IMPACT ZIMBABWE

Political unrest remains in Zimbabwe and clouds the run-off election pending for later this month. The opposition leader is back in the country but in and out of detention at the whim and fancy of Mugabe! Many NGO's are being expelled as Mugabe seeks to maintain control and keep his reputation as one of the world's most tyrannical leaders.

Despite all of this Impact International along with its partners in Zimbabwe is in the process of forming Impact Zimbabwe which will spearhead a national transformation movement. The Kingdom of God does not retreat in the face of the kingdoms of this world made by man - it advances! That is our intent. Plans are underway for orphanages, feeding programs, church planting, health clinics etc. that will form the basis of a national transformation and leave a legacy for the future.

The Kingdom Endowment model is moving forward and we see clearly how the national transformation of Zimbabwe can be funded with substantial financing from Kingdom Add-On (see marketplace on our web site). Funding is not only forthcoming from US partners but largely our Impact Zimbabwe Trust and key business entrepreneurs within the nation. Our funding effort towards national transformation is unique, in that it is expected that large volumes of money for the initiative will come from within the nation.

As a part of our funding for the national transformation effort, the Impact Zimbabwe Board along with Impact International will form the Zimbabwe Academy Of Entrepreneurship. An alliance (partnership) has been established with The Nehemiah Project and its courses on Biblical Entrepreneurship. Regent University also partners with us to offer certification for all students in the entrepreneurship academy. This business school will train suitable entrepreneurs who will be financially assisted by The Kingdom Endowment Fund with seed and start up costs. This model offers jobs for the new business executive, jobs through employment, funds for the local church through tithing AND also these new business leaders will be taught the mission of Impact - leave a legacy and add to The Kingdom Endowment Fund for national transformation.

We believe we have a God given assignment, an exciting concept and a firm belief of success! 'With God, all things are possible'.

We have hired a graphic designer to assist with the weekly updates for our web site, so we will shortly be able to add photos and more graphics to our site to serve you better. Stay in touch, we need you!

Blessings!
Alastair

FATHER AND SON IN AFRICA

Hello To Everyone!
The mission of Impact International is simple! Leave a legacy for generations to come. What better way is there than leaving a legacy through one's own son?

In the past few weeks Alastair (father) and Craig (son) have been traveling Africa - separately! Yes, although I traveled via South Africa I didn't get to spend personal time with Craig - why? He was on his own assignment.

As you will see if you follow the blog page on our site that my son Craig (born in Zimbabwe) now live in South Africa and works for an NGO (Non Government Organization), providing food for hundreds of thousands of children in a variety of countries in Africa. In recent weeks he has spent time in Sudan, Kenya, Burundi and Rwanda, some of the toughest parts of Africa. He reports in a recent email:

'I had meetings with the World Food Program. Moved from Loki and Nairobi in Kenya to Rwanda. Whilst in Rwanda I visited the Genocide Memorial and couldn't believe what I saw, dark rooms with just lines and lines of skulls and bones and clothes. The history was laid out for us. To think that this actually happened between neighbors, friends and family. I stayed for a film, 'shooting dogs' and we heard from a genocide survivor it was emotional and amazing to hear the first-hand story. I went up to him afterwords and apologized on behalf of the US and the international community for our lack of action that contributed to the murder of 1 million people. For me it was an incredible experience'

Craig is in these countries researching possibilities to develop a feeding program for children. How awesome is that?

As for me - well, I had the very best trip ever to Zimbabwe. The nation is going through a major political and economic crisis. The government refuse to recognize the political facts that the opposition leader should be the new President. As we write this to you Morgan T. is outside Zimbabwe and unable to return for the election run-offs due to reported assasination squads ready to 'take him out'. Inflation is the world's worst. Would you believe it if I told you that inflation was over 300,000%? True! A loaf of bread costs $Z 200,000,000. That is two hundred million Zimbabwe dollars! 50 million Zimbabwe dollars is worth about 20cents! There are food shortages, electricity is in short supply as is fuel for vehicles.

With all the above in mind, the church is thriving! The Kingdom of God is being advanced. There is a sense of hope in the Christian community! Why! When adversity comes the bible clearly shows that the people who know their God can endure. I bring a positive report of the growing church within the nation.

I was accompanied on the trip by Ngwiza Mnkandla my original 'son'. He did an amazing job in growing the work of Faith Ministries that I handed over to him in 1983. He in turn raised a generation of 'sons' and they now lead the congregations of Faith Ministries, of which there are over 45. Shingi Munyeza is the FM senior pastor and also the CEO of Africa Sun Hotels. Time does not permit to elaborate at this time, except to say Shingi is one of Africa's leading hospitality business men with many hotels in Zimbabwe and a growing stable of hotels in other African countries including; South Africa, Botswana, Equatorial Guinea, Mozambique etc.

Impact International had discussions with the Christian business leaders to see how we might partner in leaving a lasting legacy. Ngwiza and I were on a God Assignment to offer a strategic partnership with Impact and the local community on the ground in Zimbabwe. We accomplished that. (See our CAKE program on this impact site - Creating A Kingdom Endowment using the principle of Kingdom Add-On). It is our plant to create Impact Zimbabwe and through business models fund the program of national restoration in the nation. We plan over the next few years to be able to finance; orphanages, AIDS clinics, entrepreneurs, church planting, food programs and so much more!

Keep watching this site for updates! God is working in Zimbabwe and Impact is on the cutting edge of what God is doing now and in the future!

