Home after a mad time in Madagascar....

A visit to a Love'NCare school which is providing
education for these children for the very first time

I'm sitting at my laptop on a dull and wet day in England, just two days ago we'd awoken to the bright blue skies that provided a starke backdrop to the plight of thousands of people who were going about their busy mornings just below us. There was a slight chill in the air, at 20 degrees celsius this was decidedly cold compared to what we had become used to during our over 100 day trip that had seen us travel to four African nations, with people were wearing thicker coats, hats and even scarves.

Sunset over Antananarivo 

It was the end of our trip and we were staying in a little hotel in Antananarivo (Tana), which provided us with our 21st different bed, for a couple of nights before flying home (to England) via Johannesburg. Where does all that time go?

So what will follow next is a brief summary of what we have been upto since our last full update after we left Bulawayo in Zimbabwe at the end of March, you can read that post by following the link here should you wish!

Maz and Ken chatting about the products that he
is making out of the flour he has ground from
Breadfruit and Cassava as an alternative to traditional flour
which is naturally gluten free. 

Arriving in Madagascar is always a bit of a culture shock, we know that much of our time spent in South Africa gave us the opportunities to enjoy many of the creature comforts of the western lifestyle that we enjoyed as we grew up in England and that aren't so available further up in Africa, but having visited other challenging nations such as Burundi and Zimbabwe we hold Madagascar at an even more challenging level.

Barge transporting charcoal which is the main
source of heat for people to cook on
given the fact that only 13% of the population have
access to electricity.

It's not only the stunning colours, scenery, the different smells and sounds overwhelming our senses, it's also the knowledge that Malagasy have some of the lowest levels of access to water, basic sanitation, education, employment and access to the outside world. It's a nation that seems to be stuck in time, taxi's are old Renaults that we used to see in the 1970's, carts drawn by cow or men are a plenty, cobbled streets are still de rigueur in Tana with other roads in the nation in such a state of disrepair that its hardly right to call them roads.

After arriving in Tana from Cape Town we spent a few days catching up with old friends in the capital city before deciding that it would be best to reschedule our planned trip and head across to Toamasina (Tamatave) to work with our contacts there first before returning to Tana towards the end of the trip.

An evening out with some very special people
Colin and Kimberley, Cho and Deborah 

Once again we were welcomed in Toamasina by our good friends Cho and Deborah who head up the amazing local charity called Love'nCare (LNC) and whom we first met way back in 2013 when Cho, a South Korean pastor, and his Malagasy understudy, Theo, visited us at the Village of Hope in Grabouw. Since that meeting we were invited to visit their project in Toamasina in 2014 and have subsequently returned in 2016, twice in 2017 and after a year out due to the internal issues within Madagascar, a cyclone, the plague and a governmental election to name just three, and we were so glad to be back.

Maz, Cho and the ambulance 

Cho is such an awesome guy and he and his team at LNC have now opened up 19 schools, most of them in rural areas where children are now able to access an education for the first time. LNC have also opened a new hospital in Toamasina, of which we were honored to take a tour of.

During our first few days we were also to reconnect with two of the most wonderful people we know, Kimberley and Colin have been friends since we met them in 2016, they run an NGO called HELP Madagascar and have been running the Leadership for Life (LfL) and LEAD NOW programmes with those that they work with since we trained a couple of their staff in 2017. Kimberley and Colin have been great advocates for both the programmes and they were the main reason why we had returned to Madagascar this time.

LEAD NOW

As usual we were keen to get out and meet other people and so it was wonderful to have the opportunity to visit a local school, the head teacher had been trained in the LEAD NOW (LN), children's leadership programme, by us in 2017 and has adopted it into the curriculum of five of the year groups within her school. The school has seen the dramatic effect that it has had on the children, not only are their grades going up, which is great news, but how the children see themselves and those around them has also improved, to such an extent that parents are now wanting their children to attend this privately run school (so many of schools in Madagascar are not run by the government) because of the new ways of teaching and the LN programme being offered!

Children being creative around the topic
of 'heart and character' which is at the
center of good leadership

It was wonderful to see the teacher, her husband was later to attended the LfL Training of Practitioners (TtP) that we ran and who will now be using that to share with the parents of the children!, really embrace the LN programme, using it to be creative outside of the actual LN lesson, with children making flowers and hearts in preparation for the lesson in their art and craft class. 

The lesson was on 'Heart and Character' and the children explored any of the characteristics that were causing keeping them small and not allowing them to grow into the full potential that lays within each one of them.

