Calm before the storm

As we are a month or two away from rainy season. October is the hottest and driest weather followed by potential torrential downpours and flooding in the new year. We are so pleased the garden is in a very good place. We have been able to maintain a steady supply of water with our irrigation system despite it being very dry. The vegetables are well-established and we've had success distributing them to areas of need. 

While this may seem like kind of mundane news, this is a huge answer to prayer! Anyone who has ever lived in southern Africa can probably tell you when things are running smoothly on a daily basis, it must be a miracle! I attribute this to so many of you who have been lifting our project up in prayer! We praise the Lord for all that has been accomplished through the work of our employees,  community volunteers and our supporters!

Tomatoes

Onions in front, kale in back

Cabbage

Carrots

Students happy with new school building

After the school break, the students were excited to come back and see the building ready to be used. 

Gathering in the morning waiting for all their classmates to arrive!

Dinosaurs are also popular in Namibia. Using colored pencil to draw. We don't send crayons often because pencils last longer and don't melt.

Basic lessons taught in both English and Silozi, giving the students the best jumpstart to enter grade 1 in January. Thursdays lesson was "My Body." We are always willing to accept small posters, flash cards, and especially simple lesson plans. Contact us if you want to donate any of these school items. 

Now that the Sinanzi garden is in fill swing, we are able to provide a daily meal of green veggies and cornmeal porridge called pap. These students are blessing the meal before sharing a communal plate.

I don't often praise our teacher, Mavis, enough for her tireless commitment to Sinanzi Sepo Project. Not only does she prepare, teach and cook for her students,  she often spends her free time volunteering at the garden and communicating all that is going on with the project so we can always be in the loop from a distance. She is a valued employee.  

At the end of the week, we try to send each student home with a little food to share with their family and help them through the weekend. 

The cabbage is ready for harvest

Despite it being winter in Namibia, the crops are flourishing! Time to pick cabbage and kale. 

Harvest ready to be distributed to those in need after church last Sabbath. 

A grateful recipient... enjoy! 

These cabbage are so large it will feed quite a few people! 

Kale being distributed to the widows.

And another distribution taken to the orphan feeding center. 

Pretty soon the next crop of tomatoes will be ready

And a crop of carrots 

The new school is finished!

Praise the Lord! The new school building is now complete.  Many thanks to all the sponsors that made this possible! And a special thanks to all the volunteers in the school community, our teacher Mavis Neo, and Mukisa village that spent countless hours volunteering to bring the project to completion!  I don't know where we would be without their dedication to seeing the school succeed.

So you can see the layers of how the termite mud is applied. Once the outer layer is out on it is almost as hard as concrete. 

View from from inside. 

Finishing the floor

The finished school 

Mafuta

We are continuing to expand and move towards our goals!  There is now enough food to be making weekly deliveries to Mafuta, a local feeding center.  This center currently feeds over 100 kids that may otherwise not be getting a full meal in a day.  The center is already being provided corn meal (pap) from Children of Zion Village but we are now able to supplement this meal with vegetables for added nutrition!!

Only In Africa

Broken Fence from Elephants

So apparently our garden fence is not elephant proof!  In the dry season the elephants will often migrate closer to the Zambezi River, which is very close to this area.  A herd of elephants marched right through our fence and across our garden to get to water BUT somehow did not damage our crops!  Out of respect they tip toed between all the vegetables. ;-) Praise God for his provision and protection!

Trek through the garden, missing our vegetables!

Big Foot!

Our Garden is Growing!

Our garden is growing!!  We were recently donated a slew of spinach, cabbage, tomatoes, and kale from local neighbors in the Musanga area wishing to help with the project!! We were able to successfully transplant despite the dry season being fully upon us now.  However, we need the irrigation system to be fixed to continue keeping them growing!!  See the previous post for more on how you can help!