Welcome to The Butterfly Tree

The Butterfly Tree's aim is to assist rural communities decimated by the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Zambia, providing improved education, feeding programs, safe water, health care and an orphan sponsorship program.

The Butterfly Tree is both a registered UK charity and Non Government Organisation in Zambia. Our success is due to two factors: 100% of funds raised go directly to the cause - all our members are volunteers.

Join The Butterfly Tree to help prevent losing the next generation.

Oct 28

11 months and they finally arrive in Mukuni Village

Last September David and I were photographed by local UK media as the parcels we had so carefully packaged were sent on their way to Zambia. Little did we know that they would take eleven months, all but two days, to finally reach their destination.  

It took us many weeks to collate all the items, much needed medical supplies consisting of bandages, syringes, saline solution, surgical gloves and fifteen pairs of crutches, all of which can be readily purchased in this country. On my last visit to Mukuni Village, the health centre had no syringes to vaccinate the babies and have no option other than to use saline provided in large bottles as the saline files are not available in Zambia, thus causing a risk of contamination once the bottles have been opened. Most medical supplies are urgently needed.  

Ngandu village
Photo: Children in Ngandu village wearing tattered clothing

Contained in the boxes were a number of sports items most especially footballs. At the Mukuni Village they only had one football to share between the school and the community. These are expensive in Zambia and can cost as much as £20 each, which is a vast amount of money considering many people only earn £50 per month and over 60 per cent of the population live on less than fifty pence a day.   Read the rest of this entry »

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Oct 24

Essential to life but in short supply

Water – a chemical substance that is essential to all forms of life.

How we all take water for granted. At the turn of a tap we can drink water, brush our teeth, shower, water the garden and wash the car; fill the washing machine, dishwasher and swimming pools, the list is endless, all of which can be done with very little effort. However when there has been no rain for at least six months, and the streams and water holes dry up, finding water becomes a difficult task. People living in remote African communities have to walk great distances to get water, carrying their heavy load in containers collected from bore holes and rivers. To these people water is not taken for granted it is a very precious commodity.  

Water collection Zambia
Photo: Collecting drinking water from a pool by the river

During my recent trip to Zambia I learnt much about the difficulties concerning water, which most people living in rural communities have to endure. The Mukuni Village Health Centre was receiving only thirty minutes a day of running water. ‘How can I do my job when there is no water?’ Josephine, the medical officer asked me on my arrival at the clinic. For four months the old metal water tanks had been leaking causing low pressure to the pumps at the bore holes. It was six months since the rains and the situation was becoming desperate.   Read the rest of this entry »

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Oct 24

£85 will educate a child for a year

The only way to overcome the HIV/AIDS pandemic, causing thousands upon thousands of children to be orphaned, is through education. I have visited the Mukuni Village five times in the past eighteen months and each time I find it more difficult to comprehend the scale of decimation caused as a result of this harrowing disease.  

On every new visit I learn of more children becoming orphans and during my last trip 25 pupils, aged between 13 and 15 were diagnosed as HIV positive, it was heartbreaking. Although The Butterfly Tree is currently sponsoring 66 children in education, there are nearly 400 pupils at Mukuni Basic School who still need sponsors. We are also supporting Ngandu and Kamwi Basic Schools and the list is growing.  

Orphan Sponsorship Africa
Photo: Some of the orphans being sponsored

I have met most of the children we are sponsoring and without exception they are all benefiting enormously from their education. Having lost one or both parents they now have something to focus on. Sadly too many children have to drop out of education due to lack of funds, their guardians pushed below the poverty line having extended their family, which is common practice in African communities. On a positive note none of these children have had to go into orphanages as a result of the generosity of family members, friends and teachers.   Read the rest of this entry »

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