Reverend John Jere and his wife Joyce bring us their March 2009 report concerning their work in Zambia.
MULTIPURPOSE HALL
The Lord has enabled us to build a Multipurpose Hall. This is by His divine provision for us to do this.
USE:
- Every Nation Church meets in the hall for Sunday services.
- Funeral services are done in the hall.
- We shall use it for weddings, conferences, bridal showers, etc. The proceeds shall be used to buy food for the Samaritan children
THINGS STILL NEEDED TO BE DONE:
- We still have to roof the front part.
- We need timber and iron sheets (10).
- We need to plaster the whole building both inside and outside: that is to say we need 400 bags of cement, 60 tonnes of building sand.
- We need window and door frames, doors, and window panes, etc.
We need to electrify the hall.
- We need to put ceiling boards up, etc.
MISSIONS
Our team from Lusaka has planted another Every Nation Church (ENC) in Chongwe rural. Our branch is molding bricks and the main church shall help with bags of cement. I preached to the congregation and the Lord is helping us in church plants. I have also preached the word of God in Luapula province (Zambia) and another Every Nation Church has been born. This month, I went and preached to our church in Kitwe, Zambia. God willing, we shall plant another church in the eastern part of Zambia in a town called Chipata. In June 2009, God willing, we shall travel to Lukulu to strengthen our churches.
ORDINATION
In January 2009, we ordained a close friend, Charl van Wyk from Cape Town, South Africa. He is now Reverend Charl van Wyk. He is a dedicated servant of the Lord.
Gladys Sakala lost her husband to HIV/AIDS in 1992. She contracted the epidemic from her late husband who was promiscuous. The epidemic is a deadly, dangerous disease that has claimed more lives than the First and Second World Wars and it continues to devastate lives by leaving the young ones to look after themselves. Burial of Gladys SakalaSadly, Gladys’ time came; she suffered from tuberculosis for a long time. She got treated but the real disease associated with TB surfaced and became more prominent. The worst of all was that she was very poor with 8 children. She suffered from stigma from her own relatives, friends and neighbors.
Samaritan office received the information about the poor lady and her children. By the time we got there, she passed away and the little church where she attended church services did not have funds to buy either food or coffin. I bought the coffin and carried it in our vehicle.
There is very little land for the graveyard in Lusaka due to the fact that there are more people dying from HIV/AIDS related diseases.
SAMARITAN FAITH FARMING
We always grown some food for ourselves so that our children do not admire other people’s maize fields and steal. When we grow any crop, we do it together with our Samaritan children as a way of teaching them agricultural skills. It is also good for them to eat food of their own sweat. We also grow vegetables: cassava, tomatoes, onions, etc. We stopped buying vegetables. Instead, our neighbors come and buy vegetables from us.
SAMARITAN PLAY PARK
Samaritan Play ParkSamaritan children are growing, therefore the need for a play park. It was a great sacrifice for me (John Jere) to buy such equipment for the children. They really needed such for physical exercise. There are the following: two sliders, two pairs of swings and other things for the babies. When children get tired in the class, they go and play at the play park. One afternoon, the children swung and I was passing to go to the hall, the children thanked me for buying such equipment for them.
SAMARITAN MONTHLY FOOD DISTRIBUTION
Duncan and Morris are our children from Samaritan Children’s Home. They were affected by the State oppression (re-integration into the society). Duncan and Morris passed government exams and are now in secondary school.
Though the above children went back where their relatives are, they knew from bottom of their hearts that they are not wanted. Anyhow, they had no choice but to go back. As soon as they got to their aunt’s home (a widow who is remarried), the man or husband to their aunt told them that he did not want them at his house. Their aunt secretly told them to come and tell us. We had no choice but to rent a small house for them and we continue to provide all that the boys need, starting with school fees, uniforms, food etc.
This exercise is very expensive on our part because we literally stop doing anything, buy food and then take food wherever our bigger 
children are. The roads are very bad as for now, but we have to support our children. It takes 4 to 5 days to deliver the food to all the homes where our bigger children are. More to it, gas is very expensive and the road network is very bad and full of dirty water.
In most of the compounds where our bigger children are, there is a cholera outbreak. We risk our lives to serve the children. In fact, you can see what our boys deal with living by themselves with their outdoor bathroom for cleaning and separate toilet room. This is not the best of circumstances to prevent illnesses from happening amongst the orphans.
NATIONAL CONSTITUTIONAL CONFERENCE
John Jere with NCC delegatesZambia is re-writing its national constitution. Many things which are in the draft constitution came from different nations. They are not indigenous-based issues, therefore the need for the clergy to participate in the constitution-making process. Zambia United Christian Action (ZUCA) representatives, namely, Bishop Peter Tanda Mulenga, Karin Musona, and Bishop John Jere are part of this on-going process.
INTERDENOMINATIONAL CONFERENCE
ZUCA is organizing an interdenominational conference which shall deal with some issues from the Bible point-of-view. To help us with these, we have invited Dr. Mark Beliles, president of Providence Foundation from the USA, and Cherylyn Dudley, MP from South Africa. The conference will be held 26-28 March 2009. We hope the Republican President, Rupiah Banda, shall come and officially open the conference.
PRAYER REQUESTS
- Will you please pray for Lozaria and Gift Kapunga who are on HIV/AIDS drugs. Their health status is always unpredictable in the sense that they may appear well for a few hours and in then suddenly they are really down so much that we pray and take them to the hospital or private clinics. I must thank you all for all your prayers and support for these children. Thanks be to God that they are still alive.
- Will you please pray with us that God may provide the funds to complete this building which is already being used as a church on Sundays? When it is fully completed, it may help us to generate the funds for the Samaritan children (to put food on the table). The funds generated from the hiring of the hall shall also be used to send ministers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to preach the Gospel in the rural areas. When this building is completed, it may help us to be self-supportive and self-sustaining.
- Will you please pray with us that God may provide $1,527 for the yearly ACE curriculum for our school. When
we get these pages, we have been authorized by ACE to photocopy them because we are supporting the orphans.
Thank you for prayers and support,
Reverend John Jere, Samaritan Director
If you wish to contribute financially, you may contribute through In Touch Mission International, P.O. Box 7575, Tempe, AZ 85281 or call the ITMI Office at: 1-888-918-4100 to donate by credit card.
Samaritan Community Orphanage, PO Box 39326, Lusaka 10101, Zambia, Africa
Email: [email protected]
