LifeNets Logo
December 31, 2009                                                             Issue No. 9
In this issue 
LifeNets Southern Africa News
New Kids for Cows Program
Livelihood Development Grant for Beauty Salon in Malawi
Water Chlorinator for Chizeni Clinic in Balaka
Blessings Through Service
Greetings,
     We thought we'd squeeze in one more eNewsletter before the end of 2009. We had so many things to report on that we didn't get to in our last eNews. You can quickly jump to the stories in the eNews by clicking on the links in "In this issue."
     We are happy to announce a new initiative. 
     Our cattle program in Zambia has been a great success in that it has provided three Zambian communities cattle where there was none before. Disease had wiped out entire herds eight years previously and nothing was done to rebuild them. In 2001 we began a program similar to Heifer Project International's in providing heifers and bulls.  But, it's more than just giving cattle to the poor. This donation is preceded by an education program to teach proper calf care and calf feeding. We require proper veterinary practices. All this has paid off with with hardly any loss of animals in almost a nine-year period. The heifers have become milk producers and are giving children, especially, much needed protein.  They animals are also used for draft power. Once the program is underway the animals reproduce and there is no further expense to us. Everyone benefits. You can read about our Animal Husbandry Training Course on our Zambian site at http://lifenets.org/zambia/potg.htm.  One key feature is that the first animal born must be given to a qualified neighbor who agrees to go through the same training as the original beneficiary.
      To get children on this end of the need involved, we have started a program called Kids for Cows. I have spoken to classrooms of children who have had it in their compassionate hearts to want to do something. Now, children CAN help by providing the first animals to stock the program in Kenya and Zimbabwe through Kids for Cows. See story below.
      In the coming year we have four special events to raise awareness and funds to selected LifeNets programs.  We'll be writing about each one separately. The events are:
        1. March 6 Ft. Worth, Texas Boot Scoot for scholarships
        2. April 17  Seattle, Washington.  Rotary fundraiser for LifeNets Academy and local LifeNets chapter functions
        3. June 20  Queens, New York.  Brunch for LifeNets Orphan Care Centre in Balaka, Malawi
        4. August 22  Mandan, North Dakota Triathlon for Africa Water Projects and local chapter functions
     We thank all who have volunteered to organize these events.  
     Today is the last day to make a year-end donation (tax-exempt in the US) donation. You can even pay by credit card or PayPal from the home page of our Website www.lifenets.org.
     Thanks for your interest in LifeNets! We appreciate your making LifeNets your charity of choice.
 
                                                                     VK signature
 
                                                                     Victor Kubik
                                                                     President
LifeNets Southern Africa News 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Andre and Elize van Belkum
    Andre and Elize van Belkum
     Since the establishment of LIFENETS SOUTHERN AFRICA nine years ago, Andre van Belkum has served as chairman and his wife Elize as a member of the organisation. He has overseen many projects in Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa and both Andre and Elize will be missed as they relocate to New Zealand.
     At the Annual General meeting in July this year Neville Smith was elected as Chairman and Mr Selby Mbelu elected as a member.
    
 Neville Smith
        Neville Smith
The latest project that was initiated by Mr. van Belkum is in the Gokwe area of Zimbabwe. The people living in the area are very poor and struggle to access water. LifeNets has financed the digging of a borehole and also provided a number of goats which have already produced kids.
     These projects will be monitored and if successful will lead to the introduction of cattle to assist these people with the ploughing of their fields and to provide fresh milk.
     Check out our Southern Africa page on the LifeNets Website at www.lifenets.org/rsa
                 The Southern Africa LifeNets Management Team
For more on this story please click here
Kids for Cows 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
      LifeNets started providing cattle for Zambians in 2001. There has always been a strong link between children and the cows. Children in the poorest of all countries are the biggest beneficiaries of the cattle. Cows provide milk, a much-needed and lacking part of their diet.
      We are expanding our Zambian cattle program to Kenya and Zimbabwe. We need your help in stocking the original heifers and bulls for these two new areas. Would you like to help?   You can make a donation with your favorite child in mind. Send your tax-exempt donation to 
     LifeNets -- Kids for Cows
     3707 Turfway Ct.
     Indianpolis, IN 46228
Here are the kids who have stepped up already:  
 

Kids who Care

Cows sell for $125 each. Want to buy one in a favorite child's name?

Name

Age

How Many Cows?

Date

Tyler Dits  5 1.2 Dec 31, 09
Alyssa Kubik 4 1.2 Dec 31, 09
       
Keep up to date what's happening with this program at www.lifenets.org/kids4cows
  
LifeNets Livelihood Development Grant for Beauty Salon in Lilongwe, Malawi ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
     Last year LifeNets awarded Loveness Luwanja a grant for beauty equipment, supplies as well finances to build a small shop in a busy commercial section of Lilongwe. The shop has since been built. She is married to James who is a plumber. They have a Lovely Looks Hair Salonsmall son Harrison. Victor and Beverly Kubik were able to visit with them in October 2008 when the shop was first being built. It now has a steady stream of customers. Loveness is very good at what she does and people like coming to get their hair done at Lovely Looks Hair Dressing Salon. It was named by Christina Davis when she did her internship with Seattle University in connection with LifeNets earlier in 2009.     
     It's not been easy even with the finished building.  Electricity has not yet been brought through and they rely on a generator for electric power.  There has been connected to water either and have to bring it in. Read their letter below the photos.
 
