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Key person: Norman Tonga
We visited Norman and Hilda in their village called Malonga. Moven Tonga, Norman's brother, has now been added to the people helping in the partnership. He was one of the original orphans helped back in 2001 by the programme. He has recently moved back to Malonga from Lusaka, where he met his wife and ran a spice trading business for the last 12 years. Moven is in yellow, and Kapena is in the red and blue. The rest are Norman's family, children and grandchildren.
The first day we met with many of the community members in their local church, to encourage them and hear from them about how life is. There were various reports from the beneficiaries of the programmes that have been implemented; orphan care, bible recipients, soyabean growers, and maize growers.
The orphans’ guardians are very appreciative of the provision of uniforms, books, school boarding fees and shoes. They are pleading for this support “not to stop”.
The bible recipients are very thankful to receive a bible in their local language. Each one of them was trained in how to share God's word to others in the community before they were given the bible. Kapena Tonga (Norman's brother) who is a church planter and missionary is so thankful for this spreading of the word of God, and requests for this programme to be continued “each and every year!”.
The maize growers were thankful for the loan of 5kg seed and one bag of fertilizer. Although the season was very dry, because of compost manure, digging potholes and mulching they have at least got something. One grower, Gift Phiri, managed to get 16 x 50kg bags from his lima (1/4 ha) which is a good result compared to others who got nothing. The growers are having issues with how they can source the materials to make compost manure. The community at large is seeing a very real difference in yield from the Foundations for Farming methods.
The soyabean growers are very thankful for the “Kafue” seed that yields much better than other varieties. The rains were poor, many say they have never experienced this type of season before, but some people who planted early have done ok. For the repayment of the seed loans they received, some growers are saying, “we cannot default on the loans because this is a church organization”.
With the varied results, some people did do well. Philemon Njovo managed to harvest 45 bags of soyabeans in total and with the good price of over 14ZMK per kilo he has managed to even buy a motorcycle after repaying his loans.
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As in the previous report in May, given the very low-price (6ZMK per kilo) last year, the decision was made to not sell all the purchased soyabeans, but give out as loans to more growers this year. The original capital amount provided was 180,000ZMK (US$7,000).
The only soyabeans that were sold, was the harvest from the ministry farm of 18 bags, plus 124 bags collected from the previous loan programme. These were sold to Share Africa Zambia at the better “seed” price of 11ZMK. The total funds from these sales realized 79,200ZMK (US$3,080). Of these funds 60,200ZMK was used to pay for the expenses of processing the 25,000 kilos that were to be given out as seed loans. These costs included transport, empty bags, cleaning and sorting, scales, and labour to complete the work.
The total growers helped with a loan for the 2023/24 season was 342. They received differing amounts between 25kg and 125kg of seed. All growers were part of a group that had an appointed agent from within the group responsible for communication and collection of the loans. These agents are paid 600ZMK per ton they collect from their own group as an incentive.
The loan programme repayments were set at 4x the seed amount given. For a 25kg seed loan, at harvest 100kg was to be repaid. The reason for this being so high is that the price of seed is 36ZMK per kilo, versus grain price of 12ZMK per kilo. Thus, the expected kilos to be received of raw grain would be 100,000kg.
Due to the lack of rains, and some farmers being unfaithful, so far only 19,000kg has been collected as loan repayments, although this programme has not yet finished. So far, they have sold 17,000kg and made 211,000ZMK (US$8,200) so have recouped the capital at least, although there are some costs that need to be provided for as per the cleaning, packing, transport and storage. Once all the loans that can be collected are complete and all the costs are deducted, they will send a financial report.
The funds they have are to be deposited safe into the bank account for now.
Going forward, the request is to continue with this programme but with a reduced number of growers based on those who can be faithful. Once the financial information is complete, we will discuss the possibility of using the 180,000ZMK original capital to start funding a buying programme in the future. They are aiming to keep 2,500 kgs of seed for the following season's loan programme.
Currently there are 25 orphans being helped with school requirements. There are another three in Grade 12 who will complete at the end of this year. They are doing well in exams, and they have been requesting to be helped in the school holidays when they are back in the village with extra lessons.
In the ministry farm for the orphans, they planted maize last year as a crop rotation as they had planted soyabeans four years in a row. They managed to harvest 30 bags from the 5 acres planted, which wasn’t a great result but given the drought and the season at least they can sell some to provide extra requirements for school. They have sold 20 bags and are keeping 10 bags for providing food to those in need.
Nixon Phiri who lives very close to the 7-acre farm is the manager, and they employ some piece workers to complete the work.
They have a vision to fence the farm, install a bore hole, tank and solar pump to allow them to grow dry season vegetables and have chickens as livestock.
We chatted with Norman about all the other ministries that the local church is involved in, and what they see the future ministries being. Currently these are already happening due to the giving of local church members, “even if in a small way” says Norman. Each Sunday they have three donation boxes, one for local, one for the national church body and one for missions.
• Increased orphans’ programmes as the need is very high
• Church planting: In the congregations of the local church, they have 11 missionaries and church planters. They have planted over 31 churches since 2001 by going to areas, having crusades where they have evening programmes and then in the daytime, they go door to door to tell people the gospel. Once an area has several people, leaders are identified, and a small structure is built to start the church.
• Gen Bible School: (Gen is Greek for “knowledge”). The students come for a week placement three times per year. The course is accredited and runs for a total of three years. Students pay 300ZMK per term and are billeted out with various church members in the community. There are currently 35 students enrolled. Timothy Kawamba is the teacher who comes from Ndola to teach every time there is a placement, along with other leaders in the local church.
There is a request to fund another 200 bibles, which they can purchase for 300ZMK each, total 60,000ZMK (US$2,330). If this could be an annual addition to the budget they would appreciate it.
The soyabeans programme, despite all the challenges, does show some promise to be a very profitable IGA for the ministry. Once the financial information is complete, the aim is to discuss going forward using the capital fund of 180,000ZMK to purchase from growers. Norman is investigating the possibility of transporting and selling direct to companies in Lusaka, where they can get a price of up to 30ZMK per kilo for seed. This means they will need to be registered as seed growers as an organization which they are implementing. Norman himself is currently registered as a seed grower.