Zambia - Programmes
Education
Education is believed to play a significant role in both individual and community level development. It is widely believed that one of the root causes of poverty in Africa is the low level of education. In Zambia, it is estimated that one in five school age children is not going to school.
Even among those who are enrolled in school, most of them drop out because of issues such as lack of school uniform, food, and stationery.
In Kamafwesa community, where Give Hope has been operational for 5 years, the school enrolment rate was even lower because of the lack of a school in the vicinity.
The nearest school was 8kms away making it difficult for children to travel to.
Cognisant of this harsh reality, Give Hope constructed the first school in the community in 2005. Since then the school has expanded every year to accommodate existing students and accept new ones. In the current academic year, the school received an additional 104 children. Today, in 2010, there are 409 pupils, from pre-school to grade 3, enrolled in the school most of whom who would previously not have been able to go to school.
Two additional classrooms are being built to expand the school to Grade 4. Give Hope has employed a headmaster and five full time teachers. The four classrooms have been furnished and each child is provided with a uniform and stationery. Furthermore, Give Hope, in collaboration with another charity, Mary’s Meal, provides nutritional support for orphan and vulnerable children. This results in school dropout being kept to a minimum and the children becoming more active and involved in the classroom. The benefits of school feeding are noted by the teachers. Sincere, one of the teachers at Give Hope School, says, “Thanks to the feeding scheme, the class attendance is 100%. The children no longer sleep in class and their participation has greatly improved. The feeding scheme has had a huge impact on the children.”
The School also carries out literacy and numeracy programme for adults in the village during the evenings and weekends.
Social and Economic support
Give Hope has constructed a temporary hall for the community where the elderly, women, and youths hold various events such as church services and sporting events. Forums are used to raise community awareness on harmful traditional practices such as early marriage, female genital mutilation, and social concerns such as substance abuse, assault, and HIV/AIDS.
The Hammer mill is another important contribution of Give Hope to Kamawfesa community, completed in 2009. Women are now able to mill their own maize quickly and efficiently, which they can then use to feed their own families and also to sell.
Conservation Farming is a scheme Give Hope introduced to the community in 2007. The scheme teaches principles of management and environmental stewardship whilst achieving outstanding profitability. There is little wastage, it is environmentally friendly, sustainable and gives the farmers a hope for their future.
A maize growing demonstration plot, which grew to 20 hectares of land within two years of its launch, was established for training purposes and a vegetable garden has been put in place for the community. Many members of the community have acquired knowledge on vegetable growing and are able to grow and sell vegetables to raise additional money.
The village shop Give Hope opened in 2006 has not only spared the community from travelling long distances to purchase items they need on a day-to-day basis, but also created an employment opportunity for some women.
Give Hope Community Services support the aged in the village by giving them shelter. These people are homeless. One classic example is an old man called Nicodemus who is in his late 80s. He used to be a homeless, often sleeping near a river, but now has his own roof over his head through support from Give Hope.
Construction of a lodge for visitors and volunteers, two workers’ houses and a store room is almost completed. We have yet to connect the electricity and drill for water. This is hoped to further facilitate the project work and also generate income, which will be used by the community.
In collaberation with the Ministry of Health, Give Hope engages in providing the community with access to health services such as immunization for children under five.
Alongside Give Hope, Martin Zuch, Give Hope International Director and Trustee, has a number of other projects in Zambia that he hopes will provide further support for the Give Hope charity work:
Beekeeping
Honey is a traditional staple of the Zambian diet so, in collaboration with Kafakumba, a neighbouring charity, we have set up a sustainable honey project that benefits hundreds of households.
Historically, the technique of bark hiving is used where the villager harvests the honey from a tree where the bees have naturally formed a hive. The tree is usually destroyed in the process. This is unsustainable for the forests and results in inconsistent harvests for the villagers.
A grant from the German government has enable the creationand building of 3,000 state of the art swarm boxes and hives. The hives are distributed to 300 households in Ndola, one of the most remote portions of Zambia. Each hive has the capacity of producing, on average, 20kgs of honey a year. This enables households who are below the line of poverty, making less than a dollar a day, to make up to $200 additional income per year.
As the business is sustainable it provides a solid economic reason for the Zambians to preserve the natural forests of the country.
Efforts are underway to replicate the project to Kamafwesa, where most of Give Hope’s programmes are operational, and surrounding districts.
Woodworking
In partnership with Kafakumba, a neighbouring farm, we have a woodworking shop producing fifty to one hundred beehives per day. The project has created much-needed jobs, training, and income for local Zambian woodworkers. It also promotes the wise use of Zambian forest products, using valuable hardwood trees that were previously being burned or turned into charcoal. Rough-cut forest timber is brought in and run through the Wood Mizer saws following which it is sent to the woodworking shop to be made into beehives.
Fish Farming
Tilapia are a delicious and prolific fish which are grown all over the world, but are native to this part of Africa. A project involving 250 acres of fishponds will bring both a good income to peasant farmers and provide a great source of protein for malnourished African children. The fish can be harvested every three months in the summer and every four months in the winter.