It was wonderful to welcome our Overseas Mission partners, Keith and Ida Waddell, and their son Mubita, to Morning Worship on Sunday, and to hear more about the projects in Mwandi that they are currently working on.

The couple, who have been based in Zambia for 20 years, were thrilled to receive a donation of £3,000 from Houston & Killellan Kirk to support their work, as well as £250 from Sunday Club, who have been collecting coins for them too. The money will be used to support projects in Mwandi, including the Chicken Project, the Sheltered Workshop and the Mission Hospital which provides vital health care, screening and operations.

Keith explained how one young man went from being regarded as a ‘burden’ on his family to their main breadwinner after he started making building blocks at the Sheltered Workshop for vulnerable youngsters. Unfortunately there are not enough orders coming in at the moment to run the brickyard full-time, but they are building up stocks of bricks in the meantime.

There have now been three cohorts of chickens, with the most recent flock likely to come into lay in August or September.

It has not been possible to transport the pigs they rear to market because of Swine Fever, but a big company has been lined up to buy the animals from them directly. And in the fish ponds, around half the initial stock had been lost by the time the fish were harvested, probably by people who took them to eat, but it is hoped that a better fence will mean more of the fingerlings (young fish) make it to maturity next time.

Keith led our All-age talk at church, with the theme ‘Use whatever gift you have received to serve others.’

Thanking the congregation, he added: “We can’t do the work that we do without your prayers and support and we are very grateful for it.”

Meanwhile Ida, who works in health, explained how they now have one of the best Diagnostic Imaging Centres in Zambia, even though their current X-ray machine overheats and shuts down after six uses. They already have an ultrasound scanner, are waiting on two ECG machines and hope to use an empty room to house a CT scanner in the future.

A Zambian doctor has recently trained the Mission Hospital’s doctors to carry out endoscopies, which means that patients no longer need to travel 800km to Lusaka to have this procedure carried out.

“The aim is to bring the care to the people, rather than have people making long journeys to get the care that they need,” Ida explained.

The knitted items, baby and children’s clothes we send are always very gratefully received by mothers and have helped double deliveries in the hospital from around 30 to 60 babies. The rates of cervical cancer are high in Zambia, and our gifts of clothing, including items for older children, have also helped boost the numbers of women being screened for the disease.

Next year Keith and Ida are planning a sponsored walk to the border, following in the footsteps of the Scottish missionary David Livingstone, who first preached the Gospel in Mwandi. Participants will walk 23km to raise funds for a hospital gym for patients and staff to use.

Ida also explained that the couple have been given names locally meaning ‘The Complainer’ (hers) and ‘Stubborn’ (Keith’s).

Thanking them both for their presentation, Rev Barbara Ann Sweetin said: “You really are miracle workers.”