Participants:
Series Code: HIM
Program Code: HIM001119S
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00:04 Hi there.
00:05 I'm Jim Rennie, 00:07 CEO of Child Impact International. 00:09 And I've got some exciting news 00:12 about our new project in Zambia. 00:15 It's a unique new mission school opportunity 00:18 that will expand the ministry of our partner, 00:21 Riverside Farms 00:23 through an expanded 00:25 Child Impact sponsorship program. 00:29 The Riverside Farm partnership with Child Impact International 00:34 allows for a great partnership 00:36 between two strong Adventist ministries. 00:40 Riverside Farm provides a structured 00:43 and well managed school project 00:46 with an Adventist education program. 00:49 While Child Impact provides poor children 00:52 an education and sharing key revenue 00:56 for the new school. 00:58 The government have approved the school 01:00 and it will be run by Riverside Farm management 01:04 on the same basis 01:05 that they run the current primary school. 01:09 The school will cover grades 8-12. 01:13 The school will be a day school 01:15 with lunch supplied for the students. 01:18 The approximate capacity will be 40 students per class 01:22 with two groups per day 01:25 since the classes are by subject 01:27 and not by grade. 01:29 The school will be located 300 meters 01:32 from the current primary school. 01:35 Housing will be provided for the headmaster 01:38 and the deputy headmaster. 01:41 The need for education is strong, 01:44 and there is no Adventist secondary school 01:46 in the area. 01:48 The school will allow the 150 primary school students 01:52 to expand their education. 01:55 Within the attendance of 300 students in the future, 01:59 sponsorship will grow to 150 plus. 02:04 The school will give the local needy children 02:07 an Adventist education 02:09 and will be a key outreach for Riverside Farms ministry. 02:14 ASI and donors 02:15 have provided one day buildings for the schools, 02:19 foundation and construction of the base buildings. 02:22 Child Impact has been asked to complete the project 02:26 and furnish the school with furniture 02:29 and educational resources. 02:32 The need is $150,000. 02:36 We have some great news for this project. 02:38 We can double your donation. 02:41 Child Impact has matching funds for this project. 02:46 Each dollar given 02:47 will be matched with the dollar to $75,000. 02:52 For each dollar you give 02:54 it will be matched dollar for dollar. 02:57 Why should you support Child Impact 03:00 and Riverside Farms in this project? 03:03 Let me explain. 03:04 It expands the mission average of Riverside Farms in Zambia. 03:10 It widens Child Impact's mission 03:13 in Zambia. 03:15 It will extend the sponsorship life 03:18 of the Child Impact children 03:20 already sponsored at the primary school. 03:23 It insures over 250 poor children 03:27 sponsored by Child Impact 03:29 will be given an Adventist education 03:32 through to grade 12 or higher. 03:34 It is valued for the donors funds, 03:37 as the school has a construction time 03:40 of less than 12 months. 03:42 There will be no cost overrun 03:45 as Child Impact and Riverside Farms 03:48 guarantee the project costs. 03:51 And there's a proven project management team 03:54 at Riverside Farms led by Ellen Knowles, 03:57 who is well-known for construction 04:00 of this type of one day buildings. 04:04 Please go online right now 04:06 for full information or to donate. 04:09 Childimpact.org is our website. 04:12 That's childimpact.org. 04:15 Or call us at 423-9100-667. 04:21 That's 423-9100-667. 04:27 I really want to thank you if you can join us 04:30 for this exciting project. 05:08 You look out over the field 05:10 that will provide you and your family with food 05:12 for the coming year and seed for the next. 05:15 But all you see is miles of sunbaked ground 05:19 and withered plants. 05:21 Welcome to Zambia. 05:23 Last year, we had a partial crop failure 05:24 here in Zambia. 05:26 And this year, 05:27 there's been a complete crop failure. 05:28 If you go and talk to the oldest people 05:30 in the villages, 05:31 they'll tell you 05:32 this is the worst famine, drought 05:36 that they've seen in their lifetime, 05:37 which is saying something. 