The Story of Mount Moriah Community
The community of Twashuka is home to approximately 11,000 people who are predominantly seasonal farmers. As a result, many families travel outside of the area to larger towns to find domestic work and odd jobs for meagre wages. Poor access to health clinics and unclean water are just some of the issues the community faces.
When Pastor Charles Simbeye first visited the community of Twashuka in 2009, he noticed that there were a large number of children who were not attending school. He found that many children did not enjoy school and would instead travel daily to nearby towns to beg. Broken-hearted, Pastor Charles felt burdened to teach these young children, desiring for them to gain an education and enjoy school.
100 Children currently supported
15 Care Workers Coordinated by Rosemary
Basic Services Started in 2010
10 km from the Luanshya Local Office
In 2009, Charles pulled together his resources and set up a school under a tree for 15 local children. New Wells Community School began! In 2010, New Wells Community School partnered with Hands at Work and became New Wells Community Based Organisation (CBO). New Wells CBO received its first plot of land that same year and a school building was constructed to accommodate 100 students. Hands at Work also encouraged Pastor Charles to mobilise the local church to help care for the poorest of the poor in the community. As a result, a team of 10 Care Workers from 3 local churches came together to begin visiting and supporting the children in the school.
The Care Workers pooled their resources to construct a temporary kitchen structure in the new location to provide care for the most vulnerable children in their community. The lack of rain in recent years has left the ground and wells dried up. Families have anxiously faced several seasons of unfavourable harvest. For the most vulnerable children, a hot, nutritious meal every day offers hope in these challenging circumstances.
In 2016, the New Wells CBO team, supported by the Luanshya Local Office team, reassessed the vulnerable children in their community to ensure that the most vulnerable are being reached. As part of this reassessment, the Luanshya Local Office team have spent time walking with Pastor Charles and his team of Care Workers to ensure that the leadership of the CBO is healthy and continues to represent the needs of the children.
In 2017, Hands at Work and Pastor Charles came to the agreement that they were pursuing different visions and decided to amicably part ways. Leaders of Hands at Work still felt that Twashuka remained one of the most vulnerable communities that they were called to serve in. In 2018, the Luanshya Local Office team, with support from the Zambian Regional Support Team, met once more with the leaders of the local churches in the community, where they re-shared the vision and model of Hands at Work. Out of this meeting, 14 local Christians with the heart and passion serving the most vulnerable in their community stepped forward, forming a new team of Care Workers.
In 2018, this new group of Care Workers, having recognised God’s faithfulness to them over many years, decided to rename the CBO ‘Mount Moriah’. Today, 100 of the most vulnerable children gather under the name of Mount Moriah CBO to receive access to life-giving services and are visited in their homes by the Care Workers. The local Hands at Work team in Luanshya continues to walk closely with the Care Workers, investing in these local heroes by building their confidence and capacity to care holistically for children, and to meet the needs of the wider community.
In 2023, a fence was constructed around the Life Centre property, providing security and defining it as a safe place for the children. On the property, there was a kitchen in bad repair, but this has been renovated to be a home for the caretaker of the Life Centre.
Meet Mubita
Mubita* is three years old and regularly attends the Life Centre with his older sister. While his mother loves Mubita and his sister, she does not know who their fathers are and does not earn a consistent income as she spends much of her time in the local bar. As a result, Mubita and his sister are cared for by their grandmother. It was only last year that Mubita was found by Care Worker Rosemary, when he would follow his sister to the Life Centre. After many of these sightings, Rosemary visited their home to assess the situation. Since joining the Under 5s program, he is thriving, especially with Care Worker Annie checking on him often. He is social, loves to play with his friends, and especially enjoys being gathered in the arms of visitors when they come to the Life Centre.
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 Mount Moriah CBO. It also gives administrative support, including helping with funding proposals, monitoring and evaluation, bookkeeping and reporting to donors.
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