Participants:
Series Code: HIM
Program Code: HIM000222A
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00:07 Child Impact International is an organization giving hope,
00:11 previously called Asian Aid. 00:13 Child Impact International is an organization fostering 00:17 permanent positive change 00:18 in the lives of disadvantaged children 00:20 and their communities. 00:22 Child Impact is committed to making a difference 00:24 in the lives of children and those who are in need, 00:27 serving communities in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, 00:31 Myanmar, and will soon expand to other countries. 00:35 For the last 50 years, 00:36 Child Impact has invested in the futures of people, 00:39 and their investment has proven infinite returns, 00:42 driven by the dedication to helping those 00:44 who have the least. 00:46 Child Impact is an organization 00:48 focused on the welfare of children, 00:50 implementing diverse development projects 00:52 and sponsoring thousands of children. 00:54 Their outreach spans from child rescue operations 00:58 to providing an education for orphans, deaf, 01:00 and the blind children 01:02 giving them a sense of place, a home. 01:05 But above all, Child Impact is an organization giving hope, 01:08 giving hope to children, giving hope to communities, 01:12 giving hope to the ones who need it the most. 01:15 This is Hope in Motion. 01:25 Zambia is an amazing country with a tropical climate 01:28 having high plateaus, some hills, mountains, 01:32 and river valleys with the South being semi-arid. 01:35 It's a truly beautiful place 01:37 with wildlife that was unheard of 01:39 back when it was first contacted 01:40 by European explorers in the late 18th century. 01:44 Today, it is growing rapidly, 01:46 but the rural areas are struggling. 01:48 We went to Zambia and discovered a growing desire 01:51 to educate the young people 01:52 to better their country's economy. 01:54 Riverside could be a place that Child Impact can use 01:57 to make a difference 01:58 in the lives of Zambia's children. 02:01 I've now been the Chief Executive Officer 02:03 of Child Impact International for 10 years. 02:06 And today is a really exciting day 02:09 because here I am standing under a tree in Zambia, Africa. 02:13 We're expanding our sponsorship program to Zambia. 02:17 And we're very excited to be partnering 02:19 with Riverside Farms 02:21 for a well-known Adventist ministry. 02:24 They're opening a brand new primary school, 02:27 and we're going to be sponsoring very needy children 02:30 to help them to come 02:32 to an Adventists mission school. 02:40 As a child, growing up in Zambia, more than likely, 02:42 you would be living far below the poverty line. 02:44 Your parents are probably either copper miners 02:46 or farmers and what determines if you can go to school 02:49 is the current price of copper or the weather. 02:51 If the crops fail, your family goes hungry, 02:54 and you must focus on surviving, 02:56 all hopes of an education are gone. 02:58 There are so many children here that cannot go to school. 03:03 The reason they can't go to school is, 03:05 even if the tuition is not very high, 03:08 the people can't afford it if they have two, 03:10 three, four children. 03:12 Zambia is one of the most stable countries in Africa, 03:14 their mission and desire being to improve their economy 03:17 which steadily rose 7% in just a decade. 03:21 This economic growth 03:23 hasn't helped their poverty line however, 03:25 the cities are growing well, 03:26 but the rural areas are stagnant. 03:29 They have few economic prospects. 03:31 And with that, it limits the ability for other works 03:34 to exist when the skills needed are too difficult to acquire. 03:39 Such skills require proper education, 03:41 a resource that Zambia is desperately lacking. 03:45 Zambia is very isolated 03:46 and more so in the underdeveloped areas 03:48 of the country. 03:49 The people are struggling to make a living 03:51 as well as having the needed skills 03:52 to break free from their poverty. 03:56 Zambia is declining economy causes about 60% of Zambia 03:59 and still live under the nation's poverty line 04:03 with rural poverty standing at almost 78%. 04:07 You might be asking, 04:08 "Why is Child Impact expanding into Zambia?" 04:12 Well, it's very simple. 04:13 We will have a partner 04:15 on the ground running the school 04:17 that is very, very reliable and is mission-focused. 04:21 We believe that all children are precious to God. 04:24 Our goal is to give hope 04:26 by fostering permanent positive change 04:28 in the lives of the disadvantaged children 04:30 of Zambia. 04:31 Central to our mission is building the infrastructure 04:34 of the local school, 04:35 empowering it to meet the needs 04:37 of its own community. 04:39 We see a need in Zambia that can be met 04:41 with the help of our sponsors. 