ORPHANS

Firstly Zoe Zambia’s meaning of the word orphan.  For us this could be a child or children with no parents and in the care of a guardian, OR, a child or children in the care of a lone parent (normally a widowed mother or grandmother).  In either case, the family would be struggling to survive.  In the Angoni/Chewa tribal tradition the paternal side of the family would be expected to step in and care for the children, but extra and unplanned-for mouths to feed for appointed guardians can be a great burden.  For lone subsistence farming parents trying to grow food to live on AND take care of their many other chores, the burden is no less great.  We seek to make a real difference whatever the case.

How?  The Chief, his Council or Head Teachers of the Primary Schools in the Chiefdom point Stephen in the direction of the guardians and single parents of orphans most in need of help. He then visits them to assess their situation and with John they decide whether or not to bring the orphans on to the programme.  (John visits Zambia twice a year and he and Stephen are in constant touch by mobile phone).  Our assistance is all in kind: no money changes hands.

Education being such a vital key to the children’s progress, we focus primarily on families caring for young orphans who can’t afford to send them to school.  We undertake to provide for mandatory school uniforms and school requisites, shoes, play clothes, medical support and, in extremis, food.  Such support is life changing for an elderly grandmother, already weary from rearing her own children, and particularly for orphans who have inherited AIDS.  However, a stipulation of staying on the programme is that guardians and parents ensure children go to school.

To date we have supported, and continue to support, more than 100 orphans - with varying degrees of educational success!  Only 1 in 400 go on to secondary boarding schools. 

All our orphans are sponsored by families through regular donation.  In return sponsors follow the children by receiving regular updates, copies of school reports and photos showing their growth into adulthood. 

If you’d like to get involved in sponsorship, and make a real difference to a real life,

just contact us:  we’d love to hear from you.