Hudaga pre-school is almost 100% finished, a few little glitches though but we were able to work through them with Hudson.  He has to build 3 proper toilets instead of the pit toilets he currently has and needs to get a city water line with a water tank.  This should all be ready for next term which starts in January.  We focused the rest of the time on helping him develop a plan to get the income generating programs going for the next phase, which will be grade 1 through 4 which will be out on his farm 10km away.  Hudson has been quite enthusiastic on these programs.  He has an incubator where he will be able to take freshly laid chicken eggs and either sell the 1 day old chicks to others to raise which will save him on feed, or raise them himself for meat.  Either way should work, especially since he has the only incubator in the whole province.  Also on the farm, his fish ponds are going though he continually is learning how to make them bigger, realizing he will need to build more ponds to seperate the sizes of fish.  His best program seems to be the piggery, where he has raised 6 pigs up so far, selling 2 of them at about 80 kgs in weight.  He has quite a system in place to shovel out the pig poop into channels under the door and down into a pit where he will use this for fertilizer and his fish ponds.  He is also growing the maize, soy, and sunflower seed along with sugar cane used to make the pig slop.  He is looking to raise ducks, fruit and greens, all to generate income and also to feed the orphans. Here we have a face only a mother pig could love!

We had a nice visit with Ida and Royd, who we saw last year and who graduated from Hudson's pre-school when it started out in the living room of his home 3 years ago.  They are now some of the best students in 3rd grade at the local government school.  The hut behind them is where they live with their aunt and 3 other kids.  It has to be wall to wall people on the floor at night and looks like the roof is about ready to cave in.  Rainy season will be starting soon....  Look how big their smiles are though!

And here is Ester and Lisa, two orphans who are sisters and go to Hudaga.  Ester is 6 and Lisa is 5.  They were both really good and saying their ABCs.  They also love to sing, and sang for us a song called "I am the Blessing of God" in Bemba.  Ester loves things that are red, Lisa is a purple girl.  They have fun at school playing ball and singing with the other kids.  Their smiles were infectious as soon as they got over their shyness.
Hudson has been doing this a long time and has a knack for picking out the most vulnerable orphans in town to help.  The ability to bring them into his school and feed them truly is a blessing. 

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.