As much as we rejoice with all the accomplishments that have been happening we also want everyone to know some of the challenges we are facing.
Zambia’s recently elected president, in order to get loans from the IMF, was instructed to drop the subsidies on gas prices. He did this and
overnight, gas prices rose by 30%. (We have heard a rumor that this was just the first run--the gas prices may go up another 70%!) At the moment we are paying $6 a gallon. If it goes up as rumored we will be paying over $8 a gallon!!
This, as you can imagine, has caused a real upset in prices all across the country—not just in the transport sector, but groceries and goods as well. Since our closest town with a grocery store is two hours away, we hire a truck to carry back two weeks’ worth of groceries, animal feed, construction supplies, etc. Of course, our transporter raised his price by 35%.
Tom did our shopping just last week and that very evening, we received word that the store had burned to the ground! Now our closest grocery store is 7 hours way! With the cost of gas this is completely unfeasible. We will just have to make do with the small Mom & Pop stores and buy what we can—most likely at inflated prices. They won’t carry many items. We are going to miss a variety of fresh vegetables, cheese and dairy products, lunch meats and bacon, spices, etc. It’s going to be interesting. We’re being told it will likely be a year before the store is rebuilt, but they may have a small outlet up and running within a couple months.
The third challenge we are facing is that the local currency is also appreciating against the dollar meaning we get less bang for our buck. Since most of our funding comes in dollars we are directly affected by the exchange rate. When costs go up, and our dollars don’t go as far as they did before, it gets very tricky.
All of these challenges combined are causing us to have to make some tough choices. We will be tightening our belts all around and looking for ways to cut costs.
We may need to place four of our staff members (including our two teachers) on indefinite leave until we can find a way to fill the gaps financially.
How you can help! We need more funding—whether
monthly commitments or immediate one-time gifts. We have continually been operating under budget and when we hit bumps in the road like these current challenges we really feel the deficit.
You can sponsor a teacher or caregiver:: $1400 will cover each teacher per year. $900 pays for one year for a caregiver.
We have a $2400 order ready to go for school books. This will cover the next 9 months of school work for 24 children.
We urgently need the funds for this.
Our new school room is ready to go. All we need is desks. The room will hold 29 desks (including 8 computer stations) as well as two testing tables and scoring stations.
This set up will cost $5000.
To help with these immediate and urgent needs click on this link or the button below to make a donation. Feel free to send us an email if you would like your gift to go for a specific purpose. Thank you so much!
We want to leave you with a verse from today's devotional:
Psalm 37: 23-24
The steps of a man are established by the Lord, when he delights in His ways; though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the Lord upholds his hand.
We don't know what the future holds, but we know Who holds the future.
Thank you for praying with us in all these things!