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Jubilee Centre is currently working with 231 churches across five networks in Zambia. In 2017, the Jubilee Centre began going through a bible study centered around poverty alleviation. From this study, the centre started to look for strategic and sustainable church-based solutions to address poverty in the local churches. One key area they identified was agriculture because most families from the local church depend on it for their livelihood. They have been receiving vegetable seeds from Celebration of Hope through Willow Creek support over the past years. These seeds have helped many families to start backyard vegetable gardens to support their livelihoods. 

In 2021, a young man named Kaira Lungu from the Chifubu Network in Zambia with a unique passion for agriculture received vegetable seeds. He also received training from a local agriculture company. Through this, he was challenged and inspired to pursue his farming career. He started preparing the land to plant the tomato seedlings. One month later, the seedlings were ready, and Kaira and his family planted them. 

Kaira’s family lives at the church plot where Jubilee Centre drilled a borehole a few years ago. The borehole helps the family, church, and community access clean and safe drinking water. The Kawama community is not serviced with water by the local water utility company. The borehole has been helping Kaira water his tomatoes and other vegetables planted in his backyard garden, which is always green. Kaira’s knowledge from the training helped him manage his plants methodically, resulting in a significant harvest of tomatoes. He has harvested 200 boxes of tomatoes.

Kiara has made K28,000.00 ($1,647.05) from his garden. His gardening experience and income from tomatoes have expanded the vision he has to engage in fish farming and banana production so that he can be self-employed and eventually employ others. Our partners in Zambia continue to hold onto the vision of alleviating poverty in the communities they serve. They are using the seeds and agriculture programs to empower and create employment opportunities–especially for young people.