We also made time to visit the inmates who we had trained up to share the LfL within the local prison. I'm not sure if I can even attempt to convey the shocking conditions that are found not only this prison but also those throughout this vast island. Over 1500 men, women and children are kept in such shocking accommodation which not only plays havoc with their physical health (over the last year LNC have set up a daily feeding programme to combat the malnutrition which was found to be rampant during a recent Amnesty International report, see link, and during the time we were there one man died) but also their mental health.

Out fishing on the Panaglane

It was great to see the seven men who still remain inside, as well as meeting up with the guards who were also on the same programme. We also met up with the new prison commander who has committed herself to implement the LfL to help both those new inmates and those set for release. We hope to hear some better news around the ways in which the prison will further improve as both the inmates and guards start to write a better story for their lives and the lives of those around them.

Maz meets up with some men walking to sell
their recently made charcoal

We were also keen to make a short trip down the 600km long Canal Des Pangalanes where we had worked and stayed in 2016, this was at a local village where LNC have just recently built another school and where they have an orphanage to care for some of the local children who live in this rural area. It was wonderful to spend a day with these people and have an interaction with some local people who were making charcoal to sell, you could read about this by following this link to an earlier post.

The main reason for this part of the trip was to train up 35 local people who the trainers who we'd trained in 2017 from HELP had been sharing the LfL programme with during the last two years, our five day training would ensure that each of the 35 people would be equipped to be able to deliver the LfL programme into the organsiations and networks where they are working. 

It was great to spend time investing in these awesome people who we shared meals with and even in the humidity managed to keep from falling asleep in the afternoon session! They have all already been putting the leadership principles into action in their own lives and hearing the stories of the difference it has made.

Training 35 people in LfL is a tough task
given the humidity which saps all your energy over
the five days of training. 

We had a diverse group of people attend the 
training, including a man who lives and works in some remote locations outside of Toamasina helping local people understand the need to live alongside the lemurs that they share their space with and helping to help maintain the unique flora that exists in that part of the big island under the MFFG organisation, a lady who works in the local fistula clinic that our friend set up after the Mercy Ships had spent time in Toamasina in 2017, and many other heads of local organisations who are helping to uplift some of the poorest people in the city via sustainable projects.

Smiling faces

After spending near on three weeks in the east coast port we made our way back to Tana where we worked with some of the people who we had first met in 2016, most of these people are connected with the FJKM church in Ambohipo a huge church (well in numbers of people, 15,000, not the size of the building) which is based near the university of Antananarivo which attracts a large number of intelligent young people who are keen to make a difference in their nation.

Teachers trained to deliver LEAD NOW into their schools

We hosted a three day TtP for LN where we trained 10 local teachers who will now be sharing the programme with the children that they teach. Once again it was great to invest in these people who will grow the potential of the children that they are working with, helping them understand that they are the leaders of their own lives and that the way that they lead themselves has an impact on those around them.

Third world meet first world at the port of Toamasina

Madagascar is like no other place that we have ever been to, which as we said earlier include some of the most challenging places and nations in the world such as Burundi, Zimbabwe and the townships of South Africa, according to the World Bank 'Madagascar is lagging in a number of development indicators. Every second child (under the age of five) suffers from stunting, and the country has the world’s fifth highest number of out-of-school children. Furthermore, at only 13%, the rate of access to electricity is one of the lowest on the planet. In 2018, Madagascar’s Human Development Index (HDI), as measured by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), improved slightly from 0.512 to 0.519, but the country fell three places in the world ranking, from 158 to 161'.

Food is at the center!
Although the photo looks more like the Last Supper.

There are many factors that leave us with that feeling, but we think that the vastness, remoteness and failing infrastructure are major contributing factors but also it's risk to natural forces beyond its control, such as cyclone and disease, that place this nation of over 25 million people in a very challenging position.

Catching up and updating those who
we trained in the LfL programme in 2017.
Some very friendly faces there including
Flaurid who was instrumental in organising our time in Tana

After running the LN programme with the teachers, (which gave us such great joy as with all of the other issues the education system in Madagascar is severely lacking, as highlighted by UNICEF in this simple web page which shows that 'only 20% of teachers are civil servants and 97% do not have a vocational education degree') we were able to share the updates that had since been introduced to the LfL programme with those people we had trained in 2017. It was so good to see these wonderful people and to hear of their stories of how they had put the programme into action in their lives.

Prayer times with the Sisters

Our final engagement of this early spring 2019 trip was to run a four day retreat for eight people who we would train up to share the LfL programme within their networks. We were hosted by an order of protestant sisters who live in a small 'center' just outside Tana. As we said eight people joined us as we ran a LfL TtP with some very long morning, afternoon and evening sessions but we made sure that we had the opportunity to join the sisters during their three times of prayer during our days.

