Gift Distribution Table for Primary Children

As you can see by looking at the photo above, these children need uniforms, shoes, hygiene kits, school bags, etc. With sponsorship, they will get just what they need!
For the Primary age students (grade levels 1-7), I want to show you the gift distribution schedule. This way you know when your sponsor child will get each thing they need. They will, also, get a picture of the child with each gift distribution! Here is the schedule for these children (this is for those sponsors that choose to pay monthly, the gifts are distributed as there is enough money raised to purchase them. This explains why the first month they will not get anything):

Month 1: nothing bought for child
Month 2: uniform bought and given to child
Month 3: nothing bought for the child
Month 4: hygiene kit bought and given to child
Month 5: nothing bought for the child
Month 6: school bag, exercise books, pencil, eraser, ruler
Month 7: nothing bought for the child
Month 8: school fees paid
Month 9: nothing bought for child
Month 10: nothing bought for child
Month 11: nothing bought for child
Month 12: shoes and socks bought for child

There is a balance carried over each month to cover the purchase of medication for malaria, worms, and other ailments.

Where We Serve

You can see the map above is the squashed peanut shape of the country of Zambia. I will direct your attention to the southern part of Zambia in orange. This is where Child Hope Zambia is. At the very top of the orange, you will see Mazabuka. That is the area where all of the children we are currently signing up for the sponsorship program live.

There are approximately 3,600 children served by Child Hope Zambia. However, none of them have ever been sponsored. The sponsorship program is something new that will provide them with school fees, uniforms, hygiene kits, among other things (see older posts to see exactly what each child will receive).

Because there are so many children, and the sponsorship program is just starting, we have to start somewhere- We are starting with the children in Mazabuka (only because Mazabuka is the closest to Lusaka). Once all of those children have been photographed and added to the sponsorship program (over 1,000 children), we will begin adding children from Monze. Once all of the children in Monze are added, we will begin adding children in Choma.

We only have 80 children signed up right now, so as you might imagine, there is a lot of work yet to do in the field. There are people on the ground in Mazabuka working on getting the children photographed and documented.

We will be adding the youngest children to the program shortly as well. There are children attending early childhood centers that need sponsors. They are between the ages of 2 and 8. Keep checking back because there are a lot of great kids looking for a friend and mentor!

The Mission and Purpose of Child Hope Zambia

(above- the market where you can find fresh vegetables, fruit, and other delicious items)

Mission and Purpose
Our mission at Child-Hope Zambia is to reduce poverty, HIV/AIDS and improve the living standards of rural children in Zambia. This is done through equipping the children and the parents with different skills and knowledge that will enable them contribute to their well being.

In order for us at Child-Hope to help the communities realize their dreams, the following needs are essential for the support of the children: Education, health, nutrition, security, protection and religious support. Child-Hope strives to realize the dreams and hopes for orphans and other vulnerable children in the rural communities.

However, we at Child-Hope Zambia can not do this alone as it needs concerted efforts from the donors, church ministries, well-wishers, individuals, companies, foundations etc. This will help the organization realize the dream of the children. Child-Hope has continued serving the rural children even in places that have never been reached before by other NGOs. So far, Child-Hope is the only organization that has direct programmes on children in this Chiefdom.

Our organization is really determined to continue restoring hope to the children who have lost it as a result of losing their parents.

Child-Hope has the following activities in trying to fulfill its objectives:

-Putting up buildings for Early Childhood Development Classes (Day Care Centers) through community participation shared among 15 villages. Under this, the community undergoes mobilization for community development training so as to support mobilization and local resource sourcing. However, these buildings are also used by the primary school going children in the afternoon because government rural schools do not have enough classroom blocks.

-Establishing Day Care Centers and Pre-Schools for young children and literacy classes for adults to improve their reading and writing skills.

-Child feeding programs to support and encourage orphans and other vulnerable children to attend school.

-Health support by making common drugs available to the children e.g. de-worming drugs, anti malaria ,anti bilharzias,panadol and aspirin.

-Income generating activities to improve the community capacity in supporting their children. Activities include mothers clubs who sew different children’s clothes, jerseys, uniforms and table clothes. Youth clubs undertaking piggery, goat rearing skills development activities and gardening. These Income generating activities ensure sustainability of the project.

