For the next year, the Chebesa family of Tanzania will be participating in an internship with ENFY's and the Debbie Joy Memorial School, gaining on-the-job training for their future ministry work.

Pastor Kangwa Chebesa and his wife Fena have traveled to Murundu, Zambia with their niece, as well as four children. Kangwa has taken a position as Pastor Joseph Bwalya's assistant at ENFY's, while Fena is co-teaching at the Debbie Joy school. The village of Murundu has already benefited from the presence of the Chebesa's. Kangwa's mentor, Pastor Joseph, quickly noted that the "coming of the [Chebesa's] has revived us greatly." 

Fena's time is split between the school and helping to work with the Murundu women's group. At the school, Fena is mentored by Hilda, Pastor Joseph's wife. Hilda and Fena supply Earn It children will daily meals and an education that the children would otherwise go without. 

The local women's group, a congregation of women that help to provide emotional and physical support for one another, will be Fena's second focus. The women help cook meals for Earn It children and, most importantly, learn to become independent and financially stable through small business creation.

In addition to all of her work, Fena will also be attending college courses to become a teacher while in Zambia.

Kangwa will spend his year focusing on large-scale farming and mentorship of the village's young men.

Pastor Joseph and his family currently have 22 pigs and plan to begin making sausage while sustaining their number of pigs for an ongoing food source. Kangwa and his family will learn about sustainable large-scale farming over the course of the year, including hands-on experience with pigs and chickens.

The Earn It boys and Pastor Joseph's family have been working for years on the chicken coops of Murundu and will be able to show Kangwa the efforts of all their hard work, as well as the skills needed to duplicate their successes.

Kangwa and his family have already felt the heart of the village and their mentors during their short time in Murundu. "You can't imagine how my family has quickly loved Murundu..." he stated.

Kwanga has his own mentor in Pastor Joseph, but he has quickly become a great model for the young men of the village to look up to as well. The White Star Academy soccer team has benefited greatly from the presence of Kangwa, who can be seen leading the boys in prayer. 

The Chebesa's internship is a model for development of investments in leadership. LRPI provides the Chebesa's with a monthly salary for their work and, in turn, Fena and Kangwa supply LRPI with monthly reports on their progress. By aiding in the experience, LRPI is able to explore and cultivate ministries that work and reach more of those in need. Our mentors, our children and families like the Chebesa's become conduits of God's love, care and concern for those who need. Through their work at both ENFY's and in Murundu, the Chebesa's and their family will have the skills to perform large-scale farming, empower women, educate others, perform medical care and become self-sustaining. 

We pray that God leads our teams on the ground, the Chebesa's mentors and the village of Murundu to embrace Kangwa and his family as they learn and lead with us.

                
AWANA FIELD REPORT BY BROTHER
  CONCEPTOR
         
MURUNDU AWANA CLUB 2TIMOTHY CHAPTER 2VS
15.


 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust we should live righteously and godly in the present age. This is the main reason for the existence of AWANA club in our village. We have been mandated by the Commander in chief to preach and reach out to people out there with the gospel
because it is the reason why we are saved. The overwhelming response of the clubbers in the village has been one of our biggest tool in doing the work of the Lord. We are grateful to God that he has made this work possible.


In the early days of the existence of AWANA, people never even understood what AWANA meant. They thought it is something that was misleading their kids. They could come during the programme, take up their kids and beat them in our presence and tell them to stop attending our AWANA programme.  Parents tried by all means to stop their children from attending our programme, but those efforts were all in vain because the word was already in the kids so they could not be stopped. This time around, as I write this report, I am 
glad to say that today parents are now encouraging their children to attend the 
 AWANA programme because of the many positive benefits they have seen in the
growth of their children not only in stature but also in the spirit.

The greatest gift God gave us was love through his only begotten son Christ by dying on the cross for our sins so that our generation be saved. The kids of today are leaders of tomorrow. That is why when you look at our target you will see that we are targeting the kids mostly in our programmes. We know for sure that they are the ones that will lead the country in the shortest near future, so if we impart the word of God in them, the country and the world will be a better place to live in. The leaders will lead the world on very strong Christian values as they will have known and understood Christian values in strong terms.  