Off to our 'Leadership' retreat
Vonji and Voirana at the fore!

We are thankful to our friends Flaurida, Vonji and Voirana who were so helpful in arranging all our needs in Tana, from gathering people, arranging interpreters and translating the LfL programme, now in a second updated format into Malagasy.

The accommodation was quite basic by European standards but it was great to share this special time with these people who had attended LfL programmes that had been run by some of the people we had trained during our time in Tana in 2017, we shared meals together, and I (Tim) even managed to get out for a couple of runs which took me into the communities that live in between the rice paddy fields that surrounded the center.

More food which was prepared to suit our
'Plant based diets'

We left Madagascar with great expectations, we are very pleased with how the trip went and although we could have trained more people we are confident that those that we have trained are going to be great advocates and trainers themselves.

So now we are back in England having visited four different nations, worked with people from six different cities and sit with the knowledge that the Leadership for Life programmes are already having a huge impact into some of the most vulnerable communities in the world, delivered by local people to their own people groups, thus ensuring long term change coming through an understanding that everyone has amazing amazing potential to change their minds to change their lives.

Rice, rice and more rice

It's kinda weird being back in England, we are overwhelmed by the good state of the roads, cleanliness and availability of food and other products that we often take for granted. As for the foreseeable future we no further planned trips until at least October so we are going to make the most of this time by spending some time with family, meet up with old friends and have some down time in readiness for the next adventures that we are sure will come our way.

Madagascar we'll see you soon!

Those damned people making charcoal!

barge carrying charcoal on the Pangalane 

We are currently in Madagascar and recently had an opportunity to venture into the more remote areas on the east coast of this huge island. Leaving the inland port in Toamasina, also known internationally by it's former french colonial name of Tamatave, we made our way down the top end of the 600km long canal Pangalane to spend a day with two communities that are being supported by the great work of Love'nCare.

After visiting the first village, where the children were scared of us, having not interacted with 'white' people before, we enjoyed a lunch of fresh sea and river fish cooked over a charcoal fire in the other village. It was early afternoon and we wanted to explore a little further, upon hearing the distant crashing waves of the Indian Ocean we made our way through the bush to see if we could glimpse a view for ourselves.

The journey by foot was hot, the paths were sandy and we crossed through a couple of streams as we made our way through the dense undergrowth. The trees that covered the land were low and windswept, the tallest were gum trees introduced from Australia probably by the British, but most were indigenous including guave of which we sampled a few of it's delicious fruits.

An Indian Ocean view

After around 30 minutes we came to a clearing in the path and were greeted by an awesome view of the ocean which stretched out to a reef which we could see more white horses breaking nearer the horizon beyond a lagoon where the local fishermen store their traditional pirogue, a dugout canoe made from huge trees.


After stopping to cool down we ventured back via a loop path the to the village, again the vegetation made it hard to see too far but then again we came to a wider open area where the signs of wood cutting were evident with stripped bark laying on the path and simple 300mm deep mud pits measuring about 4 meters x 2 meters where pieces of blackened burnt wood were still smoldering.

Maz cooling off

We hadn't seen a soul for near on an hour since leaving our host village so were somewhat surprised at the sight of two men, one older the other in his late teens or early twenties, a mother, and four children standing under the shade of a tall stand of trees. The men were hot and sweaty and what stood in front of them were a total of 9 large bags of fresh charcoal, each weighing perhaps 25kg.

These were simple folk wearing nothing but shorts, the mother in a sarong. We chatted with them for a couple of minutes, our local translators and us each taking turns to try to lift the pole on which each of the men had tied four of the bags. I couldn't lift the pole more than a few millimeters off of the sandy ground but as we turned to leave the men hosted them onto their shoulders and wondered off towards the village without a thought.

Our charcoal making friends

Although we managed to set off before the group our swift pace wasn't enough to keep us ahead and we were quickly overtaken by the men who almost ran with a bandy gait, the mother, who carried the other bag of charcoal on her head with the younger child on her hip and two of the younger children, not more than five years old walked alongside with the older child carrying a simple charcoal stove and the rest of their belongings, followed on just behind the men.

During our earlier light hearted conversations with the group, where smiles were a plenty and banter exchanged, we asked where they were taking the bags, 'to the river' the older man replied, himself not more than thirty years old, 'where they will be sold and collected by a large barge that will take them up the Pangalane into Toamasina'. We had seen such a barge sitting low in the water, heavy ladened with several hundred such bags of charcoal on our way down the canal that morning. 

