You know people say that education is the key and reading educates. Well…it is true. So one of our main objectives at PAF is to educate our villagers, both kids and adults. Building a library was one of our top priorities. By now it is open everyday and as you can imagine people come and read all the time.
our book shelve
I guess we need more novels 😉
Even adults sit down to read and learn new things 🙂
fixing some educational posters in the kids reading corner
new chairs for the adults 🙂
As by today we have 260 books in stock, most for kids and teenagers but also some for adults. Topics range from science to novels and kids stories. We are trying to offer books in English and Chitonga.
Most are educational books with topics on agriculture, geography, science, literature, religion and health. But of course fictional books are not missing in our library. People can read novels like Harry Potter or Robert Ludrum in English. But also Tonga books like Tuli Bayuni (We are Birds).
The library is open to everyone in Chinkonono and the surrounding villages. People can come and read books inside or sit outside and enjoy the sun while diving into another world. Insides we have 2 kids reading tables along with 8 kids chairs and also 1 adult reading table with 2 adult chairs. I know…it sounds very small. And you are right, it is. But for now that is the best we can do. And lets be honest…the books is what matters most. And also people can of course borrow books for 2 days and read them at home.
But what am I telling you here? Let Lloyd take you on a little tour through our small library:
And yes…just like in any proper library, we do have a new librarian. Obert Milandu is taking care of the library and is giving out books and making sure they are all being returned.
Hey, if you want to come by and read a book…our opening ours are:
Week Days: 14:00hrs to 17:30hrs
Weekends: 08:00hrs to 17:30hrs
Thanks to all those kind donations, especially from Australia, our kids and adults are now in tune with the rest of the world. And I mean…who of us can say he never got lost in the magical world of Harry, Hermionie and Ron? We are so glad that Chinkonono people now can too. This library is making such a big difference and impact on people’s lives.
Since lots of adults in the villages don’t know how to read and speak English we are working hard to get Chitonga books. But we also still plan to set up English courses for adults.
I know…good read so far and you are waiting for the catch. And I don’t want to disappoint you here 😉 As you can imagine, books are not easy to come by in the Zambian bush. So we kindly ask for your help. If you have any spare books and want to send them to us to stock up our library, please feel free to do so. Since we plan to expand the library there is still space in the shelves to fill. Asking for money is always something that feels bad, but of course you can also donate and we will buy books for PAF library.
Postal addresse:
Planting A Future
P.O. Box 620288
Kalomo
ZAMBIA
Let’s work hand in hand to help our Chinkonono people to get access to literature and books. Thank you guys so much for taking the time to read this and maybe considering a book donation 🙂
Lloyd just sent an update on that young man. Not only his he growing bigger and stronger. He is doing very good. He has broken off from being a streetkid and attends school regularly now, thanks to the donations of Stan. Obdu now can fluently read.
No wonder his smile is so smug nowadays 😉
Lloyd and Obdu
Shy smiles…Obdu is on a good way
If you feel you want to support a kid’s education as well and help a family pay school fees, please contact us about our sponsorship programme!
You guys probably know that we do have our greenhouse and plantations. Right? Right. Up till the end of 2016 those places were located close to Lloyd’s house as to always have someone to watch over them and make sure our plants and belongings are safe.
Now that we started PAF Community Center the idea came up that it makes sense to move our greenhouse and fields and plantations to the Center grounds.
And guess what? That is exactly what we have been doing in the past weeks. Moving the greenhouse is one thing. But clearing the space for new fields and plantations and preparing those for the new planting season is another.
We moved the plantations over to PAF center
Working this dry and hard soil is a tough job. Everyone helped with that.
Tough days…
preparing the fields for planting season
Hard work getting the new PAF plantations and fields ready for planting
So basically our “garden” has now moved close to PAF center. And to make sure all is safe we had to fence the greenhouse and grounds as well.
Fencing the new plantations at PAF Center
As soon as we have solved the issue of securing our belongings at PAF Center we will also move the water tank and pipes and set them up there for irrigation purposes. But for now those remain close to Lloyd’s house to keep them safe.
And now that planting season started we can grow our plants at our PAF grounds. Pretty cool, huh?
Wonder what we will be planting here…seeds are ready.
