Sylvia in Australia

Hello from Australia! After a 50 hour flight I have finally arrived and settled in Australia. It’s so amazing and different from Zambia. I had never been to the ocean before, and to see it was sooo amazing. So big and blue and the waves! I like the beach a lot.

I started at Hillcrest Christian College working with the children in year one. I taught phonics and learned more about Read Write Incorporated (RWI). The children had so many questions about me and Zambia, especially about the children I teach back home. I met the camp team from Gold Coast Christian Family and cooked them a Zambian meal. Nshima for everybody! It was great having some Zambian food again and answering all of their questions about the camp and the children at Eagles Wings.

I also spent a week at Miami State School working with children with hearing impairment. I have learned a lot and hope to use this at Eagles Wings within the special needs area.

I've also been to Labrador State School and spent time with visually impaired children. Over the coming weeks I will be spending time in Sydney at a number of schools and churches, talking about Eagles Wings and continuing developing a better understanding of special needs education and how it is done here in Australia.


It has been fun so far and I’m looking forward to the coming weeks.

Sylvia

Fostering Hope

It has been a busy and exciting two weeks in the office at Eagles Wings working on a model for a new program for Act’s initiative. Foster care is beginning in Zambia! We have been busy discussing how things can work, writing our first policy, and an assessment form for potential foster carers.

We are aiming to start small – we are aiming to recruit and assess 5 foster carers in the coming months. We have talked with some people about how this can work and they are all supportive. Now we just need to get it up and running.

Kirsty-Lee has one more week before she leaves Sharon to finish everything! And Sharon will be relieved because the office will be “quiet” again!

Please keep praying for wisdom for us – this is all new territory and we would love to start something that will be great for the local community, and later...well, who knows how far it could reach, God willing.

Sharon & Kirsty-Lee
Hard at work
Zambia

More than a building

Christine and Greg are part of the Building Team currently working on Stage Three (Grades 7 – 9) of Monkey Fountain Campus. While the construction side is moving along to something that now resembles a school building, it’s great to hear about the children as well. Christine writes:

'We've been enjoying being with the children at the school, there are a few in particular that have befriended the team and are a part of our daily life now, chatting or singing away to us as we work. We have both felt moved by the beautiful African singing both by the children and teachers at school and the church community. The poverty here is apparent but despite it, every child and adult has a smile and a hello for us.... amazing. I'm sure there are a million more things to tell you but it will have to wait! We are happy and well and enjoying our time. We hope you are all well wherever you are and send our love your way.’

Love Christine and Greg

On the road with Philip

Philip Kazhingu coordinates Acts Initiative, a new program designed to encourage and assist local churches in social ministries, with the emphasis on vulnerable children. Philip writes while on his first journey through Zambia for this program.

The program in Choma has really been very successful. Thanks very much for your prayers and thanks to the Almighty God for allowing our dream become a reality. I started by meeting the Pastors in Choma and shared with them the vision Acts Initiative. They received the message wholeheartedly and went flat out to mobilise their Churches. On the other hand, I was requested to speak in a conference, which started the following day after my arrival. The first day I preached and the next day I showed the UBUNTU Documentary, which left a lot of them in tears. Many made a decision to start doing something about the problem at hand. Furthermore, a door was open for me to preach in Choma Pentecostal Church and showed UBUNTU. The response was just great. One woman who runs one of the biggest private schools has offered 10 places for any orphan who will be identified in the community. We did an intensive seminar yesterday which started around 09:00 hrs and ended at 17:00 hrs. Six Churches were represented. Interestingly we had Catholics, Brethren in Christ Church, Pilgrim Church, Wesleyan Church and Pentecostals.

Regards,

Philip Kazhingu

Please pray for Philip as he continues his journey through Zambia.

Eagles Wings has a new blog

Dear Partners of Eagles Wings,


In the last few months we have had a number of people comment that they miss the regular Praise and Prayer updates that we published monthly up until the start of 2009. Even though we will still be publishing EW News quarterly, we thought we would come into the 21st Century and create an Eagles Wings blog for all partners to keep up to date with the latest news, photos and events within the ministry of Eagles Wings. We hope that this will help everyone to pray for specific areas of need and praise.

So a big welcome to our new blog!