As the conversation grew we asked how much would each one be sold to the man with the barge, oh 4,000 Ariary (around $1 or 80 pence) was the answer that came from a now glum looking face, the smile gone as he looked around at his band of travellers, wife, friend and his four kids all dressed in shorts, no shoes and now soot blackened sweaty bodies with the dog close at hand.

All this to say that for all their hard work, the finding, cutting, stripping of the right trees, the digging of the pits, lighting the fires, collecting, bagging and now delivering these 9 bags of charcoal would bring a total of $9 or just over £7 to this family of seven. One would imagine that all that work would take longer than a day, of course it would, but that is the meager income for all that hard work.

Many people have commented to me as we travel to Madagascar about the awful issues around the local Malagasy cutting down the indigenous forrest and turning it into charcoal which has been brought to the attention of the western world often turning simple folk like those we met into people who should be ashamed of their actions, wanting them to be taught a lesson or at least made to feel less human by their awful crimes. 

But what to do in a nation, which has recently topped the table of poorest nation in the world and has a population of over 25 million, who are spread out on the fourth largest island in the world, this is no paradise love island bliss, this country is larger than France and twice as big as the UK, where over 80% of the population have no access to electricity. Cyclone, drought, the plague are some of the many issues that have already bought misery to these wonderful people and cooking food or keeping warm at night is as natural a human action as it comes. To do that these people have no other means of boiling a kettle for a simple meal of rice and soup, so without any other option using charcoal is required undertake this basic need.

Our flight over this island bought me a better understanding of the issues around charcoal production with vast swaths of forest that capture your eye for kilometer upon kilometer, home to the lemurs that have made this island famous, little villages dotted around on hill tops with red soiled paths leading to rivers or to larger roads. The devastation isn't on the huge scale that I was led to believe and I'm not condoning their actions, but these people aren't criminals and behind every western news story are real people such as those we met in the middle of the rural Panglane, us on an afternoon stroll, them just trying to eek out a meager living to put food in their bellies, remembering the fish we had just eaten for our lunch was cooked over a charcoal fire! 

Challenging but productive times in Zimbabwe

Maz sharing about 'leadership mindset' #1
Lift up your head, become like an Eagle!

As I type away at my laptop my immediate view is overwhelmed by the high rise buildings that dominate the Cape Town skyline, it is quite a thought to behold that the whole of the African continent lays spread out north of where I sit, stretching over 5,000 miles beyond those buildings. It is also somewhat overwhelming that it was less than 24 hours since we were walking the broken streets of Bulawayo which had become home for the second part of our trip into Zimbabwe and those self same streets are still home to the dear friends that we spent time with since our last update.

Meeting up with old friends in Mutare

During our last blog post we left you with the news of a successful time spent in Zambia and the continuing feedback coming from those who we trained up is encouraging, however since then we have had further interesting times in Zimbabwe, a nation at such a turning point in its history and one that has been dealt a blow in the eastern highland region of Chimanimani with the horrifying effects of cyclone Idai leaving a trail of devastation that will take months if not years to repair.

Preparing our daily meals

We flew into Robert Mugabe airport in Harare, on the short hop flight from Lusaka with the ill fated Ethiopian Airways (who were to suffer an awful air crash only a few days later, such sad news to hear of the lives lost in that tragic accident) and were picked up by our friend Bob who was to drive us across to the eastern city of Mutare where we had spent a couple of weeks last August.

Mutare sits in the mountains and is blessed with a wonderful climate, however what we noticed since our last visit was a downward trend with mountains of daily issues that people have to face each day as the economic climate takes its toll on these mostly peace loving and so very very tolerant people.

Making sure that our trained facilitators are
able to share the amazing Leadership
for Life material is a key part of our Training weeks!

Life seems to be getting tougher for the common man and we know that could be said of any man in any nation in this crazy world, but just trying to work out how much things are and then how to pay for them is taxing enough. We either had to do this via US$ (which were much sought after when we were there last year but have now become less de rigueur) or RTGS (the new local currency which isn't recognised outside of Zimbabwe and has replaced the old 'Bond notes', although those Bond notes still exist within the system!) or via money held virtually on your mobile phone (of which we had to convert US$ to RTGS then convert RTGS to the 'virtual' mobile money). All of this is somewhat of a challenge in itself and given that different shops or vendors provide you with either hugely different prices for the same item or offer you hughley different rates for your $ or RTGS (we had a low of 1$=2.5 RTGS to a high of 1$ = 4 RTGS). It's all quite mind blowing.

