Dear Grassroots Heroes,

Bible School, Jimmy The Machine, The Well Dedicated

Wednesday started with a Bible School at the Mango Grove Community School for the children and youth. The mission team presented the story of Jesus as the good shepherd who goes after the one sheep that is lost and brings him home. They had a craft for all the kids to do with cotton and glue to make the printed picture of a sheep fuzzy. It was the first time the children had ever used glue! They thoroughly enjoyed it and held those little sheep pictures close when they left for home! Linda led the teaching, and said she has always been shy about speaking in front of anyone, but this time the Holy Spirit flowed through her in a new and powerful way – words just poured out that she had not planned, and could not repeat. She was so blessed to experience God enabling her and speaking through her to reach the children.

The construction project is ongoing. The challenge is to get the water from the well to the construction site. They hooked a heavy long hose up to the pump, and pumped the handle so the water filled the hose. But, the water had to be put into a barrel in order to get it to where it was needed, so the team had to lift the heavy hose up and work the water up into the elevated section, while blocking it from flowing backwards. It was heavy, hard work. But they did it! Everyone got into the work – even some of the older ladies on the mission team helped carry cement blocks from the pile to the site. The walls are rising up! We are all amazed at the intensity with which the young men from the community are working – and doing it nonstop. The team nicknamed one “The Machine” because he shovels and digs and pushes barrels with all his might at top speed. There are about 7 of these teenage boys who are volunteering to help with this building project. What an inspiration and joy to see them laughing as they work and interacting with the American team!

In the afternoon we gathered around the well and began to sing praise songs “Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice.” As we sang, the Grippis women gathered with us and started singing some of their own songs. More and more poured down the path to join the celebration over the well. They danced, they acted out the songs, they passionately praised God for the water, for his love, for his power. Mr. Sachika thanked the team on behalf of the community, and Carol Fanelli of We’re All God’s Children officially gave the well to the community. She and Mr. Sachika pumped the handle together as an official symbol of the turn over. We thought together about how much God has done in that community. I asked the crowd, “Five years ago, could you have ever imagined that that you would have two wells, and this big plot of land for your new school, and a new building sitting on it?” “No” they shouted in unison, and then broke into a long period of shouting, clapping, punctuated with shrieks of joy.

God’s plans are so much greater than we can imagine! Who knows what the community will look like five years from now! Our hopes and prayers are that first of all the people of Grippis are serving Christ with all their hearts and that through them, He is accomplishing his purpose! Rich

Blessings, Tanya

Dear Grassroots Heroes,

Building More Than A School

The construction mission team is working hard in the hot sun, dust and wind at Grippis Farm. They are doing manual labor in a very rustic way. At first it was just them toiling. As the villagers witnessed their hard work, one by one they began to join the volunteer effort. They grabbed picks and shovels the team bought for the project and began to dig out the hard, dry soil for the footers of the foundation. They chopped out roots and stumps with a pick axe. Together the growing team knocked out the work in good time.

The next phase was to transfer the concrete blocks from where the truck had dropped them to the building location. The team started carrying the blocks one at a time to the site. The teachers, on their first day of school vacation, arrived to help them. Soon, the children of the village saw the effort and wanted to help. Little tiny children were carrying the heavy blocks. Someone had the idea to form a “bucket brigade” to move the blocks. So, the Americans, the villagers and the children formed a long line passing the blocks along. For hours they moved blocks. The little children didn’t tire. The block layers began to lay the blocks – filling he holes in the center with concrete as they went. By days end they had four layers of blocks laid.

Today they are trying to mix the concrete to pour the slab for the floor.

The well is not yet opened, so the villagers have to fill huge barrels with water at the old well and roll them UP hill to the new site. It takes one hour to fill and roll one barrel of water to the site. No wonder they had requested a well at the new construction site! The new well won’t be useable until tomorrow. But, the workers aren’t daunted by the task at hand. By noon, they have 4 barrels of water, and they can start to mix when they have 5. A total of eight will be required for the work today. Tomorrow they will continue to build up the walls, which should be completed by Friday!

There is more than building a school going on here. Vincent said it this way “It is like the people of the village just woke up. They have started working on their own plots of land now – clearing the trees, and stumps, getting them ready for their own building projects. Somehow they have been inspired by seeing the school started. They have realized that there is hope, and it can be done, and they can make it happen! It means a lot to them that these people have come to help them – without getting anything in return. They feel by the team’s hard work – that they are valuable enough to help.” Who can measure the impact of being loved and served? One day we will all look back and be able to trace the path of the villagers as they were touched by the love of

God through his children!

