Our Welcome to Zambia

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As newly trained International Relief Managers (IRM) with World Renew's International Disaster Response team, Carl and I are excited to be on our first assignment. We are staying in Mwandi Village in the Western Province of Zambia. Together with our local partner, the United Church of Zambia (UCZ), our job will be to implement the Drought Response project in the Mwandi District.

The Mwandi District has a population of about 30,000, the majority of whom are from the Lozi tribe.  The people we have met here in the village have been very welcoming and we are enjoying getting to know them. As part of our exchange of greetings as we pass and chat with people on the streets each day, we have been told a number of times, "You are welcome."

 In Zambia, the rainy season runs from November to April. Prolonged dry spells coupled with extreme high temperatures since the onset of rainy season has resulted in a devastating effect on farmers' crop performance. An assessment found that a total of 90 - 100% of crops have been lost.

 The project's focus over the next five months is to provide 2,000 families (14,000 people) with food assistance. The beneficiaries of this project will be  farmers who rely fully on subsistence farming for their livelihood. Within this group of farmers, priority will be given to highly vulnerable households which include widows, child- and female-headed households, families with orphans, the elderly, and those with people who are chronically ill, have HIV/AIDS, or are disabled. Food distributions will be scheduled each month from April to September. If further funding becomes available through the Canadian Foodgrains Bank, it is hoped that further projects will be started to help families re-establish crop production and grow their own food supplies. 

Over the past week, we have been busy reviewing and learning how to implement the proposal, and planning the next steps for the project. Most of our knowledge has come from working with Harry and Annie Bergshoeff who have been IRMs for many years and were responsible for writing the project proposal.
We are thankful for our safe arrival to Zambia and appreciate all the prayers for our health and safety. Yesterday morning during our morning walk we experienced God's grace and provision in a very real way. As we walked through the downtown, we stopped to chat with the local seamstress. As we were standing, Annie and I got hit by a car. By the grace of God, we are both OK and neither of us have any major injuries. We are still in awe of how despite these events, Annie only has a bruise on her elbow and I only have a scraped elbow and a sore leg. We thank God for his protection and goodness in all of this. We truly believe that it is a miracle that I was not seriously hurt after being hit by this car.


Please join us in thanking God for how he is caring for us as well as continuing to pray for us as we engage in the work that needs to be done here in Zambia. Also please pray for our neighbours. A number of them have work but have not been paid for the past three months. Please pray for the Drought Response Project we are working on. Since we have arrived it has rained here a number of times; at times, it has come down very hard which is not typical for this area. In another month, the dry season will be here and so the farmers will wait until November to plant their crops again.
Please know that we are thankful for all your prayers and encouragement!

Comments

  1. AnonymousApril 12, 2019 at 8:54 AM

    Carl and Edith thank you for sharing the good times and the bad....how we need to be reminded of the LORD's power, His nearness, His incredible work in settimg this world right.
    You mentioned that you work with the Lozi tribe...what language is their heart language (what they speak when they are excited or intimate)?

    ReplyDelete

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