Life is full of paradoxes and so our first live meeting with this organization that supports NRCS in Kashitu in many projects took place not in Europe but in Zambia. However, the meeting did not take place directly in Kashitu, because the representatives of the German organization arrived here a week earlier than Marta and Anežka. Therefore, they met on their return journey, which led through Livingston. There was the time to share news from Kashitu and learn more about the activities of this organization.

With Christopher Hollemann, director of FoL, we introduced our projects and goals in Kashitu to each other and talked about the development possibilities of this area and possible future cooperation.

The German organization Fountains of Life supports NRCS in many projects. The most important is the provision of drinking water from deep wells. FoL also supports the beekeeping project, the carpentry project for young people, agricultural projects, the repair of kindergartens and elementary schools and partly their operation, the equipment of local clinics…

On their last visit, they saw our builders and volunteers building the high school. Among other things, they donated a car to the local organization NRCS for local projects. We had no idea that the car would immediately become a helper for our construction site as well – one helps on the construction site, with the other one Bornface used to drive to buy the building material (where he negotiated the prices to the minimum). We thank FoL for this our first collaboration! We believe that both cars will serve the development of the local community and will bring a shift to many activities that until now the coordinators from among the local people went around on bicycles.

Following the meeting with representatives of Czech non-profit organizations in the Czech Republic and before traveling to Kashitu, Marta and Anežka met with Aleš Vacek and Mr. Edward Chaitezwi (a Zambian), both of them working for Czech non-profit projects in Zambia.

They first met Aleš. Aleš has been living in Zambia since 2006 and methodically coordinates the projects of the Archdiocesan Caritas of Prague in three centers. He shared with us:

• rich experience in implementing various projects in local conditions so they would become long-term sustainable,

• microloan systems,

• information about taxes in Zambia,

• what are the local delicacies that we didn’t know before.

The meeting was so interesting that they didn’t notice it lasted 4 hours. Thank you!

Another meeting held was with Mr. Edward Chaitezwi, a Zambian working as the financial manager of Caritas CR in Zambia. He shared with us:

• what is important in communication with local people,

• what are the options for opening a bank account in Zambia,

• how to motivate local people to participate in projects.

The meeting was held online on Friday evening due to the busy schedule of our female members. Many thanks to Mr. Edward for this opportunity, valuable information and for taking the time to see us!