The Crisis + How We Began

Zambia is a peaceful country amid many unstable bordering countries. Compared to many of its neighbours, Zambia has a reputation for a relatively efficient and transparent government. However, for the most vulnerable people living in the poorest communities, many basic essentials are scarce, and families have no choice but to resort to drastic means of survival. With less emphasis placed on education, girls become especially vulnerable.

In 1999, George Snyman, co-founder of Hands at Work, was invited to speak at a church conference in Zambia where he met a local pastor. He saw that him and his wife were trying to care for refugees and AIDs patients but they had no support. George stayed in their house for six weeks and started to implement the model of caring for HIV/AIDs patients in Luanshya. From that time, George visited Zambia regularly. In 2003, George was invited by a Bible College in South Africa to share at an international conference for people who had been called into ministry. During that initial visit, pastors, including some from Zambia, were stirred up to care for the poor instead of simply planting churches. They realised that if they were truly going to represent Christ in a time when people were dying, it was going to require more of them and so they took the vision and ran with it. 

It was out of their conviction that the first Hands at Work Community Based Organisations were birthed in Zambia, several of which have matured and grown into their own organisations. As work in South Africa shifted to caring for orphaned and vulnerable children, so the work in Zambia as shifted to be carrying out that same vision. Slowly, Hands at Work began to grow and expand into communities located in the surrounding areas of Kabwe, Kitwe and Luanshya.

Our Response

As the local church is mobilised in each community to unite and reach out to the most vulnerable, Hands at Work equips them to provide physical, emotional and spiritual support to the children and families they serve. Children are supported through the daily provision of Hands at Work's three essential services of food, education and basic health care provided at the Life Centres within their community. Through regular visits to their homes, Bible teaching and prayer, children come to know that they are loved by Jesus and those who care for them.

MEET Ivonny

Ivonny* is one of the most vulnerable children we care for in Chabota Community, Zambia. For many years, nine-year-old Ivonny and her two brothers lived with both their parents. However, her father did not provide for the family and spent the little money they had on alcohol instead. Recently, he left, leaving Ivonny and her siblings under the care of their mother. Thankfully, the family has support from the Care Workers visiting regularly and Ivonny and her siblings coming to the Life Centre.

Population: 20, 488, 240 

Percentage of people living in extreme poverty: 58%

Number of children (0 to 14) living with HIV/AIDS: 66 000

Number of children (0 to 17) who have been orphaned due to HIV/AIDS: 580, 000

Life Expectancy: 64 (F) | 56 (M) 

Country Rating (out of 187) the Human Development Index: 154

– Sources: UNAID, UNDP,  World Poverty Clock