-HIV/AIDS adolescent youth awareness and education program through peer education and moral upbringing to fight HIV/AIDS in the rural communities. Here, the organization also uses sports participation to disseminate information about HIV/AIDS. It uses sports like soccer, netball and volleyball. Villages compete against each other and the best teams get prizes. This encourages the communities to do more in HIV/AIDS activities. Child-Hope also uses drama, poems and songs to disseminate information about HIV/AIDS. Peer educators have been trained to handle most of the HIV/AIDS programs in the communities.

-Provision of food and medicines to the people living with HIV/AIDS. On the provision of medicines to the people living with HIV/AIDS, Child-Hope makes available: panadol, aspirin. ORS and procaine penicillin. These drugs suppress other diseases that may affect the bodies of the people living with HIV/AIDS due to weak anti bodies caused by HIV/AIDS.

-Home visits to the people living with HIV/AIDS through Child-Hope caregivers. The caregivers feed, wash and clean the homes of the people living with HIV/AIDS that do not have the energy to do this for themselves as a result of sickness. The caregivers also help in turning the bodies and applying medicine to the people living with HIV/AIDS that have developed sores due to over sleeping on one side.

-Gender training workshops for community members to support effective and gender sensitive development. This has helped the rural communities especially the women whose Rights were not considered before.

-Provision of food and nutritional security of the malnourished children directly or indirectly affected by HIV/AIDS.

-Provision of immediate nutritional support to the children identified as acutely malnourished through a monitored supplementary feeding program.

-Establishing communal gardens which increase the food and nutritional security of the malnourished children identified as stunted. 80% of the vegetables in the gardens are consumed by the children and 20% of the vegetables are being sold for the continuation of purchase of seed for gardening.

-Ongoing sponsorship of some children attending basic education

-Distribution of mosquito nets so as to reduce the high rates of malaria cases among the children.
-Provision of maize seed and fertilizer to the families that are hard to reach due to socio-economic situation in which they exist.

Education in Zambia

The education system in Zambia consists of 7 years of primary schooling and 5 years of secondary schooling before students can enter university, college, or other institutions of higher learning. The following is the breakdown:

Primary School:
* Grades one to seven.
Secondary School:
* Phase 1: grades eight and nine (also known as Junior Secondary)
* Phase 2: grades ten to twelve (also known as Upper Secondary)

The academic year in Zambia runs from January to December. It has three month school terms which are broken up by a roughly one month holiday prior to each term. This translates to about 40 weeks of school per year.

The minimum entrance age to the first year of primary school, known as Grade 1, is 7 years old. Thus a child is expected to enter his/her first year of high school (Form 1) at 14 years old. These were government established standards. Schools, particularly private schools, are very liberal in applying them. Their priority is largely on the performance of each child. It’s thus common to find children of varying age groups throughout the schooling years.

Primary languages: English as the language of instruction and one Zambian language assigned by each provincial district.

Sponsoring a Secondary Student

These young women and men are all in Junior Secondary school. More details on the Zambian school system will come a little later. For now I want to focus on just how it pertains to our sponsorship program. The Junior Secondary grades are considered grade levels 8 and 9. Depending on which age the student started school, a child in Junior Secondary school could be age 13 or above.

This sponsorship program is bringing hope to many families. Most of these families are quite large. If you look at the bios of the children, they usually have a lot of brothers and sisters. Even if they have a small family, it is highly likely that their parents or caretaker are, also, caring for other children in the home. How does this effect the children and their education? It is extremely difficult for parents already living in extreme poverty to pay the school fees, buy the uniforms, etc for so many children!

The good news is that Child Hope is now providing the children with HOPE of a future! They will be able to stay in school, with the help of sponsorship. I can tell you that the children are very aware of what is in store for them. When the staff went out to take pictures and get information, the response was overwhelming and receptive. I am excited for them because I can picture the smile they will have on their face when they get news that they have a sponsor!! These children have never been sponsored before, so I am sure they will be surprised by the letters of support and little things you can stick inside the envelope for them such as stickers, bookmarks (and we have several children whose favorite pastime is reading!), etc.

Now, on with the details of how to sponsor a junior secondary student:

*How much does it cost? $15 a month/ $45 per trimester/ $180 per year- You choose how often you want to pay, it all comes out to $15 a month.

*What do the children receive from the program? A LOT!

Health support which includes anti ring worms, malaria treatment, and several other treatments as needed

School uniform (shirt and trousers for young men and blouse and skirt for young women)

School shoes

School bag

School Socks

Exercise books

Pencil, eraser, and ruler

Toothbrush

Toothpaste

Soap

Body towel

Washing detergent

Tissue

Vaseline

And 3 separate term School fees!