So lets just say that things have been moving in Chinkonono 😉
Education is a universal human right and books play an important part in attaining it. Books are scarse in Zambian schools. Usually the “pupil to book ratio” is 1 to 4, so one book for 4 kids…This is worse in homes as village homes never stock books.
To provide books for kids PAF has come up with a plan for a village library. Our library room will be ready very soon as furniture is being made. Thanks to good-hearted people out there we sometimes recieve books for our kids.
This time our friends from Australia have donated books to stock up the library. Thanks to Guama School, Liane Hornig and all who have donated books. Twalumba! 🙂 You brought a lot of smiles to the village and our kids!
Thanks so much!
The books cover all aspects of life relevant to kids all over the world. We received books for entertainment and education. All aspects of learning have been catered for, such as subjects like History, Geography, Science and Crafts…but also a lot of story books.
Books for the library
So when you visit PAF library be assured that you will find adventures of Alice in Wonderland and books on how to grow potatoes or how to sew a shirt.
Future PAF gardeners 😉
Happy faces all over 🙂
so many educational books for our PAF library
Awesome! 🙂
Apart from kids books our library has novels ranging from wild west adventures to The Book Thief.
A lot of books are still needed and our humble appeal from our well wishers is to continue helping us. Thank you so much!
As you all know the main objective of PAF is to promote household food security in Chinkonono and the surrounding villages.
It is in this vein that PAF, with the intention of supplementing members’ effort in securing household food security, embarked on a seed and fertiliser support programme. Eleven members who where willing to take part applied and were given 4.000 Kwacha (roughly 400 Euros) from the PAF bank account. This money was paid to the Ministry of Agriculture under FISP (Fertiliser Support Programme). This is a national programme in which farming inputs are subsidised at fifty percent to enable peasant farmers access farming inputs.
So many bags of fertilizers 🙂
Unloading the good stuff 😉
Happy ladies 🙂
Each of the eleven members got three and half bags of fertiliser and one bag of seeds. Hence each of the beneficiaries are able to grow a hectare of maize. The expected harvest for each beneficiary is 75 to 80 bags of maize. Each of these beneficiaries will pay back 400 Kwacha to the project in May. That way we can already raise the money to attend in programme again end of 2017.
Due to this project plus very good rains Chinkonono village is gearing for a bumper harvest. People will have food to eat and the extra will be sold for soap and salt.
We are really loving without borders thanks to all those who contributed to the success of this fertiliser project by contributions and donations.
Thanks to our German Mama Africa Bruni we could buy a lot food and even some sweets in 2016 again. About 900 Kwacha were spent on food and drinks. We bought rice, sugar, flour, potatoes, tomatoes, onions, biscuits, one goat and three chickens.
Our ladies spent hours and hours stirring the pots and cooking. What a feast that was. So much meet and different kind of dishes. A truely great day for everyone!
One of our chefs
That is a happy day…so much meat for the villagers 🙂
Wonder what’s cooking here?
Grime supervising our ladies’ cooking skills 😉
Cutting!
Some meaty business going on here
Wesley surprised everyone by homemade bread and buns.
Lots of yummy buns and bread, made by Wesley
Crispy and nice bread in the making 🙂
Wesley is focused on his master pieces 🙂
Xmas bread and sweets 🙂
He even created his masterpiece: the Christmas Bread. Cool, huh?
Wesley’s masterpiece
All Chinkonono kids were present: In total 145 kids took part in the feasts. These kids were coming from PAF and non-PAF households.
PAF kids waiting for food 😉
The little ones snacking 😉
If you think that was all…well, there were also those yummy Vinkubala that the kids love so much. Not an everyday snack.
Digging in
The festivities were punctuated by music and dance, lots of jokes and laughter. You can imagine what a party that was and how many sparkling eyes and bright smiles you could see 🙂
those buns look awesome 🙂
Want some candy?
Cheers 😉
In the past Christmas went by without people in the village taking part because it was impossible to celebrate due to lack of food.
All this was possible after PAF members in Germany took it upon themselves to bring joy and make Chinkonono celebrate the birth of Jesus together with the rest of the world.
Finally! Julie made it back to Zambia after 2 years. And guess where she went: Chinkonono Village of course!
