Report from BHW Zambia Partnership Facilitator Following Visit

Key person: Oliver Mulenga

Recent Events

Orphan Programme

Covid had a major effect on the running of the Saturday morning programme that Oliver runs for 19 orphans. They come to be fed. Not just food but also help with extra lessons and with encouragement from the bible.

To still be able to meet, Oliver had to complete some drastic renovations of the building, which involved knocking down walls to create one space big enough to meet the social distancing guidelines from the Ministry of Health. The cook that is employed to make lunch for the orphans then had to go through a health course and be provided with personal protection gear. Plus, the costs of masks, hand sanitizer and other items meant the ministry had to come up with an extra 28,850 ZMK (US$1,750) to be able to continue running. 

Oliver also helps these orphans into school out of the profits from his own businesses, which include rental of a shop in town and a block making business. Both businesses are going well.

Farming Training

Oliver has sent two men to be trained in Foundations for Farming at GLO in August 2022. These men are part of the local church and are head men in the villages where they live. The prayer is that these men will put into practice what they have learnt, and then help to train others in the community.

We discussed with Oliver what the plan is next and concluded that for this season we should just let them grow a good crop to prove they have learnt something. We aim to send Edwin from GLO to encourage them prior to planting their crops to ensure they are on track. If they do grow good crops, we will then see what possible training programmes they might want to run, both in their own areas and a programme run at Oliver’s farm (12km from Kalulushi) for the guardians of the orphans on his programme.

Plans for the Future

Oliver is looking at possibilities of other businesses that he could engage in to help the ministry. He will work on possible proposals as follows:

• Hammermill at his plot in Kalulushi
• Christian bookshop in town
• Starting a private secondary school Grade 8 to Grade 12 at his plot
• A fuel filling station

Empowering the guardians of the orphans was discussed and with the newly trained Foundations for Farming men, there may be an opportunity to look at a loan programme and provision of land on Oliver’s own 6 ha farm.

The budget to help with the orphans' Saturday morning programme will remain the same (US$2,970).