Orphan Education Support - Zambian Villages

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4 states: ‘Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all‘ and yet, according to the UN, sub-Sahara Africa still has some of the lowest participation rates in early childhood and primary education.

I frequently find rural children in Zambia not attending school. The reasons being the lack of schools and trained teachers, distances to access education, and high level of poverty. My belief is ‘that every child has a right to education’ – the charity’s main aim is to advance the educational facilities in rural areas and to support orphans and vulnerable children with equal opportunities for boys and girls.

The Butterfly Tree is the biggest contributor to education in the entire Kazungula District. Three more projects are almost complete: Kawewa Primary School will shortly be upgraded after we received a substantial grant. River View has an additional classroom block, and a donor has generously funded an entire new school at Muyunda.

Last year I was informed that 280 pupils, from villages surrounding the town of Kazungula, were not attending school. This area is at the border to Botswana and has hundreds of truck drivers passing through every week. Consequently there is a high prevalence of HIV.

After visiting the area in March I was determined to find a solution for the 280 children, and no doubt the many more undiscovered. Therefore, my proposal was to construct an entire new school as nearby River View, with 1,500 pupils, is full. I am delighted to say that a donor has given The Butterfly Tree significant funds for a classroom block, desks and latrines, in addition to funding two boarding shelters to enable outreach pupils to attend River View School.

A school group from the UK has raised funds to build a further boarding shelter at Mukuni Junior Secondary School and will be arriving in Zambia at the end of July to help with the construction.

We are extremely grateful to all our donors who have helped us to make such tremendous advancements in education. 

Links:

• The butterfly Tree's Education Projects in Zambia

As always it was great to be back in Zambia, despite the many challenges we are making a positive change in the Kazugula District through our health and education projects. New schools are being built and more orphans are being supported.

Thirteen years ago I wondered how I would ever raise enough money to build schools and clinics,this year the following projects are currently under:

• Kawewa Junior – 1×2 classroom block and latrines
• Nyawa Secondary School – science lab almost complete
• River View Junior School – 1x 2 classroom block
• Muyunda Community School – 1×2 classroom block, latrines and borehole
• Nakawa Pre-school – new classroom block, borehole and latrines, and
• Bunsanga Junior School - latrines
• Mukuni Chiefdom - nine more community houses have been built for orphans 

It was a pleasure to visit the schools and see so many children receiving an education. Since our involvement at River View School the number of pupils has increased from 800 pupils to 1,500. The school is situated close to the Botswana Border where there is a high level of HIV, truckers can spend up to three days waiting to cross the river- the good news is that a bridge is currently under construction.

We have increased the number of orphans on sponsorship, they are to be mentored by our peer educators, stressing how important it is for them to complete school. It was wonderful to catch up with students attending university and college, and those that have recently completed skilled-based courses. Edwin, Jafter, Dennis and Peter are now qualified builders and have started working on our construction projects.

I drove to the Nyawa Chiefdom, a remote area 160 km from our base to where we have three education projects being developed. Once these constructions have been completed, they will be handed over to the Ministries of Health and Education and communities. The government provides qualified teachers and the local people form a PTA committee at the schools. The privately-owned pre-school at Nakawa is run by volunteer teachers.

Our aim as always is to create as much sustainability as possible.

Links:

• The Butterfly Tree Newsletter