Check our awesome new Slideshow to see what happened in the village and what progress we made while Julie was there:
Julie had a big To-Do-List to check 😉 As you know we have been announcing a market place and kitchen for ages. So we planned to get both structures roofed within that week. We managed for the kitchen. So that is good. The market we only could do half because we lacked grass to that the roof the traditional Tonga way. But we are confident that it will be done very soon.
Also our building that houses the library and sewing room for now was supposed to be painted nicely. Unfortunately there was a lot of plastering to do to fix dents and window sills. But Jason and Albert worked hard. So with a slight delay the ladies, Julie, Wesley and many other hands could start painting.
For the rooms we chose water-based white paint and for the lower part white oil paint so we can wash of prints of dirty kids’ hands 😉 Door and window frames are painted in a dark green. For the front wall and pillars outside we chose white oil paint to be able to wash them too. Also Wesley and Julie practiced their sign writer skills and wrote Planting A Future onto the top part of the front wall.
What can I say? It looks beautiful and bright and people can see it from afar. Our members are so proud, especially the women. They say that nobody has a nicely painted wall our house at home. And to quote Media: “Not all men’s work has to be done by men only. We can do that too!”…she refers to the whole painting job, which was very interesting and exciting for our ladies.
But now lean back and take 12 minutes to watch the Slideshow! Please share if you like it! 🙂
Für die Deutsche Version bitte nach unten scrollen!
Everybody loves sweets and candy, right? So do the people in Chinkonono. So we invited Kennedy to visit us in the village. Kennedy knows how to make candy. He sells them in villages and in town.
It seemed like a great idea to try and produce sweets to sell at our market soon.
Making sweets is as simple as they are good. All you need is sugar, a few lemons, some food colour (or in our case orange and strawberry flavored powder for water), some cooking oil and a bit of water. Obviously a pot, pan and fire 😉
First of all you put a pot on the fire and heat the sugar and some oil. After a few minutes you add water and the lemon juice and stir a bit. When it is boiling you will see some bubbles and foam.
A pot of sugar
Kennedy showed us how he knows that the mass is ready to be processed further. He took bits of the foam and put it in the water to check the consistency. I would just burn my hands 😉
Kennedy checking if the consistency is alright yet
While you watch that mass cook you can take some of the flavored powder and mix it with a bit of oil and also heat it till it is a liquid mass.
When the sugar mass is ready you need a greased pan to pour it onto. And then use a spoon to move the mass to not have it stick to the pan.
Once the mass cooled down a bit it takes 2 people to kneed and fold it over and over again. It is beautiful to watch how the colour of the sugar mass changes. It looks like gold in the sunshine.
Golden 🙂
Jane and Kennedy folding the mass
The next step is to make a big ball of the mass and make small balls of the colored powder. Those you press into the mass and along the ball on 3 sides.
Heating it up again to make the tubes
Then it is easy…you just form long threads of the mass, put them on the pan and cut them. Let them cool and tadaaahhh: candy!
Cutting the Candy
Finishing the Candy…so yummy!
Check the video to see the most important steps. It is fascinating to watch.
All our PAF members watched and learned. Even our PAF Warriors showed up to have a look (and taste a candy) before their practice.
Everyone was watching and interested
We are now thinking of producing sweets like that which contain moringa powder instead of the flavored powder. But for that we will have to wait till we can harvest again. Right now all our Moringa trees are desperately waiting for rainy season 😉
We even sat down to count all the candy we made to figure out how much we could sell them for and how much benefit that would be. And what can I say? It is worth it! 😉
If any of you guys is interested in trying PAF Moringa Sweets made in Chinkonono…let us know. We gladly take orders and produce as soon as we can.
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Deutsche Version!
