CARING FOR ORPHANS

Seeds of Hope is partnering with the Mapalo Vineyard and Heart for the World Ministries to care for orphans in Mapalo. Mapalo (or Chipulukusu) is a community of 65,000 people. Children make up approximately 65% of this population and 45% of these children are orphans. Most of them do not go to school because they cannot pay the required fees for admission and materials. Heart for the World has started a ministry in Mapalo to assist the orphans with their clothes, books, and school fees. There are currently twenty five orphans in the program. This past week, Jerry was able to join with Heart for the World and take twenty-two orphans to buy shoes and socks. He writes, “Today as we were driving down the road to buy the shoes, the kids were so excited they started singing Mamayoyo BaLesa Basuma which means God is Good! We all have so many pairs of shoes. They were praising God for just one pair.” It takes only $100 per year to send a child to school. Join Seeds of Hope in this ministry by sponsoring an orphan! Specify “Mapalo orphans” on your donation. 

MEXICO MINISTRIES

Seeds of Hope is excited to be looking toward expanding our ministries to Tecate, Mexico! We are partnering with Freedom Crusade, headed by Roger Sachs. The plan is to start with building bio sand filters. Roger participated in the sand filter training held by SHIP this past month and has been equipped with the mold and all the tools needed to begin a program. We are also talking together about starting to use our trailer-mounted drill rig in Tecate. Stay posted for more details about SHIP Mexico and how you can be involved.

“NEXT STEP” TECHNOLOGIES

As we work to accomplish our vision to bring practical hope to those in need, Seeds of Hope is continually seeking to introduce appropriate “next step” technologies into communities, promoting or redesigning these technologies so that they can have a greater use and impact. Often efforts to aid the poor fail because the steps  to change are too large and unmanageable for those they are meant to help. The development of “next step” technologies and strategies enables the poor to take smaller more appropriate steps towards sustainable development. By using “next step” technology, we believe that potentially thousands can be directly exposed to trainings, innovations and technologies that are being made available, but have not been used on the local level. This will establish long term sustainability and allow for potential multiplicity of the projects in other communities. This month we would like to highlight recent developments at Seeds of Hope in several of these areas of “next step” technologies. We invite you to join with us in helping make these “next steps” a reality for those in need!

“NEXT STEP” DRILL RIGS

We are convinced that successful development comes from having the right tool at the right time. Because of this we are taking the approach of utilizing several varied methods and sizes of drilling rigs. We are currently using a trailer mounted cable tool drill rig in Zambia very successfully and we have built an additional improved model that is being shipped to Zambia right now. We have plans to design and build a larger version of this rig to field test later this year.  We also have a trailer mounted rotary rig that is in the final stages of rebuilding, and which we hope to use to begin work in Mexico. Additionally, Seeds of Hope was recently given a large air/mud rotary truck mounted Cyclone drill rig that we are looking to restore and use for drilling wells. This rig was a gift from Ann Campbell, whose late husband Mike Campbell was a driller with a heart for helping the poor. Learn more about their story on our website: Cyclone Drill Rig

“NEXT STEP” SAND FILTERS

SHIP is very excited about the life-changing technology of the bio sand filter and we have been working to develop some additional tools for sand filter promotion and production. One of these developments is what we are calling the “everyman” mold, where the minimal output of cash can make a mold to produce concrete sand filters. This mold would cost $20 versus the typical mold which costs $500.  Arriving in the container this month is a new invention for a bicycle powered sand sorter, designed by Peter Reimer, to eliminate a bottleneck in the production of our sand filters in Zambia.  We have also developed a plastic sand filter that is about to be produced.  This filter is advantageous because it can be mass produced and it is significantly lighter than the 180 lb concrete filters.  These two factors will make it much more effective to promote and distribute in Zambia.

“NEXT STEP” AGRICULTURE

We have several pilot projects including the school gardens that are using drip irrigation so that crops can be grown throughout the year. We are working initially in the Mapalo and Kasempa with the rural poor. In addition to several pilot projects using a variety of drip kits, we are also farming land using the treadle pumps and see it as a useful technology to expand. Together drip irrigation and treadle pump technology allow farmers to produce crops even without rainfall.