04:43 We know that education is necessary 04:45 for the future of any community 04:46 to grow and improve their conditions. 04:48 Zambia desperately needs our help. 04:51 Riverside Farm is well-known in the community 04:55 and will be able to do a great job 04:57 not only in running the school 05:00 but administering the sponsorship program. 05:03 We also know that no funds would be wasted 05:06 and that there will be genuinely 05:08 poor children that will be helped. 05:14 Another challenge is that even existing school 05:17 suffer from a lack of scholastic materials. 05:20 The lack of scholastic materials 05:22 is something few in the US can imagine. 05:24 A class of 50 pupils 05:26 often only have enough books for 10. 05:29 Drawing charts become impossible 05:31 without pencil and paper. 05:33 It takes everything you have, dipping into your own pocket, 05:36 knowing your meager income you receive 05:38 at the end of the month. 05:39 And even then, it's never enough, 05:41 especially since most rural families 05:43 have to spend 60% of their money on food. 05:46 But there is a glimmer of hope. 05:49 My name is Craig Harding. 05:51 I'm the Executive Director here at Riverside Farm Institute. 05:53 And I manage the programs we do here and run the farm. 05:57 Well, I'm Pauline Knowles, 05:58 and we're at Riverside Farm in Zambia, Africa. 06:02 The school program here has been really exciting 06:04 for the primary education program. 06:05 About 20 years ago, 06:07 the school buildings that are there were built, 06:11 and we've been running the school there since. 06:14 In the district that we're in 06:16 and how we get the highest success grade rate 06:20 for the students that are graduating 06:21 on to go to secondary school, which is exciting for us. 06:24 Zambia's government is struggling 06:26 to meet the budget needs 06:27 of the growing population when it comes to education. 06:30 Schools in rural areas 06:31 are suffering with a lack of classrooms. 06:34 The main problem is students continuing their education 06:37 past eighth grade. 06:38 Since fees are due after grade seven, 06:40 they tend to stop their education early, 06:42 so schools can't afford to add more classrooms. 06:44 If there are no fees in certain schools, 06:46 the children have to walk really far 06:48 in order to go to schools. 06:51 The families cannot even afford the basics like uniform, 06:54 books, and pencils. 06:55 It's hard to tell how many are and/or not going to school. 06:59 We have found a major need in establishing schools 07:01 for the children in this country. 07:03 We are going to focus on the rural area, 07:05 south of the capital to help this deprived region. 07:09 Attaining enough funding to help these children 07:10 is a vital part of the mission that still has to be done. 07:15 Funding will go to help these children attend school, 07:17 purchase academic materials, 07:19 and better prepare them for the future. 07:22 Zambia is struggling, but there is hope 07:24 through educating the next generation. 07:26 We run a primary school. 07:28 We also do an adult training program 07:30 for people coming out of the village, 07:32 doing tailoring, agriculture, and different programs. 07:36 We also run a wellness center, 07:38 helping people with different wellness 07:40 and health issues. 07:42 But we felt the pressure of aging school buildings, 07:45 and so we're so excited 07:47 to be building a one-day school campus 07:50 and building a whole set of new buildings 07:52 and bringing the kids there. 07:54 And while we're here, it's still under construction, 07:57 but the school really is starting to look good. 08:00 These classrooms, and administration office, 08:03 and then there's a couple of staff houses. 08:06 And directly over there will be just a new play area, 08:10 playground, where the children 08:11 will be able to have a great time. 08:13 There's also lovely shade from the existing 08:16 and established trees. 08:18 We decided to build a new school 08:21 because not only do we want to expand 08:23 but it's right in the middle of campus. 08:25 And with all these children there, 08:27 it can be a little distracting at times. 08:29 And so now they have a nice setting out in the woods 08:34 where there's trees and it's out in nature. 08:38 And we're just excited about having a different location 08:41 and to add more students to the school. 08:43 Not only will it allow us to continue to better 08:46 serve the kids who are here 08:48 but we'll be able to expand it to take more kids, 08:50 including kids who are at risk, just from a lack of money. 08:54 When you don't have money for food, 08:55 your parents certainly don't have money 08:57 to put you in school, 08:58 and so it becomes a problem of growing levels of ignorance 09:02 and lack of skills 09:05 to then be able to feed themselves 09:07 for future generations. 09:08 Now the school looks a little remote 09:10 when I first drove in, 09:12 but in fact, it's not far from the local villages 09:15 where the sponsored children can come from. 09:18 This is a great facility. 