New Borehole Renews Hopes at the Church of God Zambia Women Ministry in Chibombo.

There was great jubilation by the leadership of the Church of God in Zambia when their pipe-long dream of building a Center for the Women’s Ministry in Chibombo was nearing reality. This was because People’s Action Forum (PAF) drilled a borehole, with support funds from the United Church of Canada (UCC), for the project in Kayosha area, in Chibombo to commence.

The Women’s Ministry aims to breakaway “from the tradition of providing support to the Church from behind the scenes to that of equipping women with skills that would enable them to take the lead.” Said Mrs. Beatrice Simbaya, the Women’s Ministry Chairperson. With this in mind, the Women’s Ministry planned to build a multi-purpose training Centre. However, construction works could not be started because the stream in the area dried up. This led the Church to apply for assistance to PAF, and on the 8th of December, 2015 the borehole was sunk.

The multipurpose Centre will run the following programs:
1. Provision of skills in bricklaying, tailoring, knitting
2. Electrical
3. Mechanics
4. Literacy programs
5. Leadership skills
6. Agricultural skills (poultry keeping, pig keeping, etc.) and other skills

The Centre will be open to voluntary staff from local and foreign partners. The Women’s Ministry believes in openness and sharing of knowledge and ideas, and that they will only be achieve this by being open to more members. These will mostly be women to act as role models and mentors.

“We expect poverty levels to be reduced at household level”

The Women’s Ministry expects to see more women taking up the lead roles at village level, in industry, as well as in the church. They seek to eliminate illiteracy levels through knowledge and skills acquisition and expect poverty levels to be reduced at household level. Most children living around and near the Centre will have access to educational facilities and will be able to re-enroll in school and complete their secondary education with encouragement from parents who will themselves be learning at the Centre.
In the future the center is expected to develop with the following buildings on site:
1. Lecture rooms (theory and practical)
2. Hostels
3. Staff houses
4. Center clinic
5. Kitchen and dining hall

“The Church of God Women’s Ministry would like to extend a note of appreciation to Peoples Action Forum and its partners (UCC) for its support in helping to spur the project which will lead to community sustainability, women’s empowerment and provision of access to education by providing water; and for bringing clean water to the community.” – Women’s Ministry