Our Second Meeting

The second information session was held last night, Tuesday, September 14, at St. Mark's Anglican Church. Along with our organizer, Eleanor Dunn, and our team leader, The Rev. Nancy Ringham, eight other people came who were interested in finding out more information. There were a few other people who are interested but were unable to attend.

After an opening prayer, everyone introduced themselves and described their occupation and what other talents they might be able to contribute to the team.

Eleanor Dunn then went through the basic mandate of the short-term mission, which is to do some fundraising for a capital project at the Lifesong School in Kitwe Zambia, which we will then visit next summer for 10 to 14 days. The school has about 200 students, all orphans, and although Lifesong (who has schools in other countries around the world) is able to do fundraising for operating costs, the school does need to expand to accommodate more classrooms. The school would like to build an additional four classrooms on a pre-existing slab foundation. Although the total cost for the four classrooms will be approximately $57,000 (they have received several quotations for the work), Eleanor recommended that we make, as our goal, $15,000 for one classroom, and perhaps future teams will be able to raise enough for the remaining classrooms.

The $15,000 would be enough to purchase building materials and hire labourers, so our goal in actually going to the school would be to lend our other talents and to meet our hosts. The children always enjoy visits, but they have other needs as well. Last year's team was able to provide a dental clinic, physiotherapy, education workshops, and build a playground. Once our team has gelled (after airfare is paid for when the special fares come out in December), we will assess what talents we have and brainstorm what other things we can bring to benefit the school.

Eleanor was also able to answer any questions and concerns about the mission, including logistics regarding health, language and safety. Having lived Zambia for eight years and leading last year's team to the school, her information was very helpful in answering these questions.

At the end of the meeting, we tossed around ideas for fundraising, such as dinners, guest speakers, and other personal fundraising ideas. All in all, it was a very informative meeting, and a good chance to meet some of the other people considering this short-term mission to Zambia.

We have set our third meeting date: Tuesday, October 19, 2010 at 7:00 pm at St. Mark's Anglican Church (click here for directions to St. Mark's). Anyone who is interested in hearing more about the Zambia Workteam 2011 is welcome to attend. See you there!