Help train Zambian children and young people

Jim, one of the Hands Around the World trustees, visited the project
in June and was delighted with the progress made since last year.

Despite a continual struggle with limited resources, the centre has
been able to expand its vegetable garden and now also has more than
300 chickens. This is bringing in some income to pay essential bills
such as electricity and feed for the animals during the dry season.
Two cows and a heifer are pregnant and calves are expected in
November – this will enable milk production to resume. In this way
the centre is able to do its part to make the project sustainable.

The tailoring students are very keen, with a further 10 being
enrolled back in May. Previous students have continued to make use of
the Centre's equipment to help them start small businesses. One is
returning to complete her schooling funding her fees from shirts and
dresses she makes and another hopes to save enough money to buy her
own machine and make a living from tailoring.

The carpentry department is currently enrolling new students and has
produced some furniture and a beehive to sell locally. Funds are
urgently required to buy wood for the carpentry class. The sale of
goods will be used for this purpose, though additional donations are
also needed.

The rainy season will begin again at the end of October / beginning
of November and it is planned to plant 1 hectare of maize and ½
hectare of sugar kidney beans – funds permitting. These crops are
used to provide food for the students and supplement the feed for the
livestock.

I am looking forward to returning to Zambia in September to spend
some time with the students and staff and see myself what a
difference the project is making.