A Worthy Investment

Hello! Just wanted to give you an update on the work project here in Zambia, Africa! All things considered, everything is going great! We just finished baking all 80,000 bricks and now we just have to start loading and taking them up to the work site. God is really starting to open doors with the building and it’s not even up yet! I recently had a meeting with a government employee at the clinic, and an opportunity has presented itself. We are discussing having our church help run special health and wellness seminars in our building where we would be able to speak and give the Gospel as part of the presentations. This would be a huge opportunity as the clinic services around 14,000 people! The officials were so blown away when I mentioned that we wouldn’t charge them for the use of our facility. It’s such an open door that we can’t wait to get everything finished! Also, I have men and churches from other places wanting specific training that we could host at Chiyembekezo, so that’s another open door as we continue to establish ourselves in the area. Very exciting things are happening around here!

As you know, working in Africa has its own set of challenges. Sometimes, unexpected things pop up and we just have to navigate around them. When we drew up our plans for the building, we used a retired government contractor who designed everything and listed what we would need. This was what we based our initial estimate on a year ago. That said, a few things have happened that required us to invest more in the project.

1. The designer, himself, seems to have been off on several areas. (IE: The number of cement pockets, the amount of stone…etc.)
2. The Zambian economy took a tail-spin last month and we lost 15-20% buying power because of the rate exchange and increasing prices.
3. Our transport costs have been a couple thousand more than expected as we bring in eighty tons of stone and supplies to the bush.
4. We originally were going to use wooden trusses, but decided to go with metal because of warping and termites.

These four points have added a bit more cost to the building. It seems like we’re going to need $8,000 to finish the whole structure. So many have sacrificed to get us where we are today. While the investment is substantial, the impact and influence that this will have on the community and throughout Eastern Province is immense. 

The church at Chiyembekezo has given over a year of their lives in digging footers, moving mountains of sand and stone, and hand molding over 120,000 bricks. We’ve had fathers, mothers, and children in the trenches working towards the goal of getting this building fished. It’s their commitment that has given them ownership in accomplishing what’s in their capacity to do. 

Would you consider partnering with Chiyembekezo to help meet the remaining need? Click HERE to give!