*How is sponsorship paid? Paypal is the only payment option at this time. To verify that the child you would like to sponsor has not been taken, send me an e-mail at macandmic@gmail.com Once it is verified that the child is still available, you can click on the subscribe button in the upper left hand side of this blog- That will allow the sponsorship fee to automatically be taken out every month. Or, let me know how much you would like to pay upfront, and I will send you an invoice. Make sure to click on "Sponsor a Secondary Student" if you are sponsoring a child through this program.

*Can I write to my child? Absolutely! The letters can be sent directly to Zambia:


THE NATIONAL CO-ORDINATOR
CHILDHOPE-ZAMBIA
P.O.BOX 39481
LUSAKA, ZAMBIA

*How do I know if the child is in junior secondary school? The junior secondary students are on the left hand side of the blog listed as "young woman" and "young man".

*Can the child have more than one sponsor? That is up to you! If you would like to share the child sponsorship with a friend, you would only pay $7.50 per month- or between 3 people- only $5 a month (yearly breakdown when shared between 2 sponsors is $90, and $60 per year when split between 3 people). However, we have to have all of the sponsors signed up at the same time or else there will not be enough funds to provide the child with all of the items and support mentioned above.

*What happens after the 9th grade? You may maintain contact with the student, if you desire to do so. No further support is expected- However, students can always use a mentor!

One last note, you will see that every child has a number. When requesting a child for sponsorship and sending letters, please include the child's full name and child number. Thank you for helping these wonderful children!

Sponsoring a Primary Student

These sweet children are all in Primary school. More details on the Zambian school system will come a little later. For now I want to focus on just how it pertains to our sponsorship program. The Primary grades are considered grade levels 1 to 7. Depending on which age the student started school, a child in primary school could be age 7 or above.

This sponsorship program is bringing hope to many families. Most of these families are quite large. If you look at the bios of the children, they usually have a lot of brothers and sisters. Even if they have a small family, it is highly likely that their parents or caretaker are, also, caring for other children in the home. How does this effect the children and their education? It is extremely difficult for parents already living in extreme poverty to pay the school fees, buy the uniforms, etc for so many children!

The good news is that Child Hope is now providing the children with HOPE of a future! They will be able to stay in school, with the help of sponsorship. I can tell you that the children are very aware of what is in store for them. When the staff went out to take pictures and get information, the response was overwhelming and receptive. I am excited for them because I can picture the smile they will have on their face when they get news that they have a sponsor!! These children have never been sponsored before, so I am sure they will be surprised by the letters of support and little things you can stick inside the envelope for them such as stickers, bookmarks (and we have several children whose favorite pastime is reading!), etc.
Now, on with the details of how to sponsor a primary student:

*How much does it cost? $9 a month/ $27 per trimester/ $108 per year- You choose how often you want to pay, it all comes out to $9 a month.

*What do the children receive from the program? A LOT!

Health support which includes anti ring worms, malaria treatment, and several other treatments as needed

School uniform

School shoes

School bag

School Socks

Exercise books

Pencil, eraser, and ruler

Toothbrush

Toothpaste

Soap

Body towel

Washing detergent

Tissue

Vaseline

School fees

and more!

*How is sponsorship paid? First, you need to make sure the child you want to sponsor is still available for sponsorship. To verify that the child you would like to sponsor has not been taken, send an e-mail to macandmic@gmail.com Once it is verified that the child is still available, you will mail your check or money order to (you may pay monthly, or pay several months in advance):

Make a Change

P O Box 847

Anna, TX 75409

USA

*Can I write to my child? Absolutely! The letters can be sent directly to Zambia:

THE NATIONAL COORDINATOR
CHILDHOPE-ZAMBIA
P.O.BOX 39481
LUSAKA, ZAMBIA

*How do I know if the child is in primary school? The primary students are on the left hand side of the blog listed as "boy" and "girl".

*Can the child have more than one sponsor? That is up to you! If you would like to share the child sponsorship with a friend, you would only pay $4.50 per month- or between 3 people- only $3 a month (yearly breakdown when shared between 2 sponsors is $54, and $36 per year when split between 3 people). However, we have to have all of the sponsors signed up at the same time or else there will not be enough funds to provide the child with all of the items and support mentioned above.

One last note, you will see that every child has a number. When requesting a child for sponsorship and sending letters, please include the child's full name and child number. Thank you for helping these wonderful children!

