A Small Investment Today, Returns for a Lifetime

Emerging and myself have been blessed to be involved in the Manyinga Project, supporting two schools built to meet the needs of orphan and vulnerable children at Chinema and Samafunda, small villages in the Manyinga region of Zambia that has been devastated by multiple public health challenges and the grinding reality of poverty.

The two schools have an average annual enrollment of almost 500 students, and a teaching staff of about 12. In addition to a primary education, the students receive basic health care and participate in an agriculture/self-sufficiency program in which the students grow food and raise animals in order to learn essential agriculture skills, provide for a nutritional program for the children and earn a modest income for the schools by selling the surplus.

Now is the time that many think of making an end of year donation to a worthy cause, and I would ask that you consider supporting the Manyinga Project.

Entrance to the new two-room school house the project has funded in Samafunda.

From the beginning, the goal of our project has been one of self-sufficiency, putting both the students and the schools on a path that will see them grow and flourish independently. The success of our project model has attracted the attention of the local government, whom we have been in talks with to take over administration of the schools. However, we do expect the resolution of these negotiations to be measured in years, not months, and we remain committed to meeting our obligations to the students of our schools until we are assured they can thrive without our assistance.

My, how the garden grows under the care of the students.

That commitment is dependent on the generous contributions to the Manyinga Project by benefactors like you. Donations pay teacher salaries, support basic health care and buy the seed and inputs for the agriculture program that feeds our children and provides a modest return on the sale of surplus harvest.

Joan’s House, a teachers residence at Chinema being built in honour of Joan Anderson.

The Manyinga Working Group is very grateful for the support the project has been shown through the years and is now raising funds for the project’s 2015 budget year. Here is a short list of a few budget items for 2015 that need your support:

$150/month for a teacher’s salary
$60 for fruit trees
$240 for tools and pails
$360 for first aid kits
$600 for oxen and plow rental
$600 per year for nurse visits to the schools
$600 to train a new agronomist (current agronomist will be retiring soon)
$1800 for latrines at Chinema
$3600 for fertilizer

To donate today, please follow the instructions here: http://manyinga.org/donate.php.