Spring brings new life to the farm and we are happy to announce the birth of baby Rebecca joining the goatherd at Susu. Rebecca is the first kid born to the special breed of goats that produces a high quality and quantity of milk. With all the produce on the farm growing well, Susu expects an abundant harvest to take to market! The beautiful new Susu Community Library is open and welcoming students, teachers, and villagers from near and far; and the Susu Mobile Library now serves seventeen village schools!
ELI is blessed to share with you our good news stories. With new life in our thoughts, may you be blessed by the Good News of the hope and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Susu, Zambia
Drive Sweet Susu Produce to Market
Just three years ago, the community of Britton, South Dakota raised the funds needed for EL Zambia to purchase 250 acres of undeveloped fertile farm land. Acre by acre, the Susu farmers cleared (by hand) the land and planted a variety of crops. Their goal was to provide food for the school children, and to establish income generating projects that would support the operating costs of the community library, mobile library, and various educational programs. The Lord has blessed their stewardship of the land with abundant crops, so much so that it has become a challenge for these farmers to move the harvests to the major market areas in a timely way. The traditional cart and oxen means of transport to local markets is slow, and the need to rent a large enough truck for further away markets is expensive and often unreliable. Susu needs a truck of their own to carry their Sweet Susu Produce to market for the waiting customers near and far.
This month we are launching our Drive Sweet Susu Produce to Market campaign to raise the $16,000 needed to purchase a reliable delivery truck. Would you please consider a generous donation today to support this campaign, so the next watermelon harvest can travel to market in Susu's own vehicle? ELI is confident that this purchase will be an enormous step forward in the community's effort to be self sustaining and support the newly opened community library.
Another 10,000 Mile Journey
ELI is thrilled to share with our supporters, readers and friends that another BIG shipment of thirty- four boxes filled with books, educational resources, puzzles and games are making the long 10,000 mile journey to our projects in Malawi and Zambia. Just imagine the excited faces when eyes are cast on such a treasure trove of knowledge and learning to be explored and enjoyed.
The Malawi Mobile Library program was able to begin last December with resources from past shipments. Jacob and Kathrine are the EL Malawi staff and their reports describing the village visits touched our hearts, and we know you will rejoice with us.
Jacob reports the rural villages are very poor and without tables to use for the different activities. So plastic chairs or the ledges of a porch become activity centers. Most of the children have never seen or used a color crayon, so learning to color in the lines was a new experience for them. Jacob recounted that the children were amazed and their sense of accomplishment was joyful as they learned how to shade and create a picture. Learning to build with blocks and creating simple structures brought happy smiles to the faces of children of all ages. These simple skills are mastered in pre-school or kindergarten, which many of these children are unable to attend, and very few schools even have crayons for children to use.
Jacob's favorite story is of two teenage boys returning from their labor in the village garden. While carrying their hoes, and in their excitement they didn’t even put them down when they asked about the newest books to read. The boys were very eager to read the new material because the schools have been closed for months, and probably have a very limited inventory.
Kathrine, who also directs a pre-school, organizes the activities in each of the villages. She has a BIG responsibility but enjoys engaging with the children, helping them learn to read and play with purpose. Not long ago, Kathrine herself was illiterate and unable to find work to support her family. God however had an amazing plan for Kathrine's life (you can read the full story in the May Good News). Her journey from illiteracy to a pre-school director, to ELI staff member has given her a compassionate heart for adults who cannot read or write and struggle in daily life. Kathrine reports that the parents of these village children are asking for an adult literacy program to be established in their villages so they too can obtain a different future. With God's provision, adult literacy classes in each village are future goals for EL Malawi.
Libraries, literacy and educational opportunities; how are they possible for people in far away and remote villages? Through you! Your prayers, your financial generosity, it's you making a difference in the lives of thousands of children and adults that you have never met, yet you care. ELI is grateful for your gifts and ask that you would prayerfully consider becoming a monthly donor or sending a one time gift. Please designate if your gift supports the Drive Sweet Susu Produce to Market campaign. May you be abundantly blessed as we share the pictures and stories of lives touched by your kindness.
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