Report from BHW Zambia Partnership Facilitator

Key Person: Norman Tonga

I caught up with Norman via Skype. The situation in Zambia has been difficult with COVID restrictions but in the Chipata rural area life carries on as people continue subsistence farming to survive.

The local church community has managed to build a new church up to roof level with the community making many bricks and giving donations for other building materials. This new building is also going to be used as a bible school, where teachers from Ndola and Kitwe will be coming to run training courses. Each course will be for a week, three times per year. Another church has also been planted in the last year.

Recent Events

Orphans

They are currently supporting 25 orphans into school.  

Farming

This has been a great success this year, both with the farm purchased by the group to generate income and with the training and empowering of other farmers. 

From the partnership farm they have harvested 34 x 50 kg bags of soyabeans. There is a good market for soyabeans so they have sold 17 bags for an amount of 8,500 ZMK (US$380) that is being deposited into the bank account. 

There are still issues around transporting workers to the farm and storage for the harvested produce.

The farming trainings produced 69 farmers who were given seed as loans last December. So far over 40 farmers have managed to repay the amount of soyabeans as agreed, which has given around 80 x 50kg bags to be used to supply new trainees and also to sell for funds for the project. 

Bee Hives

The bee hives that were built and placed on the farm in December 2020 have now reached the point of harvesting for the first time. Norman and the group are heading to the farm in the first week of July to collect the honey and then market it in the area.

Ideas for the Future

Norman is going to send through a budget for an extra ox cart and also for a shelter to store harvested produce from the farm.