Orphan Education Support - Zambian Villages

For the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic I travelled back to Zambia in May. It was wonderful to see how many more schools we have recently developed or expanded. The most impressive was Musokotwane High School where ee constructed a 1×3 classroom block, science lab, two boarding shelters and toilets. Pupils no longer have to rent rooms in the village, which can put girls at risk of falling pregnant or being enticed into early marriages. The school has doubled in numbers since the expansion, and the Foundation has kindly offered a further donation to build two teacher’s houses.

A classroom block at Chabalanda, also in Musokotwane Chiefdom, has recently been completed. An additional classroom block, constructed by our trained youth builders, at Kamwi Primary school has given the school the opportunity to upgrade. As of January 2023 grades 8 and 9 pupils will no longer have to walk the 9km to Mukuni High School.

Accompanied by our local team I drove to Bunsanga school and clinic to see two more of our projects, after which we continued to the remote village of Mubuyu where our trained youth builders have constructed a classroom block. The journey was arduous – 80km from Livingstone to Zimba was an easy drive, but once I turned off the main road and drove beyond Nyawa, it was a different story – the tracks were bad! It took three hours to drive just 77km due to the rough terrain, but the long and tiring journey was well worth the toil. The community members were so welcoming and could not thank us enough for our support, especially for providing the community with ground maize during the 2019/2020 drought.

I also visited River View, Senkobo, Kamwi and Ngandu schools to meet up with the orphans and vulnerable children on our orphan sponsorship programme. We introduced our HIV prevention and Girl’s Empowerment programmes to more schools. Five former sponsored pupils, three of them orphans, who completed college and university, are managing these essential programmes which are definitely making an impact!

Links:

• The Butterfly Tree Education Projects

Despite all the challenges and the increase in demand for charity donations, I am delighted to report that 2021-22 was the second-best year since the founding of The Butterfly Tree. The only other year when we raised more money was in 2019-20, though almost a quarter of the donations was to assist with emergency food relief when The Southern and Western Provinces suffered the worst drought in over 30 years. This past year has been exceptional and thanks to our local team in Zambia numerous projects have been successfully initiated, managed and monitored.

We received a substantial donation towards our education programmes. This donation provided textbooks, shared amongst primary and secondary schools throughout the Kazungula District, but the majority of the funding paid for further education. Five students who completed school after being on The Butterfly Tree’s orphan sponosrship programme are currently attending university reading the following courses: pharmacy, engineering, accountancy (2) and teaching. In addition, eight students are learning skills at college. A further six young women and two young men are being funded to go to college to learn skills.

The Butterfly Tree has been sponsoring orphans since 2006. Every year more sponsors come on board and this year Senkobo Primary School was added to this list. The other schools where orphans and vulnerable children are being sponsored are: Mukuni, Kamwi, Ngandu, Ndele, River View, Senkobo, and Kazungula Boarding School. Nine pupils completed school in December 2021 – the girls at River View gained exceptionally good results. Standards at River View, situated next to Botswana border, have improved considerably since we built the high school, rarely do girls fall pregnant or enter into early marriages.

There are still far too many pupils still learning in mud and pole buildings and overcrowded rooms. We constructed a classroom block at Kamwi Primary School to enrol grades 8 and 9 pupils, which will save them having to walk the long journey to Mukuni. A classroom block in Chabalanda, Musokotwane Chiefdom, was completed at the end of last year, and one is currently being built at Mubuyu in Nyawa. The community at Sichifulo had attempted to build a classroom block and science lab but this would have taken years.

Several of the orphans on our sponsorship programme were given new homes.Towards the end of this financial year youths in Mukuni Chiefdom had a major highlight. The Butterfly Tree organised a tournament with twelve teams taking place was scheduled for early April. We use football and netball as a means to creating awareness of the dangers of HIV, teenage pregnancies, and alcohol and drug abuse.

Many, many thanks to all our generous donors and fundraisers for making this such a successful year, and to all our volunteers in the UK and Zambia for their committment and dedication in helping to improve the lives of orphans and vulnerable people. A full Annual Report will be published once our accounts have been audited.

Links:

• The Butterfly Tree Education Projects