Report from BHW Zambia Partnership Facilitator

Key Person: Elisabeth and Mwila

Recent Events

Orphan Support Programme

There are currently 17 orphans on the programme. 14 are in Grade 8-12 and three in primary school. The support they receive includes school uniforms, school fees, books, a school bag, washing soap, and shoe polish. 

ZANGI has recorded tremendous success with some of the children they have been supporting. Of those who have finished their higher education (college) courses, some are already working while others are still waiting to be employed. 

Personnel

Mwila has recently shifted churches and is not so involved in the partnership now. Elizabeth is therefore looking for others to come and help out.

Rebecca has handed in her notice at Amano School so by the end of the year she will be moving to Chifuma where she has been building a house. The ZANGI team have met to discuss if they want Rebecca to stay involved or if someone new will be added to the team to look after communication and banking duties. If Rebecca does stay on the team she will travel and stay with them for a couple weeks.

Personal Stories

Lucy Chikomo (16 years, Grade 12)

Lucy was selected to be supported when she was in Grade 7. She is staying with her aunty and hopes to one day become a Clinical Officer. She is at Chikola Secondary School.

Sylvia Musemu (13 years, Grade 9)

Sylvia is a double orphan who lives with an aunty. She hopes to become an economist. She goes to Lulamba Secondary School. 

Mumba Mbuzi (16 years, Grade 11)

Both Mumba's parents are deceased and at the moment he is staying with an uncle. He was included on the support list in 2018. He hopes to do medicine when he finishes school.

Misheal Paulino (13 years, Grade 8)

Misheal stays with her grandmother who sells vegetables in the local market. She does not know who her father is and unfortunately her mother died when she was young. She has been supported since she was in Grade 4.

Current Issues and Challenges

COVID-19

For some time pupils stopped going to school due to the pandemic. This had adverse results as they saw an increase in child delinquency. As well as schools being closed, there were no meetings allowed so they were not able to gather the children together to support and encourage them. This resulted in some of the ZANGI supported girls getting pregnant.

Economic Challenges

With the coming of COVID and the poor economy Zambia is facing as a nation, ZANGI found it hard to manage with the finances that were sent to them. Between the time the budget was set and the money was sent (December 2020) and when they needed to pay for the children's school fees and supplies, prices had gone up and even now they continue going up by the day. This put them in a difficult position to manage to get the children their school supplies. Some things had gone up by more than 50% within a few months and every time one goes to the market, prices keep going up. In addition, things like face masks were not included in the budget but they had to make sure they bought these for the children to use as they go to school and interact with others in the community.

Comments

Currently the exchange rate between the US dollar and the Zambian Kwacha has changed such that they now receive twice the Kwacha amount than previously so going forward this will help offset the price increases and I do not feel there is a need to increase the budget here.