Getting to know CHILDHOPE

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.

Getting to Know Mazabuka

All of the children currently available for sponsorship live in Mazabuka, so I will tell you a little about it. It is called the sweetest part of Zambia because it is the place where the sugar factory is located. When travelling from Lusaka, it is 124 kilometers away (headed southwest). In the year 2000, 35,000 people called Mazabuka their home.

The area is mostly farmland, so farming is the business of choice for most residents. They farm their land and use most of what they grow for their own household food. The rest, they sell at the market to earn money to support their family's other needs.

The people of Mazabuka are from the Tonga tribe. There is an annual Tonga music festival held in Monze, and thousands come from all over to hear and see the rhythm of the Tonga Tribe. Tongan people make up 15% of Zambia's overall population, and their language is called Chitonga or just Tonga. Their language is part of the Bantu language family (which includes Bemba). That means that they have words similar to other Bantu languages. The children do learn English in school, and are usually speaking both English and Tonga by grade 4.

It is important to the Tonga tribe that as parents, they have many children. Since they are agricultural, the children are helpful when farming their land and herding their cattle. The children, also, bring the parents a sense of security because there will be someone to care for them in their old age. Family is very important and extends past just a mother, father and children. The Tonga family includes grandparents, cousins, aunts, and uncles, all helping each other as a group.