50 More Children Added to the Sponsorship Program!

Yesterday I received an additional 50 bios and photos of children who would like to have a sponsor! I have been frantically trying to get them all posted on the sponsorship pages, but it will take some time. I know I have about half of them up as of right now, and I will be posting more as I can. Also, later today, I should hear back from the Zambia coordinator Chim regarding sponsorship fees. I know there will be two different fees: 1 for primary students and 1 for junior secondary students, but I am not sure what the fee will be. I have sent a recommendation to Chim based on their budget, and he is presenting it to the board today. Stay tuned for that! Meanwhile, check out all of the cool kids that are already posted!

The 3 Areas Helped by Child Hope

Child Hope Zambia works in 3 areas in the southern region of Zambia. These can be seen on a map on the Zambian.com website. If you would like to see where the 3 areas are, look here. They are in Mazabuka, Monze, and Choma.

Like I stated before, we are focusing on Mazabuka for now because there are 1,200 children waiting for sponsors there. However, we will get to Monze and Choma as well as soon as we can. The power is in your hands- spread the word about the Child Hope program, and help us get them all sponsored!!

The families in these communities are mostly peasant farmers.

From December to April, they experience their rainy season. It can rain for just an hour or so, or it can rain for days on end during this time.

From May to August they will soon see the cool dry season. Temperatures during the day are in the 70's (Fahrenheit), but drops down to the 40's at night.

From September to November it is hot. Temperatures can be in the 100's!

29 Children from Mazabuka

There are now 29 children available for sponsorship, and more children will be available shortly. The Child Hope program has been around for over 10 years, but this is their first chance at a child sponsorship program! The children and families are super excited! There were actually 30 children photographed and interviewed for this first round, but I am missing information on one of them (it will be here shortly). The families were notified that Child Hope would be coming into their area to sign up children for sponsorship. When the Child Hope team arrived, families were packed in the agreed upon location waiting to get their children in the program!

This is only a small group of the larger group- There is so much on the ground to do to get these kids enrolled that it will take some time, but it will be worth it. The children and their families will receive many benefits. The whole group is comprised of approximately 3,600 children. Because this is an overwhelming number, I suggested that Chim Mvula (the president of Child Hope) and his team start in one community before moving to the other two.

Mazabuka is the community that is closest to Lusaka, and Lusaka is where the Child Hope office is located. Because a lot of us already have sponsor children in Lusaka, I wanted to start with a community close to there. Mazabuka is south west of Lusaka. In 2000, the estimated population was 35,000 people. These 30 children are all from this community. More photos and bios will be uploaded as soon as I receive them.

Getting to Know Child Hope Zambia

CHILDHOPE- is a non profit; non governmental organization registered in 1999 under the society Act of Zambia whose registration number is ORS/109/35/2091.The overall aim of CHILDHOPE is to work towards attaining rural child survival, poverty alleviation and reducing the escalating transmission of HIV/AIDS pandemic which has left many children orphans.

CHILDHOPE operates in the Southern Province of Zambia in Mazabuka, Monze and Choma districts. Since its establishment in August 1998; CHILDHOPE has received tremendous response from the people who are beneficiaries to the project products.

Most of the people in these districts are peasant farmers. The children being supported by CHILDHOPE are between the ages of 3-18 years.

CHILDHOPE is supporting 3,600+ children in Mazabuka, Monze and Choma. This means that in each district, the organization supports 1,200+ children. Most of these children are supported through Early Childhood Care Development and education activities (ECCDE). CHILDHOPE supports the building ECCDE centers in its operational areas.

Where ECCDE centers have not yet been built due to financial constraints, the children learn from churches and simple structures that have been built by the communities. In these centers, there is health and child feeding programmes.

28 Children Available for Sponsorship!

Aren't they sweet?! There are 28 children now available to sponsor! You can see their pictures and bios on the left hand side of the blog. They are separated by gender, and you can see if they have a sponsor yet or not.

