We’re celebrating a major milestone in Family Legacy’s vision to provide dignified, high-quality education to vulnerable children in Zambia: Lusaka West Legacy Academy has officially moved to its new, permanent campus!

John Hasse addresses Lusaka West students and guardians.

After 13 years of operating in rented facilities, Lusaka West now stands proudly on Family Legacy-owned land. This move marks a significant step in our long-term vision to own and outfit our school properties to best serve our students and staff.

The new campus opened with a big celebration, attended by President & CEO John Hasse, Country Director Chikondi Phiri, senior leaders, and a proud community.

“As we open the doors today, we promise to honor your investment by providing excellent education that prepares our students not just academically, but practically for life’s opportunities,” Hasse said. 

The Lusaka West acreage pre-construction. The school currently consists of modular buildings, with ample room for growth.

The new campus sits on a spacious 15-acre site and features:

• 17 classrooms and 7 operational spaces
• A modern administration center
• A new ablution block with 25 toilets and showers
• Solar panels and water tanks to support uninterrupted learning
• A brand new trades pavilion (coming soon!)

The school currently serves 449 students and is supported by 28 dedicated staff members.

“This means a lot to us as staff,” Headteacher Mackson Mambalakata said. “We are now in a dignified workspace, and we remain grateful to management for making this possible.”

Lusaka West students walk together to tour the new campus.

Owned buildings like Lusaka West allow us to improve infrastructure when and where we need to. Students are looking forward to the benefits this new campus offers. 

“We have plenty of toilets, and the girls even have showers.” Arnold, a Lusaka West student, said. “I’m looking forward to more developments like a play park and the trades section.”

Others are eager about the potential that lies in the added acreage.

“At the old school, playing football was a challenge,” Joshua, another Lusaka West student, said. “Now, we have enough space for sports and other activities.” 

Lusaka West Legacy Academy is now the 16th of our 18 schools to operate on Family Legacy-owned land. This latest owned Legacy Academy follows Kalikiliki (opened January 2024) and Kanyama and Misisi (opened January 2025). Our transition from rental properties is one more way we are stewarding our resources while improving our students’ learning environment.

We are grateful to our generous community for fueling this transition and to God’s faithfulness to bless our students long-term.

The post Room to Dream: Lusaka West’s New Campus appeared first on Family Legacy Missions International.

For those who have a passion and a heart for mission work, there is a need to serve all over the globe. You can have a calling to your local community to serve and make disciples, but for you reading this post, the headline spoke to you differently. Have you felt a piece of your heart long to serve in Africa? With 54 countries, Africa is a beautiful continent, home to numerous different tribes, tongues, cultures and traditions, but she also has bone-chilling statistics in the area of mortality, healthcare and poverty. Many cannot ignore the need in Africa, but some answer the call that is placed in their hearts. If that is you, here are some ways that you can help if you feel called to Africa. 

Research 

Being the second-largest country in the world by land mass and population, Africa has a little bit of everything. If you have felt a tug at your heart to donate to a cause in Africa or maybe one day go there, it is beneficial to do some research on the continent and learn about the amazing wonders and diverse people of Africa. 

Educating yourself can be the first step in understanding why Africa has a place in your heart, and can expand your love for it. In the media, countries in Africa can get the short end of the stick and are shown collectively as an undeveloped continent lacking in basic supplies and quality of life. That is certainly not true for the continent as a whole, but unfortunately in some areas of the continent it is true. 

Identify

Identifying where you want to help is another key step to narrowing down how you can help and make a difference in Africa. In some areas, access to food and clean water can be problematic. In other areas, lack of education and poverty can hinder a country from reaching its full potential and providing for its people. The two larger issues typically can go hand in hand in most countries. 

Let’s take a closer look at the southern region of Africa, specifically Zambia. Currently, Zambia has one of the world’s youngest countries by median age, being just 17 years old. With over 17 million people, most living in the capital city Lusaka, the population continues to grow at a rate of about 2.8% due to the high fertility rate. If we take a closer look at the city of Lusaka, there are numerous communities that surround the city where the lower income population lives. In these communities, it is normal to see child-run households absent one or both parents, either because of death or constantly working, and children being forced to work to help out their family rather than getting an education. With the lack of education the quality of employment goes down, resulting in a cycle of poverty that is hard to escape. 

At Family Legacy, we provide an opportunity for children to be able not only to have access to education but also to alleviate the burden on their families. Family Legacy owns and operates 24 private, Christian schools in 17 communities around Lusaka, Zambia, providing education where it’s needed most. A child attending one of these schools is provided one meal a day when they come to school, as well as being given a food blessing throughout the year to feed their family. Sponsoring a child at Family Legacy allows them to participate in the benefits listed above and so much more. 

Pray

If you find your mind wanders to Africa (and as you have read this post it focuses on Zambia), and to your participation on how you can start to help, pray about it. It can be as simple as having a conversation with God on why Africa has been placed on your heart and what you can do. If you are involved with a charitable organization like Family Legacy that serves vulnerable and orphaned children in Zambia, pray specifically about events and things you’re involved in. If you attend a Food Packing event, you can pray for the food that will reach a child and nourish their body. A school supply packing event? Pray for the child that will receive the pens and papers, and pray for the teacher that will have them in their classroom. If you sponsor a child, lift them up in prayer specifically by name. God listens to your prayers and hears each one word for word, so you can make a difference by simply praying! 

1. https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/zambia/overview

The post Always had a heart for Africa? Here’s how you can help appeared first on Family Legacy Missions International.