Stuart with Maz and George

We were able to meet up with some of the local friends who we'd been introduce to last year by Martin and Jackie, one of these incredible people is called Stuart Dore, an amazing and humble man who runs a daily feeding programme for over 100 orphaned children. Since we last met Stuart he has lost his wife in her battle with cancer, so it was a bitter sweet reunion for us. However it was great to have Stuart, and his son, join us at the Leadership for Life training, and he will now be sharing that programme at his homework clubs with some of the older young people he supports.

A morning walk up Christmas Pass with
Maz, Alick and Rosemary

It was also wonderful to stay with Alick and his wife Rosemary, who we also met last year and who had recently converted their garage into a self contained flat, complete with kitchen, lounge area, two bedrooms and a shower (cold and intermittent given the state of the water supply situation that again seems erratic, but that also builds character!), it was a great base and the safe neighbourhood allowed us to get out a run/walk each morning.

Running and or walking each day has been a source of refreshing to us and has helped enormously with our physical and mental well being. The challenge of running up Christmas Pass, a pass that links Mutare to Harare in the west, was too much for me (Tim) to ignore, the 3.5km uphill run (of which there is an obvious downhill section on the return) was made all the more risky with the thundering or lumbering trucks flowing to and from, the now famous, port of Beira in Mozambique and or taxi buses which seem to career around its sweeping bends.

Our 9 (+1) trained facilitators in Bulawayo

The main focus of our trip in both Mutare and Bulawayo was to train up some local people, whom we had shared the Leadership for Life programme with last year. These people would then become facilitators of the programme themselves, thus being able to share the programme within their local communities, networks and groups. We ran a training group in each city, with 25 people attending the full week long training in Mutare and 9 people in Bulawayo.

Our 25 trained Facilitators in Mutare

The makeup of each group was quite diverse, with our youngest trained facilitators being two young guys aged 24 who we truly believe will open up amazing opportunities within their peer groups, as well as two other young men in their late twenties who are heavily involved in the Scouting movement (where we see some incredible opportunities opening up as we seek to raise up a generation of role models who will have good leadership at the heart of their lives), our eldest a lady in her late sixties and she runs a women's support group for widows living with HIV, others who we trained were in the age groups and had various outreaches in between!

That's me and Maz enjoying our daily food

There were a few challenges for the people who we trained, such as transport to get to the venue, what with the shortages in fuel and also getting time off of work and or time away from their market stalls which they run each and everyday. However it didn't stop them attending and we were extremely pleased with the progress of each one of the people who came and are very excited about the forthcoming stories that will come out of them sharing of the Leadership for Life programme and the impact that it will have on their communities.

Leaders lift people up, not push them down.....

March is normally a wet month, sitting at the end of the rainy season, so we had expected both Zimbabwe and Zambia to be greener than when we visited last July but unfortunately it had been quite dry with little rain, with the signs of drought meaning that the maize meal (sweetcorn) was left dry and dying maize meal (sweetcorn) plants (a staple in that part of the world) which weren't bearing the much needed fruits for harvest. 

People were already worried about further challenges that would bring hunger and even starvation, however as we neared the end of our first week of training we became very worried as we heard of a cyclone that was building off of the coast of Mozambique and which was heading towards us, via Beira, in Mutare.

Little did we know at lunchtime on Thursday what
destruction would lay in the wake of the storm on
Saturday morning.

By Thursday afternoon the rain had started to fall in Mutare and on Friday evening the wind had also picked up and joined the rain. Little did we know the huge and destructive effects that this cyclone would have in the region at the time, so other than impacting our travel plans to Bulawayo as we headed off on Saturday morning which meant taking a route across country rather than via the original route we got off lightly. In Fact Mutare just missing the eye of the cyclone by about 100km as it swept in and had a huge impact in Chimanimani.

Our road blocked by a rescue truck

Unfortunately our driver, Bob, had some very sad news as we travelled on that Saturday morning, hearing that a good friend of his had been killed in his rural home village due to a landslide that had destroyed the home she was sleeping in on Friday night and these stories grew as our understanding of the destruction that had taken place became clearer. Many many other people known to our newly trained friends started to share their stories of how their lives had been affected by what would become world headlines, at least for a few days.

Many of you will have seen the heartbreaking pictures from both Mozambique and Zimbabwe but just how much impact the cyclone will have over the longer to medium term is worrying with the poor existing infrastructure taking such a huge hit, with roads washed away, peoples homes lost and an already poor harvest destroyed. We are extremely worried for the future and wonder how to best support the ongoing rescue and then clean up operation as we are already hearing of misuse of funds that have been given towards those most impacted!


