The Story of Kafubu Block Community
After moving into the K Block community in the late 1990s, Pastor Wande was struck by the need to care for the most vulnerable. He felt God’s call on his life to serve the hurting in the community. Made up of 15 villages across five regions, the community of K Block is home to roughly 11,000 people who are mostly farmers and the elderly. Many have been left impoverished with little access to health care, education and clean water. These are just some of the challenges they face. In 2005, Pastor Wande and local church members began serving their community with another nearby Community Based Organisation (CBO) already partnered with Hands at Work. They cared for patients with HIV/AIDS and other illnesses and the children who were left orphaned. In 2009, after partnering with Hands at Work, the K Block CBO was born.
150 Children currently supported by 37 Care Workers
Basic Services Started in 2009
20 km from the Luanshya Local Office
Hands at Work is serving the most vulnerable children in three of the fifteen villages in the wider community of K Block. Since the start of the K Block CBO, the work across each village has been coordinated by Pastor Wande. Volunteer Care Workers were mobilised from the local church to care for the most vulnerable children, ensuring that they receive a hot, nutritious meal daily and support with their education and basic health care.
Because K Block is predominantly a farming community, people depend heavily on the harvest for survival. Unfortunately, due to the lack of rainfall, fertiliser, and farming equipment, the crops have been poor for many years. For the most vulnerable families, this means little food security.
Two of the three Care Points in K Block run out of Care Worker’s homes. As a team, the Care Workers are committed to ensuring that the most vulnerable children are being cared for.
Over time, the local Hands at Work team in Luanshya started to see the challenges in having one person coordinating all of the work across the three villages. Additionally, some of the Care Workers were torn between serving the most vulnerable with Hands at Work and serving with other local organisations. Through a re-assessment and re-commitment of existing Care Workers and the mobilisation of new Care Workers, the K Block CBO has started to grow in capacity, unity and understanding of what it means to serve the most vulnerable. To help Pastor Wande, the Luanshya team have started the process of cultivating individual leadership within each village while still having Pastor Wande as a point person for the K Block CBO. The Luanshya team have identified specific people in each of the three villages who are committed to leading the team of Care Workers in that area and are continuing to walk with them, as they grow in their understanding of what it means to be a Godly leader.
In 2018, a group of pastors from the K Block community started meeting regularly to study God’s word and build relationships with the most vulnerable. They have helped to mobilise Care Workers and solve challenges when they arise. We praise God for the unity demonstrated by this group of pastors, and pray for them as they continue to seek God’s heart for their community.
Meet Louis
Louis* is around nine or ten years old, however his exact birthdate is not known. Together with his younger brother, they live with their widowed grandmother because his father has passed away and his mother is remarried. Although she still lives in K Block, she has moved to village 1 with her new husband, who is unwilling to let the children move into his home with his children. When Louis was still living with his mother, boiling water fell on him, leaving him with a large scar on his left arm. Thankfully the family is not alone in their challenges. Care Worker Esther is committed to Louis’ family and has encouraged him to resume school, after he stopped going because he was self-conscious of his scarred arm. The K Block CBO are going to provide him with a school uniform so he can attend classes and ensure that he does not feel different from the other boys his age. Quiet and reserved, Louis is caring and is deeply loved by everyone at the Care Point.
The local Hands at Work team in Luanshya currently supports eight Community Based Organisations, which exist to care for the most vulnerable in their communities. The office provides training, networking, and encouragement to those Community Based Organisations like K Block. It also gives administrative support, including helping with funding proposals, monitoring and evaluation, bookkeeping and reporting to donors.
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