Seven Fountains Farm "football" team

Every Sunday night the SFF team plays - somewhere. Last Sunday the team even won!
Many nights of the week they practice at the compound - after the work day, not far from here.

The long shadows in the field indicate that the game was getting on late in the afternoon - around 17 hrs.

Fun in the kitchen at Kasensa

Just like at home in Canada we always need someone to lick out the bowl when cake making!
Memory, Clive and Matiala wasted no time and cleaned out the bowl nicely! Thanks kids!

Boule in Zambia

Only family members and possibly the 1972 class of Western Christian College  will understand the significance of this photo.

This was taken at Flatdogs Camp at S. Luangwa park in Zambia.

Lion gets zebra

We got a little close to this one and so he dragged his feast, the beast to a quieter location. I don't know whether he shared with the females that had likely done the actual kil

Work before fun!

That's what I heard when I was young - and is still in my head.

When the college kids come to do their ZMF-C volunteer work during their holiday time we always invite them in to our home a few times a week to have games and devo time, a time to share our personal and spiritual lives.

The "kids" work hard during the day and the farm  the babies appreciate it. They dig toilets, paint the housing, assist with construction and of course, hold babies,

The way things are!

At the park - It was kind of ugly - but this is what happens in the bush! The good sized impala was hunted down and dragged up into the tree for the leopard's supper, breakfast and ....

And this leopard did not share. Another leopard came to check out the kill, but the cat in the tree fought him off.

We sat and watched for some time and came back the next day to find the cat still crunching.

A few days off

We took a few days off a few weeks ago. We checked into Flatdogs Camp at S. Luangwa Park in Eastern Province, Zambia.

The first order of business was rest!

Finishing up on Theresa's house

 The labour laws in Zambia says that we must  provide housing or a housing allowance for our employees. Many of the employees live within the farm and so Richard, Ruhtt, Wes, Albert and others including Victor and Webster (Zambian builders) and our volunteering sponsoring students have been working hard to upgrade, rebuild and even newly build the staff housing.

In the past few months, Theresa has had a kitchen and a bathing room/toilet built and now her house has been totally refurbished. She'll be ready to move in on Monday or Tuesday. 

Richard and Phineas (David Livingstone College student spon ZMF-C student doing volunteer work at farm for 2.5 weeks)        

Kasensa Report July 2012

K

asensa Report – July 2012

“The helpless put their trust in you. You defend the orphans” says the writer of Psalm 10.  God hears the cry of the poor, the orphans and the marginalized.

Praise God for that and thanks to all of you who continue to be God’s messengers of hope for these kids! The children, their families and all of us involved continue to be so grateful!

While Canada has hopefully been enjoying summer, Zambia has experienced winter. July was cold! Night time temperatures sometimes dipped as low as 4 degrees and with no central healing we bundle the babies up inj warm sweaters, hats, sox and keep the wee ones covered with fleece blankets. But, some of the kids still succumbed to coughs and sneezing! Keeping 9 babies who live in the same house healthy all the time is a challenge. As well, an “outbreak” of diarrhea in the area resulted in 6 of our babies having many dirty nappies. That was not fun for them or for the caregivers who at times had to hand wash nappies due to Zesco (the country’s power company) being off for 3 long days this week.

But….despite all that our babies continue to grow well and bring much joy to us! Some have gone home to be with family and in the next month there is possibility that 2 more will be reunited with their families. .

·         After being with us 10 months Potius, age 16 months, left Kasensa to live with his grandmother, Katherine at Bbilili about 60 km. from here. “Po-Po” as he was nicknamed, returned last week with granny to pay us a follow-up visit. He has bonded closely with his granny and after only being away from us for 3 weeks we noticed a great increase in his vocabulary! They will return in a few months for another follow up visit. Your ZMF-C donations, assists this granny with transport money – as she and her husband are subsistence farmers, having no great source of income.