09:19 It's going to be well-managed, 09:21 and it's a great opportunity for child sponsorship. 09:34 Riverside Farm is a public benefit organization here 09:37 in Zambia. 09:39 We do a number of different projects, 09:40 including the farm that helps to promote the program. 09:44 We run a primary school. 09:46 We also do an adult training program 09:49 for people coming out of the village, 09:51 doing tailoring, agriculture and different programs. 09:54 We also run a wellness center, 09:57 helping people with different wellness 09:58 and health issues and we also run a farm program. 10:03 Well, we've been here for like 30 years now. 10:07 And how we got here was 10:09 when my husband and I got married, 10:11 we thought, "Well, if we just have a house of our own, 10:17 we'll be happy." 10:18 And then after we had a house, 10:19 "Well, if we just had our children." 10:21 Now we had two boys. 10:22 And then after that, we started thinking, 10:24 "But there's got to be more to life than this." 10:27 And so we just started praying about it. 10:29 And we ended up working 10:30 in a self-supporting institution in the States 10:33 and never dreamed 10:34 that we'd be asked to come to Africa. 10:36 But here we are. 10:40 The life of a missionary is very different 10:42 and often challenging, 10:43 but the rewards make it all worthwhile. 10:45 Riverside Farm works tirelessly 10:47 to be the hands and feet of Jesus, 10:50 reaching out to the villages around them 10:52 to provide for their temporal and eternal needs. 10:55 The farm offers locals not only work 10:58 but valuable training in modern agricultural methods, 11:01 while the school gives their children 11:04 the opportunity to gain valuable skills 11:06 to not only improve their lives 11:07 but also the lives of those in their communities. 11:10 God is blessing their efforts. 11:12 And the partnership with Child Impact 11:14 opens great possibilities for the future. 11:17 On opening day, the school will have about 100 children, 11:21 and then it will be able to grow 11:23 to somewhere around 250 children 11:26 over the next year or two. 11:28 We're excited about the Child Impact involvement 11:30 in the school because there's a number of kids 11:33 who would otherwise have no educational opportunity 11:37 because their parents are smallholder farmers. 11:40 And any time there's a crop failure, 11:42 they have no food, 11:43 their families begin cutting trees, 11:45 burning charcoal, doing things just to survive 11:48 with no income for them to have an education. 11:51 And then on years when there is rain, 11:54 they're still going hungry oftentimes 11:57 coming up into the periods where there's crop harvest. 12:01 So this is an opportunity for them 12:03 to be able to better their lives 12:05 so that when their children come, 12:07 they're able to have a life that's not so dependent 12:09 on the unpredictability of rain in this arid region. 12:13 They can't afford to send them and they just stay home. 12:15 And so we are really excited that Child Impact has come, 12:20 and they're going to help 12:22 some of these unfortunate children 12:23 be able to attend school. 12:25 Starting out, it would house around 150 students 12:28 but, hopefully, double and keep increasing 12:31 since there's such a high demand. 12:33 Because of this, Child Impact saw the need to go to Zambia, 12:36 the lack of money makes this new school 12:38 underutilized because families can't afford 12:41 to take their students to school. 12:43 Helping with the students' financial needs will guarantee 12:46 they have materials so they can focus on learning. 12:48 This will also alleviate the financial burdens 12:50 that families have, 12:52 which will allow them to buy food 12:53 and care for the basic needs of their family. 12:56 But most importantly, this will provide the children 12:59 with a Christian Adventist education, 13:02 an education that will teach them Bible truths, 13:04 that will help further spread the gospel to this nation 13:07 that is poised to receive the truth. 13:09 Well, it's an exciting day because for the first time 13:12 I'm sitting in a classroom in Africa, here in Zambia. 13:15 And we're at the Riverside Farm School. 13:18 And shortly, they'll be moving into a new school, 13:21 where we'll have over 50 sponsored children. 13:24 And I'm here with Daniel 13:26 and there will be many children like him 13:28 that will be able to enjoy sponsorship. 13:31 You can sponsor a child or you could help 13:34 by just giving a contribution to our unsponsored child fund. 13:39 This is a very exciting time for Child Impact 13:42 because we're really going to be impacting 13:44 on the real needy around Riverside Farms. 13:48 Your support will make a real difference, 13:51 either with sponsorship 13:52 or contributing to the unsponsored child fund. |
Revised 2019-09-12