Dear Prayer Partners and Supporters,

It is two months ago since our previous newsletter and it gives the reality that time has moved quickly. We still are under lockdown although the government is slowly easing up the prohibitions with churches, some examination classes in schools and businesses being allowed to resume. But for colleges such as ourselves, we are still waiting to reopen. Below is our latest updates and information with regard to our ministries.

College

The onslaught of the Covid19 pandemic led to the closure of our college on the 20th of March this year. This was just a month after the beginning of the new academic year. This means that our students did not learn much and as a result, they have lost a whole term. Our second term is supposed to start on the 14th of July. The implication of this is that there will be no graduation this year for those in the certificate class. It would also mean rewriting our curriculum for the year!

The College Chapel has continued to meet on Sunday mornings for just an hour of worship. This is attended by the family of the principal, our admin Samba and her two sisters, Marjanne and two other Dutch missionaries from the Stephanos Ministry while observing stringently the lockdown regulations.

In April this year our Annual General Meeting (AGM) was held yet with a big difference! Normally we would have all Trustees within and outside of our country around for a number of days. They would see and hear what our various ministries are doing on the ground. We would also enjoy fellowship with them. This year the meeting however was conducted online, which was a special welcome to the virtual world for our college. We are thankful to God for enabling us to have a successful meeting in spite of the lockdown. In the meantime, the staff is busy working in the offices and assisting with farm work as well.

Farm

At our farm it is not quiet at all! The hammer mill and the Oil Expeller are kept running busy whenever electricity is available. As mentioned in our previous Newsletter, the power outages sometimes take ten hours during the day. Nevertheless, in order to serve the people from the communities around us, our farm workers have been necessitated to work night shifts in order to circumvent the daily outages. We thank God that despite the challenges work is been done and hence the farm is persevering on.

We would like to inform you that the harvest is done and we are now cleaning the maize and sunflower for storage. We will provide more news on this in the next Newsletter. Meanwhile our workers, under guidance of Lupupa, the Accounts Officer and acting farm supervisor, have also started to put up a wire fence to cover an area of one hectare. This will enable us keep our cows and goats in a secure place. The sales from the poultry and piggery have continued to provide income to meet our daily operations both at the farm and the college.

CEM

Below are some of the pictures for Rehoch Christian Academy in Kitwe, Copperbelt Province, where Marjanne had gone to do training before she was recalled at the onset of the Covid19 outbreak. However, due to virtual technology, Marjanne is able to stay in touch with a number of teachers from various schools. She receives reports and offers her advice to them too. In the meantime, she keeps herself busy with writing story books for children, a bible study program for teenagers and literacy lessons for one of our workers. In the picture below, she is seen sewing masks for the staff and their families.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support to us.
Pastor Emmanuel Sakala
Principal