Seeds for Life in Zambia

N'gandu is situated in the Kazungula District of the Southern Provice of Zambia and 28 kilomters to the neares town of Livingstone. The Butterfly Tree has helped to advance the education in their rural school which now goes up to grade 9, after which the pupils have to walk 10 kilometers to reach Mukuni High School, built by The Butterfly Tree.

A group of grades 10-12 girls leave home at 5am to reach Mukuni by 7am to start their lessons. Unfortunately due to lack of income they are unable to have breakfast. During term time the only meal they receive is from the charity's feeding program. This provides a nutritional meal of n'shima (ground maize), meat, fish or beans and vegetables. At 4pm these girls set off for the long walk back to N'gandu Village; during September to December temperatures can soar to 40 degrees Celsius or 104 degrees Fahrenheit.

When they get back to their mud hut homes far too often there is no food for supper. The Butterfly Tree has funded a small project for these girls to generate some income and to have an additional food supply. The funds will be used to purchase seeds and to have a small shop selling essential produce such as maize, cooking oils and sugar. The aim is for them to be able to make a profit to buy food for their families and to grow their own vegetables and maize.

Though this is not a famine area their is tremndous hunger, particularly amongst school children. Thank you for your generous donations, and we look forward to your continous suppport!

Links:

• Princess Royal visits The Butterfly Tree

Zambia is in Sub-Sahara Africa where 265 million people are hungry, many relying on food aid. In the past twelve months The Butterfly Tree has provided bore holes to four schools and two villages in Mukuni. Now we need to use that water to develop agriculture and for the communities to grow food so that they can become sustainable. I hear sad stories of African children unable to walk the long distance to school due to lack of food, pupils who are lethargic in class and have actually seen a number of them fall asleep over their desks. I recently met a mother with twins who had walked three miles to the clinic, the infants were suffering from malnutrition, she hadn’t eaten for twenty-four hours having no money to buy a bag of ground maize. They are now receiving aid through our under-fives' feeding program.

Many women have to provide food, not only for their own children, but for orphans they have to accommodate, pushing them below the poverty line. We have set up a number of women's groups to grow vegetables, these can be used to provide food for their own families in addition to selling some to earn an income. Many people have only one meal a day, consisting of Nshima (ground maize), ground nuts (peanuts) and vegetables.Orphaned and vulnerable children receive a daily nutritious meal at Mukuni Basic School, but for other schools children go hungry.

Providing seeds for both women and girls provides extra food. When parents have died it is usually up to the oldest girl in the family to provide food, often they have to drop out of school to find employment to feed their siblings. We helped fund a local shop for one young woman who was in charge of her four siblings. This was becoming sustainable until she had to use all her funds to pay for her sister to go to hospital. Sadly she has no money left to buy further produce, therefore donating seeds will give her the chance to grow her own food.

Food is essential for the development of young children and improves concentration and perfomance at school. This has been proved in cases where The Butterfly Tree has provided feeding programs in schools.

We are seeking funds so that groups of widows, schools and communities can grow crops, produce goats and chickens for meat and eggs, fish farming and fruit trees.

Links:

• The Butterfly Tree Food Programs