Zambia, but we quickly settled for the train when we found out that it was going to cost the four us U.S. $2400, so I guess you can say that we saved $2094 not bad ha! In the course of our travel, we saw some awesome scenery as we traveled through tunnels and jungles and over high bridges and rivers. When planning the trip, we were wondering how Kimani & Malaika were going to handle it, thankfully, they did very well and did not complain.

Upon arrival in Kenya, we had a wonderful home coming; we visited with Kamau’s relatives and friends. This was the first time in our eleven years of marriage that Kimberly and our children had visited the place where Kamau was born. Kimani and Malaika were able to visit with their Kenyan cousins for the first time. We were in Kenya for two weeks and it was truly a very special time. However Kamau’s relatives put him to task and wanted to know why he had not taught the Kids and Kimberly Swahili. They told him to make sure that he teaches Kimberly and the children Kikuyu or Swahili so that they can be able to communicate with them next time we visit. They even threatened to hold Kimberly hostage for two months and teach her themselves as they did not believe that Kamau will do it since he had not done it during the eleventh years of marriage. How utterly unfair! Seems like these people have no confidence in me! Please click on this link to view a brief slide show of our travels.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qi3yRvWUA2o

We are enjoying visiting with Kimberly’s mum and sister, Nikki; Kimani and Malaika are having tons of fun with their grandmother whom they haven’t seen for two years. We are very grateful to God to find Kimberly’s mum doing well and able to get about without much problems, she went through two hip replacements surgery recently which has greatly alleviated the pain and discomforted she has suffered for some time. Nikki's wedding was the highlight of our family during our stay.

Malaika turned eight on November 28th, she celebrated her birthday bowling and playing arcade games with her friends.

We have also visited with friends and churches that support our work in Zambia including a few other churches to help raise awareness of the orphan crisis. This time that we have spent them have been full of laughter and encouragement and it strengthens us as we go forward in our ministry. Thank you & Many blessings to all those who have made the last three months so very special to us through giving, practical helps, hospitality, prayers and many other kindnesses! We will miss you!

For His Glory,

The Kamaus

Two Years Already?!

(Malaika & Sharon, best pals)

Muli Bwanji Everyone,

From Kimberly....

Where has the time gone? Forgive us for starting off with a cliche, but we are truly asking that question. We can hardly believe that it has been two years since we arrived in Zambia. I can still remember wondering what it would feel like to finally set eyes on the face of the first child that would come to live at the Village of Hope. Now we have 21 faces that have become very dear to us living at the village!

Kimani just recently celebrated his 10th birthday, his second in Zambia. Everyone stopped by for some cake and fellowship. Malaika will be celebrating her 8th birthday in the States. Yes, we are going to be returning home to Delaware for a visit from October 21st to January 3rd. We are actually leaving Zambia on Friday, September 26th on a train bound for Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and then onto Kenya by bus. We will be visiting with Kamau's family for the first time in the 11 years that we have been married. Shortly after we arrive in the U.S., we will be participating in the wedding of my sister. As you can imagine, this is a very exciting time for us. We are looking forward to seeing many of you, so please be on the look out for us!

(Future carpenters?)

August, we enjoyed the company of a family from Michigan that came to visit the Village of Hope after hearing about it on the Family Life Today radio program. Mark used his carpentry skills to help with some projects and to take time to instruct some very eager students! The children could not wait to get their chores done so that they could come over to the work area to hang out with Mark and work on their projects such as, benches, crosses, little tables, etc.



As you can see from the above picture, Isaac and Brighton were absolutely fascinated by the drill and could not wait to try it out for themselves. Maureen, who is a teacher, was of great help to us as we were preparing to resume school in September. She helped us put together a teacher training program and provided us with a wealth of ideas for our school. Kristopher, gave art instruction and taught the children how to play checkers. We were sad to see them go and we really miss them!


(Selita, Isaac, & Brighton hard at work)


(Selita making a bench)

From Kamau...