05:39 We've had some extraordinary famines 05:40 in the period of last 15 years, 05:42 and so we're seeing that need, that hunger, 05:46 translating into people's demand for work, 05:49 just general need. 05:52 Riverside Farms began with the mission 05:54 to reach the needs of the people in Zambia, 05:56 located 70 miles south of Lusaka, 05:58 which is the capital of Zambia. 06:00 They started this mission in the early 70s. 06:02 Greg Harding is the executive director 06:04 for Riverside Farms. 06:06 Our mission is to reach the needs of people 06:08 here in Zambia. 06:10 And that encompasses both their physical needs, 06:13 which are huge here in Africa, 06:15 and also the spiritual and educational needs. 06:19 One of the ways that Riverside Farms 06:20 is helping the people of Southern Zambia 06:22 is through farming. 06:23 Food is a resource 06:24 that many of us take for granted. 06:26 But for the poor villagers, 06:27 it is something that they struggle 06:29 to get enough of. 06:30 While Zambia's economy is growing and doing better 06:32 than many other African countries, 06:34 it still isn't enough. 06:36 So the farm is something I personally really love, 06:39 love being on the farm working on it. 06:41 We grow bananas as our primary crop, 06:44 we grew about 34 hectares just over 80 acres of bananas. 06:49 And those produce 06:51 about 170 truckloads of bananas every year. 07:04 About 60% of Zambians live 07:06 under the nation's poverty line, 07:07 with rural poverty standing at almost 78%. 07:11 In a 2007 study, Zambia was ranked 117 07:15 out of 128 countries 07:17 on the global competitiveness index, 07:19 because of many factors 07:21 that have negatively affected them economically. 07:24 Most Zambians spend 60% of their income on food, 07:27 which leaves them with no resources 07:29 to send their children to school. 07:31 Not only that, 07:33 but when your income also depends on growing food, 07:35 you are left with a huge problem. 07:38 Her name is Regina. 07:40 And I have got to know her 07:41 because whenever there's piece work at Riverside, 07:44 you see Regina here, 07:45 and she's one of the hardest workers. 07:48 So each department, they all want to hire Regina, 07:52 because she puts everything into her work. 07:54 She has nine children 07:56 and five dependent grandchildren 07:58 on her. 08:00 And the thing that I like about Regina, 08:03 you never see her not smiling. 08:05 And she just takes life as it comes. 08:07 She does the best she can and she goes forward. 08:12 Regina's hard work ethic 08:14 is shared by a majority of Zambians, 08:16 but many factors have kept them from progressing. 08:19 One of those factors 08:20 is that only a few areas use irrigation 08:22 while the rest rely only on rain, 08:24 which has led to many failed crops 08:26 due to drought. 08:27 The other issue is that most of the farmers 08:29 are not able to afford farm equipment, 08:31 so they have to do everything by hand. 08:33 This greatly decreases the amount of land 08:35 that they can farm. 08:37 Even though there are limitations, 08:38 Zambia is not lacking usable farmland. 08:41 Fifty eight percent of Zambia 08:42 is classified as medium to high potential 08:45 for agricultural production. 08:46 However, only 15% of this land is currently under cultivation. 08:52 Well, this is pretty tough, 08:54 but I'm right here in the village 08:57 near Riverside and this is Regina. 09:00 And this is one of Regina's three fields. 09:03 Now normally, she gets 80 sects of maize from this field. 09:08 And that's what she really lives on. 09:11 That's what she educates her children with. 09:13 But this year, 09:15 she hasn't got one cob of corn from this field. 09:19 So this is going to have a dramatic impact 09:21 not only on Regina, but on her village 09:24 and across the whole of Zambia. 09:27 Now I have to say we've just visited the village 09:30 and this is going to be very, very tough 09:32 on these people. 09:33 So just in one small way, 09:35 the fact that we can help sponsor Regina's children 09:39 bring some relief. 09:41 But I'm really scared of what the future holds 09:44 for families like Regina's in Zambia in the future. 09:48 In Zambia, the people grow maize 09:52 during the rainy season 09:54 because that is their way to get a little bit ahead 09:57 not only with their food 09:58 but with other needs that they have. 10:00 And since Regina is such a hard worker, 10:03 she put in three fields of maize. 