Help Complete Zambezi Sawmills Community School

After hours of work from volunteers and workers, supported by generous donations, the security wall around Zambezi Sawmills School is finished! Complete with gate, the wall means that the children are no longer at risk of arriving at school to find their school has been vandalized in their absence, and they can now feel much safer and concentrate on learning whilst at school.

Before the wall’s completion several of the windows in the current classrooms were stolen and vandalised. An outside sponsor has come in to support the replacement of the windows and repainting of the classroom. The new window frames are in and replacement panes are on their way so hopefully by the next report the classrooms will have been given a new lease of life.

As Christmas came around it was time for our annual Carols By Candlelight fundraiser. With a variety of stalls in the Christmas Market, Santa making an appearance and children from Zambezi Sawmills performing carols, everyone had a blast. The event not only raised awareness about our project but also a further $540 or £370 for the renovation.

The New Year rolled around and with it two classes worth of fresh faced grade 1s, combined with the two classes of grade 2s and a class each of grades 3-7, there are now a total of 9 classes the school is trying to accommodate into 5 classrooms. As you can imagine this is a struggle, and a large hindrance on the childrens’ education so it is imperative now more than ever that we keep progress moving on the classroom block.

Thanks to the continual generosity of Global Giving donors we have raised over half of the money for the classroom and with a few more donations we hope to start construction of the classroom walls next month.

Zambia has just celebrated it's 50th year of independence and to help celebrate the Happy Africa Foundation made a fundraising push in the 50 days leading up to this momentus occasion. Fundraising events were held in Scotland, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, South Africa, Australia, and Zambia for the Zambezi Sawmills School Renovation. The push saw people catching eggs, traditional Austrian Folk music, a 50 hour famine, and horse racing amongst other things with each event raising essential funds.

The funds raised from these events along with our continual support on GlobalGiving have us nearing the next phase of our build with the security wall construction recommencing. The security wall will provide protection to the school grounds and classrooms from vandalism and theft. The wall is also essential for providing security to the future build of the classroom block and teachers house along with the food garden.

Plans are already in place for the next series of fundraising events with trivia nights along with a christmas market just a taste of what is to come for our Zambezi Sawmills project fundraising. Focus will then shift onto completing the classroom block along with the teacher's house.

The team in Livingstone are excited for the work to recommence and see the impact this will have on the education futures of the students at Zambezi Sawmills.