This is the time of year when it is very dry, windy, and hot! It is also the time of year for fires that just spring up suddenly and hungrily eat up the dry grasses of the bush. This fire that you are looking at was right on our property and actually came into the village and came very close to the houses. It burned all of the grass on the 97 hectares of land that belong to All Kids Can Learn Zambia. Amazingly, whenever this happens the trees do not burn, they are very resistant to fire and seem to thrive in this type of environment. Fortunately, no one was hurt in this fire but just about a week later there was another fire right across from us at Ibis Gardens and a man lost his life. He had been drinking and decided to lay down in the tall grasses of the bush in order to sleep, and the fire surrounded him. It was very sad. In a similar fire, Pastor Zulu, our pastor, lost his elderly mother in a bush fire just like this one.

( This photo was taken not far from one of the houses in the village)

(Benedict came out with the skid loader to put out some flames that were getting too close to the hose pipe connected to the water tank.)

(Kathleen and the children outside of the community center which is currently being used for school)

On the first day of the new school term, the children were very excited to be attending school at the community center instead of in the houses at the village.

Kathleen and one of the teachers welcomed the students and gave an encouragement from God's Word.

We have begun to upack the many boxes of books that arrived on the container and we are pleased that we can have our very own library! What a huge blessing!

(The children have a look around at the classrooms that they will be using)

(Exlidah, Sharpie, and Gift looking at the many books)

Prayer Requests

• Pray for safe travel for our family
• There have been many illnesses at the village lately. Please pray for healing and protection.
• Please pray that God will send to us godly, experienced teachers for the next term in January 2009. This is an urgent request.
• There was an attempted robbery at the community center a few days ago. They were after computers and sewing machines. Again, please pray for protection of our guards who are the ones who would come in contact with the thieves. Pray that God will change the covetous hearts of those in the surrounding community, it is a real problem.

Hope to see many of you very soon,

The Kamaus

Cookies, Containers, & Crocodiles

Dear Friends,

From Kamau...
Recently, I heard that there has been a lot of anxiety and restlessness over the current cost of gas in the U.S. I am told the price has increased to something like $3.50-$4.50 a gallon? Well here in Zambia, we have been squeezed, wrung out and shaken up in all sorts of ways such that nothing shocks us any more. Just last week, the government state radio announced that the price of fuel would increase to 13 percent. What this means, is that the cost of diesel will now be a little over a $11 dollars a gallon, while petrol will be a little over $12 a gallon. Talk about highway robbery!!! I am beginning to have a healthy respect of the Amish way of life; just a buggy, a horse and some grass, which we have in abundance here. I suspect these guys, the Amish, know something about thrifty living, which given the present circumstances, I find quite appealing.

I thought that perhaps, I should write to encourage you and also to let you know that it could be worse. So friends, next time you pull in at the gas pump, think about what I’ve shared and don’t be surprised if you catch yourself singing, “God Bless America.”

From Kimberly...
When you get a moment to stop and observe what is happening around you, does it cause you to reflect on the things that have eternal value? If so, are you cherishing them? I have been finding myself doing this very thing over the past few weeks. Permit me to share some of these observances with you.

• Eager little arms raised and waving in the air, hoping to be called on to answer a question from the Bible lesson.
• Experiencing a little taste of what worship will be like in Heaven as Zambians, Zimbabweans, Americans, adults and children lifted up voices to sing to the Lord.
• Gathering around a campfire listening to the children give thanks to the Lord for bringing them here to the village, for their housemothers and aunties, for food to eat and clothes to wear. The list went on!
• Hearing delighted squeals of laughter as children raced to catch bubbles on a sunshine filled day.
• Receiving hugs from nine or more children all at once!