10:05 Worked hard, you know, got the soil ready, 10:08 planted it, weeded it. 10:10 And then no rains came. 10:13 And she usually gets 10:14 between 80 and 100 bags of maize, 10:17 which keeps them through the year. 10:19 And she told us 10:20 as we went out to see her field, 10:22 it could make you cry. 10:24 She said, "I did not get even one cob." 10:27 She says, "I don't know what this year will bring." 10:30 You've just heard the urgent need of this lady 10:32 and what you don't know 10:33 is that she has nine children and five grandchildren 10:38 that she is raising. 10:39 So you can see that this failure of a crop 10:44 is going to have a dramatic impact 10:46 on families like these. 10:48 This is a lady that really works hard. 10:50 She goes to Riverside and gets work when she can. 10:53 And normally when there's a crop, 10:55 she does three fields on her own. 10:58 So this shows the commitment that this lady has bringing up 11:03 nine children and five grandchildren. 11:08 It is not just survival that keeps Regina going. 11:10 It is also the desire to give her children 11:12 and grandchildren an Adventist education. 11:15 Religiously Zambia's almost entirely 11:17 a Christian nation 11:18 with 75% being Protestant and 20% Catholic. 11:21 The Seventh-day Adventist Church 11:23 has a major presence in Zambia, 11:24 with one out of every 18 Zambians 11:26 being an Adventist. 11:28 This is the highest of any country in the world. 11:30 To put that in perspective, 11:32 the United States and Zambia 11:33 have nearly the same amount of Adventist members. 11:36 One of the first Adventist missionary 11:38 to Zambia was W.H. Anderson, 11:40 who began his work in the late 1800s. 11:43 At one point, his family and two other families 11:45 were living out of an ox wagon for five months. 11:48 In spite of their hardships, 11:50 they continue to spread the gospel 11:52 and converted many. 11:54 A quote from Anderson shows why they were so successful 11:57 in spreading the gospel. 11:58 "When a man goes to the mission field, 12:00 he must have love for the people 12:02 if he is to win them. 12:04 If he does not have love, he might as well not go. 12:07 Love is the basis of all missionary work." 12:11 In spite of the large Adventist presence here, 12:13 there are hardly any Adventist schools 12:15 with only three secondary schools 12:17 and one university. 12:18 The United States has approximately 12:20 158 secondary schools 12:22 and 14 colleges and universities. 12:24 More Adventist schools in Zambia 12:26 are needed not just to help with their immediate needs, 12:28 but also the spiritual needs as well. 12:31 Adventist schools are an opportunity 12:33 to reach the children of the community 12:35 who can then reach their parents. 12:37 This is why Child Impact is so important 12:39 because it provides children with the skills for life, 12:42 but also a relationship with Jesus. 12:47 Well, I'm just here with Mack the cameraman, 12:50 and we're going to go back to the village 12:52 and then back to Riverside. 12:54 And this has been pretty tough, pretty tough. 12:58 I mean, I'm going back to my air-conditioned room 13:01 and the cafeteria is going to feed me a meal. 13:04 And these people, they haven't got any food. 13:07 And that's reality. 13:09 And you really have to come here to feel it. 13:12 And the scary part is it's on such a huge scale. 13:17 But I'm just so excited, 13:19 we can do some little thing to help these families 13:22 and maybe we're going to have to find 13:23 a way of helping them with food. 13:43 We're expanding 13:44 our sponsorship program to Zambia, 13:47 and we're very excited to be partnering 13:49 with Riverside Farms, 13:51 who are well-known Adventist ministry. 13:54 They are opening a brand new primary school 13:57 and we're going to be sponsoring very needy children 14:00 to help them to come to an Adventist mission school. 14:04 We're really excited about it. 14:06 And you can either sponsor a child 14:08 or if you don't want that monthly commitment, 14:10 you can make a contribution to our unsponsored child fund. 14:15 This is an exciting time for us and our supporters. 14:18 And I just hope that you'll support 14:20 our new outreach 14:22 and our new education program in Zambia. |
Revised 2020-11-30