November 2021
After more than 8 months in New Zealand I am now booked to fly from Auckland on 16 November. The Department of Social Welfare has approved our application to receive Superannuation payments while working in Zambia with Limapela. For family reasons Alison will follow later, on 18 January. We are pleased to see how well all our Limapela people in Zambia have been managing without us for this length of time. We expect to be back in Zambia for up to a year this time, in accordance with our plan to retire gradually.
Financial
We are grateful to Steven Moe of Parry Field Lawyers for organising an application to the NZ Government Inland Revenue Department for what is known here as Donee Status for the Limapela Foundation. The process is long and demanding, involving a compilation of much information about the Foundation, so this has kept us busy for quite some time now. We do not expect a decision for at least another year.
Giving remains healthy. Indeed, we could not do most of what we do without your generous giving. However I must stress again that the success of our work should not be measured only in financial terms. Countless young Zambian lives have been affected for the good, and we thank you for the part you have played. Those who are interested can follow this link and view our annual financial summaries on the Charities Services Register - Registration No. CC32616.
Hakainde Hichilema’s new government
has just issued its budget for 2022. Among other things, government secondary school fees will be abolished completely. 30,000 new teachers and 11,000 health workers will be recruited. 120 new secondary schools will be constructed. All this sounds very good after years of stagnation. We anticipate that if it all comes to pass, Limapela activities may be affected significantly. We will keep you posted.
Medical
We are delighted to report that that our burn patient Rabecca Chinyemba was discharged from Chitokoloki Mission Hospital and was flown home by pilot Neville Coltman on 12 October. Rabecca is now with her family again in Kitwe, and will soon return to school. She has extensive scars of course, but our prayer is that she will be able to resume the normal activities of a 9-year-old Zambian girl. Our thanks to the doctors and medical staff. Filbert Kanyemba and Demerycia Malama have both has further surgery recently. Generous donations for the medical fund have been heart-warming.
Compassion
To get an insight into our Compassion Department, you can follow this link to read an article that I have just written for the October issue of the magazine Rotary Down Under
We are very grateful to you all for your interest, prayers and support.
— Matthew and Alison Raymond