Seeds of Hope’s New Home in Zambia

Seeds of Hope recently moved into a new facility that will house our Ndola Resource Center!

This marks an exciting new chapter for Seeds of Hope.  Our new facility is near the center of town, giving us more visibility and making it easier for people in the community to reach us. We now have the potential to fulfill more of the holistic side of our vision, particularly in conducting trainings. As a start, we recently met with 50 of our local Zambian champions and conducted a community health promoters’ training, something that would have been an extreme challenge at our previous location. With a larger facility, we are able to more easily develop our agriculture projects, expand and improve our biosand filter factory, and make way for self-sustainability projects that will help maintain the long-term impact of the resource center. In the following pages, you will find a snapshot of some of the things we are excited about!

A Tour of the Ndola Resource Center

We plan to develop a demonstration farm where people can be trained in improved agriculture techniques to improve the health of their families and provide a source of income. We even have the beginnings of an on-site greenhouse.
Our Biosand factory is running more smoothly, and many of the space-related challenges we had at our former center are no longer a problem! We have also been able to better facilitate community members coming to the center to build their own biosand filters. Adjacent to it is an area where a team of mechanics and welders work on in-house fabrication and repair projects.
We are looking forward to hosting trainings and events in this traditional meeting structure. It seats up to 75 people for trainings and 150 people for presentations. We have already trained 400 people here!
In this make-shift kitchen we prepare meals for training participants. We are looking for funds to build a real kitchen.

When these areas are complete they will house our water quality testing laboratory and vocational training classrooms. We plan to conduct classes in computers, sewing, and carpentry.

This building will house the internet café and retail center that will help us become more part of the community, as well as provide revenue to help make our work sustainable. We plan to sell products made by students in our vocational skills and agriculture classes.

This blue and white building houses our administrative building.

We drilled a new well at the facility so that we can conduct on-site hand pump repair trainings.

These painted biosand filters form a fountain that is part of a display which informs visitors to the resource center about multi-barrier approaches to water treatment.

 

We are so excited for the potential this new facility represents, but still need help getting some things off the ground. If you would like to be part of developing the new Ndola Resource Center, here are areas you can help:

    • Funding for specific projects (agriculture, vocationalskills training, building classrooms)

    • Funding for construction projects at the facility

    • Long term volunteers who are willing to mentor SHIP’s staff in specific skills (especially drilling)

    • Developing curriculum for the agriculture and vocational training courses

    • PrayerGive Now

 


Champion Spotlight : Michelle Reed

This month we would like to highlight the efforts of Seeds of Hope Champion Michelle Reed. Michelle first heard about Seeds of Hope through her husband, a friend of founders Kirk and Denise. After hearing the Schauers speak at her church twice, she knew she wanted to get involved. With a degree in Earth Science and a minor in Geology, she was drawn in by an interest in Seeds of Hope’s drilling projects and wanted to help in any way possible.  She started volunteering in the San Luis Obispo office this January, and says of her work there, “Even though I’m not drilling water wells in Africa, the work I am doing allows Seeds of Hope to continue to work in Zambia.” She answers phone calls, recruits volunteers, represents us at events, handles some banking, and did an incredible job of maintaining the office while our office manager Christi was in Zambia last  month. We are so grateful to Michelle for her faithful service and hard work as a Seeds of Hope Champion.
People like Michelle are vital to our work, and we need more local Champions like her. If you live in the San Luis Obispo area, we invite you to become part of the international family working together to bring hope and transformation to communities in Africa.  Email us at info@sohip.org to find out how you can get involved.