·         Lumaamba, now 11 months, may be going home with his parents later this week. Lumaamba`s mother has been battling TB, but is now stronger. If both parents think they can manage then the parents will take him home. This family seems to have a strong support system so we anticipate that he will be well cared for. They also will return for follow-up visits.

·         Cornolius is now 9 months old! He remains a very content baby. He’s trying hard to crawl and has such a happy disposition. Family visited yesterday and the plan is for him to return home next month.   

·         Abraham was discharged to his parents– but after 3 weeks at home he returned to Kasensa as mom’s health was failing again. Both parents are HIV positive and mom has struggled to respond to the current regime of meds. I visit with both parents and the 4 sibs weekly as they live within the Kalomo town area. This family is a delight and if they had the ability to care for Abraham at this time they would. A set of grandparents live very nearby but they refuse to be caregivers for the family. Such is life – some families have strong supports, and in Zambia as everywhere in the world, some families have very dysfunctional supports. Prayers for this family would be most helpful!

·         Abigail’s eczema has improved greatly following meds prescribed by a Lusaka dermatologist. She started walking at 18 months – later than most babies. One thing that has become quite evident for me and is indicated in the literature of Best Practices for Child Care for Developing Nations is that for every 3 months a child spends in an orphan home there can be a developmental delay of one month. I see this played out over and over here, even though our caregiver to baby ratio is low and even though the aunties have been receiving information in the child care course on helping babies to achieve normal developmental milestones. Even though we are trying very hard to provide the best care possible it is so true that the best place for a child is within their own family! Back to Abigail – besides being slow to become mobile, she seems quite often to be distant, vacant in her gaze. I anticipate that she’ll require some special education – and the sooner the better for her. Her dad has not visited in months! This is another challenged family – with HIV and some obvious dysfunctional traits.  

·         Twins – Chipo and Chabota are now 6 months old. Chabota weighs about 1 kg. more than Chipo, but developmentally they are at about the same level. They can both sit up and they both “babble and sputter” lots. Their dad visited about a month ago and said he plans to remarry – and then he’ll be able to take the children. It will be interesting for a new wife to receive a pair of twin babies for a wedding gift!  J We’ll see what transpires.

·         Sibajene is now 11 months old! She is a happy little one who is trying hard to walk. We call her the kabwalala – in Tonga, the “thief”. She regularly steals from the other babies whatever she can – toys, bibs, drinking cups…Her aunt and uncle live on the next farm and they are planning to take Sibajene into their already busy, but healthy household. Fortunately, her aunt and uncle both work for a tobacco farmer. But, unfortunately, they get paid so little that having one more child to care for will be a financial challenge. But…they have big hearts and want their niece to be with them.

·         Baby Chipo is 4 months old. She has become a very fat baby in a short period of time. She has a precious smile and clearly makes her needs known. No clear discharge plans are set at this time.  

·         Rozina spent 3 months at another orphanage after her grannies decided they couldn’t manage her at the village. We brought her back to Kasensa after much discussion with family members as it appeared the change was a bit too much for her. After about 3 days at Kasensa Rozina was up walking and now, one month later, she has gained 1 kg! She talks pretty well non-stop and is a funny little character, wanting to copy the behaviour of adults she sees – like cleaning and organizing (or disorganizing – pulling all the clothes out of a cupboard in no time flat!). Planning for Rozina’s discharge will likely be challenging due to many factors including trying to return Rozina into an already full polygamy family.

 

 The Kasensa Bunch - 

 Our youngest, Chipo 2, Cornolius (not a good moment of the day!), Abigail (picture taken after a full morning outside playing and all she wanted to do was go to bed), Sibajene (striped shirt), Chipo 1 – showing off her good sitting!, Abraham, Chabota (also showing off her good sitting), Lumamba (standing with help from Judith), Rozina – chubby little cheeks and probably trying to help Lumamba who outweighs her by a few kgs! Lenty, the gal in the red striped shirt is a gr. 11 student who walks about 5 km each morning and night to “volunteer” during her school holiday time and in return Richard and I partially pay her school fees. Shelly is slightly behind Lenty and is one of our casual workers. She is always a delight to work with!

