Update from Anthony Chitambala  

Recent Events

Extra Lessons

We started providing extra lessons in August last year when schools were closed due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Extra lessons were provided to the young people as a place for intellectual and spiritual growth. 

Five grades (8-12) were coming every day (Monday-Friday) for lessons. Grades 8 and 10 came in the morning while Grades 9, 11 and 12 came in the afternoon for two hours each. We had four teachers covering the main subjects: English, Mathematics, Science, Biology and Physics.

We are grateful to God for the support from Bright Hope World because it came at a time when our young people needed extra teaching during that period of coronavirus when schools were closed indefinitely. Even when schools opened officially after the Covid cases reduced, only exam classes were allowed to return to school for only two hours a day. Unfortunately, the exam dates were not moved further out to allow them to finish off the syllabus well. Our young people therefore benefitted a lot from the extra lessons as they prepared for their exams.  Indeed, when they wrote the exams, 80% of those who wrote Grade 9 made it into Grade 10 and the Grade 12’s did fairly well. Even for non-exam classes, we can testify that they did well in their end of year tests even though their time in school was reduced to two hours a day and only for two days in a week. 

We have a testimony that one of our young girls in their end of year tests topped the whole school and the Head teacher gave her a bag of Millie-Meal, the usual present they give to a pupil who comes top of the whole school.  

Accommodation

We gave some assistance to four boys coming from Chishi Island who were all in their final grades in school. The accommodation was far better than what they had before. With the new accommodation rented for them within Samfya Bible School premises, they had water and electricity all paid for with the funds Bright Hope World sent. They also had other food supplies such as Millie-Meal, cooking oil and sugar supplied for them throughout the 5-6 months they spent in this accommodation. This gave them an opportunity to study and prepare for their exams with less worries on their minds. The Bible School also helped them with beds and mattresses to use for the time they were renting. As they finished their exams, they were grateful to God for the support they received from Bright Hope World.  

Discipleship

We continue to impact the lives of young people spiritually through Access getting involved in offering discipleship lessons to our young people by training some of the young people in Multiply Discipleship. These trainings will be given to some of the key young people who can then train others. These trainings’ expenses will be covered by Access Water4. 

Plans for the Future

Last year was unique, so is this year. My wife and I will be here in Samfya until November, that is if all goes well with our plans to move to GLO in Ndola. In the meantime, and while we are still here, we want to continue impacting the lives of young people here in Samfya. We have many young people who have passed their exams and need some assistance. For some it is books, others it is uniforms and a few will need school fees. Our experience is that the beginning of the year is crucial as most parents are broke, waiting for the harvest time when they can sell their maize and other crops. It is at this time when many young people stop school because their parents cannot afford to pay for their school fees and other necessities. After this period, the rest is able to be handled by their parents and we rarely have anyone coming to share they need help.

The other project through which we are impacting the lives of these young people is sports. We only have football at the moment for both boys and girls. This year we were privileged to be drawn into division 2, one of the lowest divisions in the Football league in Zambia. 

At the moment we do not have stable support for the Sports Ministry and my hope is that this year while we are around, we can continue seeking a ministry like Access Water4 to take over the ministry.

Comments

My wife Milly and I are grateful to God for the opportunity given to us to be channels of God’s blessings to the young people we have in Samfya. Our hopes and prayers are that many who are beneficiaries of these programs will be able to go further in their academic pursuits and their lives ultimately will be transformed spiritually and physically.