Two years ago, the children of the New Apostolic Church in Oetlingen (Southern Germany) started a Christmas drive to support the students at the Mackenzie Community School in Ndola, Zambia. At that time, a box full of school supplies was donated and eventually brought to Mackenzie by one of the iChange volunteers. Approximately a year later, the children in Oetlingen received a whole package of thank you letters from students and teachers alike. Together with a short presentation about the situation in Mackenzie these letters were then read to the whole congregation.
This year, through a series of discussions, the idea was born to again support the children in Mackenzie as well as the students at the Community School there. Through an iChange volunteer the organizers in Oetlingen had heard about the daily lunch program at the school, which strives to provide a warm meal to children in need. Together with this information, prices for the ingredients used in providing this traditional daily meal were also obtained: for approximately EUR 3.00 the program can provide 100 lunches - unbelievably cheap in the eyes of the children in Oetlingen, yet an enormous amount for the students in Mackenzie!
A spontaneous decision was made to support this program. On occasion of their annual Fall lantern walk, the children sold deliciously roasted corn on the cob for EUR 3.00 a piece. This way, each ear of corn sold represented 100 warm lunch meals for the children in Mackenzie. Overall, the children were able to net proceeds of 500 EUR, which will fund the Mackenzie Community School lunch program for a full three months.
