Last month, 21 year old Lawrence Mwape, an orphan and ninth grade student at the Helen DeVos Christian School was informed that he scored the second highest grade in the entire country on the all important qualifying exam to continue his formal education. Lawrence was awarded a full scholarship to one of the finest boarding college preparatory schools in Zambia.
Raised in a family of six children, Lawrence Mwape; aged 21, is the eldest son. With a desire to become a doctor or chemical engineer he was doing very well in school and he passed his grade seven exam with very high scores. (In Zambia a pupil must pass their grade seven and grade nine national exams in order to continue their education. 68% of the candidates that take the exams, fail).
Suddenly, after a short illness, Lawrence's father died and he was forced to stop his schooling to try to keep his family together. He was not able to do so, and eventually all of the relatives abandoned the 6 children. With no place to go, he found a way to travel from Ndola to Lusaka which is about a five hour bus ride. Looking for work but finding none, he passed his days on the streets looking for food. After some months he met a teacher at the Helen DeVos Christian School who suggested that he come to the school to see if could qualify for a space. He was easily accepted and entered grade 8 with the support of a sponsor.
He was able to stay with a friend, and because he was fed a meal at school each day, he could study without being hungry. He studied hard in order to pass the next benchmark exam at grade 9. As he explains it in his letter to his sponsor he asked them to pray that he would pass with "flying colours!"
As you can imagine there was a great celebration at the Helen DeVos Christian School as Lawrence's classmates and teachers helped buy him the uniforms, blankets and shoes he would need to make the journey to his new school.
We wish Lawrence well, and are grateful to Mrs. Helen DeVos for her investment in this young man, and so many other young boys and girls attending the Helen DeVos Christian School who have great hope for their own futures.
As a member of Child Aid International, we are pleased
to report our acceptance into the 2008 Combined Federal Campaign (CFC).
Federal employees may designate donations to Alliance for Children Everywhere
with CFC code: 68434.
Dear Ministry Family,
Words fail me in describing my own feelings at the arrival of, and ceremony for receiving the First family and coffin of President, Patrick Levy Mwanawassa back home to Zambian soil after he died in France on Tuesday. The president was reported as having died in Egypt in June where he was attending a session to try to help resolve the struggles in Zimbabwe. That report was in error. It was later learned that he was transported to France where he remained in ICU on life support. I admired this president for his stand against corruption and saw growth and development during his 7 years in office. He was a strong man of Christian faith.
Throughout the proceedings the name of Jesus Christ was lifted up in word and song. The first president, Kenneth Kaunda reminded the nation that we are Christians and need to behave as Christ would want us to as we mourn, and then move on with electing our next president.
When the procession left the airport, I walked outside to watch as it passed by the House of Moses where thousands of people were waiting.
He will lie in state until next week when the First family and the body will travel to each of the 9 Provinces allowing the rest of the nation to mourn and pay its last respects. He will be buried in his home village on September 3rd, the date of his 60th birthday.
The Zambian Constitution is very clear about the process of electing a new President; however, there are 12 political parties each vying for the chance to put forth a candidate within the stipulated 90 day period. The next president will serve for 3 years, completing the term of office of the late president. Thankfully, everything is as it should be; orderly and peaceful.
This is a very critical time for Zambia. The most important role for those of us that love this nation is to join with our friends in prayer for a competent, righteous and just, next president.
Sandra – An Adopted Zambia
Dear Ministry Family,
The excitement, joy and pride at Monday’s official opening of the Helen DeVos Christian School is hard to describe. From early in the morning (around 7 AM) the students and teachers and guardians of the children were getting the school grounds and refreshments ready. Every wall was scrubbed clean, and every one of the 500 chairs were set in place on the open grounds in front of the classrooms. White chalk lines were drawn in the sand outside of the main gate for the vehicles to park. In the compounds there are not even street signs, let alone vehicles! The school library had new maroon window blinds, and the science lab showed off its beakers and flasks.
One young boy held a banner to lead us to the property. (I knew where I was going, but we were not sure the Vice President could find his way through the maze!) When we walked through the main gate, each of the 200+ pupils were dressed in shirts donated by a visiting team member, whose colors were as the Zambian flag. RED for the blood of the martyrs….ORANGE for the mineral wealth….BLACK for the African people…and GREEN for the verdant land.
SINGING!!! Uncle G. had the Helen DeVos Choir (in orange shirts) sing a round of songs as the guests were arriving. Then the sad message came…the Vice President, Rupiah Banda, lost his mother at 93 years of age the day before and was not able to attend. He would instead send his Deputy… however the Deputy, was to be 2 hours late!! So what to do? We went ahead and said if he came we would re-group and listen to his speech (which we wrote) that honored Mrs. DeVos as a woman in her later years who believes that all children everywhere should get an education, and toward that end, she was willing to help the most vulnerable orphan get that education.
When the new school flag was raised, a hundred balloons (same Zambian colors) were released into the howling wind. The pupils went wild with singing and cheering and applause. The school plaque was set into a pillar of red brick and said “The Helen DeVos Christian School was officially opened by His Honor Rupiah Banda, (MP) the Vice President of the Republic of Zambia, June 23rd. 2008. James 1:27.”
