Development Projects > Zambia
The Lazarus Project
The Lazarus Project
Latest News
The Crossroads-CIDA partnership enabled the project to begin to train women in 2007. Additionally, The Lazarus School gained “community school” status at the beginning of 2008. Working with the Ministry of Education, the school now offers Primary Education to over 200 children from the high poverty areas surrounding the project. Both of these changes ushered in a growth in the number of children benefiting from the project, as well as expanded the reach of the project to include female beneficiaries. This change has been very successful!
Unskilled, uneducated women from the surrounding community are too poor to access many other programs. The Lazarus Project is changing their lives through skills training, counseling, and basic health education. Health workshops address HIV/AIDS, and provide the women the opportunity to be tested at the nearby Circle of Hope Clinic (another partnering ministry). Through this program women are empowered with skills, knowledge, and renewed confidence in them selves. Over 162 women have now been empowered to earn an income to feed their children and send them to school.
Lazarus - The Project
The Lazarus project grew out of a women's ministry at Northmead Assembly in Lusaka that sought to provide food, clothing and HIV/health awareness for the overwhelming number of destitute street children in the area. In 2002, a Canadian businessman provided the means for The Lazarus Project to purchase a 40-acre farm.
In addition to being an active agricultural farm, the property hosts residential buildings for destitute boys, a community school, and an administrative building. The project was named after one of the most outspoken and eager boys who attended the initial women’s outreach program. The significance of the name for the project is inspired by the story in the Bible found in the New Testament book of John, chapter 11. Jesus raises his beloved friend ‘Lazarus’ from the dead. The Lazarus Project resurrects hope in children who have been victim to the ravages of abject poverty, neglect, and destitution.
The purpose of the project is to rescue, rehabilitate, equip, and reintegrate street boys back into society. The farm provides a "safe haven" where boys are sheltered for up to 6 months, during which time they are cared for, educated, and taught a trade skill, while living relatives are located. A social worker employed at The Lazarus Project provides counseling and support to relatives in order to facilitate the reintegration of children into a family unit.
Partnerships
Many of the activities of the Lazarus Project are made possible through the partnership of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), Northmead Assembly in Lusaka, and Crossroads Missions. Together we are providing the means for The Lazarus Project to assist the most needy people in society through the provision of:- Skills training to both boys and women who presently have no trade skills or education.
- HIV/AIDS education.
- Food security through agricultural production and animal husbandry.
- Counseling and psycho-social support.
A Story
In October of 2005, a little boy was brought to the project with no family, no home and no history. Abandoned by his parents at a train station, the project took in this boy and gave him the name Lazarus. After six months of life at the project, Lazarus has really begun to fit in and find his feet. He is attending school and learning valuable skills that will help him in life. Unfortunately, with no information about his family or relatives, Lazarus will have to be moved to an orphanage where he can live permanently. In the mean time he is able to enjoy life at the project.