Please feel free to dialogue with me through the site and we can stay in touch!
There is so much more to say only direct contact can say it all! We will be posting more information on the web site as we go along.

Thanks again to you all!
On behalf of generations to come!
Alastair

CRAIG IN SUDAN

We have received a recent report from Craig in the Sudan. He is on a mission to establish feeding programs for children. The Sudan is rife with political unrest. Craig traveled there from Northern Kenya where he and several others spent days on the road to travel north and meet up with a UN mission team. He reports long hot days of travel without adequate supplies of food. Craig will be in some remote regions of Africa for the next couple of weeks and request prayer from friends back home (he will report personally when he returns to his home base in South Africa)

HALF TIME DRILL!

My Dear Friends:

The front page of our web site shows a book - 'Half Time' by Bob Buford that is likely to change the lives of those approaching midlife! The author takes the reader through the challenge of moving life issues from SUCCESS to SIGNIFICANCE.

No doubt one has to wrestle at some point with the question that Rick Warren poses in his book 'The Purpose Driven Life'- What is our purpose? Why am I here? In answering such questions we must consider how SIGNIFICANT is our life? That brings me to the provoking thought - How can I make my life count?

To make a life count in this world is certainly commendable. But is there not a greater question? How can I make my life count after I am gone?

The difference between inheritance and legacy is simple. An inheritance is the estate left behind at death. A legacy is the spiritual fruit left behind from deposited seed during a lifetime! HOW DO YOU PLAN TO ENSURE YOUR LIFE NOW WILL COUNT ONCE YOU ARE GONE?

Pericles said 'What you leave behind is not what is engraved on stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others'. In the book of The Acts of the Apostles it says 'when David had served God's purpose for his own generation, he fell asleep' - this King of Israel had left his mark.

Let me use my blog to encourage and at the same time challenge you to ask some questions of your life. Why am I here? What can I leave behind when I am gone? How can I be significant with the life I have?

This is not something left to a last gasp 'come to Jesus moment' on a death bed. It is purposeful, planned and demonstrated as a lifestyle now.

Impact has a simple mission. Make deposits now and leave a legacy for generations to come. I will answer questions and post challenges weekly on the Impact blog. Please write to me. I look forward to furthering the discussion.

I leave for Zimbabwe this week on another God assignment and I will report upon my return after May 20.

All are blessed few are favored!
Alastair

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From Craig Geddes

The sun is beating down on the dusty, mud hut sitting within the semi-arid terrain of the local desert and the slow stirring of 4 young children is taking place as each wakes up off the floor. Each can feel the other's legs sprawled on top of the next sibling as they fight for space amongst the dirt and animal skin cloths. Aged 2, 4, 9 and 14, each child has never known anymore than a dirt floor to call their bed and the fear of another day to survive as their pillow. Through the day and into the night, these 4 children face life within the Southern Sudan as normal as anyone else throughout the world. With barely any food, the floor to call their bed, no reliable, clean water for miles and only one parent alive, this is their reality and this is their home.

Within Southern Sudan, the girl child attendance rate in school is 35% and only 1 in 5 children ever finish school, which is lower than attendance of children living under the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. Through humanitarian interventions, we are creating programming to try and coax families in to letting their girls go to school through giving them a take-home ration each month of 5L of oil. The skills and strength of these girls at home are more valuable to the family and bring more assistance than if they were sitting under a tree, miles away, learning and improving their education. With each hour that passes, there is less work that has been accomplished, less food that has been made, but, as each class rolls on there is one more girl that will never understand and will never be educated. Gender inequality throughout the developing and third world is rife and girls across the globe, due to culture, income needs and forced labor are missing out on education. The education of their children, the future of their family, the revolution of a generation and the upliftment of a gender all hangs on 5L of oil.

As the problems of the world become vaster and more complicated, more dangerous and more deafening, the disconnect between the West and the underdeveloped countries becomes greater and more disastrous. Whether its down the halls of the United States Congress, among the pews of the local church, within the editing rooms of the New York Times or around the boardrooms of corporate America, the reasons that Africa struggles are barely ever understood. As we sit in our centrally heated homes, our freshly carpeted living rooms and our leather-clad SUV's, there is no possible way to understand the life-changing exchange that occurs with 5L of oil. Why leave women out? Why the gender disparity? Why only 5L of oil? Why anything at all? All of these questions lead to one thing: when all you have is one bowl of rice left and 4 children to feed, nothing makes sense anymore.

International relations and humanitarian development across the world targets all of these issues that face so many people today: economic empowerment, gender inequality, HIV/AIDS, water borne diseases, malnutrition, sex trafficking and civil conflict. Through targeted interventions and protracted poverty alleviation projects, may we, as people whom were the lucky ones, the ones with families, parents, homes and educations, take a longer look at helping those whom are the most in need. May we strive for a greater avenue of assistance through the presidents we elect, the churches we attend, the money we donate and the time we spend.

As you pull your shopping cart out of the line, walk down the aisle of the local Wholefoods and review your list for the week, the day around you will be bustling and busy. Mothers with small children will be looking for formula and some sort of unneeded toy, the local university student will be picking up the six pack of Bud light and the young couple will be looking for the fresh vegetables. Across the world, in a hot, dusty town, one young Sudanese girl will be walking miles home, with no shoes after 3 hours at school.carrying her reward on her head.

As you turn the corner and walk down that cooking aisle the next time, will you ever look at 5L of oil the same? I pray, for the children of Sudan you do not...