Education Zambia Project #23269

It's Hard to Learn When You're Hungry!

by HANDS AROUND THE WORLD

Project Report | Feb 13, 2024
Lunches Project Update February 2024

By Jane Powell | Operations Manager

Gift receives various support from Kasensa.

Kasensa is a community-based project that supports people in the surrounding compounds in Monze, Zambia. It is run by caregivers who live in these compounds signposting vulnerable youngsters to Kasensa. The project coordinators of Kasensa are Elitarial and Gladys, both Zambians who oversee work at this project on a voluntary basis.

Kasensa currently has 106 beneficiaries on the monthly feeding programme. Hands Around the World is supporting this programme in two ways, paying for the monthly food distribution, and equipping a kitchen to be used as a functional space. Much of the building at Kasensa is developing as and when funding is secured from their supporters. The main building is built but some of the interiors are not finished – the plan is to have an office, kitchen, and storeroom so food can be bought and securely stored when prices are good. Washrooms are built, a security wall has recently been finished, and plans are in place to develop a garden to grow food.

Below are two stories of children who benefit from support from this project.

Gift, shown above, is 11 years old and in Grade 2 at school. He has lived with his grandparents in Freedom A, one of the densely populated compounds, since the demise of his parents. His grandfather is a wheelbarrow pusher in town and his grandmother does menial jobs here and there to support the family. There are seven of them in the family.

He was adopted onto the Kasensa programme in 2022 and has since been a beneficiary. He is supported with school requirements, uniform, shoes, stationery, and books at the beginning of school calendar. Additionally, he gets mealie meal monthly.

The mealie meal that he receives from Kasensa really helps the family to at least have a meal. The mealie meal lasts for roughly eight days. Whilst it may not be enough in itself, it has a great impact on his family as it relieves them of the pressure of fending for the family in those few days and gives them more time to scout for more food. The impact Kasensa has on this family is visible and they remain grateful for the food given to them.

Shown below is Christine. She is 16 years old and in Grade 7 at school. She stays with her father after the death of her mother. The family had four members, and Kasensa has been supporting Christine for about five years now.

The family receives mealie meal and extra food monthly. This is a special case in that the father’s health is poor and he cannot sufficiently provide for his family. Kasensa took the initiative of adding extra food to the mealie meal they receive. The extra food that is received has really been a great help and a relief to the family at a time when Christine’s father is experiencing health problems.

Thank you so much for your support for Hands Around the World’s lunches project; your generosity helps children like Gift and Christine and others struggling to secure sufficient food. With your support, we are able to help reduce hunger and improve nutritional health for many children and their families facing food shortages and hunger.

Kasensa provides Christine with food support.

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Oct 16, 2023
School lunches update October 2023

By Alex Kirkwood | Grants Manager

Food purchased in October for Muko School.

HATW has recently been supporting the fantastic efforts of Muko school in Bugarama, Rwanda, to feed and educate street children from the local area. The street children in Bugarama live in desperate circumstances, homeless and with no one to care for them, where every day is a struggle to survive. They do not normally attend school; instead, they have little option but to spend their days committing petty crime just to be able to feed themselves.

Muko school is leading an ambitious project to educate street children in Bugarama; in 2022 the school sought out and enrolled an initial group of 150 street children. However, the school cannot afford to feed the children, and without food the street children would not be able to stay in school. In collaboration with our colleagues at HATW Jersey, HATW has been supporting the school to provide the children with two nutritious meals a day, seven days a week. To help secure the future sustainability of the project, we have simultaneously been developing the school’s capacity to grow their own food for the children; the school has rented agricultural land and we are supporting the provision of agricultural equipment as well as enabling farming skills development for staff at the school.

Michel and Polyphile are two teachers at Muko school who recently came to the UK for expert training in sustainable agriculture, supported by HATW in partnership with Marshal Papworth. They are now applying their new knowledge back in Bugarama, towards diversifying and improving the school’s agricultural produce. We have also recently provided the school with a much-needed water pump to support crop development. Jean Damascene, local Project Coordinator, recently shared:

“The impact the water pump is huge…it is the first time that the school tried tomatoes, green beans during the dry season, all of those crops require a lot of water to grow well. We are now about to start harvesting which will be corresponded to the school opening. During the holiday as usual the street children were eating vegetables, cabbages and we have also sold some. Polyphile and Michel are trying to apply the skills they got from the training, especially pest management. And now they are helping in selection of crops based on the nature of the field. HATW did a great job.”

The initiative to feed and educate street children was launched by Muko school in 2022. The food selected for the children is based on nutritional content and local availability and price, normally consisting of rice, maize floor, beans, cassava, cabbages, maize and eggplant. The project has so far been a tremendous success: it has rapidly expanded from the initial 150 children to what is now 317 street children being supported at the school! That’s 317 street children receiving two meals daily, supporting their nutritional health and removing the impetus for them to be involved in crime to feed themselves. That’s 317 young lives given a chance for a brighter future, simply by being able to attend school. What a fantastic effort and achievement by Muko school. We look forward to bringing you more news as the project progresses; thank you for your support for this wonderful initiative.

Enjoying a meal at Muko School.

The water pump supported by HATW.

HATW is supporting Muko School to grow food.

The food supports children's school attendance.

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Jun 21, 2023
School lunches update June 2023

By Jane Powell | Operations Manager

Children having supper at Muko school, Rwanda

This month we feature school lunches provision in schools in Rwanda. This scheme is encouraging street children back into education. Street children in Rwanda are extremely deprived and have no one to care for them. They face hunger and starvation and have little option but to commit petty crime to survive. They receive no education and have a bleak future ahead with few employment prospects. The streets are perilous and present multiple threats to the children’s safety. Their dreadful situation typically results from family conflicts, abuse and poverty.

But help is at hand! As part of the scheme, the street children receive lunch and supper, seven days a week. This gets the children and young people off the streets and out of danger, and removes the impetus to commit crime in order to feed themselves. The provision of food brings them all together, encourages attendance and is proving to be a great success. By encouraging the children to attend school, the scheme is building a much brighter future for the children.

We have heard first hand from some of the children that have been helped at Muko school in Bugarama. They have shared stories about their lives before they were given this oportunity. Many of them had to turn to a life of crime, and they were in a downward spiral. Listening to their stories is inspiring, as they have chosen to turn their lives around. The small gesture that someone would be prepared to give them a meal and support them into school means so much. Please spare a few minutes to listen to their stories at the link provided with this update.

Many of the children look much older as they have never had the opportunity to go to school and are clearly delighted that they do so now.

Supper at Muko school in April 2023

Links:

Testimony of street children, Rwanda

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