New Year's Eve singing

Tonight we invited friends to Ipusukilo to remember the past year and think about the year to come. We had singing as usual and had games and supper. This was followed by a programme by the children including singing, memory verses and a message from Mpundu. Prizes were also given for the Christmas colouring competition.
 

Some of the visitors and musicians

Christmas competition

Pass the parcel

December birthdays

Tonight we celebrated birthdays for Matthews, Judie, Philip and Justin.

Christmas Day

Today the children went to Bethel for the Christmas service while the day was being prepared at home.

We had a feast of chicken, sausage, roast potatoes, carrots, peas, beans and gravy followed by the favourite pineapple sponge with custard and ice cream. Matthews declared the meal 'de-licious'. After dinner they watched some short movies, played games and recited their memory verses.
They all received presents and opened them with great excitement. New clothes tried on, new games and toys inspected and compared in a hubbub. The day ended with popcorn and a dvd projected on the wall.

Christmas dinner with roast potatoes

Musical statues

Guess who won pass the parcel....

Some happy boys!

The excitement of unwrapping presents

Searching for Christmas

Tonight all the children went to Carols by Candlelight at Bethel Chapel. Mercy took part in the drama Searching for Christmas which presented ways people miss the true meaning of Christmas such as in drinking, shopping, going on holiday, presents, receiving visitors etc.

One day old!

On Friday (30th November), Uncle Philip went to collect the 50 small hen (day old chicks). Uncle Philip asked David and I to look after the chicks. He explained how to change the water and add the feed. We have to put charcoal in the brazier to keep them warm and turn the light on when it is getting dark.

Matthews and Matthews collect the day-old chicks

Day old chicks settle in

10 days old

20 days old

by Bright

Clinic visits

It was Tuesday morning when we packed clothes into boxes to take to the clinic. Wednesday morning we were ready to go to the clinic with Auntie Deborah. We packed the boxes into the car and we set off for Chawama Clinic where we met the sister-in-charge. We gave out jumpers for the sick children and some health packs containing soap, nappies and a blanket to some of the ladies with babies. We then went to another clinic in Chiwempala  and gave out some clothes there too.

Edited from a report by Mercy

First Christmas carols

Tonight we took all the children to Amano for their Carols by Candle Light service.

Spending our pocket money

We all do jobs around the house and grounds to earn pocket money. Today, Auntie Deborah took us to town so we could buy our treats. We had a fun afternoon around the shops and market finding all the things we wanted.

My first Ipusukilo birthday

Matthews had the only birthday in October, so got to blow the candles out himself last Sunday. He did share the cake though!

Sunday trip to Kitwe

On Sunday we went to Kitwe Central Christian Brethren Church.
Here we left the home at 08:00 and we reached there at 08:58. When we reached there was two women who welcomed us. When we entered the church, we found an elder which was preaching and praying. After Mr and Mrs Samwata and baMayo ate the breaking of bread.
When the breaking of bread was over and it was time to praise God, we sung the songs from Mission Praise. We were told to sing two songs so we went up in front of the congregation. The songs were You laid aside Your majesty and The B-I-B-L-E yes that's the book for me. After the praise team was called up to sing a few choruses it was time for Uncle Samwata to start preaching the word from the Bible. He preached and gave an example of how we were suffering on the street.
When the preaching was done, the church prepared lunch for us, after lunch we went to watch the praise team dancing and singing.
On the way home we went to Wimpey shop where Uncle Samwata bought ice cream for all of us. Finally at 16:00 we arrived back from Kitwe. We enjoyed ourselves.

By Philip

First day at new school

Three of our new boys ready for school today!

Excited!

Birthdays and Singing

This afternoon we celebrated three birthdays. Mapalo and Edina were very excited as they had their first birthday cake and presents at  Ipusukilo, maybe ever.
Later we enjoyed singing together. We were joined by Jean Luc and Rita, missionaries in northern Zambia and Dani and Fiona from the UK, who came with Ian and Marilyn Campbell.

How old are you now?

Walking and leaping and praising God!

A picnic at Amano

Today we enjoyed a fun time at Amano playing on the swings, slide and round-a-bout and of course a great game of football. We had a picnic lunch with treats like 'jiggies', fizzy pop and aunty Deborah's buns. This made a special break during our school holidays.

What a day! Lunch in the shade of a tree. 

Picnic at the top of the slide

Making ourselves dizzy on the round-a-bout!

Enjoying my first ever picnic

Awana Sunday

Today was Awana Sunday when we celebrated 30 years of Awana in Zambia at Bethel Chapel. The Ipusukilo children took part in the singing, reciting memory verses, drama and prayer.

Singing the Awana song

'Sparks' memory verses

'In the beginning' drama

Mrs Konstantinou receives certificate for 30 years service to Awana

Hostel 2 opens

We have recently welcomed six new children to Ipusukilo. They are living in Hostel 2 under the care of house mother Marjorie.

Bore Hole

Towards the end of the dry season, our shallow bore hole gives us less water and we have to pump little and often to try and fill the tank. In June we had a deeper bore hole drilled down to a depth of 50m, with a estimated yield of 1.5 litres per second. We are now constructing the service manhole chamber and putting in the cable and pipes so that we can pump the water to the tank on the tower.

Drilling starts

Adding a drilling rod

Release of water under pressure

Welding bore hole casings together

Flushing the bore hole and measuring yield

Birthdays

Today we celebrated the birthdays of Mercy and Elvis. As usual, they children received presents and everyone enjoyed a birthday cake.

