Here are photos of the first five students who have completed the first month in a three-month agricultural program at the Cardinal Mazombwe Agricultural Training Center (CMTC) located in rural Zambia. Several more students had signed up, but they apparently were unable to travel to the rural center due to heavy rains.  One problem was that there are no bridges over the river.

(TEVETA (the Technical Education, Vocational and Entrepreneurship Training Authority) Level 3: a three-month general agricultural program accepts Grade 9 dropouts (Form 3 or 3 years of secondary school). Grade 12 H.S. dropouts can enroll for Level 3 and opt to upgrade to Level 1. One is considered a dropout if they don’t qualify for the next level. Level 3 is designed to enhance agricultural skills.  Students do not earn a certificate.)  

The next goal is to get TEVETA accreditation to upgrade to Level 1 and enroll qualified students who will board at CARDMA.  (TEVETA Level 1: a one-year comprehensive agricultural program designed for students who have graduated from high school.  They will learn how to raise crops, care for an orchard, operate a fish farm, and raise poultry and livestock.  Graduates are prepared to start a self-sustaining farm and do earn a certificate.)

CMTC’s First students in front of the classrooms
The First Five Students with a teacher

A video of students with CMTC’s Head teacher learning Occupational Health and Safety, one of the six courses.

The recently added Poultry Pen, a TEVETA requirement for Level 1Two students filling pails with water to cool down the pigs on a very hot dayPigs enjoying their roomy pigsty.

In late September 2024, the St. Peter Claver Society (SPCS), an apostolate of St. John the Beloved in Mclean, Virginia, celebrated the completion of the building phase of the Cardinal Mazombwe Agricultural Skills Centre (CMTC) 50 miles from Livingstone, in the Livingstone Diocese, Zambia. In addition, all the official documentation needed to get permission to open the center by January was submitted to TEVETA by the September 30^th deadline. In order to meet Zambia’s TEVETA accreditation requirements, the CMTC compound includes: two classrooms to accommodate up to 40 students; one library; two dormitories, one each for boys and girls; two semi-detached houses for teachers; one large open-air kitchen, and one stand-alone toilet facility to cater to teachers and visitors. To provide for adult supervision, the girls’ dormitory has an attached apartment for a matron and the boys’ dorm has one for a staff member. The SPCS was founded 21 years ago by Shimwaayi Muntemba with the then pastor of St. John’s.  Shimwaayi now lives in Livingstone and has been working closely with V. Kalumba Bishop of Livingstone Diocese and with appropriate Diocese officials to see that the ambitious CMTC project succeeds and eventually becomes self-sufficient.  All SPCS’ funding goes through St John the Beloved parish to the Arlington Diocese and then to the Livingstone diocese USD account.SPCS has no paid staff, so 100% of donations will go directly to CMTC.  Bishop Kalumba appointed the former pastor of the Makunka parish, Father Ngwira to coordinate the project, including the all-important accreditation process. We plan to open the agricultural training center in January 2025. Once the CMTC is up and running, the SPCS will be fulfilling its mission of carrying out the late Cardinal Mazombwe’s vision of establishing a rural skills center that will train both boys and girls in agricultural skills so that they will be able to support themselves and avoid migrating to urban areas where they encounter joblessness, drugs, prostitution, and violence.  Cardinal Mazombwe shared his dream with Shimwaayi who promised him that she would make his dream a reality.

Before we can open the Agricultural Skills Center, we need to raise about $25,000 by mid-November 2024

Teveta has specific requirements for furnishing the CMTC before it can accept its first 20 students. Hence, SPCS must collect about $25,000 before the January opening.  We have come too far to not make the January opening! (See the separate list of key items needed.)

Key Items Needed by Mid-November for the TEVETA Site Visit AT CARDINAL MAZOMBWE AGRICULTURAL SKILLS TRAINING CENTER IN