Rich Blessings, Tanya

Above are a few photos that go with the article entitled "Confusion, Laughter, Disappointment & Realization" This was sent out to the GHI mailing list. The boy in the

striped clothing is the one who lost his eye as a result of a beating. Thanks to the

generosity of a donor he is receiving an operation and a replacement artificial eye.

Tanya

Dear Heroes,

For many months it has seemed like nothing is going on at Grippis Farm. There was nothing new, nothing happening, nothing visibly changing. Then, today when I drove into the new school land, it was full of activity that it caught me off guard. The well drilling rig towered high above it all, and the sound of the drilling filled the air. Children surrounded the rig, watching, playing, waiting for the end results of this all- day affair. In front of the well drilling rig a large truck was full of people lifting concrete blocks off to others on the ground who were stacking them in piles. To the right was a huge dump truck dumping cement, and a team of men and women moving fast to mix it into the layers of river sand and gravel that had already been laid in the ditches dug yesterday for the foundation. Up the dirt trail all day long came women pushing very heavy wheelbarrows full of small stones. They dumped their stones onto the growing pile, and the Chairman of the village, Mr. Soko placed a small stone on the pile of stones on the ground in front of him representing how many wheelbarrow loads that woman had brought. They will be paid by the load.

At the school the boys soccer team was showing off their new soccer uniforms, and the girls were playing netball in their bright outfits as well. They were stoked. Proud as peacocks, they pranced around!

Where did all this activity come from? Silently, out of sight ,God had been cutting the pieces of the mosaic that he put together today. In Grippis the women had been using heavy sledge hammers to break up big rocks into small stones, Mr. Sachika had been going about his duties with the Ministry of Lands, the architect and the foremen had been working on the drawings for the school, churches and individuals in Pennsylvania and Virginia sold hot dogs, washed cars, hosted benefit meals, Bible School teachers prompted donations from their pupils, and 17 of us were listening to God’s call to do our small part to be here on this day, and many, many others heard God’s prompting to give generously. We are a body – all working together to bring about God’s plan. We each have only a small part, but when it comes together as God has designed it, it is a beautiful sight.The well will be flushed out tomorrow, and we will dedicate it and give it to the community on Tuesday. I will have some photos of the clean water coming out of it for you to enjoy. I can taste the pride of the community as these improvements are made on their land. We have all given them hope of a future that is better than the past.

Thank you for doing your part!

Tanya

Dear Heroes,

“Praise God I can see, I can see”, the elderly woman grabbed team member Carolyn Snell, laughing and laughing, hugging her close and dancing with her around the mud brick school room where the vision screening was taking place. Her joy captured the heart of our day today. Bringing sight to all ages of people at Grippis Farm was heat warming to say the least. The team of teenage girls, moms and others carried out the screening and eyeglass donation with ease, making lot of people very happy. Even the teachers from Mango Grove School got to take advantage of glasses, which they had never been able to afford. They were so thankful. Some of our favorite people through the years in the story of Mango Grove School, like Mrs. Banda, Fred and Josephine Phiri, Mrs. Chungu, and 290 others left with “new eyes”!

While the vision screening was happening, the construction crew from our team was busy digging the foundation for the building. Chris, Andy, Dale, Heather and Dennis worked in the hot African sun, using a pick, and a shovel to assist the locals in the back-breaking work. Tomorrow the foundation will be poured and then the blocks, which were delivered to the site today will be laid up until they are ready to place the rafters and roofing. Tomorrow the well drilling rig will roll onto the property, and yes, believe it or not, we just got a pledge for the $2,000 needed to complete the well. How amazing is our God? And how precious are his people who listen to his prompting to carry out his work!

The vision clinic moves to an urban slum tomorrow. I will move between the construction/well drilling site and the vision clinic to report to you how things are going! Thank you for your support and prayers
Tanya

The Dance of Joy

The mission team’s first day started at Grippis Farm with a walking tour from Heroes Farm to the Mango Grove Community School. The reality of the horrible living conditions touched their hearts and many of them were crying as they approached the school. The students were anxiously awaiting their arrival. They lined up in the sunshine by grade and sang their hearts out for all the visitors. They sang praise songs, and worship songs, and performed a skit and poems for us. The team sang two songs for the kids and did a skit and we ended with the children in a big circle so we could greet and take photos with them. They loved the attention, and it was hard to get the team to say goodbye!

