This is Moses with his uncle, who is now his guardian.  This past rainy season a microburst came through their village and blew the roof off their house so his whole family has been struggling.  Moses was a little shy seeing us Muzungas but was able to relax a little after a while.  They do have part of the roof back up and trying to get back on their feet.

Today we had a nice visit with Terrence and his mother Jennifer.

Terrence is one of the new pre-school students at Hudaga.  He is one of the many vulnerable kids in the town of Samfya.  His father is not around, Jennifer is ill herself and has been living in a "group home" outside the hospital for 17 years now.  She struggles to raise her two smallest kids, Terrence and a younger girl who is 6.  Jennifer is 49 years old, has had 10 kids, 5 have passed away.  Her younger girl got sponsored by one of the hospital workers to get into first grade; Terrence has not been able to get to school.  Hudson took him into Hudaga for pre-school to get him started and says he is very enthusiastic to learn.  Terrence's favorite subject is math, likes to play soccer, and his favorite color is black!  He has an enthusiastic smile and an outgoing energy.  His mother is also very happy her son is now getting an education.   His goal is to become a doctor!  Please shower them with prayers!

Today we visited Hudaga.  The pre-school seen above with Hudson is done, just some final touch-ups.  They had to re-do the toilets to accomodate the 15 students they had so they had to temporarily suspend classes but hope to restart in January for the first of three terms.  They go 3 months thoughout the year with 1 month breaks in between terms.   It is a beautiful place complete with a kitchen for feeding the kids lunch, offices and a room for a teacher to sleep.  His goal is to have daycare for babies 3-4 years old, middle years of 4-5, then pre-schoolers 5-6, max allowed is 25 per year.  Mary was able to bring crayons, games, and other things for the kids.  We spent the day finalizing financing especially how to create income generating projects for self-sustaining this project.

Back in Samfya for 2016!  Nala and Lily are growing up.  We are back staying with Mark and Carmen who are raising their two girls up Zambian.  They are both on a Zambian swim club and doing well.  Look out Zambian Olympic team!  We got in last night, October 10th, Mary came with, an occupational therapist who now is on Africa Hope Mission's board.  It has been a while since I have been here, almost 15 months, which is the longest stretch since I started coming in 2006.  Things keep on improving in the main town of Samfya.  There are new lodges in town and a thriving economy now.  Most foundations have been properly "put out of business" here, which is good.  Now the goal is to help the surrounding villages who are struggling.  Our goal this trip is to visit the programs we are supporting along with the kids we are supporting for college.  First will be Hudaga - the school for orphans being built by Hudson.  We fully funded this project already, the pre-school is opened and we will see how far he is on his grade school.  Then we will visit Kaishe, where we are working with Bright Hope New Zealand to try to foster some growth there.  We have funded a leadership discipleship training program for Church and community leaders, mainly to get them working on the same page in a Christ-centered way to help their flock.   We will also be looking at potential property for a future hospice/clinic, exploring how to work with local health care in the community.  So far we have been welcomed back in Samfya, though it is very hot, in the 90's, dusty, and smokey.  Please pray for our safety on our journeys and help for us to see with God's eyes, hear with God's ears, and feel with God's heart as we try to figure out how Africa Hope Mission can help the most here.

Drew and I had a very fruitful trip.  This was more of a discover trip for Africa Hope Mission and it was very fruitful.  Instead of seeing a lot of patients, we rolled up our sleeves and did a lot of relationship building.  Here we are fitting doors for the pig farm.  There is a lot of work to do in the outskirts of Samfya, not enough non-profit organizations to help.  Mark and Carmen are amazing God-driven people leading the way, a model to all, though they will admit that they have not figured it out totally.  These communities are so different it is impossible to come up with one model, though any way you can build a relationship with them, as many of the leaders as possible, empowering them to grow themselves is a start, using Christ as the model for serving.  You have to go with the flow and it definitely takes time, at least 6-8 years, to see change.  It is culture change for these people, change from generations of doing life one way.  it takes everyone, it takes kids growing up empowered to change the next generation.  And lots of prayer!  Today is our last day here this time, we are starting our journey home but heading to South Luangya national park.  I do know we will continue to see Hudaga's project go through as long as Hudson keeps on pushing forward.  We will see where else God leads Africa Hope Mission.  Follow our journey on    www.africahopemission.org

Hudson's fish ponds are doing well and he has plans to build up to 20 in this area which seems to be perfect for it, with a natural spring continually feeding them, and drainage down the valley to a river.  He was recognized by the Chinese fishery department for his good work and given fish feed by them, which has helped greatly to grow the fish.  The water is a nice green with algae, perfect for fish growth, being fertilized too with manure.  He hopes to have ducks on the pond one day also.  He will need to build a fence and supervise it more in the future to keep local fisherman away but all moving well!

We spent a day on the Hudaga farm, installing a couple of doors on the piggery so Hudson can start the pig farm, which will help fertilize his fields for crops.  The soil needs work on this farm; his crop yield was only 50% this year, but some good pig poop will help!  Once his pre-school is done and running he will be able to spend more time out here on the farm, which is where he and is family will move to to keep an eye on the animals.