ZAMBIA welcomes PEF

Last week it was our pleasure to travel to the republic of Zambia (formerly Northern Rhodesia) and introduce to them the Perpetual Education Fund. What an honor for us...to bring this great program to these folks that have patiently waited for all of the diplomatic, legal, educational, banking and administrative details to get done. We arrived in Lusaka on Friday, via South Africa Airways and immediately began meetings. We met with two North American missionary couples who are based there, along with the District President for the Lusaka District and the Church Education director, who is from Zimbabwe. Saturday we had a 2.5 hour orientation meeting with the seven Branch presidencies followed by a 3 hour training and orientation with a large group of young people who intend on using PEF to further their studies. These are really quality people who we were delighted to meet with and deliver this great program into their land. Unfortunately, when we arrived at the building on Saturday morning there was no power in that part of town, so the masterful powerpoint that I had put together for the morning training session was unusable, but we carried on and it all went well. Power outages are quite commonplace in Africa and there is really never a convenient time to be without power, but the people here just roll with it. The following pictures capture but a few of the happy moments and the great friends that we met while spending a few days in Zambia.

Lusaka International Airport. Quite dated and very hot...but adequate

Our morning session with no lights, powerpoint or air conditioning and it was 34 degrees that day! (about mid 90'sF)

Us with District President Harrison M Lumbama and Stake President Tasara Makasi

Us with Elder & Sister Patterson (Lusaka District) and Elder & Sister Esplin (Kitwe District)

Jim meeting with the new PEF Committee that will see to the success of the program in Zambia

Power on in second session! but still a perspiring Elder Von Stetten. That was bottle of water #2

Here are the future recipients of the PEF. They were some of the nicest and most grateful young people that I have ever met. The two hour meeting went to 3 hours to be able to answer all of their questions. How exciting for us to be there...but wow how exciting for them and their posterity.

Power still on...air conditioning beginning to work...water bottle #3

The first 10 PEF loan recipients with President Lumbama



Mothers Without Borders

After church on Sunday we drove about an hour outside of Lusaka to an orphanage run by a Utah family known as Mother;s Without Borders. There are 23 children there right now. Here is a picture of Reenie with little Alice. She is a very tiny 5 years old, due to her health. She is HIV positive and has struggled with Malaria. She went to Reenie straight away and clung to her during our 2 hour visit there.

Here are the boys who had just finished a good game of soccer when we arrived. These guys have very tough feet!

Alice again. She probably will not live very long, however is happy and getting loved. Be happy for these children. They are more fortunate than many others in that they have someone to care for their shelter, food and well being. There are many many who wander the country and scavenge for daily bread.

This picture says it all...

...and so does this one.

The mostly completed dormitory and kitchen where anywhere from 8 to 30 children live at a time. The construction is done by North American volunteers who come here a month at a time to build.

Here is the result of their last visit. A much welcomed and used jungle gym for the kids.

The mother hen and her little chicks.

Fresh mangos...soon. These will be ready in about 45 days.

These kids walk 1.5 hours to their school every morning and then 1.5 hours back at night. Soon there will be a school built at the orphanage. Free time is spent playing 'futball'. You can see that the ball gets well used! If any of you feel inclined to donate something to this cause their website is http://www.motherswithoutborders.org/

The shadows became long and the time for us to leave had come. When one is in the service of his fellow man, the bonds of love and friendship are formed fast and firm. It was a difficult thing to part from these strong custodians and these orphaned children, but we left knowing they were better off than most in their similar condition due to the generosity of a family 12,000 miles away.

"Education is the great engine to personal development. It is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor, that the son of a mine worker can become the head of the mine and the child of farm workers can become the president of a great nation. It is what we make of what we have, not what we are given, that separates one person from another."

Nelson Mandela

Stay well...