Report Following Visit by Anthony Chitambala (ZAM18b)

I went with Charles Chibale to Kaishe on 7th September to see the work and report on what is happening there. The three things I focused on were: the flood victims, the pre-school and the farming project.

Recent Events

Flood Victims

I was lucky to meet three of the flood victims who are being helped by the Kaishe Project. They are not the only ones but were all I could meet with due to time, distance and the fact many people go fish camping along the Luapula River and other small rivers at this time of the year to make money. I was told that all the flood victims that they have supported received eight bags of cement and 20 roofing sheets from Bright Hope World through Charles Chibale.

Here are the stories of the three families I spoke to:

Kasompe Michael Kasongo
Michael is a father of 5 children. He survives through maize farming. At his home he has a small garden but some crops cannot survive due to failure to manage different diseases and a lack of water. He was among the flood victims whose house came down and he is rebuilding. He has made tremendous progress and his house will look much better than many in the community.  

Marjory Mwansa
Marjory is a widow with 7 children. As a flood victim, she is grateful for the help that Bright Hope World through Kaishe have given to her. Marjory survives through a small business of selling fish but a lack of capital results in her using all that she has to sort out various needs. As a widow, she struggles to look after the 7 children, which has led to her giving some of her children to the extended family to help her. This year, she tried to plant maize but only got 12 bags of 50kgs. The floods contributed to the poor harvest and she did not have enough capacity to plant a bigger portion than she did. Marjory’s house will soon have roofing sheets on it as soon as she finds money to pay the bricklayer who is helping her build. 

Joel Munsha and Wife
They are a couple who are in their 60’s. Their flooding situation was worse because they live where the water took long time to subside. Joel and his wife have the responsibility of looking after 3 grandchildren and their harvest this year did not go well as they manged to only get 6 bags of 50kgs of maize. Due to the water taking a long time to subside, they also took a while to start the building project and to wait for the land to be strong enough.  

Pre-School

The pre-school has for most of the year been closed due to the world-wide pandemic of the corona virus. Kaishe only has one pre-school and a real difference is seen when these children get to Grade 1 and join other Grade 1 children who have never been to a pre-school. The teachers who teach Grade 1 have testified how the pre-school provides a good foundation to the children both in their academic excellency and discipline.

Three of the parents that I spoke to (Mpundu Jack, Memory Mumbi and Kunda Fackson Mwewa) appreciated what the school does not only to provide an education, but also the meals that are provided to the children are very helpful especially as most children come from homes where they eat only one meal every day. They appreciated that the school does not ask for any money from the parents. Another thing the school has helped with is inspiring children to stay home when their parents go camping. There are some children from the pre-school who have taken school seriously and refuse to follow their parents for fish camping in the swamps.

In our discussion, I asked what parents in the community could do for the school even if there is nothing much to offer to the school. Their response was that they would be willing to go and help whenever they can if the school asked for help. 

The three parents I spoke to expressed the need for a playground within the yards of the school so that children can use it during their breaks. This will help with social development. 

There was also a suggestion from the three parents that the pre-school considers starting Grade 1 classes. This is because when their children go to government schools, they start to perform poorly as compared to when they are going to pre-school.  

Farming

At the time that I went there, many had left for the fishing camps and there were only a few to talk to who were around. I spoke to the same three people whose children are in the pre-school because they are also beneficiaries of the farming training. 

They really appreciated having learnt farming God’s way, especially when it came to maize because they harvested much better than those who had planted the most common way of making big ridges. They said that they are able to maximise a 25x25 meters piece of land which when they make holes, they discover that the number of holes would be 34 as opposed to 25 holes made in ridges form. This has resulted in high yields of maize. Adding to that, they have found the beauty of using mulch as it helps them to worry less during times when there is a shortage of rains. 

This year, unfortunately for many, they did not yield much because the floods came and most of their crops were swept away and some were rotten as the waters were up to August. 

Charles' Plans

At the moment Charles is studying for his Degree in Theology. The degree is under a distance program of Evangelical University and requires him to be connected to the internet much more than before. Kaishe, with its poor network, is therefore not the best place for him to study from. As well as that, he has had some differences with a few people in the community and was advised to stay in Samfya. 

He still has a house in Kaishe and his children have remained there. He will continue to be of help to the community and desires that the farming project and pre-school continue. He is as involved in the community as before and chairs on different cooperatives.  

Comments

I am not sure if you have observed that in Kaishe most of the houses have cracks. I asked Charles and he said that the land is not so good for building houses and many of them are likely to fall should they experience another flooding or heavy downpour of rain. 

Another issue I observed is that I never saw any proper toilets. All the ones I went to go to use were almost falling down. The reason given is that the land is water logged which weakens the toilets since they just dig a hole. From Charles’ mouth, he was wishing that there can be some concrete toilets built in strategic places (with cement) so that the community can use them. The only challenge I have with that idea is how they will keep them clean knowing that not many will own the responsibility of cleaning. 

While I was there with Charles, we met an old lady who heard that Charles was going to be in Kaishe. She had a complaint on how they were selecting who benefits from the flood victim support fund. For her, she felt as an old lady and a widow she deserved more than some families that are younger and can more ably fend for themselves. Charles explained about how they arrived at the decision to support some of those people who benefitted from the funds.

My only conclusion is that the victims of the flooding were many. The other thing is working on the selection of who benefits (priority) and who can manage to build their own house. If I look at Michael Kasompe and what he is doing with his house, I can see that he is in a position to build with less help as compared to the old lady who came complaining. If there is more funding provided it would be better to have a checklist for who qualifies other than the general need to build a house. Overall, helping the flood victims build their houses was a good call. I saw their temporary houses which are all grass thatched. I pray that those who are still building can finish quickly before the rains or before they are caught up in a fire (as most people like burning fields which also runs into people’s homes).