Three schools – built by inspirational local people with some support from Mission Direct (MD) – continue to do amazing work in the outskirts of Lusaka, Zambia but need our help more than ever at this time.

Cry Community School in Misisi Compound (shanty town) had to move from its ramshackle building at the end of 2019. They need help with rent for the overcrowded site they now operate on, with paying teachers a meagre allowance and with providing lunches for children. Five children, who have moved from Cry to secondary school but can't afford the fees, also need help.

As part of a whole community outreach programme to help the poor, Kumbaya School in Chaisa Compound was set up in 2004 by the inspirational Amos and Ketty Lwabila. Tragically Amos, a tower of a Godly man, died of COVID-19 this summer, but the work continues no matter what. MD supporters have been funding the construction of more classrooms, but as at Cry, there is an ongoing need to cover teachers' allowances and to feed children at lunchtime. If you'd like to see the environment these children grow up in, here's a 60 second YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFw_skOr5nE.

Thirdly, Kiine School in Chamba Valley has run out of money to complete building a much-needed additional toilet block. The school has grown from 100 children a few years ago to 450 now, but toilet facilities are the same.

I've visited Cry and Kumbaya Schools in their desperately poor compounds and have been inspired by Agness (at Cry) and Amos and Ketty (at Kumbaya). Geoff Spiller is Zambia's volunteer country manager for MD and feeds me news regularly, from which I have distilled the above. The great thing about MD is that 100% of money raised on a predicated campaign like this reaches the people it's given for. One hundred percent.

That said, if we reach our target, I'd like to give £1000 to MD to help it survive the pandemic. Earlier this month, Wil Horwood (CEO) reported that despite huge cutbacks, furloughing and so on, MD needed £40000 to balance the books this year. I know first-hand the work that MD does, both in supporting specific high-quality projects in Africa, the Far East and South America and in enabling volunteers from the UK to visit, help with building, meet the people and sense the need in a way that they will never forget.

I've set a high target for this year – £50 for every mile I walk – but with Gift Aid, 95 of us gave this much last year. I'm now 76, and covering 21 miles a day for four days is a bigger challenge than 26.2 miles in just one day! Will you match my effort by giving generously to help those in great need in very poor suburbs of Lusaka? £40 with Gift Aid would sponsor me for a mile. But even 50 yards (£1) is a help!

There's loads more info about the projects at https://www.facebook.com/Zambia.MissionDirect/ and you can see MD's reach at https://missiondirect.org/media/stories/. It's all about each one of us making a difference to one life at a time.