By Jane Kaye-Bailey | Founder
Though I have not been able to travel to Zambia since February 2020 I am in daily communication with our local team, who have been outstanding. Mindful of the risks to prevent the spread of COVID-19, they continued to work tirelessly throughout the year to help those most in need. In March 2020 communities in the Southern Province were still suffering from the effects of a severe drought then COVID-19 emerged. Many of the villages, especially Mukuni, rely heavily on tourism due to their close proximity to the Victoria Falls, A World Heritage site. No one received any income that year, and in a country with such a poor economy, there was no handouts.
To support people through this dire situation The Butterfly Tree regularly donated bags of ground maize to orphans and vulnerable children, the elderly, and those that had no means to support themselves. In addition, we offered funding for farming projects. We also provided vast amounts of PPE to rural health centres, schools once they reopened, and the Kazungula Border. Masks were made by local youths and given to the schools. The spread of the virus in 2020 was somewhat contained, but sadly the South African variant took its toll at the beginning of 2021, during this period the Ministry of Health commenced their vaccination programme.
Though the schools were closed for a three-month period the government extended term times by shortening the holidays. Instead of starting the new term in September pupils entered the last term of the year in August. Examinations for grades 7, 9 and 12 will take place this term, therefore it is imperative that schools have adequate PPE supplies to protect their pupils and teachers, and to prevent the schools from being closed.
We recently provided PPE to Mambova, Singwamba, Bunsanga and Mukuni Rural Health Centres, the latter had completely run out of any form of PPE. The facility caters for over 8,000 people, and being situated only 20km from Livingstone it was badly effected with COVID-19 earlier in the year.
On behalf of The Butterfly Tree I wish to thank all our donors that have supported us during this challenging year.
Links:
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