It has been a very busy time for us during this fall/winter season, which is your spring/summer back home. Since March of this year, we have hosted about five teams and several individuals and families. We have recently said goodbye to the team from Maryland and to Kate Weber, who helped us with various projects including organizing our stores builiding, building a fire pit for campfires, sewing instruction, baking, unloading the container, etc. We miss them and really appreciated their encouragement, willingness to serve and joyful spirits. Currently, we are hosting a team from Wisconsin and a family from Michigan. We are receiving assistance with carpentry projects, sewing curtains, community outreach, art classes, unpacking boxes and sorting through items and planning for the next school term.

As some of you may have learned through emails sent out, the Schwartzes had to leave unexpectedly for South Africa so that Kathleen could undergo surgery for fibroid tumors. The surgery went well and our prayer request is that her recovery time will be quick and that the pain she is in will subside.

We have also just learned today that President Levy Mwanawasa of Zambia has passed away. (He had professed to be a born again believer). In June he had a massive stroke and he did not recover from it. As you can imagine, this is a time of uncertainty for the whole country so please be praying for his family, stability in the country and a godly leader to be raised up.

The children are on holiday break from school during the month of August. Chores still need to be done however so here is what a typical wash day looks like.

It is a quiet Saturday afternoon and we are gathered together for Hope Club. The lesson for that day was about the purpose of angels.

Soccer is the favorite game to play among the children. In these two pictures, Isaac and Francis are doing some fancy footwork with the ball. They are very good soccer players and are very competitive with each other.

While Kate Weber was here at the Village of Hope, there was a lot of baking that went on. The children were fascinated by the process and insisted on helping her and Elizabeth and tasting as they did so!

Elizabeth is a graduate student from Minnesota who is studying public health. She has been at the village for seven weeks and has had the opportunity to teach health and nutrition to some of the local teenage girls in the community as well as assist in the baking of cookies and other goodies!

Kimberly recently found herself in the position of substitue teacher for two days. She helped out in the Pre-school and Kindergarten age group. In this picture she is explaining a new math concept but as you can see, the children were more interested in the photographer!

In our science class, magnets were introduced for the first time and they were definitely a success! The children were amazed with them and had a wonderful time discovering what would stick to them and what didn't. There were lots of giggles and little voices saying, "Look Auntie, look!"

When the container arrived, the team from Maryland was on hand to help unload the contents of the container. They had prayed before leaving the US that they would be in Zambia when the container arrived and God graciously answered their prayers! It took a little over two hours to unload the entire container.

As the boxes were unloaded, they were placed in the community center. We have already begun to upack boxes but we have the huge task ahead of us in organizing everything.

We would like to give a huge "thank you" for everyone who participated in some way in donating items for the container, loading it and enabling it to be shipped to Zambia. After two years some of our belongings that we had packed "to come later" have finally arrived! In the picture above, Kimani is standing next to some of the boxes labeled for the Kamaus and the Schwartzes so that they can be taken to our homes at the village.

(This crocodile was one of the old ones.)

Kimani’s Corner

Hi. We recently went to a place called the Kalimba Reptile Park. There were lots of snakes and crocodiles. We got to pet a baby crocodile and I even put a python around my neck, how cool is that! The adult crocodiles were huge!! Did you know that they keep their mouth wide open for two reasons, to help them stay cool and also to wait for birds to land on their teeth so that they can quickly snap their mouth shut and eat them. My mom thought that they were sleeping because they did not move for the whole time that we were looking at them. I saw them moving their eyes though. The people who work at the park told us that they could live to be a hundred years old.


(These were the crocodiles that were ten years old)


(Do you see the snakes' faces? There are actually two snakes in the picture!)

(Our trip to the Reptile Park. Do you see the large crocs behind us?)

(How would you like to have to lug him around all the time!)

(It was very exciting when it was my turn with the python around my neck!)

Malaika's Corner

Hi. The other day, our cat Orlando got caught in a trap that was around his neck. At first we thought somebody just put it on him but Baba said it was a trap that people use to catch animals in the bush. When Orlando came home he was crying and very scared.

We went to a reptile park and there were snakes and crocodiles. The snakes were very poisonous and the crocodiles were huge. One crocodile was 50 years old.

Much Love from the Kamau Family!