A quick summary of 2024 – so far…
A cholera epidemic meant the school year began six weeks late, so we are cutting our mid-term and between-term breaks to make up for the lost learning time.
Our numbers continue to rise and we have had to buy another 40 desks to seat everyone. We have over 550 learners now, and are providing 55 free places, and 20 half-price places, to the most economically & socially disadvantaged.
After almost no drinking water for six months, we managed to dig an 80-metre borehole in March and install a solar pump and 8 panels. It’s wonderful to have drinking water again – and to be able to irrigate our crops.
There’s still little mains power anywhere in Zambia, so we value the solar which powers our office. In April, we started to use it to light one classroom in the evening for a new ‘adult learning’ programme of evening classes.
April & May were challenging months, as our finances were frozen when our bank became insolvent. We’re through it now, are working with a new bank and have recovered most of our funds, but we learnt a lot about ‘making do’ in those difficult months.
In June, we installed a gas range in our school kitchen and moved from cooking over charcoal braziers to using a gas range powered by bottled gas. This has made life much easier and healthier for our catering team.
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Your ‘regular gift’ will fund our ‘Free Places’
All ‘regular gifts’ (monthly, quarterly or annual donations) are used to fund the 55 free places and 20 ‘half-price’ places we provide for local children who live with the most acute disadvantages. They are orphans or their family income is less than £25 ($30 / €28) per month.
A free place covers all the costs of a child’s food, travel, books, materials, equipment, trips, tuition and a pair of new, good-quality school shoes. To provide all this costs us an average of about £20 ($28 / €24) per month for each child.
