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26th September 2006
Dear Ian and friends at St Peters,
Loving greetings to you all in South Weald. I hope that you have enjoyed a
break over the summer. I wait for my holiday in November just to be
different!
We do
want to thank you all for contributing the £2,500 which gave us $4,500
towards our project here in Lubumbashi for young people. As we talked about
this project, the Bishop suddenly said that we could have a large part of
the diocesan land which is just outside the city. We were thrilled with this
offer as it meets our requirements for size and position. There is a small
stream running at the bottom of part of the land and so we have all we need.
This means that your money will enable us to get the project underway. I am
thrilled by the effect your gift has had on the young people and on the
Diocesan office. I can see that God is going to use this project to bring
the department alive here in Lubumbashi so we are very grateful to you for
the important part you have played in getting the project off the ground. So
please pray. We have some photos for you and as and when I can attach them I
will send them on to you.
Jean-Bosco having discussed the project with the young people and visited
the property with some of them, this is the plans they have divided into
three phases, depending on dry and rainy seasons! (Oct-April rains, April -
Sept/Oct totally dry). We do not have actual costings for the buildings yet.
1st Phase: October 2006 - April 2007
1. Construction of two houses with 4 bedrooms and a communal sitting room. I
suggested to Jean they consider a duplex. This will cater for 32 young
people.
2. Buying seeds for fruit and forestry trees for firewood and planks and
hopefully planting the small trees. This will be a good project to help
young people to learn how to grow trees from seed and then later how to
plant them out.
3. Levelling football and volley ball pitches - by the young people
4. Starting animal husbandry
5. Buy brick machines
2nd
phase: May 2007 - October 2007
1. Starting making bricks out of the anthills on the land! Jean will
organise a youth camp for this purpose.
2. Youth activities at the centre.
3. Starting fishponds
4. Building paillotes (circular, open-sided grass roofed meeting rooms)
constructed by the young people.
5. Add two more houses from the benefits of selling some of the bricks.
3rd
phase: November 2007 - October 2008
1. Planting more trees
2. Starting fields for vegetables
3. 2nd youth camp for more bricks
4. Construction of two more houses and more paillotes for the street
children who are so called sorcerers.
5. Construction of a special playground for these children including a
'wendy house' to help them work through their trauma.
6. Start activities with these children including gradually having a boys
brigade for them.
Organisation:
The Diocesan youth officer, Jean-Bosco Tshiswaka will organise a management
committee and they will appoint a director and two assistants to work at the
centre. They will live off the land and profits from the use of the centre.
We are in the process of discussing with a group of people about working
amongst these street kids who are called sorcerers. There are various prayer
groups here who 'exorcise' them but in fact are terrorising and torturing
them. This is a new phenomenon here and very sad. We need much prayer as we
move in to save these children. Often we think parents say these children
are sorcerers to calm their consciences as they throw them onto the street.
The reasons for doing this are numerous but often the major one is poverty
and no family planning.
Benefits from this project:
1. This centre will bring together many young people throughout the year for
retreats, training, teaching etc.
2. Enable young people to run camps and outdoor activities allied to their
Boys and Girls Brigade curriculum
3. Not only will this be an activity centre but also give training in
agriculture, animal husbandry and fish breeding.
4. There will be a special section for these street kids to live and be
helped back into society once they are over their trauma, have learnt a
skill to gain a living and followed literacy and basic education.
5. The centre could be hired out to other churches for retreats etc thus
bringing in some funding for the centre and for the youth department.
6. Through the vegetables, trees, fruit, fish, bricks it is hoped that the
centre will be completely self-financed and be in a position to continue to
expand.
As a
result of this project:
We in the provincial youth office have realised that God has been showing us
that the picture we have had of children's work has been far too limited as
we were only considering Sunday schools. Children here do not have a role in
church nor are they considered as having a mission for Christ and yet Ps 8:3
tells us that it is by their praises that the enemy is overcome!
As we have talked about the possibilities of moving into this area of great
need amongst street kids called sorcerers God has been bringing different
people to us offering to work with us in this field. Do pray for wisdom and
that we will have a qualified team to take this on. Now that we have the
land and once we have buildings then we can start work seriously amongst
them.
We are now calling our children's department 'Children in Mission for
Christ'. We are very excited by this vision as it shows that we need to help
children to become real Christians, committed to working for Christ. We also
see that we have to help parents in bringing up their children, in
considering family planning and the church to accept that children are an
integral and very important part of the church family and that they have a
ministry as well as others!
So
thank you for all you have contributed to the work here in Lubumbashi and
further a field through this bigger vision.
May God richly bless you all,
With love and many thanks,
Judy