Poverty. It’s a word that comes up quite often in humanitarian aid and relief organizations around the world. In many charitable settings, overcoming poverty or alleviating it is the question that has been haunting humanity for centuries. But what is poverty? And how can just one person partner with an organization to make a difference? Can just one person make a difference in the world that is afflicted with poverty? The answer is simple: Yes. Before we get into the specifics of how you can help, let’s better understand what poverty is and how it affects the world. 

What is poverty?

The concept of poverty is often discussed in a monetary amount, like how much money a person possesses to meet basic needs. However, quality of life is also something to take into consideration when talking about poverty. For example, if basic needs are not met – like a place to live, food to eat and clothes to wear – a person’s quality of life can be, for lack of better words, low. 

More than 600 million people live in extreme poverty to date, and many of them survive on less than $1.90 a day. Over one billion people in 107 developing countries, accounting for 22% of the world’s population, live in multidimensional poverty, affecting 644 million children.

Poverty in Zambia

Zambia, located in southern Africa, is a large country with about 17.9 million people living primarily in urban areas; more specifically, the capital city, Lusaka. To this day, Zambia continues to be one of the world’s youngest countries by median age, being only 16 years old. 

For children living in poverty, health, well-being and development become increasingly problematic. For many children living in Zambia, access to education, healthcare and even nutritious food is scarce. Politicians, historical figures and humanitarians alike have stated that education is a fundamental step in alleviating poverty, and that educating a child can build a foundation for breaking the cycle of generational poverty. 

Ways you can help

Family Legacy began in 2003, with Zambia as its sole focus, to raise a generation of vulnerable and orphaned Zambian children holistically: physically, spiritually, emotionally and intellectually.

At Family Legacy, we believe access to education can one day help eradicate cyclical poverty in Zambia. We believe that educating students and presenting the gospel through our private Christian Academy Schools helps them reach their God-given potential and impact their nation.

Through our Child Sponsorship Program, you can make a direct and immediate impact on a child’s life.

As a sponsor, you are not only coming alongside a child, but their caregiver, our staff in Zambia, their teachers and a vast network of people who can speak encouragement, wisdom and love into a child’s life.

Join us by sponsoring a child today to make a lasting difference, not only in a child’s life but also in the future of Zambia! 

The post What is poverty and how can you help? appeared first on Family Legacy Missions International.

When you die, what do you want to be remembered for?

Many will be remembered as a devoted spouse, parent and friend. But is simply being remembered enough? We all aspire to leave a footprint on the world that will be remembered, but our very work is intertwined in generations upon generations of people after us, carrying on where we left off. This is the impact that as humans, we all aspire to.

But how can you start to build a legacy and create a lasting one that will live beyond you?

Beyond Your Borders 

Traveling the world, experiencing and delving into different cultures can be life’s best teacher. As Christians, we are commissioned to go into the world and make disciples of all nations, and this can be accomplished in your neighborhood, city or country, or internationally.

Mission trips are one of the many ways we can live out the gospel actively. (Link to Ways to live out the gospel post) Getting out of your comfort zone and serving overseas can drastically expand your worldview and create lifelong memories for yourself and your family. Mission trips all have a singular mission to serve others, but how can you maximize your service to a nation? At Family Legacy, Camp Life is the cornerstone of our ministry and the entry point for all children who are able to enter our schools and programs. As an ambassador at Camp, your life and the lives of 10  vulnerable or orphaned children are radically transformed for years to come. What better way to begin laying the foundation for leaving a legacy than impacting a child’s life in Zambia so they can reach their full God-given potential?

Within Your Borders

Have you noticed that your local public library or university building is named after someone? Quite possibly one of the more concrete ways to leave your legacy is to be honored by having a building named after you.

Typically if you are honored by having a building named after you, you probably gave a generous donation or had a significant impact on others in the world. Large donations are needed; however, there is also power in numbers. No matter how much you are able to contribute, every gift counts towards furthering the mission.

Participating in generous giving days such as North Texas Giving Day or Giving Tuesday in any amount can be a way to show special support to an organization where normally a matching grant is involved, meaning more money where it’s needed most. 

Specifically for Family Legacy, that is precisely how we get much-needed funds throughout the year to help stabilize our sponsorship program, support the overall ministry and mission, and continue our development initiatives in Zambia.

Any amount you give goes directly to our programs and infrastructures that help support the students in our programs, so you are making a difference in a different continent from the comfort of your own home. 

Being there when needed most

At Family Legacy, you have the unique opportunity to sponsor a child in Lusaka, Zambia, who has been identified by our staff as vulnerable or orphaned. This could simply mean that a child is living in poverty or adverse conditions, or it could mean that a child has only one living parent – or none.

Whatever the case may be, the odds are stacked against these children when it comes to getting an education and seeing it through to the end. For many children in these circumstances, going to school is out of the question, whether it is that they simply can’t afford it or their family needs them to work to help out financially.

As a sponsor, you play an immediate and crucial role in helping a child be able to see education as a real opportunity in their life. Not only do you bridge a financial barrier, but you come alongside this extensive network of people that are speaking into, molding and helping these children reach their God-given potential physically, spiritually, emotionally and intellectually. 

You guessed it; sponsorship and stepping into the role of a sponsor is yet another way you can leave a lasting legacy, this time in the life of a child half a world away. Sponsorships can be long-lasting relationships starting at the very beginning of a child’s time in our program, communicating with them from their very first day in school, to graduation from high school and beyond.

For older students who need sponsors because they lost their sponsor at some point, it can be a refreshing reminder that someone is thinking of them and wants them to achieve greatness. Your participation in their life is valuable and will stay with them forever, and your generosity in their life will carry on through generations they will create. 

So, what footprint do you want to leave on the earth?

Let us know by messaging us on Instagram @Familylegacy! We’ll be awaiting your reply.

The post You’ve Heard It All Before: Leave Your Legacy, But How? appeared first on Family Legacy Missions International.