The milk program has assisted 20 families this month. Kasensa has budgeted for 15 families to be assisted, but at times we stretch our numbers because of need. Yesterday was “milk day” and 2 our clients brought gifts of oranges in thanks for the gift of milk formula for their baby. I am grateful for their gifts, but tell them the real thanks goes to God – the Great Provider and to the generous donors in Canada. 

Favour and Fiona Simoongwe and their 3 children of Cochrane, Alberta arrived a few weeks ago. Favour and Fiona are both teachers in Alberta and Favour grew up in Southern Province, Zambia. Together they will manage Kasensa for the next year and so we’ve been spending our time helping them learn their new roles. They are eager to do the work and also to be closer to their Zambian family.

Again, we appreciate this opportunity to serve alongside our Zambian brothers and sisters and we also appreciate your prayers for these wee ones and for the work of ZMF-C.

Faithfully,

Sue and Richard 

Potius returns for a visit

Potius was discharged from Kasensa about 3 weeks ago and came for a follow-up visit this past week. He has bonded closely with his granny. He definitely did not want to go to any other aunty. He stared at us knowing who we were, but he wanted just to be with Katherine, his granny.

Yes, she's a young looking granny! She had her first child at a very young age - and that daughter has now died and left her with Potius!

They will return in a few months for another follow-up.

God places the lonely in families! Psalm 68:6

Lenty

Lenty is a grade 11 student at Kabanga High School. She lives about 7 km. from here. We met Lenty through the ZMF-C sponsorship program, but she failed to meet the academic standards and was also assigned to a school outside of the ZMF-C school area so she was on her own as far as paying for her fees. She came to us about a year ago and asked if she could volunteer at Kasensa in exchange for partial payment of her school fees.

This girl has energy!! Hot season, rainy season, cold season she arrives on time - on foot. She plays constantly with the kids - and does everything else that the aunties does. She does it all with a smile and energy. This morning she even led the morning devotion. She was anxious to do this since everyone else on the list is older than her. But...she recruited guidance from Eurister and she did a fantastic job.

In a few weeks she'll return to Kabanga. We will leave some money for her and hopefully she can gain a grade 12 certificate next year. She has motivation and energy - but lacked a good foundation in her early years - ever so important!

The babies will miss her over the next few months.
Notice - Abraham chewing on the cabbage core. Lots of vitamin C!

Malaria Quiz

Kasensa hosted a Namwianga Clinic Malaria quiz this week. The 7 Fountains Farm team was Eurister, Phemmy, Wezzy, Nelia and chairperson, Charity. Rozina and Abraham, our babies, were part of the cheerleading team!

We all learned lots as Stella, the nurse, covered 30 questions with our team and the Namwianga Basic School Team.

In Zambia, malaria kills. All our babies (and us) sleep under treated nets. We know now for sure the major signs: headache and fever and many other facts. Since our team won they went on to compete a few days later and came in 5th. Each team was awarded cash prize - something they can spend on contributing towards malaria control for the farm and a gift for themselves. The contest was sponsored by CHAZ - Church Health Association of Zambia - an organization partly funded by some of the big world funders. Ask me more sometime about the accounting involved.  

Simoongwe family arrives

Favour, Fiona, Shane, Matiala and Rayna arrived to Seven Fountains Farm, Kasensa about 3 weeks ago. They will serve here for one year. Favour teaches in Calgary and Fiona teaches in Cochrane, where they live. Favour's birthplace is in Southern Province and so being in Zambia one year will give him and the family a chance to reconnect with "roots".

They've been granted one year leaves and will home school their 3 school aged children.


We've been showing them the ropes and next week the ropes are all theirs for the year.

