Educated, Comfortable, and Safe

Maranatha Volunteers International is helping to meet the need for high-quality Seventh-day Adventist education in Zambia by constructing schools across the country.

Crews recently finished transforming the Liumba Adventist School in the nation’s western province. The campus was old and dilapidated but now boasts beautiful, strong buildings. Liumba’s first phase included the renovation of existing classrooms and the construction of new classrooms, bathroom blocks, and a water well.

“[The upgraded campus] got the attention of everyone in the entire region,” Maranatha’s country director for Zambia David Woods said. “Students started coming out to the school from the town of Kalabo, 30 kilometers [19 miles] away.” The newcomers found accommodations in nearby communities. But female students, especially, didn’t feel fully safe in these neighborhoods with high crime rates.

In late 2023, Maranatha responded to this need by agreeing to construct a girls’ dormitory at Liumba. This building is far more secure and lies within the boundary fence that crews installed. It’s also more comfortable. “[Students] are so excited about the new dorm, bunk beds, mattresses, sheets, blankets, and pillows,” Woods said.

After finishing the Liumba campus, the construction crew traversed the nation to begin work on a secondary school campus in the eastern province town of Mwami. This community has a strong Adventist presence. It includes a hospital, nursing school, churches, and two elementary schools, but lacks an Adventist high school. Because of this, families have to send their children far away to expensive boarding schools that don’t provide a nurturing spiritual environment.

To meet this need, Maranatha has agreed to construct a large Education and Evangelism Center (EEC), which will have space for up to 14 classrooms surrounding a central auditorium. The crew at Mwami recently broke ground on a building that will serve as a fabrication shop for the project’s duration. When complete, the school will repurpose the structure into a classroom, administrative offices, or restrooms.

Maranatha worked in Zambia from 2009 to 2015, completing hundreds of projects. In 2018, Maranatha returned to Zambia in response to a request for more churches, schools, and water wells across the country. The Liumba and Mwami campuses are examples of such requests.

About Maranatha Volunteers International

Maranatha Volunteers International, a nonprofit independent Christian organization that supports the mission of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, mobilizes volunteers to build churches, schools, water wells, and other urgently needed structures around the world. The organization fulfills requests for construction assistance. Each project is carefully considered for need, overall impact on the community, and resources for long-term maintenance and support.

Since 1969, Maranatha has constructed more than 11,000 structures and close to 2,000 water wells in nearly 90 countries around the world.

The original version of this story was posted by Maranatha Volunteers International, which is an independent supporting ministry and is not operated by the corporate Seventh-day Adventist Church.