Report from BHW Zambia Partnership Facilitators Following Visit

Key people: Elizabeth, Mwela, Rebecca

Recent Events

General

The Zambian government has decreed that education should be free for all. This has seen more children going to school, but the capacity of the schools is limited in terms of classrooms and teachers. The result has meant in many cases each class may have 120 students per teacher.

Costs of living have gone very high in the country, with food stuffs and education requirements more than doubling in the last two years. (Even though the official inflation rate for Zambia is stated at 9%).

The government has been pushing people to get into farming, not only maize but also other cash crops such as soybeans, groundnuts and wheat. Subsidies for seed and fertilizer have been given and local chiefs encouraged to give land away for free. In some cases, partnerships between foreign entities and locals have been encouraged to help invest and create farming businesses. 

Orphans Programme

In 2019 two girls unfortunately got pregnant and then married. However, they are now allowed back into school as the government has changed its policies and now allow young mothers to return to school.

Currently there are 24 orphans on the programme, 14 in primary school and 10 in secondary school. Twice per year the children come to Elizabeth's house where they have a day of feeding them, teaching the word of God and encouraging them into school. The guardians of the orphans come to help with the cooking of food and are well involved in the children’s lives.

There are no school fees anymore, but they provide school requirements of shoes, uniforms, bags, books, blankets and other small items.

We sighted the financial records and receipts of what was brought for the orphans showing that the money has been allocated as per the programme.  

Succession Plans

With the ladies starting to slow down they are looking at some others who might be able to take over the work of looking out for the vulnerable children.

Elizabeth has her eldest granddaughter who has been helping, and possibly some other orphans that have come through the programme. They are continuing to pray about this.

Personal Stories

Ruth Bulaya

Ruth is a past orphan in the Lulamba programme, who completed grade 12 in 2017. We interviewed her in 2017 (see report). She started with Lulamba in 2014 when she was in grade 10.

Since finishing school, she has studied at teachers training in Mufulira. She completed her studies in 2022 and now is a teacher at Grace Academy teaching mathematics at grade 4 level. She has over 45 students in each of her classes. She loves teaching as she says children are easy to deal with!

She lives at home with her mum and brother as her dad passed away some years back. The brother Godwin also was part of the Lulamba programme, and now works in the mines with heavy equipment. Ruth’s mum has a business buying and selling some vegetables.

She also teaches Sunday school at church.

Three new girls that started in the orphan’s programme in 2022:

Prisca Nampasa: (left)

Prisca is 11 years old and is in grade 6. She lives at home with her two brothers and mum. She says she loves school, especially English. She found out about the programme through her mum who knows Elizabeth from church. Her mum helps to support the family through growing maize and bananas, but there is often not enough food for the family.

Annie Mwansa: (middle)

Annie is 10 years old and is in grade 3. She loves maths at school, as it helps her to be able to calculate. She lives at home with her grandmother as both parents have passed away. She has one brother that lives with them as well, but he is quite annoying, and he beats her. She attends the Baptist church and likes to sing in the choir. For support they have a field of maize that they grow their own food just for consumption, but it is a long walk to the farm.

Evelyn Mwansa: (right)

Evelyn is in grade 3 and is 10 years old. She attends the Catholic church, where she says she is learning about how Jesus came to earth to help us. She lives with her mum, one sister and two bigger brothers. The family used to have a field to grow maize, but the mining companies have come and taken away the land for mining. They are supposed to be given another portion, but at present nothing has been given. From the programme with Lulamba orphans she confirms she is getting uniforms, books, blankets, shoes and polish.

Current Issues and Challenges

Currently the signatories on the bank account still includes Rebecca who lives a long distance away from Chavuma. This does mean transport costs when they want to withdraw funds, but the ladies still very much want Rebecca to be involved in the partnership.

Comments

The strategy and budget remain the same here.