Upon arriving in Bulawayo, a journey of over 7 hours where we had a few challenges, including coming across a flat bed lorry that had lost the shipping container which it was carrying, apparently blown off in the wind!, blocking our road, we were greeted with the sad news that our local contact there had just received new that his son, in his early thirties with a wife and family, had passed away in South Africa. The day to day issues that people have to contend with is so sad and certainly puts some of our first world challenges into prospective.

Not just a punctured tyre but one ripped apart and
the space was also flat.....doh.

All this said we had a wonderful time investing in our local friends and other than being extremely drained by our 12 hour days we did manage to get a day off on Sunday before flying into Cape Town for a few days to tie up some Emerging Leaders oppertunities here before flying out to Madagascar on Saturday morning.


To end this epic post we wanted to share one further story about our last day which once again was very eventful, as you can only imagine as is the case in our crazy lives!. We had got to know the owner of a local bar, popping in to hear a local band play one evening, and he had offered to take us to the local national park where Cecil Rhodes amongst his other friends, is buried and which contains some incredible natural stone structures.

At least we had some beers!

Anyways to cut some very long stories short we had a tyre blow out and rip to shreds on the way to the national park, upon stopping in the middle of nowhere we found that the spare was also in a state of disrepair meaning that our friend had to catch a taxi bus, which fortunately for us was passing by at just the right time, back to Bulawayo to have the tyre replaced, all on a late Sunday afternoon. Myself and Maz were left minding the car and took time to loosen the wheel nuts but in the meantime finding out that the jack was not suitable to lift the 4x4 we were in off the ground enough to get the tyre back on once it arrived! We ended up driving the vehicle onto a rock we found and dug out a hole deep enough for the tyre to fit into then jacked it from there.......

Cecil Rhodes grave

....the park was awesome, it's called Matopos and has amazing rock formations with huge rocks balancing on top of each other like a couple of gods had once played a giant game of marbles and had left them where the landed for us all to enjoy, it also is home to a large herd of Rhino and the largest population of Leopards in Africa, we have included some photos for you to enjoy.

FYI there is quite a lot of background stuff and detail missing from this post as we are mindful of respecting people and the current situation in Zim, we are sure you'll understand.

Huge stones in Matopos

Sending much love to you all and we'll be back in touch once we have settled into life back in Antananarivo!

A few weeks in Zambia

The crazy Violas who are doing an amazing
job here in Zambia

As you may be aware we have spent the last few weeks in Zambia, staying with the wonderful Viola family who live just outside the town of Kabwe. Chris and Rebecca Viola head up a charity called Driven Ministries which they set up when they moved out from their home in the United States with their family, of four children, three years ago.

Driven Ministries has a heart to help create sustainable community initiatives by either partnering with local people who have a similar vision or bringing in programmes like the Leadership for Life which has a proven record within the community development sector. They work within the more challenging areas of the town and their outreaches extend to a daily sports outreach similar to the one we set up in South Africa, where they also support the children who attend those clubs with school fees and basic needs to ensure that they get an education and amongst other things Chris is involved with the weekly pastors meetings and he has recently started visiting inmates in the local prison.

Our new Leadership for Life
TEAM KABWE 

We came to Kabwe last August to deliver the Leadership for Life programme to around 70 local pastors and or youth workers, since then these people have been putting the leadership principles into their own lives and it has been great to catch up and hear some of those heart warming stories.

Maz running the training of local people who
we have now trained to deliver the
Leadership for Life programme

Last week we ran a week long training for those wishing to be able to share the Leadership for Life programme to their congregations and communities, eleven people joined us on Sunday evening with the training running from 8.00am to 8.30pm every day till lunchtime on Friday where we celebrated with a traditional braai. Most of the week was spent with the people practicing the flow and key 'nail it' points of the programme, sharing it back to myself and Maz, plus the rest of the team, for us to evaluate and encourage where perhaps some points were missed.

Practice Practice and more Practice
makes perfect, well nearly!

We were very encouraged by the progress of everyone and after the initial shyness, of which the Zambians seem to be quite adept at, we drew them out of the shells and they became more and more confident of not only standing and sharing but understanding the material and the ways in which it is communicated, which is very interactive, rather than the 'rote' teaching that they are used to either delivering or hearing!

The TEAM sharing the 'flow' of the programme
to each other

As with most things it's always good to get out and practice what one has learnt, so it was great to follow up on an amazing opportunity that I (Tim) had created for some of the Driven team to share the Leadership for Life programme with 40 inmates in the local maximum security prison on Monday morning. Chris, Precious and Coach Chris (members of the Driven Team) will be sharing module two, three and four over the next few weeks in what we hope will become and rolling programme in which every inmate and guard in the prison will receive the programme over the next few months.