Just recently we had AWANA inter district games which was held in Mufulira. We saw a great number of kids turning up for the programme-Chingola, Chillilabombwe, Ndola, Kitwe,Chambishi, Luanshya and of course Mufulira the hosts. We had three big buses from Murundu.(Murundu is the community served by the Enfys program and LRPI). We had a great time together with the kids. We could see and feel the impact of the word of God in the kids as they responded to the teachings and games positively.  Chingola, Chambishi and Chililabombwe were pronounced winners at the prize giving.We saw wonders
in the clubbers on that day, 29 July. It will always be a great day in my life because of what happened.

It's almost Christmas in Zambia. And even though the children won't wake up to a snowy scene through their windows, they're stirring just the same. LRPI and volunteers around the world have worked tirelessly to make sure that the Zambian families and children share in the same spirit of the holiday that we all get to experience at our own homes during this time of year.

With the backing of people all over the world, the Earn It Program participants and children in Mufulira will be waking up to presents on their doorsteps. Joseph and Hilda, who help run ENFYS and work in the village, have pledged their own profits and chickens to help feed villagers for Christmas. A local bank in Zambia that works with LRPI has pledged finances to help pay for food and necessities for the children.

Along with Zambians, countless families and individuals here in the U.S. have supported the fund that will bring Christmas to Zambian children in various ways. Steve and his wife Kendra in Florida, requested that their family donate to the children's Christmas fund in Zambia, instead of sending presents to them.

Amber Purdy and her young sons in Ohio raised $100 through a local bake sale. The money will be used to provide new trousers, underwear and shirts to both Earn It Program participants and children of the village.

A high school student, Michalya, also out of Ohio, rallied her fellow students to make over 80 personalized Christmas cards for the children in both Zambia and Tanzania. [Photo on left].

Holly Gardner of 'Holly Gardner Photography' helps to keep the organization running all year by donating 3% of every shoot back to LRPI. This holiday, she also offered clients a discount if they contributed toward the Zambia Christmas Fund. You can see her work and read about her commitment here: http://hollygardner.com/blog/

LRPI would like to thank everyone who helped support the Christmas in Zambia fund this year. From those volunteers mentioned above, to the countless amount of time and energy spent by those not mentioned in this article. On Christmas morning, there will be children awakening and smiling, feeling the warmth, love and kindness of people a world away. Thank you all for continuing to bring this joy to Zambia and Tanzania. You may never quite realize the impact your love has, but it is the most powerful thing in the world.

God Bless and Merry Christmas,
LRPI Team

LRPI introduced the EARN IT program led by Martinz Kampapa to the ENFYS orphanage headed by Pastor Joseph Bwalya in Mufulira, Zambia, in 2010. The EARN IT program targets high school-age youth in ENFYS and the surrounding community and provides them the opportunity to earn school materials,
transportation to school, tuition, and personal items. 

The overall goals of EARN IT are:

Educating youth 

Empowering young people with useful skills 

Equipping young people spiritually

Mentoring young people to work to meet their needs

Unlike in America, the cost of transportation to high school in Mufulira can be up to 80% of the total cost of attending school, dwarfing tuition and books. Inclusion of transport costs as part of Earn It helps to mitigate that barrier which can stand between our youth and an education.

Martinz says that EARN IT gives the students hope when they realize they are capable of helping themselves. The students attitudes and accomplishments as well as Martinz’ management has not gone unnoticed by the community. Now in its second year, the success has been noticed beyond Mufulira. On April 13 a Government leader visited Martinz, and said "We have heard much about your program, we would love you to come and guide us on how we can use our block-making machine to benefit the youths in Mufulira district, using your program and methods."

Martinz says, "Having done this for some time it was very easy for me to give the idea to the government official and they have asked me if I can put up a plan and then show them how I have been keeping up the hours each participant earns each day. If the Government can take this idea, it means that our friends have been supporting the right thing. We should copy the good ideas
in order to foster development in our country."

"I personally  thank you. Your support to this program will see other benefit from many areas not only in Mufulira but in all the country."

EARN IT is managed stateside by Jeff Hamilton with support from Renelle Tompkins.