Report from BHW Zambia Partnership Facilitators Following Visit in July

Key people: Jeremiah & Faides Chiyesu and Rebecca Kaumba

Recent Events

Jeremiah

Sadly Jeremiah is very sick in hospital. He had an accident on his bike back in March due to dizziness which left him with multiple broken ribs. He is currently undergoing many tests to determine the best course of action. We visited him twice in hospital in Chingola to see where we could help. (Photo shows Jeremiah and Faides with Oliver Mulenga from ZAM09a)

Orphans Programme

Back in Kamatipa Evans Doygie, who joined the group a year ago, has been continuing to help with the orphans programme. There are currently 12 orphans on the programme. Four of these are in high school (Grade 10 to 12) which means they have to move to the town of Chingola. So far all four have found some relatives to stay with in town.

They grew a field of sweet potatoes which have done well. They also planted a field of beans but due to heavy late rains the field did not do well. Evans brought us a bag of the potatoes with him on his bike to show his appreciation for the support that is given to the community (he biked 30km each way to come and see us). 

At first the community didn’t really accept Evans to help them. He asked the guardians and orphans to come and help in the sweet potato and beans field but they refused. Now that he has been the one to help purchase uniforms and pay school fees they are accepting him. At one point many of the orphans were not going to school as the guardians wanted them to work in the fields. Evans called them together to explain the importance of education and this has now stopped and the children are back in school. 

They are currently seeking a new member to come on board to help Evans with the work. The new man is a very good gardener. 

Evans Doygie

Evans (on left in photo) is a farmer at heart and has farmed well enough to set up a small shop in the community. This last year he planted 1.5 ha of maize and harvested 65 bags, not a great yield at 2.1 tons per hectare but it was grown with no fertilizer. Fertilizer has more than doubled in price in the last year meaning most farmers cannot now afford to purchase it at over 400ZMK ($40US) per bag. He is very interested in Foundations for Farming, learning to use compost and manure teas, and is going to attend the course run by Elizabeth and Mwela from Lulamba (ZAM10c).

We promised Evans that next year we would visit Kamatipa and stay a night with him.

Personal Stories

John Mushitu

(John came to visit us at Lulamba with Evans. Evans dubbed him and the sack of sweet potatoes on his bike!)

John is 16 years old, currently in Grade 9 and lives with his Grandma. His father past away in 2010 and his mum lives in a village near to Kamatipa but struggled too much to look after John. He has a brother and sister who are older than him but they don’t stay with him and his Grandma.

His Grandma helps to support him by farming fields of groundnuts, sweet potatoes and maize. He likes to help in the farming and his favorite food is sweet potatoes. They eat two meals per day.

John attends CMML church which he likes as he can learn the word of God and learn about the gift of Jesus. He attends the Sunday school.

For fun he loves to play football, playing the number 7 position. He also likes to read the bible as that is the only book they have in the house other than text books. 

He says Kamatipa is a hard place to live as there are no shops that have anything other than food to buy.

His main concern going forward is where he will live in the town of Chingola if he passes Grade 9 and has to move to go to Grade 10 as he has no relatives in town. 

Prayer and Praise Points

1) Pray for Jeremiah's health and for Faides to have continued strength
2) Praise for Evans who has taken up the baton in the Kamatipa community