Ob wir es nun zugeben oder nicht…insgeheim lieben wir doch alle Süßigkeiten. Da sind die Menschen in Chinkonono keine Ausnahme. Also haben wir kurzentschlossen Kennedy eingeladen, uns im Dorf zu besuchen und unseren Mitgliedern zu zeigen, wie man Süßigkeiten herstellt. Wäre doch eigentlich auch nicht schlecht, wenn man selbst hergestellte Süßigkeiten auf unserem bald fertig gebauten Markt verkaufen könnte…
Süßigkeiten herzustellen ist wirklich kinderleicht und schmecken tun sie auch. Alles was man braucht sind folgende Zutaten: Zucker, ein paar Zitronen, Lebensmittelfarbe (oder in unserem Fall farbiges Pulver zum Einrühren in Wasser für fruchtigen Geschmack), ein bisschen Öl und Wasser….und natürlich Topf, Blech und Feuer 😉
Als erstes muss das Feuer geschürt werden. Dann werden Zucker und ein bisschen Öl auf dem Feuer erhitzt bis es blubbert und sich eine Art Schaum auf der Oberfläche bildet. Dann gibt man den Saft der Zitronen und ein bisschen Wasser dazu und lässt es weiter köcheln. Zwischendurch hat Kennedy immer mal wieder ein wenig vom Schaum oben abgenommen und im kalten Wasser betrachtet, um die Konsistenz der Masse zu prüfen. Würde ich ja nicht probieren…meine Hände sind nicht feuerfest 😉
Während die Masse so vor sich hinköchelt kann man schon das farbige Pulver mit etwas Öl mischen und dann auf dem Feuer erhitzen bis es eine zähe Masse wird.
Sobald die Zuckermasse die richtige Konsistenz hat wird sie auf ein gut gefettetes Blech gekippt und dann mit einem Löffel bewegt, damit sie nicht festklebt. Sobald die Masse etwas abgekühlt ist, wird sie zu einem großen Ball geformt und dann von 2 Leuten geknetet und gefaltet. Immer und immer wieder. Es ist faszinierend und wunderschön, zu beobachten wie sich die Farbe der Masse ständig verändert und golden im Sonnenschein glänzt.
Die farbige Masse kann nun zu kleinen Bällen geformt und dann längs der Zuckermasse in 3 schmalen Streifen angedrückt werden. Nun muss man eigentlich nur noch die Masse in schlauchförmige Stangen formen und auf dem Blech schneiden. Tadaaahhh: fertige Bonbons!
Schaut euch am besten mal das Video an. Dort sind die wichtigsten Schritte noch einmal zu sehen. Es ist faszinierend, die Herstellung zu beobachten. Kein Wunder, dass so viele unserer PAF Mitglieder zugeschaut haben. Auch die Jungs unserer PAF Warriors haben es sich nicht nehmen lassen, einen Blick (und ein paar Bonbons) vor ihrem abendlichen Training zu erhaschen.
Natürlich haben wir gleich mal alle Bonbons gezählt und durchgerechnet, wieviel Gewinn man theoretisch beim Verkauf erwirtschaften könnte. Es lohnt sich 😉 Momentan denken wir darüber nach, anstatt des farbigen Pulvers auch Moringapulver zu verwenden, um gesündere Süßigkeiten herzustellen. Allerdings müssen wir nun erstmal auf die Ernte warten, denn zur Zeit sehnen sich unsere Moringabäumchen noch nach der Regenzeit 😉
Falls ihr also Interesse an hausgemachten PAF Moringa Sweets habt, lasst es uns wissen. Wir nehmen Bestellungen entgegen und werden dann nächstes Jahr schnellstmöglich produzieren.
Football makes the world go round. Even more so for the people in Chinkonono. They struggle everyday with drought, hard work, no money, no infrastructure and health issues like HIV and malnutrition. They just need and crave for a little distraction of their everyday lives.
The football pitch…
Basically everyone in the village just loves football. And whenever our PAF warriors have a home game at the pitch next to PAF Center the whole village gathers to cheer for the boys. Even if it is just practice people come to watch.
The crowd (and Julie) watching the match
And when the packages from Australia arrived that Andrew and Niki sent us the joy was huge. It is wonderful to see how proud our PAF Warriors and Eaglets walk out on the pitch now, wearing their new uniforms.
Proud Warriors! 🙂
Of course we had to take some new team photos for the Warriors! Check that!
Parts of the Warriors 1st and 2nd Team and of the PAF Eaglets
The boys 🙂
PAF Warrios 1st Team
You can really feel their new selfconfidence now.
