Zambia

The Enrights in Zambia

Rev. John and Kendra Enright are Methodist missionaries based in Ndola, Zambia, Africa, who currently oversee the creation of the Kafakumba Training Center and associated Chapel Auditorium. This extensive, multipurpose campus is still under construction, but it is already hosting conferences, retreats, and youth camps. When completed, the Chapel Auditorium alone will hold up to 1,000 worshippers, while the dormitories for the Pastor's School will house up to 350 pastors and family members from all over the continent.

The Missions Ministry of FUMC Birmingham proudly sponsors the Enrights and provides funding to assist with the construction of the Kafakumba Training Center, the Pastor's School, and the Chapel Auditorium.

One of the important goals of the overall project is to have local people in the Ndola region contribute to the ministry of the Center. To help fund portions of the project, farmers have helped create a successful 25-acre banana tree plantation, and others are manufacturing doors to sell, both locally and abroad.

The Training Center construction continues as the third dormitory is nearly finished, with minor touches and paint all that is left to complete this newest building. Facelifts on older buildings are underway, multiple landscaping projects are just getting started, and, with the steel frame and roof now in place, the Chapel construction is proceeding. So there is much work yet to be done. The Enrights are only too happy to welcome work teams from around the globe to assist in these efforts.

Team from FUMC, Birmingham, Visits Kafakumba

In April 2005, a VIM (Volunteers in Mission) team of five people from our church traveled to Zambia to visit the Enrights and the Kafakumba Training Center. The study group sought to better understand the needs at Kafakumba and nearby villages and to discuss how our church can best engage in a long-term relationship with the Enrights and their work.

The entire country of Zambia is being ravaged by the growth of HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis, and a major effort of our team focused on medical care and education. During our April, 2005, trip we:

Donated $15,000 to the village and Methodist Church of Baluba and to John Enright for the construction of a medical clinic. The VIM team participated in the ground breaking during its visit.
Gave educational workshops for the village of Baluba on HIV/AIDS prevention, transmission, and treatment. The workshops gathered large attendance and used some role-playing.
Worked with a Ugandan playwright to create an on-the-road vaudeville-type show that will provide a venue for health education. We hope that in the future VIM teams composed of both youth and adults will be able to participate in this program.

In addition, we initiated more discussion about healthcare:

With the the University Teaching Hospital in Lusaka, Zambia, to provide residency training and get modern doctors to work in the Baluba clinic with the clinic doctor or nurse provider or possible health providers "on mission" from our church.
With traditional healthcare providers to improve their quality of care, and create dialogue between modern and traditional healthcare providers. (A European Union funded research study is looking at the benefits of integrating traditional and modern healthcare, and preliminary evidence suggests that integration provides significant improvements to local healthcare.)

Women's Center Project

When our team talked with John and Kendra Enright we learned that they envisioned a women's center that would help the women to gain control over their own lives and provide for their families. The center would also provide opportunities for the women to increase their self-esteem and level of literacy. One aspect of the women's center would be a facility with commercial sewing machines which the women could use to sew uniforms and clothing to sell for profit. Two Zambian brothers (both Hindu) have offered to help this project with their expertise and the donation of ten sewing machines. The United Methodist Women of our church have generously budgeted $10,000 for this project, and construction of the building began in March, 2006.

The Clinic at Baluba

Putting on the roof of the clinic