African Community Project

2011 is here and African Community Project is doing well and growing! This year will be my 10^th year working in Zambia with some of the most dedicated and happy people I have ever known. Robson Nyirenda a forester was one of the first people I met arriving in country and I am proud to say he is now Country Manager in Zambia of African Community Project. Our goal this year is to introduce more opportunities for communities wanting to manage their forests at a sustainable and profitable level. More charcoal plantations as well as Moringa powder orchards are being planned. As funds allow more wells will be rehabilitated or dug. A breakfast program at some local schools will also be implemented this year; giving a breakfast to the less fortunate children of the village who would normally attend school without eating a breakfast. The program which will run about an hour before school will be focused around having fun, playing sports, doing art and of course learning about their environmental. I know that some children come to school with nothing in their stomachs; this will give these less fortunate kids a step up ready to start their day. Sponsors will be needed to maintain the program once it is up and running and we have lots schools (children) that could use the program.

Presentations or questions! I would be happy to come a give a presentation at your school, church or club, showing you what we do in our programs. Or even just answer any questions you may have about our work in Zambia.

The days here in Canada are starting to shorten and the leaves on the trees are into their final act, all dressed in their finest colors. Fall is upon us.  It is time for me to fly south.

In a few days I will depart; flying to Frankfurt, than Addis Abba, a short stop in Harare, Zimbabwe and finally Lusaka. When I do finally arrive in Lusaka the body is truly confused. The pills I must take daily for my Immune system will now be taken at four in the afternoon instead of seven in the morning. One of these pills must be kept refrigerated; that is truly a challenge. They have a tendency to melt together especially this time of the year; the hot, dry season of southern Africa.

I have penciled in ninety days of activities into sixty short days of time on the ground. You can grade me on my performance after my next newsletter when I have arrived back in Canada in December. Starting just outside of Lusaka at our Kamalamba Demonstration Forest and Tree Nursery where a plantation of Leucaena will be started to provide firewood and charcoal to be sold in Lusaka, just down the road. It will be based on a four year rotation with a charcoal kiln built on site. Than it is off to Livingstone where at Mukuni Village the Mukasiamachoka Moringa Orchard will get its new water system and hopefully much more. Here powder will be produced from the Moringa leaves to be used as a food supplement for school lunch programs and HIV/AIDS patients.  Another short stop in Lusaka and than I head east to Petauke and my stay in Mukuni Village with Felix and his family. Here is where we organize our seed collection and distribution for most of Zambia. And at the same time visit as many communities in the area as we can to inspect their reforestation efforts. A drink of water from the newly dug well at Chisoyo Community School is in order and than on to Nkhola Community School to check on the progress of the new school that we are desperately seeking funding for. The new well is in at the site and it looks like latrines are the next thing on the agenda. As you may recall we are helping the community relocate from “no mans land” between Mozambique and Zambia. From Mumbi Village I cross the border into Mozambique to visit the Kapasseni Project and Kuwangisana at Sena on the Zambezi River just a short distance from the Indian Ocean. Here I have helped with their community development in past years and this year the project is to expand their forestry program into sustainability. Back to Zambia and off to visit Fred our facilitator at the Mibulumo Community Forest outside Kasama in Northern Province. Delivering seeds and visiting our various projects along the way. The list goes on and on.

How can I do all this you may ask? Well I could not do it all if I never had committed Africans volunteering their time to help facilitate all these programs. Yes, they do get some compensation for their efforts but very little. Our field workers are paid monthly to tend nurseries and plant out seedlings etc. and are doing a great job. Our program works! At African Community Project we have hard working people on the ground and they are motivated to do their share, fighting the environmental change that is facing us all. Our only restraint is the lack of funding to maintain our programs.

Check the African Community Project page on facebook for reports from the field during this trip.

I greet you all!
 
The summer is going past quickly here in Canada, in Zambia the weather is dry and cold; not “Canada cold” but cool to Africans who are used to warmer temperatures. Above the Kafue Gorge where I worked in 2003 the community could experience a little ice on their water buckets in the early morning. This time of year in Zambia is a good time to build structures and wells, which ACP is doing. In Eastern Province we have just started a new well at Chisoyo Community School. We are not strangers to this isolated school having introduced reforestation there a few years back and supplied the school with new blackboards and school supplies over the years. Villagers here also have Jatropha seeds that we purchase for distribution through our seed program across Zambia. Flooding earlier this year has caused grief at nearby Mumbi Village; the earth dam at the village was washed away, causing a burden on the three wells in the village. As you remember ACP rebuilt one a few years ago and dug another one a year later. Livestock now must be watered from these wells that barely provide enough water for the 3,500 inhabitants of the village. Other flooding problems toward the Mozambique border have caused us problems also, especially at Nkhola Community School where we dug a well last year and was silted in.

Across Zambia at Mukuni Village in Southern Province things are moving along smoothly. At the new Mukasiamachaka Moringa Orchard the perimeter fence is being built and the main water supply from the village is being extended to the orchard where a 2,500 liter elevated tank is being installed. A caretaker’s house and a classroom used for environmental education and Moringa use is also slated for construction in September/October.
The above projects are funded by generous donations from Seeds for Africa, Forests without Borders, Harbourside Rotary Club, The Problem Solution and many others. Thank you all.
Garry

 
Our new web pages!

Take a look at our new web look at www.africancommunityproject.com Thanks to Reed who has volunteered many hours of his time putting it together. We are very happy with how it looks and the new pages. Lots of work still in progress. One page in particular is very new to us; the Donation page. It is by PayPal and we would like to see if it works. Give it a try. We can always accommodate you in other methods to donate and with a tax receipt too!