Please continue to pray for ZMF-C - all projects, and specifically for this family as they work with the wee precious babies and the staff of Kasensa.

Achibotu

Achibotu is another one of our milk program babies.
She started on the program because of failure to thrive symptoms. She has since gained weight steadily. Parents are not HIV positive.

Each parent of a milk program baby must bring proof of their HIV status as well as their current means of birth control. We have frank and confidential discussions on both topics. Many rural, uneducated families continue to have many children despite the obvious challenges of not being able to  afford to feed, clothe or educate them.

Eurister, the large gal in the photo is one of the ZMF-C  "school leaver" sponsored kids working this year for Kasensa. She scored excellent results in her grade 12 last year and has applied to UNZA for 2013.
The Kasensa Zambian staff assist with the education and mentoring of each of the milk clients.

We don't consider ourselves as experts but fortunately, we have access to the Zambian government health protocols on HIV and prevention of it as well as many other relevant, current and important information. We view ourselves as a support to already existing health and education sources.

Eurister and I received an orange each from this grateful family. We are grateful that we can serve in this capacity.

Osheo

Osheo, now 13 months, is one of the babies on the milk program. Her mom has health problems as well as social problems. Her husband left her with the 7 children many months ago - and she thinks likely it is for another wife. Mom breastfed Osheo for 6 months and even though the Zambian Government advises sick moms to breastfeed for up to 2 years, mom was just too fragile and sick to continue breastfeeding. So, your donations have made it possible for Osheo to continue to drink Lactogen - a milk formula. She is growing and is very healthy, except..

as you can see Osheo has Down's Syndrome and in this rural part of this developing nation there is no "therapy" for her. I taught mom how to do "tummy time" with Osheo a few months back and now Osheo is sitting independently.

They are very grateful for your donations. We praise God for this mom's strength, resilience, her faith in God and her gratefulness.

Thank you Katy and Owen Hillier

Last year Katy and Owen of Saskatchewan, Canada donated money to the Kasensa fund. A couple weeks ago I was finally able to find someone in Lusaka to make new crib and bed mattresses for the babies. Before putting the mattresses in the beds the babies had a free-for-all time crawling all over them!

Thanks Katy and Owen!!  (the old mattresses were UGLY - ripped apart and we'd attempted to tape with that great Canadian fix - duct tape!)

Promises

Each morning I look forward to sitting on the verandah to watch the sun come up. While drinking my 3/4 cup of instant coffee I spend time in God's word. Recently, I've been reading (again) Nehemiah. This morning I am reading about the promises made by God's people - we promise to...we agree to...we'll bring the best of our....even oldest sons and firstborn of the flocks, share the gathering of wood, let the land rest on the 7th year...

and the last words of the chapter: "we promise TOGETHER to not neglect the Temple of OUR God.

I'm so grateful that Nehemiah is one of the books of God's word and I look forward to one day meeting him face to face. He was a dedicated, prayerful, diligent, astute leader.

Besides getting great pleasure in watching the sun rise over the horizon each morning I find great satisfaction in spending these few quiet moments with God and His people.

Have a great day in the Lord!

Baby Chipo does tummy time

Chipo is getting stronger every day! And fatter! She - as all babies has a very distinct cry. Her mom died - age 17. Family are to come by (now a couple weeks late) to discuss discharge plans. Better sooner, than later.

Reading

Jackson Munyati mostly works the garden. As part of the staff and one of those attending the child care classes he purposefully spends time with the little ones! Abraham, now 19 months old says new words everyday - this day it was animals seen in the book. Thanks Jackson for loving the babies and for giving them great vegetables to eat!

Great ideas and great employee!

Austern's great idea  - REPAIR the boiler!

Jackson - he just does everything and is very dependable and constant.

Austern took the dress for his sister.

Jackson.....exchanged Airtel talktime for MTN!

The boiler is repaired