News

Mangoes are in season at Living Compassion. Pauline, Veronica, and Foster share out the fruit.

The rains are finally here and yes, everything is green and weeds are growing fast. Here, Pauline and team are clearing weeds. In the background are our three water tanks!

The team is always in high spirits when it comes to work. Cooking for the children is their passion—along with making sure that the food is served on time! Here Susan, Florence, and Docus are sorting beans.

Memory showing her passion for teaching. After being trained as a teacher, she has helped a lot with the children here at Living Compassion. Parents have come to appreciate how much their children have progressed. Keep it up, Memory!

Theresa doing solar research in town. We had many false starts with our research. We would find a company, only to learn they didn’t have what we needed, or charged far beyond what was reasonable, or never called us back, or.... Finally, Theresa found what we were looking for!

The items have been purchased and installation begins.

More of the necessary items.

Finally we have lighting!

John holds the pipe where our water level is: 20 meters from the bottom of the spring to the top of the water.

The representative from the water company assisting. They perform this service for us free of charge.

Veronica happily smiling as she helps arrange the stoves.

Drumming, singing, and dancing as the stoves arrive.

Vero and Memory in the foreground as the whole team celebrates.

We tie our chitenge to dance as Brenda plays the drum.

Pauline shows off her new stove.

The Team with their stoves, singing while Brenda beats the drum. A big THANK YOU to everyone on Team USA for the stoves!

Docus and Audria collecting stones to prepare the site for the new water tank, one of the projects funded by the proceeds from the Bridge Walk. We are so excited for it to arrive!

JoAnne helping to bring in more stones.

We finalized the purchase of the tank and as it arrived, jubilation and ululation was the music filling the air.

The team was delighted and broke into song and dance when they lifted the tank into place. Our severe drought continues and our good fortune at having a good well means we are the only source of clean water for thousands in our community. Thank you to the whole U.S. team for helping us provide this third tank to store enough water for everyone.

With the Bridge Walk funds, we have also purchased the first two alternative cooking stoves! These stoves will use waste products from agriculture instead of trees (charcoal) for fuel. As in all of Africa, deforestation is a grave issue in Zambia, and we are looking for ways to cut down on the use of charcoal. Very exciting!

The third project we have been able to start thanks to the Bridge Walk is tree planting! Here is Rechel holding two tree seedlings.

These are the two types of trees that are planted in the nursery. The government is encouraging the planting of these two types on a large scale. A group of our young women is being trained at the nursery in how to plant and care for the trees. We will report as the project progresses.

Everyday activities at Living Compassion continue. Here is Memory after lunch, making sure that she marks all the books and prepares the next day's work.

Pricilla, who is in Charles’s class, is ready to go to Grade One next year at Twatemwa School right here in Kantolomba. She is an orphan and lives with her grandmother. They depend on the support of the Living Compassion community.

Meet Lazarous, one of the many children that grow up in the community of Kantolomba without enough food to eat each day. Living Compassion helps little cute faces like him by enrolling them in the program so that they get proper nutrition.

We end with wishing Zambia Happy Independence Day, which we celebrate on the 24th of October each year. Here is Baby Chimwemwe Theresa (Theresa’s granddaughter), who is now 18 months old. She says "Hello U.S. Team and Happy Independence Day!"

We have been tracking each member's health issues and have been helping anywhere we can. If called for, we advise to go to the clinic immediately. Here Aunty Veronica’s blood pressure is being checked. In the past week, it has stabilized.

Lunch time is always the best time here at Living Compassion! The little ones are a beauty to watch as they hold on to their lunch boxes like prized possessions to go and share at home. We feed a thousand and more.

Our nurses and tailor, wrapped in colorful chitenge. From left to right are Esther, Miriam, and Bertha. This was Chitenge Day at Living Compassion.

Our two newest coop members, Esther and Natasha, are doing great! Natasha replaced her grandmother, Older Foster, and Esther is volunteering on behalf of her father, who has not been feeling well.

Micro-businesses continue here at Living Compassion. Here is Angela working on a hairstyle called Mukule in Bemba. 
 

And when she’s not doing hair, another of our stylists, Joyce, helps out all around!

Theresa holding up a beautiful long chitenge dress that was made by our young tailors for a customer from the community. This outfit was for a wedding.

These veggies were harvested from our garden micro-business.

Coop member Emelda smiles for the camera as she prepares the greens she plucked from the vegetable garden. Tonight she is going to have iyakusashila, veggies in peanut butter sauce.

Here is Regina, one of our beloved older team members, feeling well and doing light work. 

Marian helping in the dining hall, handing out the little lunch boxes to the children. She is Josephine’s oldest daughter and one of the young women in the Girls Program. She had not been feeling well but is much better now.

The economy here in Zambia continues to be bad, and we are so grateful for the extra bag of mealie meal Living Compassion provides to each coop family. Here is Aunty T counting the bags carefully as they are being delivered.

Malila with her students in class practicing the letters C and D. This class is preparing for Grade One next year.