The TEAM outside the prison

You may remember that we have shared the Leadership for Life programme into the prison in Toamasina, Madagascar, which is a very challenging place, Kabwe prison is much more westernised with modern security procedures for us entering from outside and with the inmates in prison issue 'uniform' rather than their own clothing as we have seen in Madagascar. However that said the men who we shared the programme with are much the same, having made some wrong life choices along their journey which has meant that they end up being removed from society.

The response from the inmates during and after the training was so good, they were very engaged with the activities, joined in with the repeated mantras and we are hopeful to see lives transformed as they pick up their 'life pens' and start writing different stories for themselves, understanding that leadership is all about others rather than self.

Filming a real life story with Ackim

During our time here we have also spent time with a local filmmaker who we've been out with to capture a few of the stories of where people have applied their leadership mindsets which have resulted in real projects that are either benefiting their community or their families finances. As you can imagine it was wonderful to see how the programme has a tangible impact into the lives of those we share it with and we can't wait for the film to be completed and for us to be able to put that on a platform for you all to see.

Out in the veld

We have thoroughly enjoyed our time back here in Zambia, the people are very peaceful, if not a little reserved compared to some other places we have visited in Africa, we have been able to go out for walks most evenings, even venturing out on the kids bikes to go further explore the African veld, and local villages which remain unchanged with mud huts and subsistence farming. Our time out running has been fun if not a little hot with the humid conditions that this rainy season brings. 

Chickens or eagles?!

So it is now time to move on and we are also looking forward to catching up and working with those who we have relationship with in Zimbabwe, tomorrow we will journey from Lusaka to Harare and then onto Mutare where we will spend a further week with friends there before making our way to Bulawayo where we hope to update you with news of how the people there have been lifting up their heads and taking responsibility for their own lives and the lives of those around them as they start to see themselves as leaders following what we shared with them last July and August.

A few weeks in South Africa - and now we are in Zambia

Well 2019 is now in full flow and since our last update we've spent just over two weeks in South Africa, which was extremely hot compared to the snow that we left in England, and are now sitting in a slightly more humid Zambia where we shall be spending a further couple of weeks before heading south to Zimbabwe.

A day at the Train the Trainer

Our time in South Africa was very unexpected due to the situation in Zimbabwe but it proved invaluable, not only did it give us a chance to catch up with all of the current trainers of the Emerging Leaders programmes who are working on the farms sharing the Leadership for Life programme, as well as those who are working with teachers, children and their parents in six schools in the first intervention of that kind which is having a profoundly impressive impact.

We also had the opportunity to attend a day of the most recent 'Train the Trainer' which was being run by Lennox and Joe from South Africa and Steve who is head of Training for Emerging Leaders who joined them from England. Over 30 people were trained up to deliver the Leadership for Life programme into both new commercial areas as well as the communities where they live.

Viewing the new Emerging Leaders South Africa film

One morning we spent viewing the new film that we have been working on which follows the story of how the Leadership for Life programme is impacting the lives of those who attend the training and apply it to their lives and we also visited two of the ladies who had been attending the programme in the large township of Khayelitsha and who's stories we will also be filming to show that the impact and reach goes beyond the farm gate and on into the communities via the people who have been trained to share it.

These are exciting times for Emerging Leaders in South Africa and as the team on the ground grows we are proud to have been part of the development of this over the last few years.

A run out with Mike!

Time in Cape Town always allows us to catch up with old friends, Mike was one such person, Mike is an ex-sports mentor from our time at the Village of Hope and was on the Train the Trainer for the Emerging Leaders programme. I (Tim) even managed to get out for an early morning run with him in the trails around Waterval. 


We were blessed to be hosted for a few days with our friends Ann and Jannie in Elgin, they always make us feel so welcome and we had chance to meet up with Barbara and spend some time with her on the beach over the weekend and share a meal with Rob and Emily House who we used to share life and work with in Grabouw.

Beautiful Camps Bay

During our first week in Cape Town we spent a few nights with Nick, who heads up Emerging Leaders in South Africa, his wife and children at their home, it was good to spend time with them, chatting around the future and enjoying it's lofty position above the city and just under the ever impressive Table Mountain. This also gave us access to some awesome trail runs right from their door, including a 20km run around the sights of Cape Town. 

Fires on Lions Head

It is a worrying time of year in the Western Cape, with the constant treat of wildfires springing up at anytime. Whilst we were staying with Nick we had the first hand experience of this as his property gave us awesome if not worrying view over the fires which blew up over Lion's Head on a Sunday afternoon.

