Orphan Education Support - Zambian Villages

I have just returned from three weeks in Zambia after visiting many of the Butterfly Tree's project and meeting orphans and vulnerable children. It was wonderful to be there and see the progress taking place.

This year we are adding further infrastructure to three secondary schools. An additional 1×3 classroom block will shortly be completed at Riverview secondary. Prior to our support there was no secondary school at Riverview. We first built a 1×4 classroom block in 2015. This was followed by a science lab and three more 1×3 classroom blocks, two boarding houses and toilets. The pupil enrolment at the secondary school is now 1,038.

We funded another boarding house for boys, and toilets for girls at Musokotwane secondary school. Another donor helped us with an additional 1×3 classroom block and a boarding house for Nguba secondary school, which opened in January 2025 and continues to enroll more pupils.

Further development is taking place at Simukumbwa community school. The second classroom block, feeding shelter, staff houses and toilets are under construction. The new water system is in place. This is a substantial project and a huge bonus for this remote community in Kalomo District. I did not manage to reach the site this time due to the distance and heat but one of our local volunteers visits the site regularly and reports back to us.

As always it was a pleasure to meet up with pupils being sponsored by The Butterfly Tree. I visited them at the following schools: Mukuni, Ngandu, Kamwi, Riverview, Kazungula Boarding school, Senkobo and Musokotwane. Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to meet all of them due to examinations taking place. A further twenty pupils on sponsorship will complete grade twelve in December.

Last but not least, some of the sponsored pupils who completed grade twelve and were offered university and college courses gained degrees last month! Charity was awarded a teaching degree and is currently doing her work experience at Riverview, the school she attended up to grade twelve. Henry gained a degree in Bio-medicine, while Kenneth and Christopher gained degrees in accountancy. Esnart gained a college diploma in journalism and Bright a diploma in accountancy. This was a rare opportunity, which they all embraced, and potentially life-changing.

Links:

• The Butterfly Tree - November 2025