Ann helping out with the little ones. She is in the library most of the time, making sure that the students read their books and helping with homework. She is a beloved part of the team!

Some of our girls and little ones with Teacher Memory, in the first row at the far left.

Three of our co-op members are retiring. In each case, we are pleased to welcome one of their family members who are replacing them on the team. Here is Natasha Moyo, the granddaughter of Older Foster Bulasho. Natasha is taking care of her grandmother now and is the mother of one.

Here is Mary Liadani, Margret Chisenga’s daughter. Margret has retired because of poor eyesight, and Mary will be caring for her.

Here is Elizabeth Kasonde, Eugenia’s daughter. Elizabeth is the mum of Jennifer Kabwe in the Girl’s Program.

Cute faces of Kantolomba! Little Matthew and his brother enjoying a ride in a wheelbarrow while their parents fetch clean drinking water at Living Compassion.

Standing between two of the co-op teachers after extra lessons one afternoon is “Baby Cheri,” though now we just call her Cheri!

Our getting-ready-for-Grade-One students in class. With a smile on her face, little Mercy says she wants to become a teacher when she grows up.

When not busy with their micro-finance activities, the girls also help in the kitchen, stirring the pot of nshima. It’s good practice!

The nurses on their rounds checked up on Mirriam Sibale, one of our co-op members who is sick at home. She is being treated for malaria. We wish her a speedy recovery.

Lunch is enjoyed by all! Joyce and Bertha, two of our micro-entrepreneurs, eating together.

Co-op member Brenda enjoys her lunch.

Joanne eats in the company of one of the adorable little ones.

Aunty T with some of the Grade 10 girls. Edna, in yellow in the front, is in Grade 6 but insisted on being in the photo!

Aunty T enjoying a light moment with the little ones.

We were so glad to have Marian back, feeling better and enjoying her food.

The micro businesses are continuing! Bertha hard at work making a dress.

Older Miriam trying on her apron that Bertha made.

The bakery has just started its first test market items! Bernadette, who graduated from catering school last year and is the head of the baking department, shows off the first batch ready to go in the oven.

Baking.

All done!

Veronica passes them out for the taste test.

The team enjoying the sample of buns. They were yummy!

Martha admires the three different types of treats.

Silvia takes a break from her nursing duties to have lunch and enjoy the baked goods!

Joyce with a client doing what she does best!

And, of course, as always, there are about a million thousand-watt smiles here every day!

Remember little Edna? Here she is during the live Sangha broadcast in 2018.

Not so little anymore! She’s in Grade 6 and loving school.

One of our nurses, Silvia, after listening to a mother who was not feeling well.

Another of our nurses, Mirriam, checking the vitals of team members.

Natasha, Edna’s mum, having her vitals checked.

Aunty Theresa's blood pressure being checked. So far so good--her reading was normal.

Bertha, a trained tailor and one of our micro-entrepreneurs, working on a piece of chitenge.

Bertha takes a break to smile for the camera!

Happy customers whose hair was done by Joyce and Memory.

It takes a lot of attention to detail to do it properly.

And a lot of time!

The monthly delivery of the supplemental coop mealie meal, to assist with a challenging economy, has come to be a big party.

Dancing and singing accompanies the offloading.

Here is Marian, Josephine’s eldest child, a grown woman herself now.

One of the original mud-brick structures at Living Compassion collapsed during the rainy season. Here Zilo and Florence clear the rubble.

Audria in action, singing a happy song.

Charity and Regina carrying buckets of earth from the rubble.

Eugenia has retired and her daughter, Elizabeth, has taken her place in the coop. She is the mother of six, including Jen Kabwe in the Girls' Program. We are so happy to have her!

We are all so excited to have Starlink to help us with our new micro economy ventures. Here, Joyce is in the Living Compassion library doing a web search on new hairstyles. She knows how to plait hair and is going to be part of the new hair salon.

Natasha reading with Joyce in the library after gardening.

We had the privilege of seeing Loveness Katongo, who is in training in the Zambian National Service (ZNS). She came to Kantolomba to see her mum who was not feeling well but now is much better. Loveness came to visit Living Compassion before returning to her training the next day. The ZNS is a very good, national training program for young people. After two years of general training, they can choose to train in the career of their choice.

Mirriam and Esther, two of our nurses, also help out in the garden when they have no patients to attend to. We all like to pitch in everywhere!

Martha, one of the senior cooperative members, demonstrating to the girls how to prepare the land for our new garden for growing vegetables for market.

Natasha hoeing around the rocks.

Zambia's economy is bad, and it is hard to afford basic necessities. Each coop member receives two bags of mealie meal each month to supplement their family's food supply. Here we are all assisting to unload the truck.

We are all singing, as there is so much excitement and gratitude for this offering!

This is Ronika, cooperative member JoAnne’s daughter. She is all grown up and in Grade 8 at Twatemwa school here in Kantolomba.

The girls love coming home from school and getting on the internet to learn more about what they were studying in school that day. Yay for Starlink!