The team in Zambia continues to be hard at work coordinating our April efforts and preparing for the expansion work ahead.
Brother Nguni just arrivedin Solwezi, in northern Zambia. Solwezi is currently a hub for 11 church communities around which we have built our feeding program. We are hoping to expand that area to the east into the Copperbelt Region with our harvest funding. Brother Nguni will focus his attention on Josh, who has from the beginning been our champion in the area, and the leaders of the 11 current communities on this trip.
The entire team is preparing for the drive east from Lusaka, as we have determined our harvest efforts will begin in earnest in May in the various communities we serve in the areas of Petauke and Mambwe. For those Zambian leaders who are regular readers – especially the many in the Chipata area – I beg your patience as we work to be as orderly and efficient as possible with the harvest acquisition. Communities around Chipata, Chongwe, Livingston and Lusaka should expect a focused effort in June.
Meanwhile, back in Iowa we continue to have conversations with our friends about the coming harvest project. Officially our purchase pool went from $95,000 to $100,000 this week, but once again I am aware of additional funds coming from more directions than I was aware of last week. So we are definitely making progress!!
Here is a number I would love for you to ponder as you consider whether you may want to participate: For just over FIFTY AMERICAN DOLLARS, we believe we will be able to provide ONE TWELVE KG BAG of MAIZE to ONE Zambian family MONTHLY for the next TWELVE MONTHS.
This is one of the factors that continues to drive us in our fundraising efforts – the sheer EFFICIENCY of the effort is amazing. We often talk about the EFFICIENCY of the CLEAN WATER projects – for less than $2,000 we can change an entire community by providing clean water. At harvest time, that same $2,000 can provide that TWELVE KG BAG of MAIZE for 400 Zambian families MONTHLY for thenext TWELVE MONTHS.
It is just amazing to me how LITTLE it costs us to provide SO MUCH to our Zambian brothers and sisters.