AWANA Games

On 9^th June we had AWANA games and it was held in Lulamba where we met with clubbers from different churches. All the Ipusukilo children went there as well and played games and did Bible quiz.

We played many games like days of the week, balloon pop, tug of war, sprint race and beanbag grab. It was a nice day to meet with other children, it was a fun day. The team leaders gave us the team colours, we were in colour blue. After we played, we had lunch. After lunch we had the Bible quiz. One of us was asked to recite 1 Corinthians 15:3b-4 and we were given points. After this, the leaders started to announce the points in the games and quiz.

We got position 3 in the games and in the Bible quiz we got position 1 after all of us had struggled in racing and answering we as Bethel Chapel ended up with the trophy. We celebrated because some of the things we didn’t know, we’ve come to know them. It was a wonderful day for us.

By the ‘Ipo’ kids.

Singing and May birthdays

It is good to have Uncle Steve and Auntie Muriel back for Sunday night singing this weekend after their long visit to the UK. We have missed them so much, we were able to choose all our favourite songs again. After the singing, Mr Campbell talked about Zacchaeus.
We celebrated the birthdays of Mpundu, Kasongo and Sira with a cake, candles and some presents.

Copperbelt Mining, Agricultural & Commercial Show

On Friday 1st June we went to the show grounds in Kitwe. The journey took us one hour and ten minutes. When we arrived, Uncle Phil gave each one of us some money and we were divided into 4 groups to go around.

We met a woman at one tent [from C.E.F] who was teaching about becoming a child of God. We saw beautiful plants, chickens and saw how farmers grow food. The vice president Mr Guy Scott walked past with so many policemen. We met the Amano school children as well as children from many different schools. There were some market stalls and we bought things like photo albums, stickers, hair clips, sun glasses, brick game and small radios. We enjoyed the day, it was lovely and full of fun. 

We arrived back home at 16 hours and we were tired. It was a good day and we would like to go again.

A stand showing the theme of the 2012 show

Eating lunch in the grandstand

Written by John, Peter and Sira

Amano School Fair

Last Friday we went to Amano fair. We enjoyed the day , it was a very nice day. We were given some money to spend when we left Ipusukilo and when we arrived we met Auntie Marina, she also gave us some money.
We played different games like kicking penalties, basket ball and making puzzles. If you wanted to play a game you had to buy a ticket. If you win you got a prize like sweets or anything to play with.
We liked the drinking Coca Cola game where we had to see how fast to drink a whole bottle!
We buy pop corns and had hot dogs. We want to go again. We want to say thank you to Auntie Marina and Auntie Deborah for giving us some money.

Gladiators

Face painting

Picking sticks

A well deserved burger!

Written by Bright

AWANA Camp 2012

We went to Kings School Trust with the Ipusukilo bus and we had to wait for the other churches to come.  When all the churches came camp, we gathered and we have assembly and after that we went inside we start to hear the word of GOD after we hear the word of GOD we go to eat the food, nshima with sausage and cabbage. We paid the money we were 7 each one paid K20,000. We are happy to be there and we enjoy AWANA camp. We learn about appreciating when someone who do good to you. We are born of sin we need to be born again. When we pray we talk to God. We had a good day there after the word of God we started to eat after eating we started playing games from 16.00hrs to 18.00hrs after games we went inside to sing again. We learn about love that

LOVE  is  patient 

LOVE  is kind

IT  does not envy

IT  does not dishonour others

IT  is not self-seeking

IT  is not easily angered

IT  keeps no record of wrong

IT  does not boast

IT  is not rude

After all these things the bus came and take us to Bethel and there we find uncle Philip and he took us home.

WE   ENJOYED   OURSELVES

           THANKS….
by Bright, Kasongo and Justin

Ready for camp

On Thursday we went to church to practise for the camp. On Friday morning we packed our blankets and clothes before having lunch. At 2.30 we went in the Ipusukilo bus to Bethel Chapel and waited for the others and the leaders but started off at 4.00hrs as we were delayed by some coming from Lulamba.

We travelled to Kings Trust School where the surroundings were good and there was plenty of water and power. The rooms were dirty so we cleaned them and went to the hall and sung some songs. At first we sung the AWANA theme song and us from Bethel sang Amazing grace how sweet the sound. We had our supper of inshima with sausage and cabbage then we had an assembly in the hall. The preacher came and told us about living to be praised and appreciated.

We enjoyed ourselves and played different games on Saturday and made new friends. We played football, races, rounders, ‘fire on the mountain’ and ‘Bible boxing’. We liked the dramas and enjoyed acting with our new friends. We learnt about how love is from Mrs Kirk.

On the last day we packed our clothes in the bag and enjoyed the journey back. We can only say thanks and may the Lord be with you.

By Mercy and Mpundu

Bethel youth group visit

Yesterday we were pleased to welcome visitors from the youth group at Bethel Chapel. They meet every Saturday afternoon for games and a Bible message, so this week they arranged to visit us at Ipusukilo. We played football, badminton and table football. This was followed by a time of singing choruses and action songs then the message from Mr Campbell on the feeding of the 5000. We were challenged about 'what can we bring to Jesus?', just as the young boy brought his lunch to Jesus.

Football - free kick against Ipusukilo

Singing - Wishard (right) leads an action song

Feeding the 5000 - the young boy brings his lunch

Having feed the 5000, the fragments are counted.