ZMS Newsletter - February 2007

Dear Friends, It was good to be back in the UK to meet up with many of you again and to be with the family. However it’s also good to be back out here in Zambia getting on with the work rather than just talking about it! I thank you all for the great support both practically and in prayer which enables us to continue developing the various projects.

The main story here at present is the very heavy and exceptional rains that have been experienced since Christmas. There are reports of flooding and homes being washed away in many parts of the country. We always pray for the rains to commence and continue for a good period to enable the crops, especially the maize, to produce a good harvest. Ironically when too much rain comes it has an adverse effect and the crops do not establish and suffer badly. This is what we are seeing now and it looks like there is going to be a serious shortage of food once more this year.

Street Boys Lusaka

I spent the first 10 days I was back with the MacDonald’s at ‘OMF’ their new home and farm. They now have 36 boys living with them and 26 of these are now attending a day school and really enjoying their opportunity to learn. Despite problems with the borehole, water supply and other difficulties, they are full of thankfulness for what God has provided. They look forward to an exciting year developing their new property to cater for the boys they have, and in time, bring more in from the streets.

The crops the boys planted last Nov/Dec have grown well and (right) you can see a good crop of maize behind the sunflowers. This was planted using the ‘God’s Way of Farming’ method and it has been blessed. Many people have commented ‘why is your maize so big, what have you done’!

On the 8^th of February I travelled from Lusaka back to Petauke. On settling back into my chalet here it really felt like I was back ‘home’ again. I thank God for this feeling as it could be otherwise which would make it far more difficult to cope. It is therefore not to be taken for granted.

Covenant College Farm

While I have been away my brother Bilison and his team have been working hard managing all the animals and the crops. It was a real joy to see the GWF maize crops here as well. They are quite incredible compared with other crops around. This one of the GWF plots compared with one of our other fields (left) which was planted late and in the traditional way. Most of the crops we see around us look like this and are going to give a very low harvest and subsequent problems for the people. We have many people coming for the ‘work for food’ programme at the moment. Up to 20 women plus men are coming each day to help with weeding and other jobs. In return they receive cassava and/or maize to feed their families. The children wait nearby as their mothers work.

The animals are doing well; the eggs from the chickens are giving enough return to cover the daily running of the farm. The pigs especially have grown well and they at least are not complaining about the heavy rains!

Covenant College

Cees and Miriam’s new home is progressing, albeit at African speed! There is still a lot of work to do inside and it will be some weeks before they are able to move in. Two friends from Canada have been over to help lay the floor and shower room tiles.