Later that evening, after our welcome dinner with the team, the teachers, the school board and the government officials, I certainly didn’t expect the living room of Heroes Farm to erupt into spontaneous praise dancing! Older white ladies joined in with the young Africans, old Africans bobbed and weaved with young white kids – hands clapped the African rhythm, the harmony rang out strong, the fever pitch built. The joy broke loose, and we were caught up in it together. Praising God, laughing, moving to our own singing. Poor village women wearing chitengas with babies on their backs, danced with seminary professors straight out of their classrooms, women dressed in evening wear swayed with others in jeans and t-shirts, the government officials of Grippis lost all their inhibitions in the middle of the circle of joy. These were rare moments of unity, when we dropped all that was different and fused into a oneness of spirit.

The build up was gradual, with one person after another sharing about how good our God is. Trials, hard times, character shaping, life molding experiences all under God’s hand led us all to this place, at this time to bring about the will of God. The focus was on God’s work in the Grippis community. Dr. Nelipher Moyo gave the history of God’s work from the beginning of the school and led up to the present. Mr. Sachika took the floor and preached a sermon right out of the depths of his heart, sharing his testimony of tribulations and loss that has led to something better than he ever had when he was an important employee of B.P. with every comfort. “If a person isn’t ready to walk the path of thorns, they aren’t ready to be a Christian,” he challenged us. We spent time in passionate prayer for the school and the community – for the transformation of hearts, minds and spirits. The sound was a roar of languages calling out to God for help.

The teachers, the school board, the young community members shared their gratitude for the team coming, for raising the funds to put in a new well and start their new school building. The Zambian law says that if you buy land and do nothing with it within a few months, the government can take it back, so by building this storage building and putting in the well, the team has given the community the security of knowing that their land will remain with them. The team presented 60 brand new soccer uniforms to the teachers, who were so moved and happy. Now the students can actually join a league and play other schools- before they were restricted from participating because they had no uniforms.

I closed by reminding the teachers that when we first came to Zambia and saw the heroic efforts of local teachers at Grippis, we wanted to name our organization after them so we named it Grassroots Heroes International . I presented them each with a Grassroots Heroes T-shirt, the government officials joined the spirit and accepted one as well, even Dr. and Mrs. Moyo wanted t-shirts to wear. They left with their shirts on, their smiles beaming and their hearts buoyed by the marvelous experience of worshipping God for what he has already done, and what is yet to come!

Your purchase of a Grassroots Heroes t-shirt will help support these heroic teachers efforts to educate the vulnerable children in the most extreme poverty. Or, a donation can help us give them a higher salary than they currently receive. Or, you could help finish the new schoolroom and drill the well for the community.Log onto http://www.grassrootsheroes.org/ to continue to join what God is doing in Zambia.
Blessings,
Tanya

Three families received their rabbits from Vincent's rabbit project today. Mr. Chungu, pictured with his rabbit, built the cage in the photo inside his house. Another photo shows him with his family who live in the house - lots of people in a 4 room house! Now the rabbits have one room, leaving three for the family. It shows you how much they value this opportunity to earn an income from this project! You may remember Mr. Chungu's family story - several of his children died of AIDS leaving him with 5 grandchildren plus two of his own children to raise. He and his wife are the ones who taught the women to bake bread.

16 people are in the air heading for Zambia from Virginia and Pennsylvania. They will check the eye sight in 5 locations, including 2 rural villages. I had the meeting with the chief's "front man" who instructed me in the proper protocol of meeting the chief when we arrive in the village. We are to call him "Your Royal Highness", and kneel before him. Even the President of Zambia does not stand higher than the chiefs of the land. So - we are in for an interesting experience there. The Chief graduated from seminary last year, and wants all of his people to know the love of God. I'm so glad we were invited to come! (Pictured above are Marilyn Burkholder and Carolyn Snell and Julie Burkholder and Chris Beverage during training sessions in July.)

The Mango Grove Community School is educating 250 children! The kids are learning, being fed and nurtured spiritually. It is obvious that they need some better facilities! Would you help us put in a well on the new land and build a new school building for this community?