JULY 2024
Visit to Nakonde by Bridge of Friendship (BoF) representatives Klaus and Kornelia in June
Klaus Brachat and Kornelia from the BoF paid a visit to the OVC centre at St Mary’s and the pre-school/primary school at St Margaret’s in Nakonde in June.
They also visited the 2 farms at Mayembe.
St Margaret’s pre-school/primary school
The BoF had financed the building of the pre-school/primary school at St Margaret’s and it was important for them to inspect the final result.
In Zambia there are 7 grades in the primary school. In the original plan there was one block with 3 classrooms and a second block with 4 classrooms. However, the government then decided that every primary school should include 2 classes for ECE (early childhood education) so we found ourselves 2 classrooms short.
The BoF has offered to fund the construction of these 2 classrooms. A local building company will carry out the work.
During this 2024 academic school year there are 6 classes at St Margaret’s: 2 ECE classes, grade 1, grade 2, grade 3 and grade 4 with a total of 220 pupils.
The children come from mixed backgrounds – only the orphans and vulnerable children are part of the feeding programme and receive breakfast and lunch daily.
In 2025 a grade 5 class will be added then grade 6 in 2026 and grade 7 in 2027 will complete the school.
Some extra plumbing work needs to be carried out on the toilets and water kiosk.
One of our pupils won first prize in Maths in a primary schools competition in the Nakonde district, the Olympiads. His name is Gentleness. A proud moment for everyone.
St. Mary’s OVC centre
The BoF has very kindly offered to finance the construction of two more classrooms at St Mary’s centre. A local construction company will carry out the work.
During this 2024 academic year there are 3 classes at St Mary’s: one ECE class, grade 1 and grade 2 with a total of 100 children who are all orphans or vulnerable children.
We realise that by adding 2 extra classrooms to St Mary’s to accomodate grade 3 and grade 4 we will have more children to feed and two more teacher salaries to pay. But it also means our children, who are particularly vulnerable, will benefit from 2 more years of regular meals and valuable education.
Because of lack of space we will be unable to expand the centre even further.
Ideally we would need a bus to transport these children to St Margaret’s when they finish grade 4 but that is an expense we cannot afford for now. So at the moment when the children finish at St Mary’s they then go to the nearest government schools where there are more than 100 children per class, very few desks and limited learning materials.
The BBC published an interesting article about this problem on 14th July 2024.
Zambia made education free, now classrooms are crammed.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cek9n3yv0llo
The farms at MAYEMBE
The new farmhouse at farm 1 has been completed.
We are very satisfied with the maize production this year. As I said in a previous update most of Zambia was hit by a drought this year but fortunately in Nakonde the rains were favourable.
- Farm 1 produced 278 bags of mealie meali (maize flour), each bag is 50 kgs. Farm 2, the new farm, produced 68 bags, each bag 50 kgs so a total of 17,300 kgs of mealie meal. In 2019 we produced 3,900 kgs.
Each year more land at the new farm, farm 2, will be cleared and cultivated.
We also produced 200 kgs of soya beans and 120 kgs of groundnuts. However, sunflower and beans didn’t do so well this year – farming is never easy! - The fish will be harvested in September.
- Poultry – we have limited the number of chickens being reared because the cost of chicken feed has increased so much.
- As well as the vegetable garden at St Mary’s, Sister Florence is now cultivating a vegetable garden at St Margaret’s too.
- The benches and tables are being prepared for the dining area at St Margaret’s.
Future Funding
It’s too early to prepare the budgets for next year but the 3 main categories of expenditure will be:
1) The feeding programme.
2) Furnish and equip the new classrooms at both schools.
3) Salaries – includes all the teachers’ salaries at St Mary’s and also those of a few teachers at St Margaret’s.
When the school at St Margaret’s is officially a government aided school, hopefully in 2025, all their teachers’ salaries will be paid by the government. However, St Mary’s will always be our total responsibility.
We also have the 2 farmers’ salaries as well as those of other workers and cooks.
March 2024
Opening of new school year 2024
The new academic year should have started on 8th January but due to a surge in the number of cases of cholera in the country, the Zambian government decided to postpone the opening date to 12th February.
As already seen during covid, when schools were forced to close, our vulnerable children suffered the most because they were unable to benefit from the food that we provide on a daily basis.
St Mary’s Child Care Centre
We obtained permission from the local education authorities to add an extra class at the centre. In order to do this we divided one of the classrooms in two. This new room accomodates the grade 2 children. Therefore we have:
an ECE (early child education) class with 35 pupils
a grade 1 class with 32 pupils
a grade 2 class with 33 pupils
Total of 100 pupils – 60 boys and 40 girls
All the children at St Mary’s are either orphans (50 double orphans and 9 single orphans) or come from particularly vulnerable backgrounds.
Two of the main challenges are late coming and absenteeism.
Late coming is understandable when you realise the number of kilometers that some of these very young children have to walk, between 2 and 6 kms. The teachers are aware of this.
Absenteeism – there are many reasons for this including the long distances many children have to walk. However, many orphans who live with their guardians (for example extended family members who are often elderly) are expected to do various daily chores which take priority over going to school.
With the addition of grade 2 we now need to have 8 tables and 12 benches made for the classroom. This will cost approximately €460.
Christmas surprise
The children had a very pleasant surprise at Christmas. Doctor Munkonge – originally from the Nakonde area – and his family prepared not only a surprise Christmas lunch for the children but also fireworks! The children, needless to say, were thrilled!
St Margaret’s school
The headmaster, Mr Prince Mulenga, confirmed that the orphans and vulnerable children in grades 2 and 3 are still among the best performing pupils at St Margaret’s.
Also at St Margaret’s late coming and absenteeism are the main challenges the teachers have to face.
We are having 14 foldable tables and 32 benches made for the dining area next to the kitchen. This will cost approximately €1,000.
The school is still waiting to become a government aided school which means there’s a constant struggle to pay the salaries of some staff members including two security guards and a caretaker. At the moment they are depending on contributions from parents.
The Farms at Mayembe
Following the deadly outbreak of cholera Zambia then had to face an emergency drought situation in 86 of its 116 districts. The drought destroyed 1 million hectares of the 2.2 million hectares planted with the staple crop maize.
Fortunately in the Nakonde district the rains have been favourable. We have enough mealie meal (maize flour) from our harvest in 2023 to feed all the vulnerable children at both schools until August. By that stage we will have harvested the new crop.
We now have 3 cattle as well as the goats.
At St Mary’s we are rearing 200 chickens plus other poultry, including turkeys.
As well as maize we have sweet potatoes, soya beans and groundnuts. However, our sunflowers did not do well this year.
We should have a better production of fish this year.
