Zambia 2008 Summary

As we leave Zambia to begin our journey home it was gratifying to look back on what we have achieved in the five months since Gordon arrived to begin this year's program.

- Three teams and several other visitors from Canada (over 40 in total) came to work with us
- Constructed a new staff house at the school
- Refurbished 40 desks for the classrooms
- Refurbished chalk boards and doors at a community school
- Team members taught classes at the school or did presentations to students about life in Canada
- Donated large amounts of school supplies to students and resource materials to teachers
- Conducted a one day workshop-seminar for teachers
- Painted the clinic and provided material to complete the building
- Dug the foundation for the next phase of the clinic and provided some material to get started
- Large amounts of general medical supplies and some small items of equipment donated to the clinic
- Assisted the clinic with clerical work and transport to monthly outreach clinics
- Donated sports equipment and uniforms to local sports teams
- Identified 20 orphans in the community needing most help and provided them with some resources as a start : food, school uniforms, clothing and mosquito nets
- Put a new roof on the house of an old man - nearly blind - taking care of his two orphaned grandchildren
- Attended local church and participated in services and ministry groups - men, women, youth, children and choir
- Distributed 70 bibles in the community, many of them in the local language
- Added funds to our small micro-loan fund which is helping people in the community - currently 11 loans are out and 49 have benefited since April 2007
- Connected with local women`s clubs and provided assistance to them in their activities to help themselves make money

Note : We estimate that over 2,000 pounds (900 kg) of goods were brought from Canada to be donated - as listed above

In addition there has obviously been a lot of interaction with many, many people in the community so that we have strengthened our relationship with the community. We have learned a great deal from this year`s time here which will help us greatly in planning and preparing for the years ahead. There is so much more to be done and we are excited about what is still to come.

A reminder that in addition to the photos posted on the blog there are many more in our Facebook albums, the links to which are listed to the left.