New Sisters!

Dear Friends,

We hope this year is treating you well! For us at Project Samuel Zambia we’ve had a wonderful start to the year with two new lovely young ladies joining our family. Precious is a 10-year-old girl and Natasha has just turned 12. Our other kids are delighted to have these new sisters and it’s our pleasure to introduce them to you!

At the Project the children had a wonderful Christmas and enjoyed lots of family time together. A few highlights over the holidays were a Christmas Eve carols sing-along, a plentiful and tasty Christmas Day family lunch, and some homemade cookies they all found in their stockings! Thank you to those of you who gave so our kids could be blessed beyond this Christmas. It’s been fun to see new outfits and shoes being worn with joy and everyone is eager to share about their favourite gifts when we’ve asked about the holidays!

Yet again, school in Zambia was delayed in opening due to Covid. The kids weren’t complaining though and everyone seemed to stay busy. Hope and Isaac, having newly graduated, have taken on the role as tutors and have been busy working with some of our students who are needing some extra support. They, along with Zavier and Webby, wrote their final grade 12 exams in December and are now exploring options for their next steps. Lizzy, Kennedy and Alick were home from University for the holidays and enjoyed a time of reconnection and refreshment.

It’s rainy season here and our grounds are just beautiful, but mowing, slashing, and gardening is sure a full-time job. As mango season finished, our oranges are now ripening, and this year pomegranates are also being enjoyed. It’s fun to see the Project development and everyone is enjoying the fruit of much labor.

With our many new young children at the moment we have an incredible need for tutors to teach very basic reading and math skills. We are recognising more and more that there is a huge need for supplemented learning. We have grade 4- 6 students joining us who don’t yet know the names of all the letters, so we aren’t needing experts, just those who are willing! If anyone is interested in coming this way for a few weeks or months to help meet this need, please be in touch!

 

The Vowell Family

As a little family (Kim, Brenden, Alivia and Alissa), we have recently returned from an epic journey. It was wonderful to have the opportunity to share at so many churches and events and to spend the holidays in North America seeing friends and family. We had a truly excellent trip!

It sure is good to be home though….and back to our crazy Project Samuel Zambia life! In this moment, as I sit on my patio and write, Alissa (1.5 yrs) is chasing a chicken through the flowerbeds, Livie (3.5 yrs) is happily “baking cakes” in the “kitchen” in her room. Little Isaiah is riding a bike back and forth in front of me, and Agnes is sitting in curiosity watching me type. A group of our teenagers are under the tree nearby enjoying the afternoon breeze. I see Norah tending a brazier on which she’ll make her house’s nshima for the evening meal. It’s not quiet, but it’s peaceful; and it’s Project Samuel. It is home and we thank you for making it possible for us to be here and call it that!

While we were away, we were delighted to welcome onboard a number of new child sponsors. We also gratefully received many one time and ongoing gifts and commitments to the Project. This all helps to make it possible to see life change for each of the children that call Project Samuel home – and we thank each of you who have given and continue to give to make this possible!

We hope and pray this year is full of peace and many blessings for each of you.

Sending Love,

From our little ‘Vowell Family’ and our big ‘Project Samuel Family’