No wonder they scored and won against a much stronger Mguba Team. 😉
Just look at this video! There are some very skilled boys in that team. And Lloyd’s son Junior looks very promising.
The excitement in the village is just incredible. Check out what happened after Nestor scored a goal! It is crazy house 😉
It makes everyone smile to see such joy. Thanks again for everyone helping out so that those guys can play football! It really makes a difference for people in Chinkonono!
Simply too fast for Mguba 😉
Lloyd and Julie cheering for the Warriors
Get the ball
A Match 😀
Goalie
Shoot
Kids..and Julie 😉
more curious spectators
The Opponents…
The Fans 😉
The Old Man…Lloyd 😉
Looks good…
Where is it?
Deutsche Version:
Das Runde muss ins Eckige. Solange der Ball rund ist, ist alles in Ordnung. So oder so ähnlich könnte auch das Motto der Menschen in Chinkonono lauten.
Ein Großteil der Menschen dort führt ein hartes Leben, Trockenheit, Wassermangel, harte Arbeit, keine Kohle, keine Infrastruktur, keine Jobs, HIV und Mangelernährung. Logisch, dass sich jeder dort nach Abwechslung und Ablenkung vom Alltag sehnt.
Jeder im Dorf liebt Fußball, Klein und Groß, Jung und Alt. Wann immer unsere PAF Warriors ein Heimspiel haben und sich auf dem Fußballplatz direkt neben unserem PAF Center zusammentreffen, strömen die Dorfbewohner in Richtung des runden Leders um die Jungs anzufeuern. Selbst zum abendlichen Training kommen die Fußballverrückten und es herrschft Partystimmung 😉
Als dann die Pakete von Andrew und Niki aus Australien in Chinkonono ankamen, war die Freude natürlich riesig. Es ist wunderbar zu sehen,wie stolz unsere PAF Warriors und Eaglets seitdem aufs Feld laufen und allen ihre neuen Trikots präsentieren.
Natürlich mussten wir erstmal ein paar vernünftige Mannschaftsfotos der Warriors machen als Jule da war.
Das neue Selbstvertrauen, das sie auch durch die neuen Trikots bekommen haben, ist mehr als offensichtlich. Kein Wunder, dass sie gegen das viel stärkere Team aus Mguba gewonnen haben. 😉
Schaut euch einfach mal das Video an um einen kleinen Eindruck zu bekommen. Unsere PAF Warriors spielen in Orange 😉
Und Fun Fact: Lloyd’s Sohn Junior ist wirklich ein vielversprechendes Talent. Man kann nur hoffen, dass er bald entdeckt wird.
Die Begeisterung im Dorf ist wirklich unglaublich. Guckt mal, was passiert ist, nachdem Nestor (Lloyd’s ältester Sohn) das Siegtor geschossen hat. Das nenn ich mal echte Fans 😉
Müsst ihr auch grinsen, wenn ihr solche Bilder seht? Ich kann mir nicht helfen. Aber es macht mich glücklich, das zu sehen. Nochmals vielen Dank an alle Spender, die es unseren Jungs ermöglichen Fußball zu spielen! Solche Dinge machen die kleinen, aber feinen Unterschiede im Leben der Menschen in Chinkonono aus.
Ever been attending a book club? Reading a book and talking about it, analyzing it and interpreting it. Well…we do have a PAF reading circle in Chinkonono now. Well…it is probably not quite as professional and conversations might not be as deep. But our kids gather at our PAF Center regularly after school to read books and exchange stories they read.
Our outside reading corner
Kids going through all the story books 😉 …such a mess they left…kids 😉
PAF kids happily reading stories 🙂
We hope to get lighting soon so kids can read inside as well
exchanging stories they read 😀
Thanks to our friends and donors like Murray and Niki those kids finally have access to books and can practice reading, the english language and most importantly kick-start their creativity and imagination. It is amazing to see their sparkling eyes focus on the pages. You can really see them diving right into their stories 🙂
And who knows…maybe some day one of those kids will start writing their own story or book 😉
On a side note: We are still trying to solve the problem of lights inside the library. We hope to raise funds for solar panels so that we can install solar powered lights inside the building and thus enable them to also read inside. We are working on it 🙂
Planting A Future 