Great Excitement

There was great excitement as we heard the results of the Grade Seven Government examinations – to hear that thirty four of our pupils had passed.  We had anticipated about twenty five but were so pleased with the results.  They had worked so hard.  The children have now moved on to attend Itawa Basic School which is just over an hour journey away, yet they don’t complain, they are so excited and eager to continue their education.

A few weeks later we heard that five of our Grade Nine pupils had passed their examinations and therefore able to move on to Grade Ten at Government High School.

Not only is education important, but supporting our pupils socially is vital.  Education enables our children to develop important literacy skills which not only means they are better equipped to get sustainable employment in the future.  In addition  they also gain knowledge and awareness of how to better protect their health and well being and importantly gain knowledge of how to protect themselves from HIV.  At Hands of Compassion we provide them a wider social support.

To help achieve this, we have just started a Youth Club for our older pupils, meeting on a Saturday morning.  It was great to see thirty young people arrive on the first day. 

"It is now ten years since the beginning of Hands of Compassion.   When I look back over the ten years of working in Zambia with Hands of Compassion, initially the situation looked hopeless, overwhelming, how could we make a difference?  Yet it is amazing what God has done, it has been an incredible journey. Not only is education important, but supporting our pupils socially is vital....."
 

 Adam came to Zambia in January as a Volunteer with USPG.  He has very quickly settled in at Hands of Compassion.  His enthusiasm and previous experience with young people has been so valuable and he is a great support. 

The Youth Club kicked off with a game of netball before then sitting down to consider some of the health issues facing them.  How do they avoid getting HIV, how do they face the social stigmas.  Adam is using the ALPHA course as a foundation for their programme.

Launch of Major Appeal

It is now ten years since the beginning of Hands of Compassion.  When I look back over the ten years of working in Zambia with Hands of Compassion, initially the situation looked hopeless, overwhelming, how could we make a difference?  Yet it is amazing what God has done, it has been an incredible journey.  In Zambia the population today is around 11 million, yet it is projected to more than double by year 2050 to 28 million.   This puts a burden on food, education, employment and healthcare.  A baby’s first challenge is to survive, child mortality is still very high. 

Because we see education and social issues as a holistic package, our vision is to extend the offering of education at Hands of Compassion to Grades Eight and Nine.  As part of celebrating ten years,  we are therefore launching our biggest Appeal yet, to raise funds to enable this to happen.

What does this entail? – acquiring additional land adjoining our school and the building of extra classrooms and toilets.     Can you help us to achieve this ?  – please see our enclosed Appeal Leaflet for more information.

Women’s Group

I was delighted during my recent visit to Zambia, to see about twenty women arrive one day.   They told me they wanted to come back and reform a group again.  Over the past few years, we have battled to try and encourage the women to meet together, initially there was interest, we taught them adult literacy, tailoring and how to start a business, Christian education etc.  Yet after a few months, the numbers dwindled and then no one came.

You can imagine my surprise and pleasure when I saw them again.   They had agreed to come back.

They are starting to make rag door mats which can be sold within the local community and also make simple blouse tops for themselves.   Again we work with them to look at the various social issues facing them.

Sponsored Challenge – 29 August to 11 September 2010

Why not come to Zambia and make a difference?    It would be an amazing experience for you to meet the children, and help out at the school such as painting or assisting John our Gardener.  We have already had two successful sponsored challenges and we are planning to repeat the same again this year. 

It was not just painting the classrooms that helped last year, but the group were able to raise sponsorship money.   One of the participants from our previous Challenge had found the experience life changing.   She felt it was a privilege to meet the children and staff and spend time in their community.

Take up this challenge and make a difference to their lives as well as a life changing experience for yourself!
 

Again this year Zambia has been suffering from very heavy rains and Chipulukusu was no exception.   Despite some attempts to put in a drain across the main road into the compound, water still flowed down to the mud brick houses, bringing lots of other rubbish with it.  This brings with it high risk of dysentery and malaria is more prevalent. 

We made some attempts to deworm the children, and after some initial suspicion from the local community as to whether the medicine was genuine, we managed to persuade them that we were only trying to help!   The younger children particularly are very susceptible to getting the intestinal worms, and as a consequence they tend to become anaemic.

Help us to make a difference to their lives . . .

You may not physically be able to go out to Zambia, but please help these children by giving money to meet our much needed costs..

Please pray for the work of Hands of Compassion

Thank You

Wendy Ely
Director