You'll be aware we have both really got into our running recently so not only were we able to enjoy those runs around Cape Town but we were also able to compete in the Cape Summer Trail Series, an event that had to be moved from Oak Valley, which was impacted by a week long wildfire above the farm where the race was supposed to take place. 

Tim during the trail race above Grabouw

Our friends from Trails End hosted the event at the last moment and I took on the 25km race, whilst Maz joined the 7km event which started and finished at the same place as mine. We were both pleased with our results, I even managed to finish second in the Masters race which was held over a very challenging course up into the stunning mountains, which were covered in a low cloud which provided some relief from what could have been a very hot day, above the Eikenhof Dam.

Stunning views around the Cape

We were sad to say our goodbyes to Cape Town but are now excited to see what the next few weeks will bring as we work with Chris and Rebecca Viola who run Driven Ministries in Kabwe, a town that sits around two hours north of Lusaka and who we shared the Leadership for Life programme with in August last year. Click here to see our update from that time.

The wet season in Zambia sees high temperatures
causing thunderstorms in the afternoons.
View from the Viola's stoep

Over the next few weeks we will be running a Train the Facilitator here in Zambia, where we hope to have around 20 people attend and who we will invest in so that they have the skills and materials to deliver the programmes into the communities where they live and the charities and faith communities that they serve.

We'll update you again before we head off to Zimbabwe but for further and immediate updates please visit our personal Facebook and Instagram pages.

here we go again, well nearly

Chilly beach walks

Well we are a few weeks into the New Year so before we head off back out to Africa we thought we'd post and update around some slight changes we have had to make to our plans and also wish you all a very Happy and Prosperous New Year....so Happy New Year from Tim and Maz!

Firstly we wanted to say that we have enjoyed a wonderful time with our family and friends over the festive season, spending Christmas day with Maz' sister and family before heading up to see my sister and her family and my parents, as well as Josh and Haddy, for Boxing Day. New Years was spent with friends in Buckinghamshire, where we took part in a murder mystery party which was great fun.

Running with Friends

We had a chat with Arron (our youngest son) and Camille on Christmas day from their hideout in Nepal, went to see QPR play out a boring 0-0 draw, met a new friend who we hope to get to know better when she grows up and went for a couple of runs with friends.

We also spent some time being grandparents (and parents) to our son and his family in Bristol, thanks for making our time back so enjoyable, it was great to share Claire's (our daughter in law) birthday too, don't tell her I told you but she turned 40! Our caravan was a tad cold we did enjoy the warmth bought by the electric blanket that my sister and brother-in-law got us for Christmas!

Meeting new a recent arrival

Onwards into 2019.....

So tomorrow afternoon we will be heading out on a near on four month trip to Africa, however due to the current situation in Zimbabwe we have been advised by the local people whom we will be staying and working with that they cannot guarantee our journeys in and around that beautiful nation or confirm the numbers of people who would be due to attend the training up of the people who we worked with in July and August last year.

We need people to be in the right frame of mind, fully engaged and given to the training and with the current situation we can't hope that their minds won't be preoccupied with staying out of trouble or transport to and from the venue etc.

Busy boxing day preps

If you are unfamiliar of the issues that our friends in Zimbabwe are facing then to keep it simple a hike in fuel prices by the new government has tipped the citizens, who are some of the most peaceful and law abiding that we have ever met, over the edge. An internet blackout by the largest phone operator has caused many outside the nation to question some of the tactics that are being used to restore 'law and order', all this leading to mistrust of the very leaders who are elected to rule the nation.

As you can imagine it has been a somewhat hard decision to postpone the trip, we have lost money on non-refundable flights and worry for the people on the ground who have become dear friends to us since our first meeting with them.

Being Grandparents!

It is so sad as we were hearing so many stories of how people had applied the leadership principles we teach in the Leadership for Life programme into their own lives, including a story about Grace, a lady who attended our training and who's exploits have been captured on the Emerging Leaders blog, follow this link by clicking HERE.

All this change now means we will fly on our scheduled flight to Jo'burg, but instead of heading to Harare we will return to Cape Town to undertake some Emerging Leaders work down there before making our way up to Zambia which is around three weeks earlier than planned. 

With Josh and Haddy at the Superhoops!

We will be hosted by the amazing Viola family, working with those people in Kabwe who we also met last year and will be keeping an eye on the situation in Zimbabwe before making any further decision around returning there before we fly to Madagascar at the end of March.

If you feel you could help support our work over this next trip then please do follow the link to our giving page HERE, your financial and prayerful/thoughts towards us are much appreciated.