After hours of bartering at the border and countless prayers you find yourself driving on the other side of the Zambezi – A land in need of Christ and a place that seems to be deprived of social justice. A sign appears, “Welcome to the real Africa!” This is now a home to ministry to the Lozi people of the Western Provice.
LIVING WATER WELLS
Since we began the Living Water Wells project, we have drill 200+ fresh water wells in communities all across the part of the Western Province that we are working in, in Zambia! This project not only provides for physical need, but for spiritual needs as well. After a well is drilled, we gather people from local villages and train them to start an Islands of Hope Children’s Church in their area.
This project has received financial support from many different sources over the years, making it possible to continue this work. Living Water Wells have been donated by families, foundations, churches, Hand of Hope and Hope Ride along with many others! We are so thankful for these partners and the possibilities that they afford this project. If you’re interested in helping to fund a well, please contact: office@reachingageneration.org
IMAGINE HOPE CENTERS
In Zambia – Once a girl starts menstruating, a flag is typically raised by her family to advertise her eligibility for marriage. This is sometimes seen as an only hope for families to ensure a future for their girl child when they cannot afford to invest into any other path for her.
We believe that God has placed us in this area to help bring change – and this is why we started the Imagine Hope Center programme, in partnership with Sparrow Society’s – Young Entrepreneur Society (Y.E.S.) and Project GRL from Hand of Hope, we are empowering girls to make a choice for a brighter future through skills training and sustainable scholarships.
Since this programme launched, we have be able to open 4 Imagine Hope Centers. We have seen more than 170 girls begin the programme. Of these, 9 of our first high school graduates have also chosen to continue their higher education at the Reaching a Generation Leadership Academy as the pursue a future in ministry, to help further impact their own communities.
FEEDING PROGRAMME
& FOUNDATIONS FOR FARMING
In Zambia, we have partnered with Hand of Hope to host feeding programmes within some of our local schools in the Sioma area. There is an urgent need for these programme, due to the regular droughts in our area, we know that the meal that children receive at school is sometimes their only meal of the day.
We are currently feeding in 13 schools – With a total number of 4,856 children being fed. In these schools, approximately 93% of the students have increased in body weight, improving their overall health. We continue to have school staff who testify of students who have increased participation and focus levels now that they are well fed and have more energy!
As a follow-up to the feeding programmes, we have partnered with One Hope to use the Foundations for Farming (FfF) programme in these schools. This programme is used to mentor local primary school teachers and students on how to develop a healthy garden. Our vision for the future of this programme is to build greenhouses at each of these schools. These schools give us a lesson time during school hours in which we teach the basic principles of farming. We supply them with 100 Moringa trees to plant and care for. Through the growing of these trees, we hope that the schools will be able to begin to support their own feeding programmes.
ISLANDS OF HOPE
& ZAMBEZI KIDS SHOP
Islands of Hope is a unique children’s church ministry. Amply named for its ability to ministry children in the bush, or on the banks of the Zambezi through the use of our pontoon boat – we are able to bring church to children all over the mostly unchurched Western Province in Zambia!
Currently we have 150+ Children’s Church volunteers trained and more than 65 successful Children’s Churches in the Western Province. Because of this programme, we have seen over 11,000 Lozi children reached with the Gospel of Christ.
The Zambezi Kids Shop is an addition to the Islands of Hope programme – This tool has been an effective way to help provide children and families with basic need items without insuring a hand-out mentality. By awarding “coins” to children when memorize a memory verse, when they bring a friend, or help with church they learn to save “money”.
Once a month the Zambezi Kids Shop is set up and children can spend their saved up coins on toiletries, books, clothes and other basic need items. While we teach them the basics of saving, we also teach them the fundamentals of Biblical giving through tithes and offering, as the kids are encouraged to give back at their meetings as well. We believe that this will enable the Lozi children to not only become believers, but to grow to become generous believers!
CREATE HOPE SKILLS CENTRE
As a response to the urgent needs of our female ministry volunteers in Zambia and Namibia, we have taken measures to boost their skills through vocational training. The Create Hope Skills Centre has been established to provide specialized training to these women, enabling them to generate income, support their families, and break the cycle of poverty in rural villages.
The Create Hope Centre is a hub where we host workshops for our local volunteers, training them through skills development, in areas like sewing, baking, leather working, and carpentry.
The products our volunteers create (ie.: leather products, children’s clothes, jewelry and other products) they then sell back to Reaching a Generation, to use in Curio Shops, our Zambezi Kids Shop, and through our partners at ministry conferences globally. We now have several Master Leather Trainers on our team in Zambia.
Our ultimate aim is to instill an even deeper sense of purpose and value in these precious women by teaching them trade skills and helping them to provide for their loved ones.