While we do not yet have it set up officially, you can e-mail me at macandmic@gmail.com and let me know if there is a particular child you would like to sponsor. I am waiting for the budget in order to set up the different kinds of sponsorship that is available. I will let every one know as soon as I have the sponsorship breakdown set up. For now, do not click on the "subscribe" link until this is set up. Stay tuned! I hope to have it later today :o)

Zambian Orphans Raising Themselves

It is hard to imagine what it must be like for the new orphans in Zambia. Since the spread of HIV/AIDS in Africa, more and more children are finding themselves alone in the world without parents to raise them. My sponsor child in Lusaka, Mwanza and his 4 siblings have been raising themselves for a few years now. I have no idea how they are able to manage everything: feeding themselves, going to school, getting money to buy necessities, etc. It is because of this that I found the following article quite interesting (found on irinnews.org - about 20,000 households in Zambia are led by children)

LUSAKA, 16 November 2009 (PlusNews) - Abigail Mwanashimba has been looking after her five siblings since the age of eight, when her parents died of AIDS-related illnesses. She is now 19 years old, and without relatives to represent her at her lobola (bride price) negotiations, she was forced to hire traditional counsellors to organise the process of marriage according to the tribal customs. They did a bad job.

"I don't know anything about my tribe or its culture because there has never been anyone to teach or show me," she told IRIN/PlusNews. "I got very little lobola, but the last straw was the humiliation I suffered at my in-laws' home, when I embarrassed them by performing the wrong dance."

Losing out on the bride price was one thing, but when she realised that the counsellors she had hired had taught her the wrong traditional dances, she refused to pay them their 500,000 Zambian kwacha (US$100) fee, and is now facing a lawsuit.

Agnes Ngubeni, from the central town of Kabwe, also knows this kind of humiliation; she has lived with the embarrassment of not having undergone an initiation ceremony when she came of age, and not being able to speak the language of her tribe.

"People called us goats ... they said we were 'cultureless' and were not educated in the ways of our tribe. It never occurred to them that there was no-one to teach us - we lived without elders," she said.

Ngubeni and her siblings were orphaned fifteen years ago when her oldest brother was just 10. A Norwegian family living in Zambia committed itself to looking after them, which meant they were clothed and fed, but this presented them with social problems.

Their neighbours ridiculed them for eating pasta, bread and rice, instead of the staple, nshima - thick maize-meal porridge - that neither she nor her three sisters can cook.

"The neighbours laughed at us for eating the white man's food, which they said was not real food, but what are we supposed to do? We eat what we are given. That's just how it is," Ngubeni said.

Ngubeni recommends that people helping child-headed families should consider placing an adult relative or any other person of the same tribe among them to guide and mentor them in the ways of traditional society.

We are so engrossed in keeping the children off drugs and alcohol, and the girls from getting pregnant ... that we lsoe sight of the fact that children need to be socialised in the ways of their tribe
Out of touch with culture

In its latest report on Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC), the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) found that about 20,000 households in Zambia were led by children, but the number is increasing.

The report outlines the severe deprivations of food and shelter these children often face, and concludes that with more youngsters having to take on the responsibilities of running a household at an early age, there is every likelihood that more of them will end up on the street.

Joseph Banda heads Tisunge, a local organisation that assists child-headed households to deal with the trauma of loss, and teaches them income-generating and life skills, so that the children are able to fend for themselves and can continue their schooling.

Banda said it had never occurred to him that these children would struggle with cultural issues. "I am ashamed to say that I never saw the children's situation in this way," he admitted.

"We are so engrossed in keeping the children off drugs and alcohol, and the girls from getting pregnant, and making sure that they become good citizens, that we lose sight of the fact that children need to be socialised in the ways of their tribe."

Child psychologist Trina Mayope warned that children growing up without the value of custom and tradition would have problems in future. "It's about growing up with a cultural identity ... The children feel isolation because the communities treat them as aliens, or as something not quite right because of their seeming lack of 'traditional etiquette'."

There is also the stigma attached to being orphaned by HIV/AIDS, as is mostly the case. "If these children don't conform to the cultural norms of the society they live in they will suffer a double discrimination," she noted.

Mayope acknowledged that urbanisation and the passing of time had caused people to discard many traditions, but the basics of culture were still important and largely defined how someone was perceived.

"It's difficult for most people to comprehend how a child can grow up without knowing anything about his or culture. People think they [children] are trying to act like a muzungu [European], but when you have children whose mentor is a fellow child, how are they supposed to learn traditional norms and customs?"

Follow Us~ And Help Us Change the World!

Today is the official launch day of Child Hope Zambia's blog! Mrs. Heather McLaughlin (in the USA) has come together with Mr. Chim Mvula (in Zambia) to help children and families that need our help. Stay tuned for more information, and I can't wait until the launch of the sponsorship program! We will be on a journey that will allow us to not only help some wonderful people but to build lifetime bonds and relationships with these sweet children! Thank you for joining us!