Letter from Mr. and Mrs. James and  Loveness Luwanja
    We are very appreciative for the project that LifeNets funded for our family. Now the Salon side for Loveness has started operating and the community has already starting benefiting. We have employed one lady who has two fatherless children both of them girls.
     We are not yet connected with water. We are being supplied
with water which we buy at a nearby kiosk.
    
 Loveness under hair dryer
    Loveness under hair dryer 
The community is thanking us for building a smart and well designed shop which is offering good services of Loveness's hair styling skills at an affordable price. While we have no electricity, people have nothing to worry because we use generator which provide power all day and we are also thankful for that.
     Because of the site where the building has been located we have decided to hold on to opening the plumbing shop but decided to open another shop which can attract customers for Loveness and help to open up the place that more customers can be coming for different items for ladies. Another woman who is a widow will be coming in to help. She is also going to paint the shop. Proceeds from this adjoining shop will go towards paying for more equipment and furniture for Loveness' side.
     This has been the first high class salon in the area ever since and we are ready to work hard as an appreciation to LifeNets who has spent a lot of funds freely for the benefit of our family, extended families and the surrounding community. The salon has been named by Christina Davis who came to Malawi to do research on LifeNets projects. She called it Lovely Looks Hair Dressing Salon.
We thank God for answering our prayer through LifeNets and ask the same God to bless all those who are working for LifeNets voluntarily to help the needy May the Good Lord add more days for your life and give you all good health so that the needy prayers are answered the whole world. We are ready to support LifeNets wherever we can can and when we are needed.
                                                                             James and Loveness Luwanja
 
For more complete Web story and more photos go to http://lifenets.org/malawi/luwanja1.htm
LifeNets Provides Water Chlorinator for Chizeni Clinic in Malawi  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
     In 2002 we learned about New Life International in Underwood, Indiana  (http://waterfortheworld.com). It is an organization that has provided an ingenious simple chlorination system that requires only their device, salt and a car battery to produce chlorine gas and provide chlorination capacity for large volumes of water in remote poor areas.

The Chlorinator is finally installed at the Chizeni Clinic in Balaka, Malawi on June 8, 2006

     LifeNets needed something like this at the new clinic we were building in Balaka, Malawi. On April 14, 2002 my wife Beverly, my good friend Bill Jahns and I went down to Underwood to look at the device. Bill was about to move to South Africa and I asked him if he would install it when he got to Malawi. He has an engineering background and is good with this kind of thing. We were shipping a 20 ton container to Malawi in June 2002 and this chlorinator went on it. But, it would be four years until it was actually installed as a cistern and building for storage area had to be built.. 

In the images below you Bill Jahns and us in Underwood, Indiana and you can finally see him at the Chizeni Clinic in June 2006 installing the device. 
      During the rainy season rain water from the sheet metal roof goes into the 10 foot by 10 foot by 10 foot cube cistern.  From there it is pumped up into a tank.  After the tank it flows into a drum inside the clinic.  The water purification system is between the tank and drum. The last time we visited this site was on October 8, 2008.  I blogged our journey on TravelPod at http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/victorkubik/7/1223480220/tpod.html
For more on this story including a 2 minutes YouTube clip, please go to http://www.lifenets.org/malawi/chlorinator/chlorinator1.htm  In their fall 2009 newsletter, New Life International writes about this Malawi installation. In Africa, it always takes l-o-n-g-e-r to to get things done, but they do get done!
 "Blessings Through Service"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Dan and Cindy Harper with two of the children
Dan and Cindy Harper with two of the children in the Teaching English as a Second Language program.
Dan and Cindy Harper returned to Vinogradov, Ukraine, this summer to serve at the second English summer camp program at the Light of Love mission for street children. The program was sponsored by
LifeNets.
 
Cindy Harper wrote the following for United Church of God's December 2009 United News:
 
      Over the last two years my husband Daniel and I have been blessed with the opportunity to travel and volunteer in countries in Eastern Europe and Africa. This summer we returned to Africa to help with United Youth Camps and to western Ukraine to take part in an ESL (English as a second language) program for street children for the second year in a row. READ REST OF THE STORY
Join Our Mailing List
Quick Links...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
www.facebook.com/lifenets  Become a FAN!
 
Archive of all Newsletters at www.lifenets.org/enews
 
Contact Information
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Better Business Bureau Accreditation
LifeNets
3707 Turfway Ct.
Indianapolis, IN 46228-2095

317 216-0802
317 679-7676 mobile/sms
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Safe Unsubscribe
This email was sent to vic@kubik.org by newsletter@lifenets.org.
Instant removal with SafeUnsubscribe™ | Privacy Policy.
 
LifeNets | 3707 Turfway Ct. | Indianapolis | IN | 46228