It was a great day, and a blessing to have had a part in making the prayers, hopes and dreams of so many children come true.
Blesssings,
Sandra
Dear Friends Everywhere!!
Yours, and our, prayers have been answered!! After more than a year of seeking the Lord and beseeching the cement company for favor with them in a national shortage crisis...we finally have cement!!!
 Today was my 62nd birthday and I was blessed to find that even though we ordered and paid for 600 sacks of cement, we got 727 sacks. Although the US dollar declined, the Zambian Kwacha gained strength, and so we got an extra bonus of 127 sacks!!
We have been thanking God all day, and now the builders will work extra hard to see to it that the House of Martha building project will go ahead with full force so can move the children into their new home.
Thanks for praying and giving! The photo attached is cool...dust covered men unloading a truck full of cement. :-)
Blessing you!
Sandra
Apr. 15, 2008
Dear Family and Friends:
I first want to thank everyone for their prayers and support in the time leading up to my departure, through my travels and during my stay in Zambia. I arrived in Zambia Thursday, April 3 and other than being extremely tired I was excited that I had finally returned. Ever since I left in the middle of January I have felt called to come back, not only to help the people of Zambia but also to reunite with the friends that I had made during my short stay. Although there are some similarities to this time and my trip in January, the trip as a whole feels completely different. The place where I spend my evenings is actually an orphanage called House of Moses, for kids aged anywhere from 1 day to 3 years. I could not have asked for a more amazing place to stay because everyday I am reminded of why I am here. Although I spend my days helping out with construction of the new House of Martha orphanage, I try to spend as much time as possible in the nursery at House of Moses with the children. The kids are just amazing and everyday I am becoming more and more attached to them.
The construction that is taking place right now is the renovation of a house into an orphanage so that the children in the current House of Martha will have a larger and safer place to stay. This past rainy season the current House of Martha was in serious danger of being completely flooded. So that threat, along with the lack of space is the reason for the new building. As of now construction has been slowed by a few problems. A major issue in Zambia right now is the lack of concrete. Most of the smaller companies that were able to get concrete are charging outrages prices because they know that the demand is so high. Although we are trying to find other companies who are still at cheaper prices we may have to resort to the increased prices because, as of this Thursday we will have run out of concrete completely. We are also currently having a difficult time obtaining the bricks that we had ordered. This is causing us to stop work at the orphanage for the time being and is forcing us to go to other properties doing minor repairs while we wait.
Christian Alliance for Children in Zambia currently operates 3 orphanages and has set up many schools which they continue to monitor. It is a nonprofit organization which relies solely on donations for the day to day running costs of the orphanages as well as construction costs. Please consider helping this organization in showing children God's amazing love. Your prayers as well as your financial support will go a long way in building up the future of Zambia. Thank you from all of us in Zambia.
If you wish to contribute to this worthwhile cause, donations can be forwarded to my home church for a tax receipt. Please make cheques payable to Fleetwood Christian Reformed Church (9165 160 Street, Surrey, BC V4N 2X7 or passed on through my parents, Nick and Joyce Van Ravenstein) and mark on the memo line—Zambia project—Kevin Van Ravenstein. They will then wire the funds to us here in Zambia. Thank you for your amazing support.
God bless!
Kevin Van Ravenstein
In Zambia extreme demand for electricity has created havoc in the country. The power company ZESCO has issued a nation-wide schedule for what they call load-shedding, where entire areas are cut off for hours each day, or in some cases days at a time. The nation is both selling power to South Africa to raise support for new generators, and at the same time, building new generating capacity on Lake Kariba.
This will go on till 2010 at the earliest. Here in Chelston, where House of Moses is located, we were made aware of our schedule yesterday. We will be without power on Mondays and Thursdays from 5AM till 9PM. The power will come on for 2 hours only at mid-day. With the CACZ offices located on the property and all of our babies needing water from our well which is electric driven, we are left with no option but to try to look for the funds to buy a generator that will run everything except the stoves. In faith we are going to purchase one on Monday. The other homes will be OK as there are fewer children and they have a city water supply.
If your church family is looking for a project, this would be an excellent way for them to invest in children in Zambia. The cost will be $2,000. Even with the generator, we won't be able to use the stoves, so we will be doing quite a lot of barbecuing—at least every Monday and Thursday.
 The new Helen DeVos Christian school is now open, has 227 students, and is operating smoothly. Both teachers and students are glowing with pride at being able to study in such a quality school and everyone is working hard, even under the budget constraints.
We are lacking some furnishings, such as stools in the lab and shelves in the closets. We will need more shelves in the library and are looking forward to a large stove in the container being sent in March from Seattle. We will need to spend at least another $2,000 on furnishings in the next month. Several other items such as refrigerator, laboratory fume hood and other incidentals will be on hold for now.
If you would like to help with these needs, please visit our secure online donation page.
Many thanks to all who have contributed to this project, especially for Annette Baldwin's oversight and constant pursuit of excellence in bringing this dream to reality.
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