Report from BHW Zambia Partnership Facilitator Following Visit

Key people: David Power and Anthony Chitimbala

Recent Events

Current Staff

David Power - Principal
Anthony Chitimbala - Vice Principal (Pictured with Milly, AJ and Chisomo)
Cosmos Chipili - Training Co-ordinator
Edwin Chama - Agriculture
Sylvestor Sondashi - Youth and Media
Hector Mwkabe - Youth
Robert Mwitwa - Maintenance
Chanca Chishete - Accounts 

Community Development Team:
This team is put together to look for opportunities within the local community to make an impact. The current team consists of three team members Saviour Mwelwa, Chisenga Nkausu, and Pamela who are getting together in September to create the next programs. 

Training Courses

Youth GAP Year Course:
This is now a four-month course with 23 students attending this year. The focus remains on using a biblical approach to teach the youth how to live, and make good choices for their life ahead, as they venture out into life.

Church Based Training:
This course is being overseen by GLO in terms of trainers and content. It has expanded from the Copperbelt churches into Lusaka, Kabwe and Kasama. Currently there are 10 course centres running where teaching is given over a weekend four times per year. This is reaching over 300 people in the churches.

Accredited Theological Diploma:
This course is based out of the Australia College of Christian Studies. It is a two-year course where people come four times per year for a week session. There are currently 25 students attending their second year (will finish in September 2022), 14 students in their first year (completing September 2023), and 35 are already registered for the next intake.

Training for Trainers:
This is a youth trainers' course for churches to send youth workers for a week four times per year. This is aimed at empowering youth workers to effectively work with the youth in churches, so that they are relevant to the issues facing the youth of Zambia. This year there are 25 completing the course, with another 25 already registered for next year.

Agriculture Training:
Two courses, each for one week duration, were run teaching the Foundations for Farming biblically based principals of sustainable agriculture. These courses were attended by 15 to 20 students in each course.

Agricultural Development

Four volunteers have just started who pay their own way to be at GLO, while learning Foundations for Farming: Honest, Daniel, Everseto, and Clive. These have replaced the two funded workers who helped Edwin last year with the crops.

The chicken run had been successful, with several batches of broilers being grown for sale. The number of birds has grown from 100 to 250 per batch as they put the funds back into the venture. Unfortunately, the last batch of broiler chicks purchased had an issue of stunted growth which meant they took 9 weeks to grow instead of 6 weeks. This caused a loss meaning they are back to 100 birds in the next round.

A fishpond has been dug and lined with plastic. This was funded by two past Zambian lady students of GLO who wanted to contribute to help with GLO becoming sustainable. Currently they are waiting for the right fingerlings to purchase to stock the fishpond.

The cropping area and gardens have started to be developed, with the planting of pigeon peas and an area of drip irrigation set up.

It is a goal of GLO to start to train local people in the area around GLO in Foundations for Farming, to see the local community develop. This is not only training courses, but also follow up to visit trainees’ farms as they start to grow their own crops.

Personal Stories

Daniel Mwewa

Daniel is one of the agricultural volunteers who are helping to develop the farming training demonstrations. He finished the GAP year course this year and wanted to stay on at GLO to help.

When he was 2 years old, his mum died, and by the time he was 5 his dad was not around so he ended up on the streets of Chingola. He struggled to eat and survived by begging. 

A man from England saw him one day and took him from the streets to a place called Eden Home for boys in Chingola. Eventually he was kicked out of this place and ended up renting a place in town with some other youths. It was at this time he started to use and sell drugs to support himself, emotionally and physically.

In late 2021 the same man from England talked to him about GLO, seeing it as a final chance for him to change his life. Daniel came to GLO not really knowing what to expect. He felt so lost and had so much self-hatred. Through the four-month GAP year course he learned how to live, and how to stop hating himself, seeing himself as having value as God's creation. He was saved as a Christian and after confessing this in church in July 2022 he has been baptized.

He intends to stay at GLO for one year learning agriculture as he learns how to trust himself and his life choices. 

Edwin Chama

Edwin is the Agricultural Director at GLO. He was originally trained at Don Bosco in the Luapula province in 2005–2006. He then moved to Team Missions at Ndola until 2012. He learned Foundations for Farming at Dawn Trust from 2012–2020 where he set up some demonstration plots that still exist today.

He has been to the Foundations for Farming Centre of Excellence in Harare on two occasions for training and the Champs Conference that is held there each year to encourage people. 

Edwin’s wife's name is Constance, and he has four children: Clive, John, Gracious and Evelyn. They moved to GLO in 2020 as he saw the need to multiply what he had achieved through Dawn Trust and Foundations for Farming in his area. His vision is to empower local churches practically in food security and enable the church to address poverty. He is sure that with training and adequate follow up people can change. 

Current Issues and Challenges

Infrastructure: The challenge of infrastructure and maintenance is ongoing. They have a schedule of improvements that they have raised US$12,000 for so far, with another $24,000 needed. 

Income Generation: The team at GLO are investigating various potential ways that they can generate funds. So far these have just been ideas, which they are still looking at how they might create a proposal and then implement.

Comments

It is very encouraging to see the number of lives that are impacted by all the different courses at GLO, and how the local church now sees GLO as a partner that is there for them. The variety of courses meets various needs that are in the Zambian churches.

The challenge now is for the local church to start to increase the funding of this bible college, and it is great to hear stories of the two ladies who have invested in the fishponds.