The work in Zambia is steadily moving along through the dedication of Maranatha Volunteers International’s in-country teams. Our One-Day Church crew here completed seven churches last week, with a total of 35 for the year. Nine more One-Day Church kits are being transported to various sites as the team works through more than 100 foundations that have already been staked in.
Our well maintenance team has been in Zimbabwe visiting wells that Maranatha drilled years ago. Overall they’ve made 16 repairs and 51 maintenance visits in this country. In Zambia they’ve completed six repairs and provided service at 82 sites in 2023. With the end of the rainy season, new wells are going in around the country. So far this year we’ve drilled 40 wells, 20 of those near Kasama and 20 in the Eastern province. The concrete team completed 18 well bases last week.
After a deadly storm destroyed their old church at the beginning of 2022, the new sanctuary for Bethsaida Seventh-day Adventist congregation will be complete by June 15. With only small finishes remaining, the campus now features a church building that seats up to 500 people, six Sabbath School classrooms, bathrooms, and a well.
Maranatha’s fabrication team is preparing frame components for the Kakole Church, which will welcome volunteers from The Place Church in California, who are heading there in July to lay block walls.
Maranatha worked in Zambia from 2009-2015, completing hundreds of projects. In 2018, Maranatha returned to Zambia in response to a request for more churches, schools, and water wells across the country.