Hello again! In this summer update we’re reporting on our latest visit to the Project and on what’s been happening in Chipata.
On 6 June, after a long journey and an overnight stay in Lusaka, it is a delight to be met at Mfuwe airport by Naomi (our Committee chair) and by Innocent, who was one of the original children in the Project in 2006.
Innocent (now a self-employed builder) drives us the 60 miles to Chipata, skilfully negotiating the hazards (potholes, goats and, at one point, monkeys!) of a ‘bad road’, while Naomi brings us up to date with the latest challenges of life in Zambia. These include a prolonged drought (and failed harvest), an energy supply crisis (with electricity power cuts of 12 hours per day), a teacher shortage (with often more than 100 learners in a class) and, in hospitals, broken medical equipment and inadequate supplies of drugs. We learn that Wilson, who graduated in medicine after being helped by the Project, has recently been promoted and, as well as still practising surgery, is now in charge of a district hospital in Nkeyema, Western Province.
We soon spot the hills around Chipata and it’s great to be back, but we’re struck by how much it’s developed – more houses, more shopping malls and much more traffic (and where there were once bicycles there are now motorbikes!). We have a surprise visitor shortly after arrival, when Sam (another of our original children) makes time to come and see us. Sam’s now living in Lusaka with his wife and two year old, but (fortuitously!) happens to be visiting Eastern Province with work (he’s now senior auditor with the Ministry of Finance) and was that day auditing an organisation in Chipata… It’s a pleasure to see him and to hear how well he’s doing.
The following day, after a courtesy call to the new priest at St Paul’s Church, we’re taken to a lakeside lodge outside Chipata, where a large group of young people wearing Project T-shirts are singing for our arrival. Twenty-five of the 46 students currently being helped by the Project have taken time off school and college to meet us. Proceedings begin with a prayer from Committee member Mrs Zulu and welcoming remarks from Naomi. We sit in the shade with Committee members and are treated to the most joyful singing and dancing. Small groups sing songs and perform sketches demonstrating how they’ve been helped by St Paul’s Children’s Project.
For instance, one sketch (in Chinyanja – we get an explanation…) features a young sister and brother who have been orphaned and taken in by their grandparents. The latter are poor and, instead of sending the children to school, need them to go out and find piece work to help the family finances. While looking for work, they meet Naomi who sends them to ask their grandparents to come and see her to get assistance from the Project. The grandfather is persuaded to come and see the Committee members, and as a result the children, much to their delight, are enrolled in school.
The songs thank God for the Project’s help in providing access to education and ask us to continue helping.
There is lunch for everyone and then more dancing, followed by a vote of thanks from one of the children, Purity, and a closing prayer from another, Agness.
What’s absolutely obvious from the young people’s interaction is the feeling of joy they all have from being together. They attend a lot of different schools but the Project has brought them together in a ‘family’ outside the extended families they live with. They’ve clearly loved rehearsing for our visit (they’ve been meeting on Saturdays for the previous couple of months) and everyone seems reluctant to leave today (including us!!).
We finally depart - on a high, uplifted by the music, the dancing and, above all, the smiling faces.
Naomi tells us that the relationships formed within the Project continue long after leaving and tells us about 3 young men we remember from 2007, who all moved to Lusaka and continue to have a close relationship, with one introducing another to a job where he works. The Project’s certainly about much more than getting these kids through school!
After such a joyous experience, it’s down to business the next day and we have visits to the income generating structures that we’ve helped build. We start with the shops (all 4 currently occupied by tenants) which have been repainted in dark colours and where the glass on the doors has been replaced by metal shutters (designed to deter thieves).
We see the borehole in use (by the tenants) and note that one residential area of Chipata has expanded so much that it’s almost reaching the shops. We conclude that they’re in an ideal location! Work to build the Catholic University nearby has been paused (as such building projects so often are) but everyone’s confident work will resume and, when this happens, the Committee will go ahead with their plan to build bed spaces behind the shops (to provide student accommodation there).
Our next stop is the student accommodation we already have – 2 flats, each with 9 bed spaces, a kitchen and bathroom.
Extra toilets have recently been built outside in the yard. Residents are currently all skills students funded by TEVETA (Technical Education, Vocational and Entrepreneurship Training Authority), which pays accommodation costs direct to the Project (a good arrangement) and we meet some of the young men living there.
From here we move to the house the Project bought in 2010, recently converted to student housing, with room for 5 tenants. It too is well maintained and the Committee have built an extra toilet and shower in the outside space, with a wall fence around the perimeter (for security).
At both locations we’re impressed by the quality of the buildings and of maintenance and also by how happy the students are with their accommodation.
We then head back into the centre of town for a meeting with Committee members in the church hall at St Paul’s Church.
Naomi outlines the achievements of the Project, not only in terms of numbers of young people helped but also the effects on the wider community. We’ve seen for ourselves the wider impact (beyond education) on direct beneficiaries, in terms of increased confidence, a sense of belonging and an ability to network between themselves. Many more children (family members of those in the Project) have benefited from the progress seen at household level, especially when our young people start work after school and college.
The Committee then outline their plans for sustainability (they’re currently contributing 50% of school costs). They intend to strengthen their relationship with educational institutions, with a view to obtaining income outside of term time (when the flats are unoccupied), when the institutions may be running short courses.
They would also like to add another structure in the garden of the house pictured above. There is plenty of space and additional bed spaces will generate extra income for the Project. On our return to the UK, we get approval from our trustees for this plan and send money to build one flat (before costs of materials rise further!). We understand the foundations were laid last week!!
Notwithstanding all this very positive news from our visit, there was much concern in Chipata about the poor harvest caused by the lack of rainfall this year. With much of the country’s maize crop failing, Zambia’s president declared a national disaster amid concerns about food security but also about water and energy supply. The following article explains the cause of the current severe drought and its impact on so many people in Zambia and the wider region:
The need for support was obvious to us. Since our return to the UK, and in response to a budget for food drawn up by the Committee, we’ve sent money to buy staple foodstuffs for everyone in the Project for the six-month period up to December 2024. This is Belinda receiving her food parcel.
What help is needed after that very much depends on what happens with rainfall and next year’s harvest.
At the end of our visit, Innocent (pictured below) cheerfully tackled the hazards of the Mfuwe road once again to return us to the airport while we drank in the scenery…
We left full of amazement at how hard the Committee (all volunteers) work – not only in recruiting children to the Project, preparing them for school and settling them in, counselling them and getting medical help where needed, but also in recruiting tenants for the flats and shops, creating/developing good relations with educational institutions so they recommend students to the accommodation, developing the sites and maintaining good relations with the tenants.
Moreover, we left full of admiration for the Committee’s determination to ensure these young people get the best chance in life. As Naomi said, “To get a brighter future, you need a good education”. We feel privileged to be able to play a part in their mission – and that’s wholly down to your support. You’re amazing too. Thank you all!!
Malcolm and Elaine
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