13/04/2015
12 Apr 2015 The PostStory and pictures by Ben Mbangu in Choma
Pilgrim church donates to rural communities in SP FOR MANY people, the Church is a place of worship where they can seek the face of God and repent of their sins.
Brain Maydew and Bishop Kalembo with the school managers
Others see it as a shelter from the burdens of life, and a source of peace, and comfort.
For the Pilgrim Wesleyan Church, it’s an opportunity to serve the underprivileged in society, especially those in rural areas, through interventions such as education and agriculture.
PWC national superintendent Bishop Alfred Kalembo explains that education is an important component that every believer must be encouraged to acquire for them to better understand the word of God.
Bishop Kalembo, who is also also current Council of Churches in Zambia president, says the Church has an obligation to help its flock understand and value education as a tool it can use to preach the word of God as well as bettering their lives.
He says without education, there cannot be any tangible development hence the need to prioritise it.
“As PWC, we have not just encouraged people to go back to school but through our friends within and outside the country, we have lobbied for support in the education, health and agriculture sectors so that our people can use the potential God gave them,” Bishop Kalembo says.
He says education helps create opportunities for anybody who acquires it hence the need for the Church to supplement government efforts in actualising the goal.
Bishop Kalembo points out that the government has done a tremendous job to create an enabling environment for stakeholders to partner with it in serving the community, especially those in remotest parts of the country.
“This partnership the church and government enjoys has helped both parties to realise their dreams. As a church, we are close to the people and through this partnership, government’s goals of bettering people’s lives is being actualised by the church’s efforts, so indeed we need each other in fostering development,” Bishop Kalembo explains.
Bishop Kalembo was in the United States last January to lobby for education and health support for vulnerable communities in rural areas where the PWC has its majority presence.
His trip has brought joy to school children in rural parts of Sinazongwe, Gwembe, Zimba and Choma whom he was able to solicit support for.
“Friends of the church in America where I was for a period of one month gave us two containers of assorted education and health support destined for remote areas in Southern Province where such facilities are scarce. Schools in rural areas have a number of challenges and support of that nature really as a church makes us proud because we know that out of that knowledge one acquires at school will understand God well,” he explains.
Bishop Kalembo pays tribute to the teaching fraternity for the noble role they play in building the nation.
“In appreciating the role the teachers are doing, we are giving them solar panels where there is no electricity in all those schools that are in areas where the church has its presence and to some extent even schools that are not ours we do help as well. My goal as PWC national superintendent is to make all the schools that we support to be the best in the province,” he says.
Bishop Kalembo says the church plans to invest in infrastructure development in Lusaka as well as other areas in the near future.
And Brian Maydew, an American donor as well as friend of the PWC, says he feels happy to help communities in Zambia because every time he does so, God blesses him in abundance.
“I fell in love with helping Zambian people way back in 2004, I thank God that I met the man of God Bishop Kalembo while he was still at school in America and we become close friends. He later introduced me to people here in this country and that’s why I’m able to send you these containers worth millions of dollars,” Maydew says.
He hopes to continue supporting PWC to supplement the government’s efforts in rural areas.
And receiving the two containers of assorted equipment in Choma, PWC education secretary Phanwell Hadinke says about 9,864 pupils were expected to benefit in all the 13 schools supported by the church in the province.
Hadinke said through the education support programme, most pupils in rural areas of Sinazongwe and Gwembe are now able to read and write.
“In this country, we have a challenge of poor reading culture among pupils due to lack of materials like textbooks, but as PWC through Bishop Kalembo we realised the problem and lobbied for support and today I can attest that pupils are managing to read because they have books,” Hadinke says.
He explains that the support has resulted into increased of enrollments, class attendance and examination pass rate in rural areas where the church is in operation.
Hadinke says the move has not motivated pupils alone but teachers, as well as the church through its education support programmes has provided solar panels where there is no electricity.
