Author Archives: marerobster

We’ve only got about 10 days left in Zambia. So little time, so much to do… Robert feels the building project at Heart of Africa Mission is at the stage where he can comfortably leave the rest up to the … Continue reading →

Mama Phiri paid back her fritter loan, and Vivienne wants to come by tonight to repay her fertilizer loan. The women are definitely the most reliable!  Neither woman had to be reminded to make her payments. In fact Mama Phiri … Continue reading →

The tools didn’t turn up and Robert payed the guys, but he deducted 10,000 from each of their wages (that’s half a day’s pay for most of them). He calculated the cost of the tools and divided the cost between … Continue reading →

Lisa explains how to prepare the soil for planting using the special chako hoe. Beside us a team of oxen rips the soil in readiness for planting corn. Along with 23 other farmers from the Kitwe area, I am at … Continue reading →

Excerpt of an e-mail from a Zambian friend: “Just help to remember me in your prayers as I continue kneeling to ask for a farm of my own.” This woman rents 25 acres to plant corn and vegetables for sale. … Continue reading →

I’ve just come from my first bookkeeping class. I didn’t teach it, Christian did. Johanna taught Christian and Ronald, two staff members from Heart of Africa Mission, basic bookkeeping. She not only taught them to keep good books, but also … Continue reading →

I’ve done the herbal thing: chewed a bitter guava leaf and washed down the hay-like leaf powder of artemisia with euphorbia hirta tea. If it doesn’t kill me it will cure me. I’ve got malaria again, as I do every … Continue reading →

We took a few days off together before dropping Johanna and Harold at the Lusaka airport. Robert and I will be in Zambia for another five weeks. Eva told me we should try to visit a farmer south of Lusaka. … Continue reading →

“What are those wide white stripes at the side of the road for,” I wonder. We’re driving the beautiful paved road to Mkushi, one of the best farming blocks in Zambia. “That’s a grain dryer,” Robert tells me, laughing. He’s … Continue reading →

The banana plantation at Heart of Africa Mission is a wonderful place for a stroll when the sun burns hot. It looks much better than when we came six weeks ago. There are some beautiful bunches of bananas hanging there … Continue reading →